Set some 15 years before The Holy Trilogy; Star Wars Droids is an unsightly blemish in the whole Star Wars universe. Originally broadcast from 1985-86 and only lasting 15 episodes which have been distilled down to two feature length episodes from 8 of the 15 aired for this DVD release.
The first being The Pirates and the Prince (81:24) which sees C3PO (Anthony Daniels) & his sidekick R2-D2 sold off to a young miner/farmer boy type (Sound familiar?) that manages to get on the wrong side of some Space Pirates due to a bungled rescue of another droid.
The second adventure Treasure of the Hidden Planet (84:39) features the two droids on the run from the Empire in a rush to find some mythical rune stones. This is probably the most bearable of two.
For a hardened Star Wars fan like myself that can see the good in Episode I: The Phantom Menace; I found these extremely hard to swallow as a kid. And sadly not much has changed since.
Presented in it’s original full frame 1.33:1 ratio as broadcast; the image isn’t pretty to look at featuring some very crude animation coupled with poor video quality that suffers from numerous film artefacts that could have been avoided in the transfer process.
The only audio track on offer is a flimsy Dolby Digital 2.0 track that is very limited in its dynamic range. Dialogue was clear and easy to understand, however. At times the track was harsh to the ears along with the cheesy score making it all the more difficult to sit through. The Pro-Logic IIx chip in my amp sent very little info to the surrounds, with the bass management circuitry also sending minimal info to the subwoofer.
Along with The Ewoks Adventures live action, and Cartoon series simultaneously released on DVD with the Clone Wars series you can just see how much Lucas really values these releases; with the Clone Wars getting the full THX preferential treatment on our beloved format, while these limp out onto the shelves with no restoration at all. Not too mention the complete lack of extras, only the completist Star Wars fan would want to trade in their power convertors for this.
