The '80s Star Wars Animated Special Only Hardcore Fans Remember

The "official" number of "Star Wars" movies depends on who you ask. In terms of the modern canon, there are nine central "Episodes," along with the two "A Star Wars Story" spin-offs, "Rogue One" and "Solo," and the animated "Clone Wars" feature (plus this year's "The Mandalorian & Grogu"). Then we have the Star Wars Legends entries, namely the 1980s Ewok movies "Caravan of Courage" and "The Battle for Endor." Finally, there's 1978's infamous "The Star Wars Holiday Special," which one certainly could argue should be considered canonical (whether it strictly is or not).

And then, if you really want to split hairs (which I do), one could even include 1986's "The Great Heep," a TV special that served as something of a grand finale for the single-season animated series "Star Wars: Droids." Running 48 minutes, "The Great Heep" features an outsize droid monster, the titular Heep, who may be one of the "Star Wars" franchise's scariest villains. Although "The Great Heep" was made by the same creative team that produced "Droids," it's a much larger effort, coming across as a special TV feature event. You won't find many people who count "The Great Heep" as an official "Star Wars" movie, but I think it ought to be tallied. In fact, I would go so far as to argue that it's better than some of the big-budget, live-action films set in a galaxy far, far away.

Moreover, the Great Heep himself (John William "Long John" Baldry) is a tantalizing character. He's an ancient being who was actually built to self-perpetuate and assimilate other droids. In a sense, he's like the (once-great) "Star Trek" villains that are the Borg, except he was introduced years before they came along.

Set roughly 15 years prior to the events of 1977's "Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope," the "Star Wars: Droids" TV series follows the adventures of the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 as they pass through the hands of various owners. This show, of course, takes place during the reign of the Galactic Empire, so many of its antagonists take on the forms of gangsters and criminals.

"Droids" is constructed as a miniature tetralogy of its own. In its first episode, "The White Witch," C-3PO (Anthony Daniels, natch) and R2-D2 find themselves in the thrall of some speeder bike racers, and these characters stay with the duos for the following three episodes as part of the "Trigon One" arc. Episodes 5-9 then form the "Mon Julpa" arc, which includes, amusingly enough, a pirate by the name of Kybo Ren. Finally, the series' last four episodes form an arc called "The Adventures of Mungo Baobab" and center on Mungo's search for highly valuable and rare crystals known as Roonstones. 

Because the "Star Wars" movies are often presented as episodes of a larger serialized adventure, the mini-arc setup of "Droids" is perfectly fitting. What's more, the show has the same wild, anything-can-happen sense of adventure that so many of the best "Star Wars" projects embrace. It also helps that the animation is wiggly and dynamic thanks to the artists at Nelvana, the Canadian animation studio behind "Inspector Gadget" and, later, "Care Bears," "Madballs," "Babar," and the "Beetlejuice" cartoon series.

And, of course, "Droids" climaxes with its best chapter, "The Great Heep." It's the greatest part of the show and an excellent "Star Wars" special to boot.

"The Great Heep" is actually a prequel to the Mungo Baobab story arc. C-3PO even talks about how he and R2-D2 are on their way to Baobab's custody at the start of the special, with part of "The Great Heep" taking place with Baobab on the edenic planet of Biitu. Naturally, the droids (and others) end up being kidnapped by angry robotic drones and brought into the captivity of the Great Heep.

The Great Heep, you see, scours worlds for their resources and enslaves other droids. To appear benevolent, however, he has a droid harem (!), which some droids are allowed to join. It turns out, though, that Heep eats R2 units to survive and is in bed with the Empire. He is essentially a giant, rolling ore processor, so he makes a living selling ore to Imperial buyers. Thus, "The Great Heep" mostly concerns C-3PO and R2-D2 teaming up with various non-droid characters to try and overthrow Heep's influence.

Overall, Heep makes for one of the scariest monsters in the "Star Wars" franchise. He's so enormous that one cannot help but stare in awe. Just the sight of him turning his mouth into a conveyer belt is terrifying. On top of all that, Heep is able to operate his own crime syndicate while perpetuating the Empire's evils. He is the "Star Wars" galaxy's most formidable middleman and equivalent to a proper video game mini-boss. Basically, what I'm getting at is that Heep is awesome.

"Star Wars: Droids," along with "The Great Heep," is currently available to stream on Disney+.