Star Wars: Droids

From the Encyclopedia of Speculative Fiction - http://encyclopedia.wizards.pro

Star Wars: Droids (September 7, 1985 - June 7, 1986), also known as Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO, was an animated television series that featured the exploits of R2-D2 and C-3PO (the droids who have appeared in all six Star Wars films). The series took place in 15 BBY, which was between the Star Wars films: Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

Throughout the series, the droids team up with four different sets of masters. The first season is divided up into cycles, in which at the beginning of each, the droids usually run into their new masters in an accidental way, and at the end of each cycle, they usually are forced to leave their masters for one reason or another. The television special following the first season, which was The Great Heap, served as a prequel to one of these cycles. It told the adventures of the droids before they joined up with Mungo Baobab in The Adventures of Mungo Baobab Cycle.

Contents 1 Setting 2 Plot 3 Locations 4 Characters 5 Named starships 6 Cast and production 7 Alleged continuity issues 8 Prequel trilogy references 9 Later EU appearances 10 Comic book series 11 Complete episode listing 11.1 Season I 11.2 The Television Special 12 Chronological order 12.1 The Trigon One Cylcle 12.2 The Mon Julpa Cycle 12.3 The Mungo Baobab Preface Cycle 12.4 The Adventures of Mungo Baobab Cycle 13 DVD release 14 External links

Setting

Droids was set in the 19 year time period between the rise of The Empire in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Many times during the show, agents of The Empire were shown to enforce this idea. The show was set approximately 15 years before the droids ran into Luke Skywalker in A New Hope. This sets the series at around 15 BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin) or 15 BSW4 (Before Star Wars 4). This also tells us that the show must be set around four years after the events of the film, Revenge of the Sith, as it was set at 19 BBY or 19 BSW4.

Plot

In the series, the famous droid duo faced off against gangsters, pirates, Boba Fett, IG-88, Galactic Empire and other threats throughout the series. During their adventures, the droids always found themselves with new masters and new difficult situations as a result.

Locations

• Biitu
• Bogden
• Hosk Station (comic series)
• Indobok (comic series)
• Ingo
• Kalarba (comic series)
• Manda
• Nar Shaddaa
• Roon
• Tammuz-an
• Tarnoonga
• Tatooine
• Tyne's Horky

Characters

Named starships

• Caravel
• Demolisher
• Dianoga
• Roon Clipper

Cast and production

The series featured Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, who also portrays the character on the big screen, along with the voice talents of Graeme Campbell, Rob Cowan, Don Francks, Peter MacNeill, John Stocker and Winston Rekert. Several episodes of the series were written by Ben Burtt. The series was produced by Nelvana on behalf of Lucasfilm and broadcast on ABC. The cartoon series lasted one season and was made up of 13 regular episodes in 1985. There was also a two-part TV special entitled, "The Great Heep" in 1986. Following the original run of the complete series, the entire show was rebroadcast as part of The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour the same year, along with its series counterpart, Star Wars: Ewoks.

Alleged continuity issues

There is controversy in Star Wars fandom as to whether the "Droids" cartoon series should be considered canon in the Star Wars timeline. Though officially released by Lucasfilm Ltd. and endorsed by Star Wars creator George Lucas as taking place about 15 BBY, the overall premise of the series is not fully explained within the storyline and consequences of the two films, Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.

At the end of Episode III, Senator Bail Organa (adoptive father of Leia Organa) tells Captain Antilles of the Tantive IV consular ship, "I'm placing these droids in your care. Treat them well. Clean them up. Have the Protocol Droid's mind wiped." In Episode IV, C-3PO says to Luke Skywalker that their last master was Captain Antilles. In the Droids series, however, the droids have numerous masters after Captain Antilles is entrusted with them in Episode III, but before Captain Antilles is shown to have or regained care of them in Episode IV.

Another continuity problem that seems to stand out is the fact that Jann Tosh is flying an A-Wing. The A-Wing along with the B-Wing were not devoloped until well after the Battle of Yavin. The A-Wing and B-Wing don't show up in the movies until the space fight in Return of the Jedi.

Prequel trilogy references

In several places, the prequel trilogy references elements from the Droids animated series. Most likely, this was due to Ben Burtt's large involvement in both story elements for the animated series, and his involvement in the prequels.

• In the fourth episode of the series A Race to the Finish, the Droids end up at a race known as the "Boonta Race." A similar name was used for the podrace in The Phantom Menace, which was known as the "Boonta Eve Classic".
• Bogden is a planet visited by the droids in the series. In Attack of the Clones, Jango Fett says that he was "hired by a man named Tyranus on the moons of Bogden."
• The wheel bike was seen in the animated series and in the prequels.
• The diner in an episode of the series has a strong similarity to Dex's Diner as seen in Attack of the Clones.

Later EU appearances

• The New Jedi Order (1999-2003) In one book of the series, Hosk Station from Droids appears.
• HoloNet news In one issue of the HoloNet news, Admiral Screed makes an appearance.
• Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive (2002) involves the planet Bogden, as seen in Droids.

Comic book series

In 1986, Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint published a Droids comic book, which was based on the cartoon series. The comic also had the name Star Wars: Droids.

The comic series took place about 10-6 BBY, unlike the TV series which was placed around 15 BBY.

The bi-monthly series ran for a year, ending with issue #8. Significant issues include #4, which crossed over with the Ewoks comics series, and # 6-8, whose story was titled "Star Wars According to the Droids", retelling the original film complete with new scenes told from the perspective of the droids.

Complete episode listing

Season I

• 1. The White Witch - (September 7 1985)
• 2. Escape Into Terror - (September 14 1985)
• 3. The Trigon Unleashed - (September 21 1985])
• 4. A Race to the Finish - (September 28 1985)
• 5. The Lost Prince - (October 5 1985)
• 6. The New King - (October 12 1985)
• 7. The Pirates of Tarnoonga - (October 19 1985)
• 8. The Revenge of Kybo Ren - (October 26 1985)
• 9. Coby and the Starhunters - (November 2 1985)
• 10. Tail of the Roon Comets - (November 9 1985)
• 11. The Roon Games - (November 16 1985)
• 12. Across the Roon Sea - (November 23 1985)
• 13. The Frozen Citadel - (November 30 1985)

The Television Special

• 14. The Great Heep (1) - (June 7 1986)
• 15. The Great Heep (2) - (June 7 1986)

Chronological order

The series was meant to tell the adventures of the droids in a chronological order, based on cycles, or groups of episodes. Though sometimes released out of order, this is the correct order to view the series, chronologically:

The Trigon One Cylcle

• The White Witch
• Escape Into Terror
• The Trigon Unleashed
• A Race to the Finish

The Mon Julpa Cycle

• The Lost Prince
• The New King
• The Pirates of Tarnoonga
• The Revenge of Kybo Ren
• Coby and the Starhunters

The Mungo Baobab Preface Cycle

• The Great Heep (part 1)
• The Great Heep (part 2)

The Adventures of Mungo Baobab Cycle

• Tail of the Roon Comets
• The Roon Games
• Across the Roon Sea
• The Frozen Citadel

DVD release

• Droids was released on November 23, 2004 as an edited compilation DVD with the title: Star Wars Animated Adventures: Droids. The DVD contained eight episodes in total of the series, edited together as two full length movies.
• Episodes 5-8 were edited together to make "The Pirates and the Prince," and Episodes 10-13 were edited together to make "Treasure of the Hidden Planet."
• Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Language: English
• Release Date: November 23, 2004
• The entire original series has yet to be released, either on DVD or VHS. Some of the original episodes were released in the eighties and nineties, however, on VHS. Star Wars Prequel Trilogy and DVD producer Rick McCallum, along with Lucasfilm head of fan relations, Steve Sansweet, have reportedly stated that a future release of the series in its entirety on DVD is possible.

External links

• Star Wars: Droids at the Internet Movie Database
• Droids at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• "Droids Episode Guide" At TV Tome
• starwars.com DVD "Closer look"
• A very informative fan site
• An article from the Star Wars Insider on the series
• The official Star Wars site details "R2-D2's Greatest Gadgets" seen in the series.

Star Wars Episodes The Phantom Menace | Attack of the Clones | Revenge of the Sith A New Hope | The Empire Strikes Back | Return of the Jedi Spin-off films The Star Wars Holiday Special Caravan of Courage | The Battle for Endor Spin-off TV series Droids | Ewoks | Clone Wars Live-action series | Clone Wars (3-D) Notable books and comics Splinter of the Mind's Eye | Thrawn Trilogy | Dark Empire Jedi Academy Trilogy | The New Jedi Order | Dark Nest Trilogy Notable video games Knights of the Old Republic | KOTOR II: The Sith Lords Dark Forces | JN:Dark Forces II | Jedi Outcast | Jedi Academy Galaxies | Battlefront | Battlefront II | The Clone Wars Other Projects Expanded Universe | Shadows of the Empire Star Tours | The Official Star Wars Fan Film Awards Return of the Ewok | R2-D2: Beneath the Dome