Missing in Action Review

WARNING!: contains spoilers for the Clone Wars episode Missing in Action. You may want to see this before reading on. :) Also please remember that this is my opinion and that I really love the Clone Wars and appreciate being able to watch something new with Star Wars for most of the year. :)

I think I can sum this episode up in about one word.......FINALLY!!! XDDD I mean, come on, this is the first clone episode so far in this season and likely to be the last. It was wonderful to see that little bit of Cody (though I would like to see more of him!! :C ) and I loved how this episode was mainly about Gregor. It still felt like it should have been more about him though. Whenever the Frogdude (I don't even really want to know his name) spoke I just wanted to kick him. }:(  Especially when he went from standing in garbage to on top of Gregor's face. 

I really loved all the degrading language about the clones and their purposes, not just because it was sad and made the hero more believable, but because it really supports my stories. I found even Frogdude's "he's a soldier, doing what a soldier does best...." or whatever he was saying, really degrading. It made me mad and kinda, strangely satisfied when Frogdude left him there and didn't attempt save Gregor even when the commando risked his life to save the alien and a droid. Clone Wars has already proven to me that the people of the Star Wars universe constantly treat living, breathing, humans (clones) as inferior to inanimate, machines (droids). I'm not saying Gregor should have left the droids to be destroyed, clones have constantly shown compassion to all lifeforms or intelligent or semi-intelligent beings. It's just that the fact they could have easily swooped down or perhaps even met him outside of town instead of just flying off without him. I kinda fear for Gregor's life in such a desolate town surrounded by such immoral people. I doubt even the guy he waved at would take him in if he knew who he really was and Borkus' anger against him. I really hope they bring closure to his story and not leave us hanging like they did with the Umbara arc. 

Another thing that kinda took me aback was mention of the Battle of Sarrish. Sorry to kinda spoil it, but as you've probably guessed from my fixation with documenting all of Cody's past, the Battle of Sarrish is one of my books. Though I was unable to find and read the graphic novel this battle gains its story and name from, I did as much research as I could into Cody's profile and that of the planet to find out the stats, geography, people, and even some pages from the graphic novel to bring the story as close as possible to that of the previous installments. Though I greatly elaborate on the 'getting there' and what goes on before the actual battle, I will do a direct scenes from that of graphic novel in order to pay homage to the writers who came up with the idea. :) This episode kinda throws a small wrench in the epicness of my story, though. :L From what we know from Gregor's description, I can no longer create a happy ending and complete victory for Cody or my characters. :( 

There are probably a few ways I could go along with this new knowledge to make it fit my books. The one that seems the most reasonable to both my goals and the consistency of Star Wars (yes, I try very, very hard not to step on people's toes or go against what is said or done in any show, movie, game, or book. ) would be to bring a plot twist in at the end showing the Separatists re-invading Sarrish, thus killing all those men and leading to Gregor's crash. I think it would be a little foolish, on my part to ignore such a good character, especially a fellow 212th clone. I am even considering having him as the perhaps the fifth captain of the 212th (such a strange thought to me, going on for so long with the four captains I've had!) until he goes missing. Therefore I could save the usual characters (those under the other four captains) from such a devastating attack. Like Obi-Wan could order Gregor and his regiment to stay behind at their base and when the majority of the 212th leaves, Gregor and his men could be attacked and wiped out. Then the Council and Chancellor could loose interest in Sarrish because of the numbers of Seps and other battles. I would kinda hate bringing that start of the bitterness between the Jedi and clone troopers that becomes a prominent underlying conflict in my books so early when I want them to at least have some happiness and contentment before what comes later. Also, sorry I've expelled so much of my thoughts of my book here. I couldn't help it though. ;) 

The writers/directors seem too eager to get back to the boring old Jedi-lead (or droid :P ) episodes. It seems like every single clone-centered episode has brought originality, color, and true plotlines back to this series. I sometimes wish they would make an entire, adjacent series just about the clones. Then again, that's something my books cover so if they are ever made into animation (a dream come true!! XD ), we would probably be taken for quite the ride! :D

Villains and Stuff

So yeah, since (once more) it seems like it's been forever since I posted anything on here, I've decided to do another writing tip thingy. :P

To start with, if you know me (which is ok if you don't.....because you probably don't ;) ) you probably know that I am an extremely picky reader. I put down books within the first couple chapters if the main characters aren't doing the things I want them to. I have no idea what makes me such a stickler for books but I suspect writing has something to do with it. Not only do I like books with believable characters (which are pretty hard to find nowadays :( ) but also with plots and storylines that are interesting THE WHOLE TIME and not just part of the time.

One of these important pieces to building a plot worthy of my insane scrutiny is making the problem believable or interesting and likable enough to not be logical but still enjoyable. Often the manifesto of the problem in the story is the villain. Be that evil corrupted robot or xenophobic extremist, this individual (or individuals) I've found are the best written when they are written as what I call "good-bad guys".

"Good-bad guys" are literally villains that aren't completely evil. For example: wicked robot was maltreated by owners thus turning him cruel to others or xenophobic guy witnessed was so brilliantly intelligent but didn't have anything he could find to use his mind for other than creating bio-weapons against aliens. The truth is, is that this directly reflects real life. As you may know, the 'just world bias' ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis ) says it all. The real-life 'bad-guys' aren't like pure evil. They were probably once average people or were driven to the extents they were by their own personal flaws or weaknesses. And in order to make the villains in your stories believable and intriguing, it is often a wise move to make them fit more of a realistic corruption into villainy.

Some great examples I could think of for "good-bad guys" would be people like Mr. Freeze from Batman, Asajj Ventress, or Javert from Les Miserables. I think what makes these villains so awesome was that they got you to question the protagonist's' decisions with dealing with them. They make you wonder what you would do if you were in their shoes. Another thing, these two "good-bad guys" are prime examples of where the hero had to stay their hand and allow these people to live on. I think that's really important, especially in a world where there is so much killing. I place certain higher value on the characters that let the "good-bad guys" live, not only because they've found out what happened to make them villains, but also just because they understand that life is better.

Next time you read a book, look for a "good-bad guy". If they are well-crafted they will make you kinda pity them. They also make the perils of the story so much better! :D