Classics Will my 18 year old self appreciate Star Wars: Droids?

My Star Wars fanboyism has been in full gear lately and I'm trying to catch up on things I've never gotten around to in my star wars life (reading the Thrawn novels and Dark Empire, for example) and I'm considering picking up Star Wars: Droids on DVD if its available. I've never seen it before. Will I appreciate it?

 

Will you appreciate it? I'm not you so I don't know. Go for it.

Just keep in mind it's intended for very young children.

 

I will say this: if Droids came out today for the first time, it would be torn to unrecognizable shreds by half the folks in LACWAC. A few others would willingly forget their passwords and never be seen again. The leftovers would like it.

Part of its appeal is its 80s campiness. You couldn't pull that stunt today.


Whether you will like it, IG... well, we shall wait and see.

 

It was a victim of its time, which was a strict 80's policy that limited all animation televised in America. I'll say one thing for it, there were character deaths, which was unheard of at that time.

 

Droids is honestly the reason why I don't understand LACWACers who hate or otherwise usually dislike TCW. I watched a few episodes and I really just wasn't getting any enjoyment out of it at all, so I stopped watching the show because I thought it was mostly crap. Hence I tend to not get into long debates about Droids, because I don't give two craps about it. Now let me be clear, I'm not saying it's somehow illegitimate for anti-TCW people to post constantly about it here, I'm ONLY explaining why it seems weird TO ME.

Like others have said, of course it comes down to a question of personal taste, so you're best off checking it out yourself. A good litmus test might be whether or not you like the TCW episode Evil Plans.

 

I like Droids, but that may partly be due to my being a child at the time it first aired, and that now it's a nostalgia thing for me. I think the advice that others gave is good. This is probably as good as a Star Wars kids show could be in the 1980's. It is a product of it's time and it is intended for children that were growing up 26 years ago. Kids today are not the same kind of audience as the kids of the 80's. While Leave it to Beaver would have appealed to kids of the 50's, it probably wouldn't have the same appeal for kids of today. It's probably a similar scenario with Droids. What was pretty good (or bad) for an older generation will probably be seen in a completely different way by the next generation.

 

Nothing will ever compare to breakdancing R2D2. I've only seen a few episodes of the show on youtube, but it seems like something I would have watched at the time it came out. Moreso than the Ewoks cartoon.

 

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I laugh every time it flashes to 3PO and the dudes.

I love your enthusiasm for Droids, BC.

 

Yep, that's the one.

 

To answer the question in the first post here, I don't know if you'll like Droids - personally, I love the show - but, then again, I'm an older fan and watched it as a kid when it first came out - so, nostalgia has a lot to do with this. In addition, there is no really good "official" DVD release out there - so, watching what is available may mar your view of the show - see below for more details. Note that the rest of this post is an edited version of one I made recently to another board:

I just recently watched the sub-par 2004 Droids DVD for the very first time (I got it out of the library, since I didn't want to buy this); I held off on seeing this in the hopes that the show would get a proper DVD release. However, since it doesn't look like that will happen anytime soon, I felt this was the next-best thing to watching the shows as they appeared on TV back in the '80's. Here's my review:

THE GOOD:

- This DVD did bring back a lot of good memories of seeing this show on Saturday mornings in Fall '85 (has it really been 26 years?! Incredible!). It was an excellent idea to use Anthony Daniels' voice, since the show wouldn't have been the same without him. I also enjoyed seeing Sy Snootles & the band, the Stormtroopers, The B-wing, IG-88, The A-wing, and the other references to the OT. Great stuff!

- Seeing the show again also makes me want an Admiral Screed action figure, as well as figures of the Stormtroopers (as seen in this series), with those cool laser sticks/staffs - Hopefully Hasbro will come out new "Droids" figures at some point, maybe as a sub-group in their regular Clone Wars line?!

THE BAD:

- Cobbling together/Editing several episodes of the show and putting them into a "TV movie" (or the animated equaivalent) was awful; the editing was sloppy, and the transition between episodes was unclear. This reminds me of the poor editing that Lfllm. did when they put together two of the great '90's Young Indiana Jones Chronicles shows into 2-hour TV movies for the later VHS/DVD releases of that show - this "Droids" release was much, much worse, however.

- After seeing these tele-films, I really miss the Trouble Again theme song (composed by The Police drummer, S. Copeland) even more than before. This opening sequence/song was really an essential part of the show, and set the whole tone/vibe for the series. If "Droids" does ever get a proper DVD release, I would even be willing to pay more $ for the set if they needed to charge more in order to use this music (this is speculation, since Lflm. may own the rights to this). I also think S. Copeland composed some of the other music for this show, which didn't appear to be in these tele-films.

- The quality, though acceptable, was not that great. If this show does ever get a better DVD release, I'd like to see the picture quality/color improved (if possible).

Side-note: for those fans of The Police & S. Copeland's later independent work, check out the great, underrated TV crime drama The Equalizer, which ran from '85 - '89. He wrote/composed the superb theme song for that show, as well as much/most of the other music for this series - great stuff.

 

I remember watching this show a couple years ago.
The animation is sub-par.
The art is... exceedingly cheap, even for the day. Makes the Dungeons&Dragons cartoon look superb.
The story... TCW has some stinkers. This is almost as bad as the worst of them.

A prince finds a magic (not The Force, but flat out magic) artifact that allows him to regain his throne. C-3PO and R2D2 are along for the ride. That is one of the actual stories. I am not kidding.

Ewoks was slightly better, since it had more characters and a fixed location, and the writers had situations they could identify with, and thus make kids identify with, much better.

In short, Ewoks is standard 80s kiddie fare. Droids is a conglomerations of idea without a clue what it was trying to do.

 

I'm sorry, but I never saw an episode of Droids that was better than even the worst TCW episode. Ewoks in Droids are in the same ballpark, TCW is on a higher level overall and certainly in specific instances. Do you like Ewoks more than TCW?

 

QFT

It's certainly fun to watch as a way of going back to the years when the First Era Of Star Wars was winding down - if you were there at the time. The fact that it dates quite considerably just adds to that appeal, unlike the OT, which is somewhat timeless.

If you're 18, though, I suspect you'll just think it's kind of crap. The animation certainly isn't below standard for the time, but we're talking about a period when most cartoons were extended toy commercials, due to very lax regulations (Droids doesn't quite fit into this category, though). No one was really making anything to last, unlike the great Warner Bros & Disney cartoons of the 1940s, which were made for the cinema..
There's nothing 'adult' in the humour, it's aimed squarely at children, so don't expect the sort of cheeky little gags for grownups that writers like to slip in - while the flat-out advertising aspect of cartoons such as Transformers, Muppet Babies, My Little Pony and Masters Of The Universe was allowed, regulations were extremely harsh at the time when it came to content. Apparently the writers on Ewoks were told that fires could only be started with magic.

Take a look on YouTube or so on just to see what it's like, but don't go nuts when it doesn't really satisfy. I haven't even seen the DVD version, it sounds like it doesn't even have the retro appeal.

 

I just want to say Droids was not the brightest star in the galaxy that is the fandom of star wars. At least i think so.

 

DVD's: NO.

Whole episodes, hq ones of Droids, are on youtube for free.

Both shows were excellent but you'll probably like Droids more; the scripts were excellent, only a step or two away from TCW, a little more "G" rated, but very intelligent & fun.

Ewoks was more "fairytale" which I like, heck, I love Ewoks in general. But much less sci-fi action than Droids.

 

Yes and no.

I say this becuase if LFL finally decides to release these in its entiretly with extra features and what not then the answer is yes. Especially since its been a part of the early star wars universe.

I also say no, becuase if they never release this then one that has never expierenced this can truly enjoy it.