Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 120: Innocents Of Ryloth Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

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"The costs of war can never be truly accounted for."

Synopsis: To sabotage a powerful Separatist weapon, Obi-Wan and a small clone force enter an occupied town, and discover that its residents are being used as a living shield.

Director: Justin Ridge
Writer: Randy Stradley and Henry Gilroy
Key Characters: Obi-Wan Kenobi, Clone Commander Cody, Waxer, Boil, Numa
Key Locales: Ryloth


Watch the Video Preview to this episode HERE!
Explore the Official Episode Guide HERE
Check out the webcomic prelude to the episode HERE! (once posted)

 

Starwars.com: Innocents Caught in the Crossfire!

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After spanning the galaxy, the conflict comes home in "Innocents of Ryloth," an all-new episode of the hit animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, premiering at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, March 6, on Cartoon Network.

The second in a three-part saga chronicling the liberation of a Separatist-held planet, "Innocents of Ryloth" looks at the civilians caught in the crossfire of the sweeping galactic conflict. When Obi-Wan Kenobi and his clones are sent to the surface to sabotage a powerful Separatist weapon, they encounter heavy resistance from the droid army -- but they also come face to face with the humanity of those that they are sent to protect. Seeing the "human" side of the occupation helps to give the clones a new perspective on the war.

"We really wanted to tell a story about troops going into a foreign land, maybe being a little insensitive to the people, but growing fond of them and coming to love them and wanting to rescue them from their plight," says Henry Gilroy, co-writer of the episode. "We saw it as an opportunity to reflect those great World War II stories of the American GIs moving through Europe and encountering the people of those areas, particularly orphans."

For Gilroy and director Dave Filoni, inspiration for this particular story came from The Guns of Navarone, a classic war film in which a commando team must infiltrate impregnable enemy territory to destroy a gun emplacement. The narrative device proved to be an effective method for getting the Republic behind enemy lines -- and into the occupied homeland of a downtrodden native race.

"The idea is that this cannon is preventing our heroes from arriving to help, to liberate the planet, and basically it's going to come down to one Jedi -- Obi-Wan -- to save the day," Gilroy explains. "Plus, we're able to really emphasize just how evil the villains are as they use the inhabitants of the town as human shields."

 

Human shields are nothing new in real life, and have been done in the EU too- during their attack on Coruscant, the Vong used captured ships full of refugees as a buffer between them and the New Republic forces, making most fleet commanders hesitate or refrain from attacking in fear of hitting them.