Episode: The Clone Wars 3.18 – “The Citadel”
Original Air Date: February 18, 2011
Screencaps from The Clone Wars Screencap Gallery.
An epic first meeting between a dog and his master.
Tonight there’s going to be a jailbreak, somewhere in this town. Jedi Master Even Piell gets captured by the Separatists and it’s up to Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Plo Koon to rescue him. Seems Master Piell has some very valuable information on space lines. Ahsoka wants to come too, but Anakin says it’s too dangerous (boo). Seems the Citadel was actually designed to hold renegade Jedi who ever went dark, so it’s practically impossible to break into. Of course, when has that ever stopped Anakin?
As part of the mission, R2-D2 gets three of his own battle droids, programmed to follow his orders since the Separatist scanners won’t detect them. But how, you ask, will the Jedi and clones get past? Easy — carbonite. Yep, it looks like Anakin has had some prior experience freezing people before Han Solo ever came along, and this time everyone’s getting frozen for the journey so the scanners won’t detect them either.
Surprise, surprise! When they wake up, Ahsoka is with everyone else, having snuck onto the mission with Master Koon’s permission. Getting to the entrance of the prison presents a problem: winds are too high for jet packs, and grappling hooks won’t work thanks to mines on the cliff wall. So, everyone has to free climb up the cliff face to the entrance, and wouldn’t you know it, just as they get there someone falls off the cliff and trips the mines. Now the suspicion that the Citadel’s commander had about the missing shuttle are confirmed.
As the droids about to remove Master Piell’s other eye, the rescue team crashes the Separatist’s party. Talking to Piell, we learn that the information is divided between the Jedi and his captain, who is none other than future Grand Moff Tarkin. The first interaction between Skywalker and Tarkin could be described as testy at best. It’s fair to say that Tarkin is still a disagreeable person in his younger incarnation, believing he knows how to escape better than Obi-Wan or Piell. The remainder of the rescue goes rather smoothly, perhaps because the script writers realized they were running out of time, so perhaps we’ll see some more of this in the future.
Lots of nostalgic nods in this episode. From the very first appearance of Tarkin to the Citadel’s design, a certain reference to the prison wing of the Death Star. Another design change to note is that ARC troopers Fives and Echo are wearing helmets closer to the style of Episode III, even though no one else is.
The only thing that grated on me was the Citadel Commander, who was clearly a poor imitation of Christopher Walken. Now, I’m all about some Walken, but if you can’t get the real deal, don’t get an imitation. Let the voluptuous tones ring true from the man himself.
Otherwise, a good episode, this definitely needed a sequel, the review of which will be up here soon.
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.