Rising Malevolence

"Belief is not a matter of choice, but of conviction."

- Moral

"Rising Malevolence" is the second episode of Season One of the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It aired on Cartoon Network October 3, 2008, following the premier of "Ambush."

Official description
''Creating panic throughout the galaxy, a devastating Separatist mystery weapon terrorizes the clone Starfleet. Anakin and Ahsoka race to save Jedi Master Plo Koon and his clone troopers in time. Jedi Master Plo Koon and his squad barely survive an attack from a mysterious Separatist warship called the Malevolence. Can they stay alive long enough for Anakin and Ahsoka to find them?''

Plot summary
When Jedi Master Plo Koon locates the Separatists' secret weapon in the Abregado system, he immediately moves his fleet to engage it. He contacts Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, telling them that he has found the weapon before his communications are cut off by General Grievous. Then the secret weapon, a massive ion cannon emplaced within the superstructure of the immense Separatist flagship Malevolence, fires, knocking out power on all three Star Destroyers, leaving them to be destroyed by Grievous's cannons. Plo Koon and a few clone troopers manage to escape via escape pods, just before their ship is destroyed. Aboard the Confederate flagship, Dooku orders Grievous to deploy Pod Hunters to find and kill any survivors.

Meanwhile, Anakin and Ahsoka speak with the Jedi Council, who order them both not to go out to the Abregado system to look for survivors, despite Ahsoka's vehement opposition. Anakin chastises Ahsoka for her outburst as they take off in the Twilight. However, afterward, he reveals to Ahsoka that he never intended to obey the Council; he agrees with her opinion but tells her that if she is going to disobey the Council, she needs to do it carefully.

Back in the debris field, Koon and his clones spot another escape pod. However, upon closer inspection, they see that it has been broken open and the clones inside killed by the vacuum of space. They then witness one of the pod hunters attack a nearby escape pod, breaking it open and killing all inside; then the pod hunter crew notices their escape pod and latches onto it. Master Koon and his men fight it off, destroying it and raising the alarm that survivors are putting up a fight. Just as Koon defeats the pod hunter, Ahsoka and Anakin arrive and rescue him and his men, despite growing holographic pleas from both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself for Anakin to give up the search and rejoin his fleet.

Now that they have picked up the few survivors, Anakin and Ahsoka prepare to leave the system. Unfortunately, Grievous's flagship is nearby, so they shut down all systems, including Artoo, hoping to blend in with the debris from the destroyed Republic ships. However, they miss the onboard medical droid, whose faint signal alerts Grievous; forced to flee the blast from the ion cannon, the Twilight narrowly escapes the blast with a desperate hyperspace jump. Once they reach Anakin's fleet, Anakin and Koon contact the Jedi Council, informing them of the mystery weapon and its capabilities. Anakin asks Ahsoka to come with him, saying that they should both share the blame for their actions.

Cast

 * Ian Abercrombie as Palpatine
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Clone troopers
 * Tim Brock as TB-2
 * Corey Burton as Count Dooku
 * Terrence Carson as Mace Windu
 * Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
 * Tom Kane as Yoda, Wullf Yularen, Narrator
 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Plo Koon
 * Matthew Wood as General Grievous, Battle droids

Behind the scenes
Pod 1977 was named for the release year of the original Star Wars.