Episode: The Clone Wars 3.03 – “Supply Lines”
Original Air Date: September 24, 2010
Screencaps from The Clone Wars Screencap Gallery.
War is won by more than just weapons.
For this week’s episode, we travel back to Ryloth, which is once again under siege from the Separatists. With a blockade in place and the Republic fleet destroyed, General Ima-Gun Di and Cham Syndulla (from Season 1’s “Ryloth” trilogy) are fighting a desperate battle for survival. Supply lines are cut off, droids are closing in, and the Twi’leks are starving.
Meanwhile, Yoda, Mace Windu, and Obi-Wan Kenobi realize that the only way to get supplies through the blockade is to go through Toydaria. The problem is that the Toydarians are a neutral party in the war, and the planet is supposedly closed to either side. The Jedi opt to send Senator Bail Organa and Jar Jar Binks to negotiate, but their attempts are blocked by an ambassador from the Trade Federation who reminds the Toydarian king of his trade deal with the federation.
One of the positive things about this series is its ability to make Jar Jar a thousand times more effective than he is in any of the prequel films. For example, following the king’s decision not to grant the Republic a staging area for supplies, a secret meeting between him and Organa leads to Jar Jar distracting the ambassador while supply ships are loaded. In the prequels, this would never have worked and Jar Jar’s antics would’ve revealed the whole plot. Here, he actually succeeds and the blockade runners make it off-planet without the Federation noticing.
On Ryloth, however, things still look grim as Republic and Twi’lek forces are being pushed further back. It’s time to retreat, and one massive explosion later, the droid army is forced down one path where Ima-Gun Di and the remains of his clone troopers are protecting the fleeing Twi’leks.
Watching this scene, it becomes clear that this is a last stand, and none of the Republic forces expect to survive. As the last one falls, hope returns to Ryloth over the Jedi master’s communicator and the blockade runners fly overhead.
I enjoyed this episode, though I was confused at first about the situation with Ryloth as I had thought the Republic actually drove the Separatists off-planet. There doesn’t seem to be much explanation for their return. The fighting parallels well with the negotiations, serving as a constant reminder of why the diplomacy in this episode is so important, though we don’t get to see as much of the suffering that we hear so much about. The focus is mainly on the fighting forces and not so much on the civilian population we’re told is in such dire need. At any rate, this was a good episode and a nice continuation for this series.
Rating: 4 / 5 Stars
About the Author
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has this to say about John Rabon:
John got started on the path to geekdom thanks to his brother's collection of comic books and Star Wars toys but was cemented into the geek class forever when LeVar Burton took Reading Rainbow viewers on a backstage tour of Star Trek: The Next Generation. A love of Monty Python soon followed, and it wasn't long before he was starting to collect his own comics. The rest, as they say, is history. But really, who are they to say something?
Since discovering the BBC some years ago, John has become an obsessive Anglophile. In fact, he even likes the food they serve over there! As such, some of his favourite programmes include: Doctor Who, Primeval, Coupling, QI, The Mighty Boosh, The IT Crowd, and Shaun the Sheep.
Upon choosing a university, John enrolled in the University of South Carolina, which was nice enough to give him a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master's in Teaching. Feeling that he hadn't been put through enough academic torment with student teaching, John decided to enroll in law school at Campbell University.
Hobbies, when he can find time for them, include: writing, video games, reading, and wasting time in the pub.
Yeah, 5 years later, but just to say that this episode is a prequel to the Ryloth trilogy and a sequel to the first season episode “Ambush”. It basically connect all five episodes together.
Actually. This episode was a prequel to the Ryloth arc in season one, which why the Seperatists are on Ryloth,