The New King " The New King " is the sixth episode of " " . Written by Peter Sauder and directed by Ken Stephenson , the episode originally aired on ABC on October 12 , 1985 . Plot summary . Jessica Meade transports Prince Mon Julpa , Jann Tosh , C - 3PO and R2 - D2 back to the planet Tammuz - an , so that Julpa can regain his rightful place as king . Currently , the royal vizier , Ko Zatec - Cha has subverted the throne with plans to rule the planet once he regains the royal scepter of Tammuz - an – his symbol of office . To this end , he hires the bounty hunter , IG - 88 , to capture Mon Julpa and acquire the scepter . Jann Tosh and the others are flying through space when a pirate corsair named Gir Kybo Ren - Cha attempts to overtake their ship . Jessica ' s expert flying prevents them from being blasted into pieces , and they receive assistance from a very unlikely source – IG - 88 . The assassin droid opens fire on Captain Kybo ' s ship preventing him from overtaking the heroes . He doesn ' t want anyone destroying his bounty . Jann and the others finally arrive at Tammuz - an . In order to secure Mon Julpa ' s position as ruler , he must return the royal scepter to the Keeper of the Tower at the top of the royal palace by the first sun of the equinox . They take up temporary residence at one of the townhouses in the capital city . Jessica Meade goes to a local medical station to treat some wounds she received during her battle with Captain Kybo . Zatec - Cha ' s guards intercept her at the med - station and abduct her . Meanwhile , Jann Tosh notices Zatec - Cha ' s aide , Vinga skulking about outside the castle . Jann and the droids chase after him , leaving Mon Julpa defenseless . Jann , Threepio and Artoo turn into an alleyway where they find several of Zatec - Cha ' s guards waiting in ambush . Back at the townhouse , IG - 88 grabs the royal scepter and uses it to capture Mon Julpa . All of the prisoners ( including Jessica ) are taken back to the royal palace where they are thrown into a pit containing a large monster known as a Durkii . R2 - D2 calms the creature down by removing several bothersome insects known as Kleex from its scales . With the pests removed from its hide , the Durkii ceases to be a threat . Once they escape , they race to the uppermost towers of the palace to stop Zatec - Cha before the first sun . They succeed in intercepting him and Mon Julpa places the royal scepter in its housing , thereby solidifying himself as the proper ruler of Tammuz - an . To show his gratitude he makes Jann an advisor to his court . Behind the scenes . " The New King " was released as part of the feature film " The Pirates and the Prince " on VHS format in 1999 and on the " Star Wars : Droids " DVD in 2004 . This episode marks the first appearance of the craft retcon ned to be the R - 22 Spearhead , although it is identified in the episode as an A - wing . Some have speculated that " A - wing " may simply be a nickname for the craft developed by the Tammuz - an , which the Rebel Alliance decided to use as their name for the craft when they later used it . Although the B - Wing wasn ' t invented until 1 ABY , a B - Wing can arguably be seen in this episode . Although this may be interpreted as a continuity error , Leland Chee has suggested that the vehicle appearing to be a B - wing might actually be an H - 60 Tempest bomber . If true , this would be reminiscent of the R - 22 Spearhead retcon which was made in order to explain the presence of A - wing - type vehicles in the series , since A - wings have not yet been invented during the time period the series is set in . Ko Zatec - Cha actually hired IG - 88 before the events of " The Lost Prince " ; the droid was mentioned to be searching for Mon Julpa in that episode . The ship that IG - 88 pilots was identified as " IG - 1000 " in Part 2 of Abel G . Peña ' s online blog " The Droids Re - Animated " , and classified as a modified variant of the TIE / LN starfighter .