Medon, Tion

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Homeworld:
  Utapau

• Species:
  Utapaun

• Gender:
  Male

• Size:
  2.06 meters

• 

From the Movies

Greeting Obi-Wan Kenobi during his search for General Grievous on Utapau was Port Administrator Tion Medon. The tall Utapaun initially feigned ignorance about Grievous' whereabouts, but then whispered a warning to Kenobi. Grievous was indeed on the planet, hiding on the tenth level of the sinkhole city with an army of thousands of battle droids.

Kenobi offered a secret in kind -- the time for Utapau to prepare its resistance forces was now. The Utapauns refueled Kenobi's starfighter, which the Jedi sent on an automated decoy voyage off the planet while he surreptitiously continued his search for Grievous.

Medon passed on Kenobi's veiled message to the local resistance and anxiously awaited a signal. He didn't have to wait long. Two full Republic brigades dropped in from the skies, blazing into the sinkhole city to do battle with the Separatist occupational forces. The Utapaun resistance, made up of local warriors on foot and on dactillion wing, bolstered the clone troopers in whatever way they could.

In one of the most bitter reversals of the war, though, Utapau's liberation was shortlived. With the defeat of the droid forces, the clone troopers in turn occupied the planet, rounding up the Utapaun resistance. Tion Medon was one of the captives.

From the Expanded Universe

Tion is a tall, gaunt Pau'an, a species nicknamed the "Ancients" for their remarkable longevity. Medon has served as Port Administrator for Pau City for more than 200 standard years.

Medon's aristocratic air is well deserved. Pau City hosts the planet's major starport, so Tion oversees all the influential inbound and outbound traffic to the planet. He is also a direct descendent of Timon Medon, the Utapaun credited with uniting the scatter cultures and nation-states of Utapau.

Though not a planetary leader, Medon was nonetheless an influential voice in the committee that governed the world. When General Grievous killed all the committee members, Medon watched on with horror as he became the de facto leader. Left with little alternative, he capitulated to Grievous' rule, though he quietly fostered an independent rebellion growing in the shadowy levels of Pau City.

Like all Pau'ans, Medon preferred to avoid direct sunlight, a habit that fostered a pale complexion. His razor-sharp teeth may have given him an unsettling appearance, and his diet of raw meat may suggest a more aggressive personality, but he was in truth a gentle administrator who longed for peace above all else.

Behind the Scenes

Tion Medon's design was initially meant to represent the inhabitants of Mustafar, before the species was transplanted to Utapau. As the only Utapaun with an on-screen speaking part, Medon's design was concentrated upon first. Initially, it was undecided how Medon was to be realized on the screen -- whether a practical makeup effect or a computer-generated character. In the end, the Utapauns were created using both methods, but Medon was designed to be a flesh-and-blood performer wearing makeup.

Actor Bruce Spence was cast in the role of the helpful alien, a genre veteran perhaps best known for his role in the Mad Max films. With his casting in Revenge of the Sith, Spence had the distinction of finishing each of the major genre trilogies in production at the time -- the Lord of the Rings series (in which he played the Mouth of Sauron), the Matrix films (in which he played the Train Man) and finally Star Wars.