Classics Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO

Would definitely like to see both the Droids & Ewoks cartoons cleaned up, remastered, and released on DVD (or Blu-ray, though since these cartoons are almost 30 years old I'm not sure if they would look that much better on Blu-ray). These are great cartoons, and they're not really available in any good home video format now (I'm not counting the execrable 2004 heavily edited & modified DVD releases).

Back in August it was announced that Lflm. was looking into/planning on making these shows available online at some point (it wasn't clear if this was for download or streaming?!). However, haven't heard anything since then so who knows if that is still going to happen.

 

Bringing up an old thread here, but I'm wondering if LFL/Disney has been doing anything with these. At the Star Wars Celebration last year the starwars.com panel was asking to see if there was interest in having the complete Droids and Ewoks available to watch on the official site. Since then there has been absolutely no news as to whether this is a go or not. Hopefully the article on the Star Wars blog about the Spanish Droids and Ewoks comics will jog their memory a bit about this project. If anyone from here is going to Celebration Europe, hopefully they can find out some information!

 

I would buy the Droids episodes. But all the Ewok media? Nehhhh.

 

I'm happy to see this thread get a bit of new life. First, let me just start by saying that I'd love to see the Star Wars: Droids series released on blu ray. And soon. I mean, why not? I can't imagine the cost would be all that prohibitive, and it would be a goodwill gesture made by Disney to the fans, which wouldn't be likely to take much (if any) attention away from Episode VII.


But hey, as long as we're here, allow me, if you will, to tilt the discussion a bit. Any takers on the identity of the "stranger" who left his lightsaber in the speeder Tahll Joben was tasked with repairing?

We know from Thall's remarks that the stranger was a male, who "never came back to pick up his speeder." We also know that the show is set sometime during the year 15 BBY and Joben says the speeder was left in his care "a long time ago" (very 'Star Wars,' that). With this in mind, I think it's safe to say that 19 or 18 BBY could qualify, leaving the door open for Joben's meeting with the stranger having taken place early during the Great Jedi Purge. Oh, and we know that Joben hangs out in at least the Mid-Rim and Outer-Rim Territories.

So who was it? Jedi? If so, who? Bounty hunter or Emperor's Hand (or some other Imperial operative) who took down a Jedi? A scavenger who happened upon the lightsaber sometime after it's rightful owner was cut-down?

And why on earth would anyone just leave a speeder - a speeder containing a lightsaber, of all things - behind and never return? Did the presence of the weapon make the whole situation just too hot to ever revisit? Was the owner of the speeder arrested? Executed?

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Now, I know that we don't have any real way of knowing any of this, but it's something I've always wondered about and, for other old-school fans such as myself who grew up with this show, I thought it might be fun to speculate.

Final question: If anybody has a clearer version than I currently have to watch, is the blade of that saber more of a blue or green? On my (YT) copy, it's somewhere between the two, but if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say blue. Goofy, I know, but what the 'H' - it's fun and I'm curious.

Oh, and before I forget, if we ever do get a Live Action Show or stand-alone movie set during the 'Dark Times,' I'm casting my vote to include Thall Joben in some way, shape or form (even if I would fill in that bald section of his hairdo to match the other side - it's not 1984, anymore!).

 

I have often wondered about Thall Joben's lightsaber too. I wonder why this has always been left a mystery and was never explained either in Droids or in anything since? It's strange that it was only seen in the first episode too, since it really could have come in handy later. I think the lightsaber is blue, but you're right, it's hard to tell. My guess is that the lightsaber must have deliberately been left in the speeder by a Jedi who was in hiding during the purge. If it was stolen, I don't see why it would have been left there, unless someone was trying to get revenge on Thall by framing him as having some connection to the Jedi, possibly as a sympathiser or a failed apprentice. I think the Jedi on the run scenario has to be the most likely though.
Any ideas on who it could have been? Who survived that used a blue lightsaber besides Obi-Wan? It had to be a male too. Coleman Kjac may have been a survivor, but I don't know if the color of his lightsaber has ever been revealed. Could it have been the clone of Galen Marek? I think he had a blue lightsaber, but I'm not sure if the timeline would line up for him to be a candidate. Didn't Droids take place earlier?
I think the ideal place to solve this mystery would be either in the Dark Times comic series or in a Purge comic. Hopefully someone who works at Darkhorse is aware of the Thall Joben lightsaber mystery and sees the potential for a story here!
Another little Droids loose end that I would like to see resolved involves the activities of Jann Tosh's family during the Clone Wars. On the Kenner Droids action figure cards, Jann's bio said that he was orphaned during the Clone Wars. But what was the circumstances of his parents deaths? Were they just caught in the crossfire? Which side did they support? Were they just average citizens, or did they play a more important role in the war?
Anyway, good discussion! Hopefully it will keep rolling!

 

Love it! I love everything about your post and this is just the type of fun I'd hoped we Droids fans could have talking about the show.

Joben's lightsaber? Maybe it's appearance was just an excuse to get a lightsaber into the first episode, to reinforce it's 'Star Wars-y-ness,' but whatever the motivation was at the time, yeah, I completely agree that, with everything we've learned about the Jedi Purge in the years since the Droids series (and with all we still don't know), it's become all the more tempting to have this mystery explored.

You know how I was saying that I'd love some more Joben in a live-action setting? Well, you raise the very intriguing prospect of a comic appearance of one form, or another, and I think that would be great. How about a novel?

I agree that Jann Tosh and his family would be cool places to go digging (good choice). Oh, and I've got another (probably pretty obvious) one: Kea Moll was an-anti Imperial operative, a member of the Annoo resistance (described in the 'wook as a movement against the Galactic Empire, which also "opposed the rise in power of criminal organizations"). The cool thing? This resistance cell was led by Demma Moll (Kea's mother). Further, Kea's father was a fighter for the resistence, who was unfortunately killed while on a mission for the group. Kea is said to have joined the Alliance, and later went on to become a founding member of the New Republic Intelligence Service. Though we were told about Kea's life following Droids, as far as I know, it's never been shown or explored in any futher detail). I think there could be ample room for development there.

So, I know there are more old-school fans who grew up with the show (and newer fans who've discovered it in all it's 1980s glory). Anyone else care to join in?

 

I wonder if LFL and Nelvana have any behind the scene videos they could release with the cartoon episodes. It's SW, they must have somethin!

Maybe they have the "The ABC Saturday Sneak Peek and Fun Fit Test" segment with Tony Danza where 3PO and R2 came to promote the show, or footage from the Ewoks on Ice!

At the very least they could easily interview Lucas and Ben Burtt, even Joe Johnston

 

Huge fan here of the Droids animated show from the '80's (lesser fan of the Ewoks animated show, but still liked it). I grew up watching these shows back in the day, and recently re-watched all of Droids & was reminded of how great the show was. Really enjoyed all of the animation, especially the unique look to the Stormtroopers & their "laser sticks". Also liked how the A-wing, The Max Rebo band, and other elements from the OT films were incorporated into the series. Note that IMHO, the animation here was reminiscent of the drawings/comics of the great French artist Moebius.

Re: Ewoks, nice show as well, though much more childish than Droids. Haven't seen all of these episodes, but based on what I have seen my favorite episode was the one with the Ewok Battle Wagon (which was also a Hasbro toy at the time the show came out).

For years, I've wanted to see both shows in a comprehensive DVD/Blu-ray release with remastered picture, sound, all of the episodes in chronological order, etc. This is WAY overdue, especially since we have gotten other, much more obscure shows/cartoons on DVD....I hope that, with Disney at the helm now & with much of their focus being on cartoons over the years, we will eventually get this release. However, this is probably wishful thinking on my part. (I watched the short Nelvana-produced animated Boba Fett sequence from the Holiday Special on the Blu-ray set several times, and thought it was great. This has been cleaned up & the colors, sound, etc. are excellent. If they can do that for this 25-year old short sequence, they can also do this for the Droids/Ewoks shows).

Re: the Thall Joben lightsaber mystery, good questions here. I haven't thought about this much; the writers of the show must have been just as much in the dark re: the Jedi purge as we fans were at the time (long before the prequels came out). So, IMHO not much thought was given to this at the time other than that it may have involved a Jedi who was escaping the "Purge" and then just dissapeared...

 

In regards to the discussion about Thall's lightsaber, I previously said that I thought that it looked blue, but I just watched the clip again from a different recording, and now I'm thinking it looks green. Who are some order 66 survivors (besides Yoda of course) who had a green lightsaber?

 

Wait, the Boba Fett cartoon from the Holdiay Special is on blu-ray? Where?

 

The Boba Fett cartoon is a bonus feature on one of the discs that comes with the saga blu-ray set. It was really nice of Lucasfilm to include that little bonus!

On the topic of Thall Joben's lightsaber again, here's something strange that I just found out: the hilt isn't a cylindrical shape, it's square! Here's a screen capture: http://droidsandewoks.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/7/2/1672548/470250_orig.jpg
Guess the Jedi who owned it didn't believe in following the trends!

 

Here's a link with more specific info.:

http://www.denofgeek.us/movies/star...rs-holiday-special-arrives-on-blu-ray-sort-of

 

Boy, you said it: Like loooong overdue. I'm kind of surprised Lucasfilm never authorized such a production in all the years since dvd/blu ray became the norm. And now with Disney at the helm, revisiting historical animated productions and getting them out to the public just seems like it's right up their alley. Okay, so Droids may not be held up as a classic in animation, but for the original fans of the franchise (and anyone who's picked up on it since), the series could, I think, at least be said to verge on Star Wars cult-classic status. I honestly think that with a nice restoration (like, as you pointed out, Lucasfilm did for the Boba Fett animated short), there could be a decent profit in it for Disney (and a good-sized contingent of the fanbase would consider it a classy move, I'm sure).

And I agree about Joben's blue/green lightsaber and the thought behind it at the time (though it sure is fun to revisit it a bit, now that we know more than we did back then).

 

Yeah, sometimes it is green! As to survivors? Well, there is, for example, Rahm Kota, but his lightsaber hilt doesn't look like that (and it's whereabouts are accounted for, anyway).

That said, I still prefer to think of that blade as blue, but depending on the source (and judging from one frame to the next), it can really be hard to pin down and there's really no telling for sure. Just one of the mysteries which could be solved with a first-rate Droids re-release.

 

I have heard it said that guns were not allowed in Droids since the show was aimed at children watching on Saturday morning, and that this was the reason for the Stormtroopers carrying blaster staffs instead of blasters rifles. Is it actually confirmed that regular blasters were off limits or is this just a theory? If they were indeed off limits, it seems like the writers and artists who worked on the series were trying their best to work around this restriction. My case in point is Kea Moll's weapon. If you don't remember it, here's a pic of it being fired and links to pics of it being loaded and one from the rear:

http://droidsandewoks.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/7/2/1672548/1174078_orig.jpg
http://droidsandewoks.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/7/2/1672548/8932274_orig.jpg
A lot of creativity went into designing this weapon. Targeting screen, loaded with some kind of charges, and from the rear view, possibly even capable of shooting from behind. This thing is a beast! Doesn't resemble an average gun, but could take out a tank. Pretty good job of bending the rules by the Droids design team!

 

It looks sort of like the SW version of a phaser.

And both Droids and Ewoks should definitely get DVD/Blu-ray releases; even though they aren't perfect and exemplary cartoon material, I see no real reason why not. They are classics in their own rights.

 

Love Droids: Pirates and the Prince arc. That was such a fun arc. I want to know more about what happened to Jann Tosh, Jessica Meade, Mon Julpa and the others.

 

Seems like Kea wasn't the only character to use this kind of weapon. This unnamed alien from the episode 'Coby and the Starhunters' looks like he's using a similar model. I wonder why vacuum hose balsters attached to a power pack were the style in those days? Must have been the craze at that time in the galaxy. Who knows, one of these beasts could have been Han's first blaster!

 

I loved Droids when it was originally aired but sadly having not seen it in years, can't remember anything about it except Boba Fett was in one episode (I think) and it had one or two good arcing stories. I'd deffo buy it if a decent complete set was released.
As for the Ewoks series, it was aimed more at little kids, I think I got half way through one episode and never watched it again. Even the movies weren't very good although I actually saw Battle For Endor in a cinema and thought it was not too bad thanks to the Marauders and the action sequences at the end, wouldn't go out of my way to own them though.
I've got the Holiday Special on VHS from relations in the US who recorded it and sent it to me, unfortunately I couldn't watch it for years as the tapes were different and when I eventually got it converted I wished that I hadn't bothered, the only decent part was the Nelvana animated short that introduced Fett into the SW universe that's now available as an easter egg on the blu rays. So if that ever got an official release, buy it and convert it into a coaster, an ashtray or a frisbee as that's all it's good for.

 

What's bluray?

 

considering LFL just announced their new Rebels tv series today and Filoni is a Droids fan I believe, we may finally see some connections

http://starwars.com/news/new-animated-series-star-wars-rebels-coming-fall-2014.html

 

I hope so! If C-3PO and R2-D2 make any appearances, a tie in seems like it would almost be necessary.

 

These were among my thoughts, too. TCW had no problem with referencing other SW works during its run and I'm hopeful we may see the likes of Thall Joben and co. make an appearance in Rebels.

 

Only thing is... the droids show and comics are pretty weird, timeline-wise, considering Captain "Jerry O'Connell" Antilles somehow loses the droids after ROTS, and then they wind up back on Tantive IV before ANH. If they could explain that... even as a joke... I'd be OK with Droids remaining canon, Stewart Copeland theme song and all. Otherwise, Leeland Chee's in trouble again.

 

Kea Moll and her family were said to be part of the Rebel Alliance in the Droids cartoon, so hopefully Kea and her mother Demma will appear in the new TV series. The Fromm Gang was active at this time period too. Lots of good stuff to draw on from Droids!