Undead are rare in the Clone Wars but they do exist and so does magic

Undead Dathomirian Nightsisters. Kinda cool eh? Click to Embiggen.

I think that most people tend to think of Star Wars as lying firmly in the genre of science fiction space opera. However, I tend to think of it as a fantasy more than science-fiction. The Jedis are just wizards with swords, and then there's the whole Nightsister clan that gave birth to Asajj Ventress (Sith apprentice to Count Dooku depending on where you find her in the storyline) on the planet Dathomir.

Mother Talzin is a bonafide true sorceress in the complete sense of the word.

The episode "Massacre" is number 19 in season four. After failing to kill Dooku or control Savage Opress, Asajj Ventress is advised by Mother Talzin to reject the ways of the Sith and rejoin the Nightsisters. However, an angered and fearful Count Dooku is determined to see the end of Ventress and Mother Talzin. Via Dooku's command, General Grievous launches a droid assault, only to find an army of undead Dathomirian Nightsisters' awakened by Daka, the eldest of the Sister's clan. Talzin creates a voodoo doll to finish off Dooku, whilst Ventress and Grievous square-off in saber combat. Ventress downs Grievous, however she is helpless to watch as the last of her sisters on Dathomir are massacred. The episode closes with the green misty spirit of Mother Talzin bidding farewell and good luck to Ventress, whom is now left to grieve for her clan.

This is Daka, Eldest of the Nightsister clan. Unlike other grandmothers
who bake bread, Daka is a super powerful necromancer who calls forth
undead from their graves to defend their homeworld. I guess she also makes
a mean stew.

My take: I love the special effects in this episode and the Nightsisters made for some very interesting characters. It kind of added a third element to Star Wars. On the one side we have the Jedi. On the other we have the Sith. And then there's this murky gray area of practicing witches that can cast actual magic. Mother Talzin demonstrated tremendous power. She had illusions, could create objects out of nothing, turn her people invisible or into undead warriors, and the list goes on and on.

Now that you know magic is very much alive and well in the Star Wars universe, how does this sit with you? In other words...are you a Star Wars purist who doesn't want magic to infuse an otherwise "sci-fi" storyline? Or do you welcome the magic and hope that they use it in the Star Wars movies made by Disney? I sure do. I'm actually getting kind of jaded with the whole "I'm a Jedi; you're a Sith! We must battle!" I would like to see combats that have more than just glittering lightsabers and electrical fingers frying people. My love affair with telekinesis is kind of over too. Been there, done that. Let's have a Dumbledore vs. Voldemort recap in the Star Wars universe! Below is a very exciting clip that shows the end of the poor Nightsisters and the death of Daka. Oh well...she was really old.

Kit Fisto and the Lair of Grievous

Jedi Master Kit Fisto and his padawan Nahdar Vebb (the fish-faced dude with
the blue lightsaber). Click to Embiggen for detail. This is not an illustration.
It is a screenshot from the actual episode. Yes, the Clone Wars animation
frickin' rocks. It's the best I've ever seen in a t.v. series.

Kit Fisto was a Nautolan (the name comes from a nautilus sea creature, because he has tentacles on his head) Jedi Master. During the Clone Wars his padawan Nahdar Vebb got killed by General Grievous. Kit often got deployed on water worlds, because he had the ability to breathe underwater.

Kit's own life ended abruptly fighting Darth Sidious alongside Mace Windu in Revenge of the Sith. And no, the part where Kit defends himself basically lasts five seconds. I always thought that was b.s., but I guess Lucas just really wanted Darth Sidious to come across as someone you cannot mess with unless you are Yoda or Mace Windu or Darth Vader. Those are the only three people that ever stood a chance against him. Sigh. Imagine if Mace and Yoda had showed up in Revenge of the Sith to arrest Palpatine instead of Kit and some Jedi that I don't even recognize. I think the movies would have ended up different for sure.

Anyway, back to the Cartoon Networks: The Clone Wars and the role Kit Fisto plays.

Kit shows up in the episode "The Lair of Grievous", which is episode 10 of season 1 and entirely excellent. Here's the blurb from it:

Viceroy Gunray escapes!

En route to Coruscant to stand trial

for war crimes, evil Separatist leader

Nute Gunray has broken free of his

Jedi escort. With the help of Count

Dooku's sinister agents, the villainous

viceroy has made a daring getaway.

Alerted to the bold prison break,

Jedi Master Kit Fisto has traced the

stolen ship to a remote system,

hoping to recapture Gunray and

return him to justice.

Kit and his padawan follow the tracking beacon to the planet Vassek, but Nute is gone. However, in cowardly Nute style, Gunray has left behind a gloating hologram which then transforms into a hologram of Dooku. Dooku then says, "You can't have Gunray, but I've got an alternative prize for you." The "alternative prize" ends up being General Grievous who really is quite a badass robot with multiple limbs and multiple lightsabers. A battle ensues in which General Grievous uses the fortress on the planet to his advantage.

General Grievous makes a pretty good bad guy, I think. Click to Embiggen.

Grievous and Kit play a cat and mouse game. The general sits in the control room and slowly whittles away at Fisto's clone support and then gets Kit separated from his padawan. Grievous makes short work of Kit's apprentice. Below, I've embedded a clip from the episode showing Kit Fisto fighting Grievous. It's a pretty sweet lightsaber battle and really shows how great the animation is. I like the two lightsaber fighting style. It just looks awesome. If you are a fan of Star Wars, you really should take the time to watch this clip.

Come back tomorrow for my post on Jedi Master Luminara Unduli (she's one of my favorites).