Season 1 Episode 19

“It is a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.”

Ryloth, home world of the Twi’lek people, has been subjected to military occupation by the droid army of the Separatists, and surrounded by a blockade of Trade Federation battleships. While launching a surprise attack against the blockade, Ahsoka disobeys Anakin’s orders and ends up losing most of her squadron. Even though she’s emotionally rocked by this failure, Anakin helps her learn to persevere, placing her in charge of another risky attack.

Storm over Ryloth Commentary, Preview and starwars.com Episode Guide.

Concept Art and Trivia

The expanded universe has described Ryloth as a tide-locked planet — meaning one side faces the sun all year long. If this is true, it makes Mace Windu’s blockade-busting deadline of “one planetary rotation” curious, though Mace never does identify what planet he’s referring to.

Wat Tambor is revealed to have another title in addition to Foreman of the Techno Union: he is identified here and subsequent episodes as “Emir.”

The Lucky Lekku and Spaceward Ho Republic attack gunships are seen in the Resolute hangar bay. Fitting, in that they both prominently feature Twi’leks painted on them.

The rippling circular Trade Federation viewscreen from Episode I finally makes a return appearance in this episode.

The spinning scope device on Captain Mar Tuuk’s data goggles was partly inspired by the mechanical monocle worn by a Ko-Dan fleet officer in The Last Starfighter. Originally, Mar Tuuk was to have died aboard his ship, but he proved interesting enough to George Lucas and The Clone Wars crew that his life was spared. A new scene of him leaving the bridge was added late in the making of the episode, and a line of dialogue was given to a battle droid explaining that Mar Tuuk fled in an escape pod.

Mar Tuuk was named after Dave Filoni’s cat.

Ahsoka’s tactic came from the EU book Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn.

The pink astromech droid, R2-KT, can be seen in the Resolute hangar bay. In real life, R2-KT was a pink-trimmed R2 unit built in honor of Katie Johnson, a brave little girl and daughter of the founder of the 501st Legion, the world-famous organization of fans who create and wear amazingly authentic stormtrooper armor. Sadly, Katie was very ill and passed away, but her spirit and courage remain an inspiration to Star Wars fans everywhere. The R2-KT unit (a name meant to sound like “Katie”) now makes appearances at events and children’s hospitals, and helps raise awareness of pediatric cancer, and raise money for charities like Make-A-Wish and Children’s Cancer Fund.