#65 Season 3 Episode 21

“Without humility, courage is a dangerous game.”

Ahsoka and a group of abducted younglings find themselves trapped on a Trandoshan moon, prey in an elaborate and cruel hunt. The forlorn younglings have lost all hope, despite the best efforts of their spirited leader, Kalifa. Ahsoka rallies them to defend themselves and strike back against the Trandoshan, an effort with deadly consequences.

Padawan Lost Commentary, Preview and starwars.com Episode Guide.

Original Airdate: 1 April 2011
Writer: Bonnie Mark
Director: Dave Filoni

Concept Art and Trivia

The Jedi “cookie” at the start of the episode references “a dangerous game,” which is a nod to the 1924 short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” by Richard Connell. The story is about a Russian hunter who stalks a big game hunter on a Caribbean island. It has been adapted to film and television many times.

This episode sees the return of Plo Koon’s Wolfpack clone troopers, led by Commander Wolffe, and featuring troopers Comet, Sinker and Boost.

Republic AT-TE squadron logo illustration

Trandoshans are the same species as Bossk, the bounty hunter seen in Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back and in The Clone Wars Season Two’s three-part finale. The species name Trandoshan was established in a 1989 roleplaying game book, Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, which also revealed that big game hunting was common in their culture.

The original script had the hunt take place on Dosha, the Trandoshan homeworld. It was later moved to Wasskha, a moon.

Also in the original script, the Trandoshan hunting lodge was a ground-based camp. During the development of the episode, it was moved into the sky to make the idea that the younglings had never found it before more plausible Among the prisoners delivered to Wasskha with Ahsoka are a Snivvian named Katt Mol (his red-and-black jumpsuit is inspired by the classic cantina character, Snaggletooth), a Terrelian Jango Jumper named Lika (modeled after Cassie Cryar), a Selkath named Morgo (modeled after Chata Hyoki), and a Sakiyan named Vadoo. In the script, Katt Mol, Vadoo and a hunter named Simna banded together for survival. This footage was shot but had to be cut for time.

Lika gets shot by a burly Trandoshan named Sochek, whose amber-tinted goggles and cargo shorts are inspired by Walter Sobchak, a character played by John Goodman in the 1998 Coen brothers movie, The Big Lebowski.

The yellow feathered birds are called convorees (singular: convor).

The Trandoshan hunting pods are inspired by the classic Cobra Trubble Bubble flight pod toy from the G.I.JOE toyline.