310: Heroes on Both Sides: Episode Guide

"Fear is a great motivator."

Preview: When the Senate begins debating a bill that would eliminate government oversight of the Banking Clan's activities in order to fund the war, Padmé and Ahsoka travel in secret to the capital of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Amidala attempts to forge a peace agreement with the Separatists, while Ahsoka sees, for the first time, the people of the Confederacy. Padmé's friend, Mina Bonteri, spearheads the peace initiative, and convinces the Separatist Congress to sue for peace. Meanwhile, on Coruscant, Senators Lott Dod and Gume Saam conspire with Banking Clan representative Nix Card and Count Dooku to make the banking deregulation a reality. At Dooku's command, General Grievous engineers an attack at the central power distribution grid on Coruscant, carried out by Separatist demolition droids. The chaos and panic spreads to the Senate, which vehemently rejects the Separatist peace initiative, and votes instead to deregulate the Banking Clan.

Greatest Scene: When the the sweeper droids approach the power station and transform into the deadly demolition droids sent by General Grievous to attack the Republic Capital planet of Coruscant. They kill all but one of the workers who hides for a while then pulls out a gun and shots one of the droids. Unharmed, the droid kills the last worker then performs its final task. All the droids transform into bombs and destroy the central power station setting of a chain reaction of explosions on the surface.

Memorable Quotes:

"You have been specially designed to be the perfect infiltrators. Some of you may not return from this mission, in fact non of you will. But don't let that get in your way, is that understood." General Grievous

"There are a lot of terrible things happening. A lot of killing, and my friends are saying that the Jedi are to blame." Lux Bonteri 

"Well look at me, not so bad am I?" Ahsoka

"I don't take orders from you, only Count Dooku." General Grievous

Secrets Revealed:

This episode unveils new models for several of the main characters, including upgrades to Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, and a new wardrobe for Chancellor Palpatine. Ahsoka is now older; there is an unspecified passage of time between this episode and her last appearance.

With the start of this arc, which continues in Pursuit of Peace and concludes in Season Two's Senate Murders, the Clone Wars storyline advances to its furthest point in the timeline, and subsequent episodes should continue going forward without as much jumping back and forth.

The battle droids that deal with newcomers to Raxus are remarkably polite.

During production, this episode was titled Banking Conspiracy. The new title, taken from a line in the opening crawl for Episode III, came much later.  

Next Episode: Pursuit of Peace

Major Clone Wars Update!!!

Hi,

Click Here to see a major Clone Wars update of StarWars.com. Don't know much about it yet but it looks awesome! Better than Savage Opress (just).  Please share your thoughts,

matanui,

309: Hunt for Ziro: Episode Guide

"Love comes in all shapes and sizes."

Preview: Cad Bane has broken Ziro the Hutt out of prison and the Hutt Council demands that Ziro tell them where he's hidden vital - and incriminating - information: a journal detailing the criminal activities of the five Hutt families. Ziro makes another daring escape with the help of his estranged (and strange) lover, Sy Snootles. Bane is back on the Hutt's trail -- but he's not the only one. The Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos need to find him too. A chase through the swamps of Nal Hutta leads the pursuers to Ziro's enormous mother, Mama the Hutt, who points them to the direction of Teth. It is here, in the secret grave of Ziro's father, that the fugitive Hutt has hidden the diary. When he retrieves it, Snooty reveals her true spots. She's a deadly woman scorned and a bounty hunter for hire. She kills Ziro, and returns the journal to her client: Jabba the Hutt.

Greatest Scene: When the Jedi attempt to arrest Cad Bane for his crimes but Bane pulls out his blasters and the showdown begins. When Bane losses his pistols he begins launching darts at Obi-Wan, then he steals Vos' lightsaber and has a short confrontation with Obi-Wan then when all else fails he uses his flame-thrower on the Jedi. After that Bane and Todo escape in their starfighter.

Memorable Quotes:

"Yes, well if you could tell time half as well as you could stick a landing we wouldn't be behind Schedule now would we?" Obi-Wan Kenobi

"Thanks Mama, I've got some important business on Teth." Ziro

"The separatists are paying a million credits a head, for Jedi." Cad Bane

"No-one would suspect that a lovely creature such as myself could do a Bounty Hunter's work." Sy Snootles

Secrets Revealed:

Quinlan Vos has a unique Force talent of psychometry- the ability to read impressions off of objects so he can see who had previously handled them. In this episode, he uses this ability to detect Ziro's presence from a discarded drinking vessel. In the script, he was to use it again while tracking down Ziro in the swamps of Nal Hutta.

The five Hutt family leaders are are Oruba, Marlo, Arok, Gorga and Jabba. As Jabba is not present on Nal Hutta, Gardulla serves as his representative. This was a change made relatively late in production. Jabba's protocol droid, TC-30, was changed to Gardulla's, MF-80.

This episode is the second time that Teth has been seen in The Clone Wars.

This episode is Quinlan Vos' first appearance not only in The Clone Wars but his first ever on screen appearance as well!

Next Episode: Heroes on Both Sides

308: Evil Plans: Episode Guide

"A failure in planning is a plan for failure."

Preview: In the middle of a routine shopping trip on Coruscant C-3PO is abducted by the bounty hunter Cad Bane. Bane is looking for information about the Senate building on behalf of Jabba the Hutt. Finding C-3PO devoid of useful information, Bane and his accomplices kidnap R2-D2 and extract the vital data, before memory wiping the droids of the incident, and letting them on their way. The floor-plans and security details of the Senate building are part of a plot engineered by the Hutt families to free their imprisoned brother, Ziro the Hutt, who holds potentially damaging information about Hutt activities.

Greatest Scene: When R2 is being hunted by Todo and the assassin droid pulls down a stall to block Cad Bane's droids and escape but Todo outwits him by threatening to destroy Threepio and R2 gives up his hiding place to save his friend.

Memorable Quotes:

"I don't want this gibberish! I want the plans for the senate building!" Cad Bane

"Thanks for the memories." Todo 360

"I'll take on the job, for the right price." Cad Bane

"A magnificent job." C3PO

Secrets Revealed:

This episode takes place some time after Holocron Heist, which saw the destruction of Todo 360. Todo was rebuilt off-screen by Anakin Skywalker after the episode Children of the Force, in an attempt by the Jedi to learn more about Bane and his whereabouts. The plan goes wrong and Todo escapes. The episode immediately after this one is Hostage Crisis.

This episode finally reveals who hired Cad Bane for the liberation of Ziro the Hutt: it was the bosses of the Hutt crime families. The design and characterizations of some of the five Hutt families were inspired by mob bosses from classic cinema, including those played by Edward G. Robinson and Marlon Brando.

The loudmouth jogan fruit vendor that swindles C3PO is named Droogan. According to the script, he is a Khramboan. Production notes for this episode name the green shopkeeper droid GL-916, and the speeder used by HELIOS-3E and Todo 360 as a RGC-16 landspeeder.

When R2-D2 goes through the oil in the droid spa he uses his periscope to see his way through. This a nod to Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back when R2-D2 finds his way through the Dagobah swamps.

Next Episode: Hunt for Ziro

Hasbro: Clone Wars Action Figure: Battle Damged General Grievous Review

Galactic Battle Game Card:

A good thing to have with you in a game. With 15 battle skills it is a great addition to a collection but not so good on mechanical skill with only 4. A fair amount of power overall which should help in a game if the dice rolls your way.

General Grievous:

A awesome figure with a lot of detail but some of the armour falls off very easily. The lightsabers are impossible to put in his hands but it comes band that raps round the hand to hold the lightsabers into place. Unlike some other figures that Hasbro have made of Grievous this one only comes with two arms instead of four but that's because of the main feature of this set that I will get onto soon. It has a lot of articulation but because of his thin joints he is hard to stand and cannot be attached to the base so I used a band that came with the packaging to strap him to the base and it works as a great alternative.

Battle Damaged Grievous:

The cool part about this version of General Grievous is that he comes with interchangeable body parts to replay the scene from the episode Lair of Grievous when he gets attacked by the Jedi and has to retreat to get repaired. His arms are cut of and his soldier armour has been removed. his head is also changed to one with part of the mask removed from around his eye with detail of what appearers to be a burn. He looks great like this this but I like his normal form better.

Overall:

This figure is great overall but its more for display than play. He has a good hight which is true to the series and is very detailed. I hope you enjoyed my first review of a action figure. Please comment and follow, 

matanui, 

307: Assassin: Episode Guide

"The future has many paths - choose wisely."

Preview: 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.

Greatest Scene: When Aurra Sing finds Padmé in her room and almost succeeds in assassinating the senator but Ahsoka jumps in and save her but after a short confrontation a shot gets through and Ahsoka gets shot in the arm. With nothing in her way Aurra is about to kill Padmé but the senator fights back and stuns the assassin.

Memorable Quotes:

"I've been having dreams, bad dreams." Ahsoka

"She will die and there nothing you can do." Aurra Sing

"Well then, at least we still have a fighting chance." Padmé Amidala

"Always in motion is the future and many possible future there are." Yoda

Secrets Revealed:

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.

This the second time that Alderaan has been seen on screen. The first being in Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

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'. 

Next Episode: Evil Plans

306: The Academy: Episode Guide

"Those who enforce the law must obey the law"

Preview: Ahsoka is assigned to teach a class at a leadership academy on Mandalore. Soon after she arrives, Duchess Satine's zealous nephew - Korkie - and his classmates uncover a nefarious plot. Prime Minister Almec is revealed to be an active part of the black market conspiracy on Mandalore, and he attempts to permanently silence Duchess Satine and the cadets before they expose his corruption. Ahsoka and the cadets defeat Almec before he can succeed. 

Greatest Scene: When the Mandalorian Secret Service surrounds the cadets and attempts to arrest them. Then Ahsoka jumps in and starts to take down the Mandalorians one-by-one without her lightsaber. When most of the guards have been defeated the others retreated as failures.

 

Memorable Quotes:

"Its every citizens duty to challenge their leaders." Ahsoka

"Run along now, there will be a time to save the world when your a bit older." Duchess Satine

"Looks like the academy tout us well." Korkie

"Master Obi-Wan caused trouble, that's a first." Ahsoka

 

Secrets Revealed:

Prime Minister Almec makes mention of Obi-Wan Kenobi's recent visit, which sets this episode (as well as the previous, "Corruption") after the events of the Mandalorian trilogy from Season Two.

'Master Jedi' is the formally proper address to a Jedi of any rank by a non-Jedi - even a Padawan. 

This is another episode were Ahsoka has no help from Anakin or another Jedi.

Ahsoka's theme which is a musical composition created by Kevin Kiner for The Clone Wars movie can be heard during her arrival on Mandalore.

Next Episode: Assassin