Star Wars animation has been a pillar of the brand for decades. From the seven-season run of The Clone Wars to the anthology shorts of Tales of and the rotating creatives of Visions, Lucasfilm has consistently used the animated format to deepen its universe in ways live-action productions rarely attempt. In addition, the breadth of that output, most of it being canon, reflects the brand’s commitment to treating animation as a prime destination for fans, spanning Rebels, The Bad Batch, and the recent Maul: Shadow Lord. However, some Star Wars fans might underestimate how far back that commitment actually goes. Long before Dave Filoni created the definitive animated corner of the galaxy far, far away, Lucasfilm was already using Saturday morning television to explore the gap in the Star Wars timeline that the films didn’t touch.
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Star Wars: Droids — The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO premiered on ABC on September 7, 1985, paired with the companion series Ewoks as part of a one-hour block called The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour. Produced by Canadian studio Nelvana, the series ran for a single season of 13 half-hour episodes before concluding with a 48-minute standalone special, “The Great Heep,” which aired on June 7, 1986. The combined hour of programming cost an estimated $500,000 per episode pair to produce, making it one of the more expensive packages on Saturday morning television at the time. Sadly, that cost contributed to Droids‘ cancellation after one season.
Star Wars: Droids Had a Weird Relationship with the Larger Canon
Star Wars: Droids follows R2-D2 and C-3PO through a series of adventures set before A New Hope, as the two droids pass through the hands of multiple owners across three distinct story arcs. The first arc places them in the company of speeder racers Thall Joben and Jord Dusat, pursued by crime boss Sise Fromm and, memorably, a one-episode appearance by Boba Fett. The second arc transfers them to a kind-hearted farmer named Jann Tosh and a plot involving the restoration of a displaced alien prince to his throne on Tammuz-an. The final arc pairs them with merchant adventurer Mungo Baobab, whose effort to open a new trade route to the Roon system closes out the season.
George Lucas decided to create a prequel series about R2-D2 and C-3PO precisely because, with the feature film franchise’s future uncertain, those two characters were the safest bet for stories that would not collide with whatever the films might eventually do. The result was a show with no Jedi, no Rebellion, and no returning cast members from the original trilogy beyond Anthony Daniels as the voice of C-3PO. Nevertheless, that structure would cause continuity problems 19 years after the series aired.
In Revenge of the Sith, the conclusion of the prequel trilogy, Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) places both droids in the care of Captain Raymus Antilles (Rohan Nichol) aboard the Tantive IV. That scene was written as a direct reference to a line C-3PO delivers in A New Hope. In the first Star Wars movie ever released, C-3PO tells Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) that his and R2-D2’s “last master was Captain Antilles.” The intent behind that line in 1977 was simply to establish the droids’ ownership chain. In 2005, Lucas chose to close the loop by showing Bail Organa hand them off to Antilles in the film’s closing minutes, implying the two droids had remained in Antilles’ service for the entire 19-year gap between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope.
Droids, which had been produced in 1985 without any foreknowledge of what the prequels would establish, had already filled that same continuity gap. The animated series placed R2-D2 and C-3PO in an era roughly fifteen years before A New Hope, meaning Revenge of the Sith had, in effect, retroactively contradicted the animated show. Star Wars: The Ultimate Visual Guide eventually published an in-universe patch by revealing the droids had been accidentally separated from Antilles at some point during the events of the animated series, only returning to his service afterward. Luckily for Lucasfilm, Droids was cancelled before it could tangle the canon even more. Mungo Baobab departs at the conclusion of the final arc, and the show closes without resolving where R2-D2 and C-3PO go next. That open ending was caused by the series cancellation, but it also created the opportunity for the animated show to remain canon.
Star Wars: Droids is currently available to stream in its entirety on Disney+.
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