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 premiere 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 and Clone Commander Wolffe, aboard the Triumphant, located the Separatists' secret weapon in the Abregado system, they immediately moved the fleet in to position to engage it. Plo Koon then ordered Commander Wolffe to contact Coruscant and relay their position prior to attack. Master Plo contacted Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, who were stationed in the nearby Bith system, telling them that he had found the weapon and required reinforcements. Anakin tells Master Plo Koon that there is little he could do for support, as he has been ordered to protect the staging area by the Jedi Council. Plo Koon's communications are then jammed by General Grievous at the behest of Count Dooku. Then the secret weapon, a massive ion cannon emplaced within the superstructure of the immense Separatist flagship Malevolence, fired, knocking out power on all three Republic attack cruisers, leaving them defenseless against Grievous's cannons. Plo Koon, along with clone troopers Sinker, Boost and Commander Wolffe, managed to escape via an escape pod, just before their cruiser is destroyed. Aboard the Separatist flagship, Dooku ordered Grievous to deploy the Pod Hunters to find and kill any survivors to keep their position, as well as their new weapon, secret.

Meanwhile, Anakin and Ahsoka speak with the Jedi Council (represented by Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Yoda) as well as Chancellor Palpatine, who order them both not to go out to the Abregado system to look for survivors, despite Ahsoka's vehement opposition. Windu tells Skywalker that all their taskforces will be assigned to defend their supply lines. Anakin does so. Anakin then scolds 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. They continue the search despite repeated holographic orders from both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself for Anakin to give up and rejoin his fleet.

Back in the debris field, Koon and his clones try to fix their pod. Then they 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; before the pod hunter crew notices their escape pod and latches onto it. Master Koon and his men fight it off in space, destroying it and raising the alarm to Grievous that some survivors are still alive and putting up a fight. Just after Koon defeats the pod hunter, Anakin and Ahsoka arrive and rescue him and his men.

Now that they have picked up Master Koon and his men, Master Koon tells them about the ion cannon. Just as Anakin and Ahsoka prepare to leave the system, Grievous's flagship arrives, 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 with a desperate hyperspace jump. Grievous roars in anger and Count Dooku admonishes him by saying that the Republic will learn of their secret weapon. Though his failure is most unfortunate, Dooku will contact his master.

Once the Twilight reaches Anakin's fleet, Commander Wolffe thanks Anakin for helping them. Then, Anakin and Koon contact the Jedi Council, informing them of the now discovered 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 Aksoka Tano
 * Tom Kane as Yoda, Wulff 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
The second escape pod, Pod 1977, is named after the release year of the original Star Wars. Boost and Sinker's attempt to restart the escape pod's power grid uses dialogue directly lifted from The Empire Strikes Back when Han Solo and Chewbacca are trying to fix the Millennium Falcon.