Shadow of Malevolence

"Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by themselves.&hellip;"

- Moral

"Shadow of Malevolence" is the third episode of Season One of Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series. It aired on Cartoon Network on October 10, 2008.

Official description
With the help of his Padawan Ahsoka and Jedi Master Plo Koon, Anakin utilizes new long-range Y-wing bombers to lead a bold strike on General Grievous' warship the Malevolence'' and its destructive weapon. As General Grievous uses the Malevolence to terrorize medical bases, the Jedi rush to defend Republic space. With help from his Padawan, Anakin leads a bold strike mission into enemy territory.''

Plot summary
After several other attacks on Jedi fleet cruisers, all of which conducted by the Malevolence, Anakin Skywalker decides it is time to strike back. His plan is to use the new Y-Wing bombers to destroy the Separatist flagship's bridge, killing General Grievous and destroying the ship. However, both Plo Koon and Ahsoka think that his plan is too aggressive. Meanwhile, the Malevolence destroys another supply convoy, somewhere in the Outer Rim. After finishing off the final ships, Dooku contacts Grievous and gives him a new target: the Kaliida Shoals Medical Center.

Admiral Yularen contacts the Kaminoan physician Nala Se on the Medical Center, warning her of a possible attack. However, she does not believe that they will have enough time to evacuate all of her 60,000 wounded patients.

Anakin and Ahsoka leave their Venator-class Star Destroyer with their squadron of Y-Wing fighters, along with the Kel Dor Jedi Master Plo Koon serving as a fighter escort in his modified Delta-7 Aethersprite Jedi starfighter. After a hyperspace flight, Anakin's Shadow Squadron of clone pilots reach the Kaliida Nebula. While traveling through it, Master Plo is horrified to learn that they are taking the Balmorra Run.

Before they can turn around, though, they fly into a nest of Neebray mantas. Shadow Squadron is able to navigate through it, although several ships are damaged. Just as they reach the Kaliida Medical Center, the Malevolence comes out of hyperspace. After it fires its ion cannon at Shadow Squadron, Anakin loses almost half of his Y-Wings to its disabling blast and is forced to make a new plan of attack. The Malevolence then targets the medical center.

As its ion cannon charges, Shadow Squadron opens fire on it, destroying some of its key components and causing it to overload when General Grievous tries to unleash it once more on the Republic ships. With newly arrived Republic capital ships led by Jedi High General Obi-Wan Kenobi and Admiral Yularen firing on him, Grievous orders the wounded flagship back to CIS-held space. Anakin and the rest of Shadow Squadron then board the medical station, where they are congratulated by Nala Se. Anakin, however, mourns the losses of his men among Shadow Squadron, despite the great victory their lives had earned.

Cast

 * Dee Bradley Baker as Clone troopers
 * Corey Burton as Count Dooku
 * Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano
 * Tom Kane as Admiral Wullf Yularen and Narrator
 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Plo Koon
 * Matthew Wood as General Grievous and Battle droids
 * Gwendoline Yeo as Nala Se

Behind the scenes
The original moral of this episode was to be, "Easy is the path to wisdom for those not blinded by ego."

When told to launch the ion cannons after Matchstick's death, the battle droid delivers the classic Star Wars line, "I have a bad feeling about this."

When Matchstick tells Plo Koon that the damage to his ship is "just a scratch", he is wearing a regular Shadow Squadron helmet, and not his custom painted one. A moment later he is wearing his regular customized helmet again.

Twice when the ion cannon is fired, the camera shows a close up of the inner section firing the blast. Both screens are an homage to the Death Star firing sequence, where instead of droids there are Imperial technicians.

As Shadow Squadron is making its attack run, Anakin says the words "Watch those towers boys!" a similar line to Luke's in Star Wars: A New Hope when he begins his attack run on the Death Star.