The Droids animated series is a forgotten yet essential chapter in Star Wars history.
Droidsis a tragically forgotten piece ofStar Warsculture.
Its about time humanoids and automatons alike started treating it that way.
Lucasfilm also needed to keep that easy cash flow going, so what was the win-win here?
Ad content continues below
Stream yourStar Warsfavorites on Disney+ with aFREE TRIAL, on us!
A Saturday morning cartoon aboutStar Wars, of course.
And it was about damn time.
The fundamental concept of the series affected its formula, themes, stories, tone, everything.
Sorry, clone cadets.
So what if the show had to fill a Skywalker shaped void every so often?
It could have been a lot worse, though.
Okay, so those arent actual character names fromDroids.
No, the real ones were much more forgettable than that.
Thats nothing short of a miracle for the very sugary, very un-serialized climate of mid-80s Saturday morning TV.
Each cycle is made up of three to four different standalone episodes that are chapters in their respective storylines.
Lets talk about each of these story cycles one by one.
(Damn you, Tiggy Fromm!)
First of all, speeder bikes?
Second of all, a desert planet?
This is basically remakingA New Hopebefore The Force Awakens did.
Well, not exactly.
Lets talk about those Fromms.
In other words, theyre not that threatening.
The leader Tiggy (or Tig, as he prefers to be called) is on the whiny side.
And he has daddy issues.
But when you actually spend time with them?
Not as interesting as youd hoped theyd be.
Yes, theyve got character traits and edgy hairstyles and a landspeeder mysteriously named The White Witch.
But what do they have inside?
What defines Thall Joban?
How is he different from everyone else inStar Wars?
Why is he someone we can trust?
We dont really know, as he and his colleagues suffer from classic Saturday morning superficiality syndrome.
But that comes with the territory here.
Talk about world building.
I cant imagine how kids felt back when this was airing.
Read More: The Rise of Skywalker Ending Explained
This follow-up arc improved greatly on the last.
Plus, it involved the Rebellion, and were all familiar with that crowd.
It conjured up the sameNew Hopeiconography, again much likeThe Force Awakens, to good effect.
Look, Kybo Ren and Kylo Ren are nothing alike whatsoever.
Im not suggesting that they share any characteristics at all.
Im just asking, why are their names so similar?
Lets name him after that one fat guy fromDroids.You know who Im talking about.
The Genghis Kahn looking one.
I loved that show, man.
Can you make him look likeDarth Revan, though?Knights of the Old Republicwas so dope.
On paper, he sounds bad to the bone, but in action?
Hes basically the jot down of silly bad guy youd see onTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
As such, I had a hard time taking the overweight stereotypical Asian man with the ridiculousFu Manchumustache seriously.
Sad to say, I dont remember them much, despite having just marathoned this show recently.
That says a lot.
She was basically a cross between Han Solo and Princess Leia.
Meanwhile, Jann was somewhere in the middle of Han Solo and Luke Skywalker.
Thats the only way to accurately describe these characters, since 1.)
we couldnt focus on them for long and 2.)
theyre 80s cartoons, so theyre not that captivating.
It introduced us to the droids favorite master of all time: Mungo Baobab.
I think its because he has the most fun name to say out of anyone on the show.
I mean, its fun to say even in your own head.
Repeat it to yourself for 30 seconds.
I dare you not to smile.
Mungo is a galaxy class merchant whose family runs the infamous Baobab Merchant Fleet.
(Or something.)
This is the point where the show came to life and started hitting its stride.
As a protagonist, Mungos character served as the nice grounding presence the show needed, a real swashbuckler.
Bottom line here is, Mungo Baobab had his sh*t together.
It had a villain with a familiar face: the Empire itself.
General Koong is the best bad guy out of the whole series, period.
How can you go wrong with a villain like him?
Blame ABCs Standards & Practices for that, not Lucasfilm.
This decision fries my circuit boards.
The Great Heep is probably the best segment that came out of theDroidstelevision series for a couple of reasons.
One, its extended running time gives it the luxury of moving along at a much better pace.
You dont get bored and nothing feels rushed like it did week-to-week.
The second is that The Great Heep focuses directly on droid culture.
But thats what Heep does to all of the R2 units before he eats them to survive… Why was this special never given a wide home video release in the U.S., Lucasfilm?!
Seriously, its like they think its as bad as theHoliday Specialor something.
Its nothing to be ashamed of.
There are way worse things that have been released under theStar Warsbrand since then and you know it.
At one point, there was anEwokscrossover published, and no, its definitely not canon.
What I can tell you, however, is that its plot is pretty friggin bizarre.
on Endor, searching for the little brat who jumped out in an escape pod.
Well, according to issue six, they did.
Outside of that…uh…they didnt do much else except get into trouble with Stormtroopers.
Gotta admit, those covers looked sweet anyway.
THE TOYS
TheDroidstoyline was a godsend for Kenner…or so it seemed.
Mungo Baobab is on that list, as is General Koong.
And who the Force is thisPilotdude?
Nowadays, youll findDroidsR2-D2 figurines going for $500 and up on eBay.
Even the Boba Fetts that are also still in their packaging and much cooler go for way less.
This is something else that madeDroidsfeel so ahead of its time.
It wasnt just there to be cute and fuzzy like its sister show.
It was an ambitious creative laboratory in which Lucas and his team practiced world building.
But at least it had a beating heart.
You should follow Stephen on Twitter @OnlyWriterEver.
Hell follow you back.
Also,check out his blogand his secretPower Ranger tumblr, too.
Read more of his workhere.
