Escape From Kadavo Review

*** Sorry it's a little late...

"Great hopes can come from small sacrifices"

After a boring five-week break, I finally have Escape From Kavado to look forward to. I have been thinking of the conclusion of the Slavers Arc since I last saw Slaves of the Republic, and this episode totally satisfied me. It was a good episode, not the best in the season, but it was worthwhile to watch.

The plot could be better, but the action is simply great. The music was pretty good too. So I would give this episode an overall of 8/10. It has it's flaws, but it's okay.

I was surprised to find out that it really pained me to see Obi-Wan, the great Jedi Master, kneel before a scum. Even though I knew it was the right choice since that saved the slave togruta next to him, I still wished it could have played out differently somehow. But after all he went through, the Queen still can't crush his spirit.

The Queen, in my opinion, was a little foolish. First she put Anakin as her guard, even though it was risky to force a Jedi to do something. She could have just killed the Jedi, and she still refused to do that when Count Dooku demanded so. She underestimated the power of a Sith Lord... and she dared to contradict him just because the Jedi were a "valuable asset". That was really foolish. In the end, she realized that she was just another slave to Dooku, and I'm glad to see her help Anakin. It's either she turned to the right side or she just wants revenge at the Sith Lord.

I was happy to see that Anakin still play nicely by the rules of the Jedi and saved the dying queen. Maybe it was just because he wanted to know where Obi-Wan is, but I think I caught an expression on his face when she died. Or maybe I just hoped so. Also, I'm impressed by his Force-jumping skills. I never knew he can jump that high.

Ahsoka played a part here and there, and as Anakin says, she was a hero in the end. A modest hero, actually. I liked her face expression when she smiled modestly at the end. Her choice of words was amazing when the govenor of Kiros congratulated her. She works as hard as ever to become a great Jedi Knight.

I feel a little sorry when Ahsoka and Anakin changed their outfits. I liked them, especially Ahsoka's slave outfit (even if it's a little... showy).

I loved the battle scenes. Obi-Wan's hand-to-hand combat (or rather hand-to-weapon) was done well. I never knew clones could throw such a precise shot. I'm also rather surprised that the vibroblade went through and killed that goon, even if he deserves it. Anakin seizing control of the laser tank or whatever to destroy the others was creative. The odds of the battle on the air just leaned toward the Republic's side.

Plo Koon played his part as well as ever. He's an amazing pilot. At the end, I'm touched that he put a hand on Ahsoka's shoulder. He's like a father to her. If I could be a padawan in the Star Wars galaxy, I would choose to be his apprentice. I'll get to be close to Ahsoka too.

On the side note, how did Ahsoka get her lightsaber back? Maybe there was a deleted scene of something. I would just assume it that way. Or maybe I didn't watch it very well.

So until next time... May the Force be with you.

Escape From Kavado

Escape from Kavado is almost here!!! I can't believe it! After five whole weeks, I finally have something worthwhile to watch.

For those who never saw it...

Official description
"Anakin tries to convince the Zygerrian Queen that she too is a slave and pawn in an evil Separatist plot. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan toils in the slave camps of Kadavo, a grim situation that grows increasingly bleak."

Looks interesting, huh? Maybe the queen will turn to the Republic. Or maybe not. For now, she's on my evil list.

Moral
"Great hopes can come from small sacrifices."

Love this!!! I try to learn all Star Wars: The Clone Wars morals. I'm getting by pretty fine :) One more to add to my mental list :D

Pictures

Looks as if there's gonna be a good battle! I'm craving even more...

Dooku and Sidious are always behind nasty plans. This one is no different...

The queen doesn't care that Anakin's having a bad time :P

Anakin tries to calm down. The queen asked for his lightsaber. He lost control, and the two guards at the back did not help him calm down... I guess.

Nothing like teamwork :) Anakin and his pal R2 took the guards down like we stamp on an ant.

The Dawn and Dusk of the Dark

Chapter 2

I stumbled into my cell. It has been a long day. Though the nights were usually the worst, today I looked forward to sitting still for many hours, just simply resting down on hard cell floor. I had seen nothing better in my life, but I knew there was better stuff than this. Places where there were no rats, clean toilets, no screams, and bright light. That's paradise.

I'm one of the lucky ones here because I sleep alone in this tiny cell. Usually there's two or three in one, depending on where you were assigned to. That makes things worse. There would be a competition for space, toilet, and other things we prisoners were desperate to get. Everyone would fight with little or no fear for their life just simply to steal food from another person at breakfast in the cafeteria. Luckily, I wasn't assigned to the worst group, but I still got my food stolen often. Doesn't matter. At least, not that much. I never needed much of the chunk that looks like bantha poop. (I never saw a bantha, so don't expect me to tell you about it. My mom told me.)

My cell door creaked open, drawing me away from my thoughts. I looked at my door just as a figure got shoved in. Instead of landing face first on the floor, it seemed to... glide to a stop. I swear. My mouth dropped open for the second time today. It's not often you get to see a miracle around here.

The figure seemed to collect his/her thoughts while her eyes adjust to the darkness. I studied the form. It was a she. Her montrals were elegantly curved, though not fully grown yet. Her lekku almost fell to her waist. Her body told me that she was built for action. In other words, she was a perfect rebel.

Without turning to meet me, she finally spoke, "So you work in the hangar I came in. Great job they gave you."

Yep. It was the togruta that shushed me back then. She has a sense of humor too.

"Y-yes," I stammered. It was awkward. Swell. How did she know it was me? She didn't even turn around. And it took me a long time to adjust my eyes to the dark. It took her less than a minute.

As if picking up my thoughts, she gave a half-smile but chose not to answer my thoughts. Instead she commented sarcastically, "Nice place. The best you'd find on Raxus Prime. I'd rather go out in the junk."

I felt my mouth go dry. "Raxus Prime?" I squeaked. This junk world was worse than hell. My odds of escaping successfully had gone down from 0.1 to -1. Or whatever. I'm never good at math.

The togruta gave me an odd look. "How long have you've been here? You know they want us to see what planet we're on. As if they can crush out our hopes to escape," she added, scoffing. Maybe she still believed that she could escape.

"I've been here my whole life."

"Oh great. Cozy. Maybe you can show me the wonders of the prison."

I chose to ignore that comment and moved to give her a place to sit. I know what was coming next though. And I was right.

"Uh, no thanks," she said dubiously after looking at the slimy floor and rats.

"You can't stand all night and have energy to work tomorrow."

"Right. Perhaps you can explain to me about how this prison works."

"After you tell your story."

She took a deep breath and started. "All right. I sided with the Republic during the Clone Wars. When it became an Empire, I knew things were going bad. I joined the resistance as I dodged storm troopers. Wasn't pretty. I saw my friends die. I made me even more determined to help the rebels. Then one day they captured innocent bystanders and tortured them to tell the location of our resistance. Most died after refusing to tell them, but they got the information somehow all right. We heard and most of us escaped in time. I stayed back to help the last ones. So did some others. I knew it was near impossible to get away then, and I was right. About only fifty of us were captured, but there were other bases of our resistance that were not so fortunate. So that's why you see so much people coming out of ships when you were... cleaning."

"Wow" was all I could say. Brave person, no? She volunteered to be the last person to try to escape through the gates of hell. After she failed, she still had her sense of humor... and hope.

"Hope. It's a fragile thing of great beauty. It's always there, but it is invisible and useless until you believe in it." My mom always say that. I missed her so much.

The togruta-she never told me her name- seemed to sense my thoughts again. Wizard. She softened up and said, "You're having a rough day."

That's a big understatement. But for some reason I knew I could trust her. I poured out everything in my life to her.

"My name is Kaayla. Officially, I'm prisoner 985123-"

"Good numbers. 123, huh? Mines is 1947625. Nothin' special. Too bad."

"-and my mom was imprisoned for no reason. She was pregnant. She told me that my dad died as a hero to the rebels. I was raised up in the freakin' place they call a prison. That doesn't describe it. It should be called hell. Then she got weak and was executed. And..."

I blabbered on and on about my life, and the togruta (still don't know her name) listened with interest. She was a good audience, never interrupting once again. She winced, softened, and gasped in the right places.

"...then, just before you came in, I thought I was lucky to have a whole small cell to myself. Then you showed up. So much for luck. Well, I suppose I should still consider myself lucky for having you and not someone who would tear my head apart. By the way, you still haven't told me your name."

I ended with a big breath. I was really tired by now. Still, I felt a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders after finally getting to share my stories. It's probably the only thing I can share willingly. Suddenly, having a cell mate like her doesn't seem that bad after all.

The togruta hesitated. "Kalifa," she told me.

"Kalifa," I repeated, "That's an odd name for a togruta."

She merely shrugged.

"Tomorrow's a long day. We should rest-"

"If we can in a place like this. I told you about the nightmare screams."

"-before it gets too late. But first, I need to use the bathroom, assuming there's one."

I pointed to a corner. For a moment I thought Kalifa would gag, but she regained herself and went. Impressive.

Not long after, I heard her steady breathing. I couldn't sleep. My mind was jumping in too many directions. It was a hyper drive.

There was a piercing screech. Another scream. I glanced at Kalifa, but she was still sleeping. Maybe, as a soldier in the late Republic, she was used to sleeping in many places. Maybe she wasn't a Jedi after all. She didn't mention it, and it was a thing to be proud of. The boxes might hace new repulosorlift technology I wasn't aware of. Kalifa might not have anything to do with it, and she just shushed me so I won't get in trouble. And the glide... maybe it was just her military training. She could've sensed me with those montrals of hers. She must've sensed my thoughts through my face expressions. Yeah. It all fits.

Stop, I told myself. You need sleep. Kalifa was right. Tomorrow would be another long day.

My Edits #1 :)

Ahsoka Tano fan, here I come! These are my edits I did for one of my favorite characters in Star Wars. (The bottom isn't, though.) I would just like to share them- if you haven't already seen them on facebook. Enjoy!

This is the first collage I made for Ahsoka Tano. I consider it a practice, not a work to be published. However, I would still like to put it on. The overlaps are, in my opinion, done somewhat well for some. Others just look faulty. But overall, it is quite successful. The picture is not the best I've made, but it's pretty much okay.

This one might be my favortie Ahsoka Tano edit. Either this one, or the one below. The four pictures, as you can see, shows Ahsoka in various stages of her life- infancy (before she was taken to the temple by Master Plo Koon), childhood in season 1, 2, and early season 3 (well, not exactly... she was becoming a teenage togruta then), teenager (As we all know so well, season 3, 4, and maybe the coming seasons), and as an adult as we see her in the Mortis Trilogy. Below is a phrase, slogan, or whatever you call it that I got from StarWars.com- exploring Ahsoka. In the background are just pictures of her in her life. Unfortunately, this one was made before the slavers arc so I did not put any pictures in her slave outfit.

This one I really like. This pink stripes at each side can be replaced by any color, but I just chose pink to put on here. I tried to make the impression that each picture is lying on the desk. Obviously, that didn't work out very well.

This shows the various stages of her life, like the last one. However, this picture is more detailed. The ones with the white borders shows two pictures from each stage of her life. The arrow with the blue border points down to her outfits in childhood to teenager in the clone wars.

This is my first time using photoshop CS3 and it went pretty much ok, I guess.

This one is a quote from "Dooku Captured". I got the pictures from google and just put them together. I really liked the quote, so one day the idea just popped into my head out of boredom.

Well! That's pretty much it for now! May the Force be with you!

Happy New Year!!!

***NOTE: I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE. THIS IS TAKEN FROM AN AHSOKA TANO PAGE ON FACEBOOK- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ahsoka-Tano/182410578461160

I have nothing much to say here...
So, I hope you have a wonderful new year 2012. :D For everyone, all Star Wars fans, my friends and family, and well, everybody :)

I would also like to share a quote:
"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
-Edith Lovejoy Pierce
Just a thought, I wonder how people in the Star Wars Galaxy celebrate their New Year Fete week? Oh well...

May the Force be with you this coming year and beyond. =)