'EPISODE III' AT TWENTY: A CONFLICT IN THE STRATOSPHERE!

A space battle like no other in the Prequel saga.

"War! The Republic is crumbling under attacks by the ruthless Sith Lord, Count Dooku. There are heroes on both sides. Evil is everywhere.

In a stunning move, the fiendish droid leader, General Grievous, has swept into the Republic capital and kidnapped Chancellor Palpatine, leader of the Galactic Senate.

As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their valuable hostage, two Jedi Knights lead a desperate rescue mission to rescue the captive chancellor..."

EPISODE III title crawl text - 2005

The Jedi Starfighters commanded by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

Republic fighters ready to attack and escort the Jedi to their destination.

Enemy Tri-fighters.

Obi-Wan and Anakin navigate their way through the battle in these two animatic storyboard script pages from the archive of Nick Gillard.

"This was the most complicated space battle in any Star Wars movie in terms of number of elements and variety of things depicted. It was also a little different. There has been a space battle in all six of the pictures; but, for the first time, we set a space battle in the upper regions of the atmosphere - in this case, Coruscant's atmosphere. So it was almost in space, but not quite. We used that as an excuse to do smoke, fire, drag, flak bursts and a lot of other things you can't do in space."

"There is a progression in the space battle. We start at one place, thread through a bunch of ships, and end up at Grievous' ship at the other end. Layout determined what ships were where, and every shot began with that basic space arrangement."

John Knoll - Cinefex Magazine 102 -2005

Speeding through the epic battlefield.

Penetrating a massive explosion.

The Jedi Starfighters tackle all obstacles.

Republic Cruisers close in.

Several epic battle shots from the sequence between locked-in Republic and Separatist forces.

EPISODE III: DROID TRI-FIGHTER COMBAT!

The epic war between Republic and Separatists continues in spectacular and explosive fashion, culminating with the epic and near-decisive Battle of Coruscant, which sees the greatest array of hero and enemy combatants at conflict in the once peaceful world's skies and planetary atmosphere. How many Republic pilots will be taken out by those lethal and advanced droid Tri-Fighters, ominously seen here in this great digital image composite for EPISODE III?

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE 'RESCUE MISSION' BEGINS!

Answering the call for help reaching out to them in the farthest areas of the Outer Rim sieges, two bold Jedi return to the Republic home world of battle on a desperate mission to rescue the Separatist captured Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. The decisive conflict of the Clone Wars, and a stunning move launched by the evil Count Dooku, is but the launching pad for a far more Machiavellian-esque evil ready to take centre stage and launch its successful power grab...

A lovely special CGI created composite image used for the publicity and merchandising of EPISODE III in 2005.

CLASSIC IMAGE: UNSETTLED TIMES!

As part of the Jedi delegation, Plo Koon listens intently to the conversation between his colleagues Yoda and Mace Windu with the steadfast Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, his alien thoughts surely as concerned as they are with the rise of the Separatists under former Jedi Count Dooku, during the mystery-building beginning to EPISODE II.

CLASSIC IMAGE: SKILLED DEVIL-MAY-CARE!

Attuned to the his powers in the Force, young Anakin Skywalker cements his bold and seemingly fearless reputation as one of the Republic's greatest pilots during EPISODE III's visually spectacular opening Battle of Coruscant.

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image. 

CLASSIC IMAGE: HEROES INCOMING!

The Coruscant-based aerial/space battle to rescue the captured Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from the clutches of General Grievous sees all kinds of ships involved in the struggle, like these formidable Republic Star Fighters, ready to do their part against the enemy. A great composite publicity image for EPISODE III.

CLASSIC ART: THE SKY'S AFIRE!

In a battle unlike anything seen before by the people of Coruscant since the starting reign of the Old Republic, the Jedi and the Clone space fleet engage sneak-attack enemy Separatists who have achieved the seemingly unthinkable- capturing the noble Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, as seen in this great fan art evoking the heady atmosphere space dogfights that will start EPISODE III.

CLASSIC IMAGE: "MISSILES!"

Piloting the densely incident packed ship, debris and explosion filled skies above Coruscant is tricky enough, now our Jedi heroes brave a Separatist fleet missile attack, in this great cockpit view image from Anakin's Starfighter, from EPISODE III.

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE DYING DAYS!

Darth Sidious's final ominous act in destabilising the political influences of the Senate and fracturing their trust in the Jedi is put into motion, with the attempted "kidnapping" of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine by General Grievous and his Droid armies- George Lucas's bold opening to EPISODE III, and one of the biggest CGI space battles ever created for the screen.

CLASSIC IMAGE: INTO THE FRAY!

In their sleek Starfighters, Jedi heroes Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi navigate the perilous upper atmosphere close-quarters combat between Separatists and Republic vessels, during the memorable sequence of galactic chaos and carnage that would launch EPISODE III.

THE 'SITH' AT TEN: INTO CONFLICT!

As war drums echo into the heavens, a Republic cruiser advances towards an incredible eye-stretching inner space conflict high above the Galactic Core world of Coruscant, as the stage is set for the final battles of the three-year long Clone Wars, during the Revenge of the Sith.

THE 'SITH' AT TEN: "ALL BATTERIES FIRE!"

No, its not the belly of a gunship from PIRATES OF THE CARRIBBEAN, but the principle's the same, as Battle Droids on the Invisible Hand do the grunt's work in firing heavy weaponry at an opposing Republic cruiser, in this scene from EPISODE III's opening Battle of Coruscant.

THE 'SITH' AT TEN: FIERY APPROACH!

As the damaged Invisible Hand enters Coruscant's atmosphere and begins an intense crash-landing approach, Republic Emergency firespeeders come to the rescue and put out some of the vessels worst raging fires, in a scene from EPISODE III.

CELEBRATING TEN YEARS OF THE 'CLONE WARS' MICRO-SERIES - SEASON TWO

Now disappointingly ignored from the official STAR WARS canon timeline by the LUCASFILM Story Group (despite its being sanctioned by George Lucas, who specifically asked for it to reflect the main title crawl of the then upcoming EPISODE III), the second season of the 2-D animated CLONE WARS micro-series, award-winningly brought to life by Genndy Tartakovsky via Cartoon Network, was just as ambitious and action-packed as its earlier, short-bits 2003 run, bringing further new elements of excitement and cool-ness to the STAR WARS universe, and genuinely filling in the story/character gaps leading to the final Prequel movie's stunning opening space battle above Coruscant. Genuine and striking highlights would be the resolution to the previous season's cliffhanger introducing the psychotic General Grievous, and the Clone Arc Troopers exhilirating rescue of the near dead Jedi fighting it, led by Ki-Adi Mundi, plus the stunning Separatist invasion of the Republic's central world, as Yoda, once more on his trusty Kybuck steed, and a purple lightsaber-wielding Mace Windu lead the epic defence. All this, whilst Shaak Ti and friends try to protect their Supreme Chancellor Palpatine from abduction by Grievous and his magna-guards, during a sprawling, expansive action sequence that takes them above, across and below the city streets.

Terrific stuff!

▶ Star Wars - Clone Wars - Bridging the Saga - YouTube
How the Clone Wars microseries led the way for Star Wars' return to TV | Blastr

CLASSIC IMAGE: FIRESTORM!

On their way to rescue the kidnapped Supreme Chancellor, our Jedi heroes Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi won't let a little matter of an epic space battle high above Coruscant get in their way, as this superb opening effects sequence from EPISODE III visually demonstrates.

With thanks to Chris Baker for the image.

CLASSIC IMAGE: THE FIGHT GOES ON...

Within the vast environs of the Observation Deck of the Invisible Hand cruiser, the anticipated final outcome of The Clone Wars may be decided, as Jedi heroes Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi lightsaber spar once more against the evil and cruelty of Sith Lord, Count Dooku. A scene of fury and danger from EPISODE III.

CLASSIC IMAGE: MEETING 'JEDI SCUM!'

Anakin Skywalker "meets" General Grievous for the first time, on the bridge of the Invisible Hand, during the epic opening scenes of REVENGE OF THE SITH.

CLASSIC IMAGE: INTO THE FRAY!

A pair of agile Republic Z-95 Starfighters prepare to engage the Separatist enemy forces above Coruscant, in this nice CGI composite from EPISODE III.

BEHIND THE SCENES: PUTTING A JEDI BOOT OUT!

Hayden Christensen gets ready to film his next batch of EPISODE III space battle scenes inside the cramped interior of Jedi Starfighter, at FOX Studios, Australia in 2003. A great image from John Knolls 365 DAYS book, published a few years back.

CLASSIC IMAGE: WHEN TITANS CLASH!

Desperate to stop the sneak-attacking Separatists from escaping Coruscant with their prey- the newly captured Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, en masse Republic war ships lock horns with enemy vessels above their central world, in the stunning opening scenes of EPISODE III.