Mungo Baobab

Mungo Baobab [pron. MUNG-goh BAY-oh-bab; IPA: /ˈmʌŋ.ɡo ˌbe(i).o.bab/] was a Human merchant from Manda, and heir to the famous Baobab Merchant Fleet. He was also the owner of the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO before Jost Ellon.

Mungo was sent by the Baobab family to the planet Biitu to establish a trading post and mining operation, in the hopes that his reckless adventuresome side would fade away. This, however, was simply not the case. His daring penchant for trouble refused to die until one day, Mungo hit it big.

Destruction of the Great Heep
Taking to his new job the best he could, Mungo eventually befriended the native Biituians, working hard to provide employment for the species and create a prosperous operation. However, Imperial control frowned upon this, setting up their own rival mining operation overseen by the Great Heep, a tyrannical droid who ruled with an iron fist. To keep the internal components of this massive industrial robot cool, the Great Heep began employing a device to deplete moisture from the air over Biitu's farmlands. The planet was plunged into an infernal drought, and it was only due to the efforts of Mungo and his droids that the rape of the planet was halted.

The Cloak of the Sith
After this incident, Mungo eventually discovered the pathway to the Roon system by following an annual phenomena known as the rainbow comet in his ship, the Caravel. For years the path from his native Manda to Roon had been lost, no one willing to navigate the impenetrable cosmic dust cloud referred to as the Cloak of the Sith. Having long obsessed over this, Mungo had found what so many treasure-hunters had spent their lives searching for: the location of the fabled roonstones, capable of storing vast amounts of information in their crystalline structure. With the profits garnered from his expeditions, Mungo hoped to bolster the Baobab family's finances.

It was not to be that simple, however, for the combined effects of radiation and asteroids took their toll on the Caravel. Mungo and his ship were seized by a Roonian official, Governor Koong, and brought aboard Umboo lightstation, one of several scattered throughout the nebula. Deep in the midst of negotiations with the Galactic Empire, Koong mistook Mungo for an envoy of Galactic Emperor Palpatine, a misconception which the scoundrel did little to dispel. When Admiral Terrinald Screed, the Emperor's true liaison arrived, Mungo and the droids were imprisoned.

Working with the lightstation's caretaker, Noop Yeldarb, the trio managed to escape, crippling the lightstation in the process. The Caravel having been stolen by Koong and with the station careening towards an asteroid, Mungo stole Koong's cloudcraft and made his way through the Cloak of the Sith with Yeldarb's assistance. The resulting pathway became known as the Manda-Roon Merchant Route, and would open up Roon to the galaxy in the years to come.

Upon reaching Roon, Koong's ships fired upon the cloudcraft, and Mungo was forced to make a crash landing. There, in the Umboo province, he and the droids made contact with Roonian natives Nilz Yomm and his daughter, Auren Yomm.

Adventures on Roon


Impressed by Mungo's physical prowess, Auren begged him to participate in the Roon Colonial Games. Auren had long represented the unruly Umboo province in the annual competition, and Governor Koong took a very keen interest in the events. Almost too keen&mdash;Koong had planned on using athletes from the Tawntoom province to defeat the Umboo, thus breaking their hopes for secession. After one of Koong's sycophants poisoned two of Auren's athletes, the unlikely pair of Mungo and C-3PO entered the games&mdash;resulting in an astounding win for the Umboo.

Auren had begun to develop feelings for Mungo, but he remained too obsessed with his goal of the Roonstones to take notice. As they parted ways, she gave him the gift of a single Roonstone, only fueling his drive. Upon learning that the stone had been acquired from a recluse in the Bantha Graveyard, Mungo left to see for himself.

Imagine Mungo's surprise when the hermit turned out to be none other than his long-lost great uncle, "Old Ogger" Baobab. Like Mungo, he had begun the search for the Roonstones, only to strand himself on the planet sixty years earlier. Urging Mungo to continue his search, Ogger nonetheless warned of placing greed over friendship. The old man promptly died, leaving behind six sacks of Roonstones.

Escape from Roon and into history


Ogger's clue led Mungo and the droids to the Roon Sea, where Governor Koong remained hot on their heels. Barely escaping Koong's slave-powered galley, Mungo wound up in the center of a whirlpool. He was faced with a tough decision: dump over the Roonstones, or let his friends—and possibly himself—perish. Luckily, he made the right decision, and the adventurers escaped.

Dismayed by his constant failures, Koong made one last attempt to crush the Umboo rebels. Attempting to poison the countryside with a lethal weaponized virus, the Rooze Disease, Koong foolishly infected himself. The governor was forced to swallow his pride and beseeched Doctor Nilz Yomm, Auren's father, to develop a cure. In an icy volcano fortress in Tawntoom, Nilz and Auren were imprisoned.

Mungo and the droids followed close behind, seizing the cure for the rooze. It was here that they made their discovery: the source of the Roonstones was actually underneath the volcano ranges of Tawntoom, unknown to the clueless Koong. Mungo delivered the governor and ultimatum: if Koong handed over the Caravel and promised to never hurt the Umboo people again, Mungo would not only return the Rooze cure but divulge the location of the Roonstones.

Koong never had the chance to accept Mungo's offer, for it was at this time that the double-crossing Admiral Screed placed the fortress under Imperial authority. The furious governor hijacked a drilling platform and fired on the cache of crystals, sending the Roonstones to be lost in the volcanoes forever. Through much perseverance, and quite a few close calls, Mungo made it away with a single Roonstone. However, the true value of this gem was hidden within its crystal structure: encoded inside was the full text of Dha Werda Verda, an epic poem chronicling one of Coruscant's earliest battles. The historical and literary value of this discovery far surpassed any monetary price tag Mungo could have hoped to fetch.

Behind the scenes
The Mungo Baobab character was created by Ben Burtt for the 1985 TV series Star Wars: Droids, for the purpose of being another of C-3PO and R2-D2's masters. The character first appeared in Ken Stephenson's "Tail of the Roon Comets", where he was voiced by Winston Rekert. Rekert voiced the character in three more episodes of the series, as well as a 1986 television special that served as a prequel to "Tail of the Roon Comets". Alex Lindsay voiced the character for the prologue of Treasure of the Hidden Planet.

Ben Burtt's Baobab family would be expanded as the series progressed, as well as in other Expanded Universe productions, such as Burtt's Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide. Burtt even portrayed one of Mungo's relatives, Ebenn Q3 Baobab, in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Appearances

 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array
 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array
 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array
 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array
 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array
 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array
 * Lando Calrissian: Idiot's Array