Confused about who the "Shadow Warrior" is or what the title means? It's a nod to Akira Kurosawa, one of the most influential directors that George Lucas greatly admires. The original Star Wars movie was greatly shaped by Kurosawa's work, especially the film The Hidden Fortress. Shadow Warrior is the English translation of Kagemusha, a 1980 Kurosawa film produced by Lucas about a lowly criminal impersonating a dying war lord.

Boss Lyonie was specifically created to resemble Jar Jar Binks -- they are built upon the same animation model. For the story to work, Boss Nass was written out of the series -- he's alive and well, but retired. In early development, Boss Lyonie's name was "Boss Nat," but that proved too confusingly similar to Nass's name.

For those wondering what might have occurred to transform a perfectly loyal Boss Lyonie to a traitor -- beyond the influence the Rish Loo, that is -- here's a bit of explanation: "Shadow Warrior" is intended to take place before the Mon Cala trilogy. It was moved after those three episodes in order to have a more epic, action-packed premiere for Season 4.

Count Dooku and talks to Darth Sidious via hologram from within a secret command center. This is intended to suggest a long-standing Sith presence secreted on Naboo, most likely used by Sidious himself long ago, when Naboo centered into his plans for galactic conquest. There was some idea given to having Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator parked in this facility, since his ship was never accounted for in Episode I. It is not the first secret facility revealed on Naboo.

This episode again continues to tradition of General Grievous and Anakin Skywalker barely encountering each other. Anakin is unconscious and Grievous is in shackles when they cross paths. Because of the dialogue they exchange in Episode III, it's clear that Anakin and Grievous never meet face-to-face during The Clone Wars