This Week in The Clone Wars: Gulliver's Droids (Plus a Peek at Darth Maul)

In last week's episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, C-3PO and R2-D2 are briefly separated from their battalion of clones, and have an adventure entirely of their own, in a bizarre underground world. While order seemed restored at the end of last week's episode, this week finds the droids on their own again – they visit an unusual planet known as Balnab, meet the world of the Patitites, and fight in a gladiatorial arena inside a pirate vessel. All in all, as the above Gulliver's Travels-inspired image suggests, they may be in a bit of trouble.

Here's a clip:

Another still from the episode is here.

This week brings more news from the dark side of the Force: Darth Maul, the Dathomiri Sith better known as the best thing about The Phantom Menace will be returning in 2012.

This is true in two senses: first, The Phantom Menace will be screened in 3-D on February 10, 2012. (You can see a trailer for the 3-D version attached to The Three Musketeers next week.) Second, and despite the fact that Obi-Wan Kenobi apparently killed Darth Maul at the end of The Phantom Menace, the Sith will be featured in episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars this spring.

According to Dave Filoni, supervising director for the series:

The decision to continue Darth Maul’s story was something that came directly from George, and we all agreed that his return needed to be unique, unexpected and revenge filled. We don’t know what his outcome will be, and as a fan – that’s exciting.

Here's a teaser clip:

You can see stills of Darth Maul from The Clone Wars universe here and here.