Mercy Mission (episode)

"Following devastating groundquakes on the planet Aleen, a Republic relief team, including the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, arrives. When the pleas of the native Aleena are ignored, the droids must embark on a bizarre journey through Aleen's subterranean world to save the planet."

Senator Amidala and Master Yoda get in touch with Commander Wolffe, who is in charge of the humanitarian aid mission, to get an update on how things are going on Aleen. The report is surprisingly upbeat, considering the situation. A fully stocked relief force—including C-3PO and R2-D2, who are there to translate and work with the equipment—lands on the surface, but they plan to leave soon because the troops need to get back to the war. Manchucho, the king of the Aleena, gives Wolffe and his soldiers a warm welcome, but an aftershock interrupts the greeting a bit. Just as the quake stops, C-3PO tries to calm the scared villagers, and the Aleena see the golden droid as a kind of divine messenger. They ask the Republic troops to calm the earth, but Wolffe understandably has to decline.

While Wolffe and C-3PO are explaining how the supplies work to Manchucho, Boost, Sinker, and R2-D2 go into the local Republican communication station to check out and fix the damage caused by the quake. They are joined by some Aleena, who are increasingly amazed by the "magic" their helpers are doing. When C-3PO joins R2 in the station, the villagers are eager to show him something. They lead the two droids to a collapsed structure with a huge golden seal in the ground. The seal turns out to be the entrance to a tunnel that goes into the planet's underground areas. When another quake hits, C-3PO accidentally slips through the partly uncovered opening and falls into the dark depths, followed by R2. A bunch of branches soften 3PO's fall, but then rubble from another shock blocks the entrance tunnel, trapping the droids underground. One of the Aleena tries to get help, but Wolffe doesn't understand what they're saying. So, Manchucho and some of his people rush to the structure and start a chanting ritual.

While C-3PO and R2-D2 are exploring the tunnels, they are chased by fast, sparkling lights. Eventually, they find a strange underground world where tree-like beings called Kindalo live. The Kindalo tell them to leave because they say the surface dwellers "destroy the peace." After C-3PO convinces them that they don't mean any harm and that they're there to help with the earthquakes, the Kindalo send the droids to Orphne, an amphibian-like humanoid with mystical powers. Orphne explains that the Aleena and the underground world used to be in balance, but the surface dwellers have disrupted it by breaking into the Underground's most important place. The Aleena need the planet's soil to filter the surface air so they can breathe, and without this process, the air is toxic to them. So, the Underdwellers have been causing the earthquakes to try to seal the opening. C-3PO offers to fix the damage. Before she turns into a swarm of flying fairy sparks, Orphne mysteriously asks the droids to find their true purpose and gives them a riddle to solve as they depart:

You can run but can not walk You have a mouth but cannot talk You have a head but never weep You have a bed but never sleep Ask yourself, who are you?

C-3PO tries to figure out the riddle because he doesn't have any other choice. But R2 sees the seals in Orphne's chamber (which are actually elemental signs) and figures out the answer first: a river. By wetting the water seal, R2 activates a waterspout that carries the chamber's central floor plate—with him and C-3PO on it—through the ceiling and back to the surface, right in the middle of Manchucho's chanting group. Then, poisonous air from the Underground leaks to the surface through the seal tunnel. C-3PO finally realizes that he and R2 are the only ones who can close the breach, which is actually the unsettled seal, because they are droids and don't need air. Together, the droids put the seal back in place, stopping the earthquakes. The clone troopers don't appreciate their efforts, but the Aleena are very grateful and give them a heartfelt farewell.

In the online episode guide for this episode, the title includes the tagline, "The Droids Are In Trouble Again!" "In Trouble Again" was the theme song for the animated television series Star Wars: Droids.

When Cartoon Network aired the episode, they mistakenly called it "Mercy Mansion."

"Mercy Mission" had the lowest viewership of any episode in the series so far, with only 1.35 million viewers.