Nomad Droids

"Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?"

- Moral

"Nomad Droids" is the sixth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fourth season. It aired on October 14, 2011.

Official description
"C-3PO and R2-D2's bizarre caper continues. Forced to escape a Separatist attack in a Y-wing fighter, the droids visit the world of the Patitites, the odd planet Balnab, and the inside of a pirate warship where they are forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena."

Synopsis
In a cabin on Adi Gallia's cruiser, C-3PO and R2-D2 report to Senator Amidala about their recent&mdash;and most peculiar&mdash;adventure on Aleen. Just in the midst of communication, three Separatist cruisers under the command of General Grievous launch a surprise attack on their ship, crippling it critically and forcing an evacuation of the vessel. In lack of an escape pod, R2 commandeers a Y-Wing, and the two droids barely make it out of the battle and their disintegrating cruiser to the nearby planet of Patitite Pattuna before a pursuing Vulture Droid shoots them out of the sky. After crash-landing on a grassy plain, they are attacked by the diminutive natives and, underestimating their capabilities, are shocked into unconsciousness.

When the two droids come to, they find themselves tied to the ground and facing a bunch of rather unfriendly Patitites who declare that, under the orders of their leader Hay-Zu, all off-worlders are to be considered enemies. Soon Hay-Zu comes to see them, revealing himself to be a bloated, despotic specimen of his people. C-3PO successfully manages to arrange their release, but when R2 talks back to Hay-Zu for his unfriendliness, C-3PO admonishes him with a slap, which makes R2 topple over and accidentally land on Hay-Zu, squashing him. To their surprise, the other Patitites celebrate the loss of their tyrannical leader and subsequently aid the two droids in repairing the Y-Wing. When the Patitites offer the leadership over them to C-3PO, he declines in favor of three popular candidates from among the natives. But things head off to a bad start as the three newly elected leaders begin to slug each other about leadership issues and who has the most votes, prompting the droids to depart swiftly and let the Patitites sort this particular problem out for themselves.

However, once in space the two droids are quick to discover that their Y-Wing's power system is damaged and running down, so they prepare to land on the next available planet. Balnab is still a young planet with a biosphere yet in development, but not devoid of intelligent beings walking its surface; a band of Balnabs quickly stumbles upon them and capture them in a stun net. The two droids are brought before the Balnabs' "great leader", who is really a holo-projection created and controlled by a group of rogue pit droids from a crashed starship who have fooled and intimidated the native population into service as their slave working force. R2 exposes the sham, and leaving the Balnabs to deal with their oppressors (violently), he and C-3PO resume their search for a replacement power unit for their fighter.

But a new and more urgent problem forces them to give up on their search, since their own power reserves are beginning to run out. Eventually, they both shut down and are discovered by a band of Weequay pirates, who as a price for their reactivation, herd them to a gladiatorial pit for a fight to dismemberment with other droids. But just at that very instant, the pirate ship is discovered by Grievous' cruiser, who intends to have his droids practice their gunnery skills on it. The droids are sucked through a hull breach into space, but R2's rocket boosters manage to ferry them aboard Grievous' ship, where a reception committee of battle droids awaits them. Upon R2's prompting, C-3PO claims that they are pirate droids, whereupon they are sent to be melted down for replacement parts. But right before they can be plunged into the incinerator, a fleet of Republic cruisers under the command of Master Plo Koon jumps out of hyperspace and launches an attack to free Master Gallia, who is held captive aboard Grievous‘ ship, forcing the droid general to flee once again. In the aftermath of the mission, R2 and C-3PO rejoin the Republic forces, and much to Commander Wolffe's frustration, the golden droid begins to launch into an account of their most recent adventures.

Cast

 * Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
 * Matthew Wood as General Grievous, Tagoo, Pirate #2 and battle droids
 * David Acord as Albee Dewaw, Jimba and Pit Droid
 * Dee Bradley Baker as the clone troopers, Male Patitite #2 and Rider #1
 * James Arnold Taylor as Plo Koon, Male Patitite #1 and Rider #2
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Hay-Zu, CS-321 and Pirate #1
 * Catherine Taber as Padmé Amidala and Female Patitite
 * Tom Kane as the narrator
 * Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia

Behind the scenes
The moral of this episode is a direct quote from Obi-Wan Kenobi from Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope after Luke Skywalker, Chewbacca, Han Solo and R2-D2 and C-3PO evade capture from stormtroopers by hiding in the Millennium Falcon smuggling compartments.

The Patitites were intended to be similar to the Brownies from Willow. C-3PO and R2-D2 being tied up by the Patitites is a reference to the book Gulliver's Travels. However, in the book Gulliver travels to four places, while the droids only travel to two: the planet Aleen and the planet Patitite Pattuna. The reaction of the Patitites to the death of Hay-Zu is a reference to The Wizard of Oz, in which the muchkins are happy when Dorothy's house falls on and kills the witch. The droids' adventure on Balnab is another Oz reference, this time to the "Great Wizard" of Oz, up to and including the exposure of the pit droids. One final reference is to Gulliver's Travels; just as Gulliver is attacked by pirates as he leaves for his third adventure, the same happens to the droids upon leaving after their third adventure.

During the incinerator scene, there are two RA-7 protocol droids present. However, when the one in front attempts to run away and is shot, the second one is missing, showing only the power droid. In the next scene, the second RA-7 droid is present again.