The Essential Guide to Droids (Star Wars) [Paperback]

Daniel Wallace (Author), Bill Hughes (Author), Troy Vigil (Author)

Book Description

Series: Star Wars: Essential Guides | Publication Date: February 16, 1999

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER . . . DROID!

They can be anything from nursemaids to surgeons, diplomats to assassins. They walk, roll, and fly--and communicate in languages ranging from whistles and beeps to Standard Basic to the most obscure alien dialect. MixRMastRs make drinks in spaceport cantinas, Basilisks make war wherever they're deployed, and IT-O Interrogators make life nightmarish for prisoners of the Empire.

Droids are an integral and indispensable part of the Star Wars universe. And this comprehensive guide surveys all the myriad models and classes--from the lowliest drones to the most sophisticated humanoid automatons.

- Discover the evolution of the R-series droids, whose members include lumbering technicians and skilled X-wing navigators such as R2-D2
- Learn the curious history of the MSE-6 "mouse" droids employed exclusively in the bases and on Imperial starships of the Empire
- Explore the workings of the malevolent Shadow Droids: machines with living, organic brains
- Uncover how the Rebel's fearsome FIDO (Foreign Intruder Defense Organism) carries out its duties

Whatever its design and wherever it may be found in the ever-expanding Star Wars universe, if the subject is droid, its definitive data on development, history, and technology is included in this essential technical guide.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Some of the coolest personalities in Star Wars--both big parts and bit players--aren't really persons at all. They're droids. From the comedic duo of R2-D2 and C-3PO to the beeping, gonking peanut gallery in the belly of the Sandcrawler, you can tell that Lucas loved his droids. In fact, as Essential Guide author Daniel Wallace wisely points out, A New Hope opens not with a princess or a Jedi, but with the bickering R2 and 3PO. Wallace shares that affection, and in The Essential Guide to Droids, he lovingly describes a hundred of the hardest working bots in the galaxy, drawing from the Star Wars movies, novels, and comics. (As Wallace puts it, "We like to think we covered all the cool ones.")

Every droid you remember (or maybe just recognize) is here, from R2 and 3PO to the syringe-packing interrogator orbs on the Death Star to the eyeball-on-a-stick security drone that minds Jabba's front door. Each entry lists the unit's specs and history (and sometimes even marketing strategy), and a technical blueprint points out all the features. (How else would you find the retractable paralysis cord on the cone-headed bounty hunter IG-88?) With its droids of all callings, from medical to military and protocol to processing, this Essential Guide is a tour any SW fan will love. --Paul Hughes

From the Inside Flap

TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER . . . DROID!

They can be anything from nursemaids to surgeons, diplomats to assassins. They walk, roll, and fly--and communicate in languages ranging from whistles and beeps to Standard Basic to the most obscure alien dialect. MixRMastRs make drinks in spaceport cantinas, Basilisks make war wherever they're deployed, and IT-O Interrogators make life nightmarish for prisoners of the Empire.

Droids are an integral and indispensable part of the Star Wars universe. And this comprehensive guide surveys all the myriad models and classes--from the lowliest drones to the most sophisticated humanoid automatons.

- Discover the evolution of the R-series droids, whose members include lumbering technicians and skilled X-wing navigators such as R2-D2
- Learn the curious history of the MSE-6 "mouse" droids employed exclusively in the bases and on Imperial starships of the Empire
- Explore the workings of the malevolent Shadow Droids: machines with living, organic brains
- Uncover how the Rebel's fearsome FIDO (Foreign Intruder Defense Organism) carries out its duties

Whatever its design and wherever it may be found in the ever-expanding Star Wars universe, if the subject is droid, its definitive data on development, history, and technology is included in this essential technical guide.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: LucasBooks; 1 edition (February 16, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345420675
• ISBN-13: 978-0345420671
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #559,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Daniel Wallace is a comic book expert, sci-fi sage, and lifelong geek. Author or co-author of more than two dozen books including The Jedi Path, The Art of Superman Returns, DC Comics Year by Year, The Marvel Encyclopedia, and the New York Times bestselling Star Wars: The New Essential Guide to Characters, he has alternately found himself trading tense questions with Kevin Spacey about head-shaving and banging out three thousand trivia questions for Star Wars Trivial Pursuit. Other universes he has worked with include Smallville, Indiana Jones, and Supernatural.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars At last, an essential 'Essential Guide', May 27, 2000

By 

Nathan (Wilmington, DE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Droids (Star Wars) (Paperback)

The Essential Guide to Droids is better than the rest of the EG series thus far. It has good pictures and relatively informative schematic drawings of each of the droids, with better art than has been seen yet in a Guide. It also has the obligatory listing and brief description of all the major droid manufacturors in known. Another helpful feature is that it lists the droids according to their function, rather than in the standard alphabetical order, a la EG to Weapons. But the author goes beyond simply describing each droid and its function. He created background lore about the droids, and their developers. He doesn't make each droid individual, but rather trases entire product lines, for example, he goes from the R1 to the end of the R- series, creating the whole product line development, etc... What he doesn't do is spend the entire allotted text space for each droid simply relating the adventures it has had. This is a very helpful, informative, and readable SW book, and I'm glad I bought it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Life-Saver, February 10, 2000

By 

Ronnie Pauls - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Droids (Star Wars) (Paperback)

This is where I go to get information on Droids. You never seem to get really good description of the droids so this is where reccomend that you go and if you can't find out what you need to know the I would reccomend th Star Wars Encyclopedia.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OK..., October 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Essential Guide to Droids (Star Wars) (Paperback)

I can see criticism for lack of color but that would raise the price :) all in all a great book. I've read this, characters, and vessels and am currently reading weapons&tech this series as a whoel helps a lot for star wars freaks :)