Ponda Baba/Legends

Ponda Baba was the Aqualish partner of Dr. Evazan. He fulfilled the Aqualish stereotype of being an ill-tempered thug.

Career
Ponda Baba became Evazan's partner after rescuing him from Jodo Kast on Corellia. For a time, he considered betraying Evazan and collecting the sizable bounty being offered. He decided against betraying the Doctor, and they began smuggling spice for Jabba the Hutt.

One fateful day on Tatooine, Luke Skywalker entered the Mos Eisley Cantina and sat down at the bar. Dr. Evazan informed Skywalker that his partner, Ponda Baba, did not like him. Shortly thereafter, weapons were being drawn. The scuffle was ended when Obi-Wan Kenobi severed Baba's arm with his lightsaber.

Evazan tried to use his medical knowledge to replace Baba's arm, but the surgery was a failure, almost resulting in Baba's death. The two parted ways, with Baba swearing to impart vengeance on his former partner.

The duo was eventually reunited, but unfortunately Baba's mind was replaced by that of an Aqualish senator, in a botched mind-transfer experiment to give Ponda a new arm by Dr. Evazan. Baba survived the mind-transfer in the senator's body, and is still seeking his revenge on the doctor.

Behind the scenes
In a well-known blooper, Ponda Baba's arm has fin-like hands when still attached, but is furry and clawed in the close-up shots of the severed arm on the floor. This probably inspired the writers at West End Games to postulate finned and clawed subspecies of Aqualish in Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races.

Appearances

 * LEGO Star Wars: Revenge of the Brick
 * The Movie Trilogy Sourcebook
 * One that Got Away
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
 * Hammertong: The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters"
 * Play It Again, Figrin D'an: The Tale of Muftak and Kabe
 * The Sand Tender: The Hammerhead's Tale
 * Doctor Death: The Tale of Dr. Evazan and Ponda Baba