On a fuel raid, Chopper is accidentally left behind and embarks on a wacky solo adventure to find his way home.
Chances are, you just squenched a little at the prospect of a wholesome good-time adventure starring Chopper. The very idea should remind you of those awful Jar Jar episode of The Clone Wars.
Well, fear not, Padiwan. “The Forgotten Droid” isn’t terrible. It’s not even good. It was actually kinda great.
Despite the fact that I think Chopper is a cool little dude, this episode had “annoying side quest” written all over it but, rather than being a filler episode with nothing but inconsequential silliness, “The Forgotten Droid” actually manages to tie into the running arch of the season, namely the search for a new rebel base. You could even call this episode pivotal.
Who would have thunk it?
Forgetting that it has a place in the arch of the season, “The Forgotten Droid” is a lot of fun. As I said, Chopper is a turd of a droid, borderline homicidal — I mean, am I the only one who remembers him pushing another astromech out of the Ghost to what should have been its death for no reason other than jealousy? Chopper is R2D2 if Artoo was a mean drunk. Here, we’re finally given some insight into his character and background through some pretty clever writing that fills in the blanks without it becoming clumsy exposition. I think it’s pretty locked now that Chopper was named after the clone trooper of the same name, yes?
It’s a fun, funny, and lighthearted little adventure. I really like AP-5 and enjoyed his chemistry with Chopper. AP-5, Star Wars’ version of Marvin the depressed android. Hey, though… it worked.
The one thing about this episode that I didn’t like was AP-5’s death and almost instantaneous consequence-free resurrection. To me, it was manipulative of the writers to pull something so incredibly Disney-like. Either he should have died, should have been irreparably damaged in some way, or they should have never had him shot in the first place. Miracle resurrections do nothing but cheapen sacrifices made by characters and makes them ultimately meaningless.
Looking at you, end of Ice Age. You too Tangled. You too Frozen. You too, Big Hero Six.
Jason Gaston 