Ody Mandrell Ody Mandrell was a male Er ' Kit who hailed from the planet of Tatooine , home to the famed Boonta Eve Classic Podrace . Mandrell eventually joined the sport of Podracing , and acquired a team of Pit Droids that would go on to set Podracing records while in his possession . During a Boonta race that took place during the Invasion of Naboo , which happened during the last decades of the Galactic Republic , one of Mandrell ' s droid s was sucked into one of the engine turbines on Mandrell ' s Podracer . Although the droid survived , the vehicle was damaged , forcing Mandrell to retire from the race . Biography . A male Er ' Kit from the desert planet of Tatooine , Ody Mandrell was excited enough by the local sport of Podracing to join up and become a Podracer pilot himself . Looking for fast - paced thrills , Mandrell acquired a large red color ed Podracer with round engine s , along with three Pit Droids with similar colors . Together , the team set out into the world of Podracing , where the droid s became infamous for breaking several Podracing records . However , the droids were not always the friendliest of peers . During the final decades of the Galactic Republic , the peaceful planet of Naboo was invaded , which was a major galactic event . Simultaneously , and unbothered by this occurrence , the annual Boonta Eve Classic Podrace returned to Tatooine for another run . Mandrell was able to earn a spot in the race , and started near the back of the starting grid . Mandrell was given a warm welcome by the race ' s Troig commentators , Fode and Beed , who also announced the presence of his pit droid crew . However , before the race even began , Mandrell ' s droids were involved with a small skirmish amongst themselves . Eventually , the race ' s host , Jabba the Hutt , arrived to start off the race . The Er ' Kit raced his way to the middle of the pack , and stayed near the front , avoiding many obstacles along the way , including the race ' s favored contestant , Sebulba , who was playing very aggressively . Complications arose , though , forcing Mandrell to make a pit - stop at the beginning of the second lap . One of his Pit Droids , frustrated with one of the others , tried to approach his counterpart , inadvertently walking in front of one Mandrell ' s large , active engines . The droid was sucked in through the intake , and was shot out the other side , completely intact and operational . However , the engine was completely shot after the incident , leaving Mandrell to mourn his loss from his cockpit . Personality and traits . A thrill seeking Er ' Kit in over his head , Ody Mandrell respected his audience enough to return their cheers of adoration with a cheerful smile and a wave of his hand , although when it came to his Pit Droids , he could be ill - tempered and demanding . During his pit - stop , he became fairly demanding and impatient as his droids hustled to accomplish their work . However , when his engine was destroyed by one of the droids , Mandrell could only sigh in exasperation as his chances of winning the race were dodged . Mandrell stood at 1 . 63 meter s , atop long skinny legs . Mandrell had predominantly blue skin , with a dark indigo - like color going down the center of his elongated head , while the left and right sides of his cranium were a lighter shade . A similar pattern adorned his arms . His face and the front of his neck and torso were a very pale blue color . Behind the scenes . Ody Mandrell was created for the 1999 film , which was directed by George Lucas . Mandrell was designed by several concept artists , and the character was eventually established by a sculpted figure based on art by Terryl Whitlatch and Jay Shuster . Mandrell was ultimately portrayed as a wholly computer generated character , who was voiced by Matthew Wood . Mandrell ' s final design differed greatly from the maquette , most notably being in that the sculpt and the computer model had very different looking legs . While the sculpt gave Mandrell thick legs with more Human like feet , the full computer model had thin , long legs with flat round feet . Although Mandrell ' s legs couldn ' t be seen in the film , an action figure released by Hasbro during the film ' s original run depicted the way Mandrell ' s legs looked , based on the computer model . However , there were actually two different models created for the character . In addition to the detailed model used for close up shots and what the toy was based on , there was a low resolution model used for distance shots , where the more detailed model wasn ' t needed . Close ups of the low resolution face received heavy exposure due to the image being used on official merchandise and the original Star Wars Databank . The low res model appeared on the packaging of the original action figure , and in the tie - in video game " " .