Doodnik Sharpelz

"I've seen many different ways of making a photon fizzle, but no one did it better than Doodnik."

- Dexter Jettster

Doodnik was a gruff and greasy male of a four-armed species who worked as a bartender and chef on the planet Tyne's Horky. Originally from the planet Ojom, he left his homeworld before 19 BBY and found bartending work on Tyne's Horky alongside his old friend Dexter Jettster. By 15 BBY, he had opened Doodnik's Café in the world's eponymous mining town, where he worked in the kitchen and entertained such customers as the local crime lord Kleb Zellock. In that year, Doodnik hired the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 to work for him as waiters, but the incompetence of the duo prompted a furious Doodnik to fire them both on their first day.

Biography
"Out, out, out! And don't come back!"

- Doodnik, after firing C-3PO and R2-D2

Doodnik was a male member of a four-armed species who hailed from the planet Ojom, where he was friends with the Besalisk Dexter Jettster. Before the year 19 BBY, both of them left their homeworld and found employment as bartenders on Tyne's Horky, a mining world located on the galactic frontier. Working together, Doodnik and Jettster prepared such drinks as photon fizzles, giva jumbos, and circuit cider.

By 15 BBY, Doodnik had become the proprietor of Doodnik's Café, an eatery and tapcafe in a lawless mining town also called Tyne's Horky. The café was partially owned by Kleb Zellock, the leader of the planet's criminal underworld, who used the establishment as his base of operations. Doodnik worked as a chef in the kitchen, and, in 15 BBY, he hired two waiters through the Intergalactic Droid Agency: the protocol droid C-3PO and the astromech droid R2-D2.

When the droids arrived at the eatery one morning, Doodnik immediately put them to work. He grew frustrated when the two had trouble remembering orders, repeatedly tripped over each other, and proved to be the worst waiters that the locals had ever seen. Late in the day, C-3PO spilled some powder on Doodnik's face, and the chef angrily sent him to serve Zellock. When the crime lord's henchman Yorpo Mog tripped over R2-D2 and landed in Zellock's food, Mog threw the astromech across the café. R2-D2 crashed into both C-3PO and Doodnik, and the chef responded by immediately firing his new waiters, tossing them out into the street, and telling them never to return.

Personality and traits
"Go and look after Mr. Kleb. He owns a piece of everything in town, including this place. Give him any trouble and I'll melt you down into spittoons!"

- Doodnik, to C-3PO

Doodnik was a gruff and greasy chef with orange skin, black pupils, and four brawny arms. He employed all of his upper limbs while preparing food, during which he was able to perform four different tasks simultaneously. Intolerant of incompetence in his kitchen, Doodnik was quick to anger, and he threatened to melt C-3PO shortly before furiously firing both the protocol droid and his astromech companion. Doodnik took care to provide good service to Kleb Zellock, who owned a stake in the café, but he did not take care to keep the establishment clean.

A skilled bartender, Doodnik mixed a photon fizzle that Dexter Jettster believed was unrivaled. Circuit cider was another of his signature drinks. Doodnik always served giva jumbos in bowls, although Jettster could not figure out why. All in all, Jettster thought his comrade a fine fellow.

Behind the scenes
"Because of their obvious similarities, I wanted to imply some kind of connection between Dexter and Doodnik when I was writing this piece. At one point, I think I might have even considered making them brothers, but in the end I decided to leave things more vague."

- Gregory Walker, on the development of Dining at Dex's

Doodnik first appeared in "The Lost Prince," the fifth episode of the Star Wars: Droids animated television series. Written by Peter Sauder and directed by Raymond Jafelice, the episode first aired on October 5, 1985. Doodnik is also in The Lost Prince: A Droid Adventure, a children's book adaptation of the episode, and brief mentions of the character have been made in several other Star Wars publications throughout the years.

The short story Dining at Dex's, written by Gregory Walker and published online through StarWars.com's Hyperspace feature in 2009, describes Doodnik as an old friend of Dexter Jettster, a four-armed Besalisk restaurant owner from the 2002 film Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Walker tied the two characters together due to what he believed were obvious similarities between them, and he originally considered making them brothers, thereby establishing Doodnik's species as Besalisk. He ultimately left their relationship vague and did not reveal Doodnik's species, although he did name the character's home planet as the Besalisk homeworld of Ojom. Despite striking visual differences between Doodnik and the Besalisks, Walker yet believes that Doodnik could plausibly be a member of that species.

Appearances

 * The Lost Prince: A Droid Adventure
 * The Lost Prince: A Droid Adventure