Revival (episode)

"Strength in character can defeat strength in numbers."

- Moral

"Revival" is the premiere episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fifth season. It was released on August 24, 2012 at a special screening at Celebration VI, prior to its premiere on September 29, 2012 on Cartoon Network.

Official description
"Fueled by vengeance and rage, the newly reunited brothers Savage Opress and Maul spread terror and violence across the galaxy. As the Sith brothers forcibly recruit Hondo Ohnaka and his pirates, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia chase them down, leading to a deadly confrontation."

Plot summary
Having pillaged various Outer Rim worlds, Maul and Opress infiltrate a space station in orbit over Cybloc. They overpower its droid guards and discover a safe filled with money. Whilst Opress is absorbed by their new wealth, Maul reminds him that it is only a means to an end in their cause of destroying Obi-Wan Kenobi. He also asserts his authority as master over Opress by citing the Rule of Two. Opress had hoped that as brothers the two would abandon the traditional Sith hierarchy and angrily challenges Maul to combat. Maul easily overcomes him; the two then travel to Florrum where they lure a group of Hondo Ohnaka's Weequay pirates aboard their ship and bribe them into their service. Two of Ohnaka's captains readily join; a hesitant third is executed before Ohnaka via hologram when he expresses doubts about the betrayal. The brothers prepare to attack Ohnaka's base to claim it as their own.

Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Adi Gallia arrive at the station and are briefed by a Snivvian about the raid, who also states that the perpetrators are traveling on his ship to the Sertar sector. Gallia wonders what would draw the Sith there, to which Kenobi replies that it is where Florrum and Ohnaka are located. They proceed to the planet and contact Ohnaka with whom they form a temporary alliance against his treacherous men and the Sith brothers.

Maul and Opress begin their assault on Ohnaka's base but are diverted from the attack when the Jedi land and engage them. A fierce duel ensues, but while Kenobi manages to hold his own against Maul, Gallia is overpowered and slain by Opress, who charges her with his horns before running her through with his lightsaber. Kenobi lets out an angry cry and knocks Opress to the ground. Maul blocks an attempt to kill him. With their side's numbers growing thin, Kenobi and Ohnaka are forced to retreat into the pirate base, but not before Kenobi retrieves Gallia's lightsaber.

While Ohnaka's loyal men prepare an ambush, Kenobi draws the brothers away from the pirates; instructing them to collapse a section of the tunnel with explosives to separate himself and the Sith from them. Ohnaka readily agrees and Kenobi proceeds to face the pair with both lightsabers. After a fierce battle, Kenobi is able to knock Opress off-balance before severing his arm. Maul then breaks off the fight to retreat with his injured brother. Outside, they encounter their pirate allies and attempt to rally them for a renewed assault. Ohnaka, however, has reconciled with his men after ambushing them, demonstrating that the Sith have no loyalty to them. They now intend to plunder Maul and Opress's ship and open fire; forcing the brothers into a full retreat. Maul loses one of his cybernetic legs in the escape and is then carried by Opress. Despite this, the brothers manage to reach their ship and take off when Maul delays their pursuers by toppling the Jedi's shuttle from a plateau to cut them off. One of the pirates manages to fire on one of the ship's engines and, suffering from his injuries, Opress instructs Maul to leave him behind. Both brothers, however, are able to escape the doomed vessel aboard an escape craft before it plunges back to the planet's surface.

Kenobi and Ohnaka proceed to search the wreckage- Ohnaka for salvageable wealth and Kenobi for evidence of Maul and Opress's deaths. Ohnaka and his men recover the safe previously obtained by the Sith but no trace of the brothers is found. Ohnaka concludes that they must have been vaporised in the crash but Kenobi remains unconvinced, noting Maul's return despite the severity of his injuries on Naboo.

Back on Coruscant, Kenobi and the Jedi convene a meeting with Palpatine in which the Chancellor dismisses Kenobi's fears about Maul; reasoning that the Separatists pose a far greater threat. Yoda agrees with the Chancellor; cautioning Kenobi that his fixation on Maul is a personal matter. He reassures him, however, that if the Sith brothers reappear, the Jedi will be ready to oppose them. As they leave the office, Palpatine smirks whilst seated at his desk behind them.

Cast

 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Pirate #2
 * Sam Witwer as Darth Maul
 * Jim Cummings as Hondo Ohnaka and Warehouse Supervisor
 * Matt Lanter as Jiro and Lead Deputy
 * Clancy Brown as Savage Opress
 * Angelique Perrin as Adi Gallia
 * Tom Kane as Sabo, the Narrator and Yoda
 * Terrence Carson as Large Pirate and Pirate #1
 * Ian Abercrombie as Chancellor Palpatine

Airing
"A War on Two Fronts" was originally scheduled to be the premiere episode of Season Five, but the premiere was changed to "Revival" as announced at San Diego Comic Con in July 2012. "Revival" was released at Celebration VI on August 24, 2012, at a special screening prior to its premiere on Cartoon Network. Supervising Director Dave Filoni stated that he felt, as did Series Producer George Lucas, that "Revival" should be the season premiere, which was why it was moved to the beginning of the season despite some continuity problems, including Adi Gallia's death (despite her appearance in the later-airing "A War on Two Fronts") and the previous destruction of Hondo Ohnaka's pirate base (an event depicted in the later-airing "A Necessary Bond"). Filoni has stated that had his crew had the time, they would have modified the episodes to better fit chronologically with the airing order.

Development
Both Palpatine and Yoda received redesigns for this episode, in order to increase performance on facial modeling for animation purposes. Palpatine also received a new outfit, which the trivia gallery for the episode confirmed is the same outfit that he wore in the beginning of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.

The name of the Twi'lek Jedi killed by Darth Maul and Savage Opress in the prologue wasn't named in the episode itself, but the official trivia gallery for the episode confirmed that she was Finn Ertay.

The warehouse supervisor was intended to simply have a slight build with a frontier twang, but was developed as a Snaggletooth alien in the final version. His outfit was similar to a vintage 1970s Kenner action figure included in a Sears-exclusive Cantina set.

Hondo's claim about General Grievous raiding Florrum and destroying his stronghold, and consequentially his criminal empire was a reference to the episode "A Necessary Bond" that hadn't aired yet at the time of the episode's release, although the clip in question was shown at Celebration VI. In addition, the sign in the background of Hondo's camp was translated from Aurebesh as "Hondo's Salvage - Prices Slashed."

When Maul and Opress infiltrate the warehouse, the supervisor and the pirates initially mistook them for Jedi. This was meant to imply either that the Sith were not that well known throughout the galaxy, or that most haven't met a Jedi before. In addition, the warehouse's design was redesigned from the Siddiq's office in "Corruption."

The trivia gallery for the episode, as well as the unfinished line by the lead deputy droid to Maul in the episode itself, implied that the station and/or the offices onboard belonged to the InterGalactic Banking Clan. In addition, the station itself was modified and reused from the Quartzite station in the episode "Bounty".

Though Ian Abercrombie's final episodes of Season Five of Star Wars: The Clone Wars were "Revival" and "The Lawless", Tim Curry voiced the brief line in this episode in which Palpatine said "They're just petty crooks."

Behind the scenes
On the DVD and Blu-ray release, "Revival" was moved and was placed in its rightful place between "Point of No Return" and "Eminence", making the first episode "A War on Two Fronts".

In the episode, Hondo Ohnaka's line "Insolence? We're pirates!  We don't even know what that means!" is a subtle nod to Captain Hector Barbossa's line "A lot of long words there, Miss. We're not but humble pirates!" in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. It's one of several references to Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean franchise throughout the series.