Star Wars Droids

 Star Wars on TV has come a long way from the 80s. After Return of the Jedi, Lucas wanted to branch out the franchise with the Ewoks and the Droids. He made them into Saturday morning cartoon shows.  This show only lasted one season and one special.  I guess they ended it because the cost of making the each episode was pretty high for the time. 

The episodes are comprised of different story blocks (with different masters for the droids). There is strong continuity between the episodes in these blocks building to a larger story at the end of the block. The droids then switch to another story and new masters.

The animation and style designs are different than what we've seen from all the Post Prequels. Truth be told, all the animated spinoffs from newer era are WAY better than these early cartoon show.  The writing in the newer shows are geared toward an older audience, plus these newer shows aren't afraid of showing death.   

The Droids and Ewok cartoons were for kids like myself at the time.  And, I really loved the Droids episodes.  

I hate the comedic shit the droids get into in each episode and C3P0 is really annoying. Every episodes has these goofy moments where R2 and C3P0 get into trouble and it is usually bad. Man, I hate C3P0. These “humorous” moments are clear indications where the franchise was going. The Droids are side characters where their masters (which I've always had a problem with) are the main stars of the episodes.  The droids just get mixed up in it. 

However, I still enjoyed these cartoons more than the Ewok cartoons and live Ewok movies because it still felt like it was part of the overall SW universe. I also liked they showed us the underside of the SW universe with all the bounty hunters and mobsters.

-The animation and style does tend to change each episode. This is also a problem in the early Batman TAS. Sometimes, it is rather striking how different the styles and colors are from episode to episode.

-The Empire kind of takes a backseat in these stories. It is a prequel to Episodes 4-6, but clearly the Empire is in power. However, it seems all these stories are set outside of the Empire's central control. They do show up from time to time as the bad guys though.

-There is a lightsaber appearance: I totally forget about that. Basically, some Jedi left his saber in a speeder and the hero in the first storyline kept it. It was kind of a cool reference.

-R2 break dances in one episode 

 Wait, is that Commander Will Riker?  Holy Shit, it is Riker.  Who knew there was a Trek/Wars crossover!  For real, he does look too much like S2 Will Riker. 

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