The Lost Prince

"It's too late. We're doomed."

- C-3PO

"The Lost Prince" is the fifth episode of the Star Wars: Droids animated television series, and the fifth episode in season one. Written by Peter Sauder and directed by Raymond Jafelice, the episode originally aired on ABC on October 5, 1985.

Plot summary
C-3PO and R2-D2 arrive at the mining colonies of the planet Tyne's Horky. Searching for a new master, they accept positions as servers waiting tables at Doodnik's Café. They clumsily bumble their way about the place, spilling drinks and causing several disturbances. After one too many mishaps, Doodnik Sharpelz terminates their employ.

Sollag Den enters the café and offers the bounty hunter Kleb Zellock 40,000 keshels to find someone named Mon Julpa before the assassin droid IG-88 finds him. Kleb accepts the offer.

The two droids go to a nearby auction block and place themselves for sale. A young miner named Jann Tosh purchases them as well as a shoddy-looking work android. Kleb Zellock and his aide-de-camp, Yorpo Mog, arrive and notice that Mon Julpa is disguised as the android. Greedy for the 40,000-keshel reward, they begin to give chase. Having no idea who the third strange droid truly is, Jann and the others escape from Kleb’s attack on a wheel bike. They drive out to the mine operated by Jann’s uncle, Putch Gundarian.

After settling down, they discover that the third android is not a robot at all, but a mute, addle-brained Tammuz-an. They do not know the alien’s name, so they begin calling him Kez-Iban. Kez-Iban begins helping out with the work in the mines.

Later, at Doodnik’s, Yorpo shows Zellock a sample of the element Nergon-14, which he had just recently discovered in Zellock’s own mining station. Zellock knows that the unstable mineral is valuable in the use of proton torpedoes and plans on selling it to the Galactic Empire.

Jann and the others enter the café, and Zellock notices that Kez-Iban is with them. He sends Yorpo to sanction the alien and a fight breaks out. Jann wrestles about with Yorpa until a woman named Jessica Meade enters and zaps the large brown alien with a miniature stunner. Zellock gets the upper hand however and captures Jann, Kez-Iban and the droids. He puts them to work in the mines digging for Nergon-14. Before long, Sollag finds Kez-Iban and presents him with the royal scepter of Tammuz-an. Upon accepting the scepter, Kez-Iban recovers his faculties and acknowledges that he is in fact Mon Julpa, the rightful heir to the throne of Tammuz-an. An evil vizier had used magic to strip him of his identity in order to take the throne for himself.

Mon Julpa and the others decide to escape from the mines. They discover that Zellock’s ore-cutters are cutting pockets into the bedrock, which is releasing flammable gas into the caverns. Too much of the gas will ignite the Nergon-14 causing a massive explosion. They fight past Zellock’s miner droids and make their way into the criminal’s office. Zellock plans on abandoning them and keeping all of his money for himself. Yorpa is angered to discover that Zellock plans to leave him behind and turns on him. The droids manage to knock Zellock out and deliver him to the nearest security station.

Mon Julpa is grateful to his new friends for helping him to regain his faculties. He prepares to return to Tammuz-an.

Cast

 * Anthony Daniels as C-3PO
 * Don Francks as Jann Tosh
 * Dan Hennessey as Gundy and Yorpo Mog
 * Taborah Johnson as Jessica Meade
 * John Stocker as Sollag
 * Chris Wiggins as Mon Julpa

Behind the scenes
This episode was given two separate VHS releases by j2 communications: It was released on a tape by itself, and on "Droids Volume 2" along with the episode "The New King". It was also released by CBS-FOX on a VHS entitled "Droids 2: The Pirates and the Prince". The VHS included several other episodes. The episode was released on VHS format in 1999 and on DVD in 2004 as part of the The Pirates and the Prince feature film.

This episode was adapted into the children's storybook entitled The Lost Prince: A Droid Adventure by Ellen Weiss. The wheel bike that Jann Tosh uses to escape from the auction block is similar to the vehicle that General Grievous used in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.