Star Wars' Battle of Coruscant as depicted in the animated mini-series, Star Wars: Clone Wars & live-action movie, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith.
Behold Yoda & Mace Windu defend the city proper, displaying power never shown on screen before or since. Marvel at Master Saesee Tiin commanding the forces on orbit in his intrepid style. Watch Masters, Shaak Ti, Roron Corobb & Foul Moudama lead Coruscant & Blue Guard Troopers in trying to prevent the epic "kidnapping" of Palpatine. Witness the most epic CQB combat in the franchise as Captain Fordo finds his Troopers pinned down & facing retreat. Learn how Grievous got his chronic cough. Appreciate the end of the miniseries flowing almost seamlessly into the opening of Episode III, with Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi being called into & joining the fight.
Genndy Tartakovsky's Clone Wars mini-series fills in the gaps between Episodes II & III while leading directly to the opening scene of III. The miniseries was canon (until officially overwritten by Star Wars: THE Clone Wars full series/movie), with storyboard approval from George Lucas himself.
FAQ answered -
Q: What's Yoda riding? A: A kybuck. Typically too small for riding, this kybuck was a gift from a princess. As Jedi are discouraged from keeping possessions, Yoda considers this kybuck his friend rather than pet. He has never named it, calling it with the Force from the garden beneath the Temple.
Q: How many ships are in orbit? A: LOTS. Various sources give different estimates & there is no canon number. All credible sources taken into account I think it's safe to say that the space battle involved no less than 2000 capital ships & well over 2,000,000 starfighters. While the number of capital ships on either side were initially about equal, half of the defending star destroyers were immediately destroyed in the surprise attack. The defending starfighters were outnumbered approximately 11:1.
Q: How did the CIS fleet sneak in undetected? A: Darth Sidious gave the CIS the location of a secret hyperspace lane through the galactic core unknown to The Republic. This allowed the CIS fleet to enter orbit directly from hyperspace, destroying hundreds of Venator Class star destroyers before they were able to raise shields & jamming all communications to prevent reinforcement (which Republic forces eventually overcame).
Q: This seems foolish, why did they make this attack? A: They were never meant to win! General Grievous had no idea that his master was the very Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine he had been sent to kidnap. On paper, at the time, this would have seemed like a bold but potentially devastating move. The vast majority of the multi-million star destroyer Republican fleet & nearly the entire Jedi Order had been goaded into thousands of fights spread thin across the galaxy. The attack was timed to take place shortly after a State of the Republic address, guaranteeing that most, if not all of the government would be in town. Republic propaganda said the war was all but won. Ostensibly Sidious claimed the assault & kidnapping was intended as a terror attack that would sow fear & chaos in the capital while shaking the public's faith in the Republic. In actuality the operation served four purposes - First, it decimated the heart of the CIS fleet. They'd never recover from the loss of so many important ships, making rebellion after Order 66 more difficult. Second, an investigation was about to reveal Sheev as Sidious; the attack served as a distraction to allow the investigators to be assassinated & evidence burred. Third, it gave Sheev the appearance of being an unflappably brave leader, boosting his popularity while assuaging Jedi suspicion of him. Forth, and possibly most importantly, it provided an opportunity for Anakin to murder an... unarmed... foe, sending him further toward the dark side.
I've edited out the scenes from an offworld subplot with Anakin Skywalker & Obi-Wan Kenobi until they get the call for support from Mace Windu. I then edit in the opening dogfights over the city from Episode III up until Anakin, Obi-Wan and R2-D2 board General Grievous' Providence-class dreadnought, Invisible Hand. This is effectively the entire Battle, short of a fight with Dooku and the emergency landing back in the city which I removed at the request of Disney.
The live action sequences are from fellow YouTuber, Kyro91's "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith - Battle over Coruscant Remastered" in which Kyro91 has edited several cuts, changed the color of certain objects, increased the rate of weapons fire and added sound effects among other things. A great improvement over the studio release imo and far more in line with the feel of the animation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlecG3nYaLw
I've also made this video available on my Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/JohnMrubenstein
All content is the property of the respective owners. I make no claim beyond Fair Use.
