In order to attain the support of the Toydarians in the war, Yoda, with the help of three clones, must prove to their king, Katuunko, that the republic is strong enough to protect Toydaria from the Asajj Ventrass and the separatists, who also want his support.
Though I never liked the whole "Yoda jumping around by using the force" thing it's a part of the canon now so I just kind of roll with it and Yoda gets some pretty awesome moments in this episode. His relationship with the clones is also fairly well handled and sets a precedent for strong clone-focused episodes on this show. On a side note I find it somewhat odd that none of the main characters (Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi Wan) are featured in the first episode of the show.
When Jedi Master Plo Koon's ship is attacked by a separatist secret weapon (an ion canon on-board Grievous' flagship Malevolence), Anakin and Ashoka break orders to look for survivors. Plo Koon, along with clone troopers Sinker, Boost and Commander Wolffe, struggle to survive in the aftermath of the attack as droid Pod Hunters are dispatched to hunt for survivors.
Another decent, if unremarkable, episode. It's revealed here that Plo Koon is responsible for Ashoka joining the Jedi order which sets up a sort relationship for later on. Also Plo Koon has some nice moments with the clones.
When General Grievous is ordered to attack Kaliida Shoals Medical Center using the Malevolence's new weapon, Anakin proposes a daring raid with Y-Wings to take him down. Ahsoka and Plo Koon accompany his squadron on this raid, which takes them through the dangerous Balmorra Run a nesting ground for the giant Neebray mantas.
Again this episode is ok but nothing special. It is nice to see Anakin's daring as a pilot, as opposed to just hearing about it. Really though, I don't have much to say here.
Heavily damaged from the battle in the previous episode, Grievous' ship the Malevolence is being trailed by three Star Destroyers. In order to buy time, Palpatine lures Padme to the Malevolence under the pretense of sending her on a diplomatic mission. When she becomes trapped there Anakin Obi Wan and R-2 are sent to rescue her.
There are some fun (though very brief) moments here between Obi Wan and Grievous. Palpatine's manipulation is way too transparent though. Why does no one suspect him after what happens to Padme here?
In preparation for an assault on Kamino, General Greivous sends a squad of elite Commando Droids to attack an outpost on the remote Rishi moon so that the republic won't be warned of the oncoming attack. Defending the outpost are five rookie clone troopers, Hevy, Echo, Fives, Droidbait, and Cutup along with their commander Sergeant O'Niner. When the base is taken and their commander killed these clones, with the helped of recently arrived Captain Rex and Commander Cody, must attempt to retake the base and warn the republic of the attack.
This is the first episode where the show really showed promise. As I said this show has a penchant for clone focused episodes and this one really set the bar. It also includes some profanity ("What the H--l was that!") and fairly violent deaths which showed that the series would be much darker than you might expect from a Cartoon network show.
When Artoo is lost during a battle, Anakin and Ahsoka are given a replacement droid, R3-S6, and sent to recover him before the separatists find him and take the military information from his memory banks. A Trandoshan captain, Gha Nachkt, retrieves him first and plans to sell him to General Grievous.
Two rather forgettable episodes. I don't really buy the lengths Anakin seems like he'll go to for Artoo. Also the fact that R3-S6 is [Spoiler Alert] a spy felt a bit forced. On a slightly more positive note, it was cool to see Ahsoka face off with Grievous, albeit briefly.
Padme, accompanied, by C3PO and Jar Jar Binks, is sent to Rodia to persuade her old friend Senator Onaconda Farr not to leave the republic. Finding out that he is in league with the separatists in order to gain much needed supplies for his people, she is captured by Nute Gunray and imprisoned on Rodia. It's up to Jar Jar and C3PO to save her.
Well, for an episode that's mainly about Jar Jar, it's not as bad as you might think. Jar Jar is not as annoying as in Phantom Menace and Senator Farr's character arc is well handled, if a bit predicable. In the end, it's just ok.
Ashoka is accompanied by Luminara Unduli on a mission to escort a recently captured Nute Gunray to Coruscant for trial. Count Dooku sends Ventress to rescue or silence Gunray, before he gives the republic the vast information he has on the separatists.
This is a pretty decent episode. Luminara's interaction with Ahsoka is well handled and is a nice set up for the relationship Ahsoka will have with Luminara's Padawan, Barriss Offee, later on. There's also a nice moment between a Clone, Commander Gree, and a Senate Commando, Captain Faro Argyus which helps show how some people in the Republic feel about the clones and also emphasizes the Spartan-like nature of the clones themselves.
Kit Fisto, along with his former apprentice Nahdar Vebb and a squad of clones, pursue the now escaped Nute Gunray to Vassek. They enter a castle which Gunray's stolen ship has landed by only to find that Count Dooku has lured them into a trap. Dooku hopes to test, or eliminate, General Grievous by forcing him to confront the Jedi in his lair.
Grievous appears alot in season one but this is the only episode where he's really allowed to shine. The episode has a great, creepy atmosphere and Grievous reputation as a Jedi-killer (which was well established in the 2003 micro-series) finally feels somewhat earned here. Also, Kit Fisto!
After escaping an attempt by Obi Wan and Anakin to capture him, Count Dooku instead ends up being captured by Hondo Ohnaka's pirates. Hondo informs the Republic of his capture and offers to give him to them for a reward. Obi Wan and Anakin are sent to negotiate with Hondo and Senator Binks is sent to the planet along with Senator Kharrus with spice as a ransom. When Anakin and Obi Wan are also captured they form an uneasy alliance with Dooku in order to escape it's up to Jar Jar to rescue them.
These episodes are a bit of a mixed bag. The interaction between Dooku and the Jedi is fun and well-handled as is the friendly banter between Obi Wan and Anakin. Hondo is also a fun character, one of a few really memorable one's that this series introduced. However the stuff with Jar Jar is a bit tedious and it's hard to buy Dooku allowing himself to be captured by a small band of pirates.
Episodes 13 and 14: "Jedi Crash" and "Defenders of Peace"
While trying to assist Aayla Secura's damaged fleet during the Sky Battle of Quell, Anakin is wounded and stranded on a nearby planet, along with Ahsoka, Aayla and some clones (including Captain Rex). The local village of Lurmen are reluctant to help them as they wish to stay out of the war. When a Seperatist force arrives under Commander Lok Durd intending to use the villagers as guinea pigs to test their new defoliator weapon on, the villagers must decide how far they can take their pacifist principles.
These two episodes are fairly solid. Seeing how the Jedi react to the pacifist ideas of the Lurmen is interesting and it's always nice to see Jedi outside of the regular cast get screen time. The conclusion is a bit predictable but that's the way it goes in these kinds of stories
Anakin, Obi Wan, and Rex lead a group of clones to the ice planet Orto Plutonia to investigate the disappearance of the local clone garrison. They are accompanied by two dignitaries from the planet of Pantora, which claims jurisdiction over the ice planet. They soon find that the garrison was massacred, along with a nearby separatist force, by the planets inhabitants the Talz. Their leader meets with Obi Wan and Anakin, asking them to withdraw all Republic forces from their planet. Pantoran Chairman, Chi Cho, insists that the Talz are not sentient and provokes a war with them. Obi Wan and Pantoran Senator Riyo Chuchi contact the senate hoping that they'll intervene and force a more peaceful solution.
More anti-war messages in this episode. Though it's a treat visually, the story a bit too evocative of the Dances With Wolves/Avatar/Pocahontas formula to be all that interesting.
When Obi Wan and Anakin plan an ambush of separatist forces on Christophsis which is foiled, they suspect that there's a traitor in their ranks. They go behind enemy lines to investigate while Rex and Cody attempt to flush out the traitor from the inside.
This is another good clone-focused episode. Seeing how the clones react to and deal with the traitor is really interesting. I particularly liked the bit about the clone who collects droid fingers. There's also some cool banter between Obi Wan and Ventress. On another note, this episode takes place before the movie, starting a penchant for really weird chronology on this show.
Padme and Jar Jar are captured by droids while investigating separatist activity on Naboo. They find out that a scientist, Dr. Nuvu Vindi, has recreated the Blue Shadow virus, a deadly disease that was wiped out long ago. Anakin, Ahsoka, and Obi Wan rescue them and attempt to contain the virus but some of it is released and Ahsoka, Padme, Rex and some clones are all exposed. It's up to Anakin and Obi Wan to find an antidote.
The first of these episodes is pretty bad. Vindi is annoyingly over the top and to add to the irritation you have Jar Jar as well. The second episodes a bit better, with Anakin having to deal with the possibility of losing both Padme and Ahsoka. The planet he and Obi Wan go to to find the antidote is also kinda cool, as the citizens there are trapped by a separatist booby trap they think is a god.
Anakin and Ahsoka's fleet must break through the separatist blockade of Ryloth to make way for Mace Windu and Obi Wan's ground assault. After losing much of her fighter squadron Ahsoka is disheartened but must lead the fleet while Anakin flies the Defender on a collision course with the droid command ship. Obi Wan and his landing force must take the city of Nabat to use as a landing ground but the droid commander there is using captured Twileks as a living shield. Mace Windu, leading the main assault force, must attain the help of resistance leader Cham Syndulla, who has become disenchanted with the republic, in order to take the capital of Ryloth form Wat Tambor.
These three episodes are all pretty solid. "Storm" was the first episode where I remember really latching on to Ahsoka's character. Having to deal with losing her squadron was a good step up from the few genuine character moments she had up to this point. In "Innocents" there's some of nice Clone/Twilek interaction, and the central conflict in "Liberty", between Mace Windu and Cham Syndulla, is really well fleshed out. There's also some decent, though not amazing, battle scenes.
A group of bounty hunters, led by Cad Bane, infiltrate the Senate chambers and take a group of senators, including Padme and Bail Oragna, captive. They then inform Chancellor Palpatine, that unless Ziro the Hutt is released he will execute the hostages. Anakin, who was at the senate to visit Padme, attempts to rescue the hostages.
A pretty decent season finale "Hostage Crisis" features some nice, Die Hard-esque moments between Anakin and Padme. It also introduces Cad Bane, another of the show's memorable characters, even if he is a bit one dimensional. It also features Aurra Sing, which is cool.
Overall this season had more good episodes than bad/mediocre ones. The two that stand out the most are Rookies and Lair of Grievous. Rookies gave us a fairly mature character driven story and raised the bar for the show as a whole. Lair of Grievous is alot of fun for geeks like me, as you get alot of cool Grievous action and it features Kit Fisto. "Blue Shadow Virus" was easily the weakest episode. Ahsoka becomes more likable as the season progresses, showing some promise in "Rising Malevolence" and even more in "Cloak of Darkness" and finally becoming interesting in "Storm Over Ryloth". In addition to Ahsoka this season introduced two other interesting characters, Cad Bane and Honda Ohnaka. Like in the movie, there are alot of annoying droid chatter moments in this season. The animation (again, just like the movie) is a bit clunky and lifeless and overall a step down, which is not surprising given that the movie had a much larger budget than any episode would. As I mentioned the continuity in this show is really weird. Not only does "The Hidden Enemy" take place before the film but some of the episodes from this season would have prequel/sequel episodes as late as season 3.
In the end, Season One of the Clone Wars showed alot more promise than the movie, but the show still had a long way to go.
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