Clone Wars: Season 1 - Episode 10, The Lair of General Grievous

The Clone Wars: Season 1 - Episode 1, The Lair of Grievous introduces us to Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his former Mon Calamari Padawan, Nahdah Vebb. The episode has the Moral, "Most powerful is he who controls his own power".

Vice Gunray escapes! En route to stand trial for war crimes, evil Separatist leader, Nute Gunray has broken free of his Jedi escort. With the help of Count Dooku's sinister agents, the villainous viceroy has made a daring getaway. Alerted to the prison break, Jedi Master Kit Fisto has traced the stolen ship to a remote system, hoping to recapture Gunray and return him to justice.

Kit Fisto tracks the homing beacon of the stolen Republic ship to the Vassek system. He lands his ship on the Vassek planet. His astromech R6h5 remains aboard in his station while Fisto rendezvous with his former young Padawan, Nahdar Vebb and a party of Clone Troopers.

Fisto, Nahdar and the Clones follow the beacon signal on the dusty rock planet. They come up to a sealed entrance gate in the rock. Fisto finds a secret panel to push and the entrance-way obligingly opens. The party venture inside. The stone structure is badly lit and has a very eerie feel to it. It looks deserted, but Fisto senses there is something there.

They hear the Viceroy Nute Gunray's voice! Nahdar and Fisto calmly walk into a chamber. There are several battledroids and a chair with its back facing them. Gunray is presumably in it. Rapidly and with much aggression, Nahdar takes out all the droids with his lightsabre. Fisto frowns, "Those who have power should restrain themselves from using it," he tells the young Mon Calamari.

On turning the chair, Gunray is not there! Just a Hologram of his image! "I welcome you to your doom!" he laughs. The tracking beacon of the stolen ship has been used to lure them into a trap!

The Holo image changes to that of Count Dooku, "While the viceroy is unavailable for capture, let me offer you an alternative prize". A trap has been set and the Jedi believe they are the bait... but to what? All becomes quickly apparent. While searching the building, the party pass a shrine to a form of warrior. "This is the Lair of General Grievous!" says Fisto to the others.

Meanwhile Grievous is in his personal ship heading for the planet. He is unaware that the Jedi are there. He receives a Holo-transmission from Dooku who informs him that he is under performing and he expects more dead Jedi.

The Clones on the outside of the building communicate to Fisto that General Grievous' ship is coming in. Nahdar Vebb comments, "Capturing Grievous will turn the tide of the war."

Grievous arrives at a very quiet looking base. He wonders where all his droids are and calls out to Gor, his pet. Oddly, nobody is around. Jumping from the shadows, the Jedi take him completely by surprise. A lightsabre fight breaks out, but Grievous is halted, when the clones hit both of his legs with tow cables holding him in place. As the cyborg struggles, Fisto cuts both his mechanical legs off. Damaged, Grievous somehow breaks free and tries to crawl away, moving now a lot like a spider. He kills one of the Clone Troops then flees further into the base using handholds in the ceiling to aid his escape.

Grievous makes his way to the Lair's medical centre and a EV series Doctor droid. The doctor reveals that his Bodyguard Magna Droids were deactivated for recharge, he presumed that Grievous had done it. The General reactivates the Magnas and instructs them to secure the perimeter. He also locks all the doors preventing any quick exit.

One of the Clones with the Jedi sends out a message to his comrades outside, "Contact the fleet at Bestine. We've engaged Grievous and require reinforcements". A Magna Guard fires a powerful pulse cannon destroying the ship. Reinforcements will now be never sent.

Patrolling the perimeter, Magna Guards also close in on Kit Fisto's personal fighter. Fisto orders R6 to take off. He does so, but has to pull off some acrobatic moves to shift a lone Magna who has managed to cling on.

The Jedi are confronted by a Holo image of Grievous, "Welcome to my Lair," he says, "It has been prepared for uninvited guests... like you!"

The trap door in the floor falls away and they all fall through heading towards a deadly furnace. Resourcefully, they manage to pull themselves out, but another Clone is killed. Now it is down to just the two Jedi and a single clone.

There is no time to recover. Grievous' hideous pet, Gor, makes a dramatic entrance. An big ugly looking monster. It is a Roggwart, a beast with sharp teeth and a powerful tail, it makes a rancor look like a pussy cat!

It is a big struggle, but Gor is eventually slain. The last Clone has been unfortunately killed. Nahdar severs the beast's tail and Fisto delivers the final killing blow. The young Nahdar Vebb is very angry at the Clones deaths and is determined to make Grievous pay for what he has done. He seems to be having a battle of conscience. Kit Fisto reminds him, "Revenge is not the Jedi way". This echoes back to the moral of the episode, "Most powerful is he who controls his own power".

During the fight, Grievous has been repaired by the EV droid. He them receives an incoming message from Count Dooku and learns the whole affair has been one big set up. Dooku purposely led the Jedi to his Lair and also deactivated his personal Guard. The Count just wants Grievous to prove his worthiness. Grievous cuts off the transmission in disgust, he wants the Jedi dead!

The Jedi are hiding and see Grievous exit the control room. They sneak in, but are observed by the EV Medical Droid who swiftly raises the alarm. Nahdar is still hell bent on destroying Grievous. So strong in fact that it clouds his judgement. As the Control room door rapidly closes he is separated from Kit Fisto and alone.

Three Magna Guards immediately move in to attack Nahdar. Grievous taunts from the sidelines and once the Magnas are eventually defeated, takes over the battle himself.

"You can't defeat us all," says Nahdar defiantly. "Of course I can," Grievous confidently retorts. Fisto takes out the EV droid in the control room, but looks on helpless as Grievous kills Nahdar with a blaster while blocking his thrust with duel lightsabers. His many arms gave him a massive advantage against a newly qualified Jedi Knight.

Grievous looks up to the monitor screen which Kit Fisto is watching, "I will kill you all! Do you hear me Jedi!". Fisto decides its time to leave and arranges to regroup with R6 and his ship at the South Landing Bay. Grievous is planning to stop him.

As he waits at the South Landing Bay, Grievous makes a dramatic appearance with all four lightsabres whirling round at high speed. The pair do battle and are joined by three Magna Guards. Surrounded, it looks like Fisto is defeated when R6 makes a very late, but welcome appearance. The Jedi Master gracefully backflips onto to it and the ship speeds away.

Count Dooku is dismissive of Grievous' performance and just comments there is room for improvement, much to the cyborg's annoyance.

Back on Coruscant at the Jedi Temple, on hearing of the Padawan's death, Master Yoda has the episodes final wise words, "In this war, a danger there is, of losing who we are."

Clone Wars: Season 1 - Episode 7, Duel of the Droids

The Clone Wars: Season 1, Episode 7, Duel of the Droids continues directly from the events of Episode 6, Downfall of a Droid. The Moral of the episode is, "You hold onto friends by keeping your heart a little softer than your head."

Missing in action, Anakin Skywalker's heroic droid navigator, R2D2, was lost in battle. When a desperate search fails to locate R2, Anakin is force to take on a new navigator, R3S6. Now the Jedi must embark on a dangerous new mission to find a secret enemy listening post. Meanwhile R2D2 has fallen into the hands of a vile droid smuggler and is on his way to General Grievous who will surely plunder the Republic's secrets hidden with him.

As the Trandoshan smuggler moves in to dock with Grievous's station, the captured R2D2 manages to hack into the ship's systems and send out a message to the Jedi. Despite more hindrance from the troublesome droid R3, Anakin receives it and is confident that the signal has come from R2. Captain Rex immediately manages to trace its location and they jump to the coordinates.

The Trandoshan has already boarded the station and under the instruction of Grievous is examining the captured R2 unit for any vital information.

Over Holo-communication, Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Anakin that this is not a rescue mission for R2. The sole purpose of the mission is to destroy the listening station. We have already seen from previous episodes that Anakin is not exactly one for following orders to the letter.

Anakin, Ahsoka, Captain Rex, R3S6 and some Clones infiltrate the station from above with the help of Anakin's lightsaber to find their way inside. As soon as they are comfortable, it becomes quickly apparent that Anakin's primary aim to rescue R2D2. He splits up from the others.

Meanwhile, the Trandoshan smuggler makes an amazing discovery concerning R2. "It appears the droid's memory has never been erased. It contains every Republic foundation and strategy they have!". He suddenly wants more money as now the droid is a lot more valuable than he'd originally thought. Grievous is quick to reward him with a green lightsaber through the torso. The Smuggler is dead.

As Ahsoka and the Clones stealthily make their way through the facility, it is revealed that R3 is working for Grievous. Not surprising, there were enough clues from the previous episode! The droid drops back from the group and sends a holo-communication to Grievous alerting him to their presence. "Delay them until I arrive," he orders. He orders his IG-100 MagnaGuards to take the R2 unit to his ship. He will deal with the Jedi himself. The alarm is sounded.

Ahsoka's team are halted in their tracks by a force-field door. She orders R3 to deactivate the shield, but of course, the contraption is in no particular hurry. As the Battledroids arrive, R3 manages to close an additional blast-door making any escape now extremely difficult. Super Battledroids approach from another corridor and it is only with the use of Electro Magnetic Pulse grenades, (which they refer to as droid poppers) that the group manage to survive.

As R2 is carried onto his ship, General Grievous suddenly arrives at the young Ahsoka's location. He taunts, "They send a child to destroy my station? The Republic must be running out of Jedi!".

Grievous leaps forward taking out a percentage of the clones. He then attacks Ahsoka. There is a brief lightsaber duel, before she realises she is outmatched and is force to make a retreat. Grievous follows.

Anakin catches up with the Magna droids who are carrying R2. "You have something that belongs to me." he says. A fight immediately ensues. From here on in, the episode is full-on action right to the end. Anakin finally takes out the deadly Magnas and is reunited with R2D2 once more.

Ahsoka is hiding from Grievous in what looks to be a store room. R3 turns up and at once gives away her location by shining a torch on her! Previously Ahsoka has instructed the Clones to set the detonation charges and to rendezvous at the Landing Bay. She knows there's a chance she may not make it, but they must complete their mission. Ahsoka has now finally worked out that R3 cannot be trusted.

Anakin and R2 make it safely to the Landing Bay as the Twilight arrives to take them away. Captain Rex, a Clone and R3 also enter, but there is no sign of Ahsoka.

Not happy that Ahsoka has risked challenging Grievous alone, Anakin attempts to rescue her. Before he can even leave the landing bay however, R3S6 closes all the doors including the main launch doors. R3 also activates a squadron of Vulture Droids. As Super Battledroids approach from the opposite end, Anakin realises that R3S6 was a spy all along.

Grievous lifts Ahsoka by the throat clear off the ground. An explosion rocks the station and the Jedi is able to break free and then escape through a vent.

As per previous episodes, when he fears things are not going quite his way, General Grievous decides to escape in his one-man ship. He does so unopposed, the Jedi currently have much bigger things to deal with in the Landing Bay.

In an attempt to open the Launch Bay doors, R2D2 is attacked by R3. Ahsoka enters the growing battle from above, exiting a vent and landing on one of the Vulture Droids.

R2 fends off R3 and manages to open the Launch Bay doors. There are lasers firing everywhere. The Twilight takes off with all aboard apart from Anakin who takes a different ship.

R2D2 sprays the relentless R3 with oil, then ignites him with his jets. Losing balance, R3 then falls off the upper gantry and off the Station completely. Anakin picks his astromech up from outside and they fly away as the Station is destroyed.

The Mission has been completed, but Obi-Wan is dismayed Anakin risked everything in order to save a single droid. Anakin sees the droid as much more.