The Disappeared, Part I

"Without darkness there cannot be light."

- Moral

"The Disappeared, Part I" is the eighth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' sixth season. It premiered on the German TV network Super RTL on March 1, 2014 and was released in the US and Canada via Netflix on March 7, 2014.

Official description
"The peaceful world of Bardotta and its mystic ways are threatened by an ancient prophecy, and its top spiritual leaders have vanished. Queen Julia of Bardotta calls for help from her most trusted friend in the Senate, Jar Jar Binks. Recognizing the importance of Bardotta's spiritual balance, the Jedi Council sends Mace Windu to accompany Binks and investigate."

Plot Summary
Queen Julia of Bardotta addresses the Galactic Senate via hologram to request assistance. Chancellor Palpatine offers to send Senators Bail Organa and Padmé Amidala to Bardotta to aid them in the crisis, but the queen is adamant that there is only one person in the Republic she will meet with. Palpatine informs the Jedi High Council of the queen's request, and of her specific request of Republic envoy – Gungan Representative Jar Jar Binks. Several of the Dagoyan Masters – Bardottan mystics with a strong but passive connection to the Force – have disappeared in mysterious circumstances. The Chancellor wonders why the Bardottans did not want the Jedi involved in the investigation, and Yoda explains that the Dagoyans saw the Jedi's induction of Force-sensitive Bardottan children into their order as kidnapping. Despite the queen's request that Binks travel to Bardotta alone, Mace Windu sees that as unwise and volunteers to accompany the Gungan.

When Windu and Binks arrive on Bardotta, neither their guard escort nor the queen are pleased about the presence of a Jedi, so Binks tells them that Windu is his servant. Windu is sent to the antechamber, while the queen tells Jar Jar about a prophecy which appears to be transpiring: if the Dagoyan Masters are not returned, a great darkness will fall upon their planet. The queen empties the room so she can speak to Jar Jar alone – she asks him to meditate with her, and kisses him. Mace Windu is concerned that Binks has been alone with the queen for a long time, but her guards refuse to admit him to her meditation chamber, and admonish him when his Jedi mind trick fails to work on them. Windu uses a more conventional subterfuge to slip past the guards, and bursts into the queen's chamber to her horror. Binks shows him out and Windu tells him his relationship with the queen is jeopardizing the mission, giving the Gungan a comlink to contact him if he finds out anything.

Binks re-enters the queen's chambers, but Windu and the guards follow him when they hear him screaming and wailing that the queen has disappeared. The Dagoyans convene the Bahk-tov Council, where High Seneschal Peteen informs them that according to the prohpecy, if the queen is not found in three rotations, she will be gone forever and an era of darkness will rise throughout the galaxy. Council member Savatte tells them that the prophecy originated from the Frangawl Cult, whose shrine to the demon Malmourral was underneath the Dagoyan temple. Savatte leads Windu and Binks through the catacombs underneath the temple, but Binks wanders off and finds a piece of Julia's headdress. As he stands up, a masked figure blows a glowing blue powder into his face, and Jar Jar begins to turn invisible. Windu sends Savatte back to the surface to report to the council, and pursues the Gungan alone.

The cult members place Jar Jar in a cage suspended above a lava pit, and he becomes visible again. The caged Dagoyans tell him they are to be sacrificed to the demon. Binks contacts Windu with his comlink, and the Jedi uses it to track his location, however the Gungan drops the communicator when his cage is moved and it is destroyed by the Frangawl Leader. Jar Jar sees Julia, who tells him that the cult members are stealing the Force from within the Dagoyans. The leader places one of the Dagoyans in a trance, and pushes him down a ramp to a stone edifice where his Force energy is drained into a glowing sphere. Windu senses the disturbance in the Force, and finds the temple as the cult is about to sacrifice Jar Jar. As they fight off the cult members, the leader escapes with the queen and they leave the planet in a starship.

As the council bemoans the consequences of the prophecy, Jar Jar promises them he will rescue the queen with the help of his Jedi friend.

Cast

 * Ahmed Best as Jar Jar Binks, Clan Member, Dagoyan Master
 * Terrence Carson as Mace Windu, Cultist, Council Member
 * Ami Shukla as Queen Julia
 * Cas Anvar as Peteen, Frangawl Leader
 * Paul Nakauchi as Savatte
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Dagoyan Master, Joseph
 * Tom Kane as Narrator, Yoda, Guard
 * Tim Curry as Chancellor Palpatine

Behind the scenes
The Bardottan throne room is based on the crystal skeleton chamber from Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.