- Title: Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Rookies
- wiki: link
On a small listening post located on Rishi Moon a group of inexperience Clone Troopers see their first action when General Grievous (Matthew Wood) sends a squad of Droid Commandos to take the base in an attempt to hide the Separatist fleet’s plans to attack the Clone bases on Kamino. Forced out of the base the three survivors along with Clone Captain Rex and Commander Cody, who arrive for a routine inspection, work together to retake the base and warn the Republic of the coming attack. Not all five will survive the attempt, but the heroic death of one member of the team will alert the fleet and save the Clones’ home planet from invasion.
“Rookies” is an interesting episode that it relies solely on Clone Troopers and characters created specifically for the show. Sure we see cameos of more familiar faces wondering if something might be wrong on Rishi Station (if only they could sense a disturbance in the Force?), but the story is carried completely by Cody, Rex, Echos, Fives, and Hevy (all voiced by Dee Bradley Baker). Despite being Clones, “Rookies” also demonstrates the subtle differences between the group showing the audience that just because the troopers are Clones doesn’t mean they all have the exact same personality traits adding a bit of nuance to idea of Clone Troopers.