Star Wars Droids (1985-1986) (TV show Review)

     Continuing my “Star Wars” month, we’ll be looking at the franchises very first animated TV series titled “Star Wars Droids”. This show debuted in 1985, alongside another animated series titled “Star Wars Ewoks”, but I’ll talk about that one in a different review. This show first aired on ABC as part of the “Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour”, and is one of the more underrated, and less-known entries in the “Star Wars” cannon. I remember being really excited as a kid to see a “Star Wars” cartoon show, because that’s how it always was for me, if anything involved “Star Wars”, I was hipped. I can’t make a compelling argument that “Star Wars Droids” is a great show, or anything super-special, but for any hard core “Star Wars” fan, it’s worth a look. I do remember watching this show every now and then, and liking it okay, but let’s see how much of it really holds up after all these years.

    The series only ran for one season, with a total of 13 episodes, and one TV movie special. This makes it one of the shortest-running of all the “Star Wars” TV shows. The timeline setting is apparently prior to the events of “Star Wars 4: A New Hope”, because the Empire are still featured as villains, and there’s no sign of Rebels fighting them back. 

The show fallows the adventures of C-3PO and R2-D2 as they get themselves into one crazy space adventure after another. C-3PO and R2-D2 were already two of my favorite “Star Wars” characters, and I’m pleased to say that they were just as great in this show as they were in the movies. Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO in the movies continued to provide the voice for C-3PO throughout the shows run. He has such a perfect voice for the character, and his friendship with R2-D2 is still a real joy that held this show together. There banter is still funny, and their bonding moments are genuinely touching. Even when an episode is bad, these two characters still made it worthwhile. The opening theme song of the series was called “Trouble Again”, and it perfectly sums up what C-3PO and R2-D2 go through in every episode. The song itself is one of those tunes you either love for nostalgic reasons, or you hate for its silly, kid friendly melody. Personally, I’m somewhere in the middle, as I find the song to be incredibly cheesy, yet kind of delightful in its own simplistic way. Actually, the general music featured in this cartoon is so distinctly 80's, that it's hard not to find some appeal in it. Also, I'd swear some select music ques and sound designs were lifted straight out of 1983's "Rock and Rule", as their tracks synthesized music tracks are eerily similar.        

     None of the other classic “Star Wars” characters are featured, which is kind of annoying. Some characters like Jabba the Hutt and The Emperor are mentioned in passing, but are never featured. 

There are however some cameo appearances from minor characters in the “Star Wars” universe, including the Max Rebo band, and bounty hunters like Boba Fett and IG88. The Jedi aren’t even acknowledged, however there is an episode when a character uses a light saber as a cutting tool. While the Empire isn’t the primary threat of the series, they are still enemies that our hero’s occasionally have to deal with. Episodes featuring Storm troopers, Ti-Fighters, and Star Destroyers definitely made it feel a little more like classic “Star Wars”, which the show needed a lot more of. There really isn’t a whole lot of continuity either, in fact, the show was removed from cannon after the primer of “Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace”. 

The most striking thing to note is that C-3PO was revealed to be created from someone else in this series, which was obviously changed to Anakin Skywalker in the movies. As such, it’s probably best to view this series as its own self-contained story, with no real barring on the films. However, it is worth noting that the prequel trilogy made several small references to locations and events from this series, and even the show’s creator Ben Burtt had a small cameo in “Star Wars 1: The Phantom Menace”. The animation on display is nothing special by today's standards, but this was quite impressive looking back in the mid-80’s. Also, being a kid’s show, the action scenes are very basic, with minimal stakes, yet it can still be enjoyed by those standards. 

    Over the course of the series, our pair of droid’s team-up with different sets of masters, who each have their own story arc that’s covered over the course of four episodes. With the Empire present as villains, their figurehead leader for this show came in the form of an officer called Admiral Screed. 

He had a unique alien design, with a metal eye-patch, and made the most appearances of any villain in the series. However, there was no real main villain, as they kept changing with each story arc. At the beginning of each cycle, 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. One cycle involves a group of young speeder-racers, and their struggles with the criminal Fromm gang. Another cycle features the droids teaming-up with a treasure hunter, who goes on a quest to find valuable stones that are buried on his home planet, which happen to be under the control of the Empire. 

The biggest cycle revolved around an alien prince who needed to reclaim his thrown, and protect his planet from an invading legion of space pirates. These episodes have the most nostalgia value, as they were released on home-video back in the 90’s under the title “Star Wars Droids: The Pirates and the Prince”. This just happened to be the very first thing under the “Star Wars” banner that I ever owned on home-video, even before the original trilogy … so I can’t help but look back fondly on this as the figurative “One that started it all”. 

The first episode titled “The Lost Prince” bears a striking resemblance to the movie “A New Hope”, in which our droids are lost on a desert planet and are sold to a young farm boy with a cranky uncle. The opposition comes in the form of an over-sized crime lord, who also has a unique design. This cycle also featured the most memorable hero characters, including C-3PO's new master named Jann Tosh … clearly modeled after Luke Skywalker, if he was designed like a “Street Fighter” character … and his girl-friend Jessica was chalk-full of charisma. I think the easiest way to cover the show from here is to keep things simple, and count down my personal top 5 favorite episodes of the show.  

#5 “The Great Heap” (Ep. 14) 

     This marked the series finale, and was a special hour-long episode that aired in 1986, after the series initially ended in 1985 ... the same year it premiered. Chronologically, this episode leads into the third cycle of the show, as it features our droids meeting their new master “the treasure hunter”, and marks the point where Admiral Screed becomes their main reoccurring enemy. In this venture, our pair of droids are on their way to a farming colony in hopes to meet their new master. During this time, a feud begins to build between C-3PO and R2-D2, as they start arguing, and they even doubt their own friendship. 

Upon arrival, our heroes discover that the community is being trampled underfoot by the Empires legion of robots, under the command of a giant supper robot called The Great Heap, who’s melting down other robots to build on his tremendous body. Thus, in the face of this situation, both of our heroes have to put differences aside, and find a way to defeat The Great Heap. While this special is burdened with some annoying jokes, and dumb little detours … like R2-D2 in a droid love spa … this is still the most cinematic the show ever got. The animation was more detailed then before, the stakes were higher, and the malevolent Great Heap made for a worthy foe. It’s actually kind of refreshing to see a robot as a main villain for once, and it’s something I’d like to see more of in “Star Wars”.

#4 “The Pirates of Tarnoonga” (Ep. 7) 

After becoming advisors to the newly crowned King of the planet Tammuz-an, our droids and their current masters find themselves in the custody of a band of pirate’s, lead by the nefarious Kybo Ren. Using stolen weapons and space-ships from the Empire, these pirates aim to overthrow the royal family, and become conquerors as opposed to low-life scavengers. 

This episode feels the most in tune with a classic Sinbad adventure, as all the action is set on a water planet with giant monsters, and it features subtle nods to the Jabba sequence from “Return of the Jedi”. Most notable is a sequence when our heroes are sentenced to death by walking on a plank, and fed to a giant monster … except this time it’s a sea serpent. This is also when Kybo Ren left his mark as one of the show’s most memorable reoccurring villains. There’s also a lot packed in this twenty-minuet episode, including dog-fights in spaceships, different locations, and a few nice twists in the plot.

#3 “A Race to the Finish” (Ep. 4) 

At the end of the first cycle, the team of Speeder Racers are preparing for their biggest race yet. Unfortunately for them, the From Gang is out for revenge, after our hero’s demolished their wealthy crime syndicate. As such, the gang higher a familiar looking Bounty Hunter to do away with the racers. Meanwhile, C-3PO has made friends with a shady new droid, who R2 is leery about, and it once again drives a spike between their friendship. 

Let’s just jump to the main appeal of this episode … it’s the only time we see Boba Fett as a main villain in the show. His look and design in this series is just like his appearance in the cartoon portion of “The Star Wars Holiday Special”. In fact, it’s also the exact same voice actor Don Francks reprising the role. While this isn’t exactly one of Boba Fett’s greatest appearances in the “Star Wars” franchise, he never the less shines in this episode, and has some cool moments. I love his introduction scene as a shadowy silhouette in a doorway before revealing his identity, and it was cool to see him take part in the episodes climactic race sequence. The ending of this episode also marks the most touching departure the droids ever had from any of their masters, and closes the first cycle on an emotional high-note.

#2 “The Revenge of Kybo Ren” (Ep. 8) 

During heated negotiations between Tammuz-an’s King Julpa, and a War Lord named Toda, the sinister pirate Kybo Ren escapes from prison, and kidnaps the Princess Gerin … which only further ignites conflicts between the two opposing sides. 

Our heroes set-out to a swamp moon to rescue the Princess, battling waves of monsters and pirates along the way. The Princess Gerin was voiced by special guest actress Cree Summer, who was also voicing another Princess on the “Star Wars: Ewoks” cartoon at this time, and would later voice a Disney Princess in “Atlantis: The Lost Empire”. Like Princess Leia, this Princess Gerin may be held captive for the duration of the episode, but she’s not a one-note damsel, and can put-up a good fight. The final laser-shoot out, punch out brawl made for a fun action highlight, and a fitting close to Kybo Ren’s rain as a main stay villain. It also brought a fine close to the arc of King Julpa, even though there was still one more episode in the cycle. 

I suppose I’ll give quick honorable mentions to these episodes …

"Across the Roon Sea" (Ep.12)

"The Lost Prince" (Ep. 5)

"The Frozen Citadel" (Ep. 13)

#1 “The New King” (Ep. 6) 

After the discovery of the lost Prince Julpa, our hero’s embark on a quest to reclaim his kingdom from the tyranny of an evil Vizier, who usurped his rightful thrown. 

This episode has all the good stuff, including giant monsters, epic space battles, exciting chases, a menacing villain, a castle full of booby traps, and it was an exciting adventure story that felt reminiscent of classic Medieval fables, the same way the original trilogy paid tribute to classic Medieval tales. The evil vizier in this episode has one of my favorite villain designs, as he looks like a mix between Jafar from Disney's "Aladdin", and Lo Pan from "Big Trouble in Little China". All our heroes get proper screen time, and there’s some funny moments, mostly amusing quips from C-3PO … “Don’t follow R2 sir, he’s likely to get himself lost in an elevator”. This episode also marks the first appearance of Kybo Ren, and a cameo from the bounty hunter IG88.

     Looking back at this show, I was pleasantly surprised that it still had some genuine high lights, although nothing spectacular in terms of what the “Star Wars” franchise has produced. It’s important to remember that unlike most “Star Wars”, this is a program aimed for little children, and needs to be judged as such. While it probably appealed kids from the 80’s, as opposed to contemporary young viewers, I still think it’s okay by kid shows standards. It’s certainly not on-par with the mature animated programs in the vain of “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” and “Star Wars Rebels”, but for what it is and all it aims to be … I think this show is fine. I definitely have my nostalgic ties to this series, and will occasionally look back on it, but I’d never call it one of my absolute favorites either. I don’t know if I’d recommend this show to everyone, as it’s an acquired taste for either the young at heart, or kids who grew-up with it. Not one of the best animated “Star Wars” programs, but certainly not terrible ... it falls in a middle ground, so take it for what it is.  

Thanks for reading my review of the 80’s animated TV series “Star Wars: Droids” … "And may the Schwartz be with you!"                         

Stay Tuned, a review of the 80’s TV show “Star Wars: Ewoks” is up next.