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The Star Wars franchise has dipped into the terrain of cute, short animated content for children in the past with cartoons such as Star Wars: Blips and Star Wars: Forces of Destiny. However, their latest animated series, Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures, a faux nature series, might be the cutest entry of them all. On a mission from the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts, SF-R3, ‘Aree,’ focuses on a different creature in each short and answers a question about that creature, no matter how silly the question might seem.
Many of the creatures are obvious choices from the movies, like Porgs and Banthas. However, some creatures, like Tooka cats, appear mainly in the television series, and other creatures, like the Charhound, mainly appear in books. Therefore, the audience might not be familiar with all of the creatures that Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures chooses to feature. So, let’s take a look at each of the species Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures spotlights and the Star Wars media that they either first appear in or are most known for.
Banthas
Banthas first appear in Star Wars: A New Hope as the mounts for the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine. As Sander de Lance explains in an article for starwars.com, Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art originally imagined Banthas as more horse-like, but the actual bantha in Star Wars: A New Hope was played by Mardji, a female elephant. Later appearances by Banthas have often been created digitally instead of using actual animals in the roles. Banthas are either mentioned or appear throughout Star Wars media on multiple planets throughout the Star Wars galaxy.
Porgs
Porgs first appear in Star Wars: The Last Jedi on the planet Ahch-To, and, before the debut of Grogu in Star Wars: The Mandalorian, Porgs arguably held the crown for the cutest Star Wars creature in the galaxy. As Jake Lunt Davies, the Porg concept artist, explains in an interview with starwars.com, Porgs were added to the film to cover up the puffins that lived on Skellig Michael, the primary filming location for scenes on Ahch-to, and he did deliberately make them as cute as possible. Since their debut, Porgs have been featured in many Star Wars tales, but they mostly shine in works for children such as Star Wars: Flight of the Falcon: Pirate’s Price by Lou Anders and Chewie and the Porgs by Kevin Shinick and Fiona Hsieh.
Blurrgs
Blurrgs were originally created for Ewoks: The Battle for Endor. In the movie, the blurrgs serve as pack animals for the Sanyassan Marauders who raid Wicket’s village, murder Cindel Towani’s family and take the Ewoks hostage. However, since the Ewok movies are not actually canon, the first canonical appearance of the blurrgs is in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. They serve as mounts for the Twi’lek resistance against the Separatist army on Ryloth. The blurrgs also appear in Star Wars: The Mandalorian as part of Kuiil’s farmstead. The “Blurrg” episode of Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures is a callback to their original roots on Endor, and the Ewoks seem to have adopted the blurrgs as pets of their own.
Voorpaks
While Voorpaks first appeared in the video game Disney Infinity 3.0, they mainly have featured in Star Wars Resistance. In the series, Torra Doza, pilot in the Ace Squadron and later the Resistance, has a pet Voorpak, Buggles. Buggles even gets the spotlight in the short “Buggles’ Day Out,” in which Buggles wreaks havoc when Kazuda Xiono is asked to look after him. Like Buggles, the Voorpak featured in the “Voorpak” episode of Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures also is chaotic but adorable, vacillating between laziness and chaos as Aree trains them to guard with the help of cam, the camera bot that accompanies Aree on his journeys.
Wampas
A wampa first appears in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. On Hoth, Luke Skywalker is waylaid from returning to the Rebel base when he and his tauntaun are attacked and captured by a wampa, but Luke eventually frees himself and cuts off the wampa’s arm as he escapes. Since that first appearance, wampas either appeared or been mentioned in multiple television shows, comic books, and novels set throughout the Star Wars eras. An episode of Star Wars: Forces of Destiny also expands upon the wampa’s role in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, providing backstory for a deleted scene in which C-3PO removes a wampa warning sign from the wall as the rebels escape Echo Base.
Tookas
While tooka toys feature in multiple episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the first onscreen appearance of an actual tooka occurs in the nineteenth episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ fifth season, “To Catch a Jedi.” While many tooka cats bear a resemblance to Alice in Wonderland’s chesire cat, the loth-cat variants that appear in Star Wars Rebels have more subdued, natural colors. A loth-cat also appears “Sanctuary,” the fourth episode of the first season of Star Wars: The Mandalorian in a brief cameo. While the tooka cats and loth-cats of the Star Wars universe share some similarities to normal cats, they also are distinctly alien enough to differentiate them from their real world counterparts.
Kowakian Monkey-Lizards
The first Kowakian Monkey-Lizard to appear in the Star Wars saga is Salacious B. Crumb, Jabba the Hutt’s pet, in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Other notable Kowakian monkey lizards have been owned by Hondo Ohnaka in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Emil Graf in the Star Wars Adventures comics. As their description on the Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures website explains, kowakian monkey-lizards are “pranksters” and enjoy mischief, which means that Aree will have his work cut out for him when he encounters one in the microseries.
Mynocks
Mynocks first appear in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. When Han Solo, Chewbacca, Leia Organa and C-3PO land the Millennium Falcon in what they believe is a cave on an asteroid, they realize that they are actually in the belly of an Exogorth, or a giant space slug. While they are making repairs, mynocks attack the ship, but luckily, Han figures out the truth and gets the Falcon out of the Exogorth before they can truly be devoured. As the Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures website explains, mynocks feed on energy and electricity, making them particularly dangerous for spaceships, or, in fact, for Aree himself.
Charhounds
Charhounds are a relatively new Star Wars creature. They made their debut in Star Wars: Light of the Jedi. The Jedi stationed on Elphrona adopt Ember, a charhound, but she forms a particularly strong bond with Padawan Bell Zettifar. Charhounds like Ember can spit fire, similar to a hellhound in legends in folklore, but Ember herself is friendly and extremely loyal to her chosen people. The inclusion of charhounds in Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures connects the eras of the current Star Wars projects and opens the doors for other creatures from the Star Wars: The High Republic subseries to be featured on the show in the future.
Nexu
The nexu first appears in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones as one of the creatures used to attempt to execute Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala. While the nexu mainly focuses on Padmé, she is able to defend herself until Anakin and a reek take the nexu out completely. Another nexu appears in Star Wars: The Bad Batch prowling outside of the Lawquane family homestead in the series’ second episode “Cut and Run.” This nexu almost attacks Omega, but Suu Lawquane and Hunter scare off the beast. It is debatable whether the nexu or the wampa is the most dangerous creature that Aree will encounter in his travels for the Galactic Society of Creature Enthusiasts.
Rancors
Rancors first appear in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. Jabba the Hutt keeps Pateesa, a rancor, under his throne room, and Jabba fed people to Pateesa when they displeased him until Luke Skywalker killed Pateesa, breaking the heart of Malakili, Pateesa’s handler. While rancors have appeared throughout the eras, earlier this year, Star Wars: The Bad Batch featured Muchi, a baby Rancor in “Rampage,” the series; fifth episode. Muchi, who is both adorable and formidable, signals the truth that, as the Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures site explains, Rancors are not inherently violent creatures, and they actually can live in harmony with other species as well.
Tauntauns
Like the wampas, tauntauns first appear in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, where they serve as mounts for the Rebels stationed at Echo Base. Luke’s tauntaun unfortunately becomes a meal for the wampa, and Han Solo’s tauntaun serves posthumously as cover for Luke until Han can build a shelter for them to survive the night. As the preview for the first season of Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures shows, Aree’s main mission with the tauntauns will be befriending one so that he can ride it. Thus, if the order in which the creatures are listed on the Star Wars Galaxy of Creatures site indicates the episode release order, the first season of the microseries might end on a particularly heartwarming note if Aree succeeds on his mission.
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