Ponda Baba

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

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Character
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Ponda Baba
Gender	Male
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Ponda Baba was the Aqualish partner of Dr. Evazan. He fulfilled the Aqualish stereotype of being an ill-tempered thug.

Career

Ponda Baba became Evazan's partner after rescuing him from Jodo Kast on Corellia. For a time, he considered betraying Evazan and collecting the sizable bounty being offered. He decided against betraying the Doctor, and they began smuggling spice for Jabba the Hutt.

One fateful day on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker entered the Mos Eisley Cantina and sat down at the bar. Dr. Evazan informed Skywalker that his partner, Ponda Baba, did not like him. Shortly thereafter, weapons were being drawn. The scuffle was ended when Obi-Wan Kenobi severed Baba's arm with his lightsaber.

Evazan tried to use his medical knowledge to replace Baba's arm, but the surgery was a failure, almost resulting in Baba's death. The two parted ways, with Baba swearing to impart vengeance on his former partner.

The duo was eventually reunited, but unfortunately Baba's mind was replaced by that of an Aqualish senator, in a botched mind-transfer experiment to give Ponda a new arm by Dr. Evazan. Baba's body was probably destroyed when the senator (in Ponda Baba's body) activated a thermal detonator to kill Dr. Evazan, destroying most of Evazan's castle in the process.

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Appearances

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Sources

Star Wars Trilogy Sourcebook - Special Edition, West End Games

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Behind the Scenes

In a well-known blooper, Ponda Baba's arm has fin-like hands when still attached, but is furry and clawed in the close-up shots of the severed arm on the floor. This probably inspired the writers at West End Games to postulate finned and clawed subspecies of Aqualish in Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races.

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