Image Credit: Lucasfilm ltdWe sense a great disturbance in the Force. This Friday, Star Wars: The Clone Wars unleashes its latest villain, Savage Opress. He’s a similarly-horned kinsman of Episode I’s fearsome Sith lord, Darth Maul. But despite his sinister-sounding name — not to mention the episode title, “Monster” — Savage (pronounced Suh-vahj) is one of the most complex baddies Star Wars has ever given us.
That’s due in no small part to actor and vocal performer Clancy Brown’s sensitive take on the character as a tragic pawn of Asajj Ventress and the Nightsisters (surely the name of the next hit indie band) in their vendetta against Count Dooku. To animation buffs, Brown (Highlander, Lost’s Kelvin Inman) is best-loved as the voice of Lex Luthor on Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League, but to voice Savage he drew from one of his earliest live-action roles, that of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, Viktor, in 1985’s The Bride. “I figured Savage was a lot like that voice,” Brown says. “Like Viktor, Savage is an innocent being pulled apart by all these forces outside his control. He gets turned into this horrible monster being used for other people’s ends, without any room for self-examination.” Brown’s intent was “not to make Savage unsympathetic right off the bat, or automatically sympathetic, either,” to show that evil isn’t born, it’s taught.
In this exclusive clip of Friday’s episode, Savage begins the training that can only lead to one place: the Dark Side. And be sure to check out our weekly Clone Wars‘ recaps here.
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Savage Oppress is a running sore, running from himself and society…and yet one day, his scab will heal us all.
I wish the clip had some of Brown’s voice work.
Don’t forget he was the ruthless head prison guard in Shawshank Redemption, too! What a terrific, rich voice!
Speaking of voice work, you would think it would have been mentioned in the article that he is the voice of Mr. Krabs on Spongebob. Ahoy, lads!
You think? Why does every TV critic mention Clancy Brown’s role as the Kurgan instead of chief guard Hadley from The Shawshank Redemption, or as Mr. Krabs? At least this article paid him respect by referencing his work as Lex Luthor…
They had The Clapper™ a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away? Cool.
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I just finished this episode and it’s one of the best so far. I must have been living under a rock or something because I just found out about The Clone Wars TV series. Now that I have Sling technology with DISH Network, I never miss any episodes. I use my iPhone to watch the shows anywhere I have a 3G connection. Being that I am an employee and customer of DISH I can’t recommend the TV Everywhere feature enough to anyone with a busy lifestyle. This is something you can’t do this with U-Verse.
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