‘Star Wars: Visions’ Introduces Its Droids
The trend of introducing the public to characters from the upcoming Star Wars: Visions, the first anime set in the galaxy far, far away, continues today. After giving us two extensive pieces on heroes and villains, StarWars.com offered new details on the droids that will be featured in the series. We present here some of the highlights in their descriptions, including quotes from producer Kanako Shirasaki.
T0-B1, from T0-B1
As the title of the episode indicates, this droid is the main character of Science Saru’s entry into the anthology series. Shirasaki described him like this:
“T0-B1 is a humanoid droid, full of curiosity, who dreams to be a Jedi Knight. He’s an assistant to Professor Mitaka in his quest to bring life back to a barren land.”
She then added:
“T0-B1 acts like a little kid, whose attention doesn’t last long. He wants to play Jedi rather than help Professor Mitaka complete his research, which is quite unique compared to what we have seen thus far in the ‘Star Wars’ universe. Most droids have been programmed to fulfill their duties right away. Instead, T0-B1 is still learning and has the potential to grow, mature, and change.”
K-344, from Tatooine Rhapsody
Tatooine Rhapsody follows “The Star Waver,” a rock band with lots of dreams. And they have a very special guitarist — Shirasaki told StarWars.com:
“K-344 is a guitarist of the band and plays a phenomenal dual neck guitar. She was once abandoned but found her purpose in rock and roll.”
Apparently, this episode is a tribute to Star Wars as much as it is a tribute to music in general. Shirasaki added:
“Like other members of The Star Waver, music is the only thing she has. She appears cryptic at first, but her affinity for rock and roll shines through when her band members face the ultimate choice.”
B-20N and R-DUO, from The Twins
As we mentioned in our stories on the heroes and the villains of Star Wars: Visions, this episode is the story of the dark side version of Luke and Leia (of course with different characters, but the basic similarities remain), named Am and Karre here. They have two droids devoted to them:
“B-2ON is a loyal servant to Am and Karre. He is clearly inspired by C-3PO, but jet black instead of (mostly) gold because he serves the twins of the dark side. Studio Trigger also had some fun with his name, which I think will delight many Star Wars fans if they can figure out the reference.”
The other one is, of course, R-DUO (wanna guess which droid it was inspired by?):
“Karre knows that R-DUO is a perfect partner if he needs to win a big battle. And R-DUO knows that he’s indispensable to Karre, too, which he proves again and again throughout the episode.”
TD-4, from Lop and Ochō
Lop and Ochō follows the adventures of Lop, who always has the droid TD-4 by her side. The droid has one thing that makes it special:
“TD-4 takes the recording functionality we saw originally with R2-D2 in A New Hope to a new level by independently capturing the important moments of Lop’s journey, from surviving as an orphan on Planet Tao to becoming part of a family. I see this feature almost like what we might envision in our own lives as a diary or blog, and it plays a key role in this episode.”
She then commented on TD-4’s design:
“I love TD-4’s tininess, its color, and chibi design! Lop and TD-4 are just so endearing together. Despite its small size, the creators have imagined so many cool traits that set it apart. I hope someday that TD-4 can show us more than what has been revealed in the episode, as it always supports Lop and leads them to a fateful destiny.”
Steward Droid, from The Ninth Jedi
The steward droid from this episode is perhaps the one character Shirasaki wanted to say the least about, though she did have a few words for us:
“Steward droid is an enigmatic character serving Margrave Juro. He waits at the Aerial Temple where he puzzles the Jedi by uncharacteristically withholding answers to their burning questions.”
She added:
“He is a surprisingly large droid, perhaps even taller than Chewie!” Shirasaki says. “And while most droids like C-3PO or BB-8 are known by their metallic tones or bright colors, this one is oddly dark, which adds to his mysterious aura. Will the Jedi uncover his secrets?”
We will learn more about this steward droid and the rest of the characters from Star Wars: Visions when the show debuts next Wednesday, September 22. Look forward to our review of the series, as well as additional coverage on it, including our review of the upcoming novel Ronin.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as movies from Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
