#67 Season 4 Episode 1

“When destiny calls, the chosen have no choice.”

When the king of Mon Cala is assassinated, talks break down between the Mon Calamari people and the Quarren, co-inhabitants of the aquatic world. To stop a civil war, the Republic sends Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker, but unbeknownst to them, the Quarren are already being backed by the Separatists. Now the Jedi must protect Mon Cala’s new leader, the young Prince Lee-Char, from the attack.

Water War Preview and starwars.com Episode Guide. Commentary for episodes 1 to 3.

Original Airdate: 16 September 2011
Writer: Jose Molina
Director: Duwayne Dunham

Concept Art and Trivia

The Mon Calamari and Quarren species were created for Return of the Jedi. The Mon Calamari design was developed by Phil Tippett for Admiral Ackbar and his fleet officers, and he named it after a lunch of calamari salad he had one day. The Quarren was originally a single alien for the background of Jabba’s palace called “Squid Head.” It was designed in a series of sketches by Chris Walas and Nilo Rodis Jamero.

The first source to establish that the Mon Calamari and the Quarren shared a planet was The Star Wars Sourcebook, published in 1987 by West End Games. Since then, stories of tensions between the two cultures have appeared many times in the Expanded Universe, quite memorably in the 2003 Clone Wars animated micro-series.

Captain Ackbar’s declaration “It’s an attack!” is an homage to his much quoted and parodied line in Return of the Jedi, “it’s a trap!”

The design of the Mon Cala city is meant to remind viewers of the Mon Calamari cruisers seen in Return of the Jedi. In fact, the Mon Cala towers are essentially landed and docked starship designs.

Prince Lee-Char’s name derives from “Charlie,” a nod to the famous animated mascot for a certain brand of tuna.

Kit Fisto’s gunship nose art features a cartoon of a bomb with Kit’s face on it, and written in Aurebesh underneath that, “Service with a smile,” a reference to Kit’s famous grin in Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones.