A Young Hope

"A Young Hope" is the 3nd episode in the fifth season of the Cartoon Network American animated series Clarence. The episode premiered November 7, 2024. This episode is a parody retelling of the first film of the Star Wars trilogy, Episode IV: A New Hope.

Plot
On a rainy day, the Wendles, Jeff, Sumo and Amy scroll through several television stations, but are not interesting to watch. With nothing else to do Clarence and Chad decide to retell one of the stories of the "Intergalactic War" trilogy, starting off with Chapter 4.

A Rebellion ship gets boarded by Enemy troopers from an Imperial Destroyer, led by Darth Taser (Belson). On the Rebellion ship are droids E3-XPO (Jeff), L2-R2 (Clarence) and Rebellion leader Princess Lena (Mary). Lena sends a message to Oke-Doke Eachokey through L2, which is interrupted by the troopers who capture her, leading L2 to flee with E3 in an escape pod. The robots have landed on a desert planet called Aberzon, which led to being kidnapped by Dinkies who sell them to a farmboy Clark Earthjumper (Sumo) that wishes to join the Rebellion fleet for fame. Clark discovers Lena's message inside L2, causing him to leave the farm, bringing the robots with him. Looking for an allotted amount of time, he decides to give up, until being found by Oke-Doke Eachokey (Seymour), who takes them to his hut. Her message explains that L2 is containing plans to the Death Station, which must be sent to her father on her home planet. Oke-Doke gives him his own lightsword and promises him to train him on the way there. Clark excitedly accepts the offer, along with ditching his aunt and uncle for the upcoming harvest.

The four travel to Cackleton's cantina where they hire rouge smuggler Palm Alone (Chad) and his Furrie companion Chihuahua (Chimney), who agree to take them with their ship, the Century Hawk. Outside the cantina, the robots spot Taser's troopers heading inside, leading them to warn the three and forcing them to flee into space, on their way to the princess' home planet. Arriving there, they find it blown up by Dark Taser, so Oke-Doke decides to go over to confront him at the Death Station. They arrive there and land in the hangar bay. Tricking some troopers into the ship, Palm and Clark disguise themselves to rescue the princess (after given news from the robots of the princess' situation), with Chihuahua brought along. After freeing her, along with exiting though a trash compacter in the process, they head back to the ship. Meanwhile, Oke-Doke goes around the station to find Taser. Upon finding him, Taser immediately stabs him through the chest. Upon approaching the hangar bay, Clark spots them and shoots Taser in retaliation for killing Oke-Doke. However, Taser sends the shots back by using the Power with Clark dodging them. He rejoins the group and they retreat.

The Hawk arrives to the Rebellion base on a hidden planet, where they analyze the plans and find a weak spot. Clark, joined with the Rebellion troopers, leads an attack the Death Station, but unfortunately loses some men on their assault. Oke-Doke's voice tells Clark to use the Power to hit the port. Suddenly, Taser shows up to fire at Clark, but Palm arrives at the last minute and sends his ship drifting off into space. With guiding by the Power, Clark fires into the port, destroying the Station, and they return to the base to celebrate their victory.

After Chad wraps up the story, everyone is amazed of the story, followed by Sumo turning the TV back on to find out that the wrestling match is on.

Characters

 * Sumo Sumouski as Clark Earthjumper (Luke Skywalker)
 * Chad Caswell as Palm Alone (Han Solo)
 * Mary Wendle as Princess Lena (Princess Leia)
 * Seymour Wendle as Oke-Doke Eachokey (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
 * Chimney as Chihuahua (Chewbacca)
 * Jeff Randell as E3-XPO (C-3PO)
 * Clarence Wendle as L2-R2 (R2-D2)
 * Belson Noles as Dark Taser (Darth Vader)
 * The Mayor as Governor Taken (Grand Moff Tarkin)
 * Jim Reese as Uncle Al (Owen Lars)
 * Melanie Baker as Aunt Beatrice (Beru Lars)

Amy Gillis has no particular role in the stories, but she does appear in the beginning and end of all three house segments.

Development
Xavier Shaquille, a longtime fan of Clarence, had the concept of having Clarence parody the original Star Wars trilogy. He was inspired by Family Guy 's take on the trilogy, and wanted to do the same with Clarence.

It was originally supposed to be a three-episode series with the following episodes retelling The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, with following episodes as "Taser Strikes Back" and "Return of Earthjumper", respectively. Unfortunately, the idea was abandoned and only A New Hope was retold.