User:CanonLawJunkie/Plo Koon

Summary
A 1.88 metre (6.2 feet) tall Jedi Master from the Star Wars “Prequel” Trilogy and the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV series, Plo Koon was a Kel Dor who breathed helium and a special gas found only on his home planetary system of Dorin. Koon was a sitting member of the Jedi High Council until his death during Order 66 at the fall of the Galactic Republic in 19, BBY. Played by Alan Ruscoe (The Phantom Menace), Matt Sloan (Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith) and James Arnold Taylor (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Koon found the Togruta infant Ahsoka Tano, Padawan of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker.

Family
The Force runs strong in Koon's family; he was a part of a long line of Jedi and uncle of Jedi Sha Koon. He shared a long history with fellow Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and the two fought beside each other in the Stark Hyperspace Wars. Koon had hoped to see his friend join the Jedi High Council but, because Jinn never followed the Jedi Code, he was never elected.

A Kel Dorian Jedi
Koon was a Kel Dor from the planet Dorin. He wore protective goggles (to keep his eyes from burning) and a face-concealing antiox mask (because he could be poisoned by oxygen) with a built-in comlink  whenever in oxygen-rich environments. As a Kel Dor, Koon naturally possessed highly developed extra-sensory organs that supplemented his already formidable Jedi attributes, as well as a body that could withstand exposure to the hard vacuum of Outer Space for brief periods (as in the planetary system of Abregado in Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 1, Episode 2 [1.2]: Rising Malevolence).

Stark Hyperspace Wars
The last Padawan taught by Master Tyvokka (,at the time a Wookie member of Jedi High Council,) Koon accompanied his mentor on Troiken in 44, BBY when the Republic was preparing to negotiate with the hijacker Iaco Stark. When the meeting degenerated into open conflict (, now known as the Stark Hyperspace Wars), Tyvokka was one of the first victims and it was his former student, Koon, who aligned government forces the Jedi led to victory.

Koon was more martial a Jedi than most. Kel Dors have a reputation for seeing moral issues in black and white, with clear distinctions between right and wrong. As such, Koon often took decisive action with little contemplation. This initiative served him well during the Stark Hyperspace Wars.

Ahsoka Tano
It was Koon who discovered Ahsoka Tano when she was only 3 years old. He brought her to the Jedi Temple to be trained as a youngling. The two maintained a close friendship for years, often exchanging a warm Kel Dorian greeting, koh-to-ya.

Electric Judgment
During a mission to capture the criminal known as Dreed Pommel, Koon was confronted at a suite in the city of Ektra, Metellos. Pommel had taken a young girl hostage and killed her entire family. During this encounter, Koon let out a barrage of lightning he called Electric Judgment, much like the Sith’s Force Lightning, at Pommel's head and then a second burst of lightning that knocked him unconscious. He reported to the Jedi High Council of this incident, and stated that he had not felt any anger or fear as he let out the blast of Electric Judgement and was indeed calm and in control of his emotions. The High Council asked him to contemplate whether he felt it was wrong of him to have utilized its power during the mission and whether he would use it again. After much meditation, Koon concluded that it would be wrong of him to ignore its power and that he should develop it into a useful technique. As requested by the High Council, he recorded his experiences with Electric Judgment on the Great Holocron in the Jedi Temple’s Holocron Vault.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace (32, BBY)
Koon was a sitting Jedi Councillor when Qui-Gon presented to the Jedi High Council Anakin Skywalker as a prospective Jedi candidate. He also attended the funeral of Qui-Gon on the Sovereign [planetary] System of Naboo, as well as a great parade and ceremony that marked the liberation of that besieged world.

Episode II: Attack of the Clones (22, BBY)
Koon also served the Jedi High Council and the Galactic Republic 10 standard years later when the galaxy faced one of its greatest conflicts: the Clone Wars. Koon was present at the first battle site of the Clone Wars, fighting against Geonosians and the Confederacy of Independent Systems’(Separatist Alliance) Battle Droid forces in the Geonosian execution arena. Koon served valiantly as a general in the Clone Wars on many battlefronts in the years that followed from 22-19 BBY (standard years Before the Battle of Yavin IV in Star Wars IV: A New Hope).

Malevolence Crisis
In Episode 1.2, Rising Malevolence (aired Oct/8/08), Koon’s Republic Starcruiser fleet, headed by the flagship Triumphant, was charged with scouring the hyperspace-lanes for any clues as to General Grievous' new super-weapon, the Malevolence, a massive 3km vessel 5 times the size of an average Jedi Starcruiser and designed by Ruggle Schmong. The flotilla was crippled by the titanic ion cannon in the planetary system of Abregado, and torn apart by the 500 turbo-laser cannons of the Malevolence. Only Koon and a trio of clones: Commander Wolffe, Sinker and Boost, nick-named after their talents, survived in an escape pod and were rescued by Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano (against the advice of Chancellor Palpatine and the whole of the Jedi High Council). In the next episode, Shadow of Malevolenc (1.3, aired Oct/10/08), Koon, Skywalker and Tano lead an offensive against the Malevolence, hoping to destroy its ion cannons before General Grievous had a chance to use it against a clone medical station near the Sovereign [planetary] System of Naboo.

Felucia
In the Season 2 Premier, Holocron Heist (2.1, aired Oct/2/09), Koon led an offensive against the Confederacy of Independent Systems aboard his blue Jedi Starfighter (gifted to him by Skywalker during the Malevolence crisis) on the planetary system of Felucia (where Jedi Master Aayla Securra died during Order 66). He called to his clone wingman, Warthog, to protect the Republic Gunships as he took out the Vulture Droids. The gunships, one having a symbol of Koon’s face that reads “Plo’s Bros”, ran through the blockade, with only a pair of Vulture Droids surviving to give pursuit. In the air, Warthog desperately evaded to no avail as the droid fighters relentlessly pursued him. Koon swung his fighter around and shot down one Vulture Droid that just missed killing the Jedi Generals Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi and destroyed one AT-TE walker.

Florrum/Coruscant
In the Season 2 Finale, Lethal Trackdown (2.22, aired Apr/30/10), Koon played a hologram of bounty hunters Boba Fett and Aurra Sing, armed, standing over a trio of Republic hostages. Mace Windu showed a renewed determination, but Koon rightly said that Windu is too injured to travel. The masked Jedi Master took up this assignment, with Ahsoka Tano by his side.

On Coruscant, Koon identified one of the hunters in the hologram as Aurra Sing, a former associate of Jango Fett, and is following leads to any of Jango's compatriots. This lead Tano and Koon beneath the planet's cosmopolitan surface. They rode an airspeeder into an enormous ventilation shaft that leads into the heart of the Coruscant underworld. Koon and Tano passed through the entry terminal 24, a dock on the inner wall of the enormous ventilation shaft, and headed deeper into areas known to once be frequented by Jango Fett.

They inspected the fifth Coruscant tavern in the row and Koon told Tano to be cautious, to try to remain suddle and to keep her ears open for any clues. Koon spoke with the multi-armed bartender, Volpai, while Ahsoka eavesdropped into the various booths. The thugs tried to pin the Padawan down but she escaped their grasp. The room was suddenly silenced as Koon ignited his lightsaber blade and ordered the thugs to stand down. Though Koon chided Tano for her unsuddle ways, she nonetheless provided a solid lead to Florrum.

Koon and Tano landed on Florrum and were greeted by Hondo Ohnaka, who stated plainly that Aurra Sing awaited them in the tavern. Hondo made it clear that he was not in on the deal. Koon entered and found Aurra seated alone at the table. Sing was disappointed that it was not Mace Windu and Boba emerged from the shadows with a blaster to Koon's head, though Koon hardly seemed worried.

Aurra fired off a pair of rocket darts from her boot, but Koon slamed the table up, blocking the projectiles. Koon knocked aside Boba and Force-pushed the table between Tano and Aurra. Koon cut apart Aurra Sing's weapons and ordered her to surrender. Boba thru a bomb into the fray, letting Sing escape. Sing ran away, and Boba tried to follow, but Koon Force-pulled him back. Koon tries to get Boba Fett to reveal the location of the hostages, but Fett refuses. Hondo advises Fett to do so, as it is what his father Jango would have wanted. Aurra and Ahsoka twisted and turned on speeders through the canyons of Florrum, whilst Plo Koon transmited the coordinates of the hostages to Ahsoka.

Koon has also been featured in multiple Clone Wars episodes as a background hologram.

Death
During the Outer Rim Sieges, Koon was stationed on the planetary system of Cato Neimoidia, flying scouting missions over the bridge cities of that conquered world. It was then that Order 66 was decreed by Chancellor Palpatine, declaring that “Every single Jedi...is now an enemy of the Republic!” In blind obedience to the Chancellor, Koon's clone wingmen carried out the order and, aboard ARC-170 starfighters, the clone commander pilot opened fire. Koon’s Jedi Starfighter spun out of control and crashed into the Neimoidian city below.

Behind the Scenes (Circa 1998-2008, AD)
"We had to come up with names for them," says Episode I's Live Action Creature Effects Supervisor Nick Dudman about the Jedi High Council characters his crew created. "I decided to call one of the Jedi 'Plonkoon,' because we called my son that during the first year of his life. I wrote down Plonkoon, George [Lucas] crossed out the 'n' and Plo Koon was born!"

Koon is also the favourite Jedi of Star Wars: The Clone Wars supervising director, Dave Filoni.