smacky and bucky

I picked up volume 2 of Clone Wars last night. I had managed to miss every episode when they aired on Cartoon Network, so it was a completely fresh story to me. This season is better than the last. The First volume consisted of 3-minute "episodes" of action scenes. Episode after episode of fighting, some following the clone troopers, some following different jedi. They were entertaining, but didn't have a lot of plot (and some of them had no dialogue). Watched all at one time, volume 2 is a mini-movie that nicely bridges Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. It also covers important events Lucas couldn't be bothered to include in the movies, such as Annakin reaching the full rank of Jedi, the introduction of General Grievous (and how he got that annoying cough), the abduction of Palpatine, and why most of the jedi were in the "outer rim" when the attack on Courresant went down. In a neat touch, the cartoon ends right where Revenge of the Sith begins: Annakin and Obi Wan flying into battle to rescue Palpatine. I'd say this volume is better than at least one of the three prequel movies, and possibly better than two of them. It depends on how generous I feel toward Attack of the Clones.

Laura also gave me an early Christmas gift: The newest Family Guy box set. No reason for her to give it to me weeks early, she said she just felt like it. What a sweetie. We watched the episode where Lois becomes a kleptomaniac, and, in a scene recalling The Fugitive, she's in the sewer being pursued by cop-neighbor Joe. He's dangling off a waterfall and Lois is trying to pull him up. He tries to encourage her, saying, "Imagine I'm one of your kids." She immediately starts to let go, and he screams, "Not Meg! Not Meg!" Funny, funny stuff.