Ric Olié

"Enemy fighters straight ahead!"

- Ric Olié

Ric Olié was a human male starfighter and starship pilot who served in the Royal Naboo Security Forces. He was the commander of the Naboo Royal Space Fighter Corps, and the leader of Bravo Flight. Olié's talents also landed him the job of the Queen's personal pilot, often flying the Naboo Royal Starship in the service of Padmé Amidala. Due to Naboo's pacifistic nature, Olié's skills were rarely in use, although he saw military action during the Invasion of Naboo.

Invasion of Naboo
"Shield generator's been hit!"

- Ric Olié

By the time that Naboo was invaded by the Trade Federation, his only superior in the Royal Naboo Security Forces was Captain Panaka. Towards the beginning of the invasion, Olié, along with the rest of his pilots, were captured and arrested by Federation forces when they swept into Theed. Their Queen was also arrested, and Naboo was subjugated swiftly by the droid army. However, they did not anticipate the intervention of two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who were able to rescue the Queen, her entourage, Olié, and his pilots. Olié had no time to comprehend what was going on, as he was quickly ushered into the Queen's Royal Starship, and ordered to set a heading for Coruscant.

Escape would not come easily, as the Federation's blockade would provide Olié with a significant challenge. He was flying an unarmed transport against a fleet of heavily-armed capital ships. Although he tried his best, the ship sustained heavy damage during the escape, and lost its shield generator. R2-D2, one of the ship's astromech droids, repaired the shields, which allowed Olié to pilot the ship through the blockade to safety.

During the escape, the hyperdrive suffered enough damage to prevent the ship from finishing the journey to Coruscant. Kenobi suggested that they land on Tatooine, a desert planet, and purchase the parts needed to make repairs. Qui-Gon Jinn, the Queen (in disguise), the Gungan, Jar Jar Binks, and R2 set out to look for the parts. After a few days, they returned with both the parts and a new member of the group&mdash;nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker, an aspiring pilot. Olié took to the boy and offered him a few short lessons in starship piloting. When the Queen's pleas with the Galactic Senate to send aid to her besieged planet went unheeded, she decided to return and take matters into her own hands. Olié flew the group back to Naboo to confront their Trade Federation adversaries. Olié's skills, combined with a lessened Trade Federation space presence, allowed them to land on the planet with enough time for Amidala to contact the native Gungans to enlist their help.

The battle for Naboo
"We didn't hit it!"

- Ric Olié

The Queen had a plan&mdash;the Gungan Grand Army would assemble and draw the droid forces out of Theed, she and Panaka would then sneak into the city and capture the Viceroy of the Trade Federation, Nute Gunray, and Olié and his pilots would attempt to knock out the Droid Control Ship. Destroying the ship was the key to deactivating all droid units and saving the outmatched Gungans.

When the Queen and the Jedi liberated Theed's hangar, Olié and his pilots sprang into action, clambering into their N-1 starfighters and setting out for the Droid Control Ship. The Federation launched Vulture droids in attempt to counter the Naboo offensive, and succeeded in destroying many of the N-1 fighters. Only upon reaching the enemy ship did Olié realize that the deflector shield was too strong, and that the battle seemed hopeless. Just when it seemed as though the Naboo fighters would fail in their mission, the Control Ship started to explode from the inside to Olié's surprise as none of the Naboo fighters managed to hit it. To his surprise, a fighter flew out of the exploding ship piloted by Anakin Skywalker who had inadvertently joined the battle, landed inside the ship and damaged the main reactor. As the Droid Control Ship exploded, Bravo Flight jubilantly returned to their liberated homeworld to celebrate.

Personality and traits
"Coruscant&hellip; the entire planet is one big city."

- Ric Olié

Olié was a very vocally observant man, and had a reputation among his peers as the one most likely to point out the obvious. He was a naturally gifted pilot and could pilot any craft on Naboo. He was reverent towards his Queen and always respected her decisions.

Behind the scenes
Ric Olié first appeared as a supporting character in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, where he was portrayed by Ralph Brown. Ric Olié is referred to by some fans as "Captain Obvious" due to dialogue that simply states well-observed facts, such as "There's the blockade!," "That's it&hellip; Tatooine," and "We didn't hit it!"

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace
 * Star Wars Journeys: The Phantom Menace

Non-canon appearances

 * William Shakespeare's The Phantom of Menace: Star Wars Part the First