Ree-Yees

Ree-Yees was a male Gran criminal from Kinyen who suffered from a recessive genetic mutation, uncommon among Gran, which caused his hands to be deformed.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Ree-Yees enjoyed visiting other planets via Star Tours, and often brought his custom three eyed camera to take pictures, despite flash photography not being allowed.^[3]^[4]

Ree-Yees was convicted of murder on Kinyen, and was in hiding on Tatooine as a member of Jabba Desilijic Tiure's court. He was an alcoholic, and was often seen associating with Tessek. Ree-Yees was assigned the task of taking care of Jabba's pet frog-dog, Bubo.

The distrustful Jabba had a short-range bomb implanted in him. When Jabba said a certain phrase, the bomb would explode, killing Ree-Yees and any one next to him. This bomb could be used to kill an assassin, or if Ree-Yees himself was planning to kill Jabba (as he was).

Ree-Yees in an argument with Saelt-Marae.

Circa 1 ABY,^[5] Ree-Yees was the official inventory keeper for Jabba's Palace. When the criminals known as the Sand Splitters stole a book, a bell and a prototype warhead in the Palace, Ree-Yees tasked a spacer with recovering the stolen items and eliminate their leaders, Erib Kurrugh and Saul Rouse.^[6] In the meantime, Ree-Yees was associated with the White Thranta Shipping Company, a front for illegal activities of Jabba the Hutt's criminal organization.^[7]

Ree-Yees and Tessek were conspiring to plant a bomb on the Khetanna in order to assassinate Jabba. Prefect Eugene Talmont, who was in on this scheme, promised to clear Ree-Yees's criminal record, which would allow him to return to Kinyen.

Ree-Yees then had Imperial surgeons place a small panel under Bubo's flesh, which the Gran operative could use to order in components for a thermal detonator (hidden inside shipments of goatgrass) which he and Tessek planned to use to destroy Jabba's sail barge. However, when the last and most vital component, the detonator, went missing, the plan seemed to be doomed. Bubo, angry at his mistreatment at the hands of Ree-Yees, had eaten it, thus ensuring Tessek's plot would fail. Tessek, however, planted another thermal detonator on the barge.

Ree-Yees didn't let his disappointment stop him making a few bets with his companions when the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker was thrown to the rancor's pit after he had enraged Jabba. Much to everyone's surprise, Skywalker killed the beast. Ree-Yees was at Carkoon onboard Jabba's sail barge when Skywalker, Han Solo, and Chewbacca were to be fed to the sarlacc. When Princess Leia Organa was strangling Jabba, the Hutt triggered the hypnotic trigger to make Ree-Yees grab Leia and self-destruct. However, Jabba died before he could complete the sequence. Feeling very triumphant, Ree-Yees kicked Jabba's corpse and insulted the Hutt. Unable to escape before Leia and Luke fired the barge's cannon, Ree-Yees was killed during the sail barge's explosion shortly afterwards.^[8]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

Ree-Yees's name is a play on the words "three eyes."^[9]

In the "Return of the Jedi Creature History with Pablo Hidalgo" blog entry at StarWars.com, writer Tim Veekhoven revealed that creature performer Tim Rose "remembered that Ree-Yees was originally meant to be the Admiral of the Rebel Fleet, but that George Lucas himself appointed Ackbar".^[10] Several behind-the-scenes creature shop photos show multiple manufactured heads for the Ree-Yees character, perhaps attesting to his earlier status as a more major character.^[11]

According to IMDB.com, Ree-Yees was performed in Return of the Jedi by Richard Bonehill, Paul Springer and Mike Quinn, the latter as an animatronic performer.

In Galaxy Guide 5: Return of the Jedi, historian Voren Na'al mentions speaking with Ree-Yees some time after the Battle of Endor, suggesting he actually survived the destruction of Jabba's Sail Barge, contradicting most other sources.

Ree-Yees in the *Star Tours* safety video

In Dark Forces and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II, any Gran enemy is referred to as Ree-Yees (as well as also possessing his oversized hands). In Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy, the Gran were appropriately named but still had oversized hands. In the games, thermal detonators were their primary weapon, though they were also adept at melee combat.

A Ree-Yees action figure was released by Kenner in 1983, and another Ree-Yees came out in 1998 as part of the Power of the Force 2 line.

Ree-Yees can be seen in the onboard safety video for Disney's original Star Tours ride, breaking the rules by smoking and using flash photography.^[4] Ree-Yees was also included in a Star Tours Boarding Party action figure set with the three-eyed camera seen in the video; the packaging confirms his identity.^[3] Since the events of Star Tours take place after the Battle of Endor, this may present a contradiction with Tales from Jabba's Palace and the former StarWars.com Databank, both of which confirm that Ree-Yees died in the explosion of Jabba's sail barge (as seen in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi). However, it's possible the in-universe safety video could have been filmed prior to that event.