The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot

The Mystery of the Rebellious Robot is a children's storybook published by Random House in 1979. It was written by Eleanor Ehrhardt (uncredited in the book itself) and illustrated by Mark Corcoran. It is one of three such children's Star Wars storybooks released that year, along with The Wookiee Storybook and The Maverick Moon. It takes place at an unspecified time after Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. It was one of the few works licensed by the short-lived Lucasfilm subsidiary Black Falcon Ltd.
==Publisher's summary==
Luke Skywalker and his companions are puzzled by the sudden bizarre behavior of their robots and the malfunction of their machines.
==Plot summary==
Han Solo and his Wookiee first mate, Chewbacca, are on their way to Tatooine aboard the Millennium Falcon when R2-D2 suddenly shuts down. Chewbacca oils the droid, who then goes berserk and hijacks the ship. Luke Skywalker arrives from Tatooine in his X-wing starfighter and uses the Force to guide the smuggler's craft to safety in a hangar on the planet.
Upon arrival, Luke asks Han and Chewbacca to report R2-D2's behavior in a conference being held to discuss the mysterious acts of sabotage Captain Egoreg's super-vaporator project was suffering. The planet was having a severe moisture drought, and Luke and his friends decided to help the residents out by building a super-vaporator in order to pluck more water from the dry desert air. However, the mission was being beset by all manner of strange failures involving faulty machines and erratic droid behavior.
During the meeting the conference room was wracked by a minor explosion. No one was hurt except C-3PO, who was shuttled down to Maintenance for some repairs. After emerging from an oil bath, the protocol droid could no longer talk! The oil had been contaminated, and was the source of the rebellious droids that the project was having trouble with. Luckily, a nearby maintenance droid noticed and cleaned both R2-D2 and C-3PO's systems of the fluid. The trio rushed to tell Egoreg that they had found the source of the malfunctioning robots.
However, en route they bumped into the true source of the problem—Jawas! A small group of them had infiltrated the compound and began stealing items for the super-vaporator, damaging machinery and spoiling the oil supply. In the ensuing scuffle C-3PO and the maintenance droid were knocked down, but R2-D2 managed to send a distress signal. Han and Chewbacca were the first to show up, and Chewbacca roared a primal Wookiee yell to frighten the small bandits into submission.
When asked why they were doing damage to the super-vaporator project, the Jawas stated that they figured damaged machinery is thrown out faster, after which they could take it easily. The Jawas were punished afterwards, and Chewbacca was presented with a medal for saving the day.
==Appearances==
==Behind the scenes==
The time period of this story is unspecified. No mention is made of the Rebellion or the Empire, hinting that the war is over. But Luke is portrayed as less than fully adept with the Force, and his and Leia's hairstyles match those they sported in A New Hope.
There are several internal inconsistencies between the text and the illustrations. For example, although the compound is said to be on Tatooine, the interior looks very much like the Massassi Temple on Yavin 4; in fact, outside the hangar in which the Millennium Falcon docks, trees are visible, as well as a spire resembling those outside the Rebel base on Yavin 4. Also, the text calls the maintenance droid that assists R2-D2 and C-3PO an R2 unit, but the picture of it resembles an R5-series model. However, it should be noted that Luke refers to R5-D4 as an "R2 unit" in A New Hope, so this might be seen as a common generalization.
==Sources==
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==External links==
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==Notes and references==
Category:Legends Young Readers