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.

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

An alien known as Sollag enters the café and hires a bounty hunter known as Kleb Zellock to find a man named Mon Julpa. He offers him 40,000 keshels if he can locate him before an assassin droid named IG-88 finds him first. Kleb accepts the offer.

The 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, Yorpa arrive and notice that Mon Julpa is disguised as the android. Greedy for the reward of 40,000 keshels 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, Gundy.

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

Later, Kleb Zellock returns to Doodnik’s. Yorpo shows Kleb a sample of the element known as 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, the alien recovers control of 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 control of his faculties. He prepares to return to Tammuz-an.

Voice cast

 * Anthony Daniels

Characters

 * C-3PO
 * Doodnik
 * Gundy
 * Mon Julpa
 * Droopy McCool
 * IG-88
 * Jessica Meade
 * Medical Droid 318
 * R2-D2
 * Max Rebo
 * Sy Snootles
 * Sollag
 * Jann Tosh
 * Yorpa
 * Kleb Zellock

Droid models

 * Astromech droid
 * Kleb Zellock's Mining droids
 * Medical droid
 * Protocol droid
 * Mining droid MK3

Locations

 * Tyne's Horky
 * Doodnik's Café
 * Gundy and Jann's mine
 * Kleb Zellock's Nergon mine.

Sentient species

 * Human
 * Kitonak
 * Ortolan
 * Pa'lowick
 * Tammuz-an
 * Unknown species of Doodnik
 * Unknown species of Kleb Zellock
 * Unknown species of Yorpa

Vehicles and vessels

 * 48 Roller wheel bike
 * Kleb Zellock's ore-cutters
 * Kleb Zellock's custom desert sport skiff

Weapons and technology

 * Mini-stunner
 * Scout trooper blaster pistol

Miscellanea

 * Circuit cider
 * Giva Jumbo
 * Mini-stunner
 * Nergon-14
 * Photon Fizzle
 * Supernova
 * Tammuz-an Royal Scepter

Behind the scenes

 * This episode was released on 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 also included several other episodes.
 * This episode was released on DVD in 2004 as part of the The Pirates and the Prince feature film. It can be found on side 2 of the disc.
 * The Lost Prince was the fifth episode of Star Wars: Droids – The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO.
 * This episode is the first part of a five-episode story-arc commonly referred to as The Mon Julpa Cycle. The first four episodes were released as The Pirates and the Prince on VHS format in 1999 and on the Star Wars: Droids DVD in 2004.
 * This episode takes place at some point between 10 BBY and 5 BBY.
 * 1st appearance of all characters except for C-3PO, R2-D2 and the Max Rebo Band.
 * The visuals used to illustrate Doodnik's Café were re-imagined for the design of Dex's Diner in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
 * 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.
 * This episode is listed as production code: D5. It first aired on October 5th, 1985.
 * This episode was adapted into the children's storybook entitled The Lost Prince: A Droid Adventure by Ellen Weiss.