Enjoy 1979’s Star Wars: The Mystery Of The Rebellious Robot

Friends, as I have shared before, even though growing up in a single parent household, thanks to my Grandparents as well as birthdays and Holidays, I did manage to get quite a bit of Star Wars merchandise. While that might have mostly been the action figures that Kenner toys produced in great number, I also had my fair share of playsets and a handful of vehicles. Surprisingly I did not collect many of the storybooks beyond the 1978 pop-up book published by Random House as well as the book and records for the original trilogy, which were released by Buena Vista Records. So, that was a long and convoluted way of saying that I never had the pleasure of reading 1979’s Star Wars: The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot.

Considering that the Droid characters of the Star Wars universe have quite often been my favorite characters – I am a little surprised I didn’t pick up The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot through a school book fair or one of the Weekly Reader book club order forms.

Released by Random House in 1979, it was written by Eleanor Ehrhardt, who would also pen two more Star Wars storybooks that year with The Maverick Moon and The Wookie Storybook. The illustrator for The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot was Mark Corcoran – who also provided award-winning illustrations for the likes of Highlights magazine.

The story for The Rebellious Robot concerns a devastating drought that is taking place on Tatooine – the Millennium Falcon is en route with Han Solo, Chewbacca, and R2-D2 delivering parts for a Super-Vaporator to Luke Skywalker and a group of scientists on the arid planet. Just as they start their approach to Tatooine, the astromech droid suddenly powers down – with Han suggesting that Chewie oil R2 – which results in the droid going rogue and taking control of the Millennium Falcon. Luke is able to save the day – but it’s clear that something is causing big problems for the Super-Vaporator project and the stalwart R2-D2 as well as C-3P0.

Now, enjoy this fan-made adaptation of Star Wars: The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot – which includes a full cast reading, music, and even animation.