Star Wars: Droids Review, Special Edition: The Great Heep

I'm going to do this one a little bit differently. Rather than summarizing the entire episode, I'll hit on some high points, then get into the analysis.

This episode begins with the droids traveling to meet their new master, Mungo Baobab. It's not clear how they came into his possession, but this at least appears to be an official purchase situation rather than finders-keepers. When they arrive at the planet Biitu, it has been taken over by the Empire, led by Admiral Screed, for mining purposes. The mining operation is led by The Great Heep, a giant robot that drains Astromechs for power. Mungo Baobab has been captured by the Empire, who plans to ransom him back to his wealthy merchant family.

C-3PO and R2-D2 are immediately captured and separated. 3PO is sent to labor in the mines, but R2 gets to go to the "Droid Harem." There he gets to swim, watch TV, get pampered, and even have a fling with a cute pink astromech. The droids don't seem to realize that the harem is just a holding-cell for the Great Heep to use when he needs to recharge. Or at least they don't until C-3PO points that out. Then they start an astormech revolt, which isn't particularly frightening, but it's a nice idea.

Meanwhile Mungo has a plan to destroy the giant moisture eater and restore the planet's agriculture. Apparently water makes the mining more difficult, so the Empire converted the planet into a desert. But to do that, he needs to get out of jail and get control of Screed's cargo ship. He is assisted by a native child, Fidge, and his dinosaur-dog. Mungo is able to escape and reunite (unite?) with the droids. In order to get on Screed's ship, he has to put together a droid costume, marking the second time in the series a human tries to pass as a robot. It's not a terrible costume. I'm not saying I want an action figure of Mungo Baobab in Droid disguise, but I certainly wouldn't pass on it. Anyway, it all goes according to plan until Screed's shoulder-mounted ship theft alarm goes off. Mungo tries to create a diversion by effeminately telling off the stormtroopers for not having enough... lubricant. Why not have 3PO handle the prissiness? Anyway his droid glove falls off, and R2 ends up piloting the freighter by himself.

Fidge uses a bulldozer to almost kill himself, free the astromechs, and take out some pretty nifty looking anti-aircraft guns before they can bring down R2. Though The Great Heep arrived and was able to damage the ship with a discus, R2 steered it into the Moisture Eater and set off a torrential rainstorm. After being struck by lightning, the Great Heep lost power and deactivated. Mungo and the Biituan natives rounded up the Stormtroopers and arrested Admiral Screed. R2 amazingly survived his kamikaze mission and he and the rest of the atromechs were able to revive his girlfriend.

The Great Heep, and the rest of the Mungo Baobab arc is markedly different from the previous episodes in the series. While it occasionally veers way too far into the "cartoony", there's also a lot here that feels like Star Wars. Having the Empire as the adversary is a big part of that, I'm sure. There are also more subtle things like the framing of scenes and the more natural and detailed landscapes. There's also a shift in the music, at least for this special, from heavy synthesizer to a more orchestral score. I don't know enough about the production to know what changed, but I do know that this arc is where Ben Burtt became involved as what we would now call a show-runner. Next week we will return with episode 10.



Best things about this Episode:

-The droid diversity in this episode is outstanding, but particularly among the astromechs. While there are plenty of R2s, R5s, and R4s, there are some truly unique designs there two, including several with spherical bodies. I think it's safe to assume these droids directly inspired BB-8.
-Stormtroopers!
-Admiral Screed's cargo ship looks like an AT-AT body with a Shuttle cockpit attached. It's kind of awesome, and I'd love to customize one if either of those parts could be acquired cheap. Maybe this should be the next HasLab project.
-The Biituans are not terribly exciting as far as alien designs go, but they still seem more Star Warsy than a lot of the weirdo things we've been seeing (chicken people, The Fromms, etc). They feel more real and fully developed than the Mon Julpa people. Also, I'm pretty sure Mungo's got a thing going with that one sexy Biituan lady with the floppy hat.

New Built-In Features R2-D2 Now Has:

-Novelty flower that squirts water
-Parachute
-Wall-cutting laser
-ZIPLINE!!!!!!

Most WTF Things:

-The Droid Harem is full of craziness. Droids getting massages, a droid with a tophat, a droid with a walkman, a droid wearing sunglasses and reading a "Play Droid" magazine. Crazy stuff.
-The painting of Mungo hugging an octopus. I want a print of that painting. I will hang it next to my copy of the Joe Pesci's mom's dog painting from Goodfellas.
-The machine that burns trash by repeatedly shooting them with lasers. That doesn't seem efficient.
-The world's worst transformers. What was up with those guys?

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