Star Wars: Droids

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Star Wars: Droids
Format animation/adventure/science fiction/serial/sitcom
Created by George Lucas
Ben Burtt
Raymond Jafelice
Clive A. Smith
Ken Stephenson
Starring Anthony Daniels (voice)
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
Flag of Canada Canada
No. of episodes 13 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive
producer(s)		 Miki Herman
George Lucas
Peter Sauder
Running time approx. 0:30 (per episode)
Broadcast
Original channel ABC
Original run September 7, 1985 – June 7, 1986
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

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 takes place between the events depicted in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.

Over the course of the series, the droids team up with four different sets of masters. The first season is divided up into cycles; 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 Great Heep, a television special following the first season, served as a prequel to one of these cycles.

The series' opening theme, "Trouble Again", was performed by Stewart Copeland of The Police and written by Copeland and Derek Holt.

Contents

[edit] 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 famous droid duo faced off against gangsters, criminals, pirates, Boba Fett, IG-88, the 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.

[edit] Cast and production

The series featured Anthony Daniels as the voice of C-3PO, who also portrayed the character in the films, along with the voice talents of Graeme Campbell, Rob Cowan, Don Francks, Peter MacNeill, John Stocker and Winston Rekert. Several episodes feature guest stars like Ken Campbell, Chris Wiggins, Guilio Kukurugya, Darrin Baker and Colin Fox. The Narrator was Stephen Ouimette. 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. The Droids, and Ewoks were also played on the Sci-Fi channel back in 1993 as a part of their early morning Sci-Fi cartoon run.

[edit] Cast listing (voice work)

[edit] Alleged continuity issues

There is some controversy in Star Wars fandom as to whether the Droids cartoon series should be considered canon in the Star Wars timeline. Though officially endorsed by Lucasfilm, the overall premise of the series does not fully mesh with the storyline and consequences of the 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 on 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 tells Luke Skywalker that their last master was Captain Antilles. However, in the Droids series, 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. The Star Wars Ultimate Visual Guide gives one official explanation for this continuity issue, mentioning that the droids were "accidentally separated" from Antilles "before returning to Captain Antilles' ship, the Tantive IV."

In "A Race to the Finish", C-3PO claims that another droid graduated from the same "production academy" as he had. This may be a continuity issue, as in Episode I it is revealed that C-3PO was built by Anakin Skywalker, although this contradiction could be explained by the fact that his memory was erased at the end of Episode III.

Another continuity problem is Jann Tosh flying an A-Wing, which was not introduced in the films until Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and according to Expanded Universe sources, not developed until after the events of A New Hope. The intermediate, but very similar R-22 Spearhead was later invented to explain this discrepancy.

[edit] Prequel trilogy references

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

[edit] Later Expanded Universe appearances

  • The New Jedi Order (1999-2003) - At the beginning of Balance Point, New Republic forces engaged the Yuuzhan Vong over Kalarba. The Yuuzhan Vong use the Yo'gand's Core tactic on Hosk Station, using it to devastate Kalarba. Hosk Station originally appeared in Droids. Also, Kalarba was the subject of some of the Droids comics.
  • HoloNet news - In several issues of the HoloNet news, Admiral Screed makes an appearance.
  • Star Wars: Rebellion - In this strategy video game, Admiral Screed makes another appearance.
  • Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive (2002) involves the planet Bogden, as seen in Droids.
  • In the liner notes of the Shadows of the Empire soundtrack, Ben Burtt references in-universe the Baobab Archives regarding the source which the lyrics of Dha Werda Verda (also written by Burtt) were discovered.
  • Admiral Screed was referred to in passing in The New Essential Guide to Characters and Force Heretic I: Remnant. In the latter, it was established that he was executed by Warlord Zsinj shortly after the Battle of Endor, which explains his absence from the post-ROTJ EU.
  • The planet of Bogden was seen in the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter.

[edit] Comic book series

In 1986, Marvel Comics' Star Comics imprint published a comic book based on the cartoon series under the name Star Wars: Droids.

The bi-monthly series ran for eight issues. 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. It is of note that the series was drawn by comic legend John Romita. For more on this series, see this link.

[edit] Toy line

In 1985, Kenner produced a toy line based on the series, including action figures, ship models, and other items. For more on the toy line, see this link.

A Star Wars: Droids computer game was released in 1988 for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computers.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Star Wars: Droids episodes

[edit] DVD release

The cover of the 2004 DVD release of Droids
The cover of the 2004 DVD release of Droids
  • An edited compilation DVD with the title Star Wars Animated Adventures: Droids was released on November 23, 2004. The DVD contained eight episodes of the series, edited together as two full length movies. Besides cutting the theme song of the series, many other small modifications were made for the home video releases, most notably changes to the soundtrack.[2]
    • Episodes 5-8 were edited together to make The Pirates and the Prince (which was previously released on VHS in 1996).[3] Along with other changes to the soundtrack, Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band are seen singing a different song than they sang in the original series.
    • Episodes 10-13 were edited together to make Treasure of the Hidden Planet. A new prologue is narrated by Alex Lindsay (digital effects artist for The Phantom Menace),[4] as the voice of Mungo Baobab. Along with other changes to the soundtrack, the song that R2-D2 plays on the jukebox is now the song that the Max Rebo Band plays in The Pirates and the Prince.
  • The entire original series has yet to be released on any home video format. Some of the original episodes were released in the 1980s and '90s 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.[citation needed]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Databank: wheel bike. StarWars.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
  2. ^ Rivera, Mark A. (2004). Star Wars Animated Adeventures Droids The Pirates And The Prince & Treasure Of The Hidden Planet Double Feature DVD Review. Genreonline.net. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
  3. ^ Cargo Bay: Droids: The Pirates and the Prince. StarWars.com. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
  4. ^ Alex Lindsay (I). Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-06-24.
  • Star Wars: Droids 1985, George Lucas, Ben Burtt
  • Star Wars Insider #27
  • A Guide to the Star Wars Universe,
  • The Star Wars Encyclopedia by Stephen J. Sansweet, ISBN 0-345-40227-8 Del Rey; first edition (June 30, 1998)

[edit] External links

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