As Rebels fans know, Chopper never hesitated to electrocute droids that stood in his way, nor escalate to shooting blasters and causing explosions. He also may have gotten his first taste for metaphorical digital blood as he gleefully electrocuted the Imperial droid stationed there to gain access to the terminal. Later on in Rebels, Chopper downloads, transfers and messes with Imperial data on a regular basis. The "Rescue on Ryloth" episode also introduced Chopper's first foray into hacking an Imperial ship as he plugged into the network terminal to gain access to Imperial cannons. Though Chopper in Rebels grows to care for his entire crew, this scene cemented his enduring loyalty to Hera, as they were birds of a feather and friends that will stick by each others' sides no matter what. And when her innate stubborn streak came through, and she brushed off an incoming lecture, Chopper was highly enthusiastic about going rogue with her and initiating their own plan. When a young Hera was upset at the Bad Batch's initial reluctance to help her protect her family, a worried Chopper rolled to her side to comfort her. He’s got no time for moral quandaries, he’s busy being a little robot shitstain.The Ryloth arc also gave viewers a glimpse of Chopper's enduring sweet side and tenderness toward Hera, his rescuer and friend. Chopper can, and should, get away with murder in the way no one around him really can, without Star Wars asking questions of itself ethically that are maybe a little better suited to the political thriller vibes of Andor than they’re going to be in something like Ahsoka. He’s gotta kill a few Imperial remnants just because he figured out a funny way to do it. Trying to do that to Chopper is a fool’s endeavour - he needs that comic silliness, he can’t just look like Chopper and boop like Chopper. But even if it is an accepted part of that process, you still lose something. When Star Wars brings over a character from animation to live-action, there’s always a levelling off of some of their energy and exaggerations that is just part of the process of translating something from one medium to another. Chopper fully knows what he’s doing (being a dick), and will tell you exactly that in his gruff bleeps and blorps as he rolls away chuckling about it.Īnd it’s an energy I really hope we get to see maintained in Ahsoka. That’s the energy that makes Chopper so compelling in his chaos - it never feels like he’s doing things randomly or so erratically that you don’t know what you’re going to get with him. He’s a professional that takes everything “seriously,” whether that’s getting a mission done or clowning on his allies. Maybe it’s that Chopper will also do his damn job on top of all that - sure, there’s times he gets frozen out of a system or incapacitated, but he’s also the one on the Ghost crew who fixes those problems to save the day, and still has the time on top of that to play jokes, talk shit, and yes, occasionally ice a Stormtrooper or two. But there’s something about Chopper’s irascible personality across Rebels’ four seasons that raises him above the noise to be one of Star Wars’ most perfect agents of chaos. Aphra’s dark take on R2 and 3PO in Triple-Zero and BT, gleefully killer assassin droids. Knights of the Old Republic brought us the loveable-yet-petrifying, meatbag-crackin’ HK-47, and Marvel’s Star Wars comics gave us Dr. R2-D2 of course started all that, and that was even before he was flying around with jet rockets in the prequels and setting his fellow droid-kin on fire. But no droid has ever felt more true to the ragtag heroic ethos of Star Wars than Hera Syndulla’s very own little freak, Chopper.ĭon’t get me wrong, Star Wars’ wider media universe has long had droids that lean towards going goblin mode rather than the stiff-lipped comedic foils seen in the likes of C-3PO. Their portrayal has run the gamut from revolutionary to servant underclass, to killer foes and straight-laced allies. Star Wars’ relationship with droids has always been weird.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |