Classics Star Wars: Ewok and Droids Cartoon Series

haven't seen this bumped in a while. I would still really love to see all 15 episodes of Droids re-released in their entirety and not in a chopped up "feature film" sort of way. I still wish someone from lucasfilm would address why this hasn't happened.

It really wouldn't take much work IMO. Just release a two disc set. Have episodes 1-9 (trigon one and the jan tosh episodes) on the first disc and episodes 10-15 (mungo baobob storyline) on the 2nd disc. If they got really ambitious, they could add a couple of bonus features to the 2nd disc like the animated short from the holiday special and a short 10 minute feature about the series.

I know all that probably has very little shot of happening, but I'd really like to see it. I just don't know why they didn't do it in the first place back in 2004 rather than releasing those weird "features". Sometimes, I think the decisions at LFL are a little weird.

 

Glad to see that this thread is still getting hits, even though it's regarding a very obscure SW cartoon series.

To answer your question as to why "Droids" (and "Ewoks") haven't yet been released on DVD in their entirety, I would have to speculate that Lucas probably doesn't feel that it's worthwhile to take the time/money to release these the way they should be released. The show is very obscure, and probably didn't do that great when it was on TV in the mid '80's. It seems that the only people that really want this are:

- Hardcore SW fans who want everything on DVD, no matter how obscure.
- Fans who watched/liked the show when it first came out in the '80's.

I fit into both of the above categories, though I may be in the minority. As I mentioned before on this thread, both of these cartoons were great, and do have some historical value to SW fans -at the time (1985/1986), SW was dying, and there was very little new material out there. Not only that, these shows had great animation and were well-written.
Back in the late '90's/early 2000's, there was an article about both of these shows in the "Star Wars Insider" - this was kind of an episode guide, and was very interesting. I had missed many of the later episodes of both shows, so reading the descriptions of these episodes made me want to see them all the more.

I still have some slight hope that these may be released on DVD at some point - years ago, I thought the likelihood of Lucas releasing "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles" on DVD was next to impossible. However, all of these were released on DVD in 2007/2008. So, there is some slight hope (maybe).

 

I don't think they are great in and of themselves, but I would like them in their entirety for several reasons.

1. I remember watching them as a kid and they do have a nostalgia value.

2. I like how they have nods to some of the OT and PT characters and technology. You've got storm troopers, tie fighters, ig-88, and boba fett. They even go to places mentioned in the PT like the moon of bogden and they have those roller ball vehicles like we saw in episode 3. I think it's got lots of cool things to discover in it.

3. I like the characters of r2-d2 and c-3po and I love that Anthony Daniels did this show.

4. It is a good historical piece to show the evolution of star wars in the animated format.

I don't have everything star wars. No matter how I try, I can't get into the ewoks movies and I don't like the ewoks cartoons at all, but I really would like to have this in its entirety.

 

I love Droids and it wouldn't harm George Lucas a bit if he bothered to please his fans and release the entire Droids cartoons on dvd!!!
The only way I can watch the cartoons is on youtube. Yes they're on youtube. Just type up White Witch (I believe it's on either page 2 or 3) and you'll find them. I've already watched the first five episodes and I was laughing and grinning like the Cheshire Cat.
Here's 6 reasons why Droids is better than Ewoks (to me, that show stunk):
1.My favorite Star Wars characters are in it.
2.Good storylines.
3.Really funny.
4.Two words:Boba Fett. (he's in the episode "Day at the Races")
5.Having Threepio and Artoo do things that they don't do in the films (like R2 breakdancing or Threepio blinking).
6.It had lightsabers in it (The White Witch episode).
We should start a petition on putting them on dvd.

 

I was just thinking about this again. I know the idea is that it wouldn't make money because it's obscure and didn't even make money when it was originally aired. I get that.

However, look at all the tv shows that have been released to dvd. There have been tons of obscure and nearly forgotten shows released over the years. I was just looking in the Best Buy ad in the Sunday newspaper and they had a new release sale in there for Friday the 13th The Series Volume 1. I barely remember that show and never remember it being popular. Still, someone must think there's a market for it to make a little bit of money or they wouldn't have released it. Wouldn't you think that even a somewhat forgotten Star Wars property, if released correctly, could make as much money as a nearly forgotten horror serial (that doesn't include Jason Voorhees) from the 1980's?

I'm sure LFL looks back at the sales numbers of the 2004 release of Droids and has determined that there's no market for it, but that would be a mistake. The complete series would be a release that would be made to appeal to the hardcore fans and nostalgia junkies. Many people who would have purchased the complete series stayed away from the 2004 release because it was incomplete and pretty much a blatant cash in. It was their mistake and not a reflection on the fanbase. I remember many people on these forums saying they wanted to buy the Droids series on dvd but not in a chopped up watered down format. Knowing LFL's knack for re-releasing their own material over and over, they anticipated a later release of the full series, so they stayed away from the 2004 dvd.

So, I suppose it's a cash 22. LFL doesn't want to put any money into it because they think no one wants it, but they are only going off of flawed numbers from a lackluster release that they couldn't have expected too many people to purchase in the first place.

I wish they'd reconsider and think they are making a mistake. I think right around the time the first season of TCW is rleased to DVD would be an excellent opportunity to release the entire 15 episode run of Droids to DVD to go along with it.

 

I'm right with you there - I'm a fairly big fan of watching TV shows on DVD (instead of watching the shows on actual television), and completely agree that there are a lot of shows out there
much less deserving of a DVD release than "Droids" and "Ewoks", but are being released anyway.

I also agree about the 2004 severely edited "release" of "Droids" and "Ewoks". I also stayed away from these because they weren't a release of the entire series, and therefore decided it wouldn't be worth my while.

 

If anyone wants to listen to the theme songs of Ewoks and Droids, here's where they are: www.droidsandewoks.com/music.htm

Now LFL just needs to hurry up and release all the episodes on DVD!

 

Has anyone heard if the Droids series in its entirety, and unedited, will be on DVD? I still can't believe the complete series isn't on DVD yet.

 

There is a great new article on starwars.com about Droids and Ewoks. It's mainly about collectibles, but if you are a fan of these shows, it's a good read. http://www.starwars.com/vault/collecting/20081111a.html

 

According to Amazon, the Droids, Ewoks cartoon, and Ewoks movies dvds are all out of print. I wonder if they've got something planned for them in terms of re-releases.

Also, the Clone Wars micro-series dvd's are also out of print.

 

If they do decide to release Genndy's Clone Wars again soon, then they should release them combined into one whole movie. Since they won't make more of these in this animated format, it would make sense to do this.

 

I agree. They should put it all on one disc. However, I think they should rework it and have two seperate titles on the disc. They should end the first one at chapter 22 right at the scene where padme sees anakin with his scar and make that as everything before the cgi series. Then, have a second title on the disc for everything after that like Nelvan and Coruscant and make that as a post CGI story.

 

My guess is that there is something planned for Droids, Ewoks and Clone Wars. But what???
What would people like to see?
I think a good idea might be a box set that includes a special features disc filled with things like the history of Star Wars TV, commentaries, deleted scenes, unused concepts and scripts, etc.

On another topic, wouldn't it be a nice nod to the Droids series to have characters like the Fromm gang show up in The Clone Wars? After all, they certainly would have existed at that time, considering how old Sise is. Plus they were one of the largest and most successful criminal organizations in the galaxy until Tiggy came along.

 

Sorry for two posts in a row here, but this thread hasn't seen a lot of action lately and I thought it was time to bump it up.

Anyway, I'm wondering if LFL is holding off on complete series DVD's until the 25th anniversary of when these shows first aired (next year). It would make a lot of sense if they did release them next year, and it will be absolutely ridiculous if they don't.

 

I'm a cynic, so I question whether Lflm. will ever release the "Droids" and "Ewoks" cartoons on DVD - I sincerely hope they do, however. I agree it's strange that they haven't done so already, especially since there are so many obscure movies and TV shows now on DVD - I think the longer we don't see these DVD's, the less likely the chance that they will ever come out. In my opinion, the hold-up is probably that they don't want to take the time to release the complete series of both shows, possibly because they don't think the DVD's would be profitable.
Granted, the shows are extremely obscure, but IMHO both "Droids" and "Ewoks" are very important not only because they were great shows, but also because they have important historical significance to SW fans - prior to "The Clone Wars", they were the only cartoon-related SW shows out there (other than the short segment from the Holiday special, which isn't available on DVD either). Also, if you're a SW completist like me, you will probably want everything on DVD, no matter how obscure.

However, we'll see what happens. I remember that it took forever for Lflm. to release the OT on DVD (though we all knew it was eventually going to come out), and they also ended up releasing the YIJC TV show on DVD a while back (another show I thought would never hit DVD).

 

Are there any Droids series icons up somewhere?

 

Lucasfilm is just a weird company. Things that any other company would do without hesitation is a stretch for them to even consider. This is certainly a great example. Does anyone else find it strange that after 4 years, they still haven't released all 6 movies together? Every time a new Harry Potter movie comes out, Warner Bros. puts out an elaborate box set and you know what? People buy them all the time and that series is far from over. Seems like a no brainer. I recently made my own DVD's of these complete shows and was surprised by how much I enjoyed both of them. If Lucasfilm doesn't want my money, so be it.

 

I totally agree with the last poster. It doesn't make sense that Lucasfilm will not release the complete series of these. For a company as big and successful as Lucasfilm, it's amazing how bad they are when it comes to DVD. It takes a long time for them to release them, and then when they are released, it's usually a pretty lackluster offering (i.e., the first offering of Ewoks and Droids DVD's, lack of cut scenes in the Original Trilogy, poor special effects upgrades. What was the deal with Luke having a green lightsaber in the Falcon?) I know that LFL could put out an awesome product if they wanted to. The frustrating thing is that the choose not to.

 

Hey guys - I've been thinking about this, and another possible explanation as to why L. still hasn't released the "Droids" and "Ewoks" cartoons on DVD in their entirety is because they don't want these older cartoons to draw attention away from their current "Clone Wars" cartoon. Please note that this is sheer speculaction on my part, however.

However, if this is the case, it still doesn't explain why they didn't release these DVD's any time in the past several years, before the "Clone Wars" cartoon came out.

 

BC- I completely agree with you. Part of my dissapointment with them guys is that they tend to release a shoddy project. They are not inspiring confidence in me and I'm to the point that I'm going to re-start my Star Trek collection becuase this new movie looks way cooler than anything I have seen with-in the last 10 years out of star wars. The only exception s are Genndy's cartoons and Dark Horse's comics, plus KOTOR video game. The rest is crap...serious. When you take the love the star wars eyeglasses off, you realize that 75% of the stuff is major crap. I hope that they release the ewoks and droids in there complete standing and with the color screw-ups but.........

 

I would love to see both on DVD, my 4 year old daughter watches the episodes I already have and sleeps with my plush Wicket that my mother gave be as a kid

 

It's a bummer we still haven't seen these shows released fully on DVD yet.

 

Yes, it is. It's even stranger that when they made eight of the episodes of Droids into two films of four episodes each, they only collected 5-8, and 10-13. The missing episode #9 features the same characters as 5-8, yet it isn't grouped in with the other four. I just hope that The Great Heep gets released as well when they inevitably make a Box Set for these. You know they will, because they'll sell fairly well, and they take any opportunity to make money.