Clone Wars -- "Kidnapped" (Ep. 4.11)

-- Where we are going always reflects where we came from.

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A theme Star Wars returns to rather more frequently than you'd think -- or, at least, I'd think -- is slavery. Chewbacca was a slave, freed by Han. Anakin was a slave, freed by Qui-Gon. The Hutts run slaves. The Trandoshans trade in slaves. And those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head. Oh, and the Empire, because Chewbacca was a slave owned by the Empire.

"Kidnapped" introduces a new race that specializes in trading in slaves, the Zygerrians. At least, they used to specialize in it before the Jedi shut down their slave trading ways. The problem is that the Zygerrians have been holding a grudge and have joined forces with the Separatists in the hopes that they will be able to re-establish themselves and their slave market. Their opening gambit is to invade the planet Kiros, a colony of the Togruta, a peaceful people who have no weapons.

The wrinkle? Ahsoka is Togruta.

When the Jedi arrive to assist the Togruta population, they don't find them. Any of them. All of which leads to an interesting face off between Obi-Wan and Darts D'Nar, the Zygerrian leader of the Separatist forces.

That's about all I can say without spoilers. It's a good, solid episode, and a good start to this arc.

Clone Wars -- "Wookie Hunt" (Ep. 3.22)

-- A great student is what the teacher hopes to be.

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Continuing last week's story of Ahsoka's capture by the Trandoshans...

She's still captured. Well, if you can call being set loose on a planet to be hunted "captured." This episode adds a new wrinkle: Chewbacca!
It must be nice, actually, to have such long-lived characters that you can introduce them in various ways to different story lines within a property. And, hey, everyone loves Chewbacca and the wookies, and there is already an established animosity between the trandoshans and the wookies. the trandoshans being slavers and all and somewhat specializing in wookies.

Chewbacca is brought in to be a means of escape for Ahsoka, because they had established that there really wasn't any way for her or any of the Jedi younglings to get off the Trandoshan hunting preserve. We get a very E.T. moment as Chewbacca cobbles together a transmitter to call for help.

It occurs to me that these two episodes are a combination of story ideas: Ahsoka gets "misplaced" and the Jedi have to teach the natives to defend themselves. In this case, Ahsoka gets abducted then has to teach the younglings, who have spent their time just hiding and trying to stay alive, to stand up for themselves. To fight back. There are losses.

It's a good couple of episodes, but much more time is devoted to the action than to ideological thoughts behind what's going on. Which is fine. The action is good. I suppose I've just found myself in a more philosophical turn than usual. The ending... oh, okay, I won't spoil the ending, but it does provide a good lesson, so to speak.

Clone Wars -- "Padawan Lost" (Ep. 3.21)

-- Without humility, courage is a dangerous game.

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I don't tend to be a huge fan of short stories, but there are a few that have stayed with me since I was first assigned to read them in school: "The Most Dangerous Game" is one of those. Of course, "The Most Dangerous Game" has been highly influential as a piece of literature and has spawned many movies and movies based on the idea of hunting "the most dangerous game." Predator may be the one that has been the most successful, at least in a pop culture sense. "Padawan Lost" is the Star Wars entry into this theme and, I would say, owes a lot to Predator, too.

So who is the most dangerous game in the Star Wars universe? The Jedi, of course. And who are the people who use them in a Predator-like manner? The Trandoshans. But not actual, full Jedi, because they are too dangerous. They just go for the kids, instead, the younglings. They, of course, count those as Jedi kills.

In case you don't know, youngling is the lowest level in the Jedi Order, followed by Padawn. Ahsoka is a Padawan, but she's young for a Padawan due to her exceptional skill. It's no surprise, then, that Ahsoka is mistaken for a youngling by a Trandoshan hunting party and captured. Right in the middle of a battle.

Of course, Anakin has no idea what happened to her. She's just... gone.

And Ahsoka finds herself, well, not quite alone.