Full Series The Clone Wars: Episode 119: Storm Over Ryloth Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

PLEASE DO NOT DISCUSS SPOILERS FOR EPISODES 120 OR LATER IN THIS THREAD.

Use the General Discussion (Spoilers Allowed) thread for any discussion beyond Episode 119!

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"It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness."

Synopsis: Ahsoka disobeys Anakin's orders and loses most of her squadron -- prompting Anakin to help give his Padawan a lesson in a respect for authority, and the opportunity for redemption.

Director: Brian Kalin O'Connell
Writer: George Krstic
Key Characters: Anakin Skywalker; Ahsoka Tano; Admiral Yularen
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)

 

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A Battle Over Ryloth Begins an Epic, Three-Part Struggle in STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS

The first of an epic, three part story arc, ?Storm Over Ryloth? begins an in-depth look at the emotional tolls of the galactic conflict, as well as the price of failure when lives hang in the balance. The all-new episode of the hit animated series STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS premieres at 9 p.m. ET/PT Friday, February 27, on Cartoon Network.

In the episode, the heroes of the Republic begin their campaign to free the planet Ryloth from the oppressive occupation of enemy forces. In an effort to break through the orbiting Separatist defenses, however, Ahsoka must learn a hard-hitting lesson after she disobeys Anakin?s orders ? and loses most of her squadron as a result.

Director Brian Kalin O?Connell and writer George Krstic welcomed the opportunity to explore some of the less heroic aspects of the conflict, particularly examining the responsibility of the Jedi in light of the consequences of their actions.

?It?s easy to make the Jedi into superheroes, but showing their vulnerability really makes them far more interesting and believable,? O?Connell says. ?You have this Padawan in the footsteps of the Chosen One. And she fails ? badly. Clones die, and that?s horrible ? and we really get to feel that weight. But we also get to see how Anakin rebuilds Ahsoka?s confidence, and how she comes back and rises to the challenge.?

Krstic agrees, adding that the episode offered an opportunity to infuse the Saga?s classic space opera elements with a new emotional weight.

?This is a very epic episode ? it?s grand and operatic ala the old days of the original Star Wars,? he says. ?There are so many wonderful aspects to this episode because Ahsoka must deal with real life and death situations, and the result isn?t good. She gets her first experience dealing with the burden of command, and finds out that it isn?t all heroics. It really is a burden.?

As the beginning of a three-part story arc, ?Storm Over Ryloth? expands the scope of the Clone Wars to illustrate both the far-reaching and intimate effects of the war. Tackling ambiguities and exploring emotional motivations and consequences, this episode sets the stage for ?Innocents of Ryloth? and ?Liberty of Ryloth,? the continuation and conclusion of the thrilling Ryloth saga.

 

Sweet... I cannot wait.

 

I'm REALLY looking forward to this episode. But, MAN, I wish they weren't so casual about spelling out such a key dramatic event in the episode! I would have LOVED to be surprised at discovering that Ahsoka FAILS, that she gets most of her squadron KILLED! This is dramatic stuff, why spoil it so casually in the press release? Couldn't they have been a bit more generic and just have said that Ahsoka has to learn to deal with the hardships of war or something?

Not knowing all that, I would be fully expecting Ahsoka's squadron to succeed in whatever mission they were on, with a few casualties, sure, like in Malevolence, but I wouldn't be expecting a clone massacre. But now we'll already go in just waiting to see how exactly she disobeys Anakin and how exactly most of the pilots die. Not the most exciting way of watching such a potentially awesome episode.

 

My biggest fear, at this point, is that her failure will happen off screen or during the newsreel footage. That would be an utter failure by the show IMO. They just can't do it like that. I can't imagine they will... but I can fear it.

 

Oh... no. Nononono. PLEASE no. I WANT MY DOGFIGHT!

 

From the Filoni/Gilroy interview a couple of months ago:

TFN: Will any attention be given to how the Clone Wars are affecting the common people of the galaxy and not just the militaries on either side of the war?

Henry: You?ll get a big taste of this in the second part of season 1 with the awesome Ryloth trilogy directed by Filoni, Bryan O?Connell, Justin Ridge and Rob Coleman. The effect of war on the common people is something that Dave and I wanted to explore from the beginning and George really liked the stories where we got into that. It speaks to what?s happening in our world today and I think it gives some emotional reality to the battles that makes us care about the outcomes because the lives of the innocents are hanging in the balance. We know the Jedi can deflect a laser, but regular people get shot and die.

Dave: I agree with Henry, the finale of season one deals with some stories that we wanted to tell when we first started working on the project, and we both love the way they came out. I?ll talk about them in more detail soon.

I'm hoping based on those comments we'll actually see the carnage.

 

I think they're talking about the twi'lek civillians of Ryloth there...

 

You're completely correct, I'm just hoping that approach leads us to see exactly how bad Ahsoka screws up.

 

Let's hope this episode doesn't ruin the coolness Ahsoka mustered for herself during the Blue Shadow Virus duology.

And nice to see the Trade Fed's control ships (or Donut cruisers as I call them) back in action.

 

Talk about pressure. Having the Choosen One as your Master. And also for Obi-wan. Training the Choosen One!!

 

FYI...

According to imdb, the writer wrote Downfall of a Droid and also 26 episodes of a show called MegasXLR. Not sure what that is.

 

Based off an idea from Filoni and Gilroy, I understand.

It's actually "Chosen", not "Choosen".

 

My God, I can't wait for this episode! It'll be awesome just like all the other episodes!

 

Awww yeah. This arc is most likely going to rock my socks off. I agree that spoiling it was a little off, but I'm sure they'll find a way to make it appealing anyways. And hey, space battles. XD

 

he directed MegasXLR. i loved that show
this episode is going to be great

 

Wow, this one looks like its going to be very good. Im looking forward to the space battles -FINALLY!

 

Really looking forward to this one... this whole trilogy looks very promising. I also agree about the spoiling of that seemingly major plot point, but I'm guessing there will be enough other surprises and twists that it won't be ruined.

 

Fridays can not start coming soon enough for this trilogy. I have been very pleased with how the writers have handled Anakin's role as a teacher and look forward to seeing more character development in this episode. I think the writer's have successfully portrayed Anakin as the famed hero first mentioned in A New Hope so many years ago.

 

Sorry guys, would have black highlighted it, but it's from the OS, and if you're talking about Ahsoka getting in trouble, that's been known for weeks now.

 

It's certainly not your fault, Garth. The official site is spelling it out all over the place "Ahsoka disobeys Anakin's orders and loses most of her squadron", it's the first line of the short synopsis, so it's really impossible not to stumble across it. I don't think this spoiler should ruin the episode or anything, but it does take out some of the excitement from it.

And what about the webcomic? Come on, they've had a whole week off, I hope it doesn't show up simultaneously with the episode, like last time.

 

Yeah, I know. While the episode was on I had to grab my laptop and read the webcomic to see what happened beforehand (Even though they pretty much covered it in the beginning). But, it wasn't disappointing!

 

As Gry Sarth pretty much said already, I wasn't referring to this site when I was talking about spoiling that Ahsoka plot point. I was referring to how the ads and OS summary of the episode talk about it, and have done so for a couple weeks. I still think it will have surprises anyway, and it looks great.

 

I actually think that this will add to her credibility. When she first appeared in the series, I was quite disappointed that she had so much "brat" attitude. I really expected a bit more from a series with such high production quality to use such a "lowest common denominator" crutch. I was hoping that they could "evolve" her character.

Looks like that is exactly what they are doing. In the Virus episodes, we saw her perform excellently as a young padawan. No begging for attention or appreciation, obeying without question when given orders, and acting heroic when on her own. Being kicked down a notch when you are doing your best is something that we can sympathize with.

So I look forward to seeing this maturity lesson take place. I am even more interesting to see the character that emerges from it.

 

Ahsoka's failure was spoiled several weeks back for me by looking at the DVD previews. It's the only reason I regretted watching 'em. As such, I have no fears venturing into the thread early this time

I can't believe we're almost to the end of Season 1!!