Episode 3: The Dark Side of the Force

The Clone Wars are now over two years old. The entire galaxy has been thrown into chaos. On one side of the conflict are hundreds of wayward star systems, led by Count Dooku, who are rebelling against the Republic led by the scheming-in-secret Chancellor Palpatine/Darth Sidious. The inhabitants of the galaxy are growing tired of the wars. Battles will break out with no warning in various star systems. Many star systems have been completed devastated by the Clone Wars. Suddenly, peace will be agreed upon by both sides and then, suddenly, the fighting will break out again.

Palpatine manages to frame the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Knights for much of what is going on during the wars. Palpatine makes them the scape goats for all of the galaxies many problems. The people grow tired of the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Knights. They are ready for drastic change and Palpatine realizes this.

At the beginning of the movie, Anakin is seen at an awards ceremony receiving yet another medal for his valor in battle. A pregnant Padme is with Anakin at the ceremony. After the ceremony, Palpatine manages to separate Padme from Anakin so that the beautiful, Asiatic-looking Darth Xio Jade can seduce Anakin. Xio Jade introduces herself to Anakin and uses a powerful, irresistible dark side mind trick to seduce Anakin. It doesn't hurt that Xio is also one of the most beautiful women in the galaxy. She records their affair on a Sith holocron and sends the holocron to Palpatine.

Palpatine then orders the Jedi Council to send Obi-Wan Kenobi to deliver the holocron to Padme. Padme is devastated after seeing Anakin with Xio Jade. Her trust in Anakin is now completely destroyed. She refuses to see Anakin when he arrives at their home. Palpatine's red royal guards quickly lead Anakin away from Padme. Palpatine then orders the Jedi Council to have Obi-Wan hide Padme from Anakin. Palpatine then sets up a secret meeting with Anakin. Palpatine tells Anakin that their are conspirators against both Palpatine and Anakin amongst the Jedi Knights.

He warns that Anakin's master, Obi-Wan, is no longer really his friend. Palpatine states that Obi-Wan wishes to end the marriage between Anakin and Padme. The blood in Anakin's veins nearly boils after hearing of this deception. Palpatine relates that Obi-Wan is the one who wanted Xio Jade to seduce him. Palpatine warns that Obi-Wan may secretly be a dreaded Sith Lord.

Anakin confronts Obi-Wan on a volcanic world. Anakin demands that Obi-Wan take him to Padme immediately. Obi-Wan refuses and states that the Jedi Council has told him that Padme is not allowed to see Anakin. Anakin is outraged.

Anakin draws his light-sabre and ignites it. Anakin demands to see Padme again. Obi-Wan refuses and tells Anakin to put down his light sabre. Anakin refuses. Obi-Wan lights his light sabre and then orders his padawan to put down his sabre. Anakin again refuses and strikes at Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan quickly ignites his sabre and blocks Anakin's sabre. Obi-Wan states that this duel is dangerous because they are surrounded by many molten pools of lava. Anakin refuses to end the duel unless he is given access to Padme.

Obi-Wan states that he cannot disobey the Jedi Council and continues to block Anakin's attack. The two duel for quite some time. Anakin gets reckless and falls into one of the molten pools. Anakin's light sabre falls to the ground. Obi-Wan watches Anakin sink into the lava pool. Obi-Wan leaves to find help to rescue Anakin. Palpatine enters and has his storm troopers rescue Anakin from the molten pool. They then quickly leave the area. A few minutes later, Obi-Wan returns with some medical droids. They are unable to find Anakin. Obi-Wan assumes the molten pool has consumed Anakin's body. Obi-Wan finds Anakin's light sabre on the ground and takes it with him. Obi-Wan tells Padme that Anakin is dead. Padme is saddened by this news.

Palpatine's medical droids nurse Anakin back to health. Anakin is eventually placed into his familiar-looking black mask and body armor. Palpatine introduces Anakin to the ways of the Sith. Anakin grows to hate the Jedi and the Republic. Palpatine promises that, in time, Anakin will be reunited with Padme, but in the mean time Anakin must be patient and allow their plan to unfold. Anakin takes the name of Darth Vader. Only Palpatine and his trusted minions know that Darth Vader is actually Anakin. Everyone else believes that Anakin is dead.

The Clone Wars continue to rage on and thousands of Republic clones are killed in the various battles. The Galactic Senate is under heavy pressure from their people to find a way to end the wars. Palpatine continues to frame the Senate and the Jedi as the reason the wars are going so badly. The people demand and end to the Jedi's and Senate's incompetence and corruption. Palpatine takes this opportunity to declare himself Emperor. He immediately abolishes the Galactic Senate, Jedi Council and the entire Jedi Order. The people hail Palpatine as the savior of the Republic.

Palpatine replaces the Galactic Senate with the Imperial Senate. The members of the new Senate are hand picked by Palpatine. The Imperial Senate and Palpatine issue a proclamation declaring the Jedi Knights to be enemies of the Republic. They order the immediate arrest of all Jedi Knights. The Jedi begin to go into hiding. Boba Fett and Jabba the Hutt help Palpatine hunt down the Jedi. Many Jedi are killed during this purge. A new seven-member Sith Council, whose members all have the title Darth, replaces the Jedi Council. Darth Sidious is the leader of this Council. The other members of the Sith Council are Darth Tyranus, Darth Vader, Darth Jade (Xio Jade), a cloned Darth Maul, Darth Tau and Darth Vorron. To avoid arrest, many of the Jedi agree to become Sith Lords and hunt down their former Jedi allies.

Vader leads the hunt for the Jedi Knights. The Sith Council confronts the remaining members of the Jedi Council. An epic light-sabre battle between them erupts. Most of the Jedi Council is killed during this duel, but Yoda and Mace Windu are captured and taken to Count Dooku's star ship. Later, Padme is captured and also brought to Dooku's ship. Obi-Wan continues to fight in various Clone War battles.

Count Dooku's agents leak false information to Republic spies concerning a "Time Detonator" weapon being developed by Count Dooku's scientists on Geonosis. The fictitious "Time Detonator" is a weapon which temporarily freezes time. When it is set off in a star system, time freezes for everyone who is in the star system when the weapon is set off. An invading force can then enter the star system and conquer it rather easily. Palpatine states that the Republic must have this weapon. Of course, the "Time Detonator" does not exist and Palpatine knows this, but he uses this weapon as an excuse to send all of the Republic's remaining star ships into a trap. Palpatine expects Count Dooku's cloaked fleet to completely annihilate the Republic's star ships and remaining fighters.

All the star ships of the Republic military converge on Geonosis. The flag ship of the Republic fleet contains Palpatine and Darth Vader. Obi-Wan sneaks his star ship into the Geonosis system. Palpatine's flag ship detects Obi-Wan's ship and captures it with a tractor beam. Obi-Wan is brought aboard Palpatine's ship. There are no enemy star ships visible near Geonosis since Dooku's fleet remains hidden with cloaking technology. When the trap is set, Dooku's fleet de-cloaks and destroys most of the Republic's remaining star ships and fighters. Count Dooku demands that Palpatine surrender unconditionally. Palpatine pretends to be scared and agrees to Dooku's demands. Dooku's troops board Palpatine's ship and take Palpatine, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan as prisoners. The three are held in the lower levels of Dooku's ship.

Yoda, Mace Windu and a pregnant Padme are brought before Count Dooku. For Dooku's protection, Yoda, Windu and Padme are surrounded by four members of the Sith Council: Darth Jade, cloned Darth Maul, Darth Tau and Darth Vorron. Dooku announces that Palpatine and the entire Republic have surrendered. The great Republic has finally lost the war. Dooku announces that he has a surprise for Yoda and Windu. Out from the shadows of the room steps the legendary Darth Bane, thought to have been dead for many centuries. Bane is even older than Yoda. Yoda and Windu gasp in amazement. They immediately recognize the incomparably malevolent Darth Bane.

Bane cackles nefariously. Bane explains that he is no clone. He is the actual Darth Bane, who has remained in the shadows for centuries waiting for the opportunity to finally destroy the Jedi Order and the Republic. Palpatine, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan are brought before Dooku and Bane. Bane explains to everyone that he has used Palpatine and Darth Vader to destroy the Republic and the Jedi Order. Bane announces that he is going to have all of them killed including Palpatine and Vader. Palpatine pleads for his life. Bane laughs menacingly. Bane states that the only threat to him is Anakin and Padme's unborn child, the child of Anakin must die. No one knows that Padme is carrying twins. Bane reveals that Vader is actually Anakin and then Bane reveals that Palpatine is a Sith Lord called Darth Sidious.

Bane raises his hands to send powerful dark side lightning through Padme. Vader uses Sith super speed to jump in front of Padme as the lightning leaves Bane's fingers. Vader absorbs the lighting and then pulls out his light-sabre and ignites it. For the first time in his life, Bane is terrified. No one has ever survived a direct hit from his dark side lighting yet Anakin appears unhurt. Anakin is truly the only child of the Force and the most powerful Force user the galaxy has ever known.

Palpatine begins to cackle and explains that Bane and the members of the Sith Council are the ones who have really fallen into the trap. Darth Jade immediately flees the room. She know that Vader and Palpatine are going to kill everyone in the room. Mace Windu uses the Force to snatch a light sabre from one of the Darths. Windu ignites the light sabre and uses it to keep the other Sith Lords from getting to Yoda, Obi-Wan and Padme. The three (Yoda, Padme and Obi-Wan) quickly exit the room under Mace Windu's protection and head to the hanger bay to get a shuttle off of Dooku's ship. Windu bravely sacrifices himself to Darth Vader and doesn't survive much longer.

After Windu's tragic demise, a terrifying duel between Vader/Palpatine vs. Bane/Dooku/Vorron/Maul/Tau takes place. Vader and Palpatine completely annihilate their enemies. Meanwhile, Darth Jade jumps out at Yoda, Padme and Obi-Wan with her light sabre. She tells them that all of the shuttles on Dooku's ship have been rigged to explode upon powering them up. She says it is a trap set by Palpatine to kill them. Jade states that if they will help her hide from Palpatine then she will let them use her ship as a means of escape. Yoda, Padme and Obi-Wan agree since they really have no other choice. It turns out that Jade's ship happens to be a Corellian freighter called the Millennium Falcon. They escape on the Falcon and enter the safety of hyper space. Vader and Palpatine loom over the dead bodies of the other Sith Lords. Palpatine feels Jade's betrayal. He realizes that Yoda, Obi-Wan and, most importantly, Padme and her unborn child have escaped.

The Falcon arrives on an obscure planet called Dagobah. Prior to Luke and Leia's birth, Obi-Wan states that he will now go by the name Ben. The Skywalker twins are born on Dagobah. After many shed tears, Yoda is left behind on Dagobah. Jade then drops Obi-Wan and baby Luke off on the forgotten world of Tatooine. The final destination for Jade, Padme and baby Leia is the safety of Alderaan. Bail Organa greets them with open arms. Bail gives them a secret hiding place. Lastly, Obi-Wan is seen at Owen and Beru Lars' home. He gives Luke to them to raise. Obi-Wan tells Owen and Beru that Obi-Wan is now dead along with all the other Jedi Knights. He will now go by the name Ben. The film ends with baby Luke in the gentle arms of Ben Kenobi. The ghostly spirit of Mace Windu and the ghostly spirits of many other Jedi Knights appear behind Obi-Wan and baby Luke.