Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S3E1 - "Clone Cadets"

Recently, I found a note I made about a detail in The Clone Wars episode "Clone Cadets" (S3E1).  At the time, I decided not to write about it because it seemed too small of a point, but since significant details (especially in Star Wars) are the sort of thing I've been focusing on lately, I thought I'd write about it now.

The episode follows a particular squad of clone troopers (Domino Squad) who are having trouble working together.  While watching the squad perform poorly in a training session, Shaak Ti remarks, "The one they call Echo never adapts to the situation," and the bounty hunter El-Les, who is helping the Jedi train the clones, comments, "CT-782 seems to follow his own path.  He can't do it all alone."  Two other clones argue with each other too much and are shot down by training droids, and the last clone surrenders when he's surrounded.  Shaak Ti then summarizes the squad's problem:  "If these cadets can't get past their short-sighted selfishness, they will never come together.  Unity wins war, gentlemen."

Later in the episode, Commander Colt comes to watch a few squads perform their final tests.  The squads meet him in a hangar, and after Bravo Squad is chosen as the first squad to run the simulation, the clones file out of the hangar.  As each squad turns in formation, the clones stomp their feet, but while the clones in the other squads all stomp their feet simultaneously, the clones of Domino Squad stomp their feet at different times.  In the shot, they're shown from the waist up, so it's easier to hear the various footfalls than see them.

This detail shows that the clones are still a bit too independent and aren't yet working together.

The Terminal

Earlier this week, I watched The Terminal again (because the movie starts around this time of year), and I realized the significance of a detail.

Shortly after the situation with Mr. Milodragovich (which I wrote about a number of years ago), Viktor Navorski shows up at Frank Dixon's office and tries to give him a Virgin Isle sailfish for his wall, apparently trying to mollify Dixon's anger.  Navorski must have remembered the other fish displayed on Dixon's wall, visible in a scene earlier in the movie when the two first meet:

The fish that Navorski offers, however, is considerably larger than Dixon's fish (briefly glimpsed again in this scene as the camera pans with Dixon as he sits down), and this is significant.

Immediately after the problem with Mr. Milodragovich, Dixon had threatened Navorski as a punishment for cheating the system and allowing Mr. Milodragovich to leave with the medicines for his father but without the necessary documentation.  "Do you think this is a game?  Do you think I need an excuse to put you back in that cell, to keep you there for another five years?  You go to war with me, and you go to war with the United States of America."  Dixon made these threats in front of the review board that was there to inspect the airport and assess him for the role of chief field commissioner, a position he's wanted for years, and now he blames Navorski for making him look bad.

In this particular scene, he repeats some of his threats:  "Let me make you a promise, Viktor, and this is a promise that comes from a man who is stuck here, a man who may be stuck here for the next ten years.  From now on, you and I are partners.  If I stay, you stay.  You will not set one foot in New York City, not a single toe in the United States of America.  Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

Navorski answers, "Yes, you don't like [the] fish."

It's sort of a humorous response, but it can also be taken in a somewhat more literal sense.  Dixon doesn't like the fish that Navorski freely offers because it's bigger than any of his own and makes him look bad in comparison, just as he did in front of the review board.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - S5E8 - "Bound for Rescue"

In my latest re-watch of The Clone Wars, I've reached the episode arc in season five where some Jedi younglings go on an expedition to obtain the crystals for their lightsabers but then get attacked by pirates.  In "Bound for Rescue" (S5E8), I saw a detail I'd never noticed before, and while it's not very significant, I thought it was a nice touch, so I'm writing about it.

Ahsoka Tano accompanies the younglings on their expedition, and in the previous episode ("A Test of Strength"), after the pirates attack, she tells them, "Do not, and I mean do not, engage the pirates.  Your only job is to stay hidden."  She manages to get the pirates off the Jedi ship but is captured in the process.  At the beginning of "Bound for Rescue," the younglings' distress call is answered by Obi-Wan Kenobi, who intends to pick them up and then rescue Ahsoka.  He also re-iterates Ahsoka's instruction and tells them, "You will not jeopardize your safety trying to be heroes, understood?"

Damage to the ship forces the younglings to land on Florrum, which is the closest planet and also where the pirates took Ahsoka.  Since Obi-Wan's fleet is held up in a Separatist attack and the younglings are already on Florrum, they decide to rescue Ahsoka themselves.

Eventually, after disguising themselves as circus performers, they're successful in freeing Ahsoka, and as they leave the pirates' base, Ahsoka says, "I could pretend to be angry, but you were all very brave.  Thank you."

When Ahsoka mentions being angry, Byph (the Ithorian on the left) frowns:

But when Ahsoka approves the younglings' actions, Byph smiles:

It's a subtle effect, but it illustrates Byph's feelings very clearly.

Star Wars - Episode III: Revenge of the Sith

After writing about Anakin's body language in a scene in Attack of the Clones, I figured that I might as well also note its significance in a scene in Revenge of the Sith.

At around 53 minutes into the movie, there's a scene in Padmé's apartment where Anakin tells Padmé that he "feel[s] lost" and that the Jedi don't trust him.  Then he says, "I'm not the Jedi I should be.  I want more, and I know I shouldn't."  As he says, "I know I shouldn't," he turns away, as if he can't bear to maintain eye contact with her while admitting this fault.

In the featurette titled "The Chosen One" on the bonus disc from one of my copies of Revenge of the Sith, there's even behind the scenes footage of George Lucas directing this scene, and he specifically tells Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin, to turn away during that line.