Hunt for Ziro

"Love comes in all shapes and sizes."

- Moral

"Hunt for Ziro" is the ninth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' third season. It aired on November 12, 2010. It is a sequel to "Hostage Crisis."

Official summary
''Cad Bane has broken Ziro the Hutt out of prison and the Hutt Council demands that Ziro tell them where he's hidden vital -- and incriminating -- information: a journal detailing the criminal activities of the five Hutt families. Ziro makes another daring escape with the help of his estranged (and strange) lover, Sy Snootles. Bane is back on the Hutt's trail -- but he's not the only one. The Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi and Quinlan Vos need to find him too.''

''A chase through the swamps of Nal Hutta leads the pursuers to Ziro's enormous mother, Mama the Hutt, who points them to the direction of Teth. It is here, in the secret grave of Ziro's father, that the fugitive Hutt has hidden the diary. When he retrieves it, Snooty reveals her true spots. She's a deadly woman scorned and a bounty hunter for hire. She kills Ziro, and returns the journal to her client: Jabba the Hutt.''

Plot summary
Following his liberation by Cad Bane, Ziro has been brought to the swampy Hutt homeworld of Nal Hutta, since he is holding critically incriminating information about the Hutt crime lords, stored in a holodiary whose location only he knows. Ziro ensures his own safety by claiming that if something happens to him, the information would be immediately sent to the Republic authorities. However, Ziro has an ally in the singer Sy Snootles, with whom he had entertained a romantic relationship. After learning that Ziro is being held captive in the Hutt stronghold, she secretly visits him. Ziro exploits her affection for him to have her break him out, and the two escape into the swamps, to the abode of Mama the Hutt, Ziro’s grotesque mother, who provides him with a starship so he can travel to Teth.

On Coruscant, Obi-Wan is entrusted by the Jedi Council with the task of retrieving Ziro and bringing Cad Bane to justice with the help of the skilled, but rather free-minded, crazy and impulsive Jedi Master Quinlan Vos, whose company is not exactly a delight for Obi-Wan. Nevertheless, Vos is well-informed about the possible reason why Ziro has been freed, so they travel to Nal Hutta. The Hutt Council denies any knowledge of Ziro’s and Bane's whereabouts, and Obi-Wan is reluctant to confront them openly since the Republic owes the Hutts for their contributions to the war effort, but Vos states that they could have freed him, to Gardulla's resentment. He then detects Ziro’s presence by psychometrically scanning a cup Ziro has drunk from. As the two arrive at Ziro’s detention cell, they find him already missing and promptly attempt to track him down. Shortly afterward, the Hutt Council also learns of Ziro’s flight, and once more Cad Bane offers his services (for a fee) to retrieve the renegade Hutt.

The two parties successively follow Ziro’s trail to Mama’s abode and learn of his intent to get to Teth. In the meantime, Ziro and Sy retrieve the diary from its hiding place, the grave of Ziro’s father, but then Sy, out of greed and a grudge against Ziro for having abandoned her, turns on the Hutt and blasts him to death. The Jedi and Bane meet beside the corpse and immediately begin to slug it out between themselves: While Obi-Wan intends to bring Bane to justice for the Senate hostage incident, Bane is tempted by the reward for each dead Jedi delivered to the Separatists. The Jedi press Bane hard, however, and he barely manages to get away with his innate skills and the help of his droid aid Todo. But while this is going on, Sy delivers Ziro’s holo-diary to her true master...

Cast

 * Corey Burton as Ziro the Hutt and Cad Bane
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Nika Futterman as Sy Snootles and Gardulla the Hutt
 * Al Rodrigo as Quinlan Vos
 * Angelique Perrin as Mama the Hutt, MF-80 and chorus girl
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Clone Commander Cody and Arok the Hutt
 * Seth Green as Todo 360
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Jabba the Hutt and Marlo the Hutt
 * Tom Kane as the narrator

Behind the scenes
The dance number performed by Sy Snootles was inspired by Willie Scott's Shanghai performance in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. The obvious bronze-like attachments the dancers wear to represent Hutts are also akin to the ones wore in the Lion King musical.