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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Assassin

Episode No.: 51 (Season 3, Episode 7)
Original Air Date: October 22, 2010
Production No.: 221 (Season 2, Episode 21)

“The future has many paths — choose wisely.”

Written by Katie Lucas
Directed by Kyle Dunlevy
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen

Cast:
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
James Mathis III as Captain Typho and medical droid
Tom Kane as the narrator | Yoda
Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa and Senate Guard #2
Corey Burton as ZIro the Hutt and Senate Guard #1
Jaime King as Aurra Sing
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon
Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
Flo DiRe as Jocasta Nu

Synopsis: Tasked to protect Senator Padmé Amidala during a political mission to Alderaan, Padawan Ahsoka Tano is plagued by recurring visions of recently-deceased bounty hunter, Aurra Sing. Unable to clear her mind, Ahsoka worries that the stress of conflict is finally getting to her until her visions indeed prove prophetic. Padmé narrowly avoids death when Aurra Sing attempts to assassinate her. Together, Padmé and Ahsoka trap the hunter, and Ahsoka discovers the true villain behind the plot to kill Padmé: the incarcerated gangster, Ziro the Hutt.

Recurring Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Padmé Amidala, Aurra Sing, Captain Typho, Bail Organa, Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Jocasta Nu, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Clone Captain Rex, C-3PO, Mon Mothma, Ziro the Hutt

New Characters: Alderaanian citizens

Key Locales: Coruscant, Alderaan

Secrets Revealed

• • This episode, more than others, reveals the convoluted chronology of stories from the first two seasons. The Season Two finale, “Lethal Trackdown,” actually takes place before the Season One finale, “Hostage Crisis.”In a chronological flow of events, the series begins with the action on Christophsis (“Cat and Mouse,” “The Hidden Enemy”), which introduces Ahsoka to the Clone Wars (“The New Padawan,” which was incorporated into feature film). Then, the kidnapping of Rotta the Hutt introduces Ziro the Hutt, and the movie ends with Ziro’s incarceration. Many Season One and Season Two episodes then follow, with Season Two’s trilogy of Boba Fett episodes introducing Aurra Sing into the storyline. The crashing of the Slave I leads the Jedi to mistakenly believe that Aurra is dead, until she surfaces in this episode, which brings back Ziro — chronologically — for the first time since his imprisonment. The story continues in the next Season Three episode, “Evil Plans”, and Aurra will somehow be freed from captivity in time for Cad Bane’s attack on the Senate in Season One’s “Hostage Crisis.” The drama surrounding Ziro and his freedom then picks up in “Hunt for Ziro,” the ninth episode of this season.

• • The dark strip of makeup across Aurra Sing’s eyes is an homage to a similar look worn by Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner.
  • Anakin is assigned to Balith, site of a large-scale civil war, where he will take command of the Third Legion. Privy to the script of this developing episode, the cartographers of The Essential Atlas were able to place Balith in the Inner Rim in the online appendix of worlds long before this episode aired.

Star Wars: The Essential Atlas Online Companion

Update: The massive appendix of all known star systems in the Star Wars galaxy, available in a convenient, printable downloadable PDF document, has been updated.

August 18th, 2009 saw the publication of one of the most eagerly awaited Star Wars reference books, Star Wars: The Essential Atlas. Written by Daniel Wallace and Jason Fry, with illustrations by Ian Fullwood, Modi, Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas, this 244-page book published by Del Rey was years in the making, and is the most exhaustive and detailed attempt ever to map the Star Wars galaxy.

Given how deeply the Star Wars galaxy extends, and how rapidly it expands, the authors have turned to StarWars.com to offer insight and updates on their work. Bookmark this page, as it will become a repository of links for future updates and essential add-ons to this must-have book.

Updates:

The Sectors of the Mid Rim A new supplemental map complete with defined sectors is now available.
The Essential Atlas Extra: The Knight Errant Gazetteer provides a thorough introduction to the layout and circumstances in the Grumani sector, setting to the Knight Errant comics and novel.

The Online Appendix of known systems has been updated to a downloadable PDF format, with the following new systems:

Adana, Adras, Alphoresis, Annamar, Aquilaris Minor, Aridinia, Ashterri’s Cloud, Asuin, Atoa, Bizikia, Blaudu Sextus, Bontormia, Bravis, Caulus Tertius, Cavamina, Chelloa, Cilare, Cirtappa, Cosia, Crelythiumn, D’Nile, Dibrook, Fiviune, Garr’lst, Gazzari, Gorobei, Greeve, Grehollo, Gultanna, Hakara, Heterkus, Hidden Tegoor, Iphar, Javarica, Kamasto, Kant, Katalla, Khramboa, Latza, Letaki, Lola Sayu, Maarka, Maldovea, Malpassia, Manakron, Manoe, Marfa, Miko, Mooga, Murakam, Nakrikal Singularity, New Brampis, Nyemari, Odacer-Faustin, Onderia, Opitha Tren, Otavon, Phatrong, Plunder Moon, Qi Lozar, Quesh, Regulan, Samhar, Savek, Sebbadon, Secundus Ando, Sha’rellia, Shotem, Sixela, Slotern, Stewjon, Tanta Aurek, Tanta Besh, Tartaria, Tedonia, Tergamenion, Terrelia, Thory Prime, Thulia, Udrin Cara, Valsedian, Vartos, Vellas Pavo, Ventruun, Verig, Vo Tunbren, Winnagew, Xandonia.

The following systems have had their information updated: Aargonar, Abaarian, Abbaji, Aida, Aikhibba, Alagon, Alakatha, Alassa Major, Alderath, Alderbathe, Aldin, Almak, Alsakan, Alui, Amorphiia, Anga, Angeria, Anic, Ankus, Annaj, Ansarra, Ansek, Anzat, Aplooine, Ardru, Ariarch-17, Aridka, Arthon, Ast Kikorie, Auril, Azure, Balis-Baurgh, Balowa, Baltizaar, Bandomeer, Bannistar Station, Barcaria, Bars Barka, Bastooine, Baylin Cluster, Beauchen, Bedlam Pulsar, Belshar Othacuu, Belvaria, Benja-Rihn, Berason, Beris, Biravia, Blathar, Blood Nest, Bomodon, Boranall, Boranda, Bortele Cluster, Bresnia, Bryx, Bseto, Burska, Byllura, Byrsym, Cadannia, Caramm, Carbos, Carnth, Casfield, Cataalda, Cerea, Ceti 597, Ch’manss, Chalcedon, Cheelit, Chokan, Chroma Zed, Chryya, Cificap, Cimarosa, Codia, Cols, Contruum, Copperline, Corbett Cluster, Corbos, Cornesia, Corthenia, Corweillia, Crintlia, Cron Drift, Cygnus, D’faria, Daalang, Dagro, Daimar, Dakaret, Dalonia, Dalron, Daminia, Danalbeth, Darie, Darkon, Darlon, Deersheba, Delphania, Demnadi, Deneba, Denebrilla, Dennaskar, Denon, Denubba, Devros, Deylerax, Diado, Din Nebula, Din Pulsar, Diorda, Dithanune, Dlor, Doaskin, Dohlban, Dohnia, Dohu, Doldrums, Dononter Minor, Dor Nameth, Dorajan, Dractu, Draik, Dressel, Duron, Echnos, Eedoq, Eeyyon, Eiattu, Eidoloni, Elbara, Elriss, Enarc, Endor, Endor Gate, Endovan, Enferm, Eres, Eriscot, Euceron, Evas, Fait d’Fait, Farquar, Farseen, Farstine, Farwell Station, Fendry, Ferijia (was Ferjia), Feris, Firrerre, Fodurant, Forntay, Fradian, Freda, Frithia, Fusai, Galboron, Gallion, Gammalin, Gansett, Ganzik, Garcornia, Garos, Gascon, Gavryn, Gazzari Minor (was Gazzari), Geal, Gendius, Gerinia, Geris, Gerres Gule, Geska Prime, Gestron, Ggy-ynt, Ghishi, Gilatter, Glee Anselm, Gosfambling, Graador, Grakouine, Grimwald, Gultanna, Gwar, Habassa, Hallitron, Halm, Haluria, Hapuntep, Har Binade, Harpori, Haruun Kal, Haseria, Hathrox, Haurgab, Herdessa, Hewl, Hirsi, Hitaka, Holess, Homana, Horos, Houche, Hoylin, Hurd’s Moon, Hypotria, Iast, Ichtor, Ilimardon, Ingo, Iridia, Iska, Iskalon, Iskin, Italbos, Ixtlar, Jabor, Jaloria, Jante, Japai, Jendiria, Jeyell, Jiann, Jidlor, Jmin, Jolia, Joralla, Jutrand, Kabray, Kaelinn, Kalaan, Kaliida Nebula, Kaliida Shoals, Kalkovak, Katanos, Katarr, Kaump, Keitum, Kem Stor Ai, Kholes, Khorm, Killaniri, Killisu, Kishpaugh, Kiva, Klaymor, Koba, Kolos, Kordu, Korvaii, Kostra, Kreeling, Kril’Dor, Kriselist, Krnay, Kromus, Krykas, Ksiczzic, Kuna’s Eye, Kuna’s Fist, Kuna’s Horn, Kuna’s Tail, Kuna’s Tooth, Kwannot, Kyrska, Lahsbane, Lannik, Lanos, Lanthe, Leresen, Likasha, Linuri, Lisal, Lofquar, Loken, Lomabu, Londor, Lopor Station, Loposi, Lorahns, Lorista, Lorta, Low’n, Luuq, Mackar, Maerdocia, Maltorian, Manda, Maro Della, Marzoon, Masgen, Masposhani, Masterra, Mauk, Maya Kovel, Medepiest, Medth, Meedis Minor, Mektrun Cluster, Mendacia, Mengjini, Meruud, Mes Cavoli, Meshakia, Metalorn, Mhatma, Mis-Tenek, Miztoc, Moer, Mon Torri, Monastery, Monsua Nebula, Morado, Mordis, Moro, Msst, Muntuur, Murk, Myomar, Naalol, Nanth’ri, Narrant, Nath Goordi, Nativum, Nauton, Necr’ygor, Nelvana Gas Cluster, Nerrif, New Holstice, Nexus Ortai, Nibiru, Nicandra, Nilash, Nilg, Nilgaria, Ninzam, Nirellia, Nixor, No-ad, Nooli, Nopsin, Notak, Nuala, Null, Nuralee, Nuvar, Nyarikan Nebula, Nymalia, Nyriaan, Obica, Octavia, Ogden Minor, Old Mankoo, Ookbat, Ooo-sek, Opari, Opatajji, Opiteihr, Oranessan, Ord Dorlass, Ord Dycoll, Ord Namurt, Ord Segra, Ord Tiddell, Ord Varee, Ord Wylan, Oriolanis, Orkellia, Orleon, Orocco, Osskorn, Ovise, Paradise Station, PDC3141-02, Peluchia, Pendal, Peregrine’s Nest, Peridon’s Folly, Petabys Station, Phaegon, Phibia, Phr’sha, Porchello, Pothor, Primtara, Pugal, Pyjridj, Qeimet (was Qeimat), Qina, Quadrant Seven, Quaensan Prime, Quamar, Quilan, Randor, Ragna, Raquish, Rathalay, Regulgo, Remmon Nebula, Resilon, Retep, Rettna, Riflor, Roche, Rodis, Rokaria, Romin, Rustibar, Ryndellia, Ryyk Nebula, Sabrash, Santheria, Sanyassa, Sarka, Sayblohn, Sedesia, Seltos, Semag, Serenity, Sev Tok, Shador, Shalm, Sif’kric, Silvestri (was Sivestri), Sinded, Sinton, Skorrupon, Skuumaa, Somov Rit, Sorotarr, Space Station Trenchant, Starlyte Station, Surcaris, T’olan, Tabiid, Talay, Talcene, Talesia, Tantajo, Tao-Grant, Tarchalia, Taronda, Tartaglia, Tascollan Nebula (was Tascollen), Tashtor Seneca, Tay’ah’loo, Tendo, Thairwsthis, Thaldo, Thape, Tharados, Theal, Thennqor, Therenor, Thodia, Thokosia, Thonner, Threfal, Thrynka, Tibrin, Tirac Munda, Tomark, Torrad, Toskhowwl, Tourani, Tramanos, Trasse, Traval-Pecor, Triffis, Trindello, Turak, Tyan, Tyria, Tyus Cluster, Uba, Ubertica, Ultaar, Umgul, Upell, UR-1060, UR-2650, UR-3741, UR-8827, UR-9353, Uridia, Ursellin, Urun, Va’art, Vaced, Varvva, Vasha, Vectinia, Velmor, Velossia, Venaari, Vendusii, Vensor, Ventran, Veron Minor, Verossia, Vessitoar, Vex, Vidicx, Viidaav, Vishay, Vogel, Vondarc, Voniss, Vorkaa, Vretha, Vulta, VV-99-7JE-2N71, Wen’he’dinae, Werta, Whinndor, Wyveral, Xal, Xanas, Xoemefel, Xorao, Yagara, Yankirk, Yartiga, Yde, Yeshocq, Yout, Zchtek, Zelos, Zeolosia, Ziost, Zorbia, Zuliria, Zygia

• The visions that Ahsoka has feature the same distorted effect as Anakin’s visions in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith .
• At one point in early story development, Ahsoka visited Boba Fett in jail to ask for details about Aurra Sing.
• Among the criminals on Ahsoka’s computer screen in the library are Bannamu (“last seen on Rodia. Wanted for armed robbery”) and Maysano (“last seen on Rodia. Wanted for murder”) and Aurra Sing.
• The dejarik holographic chess game makes a return appearance in The Clone Wars. It is also seen in the episode “The Deserter.”
• The helmets used by the Alderaanian guards have a similar tear-drop shaped domes later seen on Rebel Alliance fleet troopers aboard Princess Leia’s blockade runner in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

(*Archived here with Permission utilising The Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Corruption

Episode No.: 49 (Season 3, Episode 5)
Original Air Date: October 8, 2010
Production No.: 304 (Season 3, Episode 4)

“The challenge of hope is to overcome corruption.”

Written by Cameron Litvack
Directed by Giancarlo Volpe

Cast:
Anna Graves as Satine Kryze and the Minister of Finance
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala and Minister
Corey Burton as Minister of the Interior, Dr. Zaz and Siddiq
Dee Bradley Baker as Moogan captain, Guard #1, and Superintendent
Julian Holloway as Prime Minister Almec and Guard #2
Gregory Baldwin as Moogan crew member, Mandalorian, and customs officer
Tom Kane as the narrator, police captain, and orderly

Synopsis: Padmé, on a diplomatic mission to Mandalore, guarantees the pacifist planet the Republic’s full protection, but she and Duchess Satine soon find something sinister lurking beneath the planet’s serene facade. Moogan smugglers have been sneaking in supplies, including bottled tea destined for the Mandalorian schools. To increase their profits, they have been diluting the tea with a hazardous chemical.

Returning Characters: Senator Padmé Amidala, Duchess Satine Kryze, Prime Minister Almec

New Characters: Moogan captain and smugglers; Doctor Zak Zaz; Siddiq; Mandalorian police captain; Mandalorian ministers

Secrets Revealed

• The tall alien smugglers with the pharoah-like headdresses are called Moogans. None of the individual characters are named in this episode.
• The two unnamed politicians bickering in Satine’s throne room are the Minister of Finance (the woman), and the Minister of the Interior (the man).
• True the cubist design prevalent throughout Mandalore, even their food is cube-shaped — though Satine and Amidala’s dinner plates also include the previously used fried nuna leg model.
• The doctor’s full name, in the script, is Zak Zaz.
• The bottles of tea say “Ardees Beverage” on it, a nod to a drink established in Episode II. Originally, Obi-Wan was to order a cup of ardees in Dex’s Diner, but that dialogue was changed to “Jawa Juice” before the movie’s release.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Sphere of Influence

Episode No.: 48 (Season 3, Episode 4)
Original Air Date: October 1, 2010
Production No.: 225 (Season 2, Episode 25)

“A child stolen is a lost hope.”

Written by Katie Lucas, Steven Melching
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Kyle Dunlevy

Cast:
Jennifer Hale as Senator Riyo Chuchi and Trella Bare’Ah
Corey Burton as Chairman Papanoida, Count Dooku and Sib Canay
Seth Green as Ion Papanoida
Tom Kenny as Lt. Tan Divo, Greedo, and Trade Federation envoy
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano and Twi’lek dancer #1
Nika Futterman as Chi Eekway Papanoida and TC-70
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker and Neimoidian guard
Gideon Emery as Lott Dod and Gotal
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala
Kevin M. Richardson as Jabba the Hutt
Meredith Salenger as Che Amanwe Papanoida and Twi’lek dancer #2
Tom Kane as the narrator
Matthew Wood as battle droids
David Acord as Rotta and Brainee

Synopsis: Chi Eekway and Che Amanwa, Chairman Papanoida’s daughters, are kidnapped and held for ransom. Ahsoka Tano teams up with the Senator from Pantora, Riyo Chuchi, to aid the new chairman in recovering his family before the Trade Federation can unduly influence the future of his planet.

The Chairman and his son, Ion, track down the kidnapper — Greedo — on Tatooine, and rescue Che Amanwe. Meanwhile, Ahsoka and Chuchi find Chi Eekway held captive aboard a blockading Trade Federation battleship over Pantora, and expose Trade Federation officer Sib Canay as a Separatist conspirator.

Returning Characters: Senator Riyo Chuchi, Senator Lott Dod, Senator Padmé Amidala, Jabba the Hutt, Anakin Skywalker, Clone Captain Rex, Lt. Tan Divo, Rotta the Hutt, TC-70

New Characters: Chairman Papanoida, Chi Eekway Papanoida, Che Amanwe Papanoida, Ion Papanoida, Sib Canay, Greedo, Trella Bare’Ah.

Secrets Revealed

• Chairman Papanoida is based on George Lucas’ cameo appearance in the opera house scene in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith. Papanoida’s family members are based on Lucas’ children. Given the amount of dialogue delivered by Papanoida, voice actor Corey Burton plays the role, who gives a nod to the character’s roots by basing his voice on another famous director, Orson Welles.
• Chi Eekway Papanoida is based on Katie Lucas, the writer of this episode, who also appeared in Episode III as the Senator of Pantora. Hasbro previously released a Chi Eekway action figure, and incorrectly speculated that the blue-skinned Senator might have had Twi’lek head-tails under her heavy robes. Katie also appeared as a purple Twi’lek nightclub patron in Episode II, and Anakin’s friend Amee in Episode I.
• Che Amanwe Papanoida is based on Amanda Lucas. She had previously appeared in the live action movies as Senator Terr Taneel (in Episode III), a nightclub patron named in Episode II, the voice of Neimoidian pilot Tey How in Episode I, and a spectator in Jabba the Hutt’s box at the Podrace arena.
• Ion Papanoida is based on Jett Lucas. Jett’s name was the inspiration for Dexter Jettster in Episode II. Jett has previously appeared in the live action movies as Zett Jukassa in Episodes II and III.
• Though not technically visited in the course of the episode, images of Pantora appear during the newsreel narration.

• Lott Dod makes reference to the “Treaty of 1647,” a legal covenant that assures the Trade Federation’s neutrality. No hint is given, however, of what calendar this may refer to.
• If you thought you spotted Senator Onaconda Farr roaming the Senate hallways, you’re correct. This episode takes place before the Rodian Senator’s death in “Senate Murders.”
• Embo and Sugi from the season two episode “Bounty Hunters” have cameo appearances inside Jabba the Hutt’s palace.

• In the 1990s, the book Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina told a different tale of Greedo’s past that presented him as a misguided youth orphaned by Rodian clan wars and corrupted by bounty hunters. George Lucas’ take on the character established Greedo on Tatooine as of Episode I (he’s around Anakin’s age, and seen scuffling with Skywalker in a deleted scene included in the Episode I DVD) and the Rodian has pretty much always been a luckless thug.
• Ion calls Greedo “sleemo,” which is Huttese for “slimeball.”
• The Twi’lek dancer who aids Baron Papanoida in finding Greedo is unnamed in the episode, though she is identified as Trella Bare’Ah in the script and credits.
• Rodians have green blood.
• Also seen, but without speaking roles, are Orn Free Taa, Chancellor Palpatine, Mas Amedda and Captain Typho.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Supply Lines

Episode No.: 47 (Season 3, Episode 3)
Original Air Date: September 24, 2010
Production No.: 224 (Season 2, Episode 24)

“Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Written by Steven Melching, Eoghan Mahony
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Brian Kalin O’Conell

Cast:
Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa, Orn Free Taa, and TX-20
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers, Toydarian minister #2
Brian George as King Katuunko, male Twi’lek
Robin Atkin Downes as Master Di, Cham Syndulla, and Toydarian minister #1
Gideon Emery as Lott Dod and Toydarian guard
Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks and Toydarian defense minister
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Admiral Dao
Terrence Carson as Mace Windu and Toydarian justice minister
Corey Burton as Count Dooku and Gobi Glie
Tom Kane as Yoda | narrator
Matthew Wood as battle droids

Synopsis: Ryloth is under siege. Trapped on the surface, Jedi Master Di rallies the local forces with the help of Cham Syndulla. Desperate to save them, the Jedi Council dispatches Senator Bail Organa and Representative Jar Jar Binks to the planet Toydaria, where they are to convince the neutral regent, King Katuunko, to send aid to Ryloth. Bail and Jar Jar must convince Toydaria that their cause is just — before it’s too late. Trade Federation envoy Lott Dod attempts to prevent the Toydarians from giving up their neutrality. Katuunko follows his conscience and secretly aids the Republic, which Jar Jar is able to keep secret from the snooping Trade Federation agents with his inimitable distractions.

Returning Characters: Bail Organa, Jar Jar Binks, King Katuunko, TX-20, Lott Dod, Cham Syndulla, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu, Gobi Glie, Count Dooku, Senator Orn Free Taa, battle droids

New Characters: Clone Captain Keeli, Jedi Master Di, Admiral Dao, Toydarian ministers

Key Locales: Ryloth, Toydaria

Secrets Revealed

• This episode is a prequel to “Ambush,” the Season One premiere, as well as the Ryloth Trilogy that ended the first season. It establishes how King Katuunko was convinced enough to meet with Jedi Master Yoda, and the Republic effort that assisted Cham Syndulla. In sequence, “Supply Lines” would be followed by “Ambush,” “Storm Over Ryloth,” “Innocents of Ryloth” and “Liberty on Ryloth.”
• The name of Jedi Master Di was deliberately chosen to foreshadow his grim fate. His full name, Ima-Gun Di is a pun on “I’m gonna die.” Slightly less direct is Admiral Dao, whose name is an anagram of D.O.A., or dead-on-arrival.
• Jedi Master Di is a Nikto, a species first introduced in Star Wars: Episode V Return of the Jedi as underlings of Jabba the Hutt. Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones revealed that not all Nikto end up in the underworld, as several Nikto are seen among the Jedi Knights in the Geonosian arena.
• At this point in the Clone Wars, Lott Dodd continues to claim neutrality in the war, despite Nute Gunray’s defection to the Separatist Alliance. Dodd claims that the Trade Federation — an immense corporate body that profits from the war — is no longer under Gunray’s influence.
• Lott Dod makes mention of the Separatist Senate. This civilian political arm of the Confederacy, not yet seen in the series, will play an important rule in future episodes.
• The fluttering nature of the Toydarians is repeated throughout their environment, with hovering tables and buildings being common.
• Admiral Dao’s design closely resembles the side-burn wearing British extras hired to play Imperial officers in the 1970s for Star Wars. His animation model consists of Admiral Yularen’s body, and a recycled head from a Mandalorian citizen customized with a unique hair-do.

• Bail Organa’s starship (the Tantive IV as it is named in the Expanded Universe) is built to more precisely resemble the model used at the start of A New Hope as Princess Leia’s ship. As such, it is not the same vessel that appears in Episode III, which was depicted by a computer-generated model with numerous architectural differences from the Episode IV version. Although many books that accompanied the release of Episode III claimed that the ship seen in Revenge of the Sith was the Tantive IV, that vessel that Bail pilots from Coruscant to Alderaan has since been identified as the Sundered Heart. The illustration below, from DK’s Star Wars Blueprints: Rebel Edition, shows the difference between the two designs. The Episode III ship is on the top, the Episode IV and Clone Wars ship is on the bottom.

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: ARC Troopers

Episode No.: 46 (Season 3, Episode 2)
Original Air Date: September 17, 2010
Production No.: 302 (Season 3, Episode 2)

“Fighting a war tests a soldier’s skills, defending his home tests a soldier’s heart.”

Written by Cameron Litvack
Directed by Kyle Dunlevy

Cast:
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers | aqua droid
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi | computer
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker | TV-94B
Matthew Wood as General Grievous | battle droids
Tasia Valenza as Shaak Ti
Bob Bergen as Lama Su
Tom Kane as Narrator | Admiral Yularen
Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress
Daniel Logan as clone cadets

Synopsis: The Republic learns of an impending Separatist attack on Kamino, and Anakin and Obi-Wan hurry to the planet. After the Republic repulses the Separatists’ diversionary assault, the real attack begins. Asajj Ventress, General Grievous and an army of droids rise out of the oceans, bent on destroying Kamino’s clone production facilities. Rex, Cody, Fives and Echo lead the clones in a desperate defense of their home planet.

Returning Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clone Commander Cody, Clone Captain Rex, Trooper Fives, Trooper Echo, 99, Asajj Ventress, General Grievous, Shaak Ti, Lama Su, Admiral Yularen, Pilot Broadside, clone cadets,R2-D2

New Characters: Separatist aqua droids, tactical droid TV-94

Key Locales: Kamino (Tipoca City)

Secrets Revealed

• This episode is a sequel to “Rookies,” a popular Season One episode that depicts Domino Squad stationed at Rishi Base. At one point, the action was to have flowed directly from the events of “Rookies,” but it was instead moved later down the timeline to give troopers Echo and Fives more experience prior to their promotion to ARC troopers.
• Asajj Ventress’s squid-like Trident ship makes a return appearance. It first debuted in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated feature, where it was shown capturing Jabba the Hutt’s sail barge in order to kidnap Rotta the Hutt. It was again briefly glimpsed in the Season One episode, “The Hidden Enemy.”
• Fives and Echo have decals on their armor commemorating Hevy’s sacrifice on the Rishi Moon. It is an illustration of a Z-6 rotary blaster cannon with the words “FOR HEVY” written in Aurebesh.
• Clone pilot Broadside was last seen in the Season One episode “Shadow of Malevolence“.
• This episode depicts the first time General Grievous has met Asajj Ventress face-to-face.

• The design of the aiwhas — or flying whales — dates back to the production of The Empire Strikes Back. Concept illustrator Ralph McQuarrie first drew flying whale-like creatures to inhabit the clouds of Bespin. Abandoned for Episode V, they were sketched as possible creatures in Return of the Jedi and then as a concept mount for the Gungans of Naboo in Episode I. They were finally shown on screen as creatures found in Kamino’s oceans in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones in 2002.
• Though not directly seen on screen, General Grievous arrives on the surface amid the debris dropped from the orbiting Separatist cruisers.
• The series once again ensures that Anakin Skywalker and General Grievous do not cross paths. As explained in dialog in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, they do not meet until after the death of Count Dooku.
• The design of the aqua droids allows for their feet to collapse and function as propellers

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Clone Cadets

Episode No.: 45 (Season 3, Episode 1)
Original Air Date: September 17, 2010
Production No.: 301 (Season 3, Episode 1)

“Brothers in arms are brothers for life.”

Written by Cameron Litvack
Directed by Dave Filoni

Cast:
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers
Larry Brandenburg as Bric
Nolan North as El-Les
Tasia Valenza as Shaak Ti
Bob Bergen as Lama Su
Tom Kane as Narrator

Synopsis: Five headstrong clones struggle to complete their training on Kamino. These cadets — Hevy, Cutup, Droidbait, Fives and Echo — seem to be a “bad batch” and are unable to work as a team. As Shaak Ti and drill instructors Bric and El-Les debate the cadets’ fate, the clones learn to work together and accept their destiny as soldiers.

Returning Characters: Fives, Echo, Hevy, Droidbait, Cutup

New Characters: 99, Shaak Ti, Bric, El-Les, Lama Su, training droids (battle droid, super battle droids, commando droid), Commander Colt, ARC Troopers

Key Locales: Kamino

Secrets Revealed

• This episode is a prequel to “Rookies,” a popular Season One episode that depicts Domino Squad stationed at Rishi Base. It explains the origins of the nicknames used by Hevy, Droidbait, Echo, Cutup and Fives.
• The design of the clone training armor was inspired by old battered leather football gear. For those keeping track, the Domino Squad team numbering is as follows: 1. Hevy (CT-782); 2. Droidbait (CT-00-2010); 3. Echo (CT-21-0408); 4. Cutup (CT-4040) 5. Fives (CT-27-5555).
• The citadel challenge ordered by Commander Colt — version THX variable 1138 — is a not-so-subtle entry in the long history of THX 1138 references in Star Wars. See this article for more.
• The designs for the clone barracks dates back to concepts developed for Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, which were explored by the concept design team back in 2000, but never finished.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Lethal Trackdown

Episode No.: 44 (Season 2, Episode 22)
Original Air Date: April 30th, 2010
Production No.: 220 (Season 2, Episode 20)

Written by Dave Filoni, Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Dave Filoni

Episode Brief: After combing the Coruscant underworld for a young fugitive, Plo Koon and Ahsoka pursue him to Florrum for a climactic confrontation.

Key Characters: Plo Koon, Ahsoka Tano, Aurra Sing, Boba Fett, Bossk, Hondo Ohnaka, Castas, Mace Windu, Anakin Skywalker, Admiral Kilian

Key Locales: Coruscant, Florrum

Cast:
James Arnold Taylor as Plo Koon, Fong Do and Thug #3
Jaime King as Aurra Sing and droid
Daniel Logan as Boba Fett
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
Jim Cummings as Hondo Ohnaka
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers, Bossk and Thug #2
Core Burton as Pirate and Bartender
Robin Atkin Downes as Castas
Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker and Thug #1
Julian Holloway as Admiral Kilian
Tom Kane as Narrator and Thug #4

Notable: First series visit into the Coruscant underworld; season finale

Full Synopsis:

“Revenge is a confession of pain.”

Newsreel:
Lethal trackdown! The young Boba Fett
has taken the law into his own hands and
made two attempts on the life of Mace
Windu, the Jedi Master who killed his
father. Boba’s mentor, bounty hunter
Aurra Sing, has taken three Republic
officers hostage in an effort to force
Windu to face Boba on their terms, a
tactic that does not sit well with the
young vigilante….

A restless Boba Fett leaves the cockpit of the Slave I and checks on the bound and gagged Republic hostages. He loosens the gag on Admiral Kilian and offers the older officer a drink of water. Kilian tries to appeal to Fett’s sense of decency, which agitates the boy. Aurra Sing barges in and begins beating the prisoners.

Meanwhile, in the Jedi Temple medical bay, Anakin and Mace share a recovery room. Skywalker suggests that Mace be proactive in tracking down Boba Fett, but Windu has no inclination to make a priority out of a personal vendetta. Plo Koon and Ahsoka Tano enter with news that they have received a transmission from the bounty hunters.

Master Plo plays the hologram of Boba and Aurra, armed, standing over the trio of Republic hostages. Boba calls out Mace specifically, ordering him to face him. Aurra orders Boba to kill one of the hostages, but the boy hesitates. Aurra has no delay. She shoots Commander Ponds, killing him.

Mace shows a renewed determination, but Plo Koon rightly says that Windu is too injured to travel. The masked Jedi Master will take up this assignment, with Ahsoka Tano by his side.

Aboard the Slave I, Aurra scolds Boba for not carrying through on her orders. The bounty hunters eject Ponds’ lifeless body into the void of space before setting course for Florrum. Castas has had enough of this caper, and wants out. Disgusted by the spineless Klatooinian, Sing agrees to drop Castas off at their next destination.

On Coruscant, Master Plo identified one of the hunters in the hologram as Aurra Sing, a former associate of Jango Fett, and is following leads to any of Jango’s compatriots. This leads Ahsoka and Plo beneath the planet’s cosmopolitan surface. They ride an airspeeder into an enormous ventilation shaft that leads into the heart of the Coruscant underworld.

ACT II

Master Plo and Ahsoka pass through the entry terminal 24, a dock on the inner wall of the enormous ventilation shaft, and head deeper into areas known to once be frequented by Jango Fett. Meanwhile, the Slave I touches down on Florrum, and Aurra Sing gets reacquainted with Hondo Ohnaka, someone she has dated in the past. Hondo is pleased to see her, and greets Boba, telling the boy that he knew his father as an honorable man.

Hondo leads Boba, Aurra and Castas to a bar, where Castas parts company to make a long-distance call on a public holo-transceiver. The Klatooinian calls Fong Do, a Nautolan, and reports that his working arrangement with Aurra Sing has gone sour. Aurra overhears this conversation and shoots Castas dead before her former partner is able to sell her out. Fett witness this with great misgivings.

On Coruscant, Plo and Ahsoka inspect the fifth Coruscant tavern in the row. Plo Koon cautions Ahsoka to be cautious and try to remain subtle, and to keep her ears open for any clues. Master Plo speaks with the multi-armed bartender, Tiggs Leo, while Ahsoka eavesdrops into the various booths. She overhears a Nautolan talking to a Weequay about a murdered comrade on Florrum. The Nautolan mentions Aurra Sing’s name before spotting Ahsoka lurking.

The thugs try to pin the Padawan but she escapes their grasp. Fong Do pulls out a pair of knives while other thugs nearby brandish blaster pistols. The room is suddenly silenced as Plo Koon ignites his lightsaber blade and orders the thugs to stand down. As a distraction, Ahsoka reaches into her tunic and pulls out a handful of credits, throwing them into the crowd. Though Plo chides Ahsoka for her un-subtle ways, she nonetheless has provided a solid lead to Florrum.

ACT III

On Florrum, Aurra brings Hondo up to speed on her predicament with Boba’s vendetta and the Republic hostages. Hondo offers no help, but also says he does not plan to hinder Aurra either — he will remain neutral in her affairs. Bossk radios Aurra Sing to report the approach of a Jedi shuttle. She orders Bossk to take the Slave I to the outskirts of the settlement. Boba is eager to face Mace Windu, whom he assumes is aboard the shuttle.

Plo Koon and Ahsoka land on Florrum. They are greeted by Hondo, who states plainly that Aurra Sing awaits them in the tavern. Hondo makes it clear he is not in on the deal. Plo Koon enters, and finds Aurra seated alone at the table. Sing is disappointed that it is not Mace Windu. Boba emerges from the shadows and holds a gun to Plo Koon’s head. Plo hardly seems worried.

Aurra contacts Bossk at the Slave I, telling him to execute the hostages of she gives the word. Ahsoka springs from the shadows with her lightsaber ignited and shears off Aurra’s cranial antenna. She holds Aurra at lightsaber-point. It’s a stand off.

Boba fires at Ahsoka, forcing her to deflect the blast. That frees Aurra to fire off a pair of rocket darts from her boot, but Plo Koon slams the table up, blocking the projectiles. Aurra stands and draws both her blasters, unleashing a barrage on Ahsoka. Plo knocks aside Boba, and Force-pushes the table between Ahsoka and Aurra. Master Plo cuts apart Aurra Sing’s weapons, and orders her to surrender. Boba Fett throws a bomb into the fray, letting Sing escape.

Sing runs away, and Boba tries to follow, but Plo Koon Force-pulls him back. To Fett’s shock, Aurra keeps running, leaving him behind. The bounty hunter jumps on a speeder bike, and Ahsoka does likewise, giving chase into the desert badlands.

Plo tries to get Boba Fett to reveal the location of the hostages, but Fett refuses. Hondo Ohnaka advises Fett to do so, as it is what Jango would have wanted.

Aurra and Ahsoka twist and turn through the canyons of Florrum. Plo Koon transmits the coordinates of the hostages to Ahsoka. She breaks her chase, and speeds to the Slave I, where she fires her bike’s laser cannons at Bossk, causing the lizard to drop his guard on the prisoners. Ahsoka frees the hostages, who promptly hold Bossk at gunpoint.

Aurra Sing comes crashing into the scene and dashes aboard the Slave I, powering up the ship for launch. Ahsoka jumps onto it as it lifts off. She slices off on the ship’s stabilizers with her lightsaber. Aurra loses control of the Slave I and it crashes into the canyons.

Some time later, Boba Fett and Bossk are marched into a Republic prison on Coruscant. Fett is unrepentant. The shackled boy sees Mace Windu, and says he will never forgive the Jedi.

Trivia & Details

• Anakin’s stance at the window in the Jedi Temple medical bay — standing straight with arms clasped behind his back — is one he is seen adopting in Episode II and mirrors a pose commonly held by Darth Vader.
• The customs droid (voiced by Jaime King) at the entry turnstile on Coruscant’s lower levels has a readout screen that displays, in Aurebesh, the text: “GALACTIC REPUBLIC CUSTOMS of CORUSCANT”
• The small hover taxi that Plo Koon and Ahsoka Tano take on Coruscant is a re-use of a similar vehicle found on Mandalore in “The Mandalore Plot.”
• Hondo Ohnaka’s compound on Florrum is filled with military surplus, including Republic attack gunship wings and artillery guns.
• The bug-eyed RA-7 droid in the Weequay bar squawks an alien gibberish very similar to what the “Death Star Droid” in the sandcrawler says to R2-D2 in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope.
• The nightclub on Coruscant is filled with posters of various female pin-up models, including a rather voluptuous and sultry Hutt.

Memorable Quotes

“I know a good soldier when I see one.” — Admiral Kilian to Boba Fett

“I’m still in. I’ve got a lot riding on this kill, and I need the cash.” — Bossk

“Why head to the one place we know he’s not.” — Plo Koon, on not going to Vanqor to find Fett

“Couldn’t handle her, could you? Well, don’t be ashamed. You’re not the first man to bail out from under her command.” — Hondo Ohnaka to Castas about Aurra Sing

“Not mine, I take it?” — Hondo Ohnaka to Aurra Sing about Boba Fett

“Hey, hey, somebody scrape that guy off the floor. He sprung a leak.” — Hondo Ohnaka, about the recently killed Castas

• “I am prepared to kill you, the hostages, whatever it takes to get what Boba wants.”
• “Sounds more like what you want.” — Aurra Sing and Plo Koon

SEASON 3 COMING VERY SOON!

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: R2 Come Home

Episode No.: 43 (Season 2, Episode 21)
Original Air Date: April 30th, 2010
Production No.: 218 (Season 2, Episode 18)

Written by Eoghan Mahony
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Giancarlo Volpe

Episode Brief: When a band of bounty hunters leads Anakin and Mace into a deadly trap on Vanqor, it’s up to R2-D2 to battle his way back to Coruscant and warn the Jedi.
Key Characters: R2-D2, Boba Fett, Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, Aurra Sing, Castas, Bossk
Key Locales: Vanqor

Cast:
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
Jaime King as Aurra Sing
Daniel Logan as Boba Fett
Robin Atkin Downes as Castas
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers and Bossk
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
James Arnold Taylor as Plo Koon
Tom Kane as Narrator

Notable: Reappearance of Jango Fett’s helmet; first Basic dialogue from Bossk

Full Synopsis:

“Adversity is friendship’s truest test.”

Newsreel:
Revenge! Boba Fett, son of the notorious
bounty hunter Jango Fett, infiltrated a
Jedi cruiser in an attempt to assassinate
General Mace Windu, the man who killed
his father.

After a near miss at Windu’s quarters,
Boba was forced to destroy the cruiser
and escape with the help of notorious
bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Now, having
lost contact with Admiral Kilian when
his doomed starship crashed, the Jedi
search for survivors with aid of a
Republic rescue ship….

ACT I

A Republic medical frigate gathers the scattered escape pods suspended in orbit over Vanqor as Mace and Anakin disengage their hyperdrive rings and plunge their starfighters into the planet’s atmosphere. The Endurance has carved an enormous furrow into Vanqor’s crystalline landscape, leaving debris scattered for kilometers. The cruiser is a smoldering wreck, but the bridge appears mostly intact atop the ship’s canted conning tower.

Mace and Anakin land their starfighters away from the shaky wreckage, and proceed on foot. Their astromech droids accompany them, R2-D2 with Anakin and R8-B7 with Mace. Artoo is jittery, worried about what the ruins may conceal. Mace has some misgivings about the eccentricities exhibited by Skywalker’s droid, but he presses ahead. R8 finds an opening amid the rubble that will lead them to the bridge.

Inside the shattered hull, Artoo finds the bodies of two dead clones. Mace inspects them, finding blaster marks that reveal these troopers did not die in the crash — they were assassinated. It appears Mace’s would-be killer is still at large. Windu and Skywalker continue into the ship, leaving their droids to scan for survivors. They find more clone bodies, also shot, but no sign of Admiral Kilian or Commander Ponds. Declaring them lost, Mace orders the orbiting medical frigate to return to Coruscant with the wounded.

Outside, the astromech droids are suddenly attacked by vicious gundarks. Two of the creatures tear R8 apart, and swat Artoo about.

Anakin is surprised to find an incongruous relic amid the wreckage of the bridge: a blue and silver Mandalorian helmet. As Skywalker approaches, Mace begins to piece together the clues. He recognizes the helmet: it is that of Jango Fett, the man he killed on Geonosis. He realizes that Boba Fett was one of the clone cadets aboard the Endurance. He Force-pulls Anakin away from the booby-trapped helmet, just as it explodes, shattering the bridge.

The debris of the bridge comes crashing down outside, crushing one of the gundarks, and frightening the other away, sparing R2-D2 a gruesome fate.

Some distance away, this explosion is watched intently through a pair of electrobinoculars. Boba Fett sees his trap sprung. With him stand a trio of bounty hunters: the wicked Aurra Sing, the laconic Bossk and the ever-annoyed Castas.

ACT II

Boba wants to ensure that Mace is dead, and wants to see the body. Castas loathes everything about this assignment. He hates that Aurra Sing is putting so much stock into the boy’s vendetta, but the job promises a hefty sum from the Separatists if the hunters are able to prove the death of two Jedi generals. Aurra, Castas and Boba hop atop speeder bikes and flit to the wreckage to confirm the deaths, while Bossk is left to watch over their hostages: Admiral Kilian, Commander Ponds, and a clone navigation officer from the Endurance.

R2-D2, freed from pursuing gundarks, rockets up to the shattered bridge. He finds Anakin pinned under heavy debris. Artoo tries to clear some of the wreckage, but that causes the whole bridge to tremble. The ship is barely holding together. Anakin weakly tells Artoo to return to the fighters and contact the Jedi Temple for help.

Artoo spots the bounty hunter speeder bikes approaching. Castas, Aurra and Boba begin carefully climbing their way into the ruins of the Endurance. Artoo mischievously rains down debris and activates blast doors to stymie their progress. When the droid drops a discarded thermal detonator down upon the hunters, Castas has had it. The shipwreck is far too dangerous for his tastes, Castas turns tail, and Aurra begrudgingly agrees with his retreat. With reluctance, Boba also leaves the Endurance.

Mace awakens to find himself pinned alongside Anakin in the bridge. He tries to use the Force to clear the rubble, but it’s too unstable. Anakin assures him that Artoo is getting help, but the Jedi Master does not share Skywalker’s confidence in the little droid.

Artoo leaves the wrecked cruiser and returns to the parked Jedi starfighters. A gundark has returned to pounce on the droid. The creature lands on Anakin’s Jedi starfighter. To escape the beast, Artoo tethers the animal to the fighter and sends the ship blasting off, where it crashes into the shipwreck.

The explosion alerts the bounty hunters, who realize that someone is alive and active in the downed cruiser. Aurra orders Bossk to jam all transmissions, and the hunters hurriedly board Slave I.

Artoo jumps into the remaining starfighter — Mace Windu’s — and attempts to raise a signal to Coruscant, but he cannot get past the jamming. He blasts off, and Slave I immediately catches sight of the fighter. Boba recognizes its markings as Windu’s fighter, and he gives pursuit.

ACT III

Artoo bobs and weaves Mace’s fighter out of the Slave I‘s laser fire, and reaches the orbiting hyperspace rings. The droid docks the fighter into one of the rings and escapes into hyperspace, leaving the Slave I behind. Boba is devastated, but Aurra is confident she still holds a leverage over Mace Windu with her hostages.

Artoo pilots the starfighter to the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and barges into a Jedi briefing room, interrupting Plo Koon’s strategy session. Ahsoka is surprised to see Anakin’s droid so animated. Artoo hurriedly plugs into a holoprojector, and plays an image of the injured Anakin asking for help. Plo Koon orders his ship prepared immediately.

Back on Vanqor, Mace reflects upon the scorched remains of Jango Fett’s helmet. A series of explosions rock the shipwreck, and it appears that time has run out for Mace and Anakin. Suddenly, the drone of a Republic gunship fills the room, as Plo Koon’s troops hover outside the damaged bridge.

Aboard the gunship, Ahsoka and Plo Koon use the Force to steady the Endurance‘s rickety bridge while Clone Commander Wolffe and trooper Comet rappel aboard, plucking Anakin and Mace from the ruins. They leap aboard the gunship just as the bridge finally collapses.

Anakin and Mace are placed on hovering gurneys and floated aboard a medivac gunship. They are diagnosed with serious burns, but no permanent injuries. Mace thanks R2-D2 for his devotion to duty.

Trivia & Details

• This episode shows a rare example of a point-of-view shot of a droid character. When R2-D2 is tangling with the gundarks, one shot is directly from his P.O.V. with his manipulators extended. Later, when he spots the bounty hunter speeder bikes approaching, we see that Artoo’s vision mimics the view of a macrobinocular.
• During the Jedi Temple briefing, Plo Koon makes mention of the Hydian Way, which is a hyperspace trade route first established in the Expanded Universe.
• Amid the wreckage of the Endurance are pieces of Republic gunships and AT-TE walkers. Anakin and Mace Windu lie prone in one of the crew pits of the Star Destroyer bridge.
• This episode marks the return of Plo Koon’s clone troopers — the wolfpack — as well as the gunship decorated with nose-art that says “Plo’s Bros”
• The speeder bikes that the bounty hunters use have Aurebesh lettering on the saddle that reads “LET’S GO ALREADY.”

Memorable Quotes

• “Your astromech is programmed to feel?”
• “Artoo is kind of a … special case. He’s got a lot of personality, that’s all.”
• “You encourage it too much. — Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker

“Yeah, careful. I’d hate to only split the money three ways.” — Castas

“The next one who says anything gets a blaster bolt through the brain.” — Aurra Sing

“That’s definitely more praise than I ever get.” — Anakin Skywalker, responding to Mace complimenting Artoo

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: The Zillo Beast

Episode No.: 40 (Season 2, Episode 18)
Original Air Date: April 9th, 2010
Production No.: 222 (Season 2, Episode 22)

Written by Craig Titley
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Giancarlo Volpi

Key Characters: Anakin Skywalker, Mace Windu, R2-D2, Doge Urus, Doctor Sionver Boll, Chancellor Palpatine
Key Locales: Malastare

Cast:
Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Greg Baldwin as Doge Urus and Dugs
Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers
Cara Pifko as Doctor Sionver Boll
Tom Kane as the narrator
Matthew Wood as the battle droids and tactical droid

Newsreel
Desperate times call for desperate measures! In one of the longest and fiercest battles of the war, Separatist forces are on the verge of claiming the planet of Malastare. If the Republic loses this planet it will cost them vital fuel resources necessary for maintaining their armies. In a final effort to turn the tide of this battle, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has authorized the use of the Republic’s newest weapon: the ELECTRO-PROTON BOMB.

Now, at the Imperial palace of Doge Urus, the leader of the Dugs, the Jedi count down the minutes until the detonation of their doomsday device….

ACT I

An enormous army of battle droids marches across the bleak landscape of Malastare towards the Imperial palace. Republic forces adopt defensive positions. Within the palace, Dug leader Doge Nakha Urus stands defiant, flanked by Jedi generals Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine monitors the military action remotely via hologram, while Republic scientist Doctor Sionver Boll makes final preparations for the release of the electro-proton bomb. She is confident in her research that states only droids will be affected by the weapon.

Clone troopers and Dug cavaliers riding insectomorphs hold the droids off while Republic Y-wing bombers scramble. ARC-170 fighters flank the lead bomber that carries the payload. The electro-proton bomb free-falls into the thick of the droid ranks, releasing an enormous blast. A wave of electromagnetic energy sweeps past the droids and clone forces, disrupting all technology in its wake: the droids are crippled, the clone helmets get momentarily frazzled — even Anakin’s mechanical arm briefly fritzes.

The victory is short-lived as another crisis manifests itself. The blast opens up an enormous sinkhole that swallows up the malfunctioning Republic vehicles. A huge crater now dominates the landscape.

ACT II

In the aftermath of the bomb, Mace Windu re-establishes communications with Chancellor Palpatine and reports on his progress. The Chancellor is most concerned that the Dugs sign a treaty ensuring Republic access to Malastare’s fuel. Doge Urus says the treaty is currently being reviewed by the Malastarian council.

A battlefield update reports that one of the clone rescue teams aiding in extraction from the sinkhole has gone missing. Anakin, Mace and Doge Urus race to the site aboard a gunship. While Anakin attends to the Dug leaders, Mace ventures into the foggy pit alongside Commander Ponds and Troopers Hawkeye and Trapper. They find injured troopers who report the presence of something alive in the pit. Mace radios to Anakin, requesting assistance.

The ground suddenly heaves beneath Mace’s feet as a gargantuan creature emerges. It is a huge reptilian creature awakened from a lengthy slumber. Its titanic form pulls itself to its full height and it shrieks in rage and confusion. Mace and his troops scramble aboard a gunship as Anakin soars into the pit aboard his Jedi starfighter.

Skywalker is stunned by the spectacle before him. The beast swats the starfighter, sending it spinning out of control. It crashes into the pit but Anakin and R2-D2 emerge intact. Anakin ignites his lightsaber and is shocked to discover the beast’s scales are resistant to its blade. Anakin climbs the beast to avoid its grasp and leaps atop R2-D2, who uses his rockets to fly away from the monster.

Doge Urus declares the monster is the Zillo Beast, one of a species thought extinct. Ages ago, when the Dugs first began harvesting the fuel in Malastare’s core, they battled beasts of this kind. The beast is an enemy of the Dug, and they will stop at nothing to kill it. The Dugs spend the remainder of the day dropping payloads of explosives into the pit in a vain attempt to destroy the invulnerable Zillo Beast. The thunder of explosions is punctuated by the outraged shrieks of the monster.

Mace Windu objects to the actions of his allies. He views the Zillo Beast as a one-of-a-kind life-form that should not be destroyed. His protestations threaten the likelihood the Dug council will sign the treaty of alliance with the Republic. The Dugs insist the Jedi must kill the Zillo Beast to ensure their cooperation and access to their fuels.

Mace Windu and Doctor Boll once again communicate with Chancellor Palpatine. Palpatine is amazed at the creature’s size and resiliency, but is dismayed by Master Windu’s reluctance to assist the Dugs. The ever-analytical Doctor Boll suggests that the Zillo Beast may be an invaluable resource — its natural armor could be translated into military applications.

Anakin offers a compromise: if the Jedi are able to somehow incapacitate the Zillo Beast, making the Dugs think that it was killed, then they could secure the treaty while sparing the monster’s life. Anakin believes a concentrated stun pulse could penetrate between the creature’s scales and knock it out. Dr. Boll agrees with Anakin’s plan, and Palpatine approves.

Republic tanks begin lining the rim of the crater. Doge Urus has ordered torrents of Malastarian fuel poured onto the Zillo Beast. The creature finds the substance toxic and painful. But rather than destroy it, the stream of fuel only prompts the Zillo Beast to scale the sinkhole walls and emerge onto the surface. The monster wreaks havoc, tossing aside tanks as if they were toys.

The tanks under Anakin and Mace’s command open fire, lancing the creature with stun beams. The Zillo Beast plods forward, but eventually succumbs to the rays and collapses into a deep sleep.

The Dugs celebrate the victory and sign the treaty with the Republic. The Jedi and clone forces load the Zillo Beast onto a transport for flight to an uninhabited Outer Rim world. Chancellor Palpatine, however, announces a change of plans. Palpatine’s scientific advisers recommend studying the creature under the most controlled conditions. With that recommendation, Palpatine orders the beast taken to Coruscant.

Trivia & Details

• This episode is, in ways large and small, an homage to the classic Godzilla movies. The creature and its name is the most obvious nod to the Japanese monster movie star. Smaller details include the names the painted designs on the helmets of the clone bomber pilots, Goji and Rod, that suggest the likenesses of Godzilla and Rodan.
• When the Zillo beast first surfaces, it tramples a clone trooper who emits a peculiar scream. That scream is tradition of sorts in Star Wars — a sound effect affectionately called “the Wilhelm.” It’s a decades-old audio recording of a very distinctive scream that has become a “pet sound effect” to many sound editors. It appears in dozens of movies, including all the Star Wars features.
• The electro-proton bomb (called the ion bomb during production) is covered with Aurebesh lettering: official red print say such things as “CAUTION ION DETONATOR” and “CODE SWITCH DESIGNATOR” while a hand-scrawled notation on the fin says “THIS IS FOR YOU DOOKU.”

Memorable Quotes

• “We have accounted for every probable outcome.”
• “It’s the improbable that concerns me, Doctor.” — Dr. Boll and Mace Windu

“One problem always seems to replace another.” — Mace Windu

“I have a bad feeling about this.” — Mace Windu

• “We dropped that bomb to save your planet, at your request!”
• “To save our fuel for you to buy!” — Anakin Skywalker and Doge Urus

“That may be the only way we shall get this treaty signed, and rest Master Windu’s conscience.” — Chancellor Palpatine

• “I said order them to stop, now!”
• “Or what? We’re innocent life-forms too, are we not?” — Mace Windu and Doge Urus

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Senate Murders

Episode Air No.: 37 (Season 2, Episode 15)
Original Air Date: March 19th, 2010.
Production No.: 210 (Season 2, Episode 10)

Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Brian Kalin O’Connell

Key Characters: Senator Padmé Amidala, Senator Bail Organa, Senator Onaconda Farr, Senator Halle Burtoni, Lieutenant Tan Divo, Senator Mon Mothma, Senator Lolo Purs, Senator Mee Deechi
Key Locales: Coruscant

Cast:
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala
Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa and Senate Guard
Tom Kenny as Lt. Tan Divo and Silood
Jennifer Hale as Lolo Purs
Jameelah McMillan as Halle Burtoni
Kath Soucie as Mon Mothma
Dee Bradley Baker as Onocanda Farr and Police Droid
Gideon Emery as Mee Deechi
Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine
Tom Kane as the Narrator

Episode Brief: When Senator Onaconda Farr dies under suspicious circumstances, Padmé sets out to find the person responsible for the death of her favorite “uncle.”

Full Synopsis:

“Searching for the truth is easy. Accepting the truth is hard.”

War on many fronts! While battles are fought by clones in the field, a different war is waged in the Galactic Senate. As heavy losses add up, a group of Senators led by Halle Burtoni of Kamino, propose an escalation of troop production.

Senator Padmé Amidala, recognizing that more troops will only prolong the fighting, works tirelessly with her allies to introduce a bill to cut military spending and stop the creation of more clone troopers….

ACT I

On Coruscant, Senator Onaconda Farr is leading a movement to end the war. Padmé Amidala braces herself for a monumental speech in support of his cause, a cause also championed by like-minded politicians: Lolo Purs, Mon Mothma and Bail Organa. Before the Senate assembly, Padmé warns that an escalation in military production will not end the war, but only prolong it, threatening destruction and financial devastation for the Republic. Her address is met with enthusiastic support, but the cold and methodical Senator Mee Deechi is not applauding. He meets with Padmé outside the Senate chamber, and warns her not to make such unpatriotic speeches.

Later, in her offices, Padmé and her colleagues share a toast for their success, but their private get-together is interrupted by the intrusive Senator Halle Burtoni. The aged Kaminoan bartered her clone production efforts into a seat in the Senate, and she would like nothing more than to see Padmé’s peace-promoting efforts fail. Burtoni goes so far as to brand the Senators as Separatists for their anti-war stance. Onaconda asks Burtoni to leave.

Soon, the Rodian Senator becomes woozy. He clutches at his heart and collapses dead. A few days later, a funeral is held at a landing platform as Senator Farr’s body is taken aboard a departing starship back to Rodia. Lolo and Padmé are saddened by the loss of their close friend. Chancellor Palpatine requests an audience with Senator Farr’s allies in his office, where they are met by Inspector Lieutenant Tan Divo, who announces that Onaconda was murdered.

ACT II

Lt. Divo reveals an unknown chemical was found in Senator Farr’s bloodstream. Divo’s condescending tones indicate he cares little for politicians, and he’d rather not have any of them interfere in the investigation. Padmé can’t help but speculate who might have wanted Onaconda dead. The clone-troop bill was indeed controversial and could have fostered many enemies.

Padmé suggests to Bail, Lolo and Mon that the bill be postponed while they undertake their own investigation. She reasons that the Senate will be too distracted by rumors surrounding a murdered Senator to focus on the bill.

Amidala begins by questioning Senators Deechi and Burtoni, the most pronounced of Farr’s political opponents. They scoff at any accusations of guilt, pointing out that Onaconda’s campaigns provided grist for so much of their pro-military efforts. Deechi admits that he had Farr followed on occasion, and that the Rodian had a clandestine meeting at the docks under the derrick major.

That night, Bail and Padmé skulk about the derricks, looking for clues. A cloaked assailant gets the drop on them, by releasing a cargo container on top of them. The two Senators barely escape being crushed. The assailant fires at the Senators before running away into the darkness.

The police arrive, and Lt. Divo is annoyed that Amidala cannot keep her nose out of his investigation. Amidala nonetheless continues, and speculates that Deechi may have purposely sent her and Bail to a trap at the docks. She races to Deechi’s office only to find the Umbaran dead, stabbed through the heart with a dagger.

ACT III

Lt. Divo requests that Senator Amidala and her allies stay in the confines of her office for the time being under police protection, a move Amidala decides is prudent. Lolo, however, is impatient and finds Divo incompetent. She storms away while Divo continues his questioning. Realizing that Senator Burtoni was the only other person present when Deechi suggested the rendezvous at the docks, Divo leaves to question the Kaminoan, but she is not in her offices.

A frantic Lolo Purs comes racing back to Padmé’s office, claiming she was attacked by Senator Burtoni. The police droids catch Burtoni in the East Wing corridor, and bring her to the Chancellor’s office for questioning. Burtoni is mystified by the interrogation, insisting on her innocence. Divo receives the forensic evidence report, concluding that the poison in Ono’s bloodstream was engineered by Kaminoans to affect Rodians.

As Divo moves to arrest Burtoni, something nags at Padmé. If the poison was in all their drinks and engineered to kill Rodians, then surely Lolo Purs would have also been afflicted. She then realizes that Lolo never drank — that she knew the drinks were poisoned for she was in truth the killer.

Cornered, Lolo produces a blaster and takes Padmé as a hostage. Lolo reveals that Ono’s murder was in revenge for involving their homeworld in the Clone Wars and briefly siding with the Separatists. When the opportunity opens, Padmé smacks the weapon from Lolo’s hand and knocks her out cold with a solid punch to the jaw.

Later, the Senate votes on the clone-troop bill, The motion to scale back war production is defeated, ensuring that more clone troopers will continue to be created for the security of the Republic.

Trivia and Details

• Lt. Divo’s face was specifically designed to be asymmetrical, unlike most faces in the series.
• Mon Mothma, a character seen in Episodes III and VI of the live action movie series, was produced as an animation model for this episode, though the air order of The Clone Wars had her appear in “Duchess of Mandalore” (episode 214) first.
• When the Senate Guards first appeared in Season One, they had their capes removed to avoid the costly cloth simulation required to animate them. Caped and plumed guards were developed first for this episode.
• Though too small to read, the bottle that the Senators drink from has a label that reads “Domaine de la Maison sur le Lac: Produce of Naboo”

Memorable Quotes

“I’ll need to find out who wanted to hurt Senator Farr. Actually, kill him would be more accurate, what with him being dead.” — Lt. Tan Divo

“You shouldn’t make speeches like that. It’s unpatriotic.” — Mee Deechi

“Politicians always have something to hide, and it always comes back to haunt them, am I right? Oh, look who I’m asking. Room full of politicians.” — Lt. Tan Divo

“Imagine that. Amidala’s actually making sense for once in her life.” — Halle Burtoni

“Thank you, Senator… Amidala, is it? But I already have my theory and I’ll follow my hunch, if you don’t mind. After all, I am the inspector, you’re the Senator. So, I’ll handle the inspecting and you can stick to the … Senating. Good day.” — Lt. Tan Divo

• “I had some information about a lead here at the docks.”
• “Which you naturally brought to me straight away so I could investigate. Only, no, wait, you did the exact opposite of that.” — Padmé Amidala and Lt. Tan Divo

“Enjoy your moment in the spotlight, Senators. This war will not end soon.” — Halle Burtoni

“How can we justify fortifying our security here in the Senate if we don’t also provide reinforcements on the front lines? You see, the victory of the clone army, for now, is the only thing that can lead us to peace.” — Chancellor Palpatine

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Duchess of Mandalore

Episode Air No.: 36 (Season 2, Episode 14)
Original Air Date: February 12th, 2010.
Production No.: 216 (Season 2, Episode 16)

Written by Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Brian Kalin O’Connell
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen

Key Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Duchess Satine Kryze, Count Dooku, Chancellor Palpatine, Pre Vizsla

Cast:
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker and Almec’s scout
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers, Death Watch assassin and Davu Golec
Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine and Darth Sidious
Corey Burton as Count Dooku, Aramis and Deputy Minister Jerec
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala
Anna Graves as Satine Kryze
Stephen Stanton as Mas Amedda and Death Watch troop
Tom Kane as Narrator, Police Droids and Police Probe

Episode Brief: On Coruscant, word reaches Duchess Satine that Death Watch is mobilizing, sparking a pre-emptive Republic invasion. On the run from Republic authorities, Satine and Obi-Wan set off to discover the group’s true motives.

Full Synopsis:

“In war, truth is the first casualty.”

Newsreel
A diplomatic mission! As dissent threatens to tear apart the peaceful Mandalore system, Duchess Satine struggles to protect her people against the escalating violence. Betrayed by two of her trusted allies, Satine now travels to Coruscant.  There, she hopes to convince the Senate that a destructive splinter group, DEATH WATCH, does not represent the entire Mandalorian government.

ACT I

Aboard a Separatist frigate, Count Dooku confers via hologram with Pre Vizsla, who is preparing his troops on the Concordian moon. Vizsla is impatient, but Dooku’s plot is unfolding to plan. The next step: the dispatching of a Death Watch assassin to Coruscant to target the Duchess of Mandalore.

A scout from Mandalore peers into the abandoned mining base that Vizsla has transformed into the Death Watch camp. He sneaks off onto his starship and jets away to Mandalore, where he confers with Prime Minister Almec. Almec worries that Death Watch could gain populist support if the Republic were to intervene in Mandalorian affairs. The splinter group would turn from a terrorist organization to an army of liberators. The situation is very tenuous.

In the Coruscant Senate, Death Watch is a primary topic of concern. The Supreme Chancellor deems it a significant military threat, requiring an immediate Republic response. Duchess Satine dismisses the fears about Death Watch, and insists on keeping this an affair of purely internal Mandalorian interests. But Palpatine surprises her with holographic evidence which he presents before the Senate.

It is a recording of Deputy Minister Jerec, admitting that the true scope of the Death Watch threat is greater than the Mandalorian government has revealed to their people. Jerec makes clear that Mandalore will require the help of the Jedi and the Republic to meet this challenge.

Duchess Satine cannot believe Jerec’s words. He is an honorable man, and these are stark untruths. But any challenge she can mount is stalemated by the sad news that Jerec died earlier that day in a bombing on Kalevala.

Palpatine believes the Republic has all the evidence it needs to proceed on a mission of liberation to Mandalore. Satine sees it as occupation, a trampling of Mandalorian right to self-determination, and the making of Mandalore into a military target. The Senate will vote on military action in its next session.

Satine is incensed. She storms away from the Senate building. On the landing platform outside, Obi-Wan rushes to her out of concern for his friend, but she is too angry to listen to his advice. Satine boards her speeder, and zooms away with her retinue. A Mandalorian assassin remotely triggers an exposive aboard, and the speeder begins to plummet. Satine’s guards leap with her to safety before the speeder and its pilot, Aramis, collide with a skytower and erupt in flames.

ACT II

Satine’s day continues to worsen. Meeting with Palpatine after the assassination attempt, she is offended to learn that no charges will be laid as no evidence remains that the crash was anything other than an accident. Mas Amedda sees this as further proof that the Republic is needed to rein in Death Watch.

Satine storms out of Palpatine’s office and encounters Obi-Wan. He is concerned that Satine is now obviously a target. Not caring about her own safety, Satine sees the attempt on her life as proof that she is right: someone is deliberately pushing Mandalore towards war.

Senator Padmé Amidala arrives with yet another bombshell: the Senate has voted for an occupation of Mandalore. Satine is stunned — the vote was pushed ahead in light of her assassination attempt, and she missed it while she was meeting with Palpatine. The Republic will invade Mandalore the next day.

That night, in the shadowy alleys of Coruscant, Duchess Satine meets with Davu Golec, a Mandalorian contact within the Republic Ministry of Intelligence. He has discovered that the recording of Deputy Minister Jerec was a forgery, and has the original data on a disc that he hands to the Duchess.

A shot rings out from the darkness as the Mandalorian sniper blasts Golec through the heart. Before the assassin can get a second shot off at Satine, police droids crowd the scene. Satine, looking guilty and no longer trusting any Republic authority, runs into the alleys, shaking pursuit.

ACT III

The Mandalorian assassin reports to Pre Vizsla: the informant has been killed but Duchess Satine still lives. Vizsla urges the killer to find and stop Satine before she can unravel Death Watch’s plans.

Count Dooku reports his status to Darth Sidious. He believes the Mandalorians will be so resentful of the Republic invasion that Death Watch will emerge as heroes. Sidious grins at this turn of events.

Satine finally asks Obi-Wan for help, requesting that he join her in a clandestine meeting at a Coruscant park. Satine hides herself in a heavy cloak. She hands Obi-Wan the recording and asks Kenobi to take it to Senator Amidala. She intends to turn herself in to offer Obi-Wan a distraction and to raise him above suspicion as an associate should she remain at large.

The Death Watch assassin strikes. He tosses a thermal detonator into the alleyway where Satine and Obi-Wan confer, but Kenobi spots it and uses the Force to push the Duchess to safety. Kenobi rushes the assassin, and the two brawl for several intense moments before the armored killer soars away on his rocket pack.

At the Senate building, Satine surrenders and is immediately shackled by Senate guards while Kenobi sneaks his way inside.

In the Senate chambers, the session is interrupted by Senator Amidala. She projects the undoctored hologram of Deputy Minister Jerec, calling for Mandalorians to unite against Death Watch, and to do so independent of any Republic intervention. With this revelation, the push to occupy Mandalore collapses.

On Concordia, Pre Vizsla is livid about having to postpone his attack. He intends to do so even without the specter of Republic invasion. Count Dooku advises patience. Sure, Vizsla could conquer Mandalore, but without the backing of the people, who would not be able to hold it. The Sith Lords have other means, however, to make their plans a success.

Back in the Senate, Palpatine offers his apologies and gratitude to Duchess Satine for uncovering the truth. Republic Satine personally thanks Obi-Wan for his loyalty and friendship in these increasingly uncertain times.

Trivia & Details

• Deputy Minister Jerec’s description of the tumultuous time on Mandalore as “a period of civil war” echoes the original title crawl from A New Hope.
• Among the politicians that can be spotted in the Galactic Senate is Mon Mothma.
• A particular story thread cut from the episode would have placed Anakin Skywalker in command of the Republic invasion of Mandalore. Periodically, the story was to cut to Anakin making preparations.
• According to the script, the Ithorian’s translated dialogue to the clone troopers is, ironically, as follows:
  

  Clone 1: If you see this woman, report her to local authorities.Alien: Yeah, yeah. I just saw her!

  Clone 2: I don’t think he understands us. Let’s try someone else.

  Alien: No wait! She’s over there!

• The Coruscant park is based on several pieces of Ralph McQuarrie concept art. The plaza also includes a large boulder at its center — a nod to a detail seen in McQuarrie’s work suggesting the sole exposed mountain peak on Coruscant’s covered surface. Some of the original design development of this monument looked to the actual boulder found on the road to Lucasfilm Animation’s northern california headquarters. It is this boulder that gives the Big Rock campus of Skywalker Ranch its name.

Memorable Quotes:

• “If the Republic gets involved in our affairs, it will only lead to further violence. Thus I shall reassert our position of neutrality.”
• “Talk of an idealist!”
• “No, those are the words of a pacifist, and a people who have chosen non-violent action.” — Duchess Satine and Mas Amedda

“Perhaps if more citizens got hysterical, they’d be more inclined to speak up when the Republic tramples on its rights!” — Duchess Satine

“Ironic words from a man who spends his days running hither and yon, wielding his lightsaber with deadly force as if on a crusade! Why would I listen to someone who so frequently relies on violence?” — Satine to Obi-Wan

“Don’t you see? You need your friends with you, not held at arm’s length. In your quest to be self-reliant, have you decided to just cut your friends out of your life?” — Obi-Wan

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Voyage of Temptation

Episode Air No.: 35 (Season 2, Episode 13)
Original Air Date: February 5th, 2010.
Production No.: 121 (Season 1, Episode 21)

Written by Paul Dini
Directed by Brian Kalin O’Connell
Series Writer: Henry Gilroy
Staff Writer: Scott Murphy

Key Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Duchess Satine Kryze, Senator Tal Merrik, Clone Commander Cody, Clone Captain Rex, R2-D2

Cast:
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Anna Graves as Satine Kryze
Greg Proops as Tal Merrik
Phil LaMarr as Orn Free Taa
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers and Orn Free Taa
Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla
Tom Kane as Narrator
Corey Burton as the service droid
David Acord as the ship’s captain and rabbit droid
Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine

Episode Brief: As the Jedi and their clones defend Duchess Satine from assassination attempts, Anakin discovers that Obi-Wan and the Duchess have a history together.

Full Synopsis:

“Fear not for the future, weep not for the past.”

Newsreel
A royal welcome! Sent to investigate allegations that Mandalore was joining Count Dooku’s Separatists, Obi-Wan Kenobi was reunited with an old friend, the Duchess Satine of Kalevala.  While Satine claimed Mandalore’s intentions were to remain neutral
during the war, an attack on the capital city led Obi-Wan to the discovery of a terrorist organization known as Death Watch.

Now the Duchess travels to the Senate, so she can plead her case against her involvement in the war, as the Jedi prepare a defense against her opponents…

ACT I

The luxurious vessel Coronet soars gracefully from Mandalore into deep space. Inside its darkened cargo holds, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker brief their clone contingent led by Clone Commander Cody and Captain Rex. All aboard are to remain vigilant for any sign of the Death Watch. Even R2-D2 commits his scanners to the cause.

Kenobi and Skywalker are called to attend the Duchess, and Skywalker senses a touch of anxiety within his old mentor, something Obi-Wan is reluctant to talk about. In the Duchess’ opulent throne room, where she is attended to by other Senators and servants, she immediately begins verbally sparring with Kenobi. She did not ask for Jedi protection, and finds the notion of fighting for peace distasteful. Their debate becomes heated, increasing the discomfort in the room among the Senators, but they put aside their argument in time for dinner. The Coronet leaps into hyperspace.

Back in the darkened cargo hold, two clones — Mixer and Redeye — sweep the pallets for any signs of a security breach. They are both silently attacked by a horrible, spider-like assassin droid, and their squadmates remain oblivious to the danger.

ACT II

As they make their way to the dining chambers, Anakin asks Obi-Wan about his history with the Duchess. He reveals that when he was younger, on an extended mission with Qui-Gon Jinn, he spent a year on Mandalore protecting the Duchess from insurgents who threatened her world. When Satine returned to rebuild her world after a devastating civil war, Obi-Wan was assigned elsewhere, and had to leave despite his feelings for her.

Kenobi’s wistful reflection is cut short when Captain Rex reports in. R2-D2 is frightened by something in the cargo hold, and Redye and Mixer have gone missing. Anakin volunteers to head to the lower decks to help investigate while Kenobi bears the brunt of diplomatic duty. Artoo and Anakin discover an empty container. Whatever was inside was released, or escaped. Skywalker orders his troops to fan out.

Stirring in the shadows appears to be Redeye, walking as if in a trance. As Anakin gets closer, he sees that a huge, spider-like assassin probe is animating Redeye’s corpse like a puppet. Discovered, the droid hurls Redyeye’s body like a missile. Anakin dodges, and ignites his lightsaber, ready to take on the pick-footed terror. The clone officers arrive with their troops, and riddle the droid with blaster bolts.

A second assassin probe takes advantage of the distraction and scurries towards the turbolift shaft. Skywalker calls Obi-Wan via comlink, warning him of the loose droid. The probe charges into the dining room, slicing through guards. Kenobi cuts it down before it can get at the Senators.

Each assassin probe has tiny pits along its cranial dome, filled with smaller spider-like probe killers. Dozens of the crawling droids emerge to continue their mission in both the cargo hold and the dining room. Anakin, Artoo and the clones crush, blast, slice or zap as many as they can. Kenobi and Satine also defend themselves, with the Duchess producing a small hand-held droid deactivator from her robes.

With the droids destroyed, Anakin focuses on learning how the killer was smuggled aboard. According to the cargo manifest, someone used a Senate stamp to approve shipment of the crates containing the droids. That means one of the four Senators aboard — Orn Free Taa, Kin Robb, Onaconda Farr or Tal Merrik — was behind the shipment.

Kenobi hatches a plan, using a single mini-assassin probe, to expose the traitor. Kenobi carries the droid under a glass serving tray to each Senator in turn, theorizing that it is programmed to kill anyone except the one who programmed it. The droid remains passive when exposed to Senator Tal Merrik. Merrik knocks the droid from Obi-Wan’s grasp, pulls a blaster, and holds it to Satine’s head. Using Satine as a shield and hostage, Merrik leaves the dining hall.

ACT III

Kenobi radios Skywalker with the update on Merrik’s treachery, but Skywalker is preoccupied hunting down the third and final assassin probe. The large droid and its tiny spawn attack Rex and Cody. Anakin cuts off its legs and Rex jumps on the droid’s head, peppering it with blaster bolts.

Merrik forces his way onto the Coronet‘s bridge and coldly murders the crew. The ship drops from hyperspace, and Merrik contacts Pre Vizsla via hologram. He reports his success to the Death Watch leader, but requests reinforcements to cover his escape. Darting in from space are a trio of droid boarding ships that plunge into the Coronet‘s hull, disgorging squads of super battle droids. Anakin leads the clones and Satine’s guards in defending the corridors against these invaders.

Kenobi races to the bridge and finds Merrik and Satine. The evil Senator has wired the ship’s engines to explode and carries the detonator with him. Satine begs Kenobi not to risk any more lives on her behalf. Merrik backs his way off the bridge and into the corridors, Kenobi following closely, looking for an opening in Merrik’s guard. Satine, fearing that all is lost, proclaims her love for Obi-Wan, a sentiment that Kenobi echoes.

Merrik is distracted by what he deems a disgusting display of sentiment. Satine stamps her heel into his foot, wriggling out of his hold and grabbing Merrik’s blaster. Satine, staunch pacifist, now has Merrik at gunpoint. Merrik doesn’t believe she’ll fire, for to do so would undermine the very pacifist ideal that is embroiling Mandalore in controversy. And yet, if Kenobi steps in to kill Merrik, the Jedi will be proven as a cold blooded killer in the eyes of the woman he loves. Merrik relishes the stalemate, until he is fatally stabbed through the back by Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber. Free of any ideological struggle, Anakin states pragmatically that he killed a bomber set to destroy the ship.

The clones report their defeat of the droids. The Coronet continues undisturbed to Coruscant, where Satine is greeted by Chancellor Palpatine.

Trivia & Details

• Anakin identifying Obi-Wan’s anxiety over meeting with the duchess while traveling aboard a turbolift is a mirror of a similar scene in Attack of the Clones, with the Jedi roles reversed.
• This was the first episode of the Mandalorian arc produced, well before the adjacent episodes. The figure of Pre Vizsla does not use his final character design in holographic form. If his serape was removed, he would be revealed to be wearing clone armor!
• Nuna has been served as an entree once before in “The Deserter.”

Memorable Quotes:

“War is intolerable. We have been deceived into thinking that we must be a part of it. I say the moment we committed to fighting, we already lost.” — Duchess Satine Kryze.

“Senators, I presume you are acquainted with the collection of half-truths and hyperbole known as Obi-Wan Kenobi?” — Duchess Satine

• “Just like that swarm of venom-mites on Draboon, remember?”
• “How can I forget? I still have the scar.” — Obi-Wan and Satine

“This morsel may prove too much even for the legendary appetite of Orn Free Taa.” — Obi-Wan

• “This may not be the time to ask, but were you and Satine ever…”
• “I don’t see how that has any bearing on the situation at hand!” — Anakin and Obi-Wan
• “I’ll take care of this, Obi-Wan. You, go find your girlfriend.”
• “Right… Uh, no! Anakin, she’s not my — ” — Anakin and Obi-Wan

“Come on, then. Who will strike first and be branded a cold-blooded killer?” — Tal Merrik to Obi-Wan and Satine, before being killed by Anakin Skywalker.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: The Deserter

Episode Air No.: 32 (Season 2, Episode 10)
Original Air Date: January 1st, 2010.
Production No.: 206 (Season 2, Episode 6)

Written by Carl Ellsworth
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Robert Dalva

Key Characters: Clone Captain Rex, Cut Lawquane, General Grievous, Obi-Wan Kenobi
Key Locales: Saleucami

Cast:
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers
Matthew Wood as General Grievous and battle droids
Nika Futterman as Shaeeah
Cara Pifku as Suu
Kath Soucie as Jek
Tom Kane as Narrator

Episode Brief: While searching for General Grievous on a distant planet, Rex encounters a deserter.

Full Synopsis:

“It is the quest for honor that makes one honorable.”

ACT I

General Grievous and a squad of battle droids emerge from a downed escape pod with a destroyed transmitter in the Saleucami wilderness. Grievous spots Kenobi’s Jedi transport landing on the horizon. The general must hurry to find an escape pod with a working transmitter to get off-world. Only one other pod is known to have survived. Grievous rides through the underbrush atop a reek, leading his weary troops. They have also appropriated some eopies as pack animals. The battle droids badly need a recharge.

Kenobi and Captain Rex begin deploying biker scouts and AT-TE tanks to search for Grievous. Obi-Wan finds the wreckage of the crashed landing ship. He then assigns teams to split up to search for the escape pods: Rex will take a speeder bike team with Jesse, Hardcase and Kix to scour the wetlands, while Obi-Wan, Commander Cody and Crys will continue the search along the dry territory. Crys and Cody find a downed escape pod. Kenobi pulls out the shattered battle droid from within to inspect it on the go.

Rex’s biker team speeds through the wetlands. They are targeted by a commando droid sniper team. Rex takes a shot to the chest and is knocked off his bike. The rest of the squad destroys the commandos. Rex is badly wounded, though.

Crys and Cody crack into their captive battle droid’s memory banks. They determine that the doomed escape pod fired its maneuvering thrusters before it impacted, in order to avoid a midair collision with another pod. At Kenobi’s order, Cody begins calculating the landing point for the second pod.

Kix, the squad’s medic, does a cursory examination of Rex. He’ll need to remove his armor to get a clearer picture, but the squad feels too vulnerable in the open field here. Jesse spots domesticated eopies nearby, and posits that they are on a farmland. The clones decide to look for the homestead on this farm. Jesse makes a makeshift litter to carry Rex along his BARC speeder.

As the Saleucami sun sets, they clones find the farm house. They are met by Suu, a pink Twi’lek female who points a blaster rifle at them. Jesse explains they are not looking for trouble — only for a place to tend to their fallen officer. Suu agrees to let them stay in the barn. Suu’s children, a five-year old girl named Shaeeah and a four-year-old boy named Jekk, look on with curiosity.

Kix dresses Rex’s chest wound with a bacta bandage. Rex awakens to find his arm useless due to nerve damage. Kix nonetheless declares Rex very lucky: a few inches to the left, the commando’s shot would have pierced his heart. Rex wants to get moving, but Kix countermands his order using his authority as medic. Rex needs to stay put in order to heal.

Suu comes with some food for the clones. Her impulsive daughter, Shaeea, sneaks a peek at the clones, and blurts that Rex resembles her father. Suu explains that her husband is away, delivering the farm’s first harvest, and she leaves the clones be. Recognizing that he must stay put, Rex orders the squad to resume the search for Grievous without him. He puts Jesse in command.

Night falls. The light of Saleucami’s moons light the wilderness. Kenobi’s armored column finds an escape pod and there is no sign of Grievous. Kenobi figures the general must have headed west to another pod. He radios Rex to rendezvous at the western pod, but reaches Jesse instead, who gives him a quick update on Rex’s condition.

Meanwhile, Grievous and his droids continue to plod forward, and are a kilometer away from the last escape pod.

Back at the homestead, Rex tries to sleep but he’s awakened by a nosey eopie. The farmer returns home, and visits Rex with much caution, carrying a staff in case his “guest” is unruly. Rex instinctively grabs his sidearm, but the farmer disarms him. The farmer steps into the moonlight, and both Rex and the farmer are surprised by what they see: the farmer is a clone trooper.

ACT II

The clone introduces himself as Cut Lawquane. Rex realizes what he is looking at: a deserter. Rex has no patience for those who would abandon their duty, and he makes his contempt known. Cut explains himself, saying he made a choice not to kill for a living, and that his duty is now to his adopted family. Just then, Suu and the children enter the barn and invite Rex to dinner.

Over a succulent meal of roast nuna, Cut and Rex continue to debate their positions. Cut underscores that despite their identical genetic heritage, Rex and Cut are individuals. Rex insists he is making an individual choice to serve the Republic, for he feels the war is crucial to the preservation of civilization. Though Cut may disagree with him, he allows Rex to voice his opinion, for he believes everyone is entitled to their beliefs.

In the wetlands, as the Republic forces close in, Grievous finds the escape pod. He orders the battle droid aboard to send a distress signal to the remains of his orbital fleet, and dispatch a shuttle to rescue him.

After dinner, Rex and Cut continue their conversation in private over a game of dejarik holochess. Cut explains the days he left the army. Shortly after the Battle of Geonosis, Cut’s troop transport was flanked by Separatist gunships that blasted them out of the air. The droids continued to fire, killing the wounded one by one. Cut knew that in order to survive, he would need to flee.

His reflection is cut short as Shaeeah and Jekk run in, asking for permission to go out and play since their chores are finished. Cut allows them, as long as they stay near the house. Rex admires the children, and Cut vows that he will do whatever he can to keep them safe.

At the transmitting escape pod, the battle droids prepare for combat. One fires a missile that hobbles Obi-Wan’s approaching AT-TE.

Jekk and Shaeeah play hide-and-seek in the fields, and the boy spots a downed escape pod. The two children peer inside. Shaeeah accidentally flips a switch that powers up the interior, and 20 commando droids suddenly spring to life.

The terrified kids run back to the farmhouse, warning the adults of what they saw. Cut checks the fields with his macrobinoculars, and spots the commando droids approaching. He tells Suu to take the children upstairs while he arms himself to protect the house. Rex volunteers to help, but Cut sees he is injured. Cut asks Rex to go upstairs and serve as a last line of defense for his family, while he takes point.

Cut shuts off the lights in the house, barricades the door, and takes up position. The droids cut through a back entrance, but Cut blasts them. Others try through the windows.

Back in the wetlands, Grievous is relieved to see a Separatist shuttle emerge from the skies. The remaining AT-TE tries to blast it, but its cannon overheats. Obi-Wan leaps into the fray and crosses lightsabers with Grievous.

Back at the farmhouse, the commandos try to infiltrate the house via the cellar. Blaster fire collapses some crossbeams atop Cut, pinning him under debris. He calls to Rex to be ready. Rex blasts several droids while Cut digs himself out, taking out droids with his bare hands. Exhausted, the two clones destroy the last of the commandos. The farm house is safe.

Grievous orders the shuttle to abort its landing attempts — the zone is too hot for an extraction. The general improvises, firing a cable at the passing shuttle. It latches on, and the shuttle flies away, leaving his troops and the Republic forces behind. Kenobi is crestfallen. Grievous has escaped once again.

The next morning, Rex loads up his gear on an eopie and prepares to leave. Suu asks if he will report his husband’s whereabouts. Though it is Rex’s duty to do so, he suggests perhaps that his injuries may prevent him from disclosing a fully accurate report. Cut thanks him for his discretion. Rex still brands Cut a deserter, but he does not call him a coward.

Trivia and Details

• Noted film editor Robert Dalva takes the helm as a director for this episode. His credits as editor include The Black Stallion, Raising Cain, Jumanji, Jurassic Park III and Hidalgo. He was also director of The Last Stallion Returns. This is his first work in animation.
• Jesse makes use of inches as a unit of measurement, somewhat unusual in a galaxy known for using mostly metric measurements.
• Saleucami is home to flocks of nunas, little swamp turkeys that have also been spotted on Naboo and Tatooine.
• Crys is distinguished by his blonde dyed hair. Jesse has a large Republic cog on his helmet and tattooed across his face. Hardcase’s helmets has broken stripes along it, and though his unhelmeted face is not seen in the episode, he has similar tattoos as well. Kix has the following phrase tattooed on his head in Aurebesh: A GOOD DROID IS A DEAD ONE.

Memorable Quotes

— “Not this again! How can your power cells be so depleted?”
— “You would not let us ride on one of those creatures with you! If you would allow us to close down for a few moments — OH MY G–” (Grievous cuts down droid)
— “Any more complaints?” — General Grievous and battle droids

— “I like to think I’m merely exercising my freedom to choose: to choose not to kill for a living.”
— “That is not your choice to make. You swore an oath to the Republic. You have a duty.”
— “I have a duty. You’re right. But to my family. Does that count, or do you still plan to turn me in?”
— “Do I have a choice?” — Cut Lawquane and Rex

“I’m part of the most pivotal moment in the history of the Republic. If we fall then our children and their children could be forced to live under an evil I can’t well imagine.” — Rex

“I know you think I’m a coward, Rex, but believe me. I’ll fight to my last breath to keep them safe.” — Cut

“They hatched from the big egg in the field!” — Shaeeah

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Brain Invaders

Episode Air No.: 30 (Season 2, Episode 8)
Original Air Date: December 4th, 2009.
Production No.: 212 (Season 2, Episode 12)

Written by Andrew Kreisberg
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Steward Lee

Key Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Barriss Offee, Anakin Skywalker, Poggle the Lesser, Kit Fisto

Key Locale: Geonosis

Cast:
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
Meredith Salenger as Barriss Offee
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and protocol droid
Olivia d’Abo as Luminara Unduli
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers
Brian George as Ki-Adi-Mundi
Phil LaMarr as Kit Fisto
Tom Kane as Narrator
Matthew Wood as Poggle the Lesser

Episode Brief: When Geonosian brain worms take control of their supply ship, Ahsoka and Barriss must battle to stop the vessel from unleashing the deadly plague upon the galaxy.

Full Synopsis:

“Attachment is not compassion”

Newsreel:
Victory on Geonosis! After a massive assault, the Republic has finally recaptured the Separatist planet and shut down its droid factories of doom. An investigation by Luminara Undulli led to the discovery of Queen Karina the Great, whose hive-mind could reanimate dead Geonosian soldiers.

During the destruction of the Queen’s temple, the Jedi apprehended her advisor Poggle the Lesser, and now prepare to deliver the villain to Coruscant for trial…

ACT I

At a landing area on Geonosis, clone troopers march a manacled Poggle the Lesser aboard a waiting Republic attack shuttle. Ki-Adi-Mundi brings news of complication to Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Luminara Unduli. The battlefront on Dantooine has been taxing to Mace Windu’s defense forces, and they desperately need medical supplies delivered from a station near Ord Cestus. Anakin and Luminara feel its of paramount importance to take Poggle to Coruscant instead. They decide to split their forces and have the Padawans, Ahsoka Tano and Barriss Offee, ferry the medical supplies.

Outside the ruins of the Progate Temple, the clone troopers of Tango Company are off-duty and napping. Within the rubble, a slimy Geonosian brain worm slithers from a cracked, yellow egg. It crawls into the nostril of Scythe, a snoozing clone. The company C.O., Trap, brusquely wakes his resting soldiers with a blaster shot into the air. It’s time to move out. Tango Company has been assigned the medical run to Ord Cestus. Trooper Pulsar has to try extra hard to nudge Scythe awake, who seems strangely detached as he comes to.

As the company boards medical frigate TB-73, Scythe lags behind, secretly carrying a backpack full of worm eggs aboard. The frigate blasts off from Geonosis, destined for Ord Cestus, where Kit Fisto is stationed, awaiting its arrival.

Deep in hyperspace, the Padawans attempt to catch some sleep, but Ahsoka is restless. She wakes Barriss, and they dine in the mess hall, talking about the Jedi’s role as warriors in the current conflict, and how the Jedi will continue to maintain the peace after the war is over.

Meanwhile, in the clone barracks, Scythe has released a clutch of Geonosian brain worm eggs, which hatch and release their slithery bounty into the sleeping quarters. Each worm soon finds a sleeping clone host. The infection is spreading; two brain-washed clones led by Scythe casually walk into the cockpit and open fire on the pilots. They now have control of the bridge.

ACT II

Two other infected troopers — Ox and Edge — enter the mess hall and suddenly open fire on Barriss and Ahsoka. The Padawans spring into defensive mode, deflecting the incoming blasts. They incapacitate the clones. Before they can assess the situation, the Padawans suddenly react as two more clones — Trap and Havoc — barge in, investigating the sound of gunplay.

These new arrivals do not appear infected, but Ahsoka and Barriss hold them at lightsaber-point until they can get some answers. Trap is just as confused as the Jedi. He drops his blaster to the floor to prove he isn’t a traitor. Ahsoka, remembering Anakin’s tales of Sergeant Slick on Christophsis, remains wary. Trap suggests they check on the bridge. Barriss cannot make comlink contact. Leaving Havoc behind to watch the two unconscious clones, Trap, Barriss and Ahsoka dash to the bridge to investigate.

Meanwhile, aboard a Jedi cruiser tunneling through hyperspace, the Jedi tend to interrogating a rather uncooperative Poggle the Lesser. Anakin grows increasingly concerned that the medical frigate has not checked in. Ahsoka is long overdue for contact.

Scythe orders the pilots’ bodies disposed of. The possessed clones engage the autopilot, and activate the security shields throughout the ship. Ray shields suddenly cut off the Padawans’ approach to the bridge. Barriss attempts to override the controls. Suddenly, Trap tries to blast Offee. She cuts through his blaster, and he struggles to bodily overpower her. A Geonosian brain worm extends from his mouth. Barriss has no choice but to plunge her blade through Trap’s chest, killing him. Ahsoka uses her lightsaber to slice the worm in two.

Looking at the wriggling segments, Ahsoka and Barriss begin to piece together what is happening: a parasitic infection is threatening the ship The frigate must be placed under quarantine, and the medical station at Ord Cestus needs to be contacted.

Barriss and Ahsoka overhear the chittering sound of Geonosian-speak. They follow the noise to the medical frigate’s cargo bay, where they see infected clones — including Scythe, Havoc, Edge and Ox — gather and subject another trooper to the worms. An infected clone trooper spots the Padawans, herding the spies into the cargo bay. Havoc tosses two eggs at the Jedi, but they cut the orbs into halves before the worms can emerge. Outnumbered, Ahsoka and Barriss retreat into the ventilation ductwork.

Crawling through the ship’s innards, Barriss and Ahsoka decide to split up. Offee will go to the reactor room and disable the ship’s thrusters. Ahsoka heads to the aft communications station, and reaches Master Fisto with a warning. Kit Fisto orders Ahsoka to bring the frigate in-system so that the Jedi can analyze the parasites, but Ahsoka stresses how dangerous these worms are.

Barriss never reaches the reactor control room, instead getting caught in an electrified trap set up by the clones. She collapses before them. Scythe has an egg for her. She too becomes infected.

Back in the communications station, Ahsoka reaches Captain Rex and Anakin. She updates her Master on what’s happening. Skywalker orders Ahsoka to keep in touch, while he goes to interrogate Poggle for some answers. But before Ahsoka can leave the comm room, she sees Barriss waiting for her.

ACT III

Barriss attacks Ahsoka, first with a mighty Force push that sends shards of a shattered display screen knifing toward the younger Padawan. Both Jedi apprentices ignite their lightsabers, and an intense duel ensues. Ahsoka pleads with Barriss to fight the influence of the worms. She kicks her way free of Offee and scurries away from her brainwashed friend.Tano leaps into the ductwork, momentarily escaping.

Aboard the Jedi cruiser, an intense Anakin Skywalker enters Poggle the Lesser’s detention cell. Anakin excuses the clone guards, and attempts to use the Force to compel Poggle to answer his questions. Poggle, talking via an interpreter droid, boasts that mind tricks do not work on Geonosians. But Anakin is not looking to use mind tricks — he smacks Poggle aside, and begins throttling him with a Force grip.

Anakin returns to the bridge of the cruiser, reporting Ahsoka’s predicament and some measure of success in getting answers from Poggle. The other Jedi Masters are surprised that Anakin managed to get the Geonosian to speak. Skywalker doesn’t go into detail as how to how he got his information.

Skywalker contacts Ahsoka with the solution to the parasite problem: the worms are affected by extreme cold. Following her master’s advice, Ahsoka heads to the reactor room to rupture the cooling system. Cold air begins flooding the frigate. The infected clones begin falling unconscious, gripped by convulsions.

The frigate emerges from hyperspace near the Ord Cestus medical station. Kit Fisto orders a pair of tug ships to guide in the stricken craft, and warns all medical staff that no one is to board the frigate until all parasites are contained. The tiny tugs attempt to rein in the frigate with their outsized tractor beam projectors.

Shivering in the corridors, Ahsoka returns to the bridge to retake control of the craft, but Barriss finds her. Their duel slashes a cooling duct, and Ahsoka blasts a jet of frosty air right at Offee. In that brief instant, Offee appears to surface from her worm-controlled haze, and begs Ahsoka to kill her. Ahsoka refuses, and a disarmed Barriss claws her way back at her friend. A greedy worm extends from Barriss’s mouth, seeking purchase on Ahsoka.

The tugs reel in the frigate, halting its forward momentum just as it nestles into the medical station dock. Subzero conduits connect to the airlocks, and cautious clone troopers board the frozen craft, accompanied by Kit Fisto. Master Fisto sees the inert forms of Ahsoka and Barriss covered in frost.

Ahsoka awakens in the infirmary and sees Anakin looking over her. He tells her that Barriss and the clones are fine, thanks to her efforts.

Trivia & Details

• According to the script, that is indeed Nala Se — the Kaminoan from “Shadow of Malevolence” — at the Ord Cestus medical facility.
• Mace Windu’s efforts on Dantooine and Kit Fisto’s familiarity with Ord Cestus are two minor nods to the expanded universe — namely, the first Clone Wars micro-series where Mace fights a droid army on the plains of Dantooine, and The Cestus Deception novel featuring Fisto. (However, their inclusion in this episode should not be construed as confirmation of how these EU events occur in relation to “Brain Invaders.”)
• The troopers of Tango Company all have a striped tiger face logo on their armored shoulder plates. Trooper Havoc would have been further distinguished with a small yellow smiley face on his helmet (which is left unseen in this episode). Clone trooper Ox has a strange one-eyed creature decal on his left upper arm plate. He wears a blue ammo belt and has blue knee and elbow guards. Trooper Pulsar, who uses the same model head as Trooper Jester from “The Hidden Enemy,” has diagonal stripes on his helmet, forearms and shins. Trooper Scythe has the tiger-face on his helmet, and a tattoo of tiger jaws on his forehead. Trooper Edge has bleached hair, wears the tiger logo on his right breastplate, and has a red triangle on his helmet. His helmetless head is a re-use of the Sketch model from “The Hidden Enemy,” including the Aurebesh “S” tattooed to his brow.
• The pillows that Barriss and Ahsoka sleep on in their quarters have the Republic cog logo on them. So do the clone undersuits beneath their armor.
• For those dying to know what the Aurebesh text on the tugboat controls say, here is a translation.

Memorable Quotes

“You might find some of his thoughts on the future… a bit radical.” — Ahsoka Tano referring to Anakin Skywalker.

• “She would have checked in.”
• “Like you always do?”
  “- Good point.”
• “Sometimes I don’t think you realize how alike you two have become.” — Anakin and Obi-Wan discussing Ahsoka.

“I have a bad feeling about this, Master Fisto.” — Ahsoka Tano

“I don’t need mind tricks to get you to talk.” — Anakin Skywalker to Poggle the Lesser

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Weapons Factory

Episode Air No.: 28 (Season 2, Episode 6)
Original Air Date.: November 13th, 2009.
Production No.: 208 (Season 2, Episode 8)

Written by Brian Larsen
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Directed by Giancarlo Volpe

Key Characters: Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker, Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee, Clone Captain Rex, Poggle the Lesser, TX-21

Key Locales: Geonosis

Cast:
Olivia d’Abo as Luminara Unduli
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Meredith Salenger as Barriss Offee
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers
Matthew Wood as the battle droids and Poggle the Lesser
Tom Kane as the narrator and tactical droid

Episode Brief: Luminara and Anakin act as decoys to divert new enemy super tanks, while Padawans Barriss Offee and Ahsoka attempt to destroy a Separatist droid factory.

Full Synopsis:

“Believe in yourself or no one else will.”

Newsreel:
The final surge. Having learned of warlord Poggle the Lesser’s plot to rebuild a Separatist droid foundry on Geonosis, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, prepare to assault this heavily-fortified installation.

Their mission: destroy the factory at all costs. Anticipating stiff resistance, Republic commanders send Jedi Master Luminara Unduli and her Padawan, Barriss Offee, to reinforce the attack. But time runs short for our intrepid heroes as the dreaded droid mill nears completion….

ACT I

The Republic advance on the massive Geonosis foundry continues. Anakin Skywalker’s forces are the vanguard — his troops, combined with those of Ki-Adi-Mundi’s stand ready within the shattered shell of a communications bunker, awaiting orders to press forward against the immense spire-topped factory. Anakin and Ahsoka brief their troops on an approach that will require their forces to cross a bridge spanning an immense canyon. It will be a difficult assault, as the bridge forms a natural bottleneck that concentrates the clones into an easily targeted cluster.

In contrast to the spirited and undisciplined approach favored by Skywalker and his apprentice is the measured and methodical demeanor of Luminara Unduli and her Padawan, Barriss Offee. This new duo arrives via gunship along with their clone forces (including eager troops Draa and Buzz) and meets with Skywalker and Tano. Unduli has warned Barriss of the unorthodox pair. Offee, ever dutiful, bows deeply as she meets Ahsoka, much to Tano’s surprise.

Luminara fears Anakin’s forceful frontal assault will be too difficult, and provides an alternative. Geonosian nests are built atop labyrinthine catacombs. The droid factory is situated near enough a canyon that the catacombs are accessible by cutting through the canyon wall. Once inside, a small team could plant explosives in the foundry reactor. In preparation for this mission of sabotage, Barriss Offee has memorized all 200 junctions of the mazelike warren.

Luminara suggests that she and Skywalker use the clone army to distract the Geonosians within the spire while the Padawans carry out the sabotage mission. To truly lure the droids out of their headquarters, the Jedi will have to march their forces out, parade-style, across the bridge. Anakin is hesitant, for he worries that Ahsoka is not prepared to undertake an unsupervised assignment such as this. The independent-minded Ahsoka does not fret, especially given how much faith Luminara exhibits in her Padawan’s abilities. Luminara equips the apprentices with synchronized chronometers to keep track of them.

Inside the foundry, Poggle the Lesser and the tactical droid TX-21 monitor the factory’s efficiency. It is operating at 50 percent capacity, but it has already churned out ten garrisons of new troops ready to deploy. Their new weapon, super tanks capable of repelling Republic artillery, approaches operational status as well.

The Republic forces march toward the bridge and are immediately swarmed by battle droids and Geonosians. As the armies tangle on the surface, Barriss and Ahsoka climb down to the dry riverbed of the canyon. Barriss cuts a passageway into the catacombs, and leads the way into the darkness.

ACT II

Ahsoka and Barriss skulk through the darkened catacombs, trying to avoid Geonosians sentries. They stumble into a den of sleeping Geonosians, creeping past the eerily snoozing drones. A dead end gives Barriss momentary doubt, but she soon recalls the correct direction.

On the surface, the infantry battle intensifies. Clone AT-TE tanks provide heavy firepower to cut through droideka squads. At TX-21’s prompting, Poggle the Lesser allows 20 of the experimental super tanks to roll into combat. Anakin orders Rex to fire on the new targets, but the clone artillery has no effect on the ray-shielded armor. Skywalker sees his chronometer chirp. According to plan, Ahsoka and Barriss would have reached the power plant by now. The super tanks return fire, wiping out the Republic artillery line.

Inside the power plant, there is a complication. Though Ahsoka and Barriss have made their way to the foundry reactor, their approach has been spotted by a Geonosian spy. The spy has informed Poggle, who orders TX-21 to dispose of the intruders.

The tactical droid deploys winged Geonosian warriors as well as a super tank into the reactor room. The Geonosians dispose of the few explosives that the Padwawans have set. Ahsoka destroys TX-21 with an explosive that puts barely a scratch on the adjacent tank.

ACT III

The super tank bombardment tears through the Republic armor. AT-TEs collapse under a withering assault. Luminara and Anakin order their troops to fall back, drawing the tanks onto the bridge.

Meanwhile, in the reactor core, Barriss and Ahsoka valiantly defend themselves against overwhelming odds. Ahsoka is tossed aside by a flying Geonosian. She hits the reactor station hard, and is knocked unconscious. Having removed all the explosives, the Geonosians scatter into access hatches. Barriss is left alone to face the super tank by herself.

On the surface, the super tank phalanx rumbles over the stone bridge as Anakin and Luminara acrobatically climb to the bridge’s underbelly. They swing hand-over-hand over the precarious height, affixing thermal detonator explosives at key points as they make their slow progress. Crossing the span, the two Jedi emerge on the opposite end, behind the tanks. Anakin triggers the remote detonator. Explosions tear through the bridge, and the span collapses, taking the tanks into the canyon.

Anakin’s triumph is soon clouded by his concern for the Padawans. According to his chronometer, the reactor bombs should go off at any moment, and yet there is no sign of the apprentices. Evacuation ships are on their way to clear the area of what promises to be a resounding explosion. The heavy gates to the foundry open and a fresh wave of battle droids emerge.

In the reactor room, Barriss leaps atop the super tank and cuts her way into the armored vehicle and slices through the droid pilots. Ahsoka awakens to see Barriss piloting the tank. They are unarmed and seemingly incapable of completing their mission. Ahsoka improvises: the tank could destroy the generator, but would not be able to escape the explosion. Barriss grimly concedes that this is their only options. Ahsoka briefly comms Anakin to let him know that she cannot leave the foundry. She then cuts off communications, and the Padawans train the tank cannons on the reactor.

Anakin and Luminara watch on with shock as the entire foundry collapses in a chain of explosions with their apprentices caught inside. An immense dust cloud envelops the blast site. Later, when it clears, Anakin and Luminara stand before the smoldering blast crater. Anakin tries to contact Ahsoka via his comlink. The agitated Skywalker is determined to find his apprentice, but Luminara is much more accepting of the fates. Skywalker orders the tank lifters to clear the debris.

Under tons of rubble, in the darkened control cabin of their trapped tank, Ahsoka and Barriss illuminate the darkness with the twin glows of their lightsabers. Ahsoka uses one of the tank’s smaller power cells to boost the signal on her wrist comlink.

Anakin’s fierce determination does not wane. The lifters peel off layers of wreckage from the crater. He suddenly gets a pulse on his comlink on Ahsoka’s channel. He redirects the clean up efforts. Rather than wait for the heavy machinery, Anakin and Luminara use the Force to lift the debris. Sunlight streams into the shattered tank hull and Ahsoka and Barriss realize they’re saved. They emerge, shaken and coughing, and are reunited with their mentors.

Trivia & Details

• Though their names are not spoken in this episode, two of Luminara Unduli’s clone troopers are Buzz and Draa. In the script, Draa is given the line, “Buckle your belts and check your cells, soldiers. We’re going in.”
• The dialogue spoken by Anakin and Ahsoka during the briefing but barely heard underneath lines spoken by the approaching Barriss and Luminara are (Ahsoka) “Did you listen to what I was saying? I was saying the same things you were saying.” (Anakin) “Yeah, but when I say it they actually listen to me.”
• TX-21 has bug-like markings on his armored skin, fitting his role as a Geonosian tactical advisor.
• The nose-art on Luminara’s gunship has a clone trooper quite literally giving Count Dooku the boot.

Memorable Quotes

• “You know, Master, my briefings might go better if you didn’t interrupt me every time I tried to–“
• “I wasn’t interrupting. I was trying to help you.”
• “Which I would appreciate… if you didn’t interrupt me to do it.” — Ahsoka and Anakin, interrupting each other.

“Stupid green bugger!” — Ahsoka to a Geonosian drone.

• “Whatever you’re doing, I hope it works because I’d sure rather have died fighting up there than starve to death down here.”
• “Don’t worry. We’ll run out of air long before we starve.”
• “That’s a comforting thought.” — Barriss and Ahsoka trapped in a tank

“It’s not that I gave up, Skywalker, but unlike you, when the time comes, I am prepared to let my student go. Can you say the same?” — Luminara Unduli

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Senate Spy

Episode Air No.: 26 (Season 2, Episode 4)
Original Air Date.: October 16, 2009.
Production No.: 205 (Season 2, Episode 5)

Written by Melinda Hsu
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen
Directed by Steward Lee

Key Characters: Senator Padmé Amidala; Anakin Skywalker; C-3PO; R2-D2; Senator Rush Clovis; Senator Lott Dod; Poggle the Lesser

Key Locales: Coruscant; Cato Neimoidia

Cast:
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala and Betty Droid
Robin Atkin Downes as Clovis
Gideon Emery as Lott Dod
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Tom Kane as Yoda and the narrator
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and computer hologram
Terrence “TC” Carson as Mace Windu
Matthew Wood as Poggle the Lesser

Episode Brief: At the Jedi Council’s request, Padmé investigates a Separatist conspiracy in the Senate.

Full Synopsis:

“A true heart should never be doubted.”

Newsreel:
Treachery in the Senate! The Jedi
Council suspects that Senator Rush
Clovis is secretly taking part in a
Separatist conspiracy. But to find
out what the Senator from Scipio
is up to, the Council will need a spy
of its own. Meanwhile, Jedi Anakin
Skywalker has been away from
Coruscant on a lengthy tour of duty
leading the clone army. Now Anakin
returns for a long-awaited reunion
with his wife, Padmé Amidala….

ACT I

After a long absence, Anakin Skywalker is warmly greeted by Padmé Amidala at her skyrise apartment on Coruscant. Anakin has just hitched a ride on a cargo freighter, and brought back warm dinner. It is a special occasion tonight, when the secretly wed couple are able to spend time together.

At the Jedi Temple, the Council discusses a disturbing matter. The InterGalactic Banking Clan has shrewdly avoided direct connection to the Separatists, but the Jedi suspect the financial institution to be in league just the same. Investigating Senator Rush Clovis of the Banking delegation could provide the Jedi the proof they need to expose the treachery, but already Senator Amidala has refused their entreaty to spy on her colleague.

The Jedi are unwilling to take no as an answer. Mace Windu and Yoda ask Obi-Wan Kenobi to summon Anakin, but Kenobi has had difficulty reaching his former apprentice. Anakin has been attempting to ignore them all night, but ultimately feels that duty calls. Padmé is disappointed, and does not appreciate Anakin’s hasty lecture about putting duty first in times of war.

Back at the Jedi Temple, Mace, Obi-Wan and Yoda examine surveillance footage of Rush Clovis, a young human Senator, meeting with the Trade Federation Senatorial representative, Lott Dod. Anakin arrives at the briefing. Mace explains that they need Senator Amidala to spy on Clovis — to send a Jedi would only raise Clovis’s guard. Anakin is increasingly hesitant, particularly when he learns that Clovis and Amidala were close friends during their early careers in the Senate. Yoda implores Anakin to get Amidala to agree to this.

Anakin catches up with Padmé in the hallways of the Galactic Senate building. Despite her words, she is still upset at Anakin, and his requests on behalf of the Jedi Council are of little help for her mood. She reiterates her refusal to spy on a colleague and old friend. Anakin’s jealous reaction to her friendship with Clovis only sparks Padmé’s temper. Padmé is surprised to learn that Clovis may have any connection to the Separatist, a fact Yoda failed to mention during his entreaties to her. This changes her mind on the matter, but Anakin disagrees with the Council’s decision to use Padmé like this. He refuses to see her put in danger, and she is irked by his overprotective streak. She accepts the mission over Anakin’s protestations, quoting his original line that duty comes first in wartime.

Inside the Jedi Council chamber, Padmé lays out her strategy for spying on Clovis. First, she must re-initiate contact; it’s been some time since they last were in touch. Anakin is unsettled to learn that Padmé and Clovis had a romantic relationship. She ended it years ago, returning them to the status of professional colleagues, something that Clovis did not take well. Still, Padmé is confident he can regain his trust. Anakin will serve as bodyguard for the assignment.

ACT II

At the dining commons within the Senate building, Padmé and Clovis enjoy a late dinner. Rush is about to head to Cato Neimoidia, to collect some outstanding dues from the Trade Federation. Padmé offers to help, and she agrees to accompany Clovis in the hopes of using her diplomatic contacts to sway the Neimoidians. Clovis hopes that traveling with Padmé will be even better than it was in their past.

The next day, the Senators board a gleaming Naboo star skiff. Anakin, dressed as a Naboo pilot, assists Captain Typho, C-3PO and R2-D2 in ship preparations. Anakin barely contains his jealousy while trying to play the role of an impartial pilot. To prevent Clovis from sitting right next to Padmé, Anakin surreptitiously breaks the harness of the adjacent seat, forcing Clovis to sit apart. When Clovis moves too close to Padmé for Anakin’s liking, Skywalker twists the ship through a maneuver to shake the amorous Senator away.

Before long, the skiff arrives at the gilded bridge cities of Cato Neimoidia. The joint Naboo | Scipio delegation is greeted by Senator Lott Dod, who is surprised to see Amidala but nonetheless welcomes her to the grand hall of his palace. While servant droids escort Padmé and her retinue to their room, Clovis meets with Dod in the library.

They discuss a new investment by the Banking Clan into the Separatist war effort for the creation of a new droid factory. Dod is delighted by the prospect of war profits, but is fearful of the Senator that Clovis has brought with him. The Geonosian weapons manufacturer Poggle the Lesser emerges from the shadows. The two aliens try to negotiate a greater stake of the profits, but Clovis doesn’t budge. The Neimoidians are far too indebted to the banking clan in this venture to begin haggling. The conspirators cut their conversation short as Padmé approaches, apparently wandering the library. Clovis escorts Padmé out, leaving Dod and Poggle to fume silently. Dod notices the obvious affection Clovis has for Amidala, and sees an opportunity to force Clovis to comply with their wishes — if they could threaten the Naboo Senator.

Senator Dod intercepts Clovis and Amidala in the grand hall corridor outside the library. He presents them drinks to toast their new friendship. Dod gives Padmé a poisoned glass as the Senators retire to the dining chambers.

Meanwhile, at the skiff on the landing platform, an agitated Anakin waits impatiently for Padmé’s signal, with R2-D2 keeping him company.

ACT III

After dinner, Padmé begins to feel faint. C-3PO suggests she retire for the night, but Padmé rallies her energies and agrees to a tour of the palace with Clovis. Threepio is dismissed and returns to Padmé’s quarters, where he encounters Anakin. The droid tells him of Padmé’s whereabouts and actions, which only worries Anakin more.

As Clovis and Padmé walk through the palace library, her head pounds and she feels weak. She asks Clovis to fetch her some water. As he disappears, Padmé sneaks to the hologram projector she spotted earlier. The data contained within is password-protected. After a few false guesses, Padmé tumbles on the true password: her name. The display activates, revealing an enormous Geonosian droid factory. This is the evidence she sought. She signals R2-D2 while she ejects and palms the hologram disc.

Clovis returns with a drink for Padmé, and she carefully keeps the disck hidden behind her back. She throws her arms around Clovis to keep him from seeing her stolen prize. Anakin arrives to catch his wife in the embrace of a Senator, but keeps quiet as a he stealthily takes the disc from her hand. He returns to the star skiff and gives the data to R2-D2. Anakin orders Artoo to take the data to the Jedi Council if he does not return, and then he races off back to the palace.

Clovis is surprised by Padmé’s display of affection. She faints from the poison, and Clovis carries her to her bedroom. He orders Threepio to fetch a medical droid. In the hallway outside the bedroom, Clovis confronts Lott Dod. He knows Padmé has been poisoned. Dod correctly brands Amidala as a Republic spy. Clovis reluctantly faces the truth when he checks the hologram projector and finds the data stolen.

Clovis returns to the bedroom and calls out Padmé on her treachery. She vows loyalty to the Republic; Clovis is the one who has betrayed the Republic. She tells Clovis that the data is on its way to the Senate. Just then, Anakin arrives, spoiling for a fight. He orders Clovis to step away from the fading Padmé. Anakin wants to rush her to Coruscant, but there is no time. Clovis realizes that Dod must have the antidote. In exchange for the hologram disc, Clovis will get it from Dod. Anakin ignores the offer. He’d rather get what he needs directly from the Neimoidian.

Clovis genuinely cares for Padmé’s health. He helps Anakin take her back to her ship. They are intercepted by Lott Dod. Clovis tries to bluff his way past the Neimoidian, but Dod does not want her taken off-planet. Clovis pulls a blaster and holds Dod at gunpoint, demanding the antidote. Dod hands it over, and Anakin takes Padmé back to her ship. Clovis asks for Anakin for the disc back, but Anakin coldly refuses, leaving Clovis behind to face the Neimoidians.

As the Naboo star skiff takes off, Anakin administers the antidote to Padmé. Her mission was a success: with the holographic evidence, the Jedi can now move against the new droid foundry. Padmé nonetheless regrets making Anakin doubt her, but he admits no doubt.

Trivia & Details

• This episode uses a number of environments previously seen in the live action movies, including Padmé’s apartment verandah (Episode III), the Senate corridor (Episode II) and rotunda chambers (Episode I), the Jedi Council war room (Episode III), entrance gates (Episode III), and Cato Neimoidia (Episode (III).
• Anakin uses “clicks” as a unit of time in this episode. In previous episodes, “klicks” were used to denote distance — kilometers. It is not yet known how long a click is.
• When Anakin expresses surprise that Padme and Clovis were ever close, Obi-Wan raises a very suspicious eyebrow.
• Not a single blaster is fired in this episode, nor is a lightsaber ignited, nor does anything explode.
• An earlier concept for this story would have replaced Rush Clovis with the boy Palo, mentioned by Padmé in Episode II. This was abandoned for a couple of obvious reasons. One, Palo is said to have abandoned politics to become an artist. Secondly, their relationship was at a very young age — when Padmé was 12. It worked better for the thread of jealousy if Padmé’s past flame would have been a relationship she had as an adult.
• The Senate pods do indeed have sound-dampening privacy technology, which is what allows Anakin and Padmé to talk so freely even in the midst of the Senate chambers.
• Padmé mentions the Holonet to Rush Clovis, the first time this expanded universe concept is mentioned in a source like this. The HoloNet is a galaxy-wide communications network that works somewhat like television and the Internet. It was first mentioned in a 1989 roleplaying game sourcebook.
• The chairs at the Neimoidian dinner are all articulated self-propelled mechno-chairs.
• The all-Aurebesh screen on the holographic projector in Lott Dod’s library actually contains tutorial text for basic 3-D computer modelling.
• The take-out food Anakin carries is labeled “WARM FOOD” on the side, and “SUSHI” on the top. The crashing wave design printed on the box is taken from a recently produced R2-D2 tea towel.
• The grand hall gallery at Lott Dod’s palace include many heroic paintings of past Neimoidians, done in a classical style, including a Napoleonic Neimoidian riding a kaadu.

Memorable Quotes

• “I hitched a ride on a cargo freighter.”
• “What happened to your military transport?”
• “Ehhhh … it blew up.” — Anakin and Padmé
• “What?”
• “You called this home.”
• “What else would I call it?” — Anakin and Padmé
• “On the contrary. I hope it’ll be better than old times.” — A hopeful Rush Clovis.
• “Don’t worry, Clovis. It’s good to know you have a heart. I wishI could give you the disc, but I have a lot faith in your survival skills.” — Anakin’s parting words to Clovis.
• “Hmm, it seems no one wants my company tonight.” — C-3PO.

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

(*Archived here with Permission utilising The Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Cargo of Doom

Episode Air No.: 24 (Season 2, Episode 2)
Original Air Date.: October 2, 2009.
Production No.: 113 (Season 1, Episode 13)

Written by George Krstic
Supervising Writer: Scott Murphy
Series Writer: Henry Gilroy
Directed by Rob Coleman

Key Characters: Anakin Skywalker; Ahsoka Tano; Cad Bane; Bolla Ropal; Clone Captain Rex; Admiral Yularen; Clone Trooper Denal; Nute Gunray

Key Locales: Space over Devaron

Cast:
Corey Burton as Cad Bane
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
Dee Bradley Baker as clone troopers and Bolla Ropal
Tom Kenny as Nute Gunray
Tom Kane as the narrator and Admiral Yularen
Matthew Wood as battle droids

Episode Brief: Anakin and Ahsoka intercept Cad Bane’s warship, hoping to recover the stolen Jedi Holocron, but the Jedi underestimate the bounty hunter’s cunning tactics.

Full Synopsis:

“Overconfidence is the most dangerous form of carelessness.”

Newsreel:
Stolen secrets! Villainous mercenary
Cad Bane was hired by Darth Sidious
to steal a holocron from the vaults of the
Jedi Temple. After fleeing the scene of
the crime, Bane hunted down and captured
Master Bolla Ropal, who has a crystal
which holds secrets of the Jedi Order.
As a Separatist fleet arrives to help the
bounty hunter, Anakin Skywalker races in
to cut off their escape and stop Bane from
delivering the stolen holocron.

ACT I

In orbit over Devaron, the Jedi cruiser Resolute tangles with a trio of Separatist frigates. Aboard the Republic vessel, Admiral Yularen signals to General Anakin Skywalker that they receiving an urgent message from the planet. A clone trooper desperately reports from the surface: the base on Devaron has been overrun, and General Bolla Ropal has been captured along with the Kyber memory crystal. The signal is cut short as the clone is killed by a battle droid. Time is of essence: Anakin must find which of the Separatist vessels holds Master Ropal.

Within the prison hold of one of the frigates, an inert Bolla Ropal is thrown into a restraining force field by super battle droids. A battle droid overseeing the interrogation administers mind limiters, pain pulsers and a full dose of X-C33.

Cad Bane commands the frigate to prep for hyperspace while he goes to visit the Jedi prisoner to ask for a “small favor.” As the frigate leaves the battle zone, Anakin surmises that it must be carrying Bolla aboard. He orders Admiral Yularen and ready the troops for boarding. Yularen is taken aback — they have no boarding craft! The Resolute‘s concentrated barrages destroy the frigate’s hyperdrive engines, essentially trapping it in the Devaron system.

In the Resolute hangar, Captain Rex has assembled three brigades of clone troopers (including Execute Battalion and Carnivore Battalion) and awaits orders. Everyone is curious as to Anakin’s plan, and he does not disappoint as far as unorthodox improvisation goes: he orders Yularen to prepare the AT-TE walkers for action. They’re not boarding craft, but they are pressure-sealed and have magnetic feet. Ahsoka in particular is impressed. Yularen, a by-the-books officer, is exasperated.

Meanwhile, poor Bolla Ropal is subjected to painful electrical charges as his interrogation is supervised by the callous Bane. Bane orders Ropal to open the holocron so he can get at the secrets contained within, secrets that can only be coaxed from within the ancient memory device by a Jedi Knight. Bolla refuses, so Bane intensifies his torture, killing Ropal. Bane sees this murder as only a slight delay in achieving his objective. He’ll need another Jedi to open the holocron.

ACT II

The Resolute matches speeds with the crippled frigate, and from the Republic destroyer’s belly hold emerge three AT-TE walkers, free-falling through vacuum to land on the stern hull of the Separatist ship. The walkers’ cannons blast through confused battle droids. Wearing space-suits, Anakin and Ahsoka use the Force to leap through the void, cutting their way past the enemy. R2-D2 joins the Jedi and plugs into an airlock control, opening a hatch leading into the frigate.

Back on the bridge, an outraged Nute Gunray appears via hologram, chastising Bane for losing four Separatist cruisers that Gunray reluctantly loaned to the bounty hunter at Darth Sidious’s request. Bane isn’t too worried about expenses. He knows the holocron and its enclosed data is worth a fortune to his shadowy benefactor. The conversation is cut short as the entire frigate shudders from the battle raging on its dorsal hull. Bane, however, refuses to send reinforcements. He plans to lure the Jedi aboard and get one of them to open the holocron.

Bane barks out orders on the bridge. The frigate’s memory banks are to be wiped clean, and its self-destruct sequence to be initiated. He transfers all basic controls of the ship to his wrist-com. Bane leaves the battle droid crew to defend the bridge while he disappears into a ventilation duct.

The bridge blast doors fly apart, and Anakin, Ahsoka, Rex and more clones storm in. Anakin orders Artoo to plug into the bridge computer systems. The droid immediately finds a fragment of Bane’s holographic conversation with Gunray, and the Jedi learn that Bane possesses both the holocron and the Kyber crystal. Anakin orders Rex to secure the hangar bay and destroy all the escape pods. No one is to get off the frigate. The frigate trembles as the self-destruct sequence begins.

Aboard the Resolute, Admiral Yularen witnesses an explosion in the frigate’s aft section. He advises Anakin, but Skywalker is determined to stay aboard and find Master Ropal. Ahsoka and Anakin find the Bolla’s body abandoned in a prison cell in the detention level. Anakin orders some clones to return Ropal to the Resolute.

Bane has fled to the gunnery deck, where he leads a squad of battle droids and super battle droids. He intends to divide and defeat the Jedi while the droids keep the clones busy. Another blast shakes the frigate, and the deck lights go out. The Jedi and clones march through the darkness before spotting Bane running through the corridors. They give pursuit, and Bane leads them back to the gunnery deck, where his droids stand ready. A gunfight erupts.

Bane uses his wrist gauntlet controls to deactivate the artificial gravity. The Jedi and clones begin to lift off the deck. Troopers activate the magnetic gripsoles on their boots, fastening themselves to the walls and ceilings while blasting away at the similarly magnetized droids. Both sides need to watch their aim, though, as the gunnery deck is filled with explosive ammunition canisters.

R2-D2 rockets to a control panel in an effort to reactivate the gravity generators. Anakin cuts his way towards Bane and delivers a stunning kick to the hunter’s face. As Bane spirals away in zero gravity, the holocron falls from his jacket. Anakin is centimeters away from snatching it when Artoo reactivates the gravity. Everything comes crashing down, and Bane retrieves the holocron. While Anakin is distracted saving a falling clone, Ahsoka chases after the fleeing Bane.

Bane runs through the corridors, using his wrist-com to lock the blast doors behind Ahsoka. He’s now separated the Padawan from her Master. As Anakin tries to cut through the gunnery bay doors, a clumsy battle droid blasts an ammo canister, causing a huge explosion. Skywalker is swallowed up by falling rubble.

Bane reaches a seeming dead-end at a closed airlock. He fires a blast at Ahsoka that the young Padawan easily deflects. As she closes in on the hunter, he kicks her lightsaber aside, but Ahsoka gets within his reach and bodily flips the hunter onto the ground. It appears she’s won this round, but Bane suddenly grabs her foot and uses his gauntlet to radiate a debilitating stun charge through her body. The young girl is knocked unconscious.

Anakin senses his Padawan’s danger through the Force. With renewed vigor, he telekinetically lifts the debris that is pinning him, casting it aside. Skywalker orders Rex to get to the hangar and secure a transport while he tracks down Ahsoka.

Aboard the Resolute, Admiral Yularen detects the destructive power surge that is making its way across the ship. He advises Anakin to abandon his mission and flee the doomed ship. Skywalker refuses, as he has neither the holocron nor his Padawan. He instead orders Yularen to move his ship back to a safe distance.

ACT III

Ahsoka is Bane’s prisoner, shackled in self-tightening stun-cuffs. Bane happily yanks the Padawan braid jewelry hanging from her lekku, taking it as a trophy. Ahsoka remains defiant. She knows Anakin is on his way. Bane, however, is counting on it. He increases Anakin’s sense of urgency by releasing another electric charge through Ahsoka.

Anakin cuts through a trio of droids before arriving at the airlock. Bane activates the shield doors, leaving Ahsoka on the space-ward side of the lock, while he and Anakin stand together in the vestibule. With a sizzling intensity, Anakin orders Bane to stand down, but Bane holds too many cards. The bounty hunter dangles a finger over his wrist control. With a single flick, he can eject Ahsoka into space.

Flanked by two super battle droids, Bane instead makes an offer. If Anakin can open the holocron, he’ll let Ahsoka live. Skywalker has no choice. He puts his lightsaber down, and agrees to Bane’s terms.

Rex and his clones meanwhile have found a shuttle in the hangar bay. They blast at the remaining droids while the frigate continues to convulse from destruct charges. In the abandoned gunnery bay, a fuel leak quickens a growing blaze that begins to cook the discarded ammunition canisters. Aboard the Resolute, Yularen detects that the frigate’s main reactor will implode at any moment. Rex orders troopers Denal and Koho to break off from the gunfight and find Anakin.

In the airlock bay, Anakin uses the Force to levitate the holocron. Under his control, the holocron changes shape, opening to reveal an aperture that accepts Bane’s Kyber memory crystal. The holocron glows as it activates. Anakin uses the Force to call both his lightsaber and Ahsoka’s to him. Bane steps back as the two super battle droids flank Anakin. The hunter activates his gauntlet, and opens the airlock door.

Ahsoka desperately clings to the airlock bulkhead as the air rushes out from her side of the shielded passageway. Anakin uses the Force to toss a sliced super battle droid body into the shield controls, deactivating the barrier. The entire airlock vestibule is compromised, and Anakin too is caught up in the rush of air. Bane powers up his rocket boots and soars away from the vacuum as an emergency bulkhead seals. With great strain, Anakin pulls along the bulkhead and reaches the airlock controls, sealing the outside hatch. He and his Padawan are reunited, and Anakin cuts through her shackles, freeing her.

Bane makes contact with Gunray, reporting his success at opening the holocron. Gunray suggests that he transmit the holocron data, but Bane is far too cagey for that. He has his own plans for escape. He makes his way to the hangar, and is stopped by Denal and Koho.

Anakin and Ahsoka race through the corridors towards the hangar. Skywalker is still determined to catch Bane, but Ahsoka tells him there is no time. The ship is going to detonate any second. Anakin sees that she is right, and the two run to the Separatist shuttle that Rex has captured. As the vessel begins to lift off, they spot Denal and Bane grappling in the upper deck. Denal blasts Bane, and the hunter’s lifeless body falls to the floor. The Jedi leap to the shuttle, which hovers to the upper deck to pick up a wounded Denal before roaring out of the hangar bay.

Denal reports that he did not get the holocron, but there’s no time to worry about that. In the gunnery bay, the ammunition reaches critical temperature, triggering an explosion that is mirrored in the reactor bay. The entire frigate vaporizes as the shuttle escapes and flies to the Resolute. The holocron appears to have been destroyed, but at least the Separatists did not get it.

Anakin, however, still sense Bane’s presence in the Force…

Trivia & Details

• The script originally called for black-hued retail droid guards to haul Master Ropal’s unconscious body.
• Long time fans will find something familiar in the term “Kyber memory crystal.” In early drafts of the original script to A New Hope, the Kyber crystal was a Force-focusing artifact wanted by the Jedi and the Sith. This was eventually written out of the story in subsequent drafts, and a variation of the artifact — spelled as the Kaiburr crystal — made its way into the 1978 novel Splinter of the Mind’s Eye. During the script development of Episode II, the term “Kyber” was nearly resurrected. The weapon that Jango Fett used to kill Zam Wesell was first identified as a Kamino kyber dart. This was changed to saber-dart in the finished movie. Finally, after over 30 years, the term “Kyber” with its original spelling has worked its way into a canon Star Wars story.
• Rex orders Execute Battalion to board “ATAT300,” but the proper designation for the Clone Wars-era walker is an AT-TE. The other walker identified by number is 773.
• When Anakin confronts the three doomed battle droids in the airlock corridor, the one in the background them panics and frantically tries to activate the controls.
• Trooper Denal was last seen in the season one episode, “Downfall of a Droid.”
• A small but grim detail for sharp-eyed viewers. The dead body of Bolla Ropal has its tongue sticking out.

Memorable Quotes

“You’d better live through this. I want my money!” — Nute Gunray to Cad Bane.

“We’re defending the bridge alone? Against the Jedi? I hate this job.” — Battle droid #1

“Of all the Jedi, why did I have to end up with Skywalker?” — Admiral Yularen

• “Come on! There’s three of us and only one of him!” – “(resigned) It won’t matter.” — Battle droids facing Anakin.

“If I activate this control, the outside airlock will open and she will be sucked into oblivion. Do you think you can kill me and then save her before she’s pulled out into space? It’s a horrible way to die.” — Cad Bane

• “So, the mission was your usual version of success, then?”
• “If by success you mean I won, then yes.” – Admiral Yularen and Anakin Skywalker.

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

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The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Holocron Heist

Episode Air No.: 23 (Season 2, Episode 1; Season Premiere)
Original Air Date.: October 2, 2009.
Production No.: 123 (Season 1, Episode 23)

Written by Paul Dini
Series Writer: Henry Gilroy
Staff Writer: Scott Murphy
Directed by Justin Ridge

Key Characters: Cad Bane; Ahsoka Tano; Anakin Skywalker; Obi-Wan Kenobi; Jocasta Nu; Cato Parasitti; Todo 360; Mace Windu; Yoda

Key Locales: Felucia; Coruscant

Cast:
Corey Burton as Cad Bane and Analyzer Droid
James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
Seth Green as Todo 360
Tom Kane as Yoda and Narrator
Flo DiRe as Jocasta Nu
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers and Ord Enisence
Gwendoline Yeo as Cato Parasitti
Terrence “TC” Carson as Mace Windu
Ian Abercrombie as Darth Sidious

Episode Brief: Cad Bane infiltrates the Jedi Temple and attempts steal an ancient Jedi Holocron. It’s up to Ahsoka, Anakin and Obi-Wan to stop the bounty hunter from escaping with the valuable Jedi artifact.

Full Synopsis:

“A lesson learned is a lesson earned.”

Newsreel:
Jedi trapped on Felucia! Clones are
surrounded by droid forces. Their
only hope is to escape on Republic
gunships waiting to land on the
embattled surface. Jedi cruisers have
managed to blow a hole in the droid
defenses, and have sent gunships to
the rescue.

ACT I

High above the overgrown fungal world of Felucia, a trio of Republic cruisers pound a blockade of Separatist frigates. From the starboard hangar of one of the cruisers emerges a stream of attack gunships escorted by V-19 Torrent interceptors. Leading the reinforcements is Jedi Master Plo Koon, aboard the blue-decorated Jedi starfighter gifted to him by Anakin Skywalker during the Malevolence crisis. He calls to his clone wingman, Warthog, to protect the gunships as he takes out the droid fighters. The gunships run through the blockade, with only a pair of vulture droids surviving to give pursuit.

The gunships penetrate the atmosphere, vectoring toward a landing zone clear of the immense pitcher plants and other exotic flora of Felucia. On the ground, a small clone fighting force is surrounded by battle droids that tighten the circle around them. Obi-Wan and Anakin block incoming fire, standing beneath a mighty AT-TE walker.

In the air, Warthog desperately evades to no avail as the droid fighters pursue. Plo Koon swings his vessel around, blasting apart one of the vultures. The other droid gets caught in the explosion and spins out of control, smashing the ground hard and tumbling into an AT-TE. The Jedi dodge the collision, and realize that reinforcements must be on their way.

Cody and Rex lead their beleaguered ground forces to the landing rescue gunships. Anakin and Obi-Wan radio Ahsoka, who should be returning from her assigned patrol duty. She’s in the thick of battle as well, deflecting incoming laser fire while standing atop an immense clone turbo tank. She’s six kilometers east of the Jedi Knights, and her forces have engaged the enemy. Kenobi orders her to prepare for extraction, but she refuses to retreat. Kenobi restates his order, but Ahsoka instead follows Skywalker’s maxim of never giving up when the enemy is on the run.

The Republic gunships approach Ahsoka’s troops. She continues to advance, forcing Anakin to land the evacuation craft directly in her path, thus causing her to stop. Anakin jumps out of the gunship and orders Ahsoka aboard. He tells her that the droids are about to overrun her postion, but she cannot see it from her vantage point. Reluctantly, Ahsoka boards the gunship, and as it lifts off, she does indeed see that dozens of droid reinforcements stood ready to ambush her if she had continued her push forward.

Later, on Coruscant, within one of the spires of the Jedi Temple, Ahsoka is being debriefed by the stern Jedi Council. Ahsoka admits her error, citing being caught up by her apparent successes to not see the battle as a whole. Anakin takes responsibility for Ahsoka’s failure; he attributes her advanced abilities for his oversight of her youthful shortcomings. Nonetheless, Mace pulls Ahsoka from battlefield duties, and Yoda assigns her to guard duty at the Jedi Archives.

Deep inside the Jedi Archives, Ahsoka meets Jocasta Nu, the director of this vast information depository. Madame Jocasta gives young Ahsoka a tour. The Jedi Temple library contains more knowledge than anywhere else in the galaxy, and is even said to contain forbidden knowledge that only the most learned of Jedi Masters could access. The deepest secrets are contained within the holocron vaults, where holocrons — data storage systems that can only be opened through the Force — reside. Ahsoka is not allowed inside. Even Madame Jocasta has not set foot within the vault for years.

In the Coruscant underworld, within a seedy hotel, Cad Bane stands inside a dingy room, biding his time. A hologram of Darth Sidious appears. Sidious tasks Bane to acquire a Jedi holocron for him. Bane notes it won’t be easy — to do so would require him to infiltrate the Jedi Temple. So, it will be a costly assignment. He requests a rogue-class starfighter with elite weapons, a cloaking device, and triple his usual rate. Sidious agrees, and will provide Bane with the means to infiltrate the temple.

In the Jedi war room, Anakin and Obi-Wan examine the ramifications of their loss of Felucia. Yoda is distracted by a disturbance in the Force. He senses that the Jedi Temple will be host to danger… intruders are on their way.

ACT II

In his apartment, Bane hunches over Todo 360, his fidgety techno-service droid, as he implants a small security chip into a slot in the droid’s back. The two are joined by Cato Parasitti, a Clawdite changeling. She is part of Bane’s plot to steal a holocron. The two pull up intelligence provided by Darth Sidious on Bolla Ropal, a Jedi Knight in the Mid Rim. He’s part of the next leg of their assignment. First, though, the two hunters must infiltrate the Temple. The chip that Todo carries is a piece of the puzzle: he has all the technical data regarding Temple security systems. Also provided by Sidious are detailed holographic maps of their destination.

The last element is where Parasitti comes in. Bane’s hotel is now the final resting place for the late Jedi Knight, Ord Enisence. Parasitti adopts the form of Enisence, and will serve as Bane’s “inside man,” entering the archives and monitoring Bane’s progress. The two will maintain contact with compact ear-comlinks.

The library’s placement near the communication center will provide a challenge — it’s an area swarming with Jedi — as will the security systems of the vault, but Bane seems confident of his success.

Back at the Jedi Temple, Anakin and Obi-Wan are on alert and busy hypothesizing what intruders might be after. They theorize — incorrectly — that the east tower communications center is the likeliest target, as it houses Jedi transmitter codes and crucial war information. Skywalker dashes to the tower, while Kenobi heads to the central security station to monitor perimeter defenses.

Outside, Bane and Todo use rocket boots to flit to an untended overhang amid the Jedi Temple’s enormous architecture, near the south tower. Inside, Ord Enisence strolls into the Temple. Ahsoka greets him warmly, but Enisence only returns cold impatience. Ahsoka drops the matter, but Jocasta overhears the unusual outburst.

Parasitti takes a seat at a terminal within the archives, and begins guiding Todo to a weak spot in the defensive shields surrounding the Temple access points. Parasitti also disrupts the local scanners to provide Todo and Bane the cover they need to enter.

Obi-Wan and Anakin notice the glitch in the scanners, but detect no intruders from their respective vantage points. Yoda senses trouble afoot, but is also at a loss as to what the potential target may be. As they begin to speculate about communications center, Obi-Wan runs a scan on the central ventilation shaft, and detects a disruption by the south tower. Kenobi and Skywalker go to investigate while Yoda places the temple on high alert.

Bane and Todo enter the cavernous ventilation systems. Parasitti guides them to the control boards that bypass the massive fans. One set, however, remains active, and nearly sucks the intruders into its cutting blades before Cato deactivates it in the nick of time.

Jocasta confronts “Enisence” with word of the Temple being on high alert. Enisence lashes out and knocks the librarian unconscious. Parasitti then adopts her visage with her shapeshifting skills. Bane and Todo arrive at the vent shaft above the vault, which is protected by a dense laser web. Cato remotely deactivates the laser webs.

Obi-Wan and Anakin arrive at the top of the vent shaft to see where the infiltrators entered, and try to follow their path. They rappel down the enormous tunnels, following the network of shafts to the communications center.

ACT III

Anakin and Obi-Wan explore the side vents of the central vent shaft, but find no sign of the trespassers. They are too deep inside the Temple for the general sensors to detect. Yoda speculates that they may be receiving assistance from inside the Temple.

Outside the Jedi Archives, Todo and Bane deactivate the last of the laser screens. Bane next has an odd request for Todo: to cut through the wall, but not in the direction of the vault; instead, the droid is to cut his way to the communications center.

In the library, Ahsoka receives a comlink transmission from Yoda, warning of an intruder possibly posing as a Jedi. The Jedi Master tasks the Padawan to find Jocasta Nu. She spies Jocasta making a suspicious transmission. Ahsoka confronts her, but Cato ignites Jocasta’s lightsaber and attacks Ahsoka. Untrained with the Jedi weapon, it’s all Cato can do to hold off Ahsoka, buying enough time to run for it. Ahsoka uses the Force to send a chair tumbling into Cato’s path, tripping up the changeling.

As Anakin and Obi-Wan continue their search, Ahsoka communicates with her Master. She’s interrogated Cato and discovered that the intruder’s objective is the holocron vault. Kenobi dismisses this, as only a Jedi can activate a holocron. Based on this, Anakin surmises that the intruder must be trying to get to the communications center through the vault.

Meanwhile, at the vault gate, Bane requires Cato’s assistance to cut through the last security gate. His comlink transmission is met with silence, however, since Cato’s been caught. Shifting gears, Bane dispatches Todo to the communications center. The little droid nervously complies — he knows that it’s filled with Jedi. As the droid departs, Cad produces a small device — the same kind of “security chip” he implanted in Todo earlier — and sticks it to the access panel. It counts down to zero and explodes.

The blast shakes the access tunnel that Obi-Wan and Anakin currently occupy. They follow the tremors to the blast site and immediately see Todo’s cut path to the communications center. They give pursuit. Bane emerges from the shadows, having successfully misdirected the Jedi. He enters the holocron vault and grabs the appropriate cube.

Meanwhile, in the Jedi communications center, Mace Windu, Aayla Secura, Kit Fisto, and Yoda turn to spot Todo suddenly emerging from an access hatch. Mace Windu detects a bomb within the droid and Force pushes it away. Anakin and Obi-Wan take cover in the vent shafts as Todo suddenly explodes.

Back in the archives, Ahsoka marches a bound Cato and checks in with a revived Jocasta Nu. Bane, meanwhile, sneaks away hidden beneath a Jedi robe. Yoda and the other Jedi Masters examine the holocron vault, and find a cube missing. This whole caper was never about war intelligence. As the Jedi attempt to puzzle their enemy’s agenda, Cato offers up some information on Bane’s next target: Bolla Ropal.

Ropal is the keeper of the Kyber crystal, a data repository of every known Force-sensitive child in the galaxy that can only be read within a Jedi Holocron. Bolla is in the Devaron system, out of range for a warning. Ahsoka and Anakin decide to go to Devaron to alert him, while Kenobi will see to Parasitti’s incarceration as well as look for Bane on Coruscant.

Trivia & Details

• After the clone navigation officer calls for the gunners to concentrate fire on the left-most Separatist frigate, it’s actually the one on the right that takes the barrage.
• The script called for Ki-Adi-Mundi to be present at the Jedi Council meeting, however his animation model was not yet prepared. The Cerean Jedi Master does appear later in Season Two, though.
• Holocrons were originally developed by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy for the comic series Dark Empire, published in 1991-1992 by Dark Horse Comics. Since that time, they’ve become a mainstay in expanded universe storytelling. They’re often used as power-ups or trophies in Jedi-based video games from LucasArts themselves.
• Among the signage seen on the rather seedy buildings of the Coruscant underworld is an establishment called “THE HOLE,” and PURPLE WER.”
• The dossier on Bolla Ropal says the following in Aurebesh:
  

  ROPAL, BOLLA
  HOMEWORLD – RODIA
  ABILITIES: IN QUESTION
  THREAT POTENTIAL: MINIMAL
  ALL OTHER INFORMATION RESTRICTED

• The Aurebesh keys on Cato/Ord’s keyboard are upside down.
• The display on Bane’s security chip bombs reads “COUNTDOWN TO DEATH”
• One of the rescue gunships is adorned with a nose painting of Plo Koon and two clone helmets, labeled PLO’S BROS.

Memorable Quotes

“Come on, grunts. We… are… leaving!” — Captain Rex to his men.

• “Where’s Ahsoka?”
• “Following your teachings.”
• “Is she winning?” — Anakin and Obi-Wan on Felucia

“Guard duty? For how long?”
“Longer now.” — Ahsoka Tano and Mace Windu

“That is preposterous. I have no memory of any crashes. Oh my goodness! I have no memories of any crashes!” — Todo 360

“Oh, uh… hey, guys. I was just… ah … testing the access hatch. Works great.” — Todo 360 to a room full of Jedi.

Welcome to a look inside The Holocron. A collection of articles from the archives of *starwars.com no longer directly available.

(*Archived here with Permission utilising The Internet Archive Wayback Machine)

The Clone Wars Episode Guide: Hostage Crisis

Episode Air No.: 22
Original Air Date: March 20, 2009
Production No.: Season 2; Episode 4

Written by Eoghan Mahony
Supervising Writer: Drew Z. Greenberg
Staff Writer: Brian Larsen

Directed by Giancarlo Volpe

Key Characters: Crime lord Ziro the Hutt, bounty hunter Cad Bane, bounty hunters Aurra Sing, Robonino & Shahan Alama, Chancellor Palpatine, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala

Key Locales: Coruscant

Cast:
Corey Burton as Cad Bane, Ziro the Hutt and Shanan Alama
Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala and Betty Droid
Phil LaMarr as Bail Organa, Orn Free Taa and Senator Philo
Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine
Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers, Robonino and Onaconda Farr
Matthew Wood as 3D, Senate Guard #1 & 3 and Commando Droid
Tom Kane as the Narrator, and Senate Guard Captain
David Acord as Senate Guards and Servant Droid
Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
Jaime King as Aurra Sing

Episode Brief: To free crime lord Ziro the Hutt, bounty hunters seize control of the Senate Building and take hostages — completely unaware that Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker is still inside.

Full Synopsis:

“A secret shared is a trust formed.”

Newsreel:
Danger looms! Despite recent victories in the Outer Rim, criminal minds plot at the very heart of the Republic! The bounty hunter Cad Bane has assembled some of the deadliest criminals in the galaxy and plans a daring attack to seize members of the Senate. What can
be the aim of this despicable act?

ACT I

It is a bright day on Coruscant. An airspeeder flits through the bustling skylanes, carrying a motley bunch: the laconic bounty hunter Cad Bane, a blue-skinned Duros with a wide-brimmed hat that shades his features; the prune-faced Weequay gunman Shahan Alama; a pair of commando droids emblazoned with a peculiar red sunburst sigil; a similarly adorned assassin droid.

The airspeeder flies towards the east wing of the domed Senate building, coming to a halt at the lip of its landing platform. Senate Guards rush into the daylight, for the speeder has broken security protocols and come to a stop in a restricted area. Cad Bane hardly seems concerned. He debarks the speeder and walks calmly towards the guards. He quietly states he has business with the Senate and tells the security detail to step aside. The no-nonsense Senate Guard captain orders Bane on his knees.

Suddenly shots ring out from afar. Blaster bolts begin dropping the Senate Guards. At an adjacent tower, bounty hunter Aurra Sing sights her targets through a sniper rifle. The guards scramble for cover as the rest of the hunters also open fire. Cad Bane rushes the captain and snaps his neck. Aurra kills the last of the guard detail and Bane signals the team to move ahead with their nefarious plan.

The commando droids are to clear the platform of bodies while dressing up in concealing Senate Guard armor. They report in to central command that the ruckus was caused by war protestors, but that the situation is secure. A second airspeeder arrives, this one carrying Sing; the diminutive piscine alien, Robonino; and two more assassin droids. With the commando droids standing guard, the rest of the posse makes its way into the Senate building.

Elsewhere inside the building, Senator Padmé Amidala works at her office. Anakin Skywalker is visiting her. He is restless. Though he is supposed to be at a meditative retreat, he is instead trying to convince Padmé to take some time off so they could go away together privately. Padmé remains focused on her work, but Anakin stresses that nothing is more important than their feelings. He chides her with a display of his devotion, handing over his weapon — his Jedi lightsaber — to Padmé for safekeeping. Padmé thinks that Anakin is simply teasing her, and puts the lightsaber aside.

The bounty hunters continue their way deeper into the Senate complex. The assassin droids target and eliminate a Senate Guard defending a power control room. They similarly make short work of the droids on station there. With the path cleared, Robonino gets to work sabotaging the building power distribution network. Bane collects the rest of the hunters and presses on.

A stolen embrace and kiss between Padmé and Anakin is cut short by the approach of C-3PO and Senator Bail Organa to Padmé’s office. Anakin hurriedly hides behind Padmé’s desk while she conceals his lightsaber within her robes. Senator Organa tells Padmé that Senator Philo has called a meeting in the lobby before the Senators are to vote on the Enhanced Privacy Invasion Bill. It’s an important issue that Organa and Amidala have fought against, and she cannot miss this meeting. She is forced to leave the office with Organa, carrying the lightsaber and leaving Anakin hidden.

Bane, Sing, Alama and two of the assassin droids creep down the empty Senate corridors towards the guard barracks. It is time for the guards to change — a moment when the two switching shifts are all assembled at the same place. Bane takes advantage of so many gathered targets by rolling a thermal detonator into the barracks. The blast wipes out the guards. A sole survivor futilely grasps for help, but receives only a deadly blaster bolt delivered by Aurra Sing.

In the Senate East Wing lobby atrium, Senator Organa holds informal court with a number of other diplomatic representatives, including the blue-skinned Gran, Senator Philo. These like-minded politicians are agreeing to oppose some upcoming legislation, but their caucus is interrupted by the arrival of the bounty hunters. The gun-toting mercs surround the Senators, holding them hostage. Philo is outraged, and tries to press past Bane, but the hunter shoots him in the back, killing him. Bane then orders the Senators to gather at the center of the atrium, where they can be relieved of any communication devices they may hold

Elsewhere, the rotund Senator Orn Free Taa rushes to meet with Chancellor Palpatine in the executive office. Taa opens up the communications network on Palpatine’s display transmitter, revealing the holographic form of Cad Bane. Bane lays out the situation: he is in control of the East Wing and has Senators as hostages. If Palpatine wants them to stay alive, he is to release Ziro the Hutt from the Republic Judiciary Central Detention Center.

Palpatine is outraged by Bane’s audacity, but the bounty hunter’s words are soon backed up. Robonino has completed his work in the power control room. He shuts down all power in the Senate building, and emergency bulkhead doors slam shut on the executive office. The corridors of the Senate building are plunged into the dim red glow of emergency lighting. Anakin emerges from Padmé’s office, confused and concerned by this.

ACT II

With the Senate building in security lockdown mode, Chancellor Palpatine and Senator Orn Free Taa are trapped in the executive office. They cannot even get a distress signal to the outside. Meanwhile, Bane gathers the comlinks from the Senators, but Padmé tries to avoid being searched, for fear of Anakin’s lightsaber being discovered. She beings orating to Bane in attempt to stall, demanding that the Senators be let free. The sound of her voice draws Anakin to the atrium via a balcony. Bane spots him and opens fire.

Anakin dashes from the atrium as Bane sics his hunters after him. With this distraction, the bounty hunters have forgotten about searching Padmé. Anakin tries his comlink, but to no avail. He runs through the corridors with Shahan Alama and an assassin droid in pursuit. He is unarmed, and unable to defend himself against their incoming blaster fire.

Skywalker ducks into a vacant Senatorial office. He splices his hand comlink into a comm-terminal, and contacts Chancellor Palpatine via the local network. The Chancellor gives Anakin a hasty update on the situation, and implores Anakin to get to the power control room and restore the building to its operational status. The hurried conversation is overheard by the hunters who follow the muffled voices to the Senatorial office.

Anakin severs the communication connection and ducks out of sight as Alama and the assassin droid arrive. Their search lingers on until Anakin nudges Alama through the Force, convincing him that he had best hurry up and continue the search of two more floors. Alama and the assassin droid split up to expedite their search, the Weequay heading upstairs while the droid heads downstairs.

Anakin follows the droid and engages it in a hand-to-hand brawl with the strong robot. In the fight, the droid’s blaster rifle is damaged beyond repair. Anakin uses it to club the droid into submission. By the time Shahan joins up on assassin droid’s floor, he spots the incapacitated automaton, but notes that there are no lightsaber cuts. From that, he deduces that Anakin is unarmed. Alama returns to the atrium and reports this discovery to Bane. The bounty hunter orders Alama and Aurra Sing to continue their hunt.

Anakin heads to the power control room, and startles Robonino who rushes back to the room, locking the door. Without his lightsaber, Anakin can’t cut his way through. He has Robonino stuck on the other side.

Bane contacts Chancellor Palpatine again, this time with more specific instructions. He is to make a pardon disc, and give it to Orn Free Taa to deliver. Cad Bane will transport the Senator to the prison and free Ziro the Hutt. Once the Hutt is free, the hostages will be released. Palpatine agrees, but continues to express his outrage at this violation of the Senate.

Shahan catches up with Anakin at the power control room door, and holds him at blaster-point. Anakin uses the Force to pull Alama’s blaster into his hand. Alama drops the floor, revealing Aurra Sing standing behind him at the end of the corridor. She fires her rifle at Anakin, shooting the blaster from his hand. As Anakin tries to dodge the incoming bolts, the door to the control room opens, and Robonino leaps out, zapping Anakin with an electrical prod. Anakin collapses. Aurra Sing orders him tied up and delivered to Bane.

Another assassin droid, 3D, enters the executive office and collects Orn Free Taa who carries a pardon disc. The blue Twi’lek Senator is marched to the Senate landing platform and placed aboard a speeder that trails behind it a transport sled specifically for Ziro.

Aurra and Alama drag Anakin’s unconscious body into the atrium. Cad Bane is pleased to see so formidable an adversary defeated. He tosses Anakin in with the Senator hostages.

ACT III

3D and Orn Free Taa land at the prison. Clone troopers stand at the ready as Orn Free Taa hands over the pardon disc that authorizes Ziro the Hutt’s release. The colorful Hutt slithers out onto the landing, and boards the speeder transport. 3D pilots it back to the Senate building.

Meanwhile, Alama and Robonino begin affixing peculiar electronic devices around the perimeter of the atrium — items that Bane ominously refers to as “parting gifts.” Bane contacts Palpatine, handing over control of the Senate and the Senators back to the Chancellor… though he warns Palpatine not to try anything until the sun has set.

The bounty hunters move to leave the Senate. They activate the devices, creating a grid of lasers that keep the Senators pinned in the center of the atrium. Disrupting the lasers would trip a series of explosives that would destroy the atrium and everyone inside.

Republic gunships arrive at the executive office and clone troopers dive in through the window to secure the chancellor. Two other gunships land at the Senate platform, and troopers debark to hold the emerging hunters at gunpoint. Chancellor Palpatine contacts Bane holographically, ordering him to surrender. Bane reveals the card up his sleeve — the laser traps in the East Wing. The clones allow Bane to pass undisturbed. 3D arrives with the getaway speeder and Ziro. The hunters board the craft and leave the platform.

Anakin finally awakens to find Padmé looking over him. He quickly assesses the situation. Padmé returns his lightsaber, and he uses it to cut a hole in the floor of the atrium. The Senators escape through the hole just as Bane detonates the explosives.

Ziro congratulates Bane on a job well done. Bane cares little for accolades. He wants the payment promised to him by the gangster.

Trivia & Details

• In one version of the script, Mas Amedda was in the executive office with Chancellor Palpatine. In the final, it is Orn Free Taa, taking advantage of his pre-existing character model.
• Among the Senators held hostage are Riyo Chuchi of Pantora; Onaconda Farr of Rodia; Jakker-Sun the Ithorian; Dantum Roohd, a character based on a costume design used by Giddean Danu in Episode III; Zinn Paulness , a character based on a design of an Alderaanian aide in Episode III; and an unnamed Christophsian Senator.
• As Shahan Alama searches for Skywalker, he comes across a startled “Betty Droid,” a BD-3000 luxury droid model first seen in Episode III whose design was partly inspired by Bettie Page.
• Throughout the script, Robonino was simply referred to as “fish guy.” He is based on an unused Iain McCaig concept for an alien Jedi.
• It appears that Robonino may be a New England Patriots fan.

Memorable Quotes

“Son, I wouldn’t be so hasty if I were you.” — Cad Bane to the Senate Guard Captain.

“Wow. It’s heavier than I thought.” — Padmé Amidala, admiring Anakin’s lightsaber.

“You better not fail me, bubble brain.” — Cad Bane to Robonino.

“I’m in control. I make the rules now.” — Cad Bane to Chancellor Palpatine.

• “I feel it my duty to warn you that you will end up paying for this outrage.”
• “I can live with that.” — Chancellor Palpatine and Cad Bane
• “Well, Hutt. It doesn’t look like prison had too adverse an effect on you.”
• “Oh, you can’t imagine the unspeakable things I’ve suffered! The horror! I doubt I’ll ever really recover!” — Cad Bane and Ziro the Hutt

SEASON 2 – COMING VERY, VERY SOON AFTER A LITTLE BIT OF ‘INSIDER’ INFO!