In 1997, episodes 5–8 were edited together to make The Pirates and the Prince, and in 2004 episodes 10–13 were edited together to make Treasure of the Hidden Planet. The Pirates and the Prince combines four of the five episodes of the Mon Julpa arc into one story, while Treasure of the Hidden Planet combines the four episodes of the Mungo Baobab arc into one story. Though "Coby and the Starhunters" was originally part of the Mon Julpa story arc, the episode isn't included in the feature version. The original opening credits and theme song are not included as part of the films, and were replaced with simple credit sequences and new scores by .
Besides cutting the theme song of the series, many other small modifications were made for the home video releases, most notably changes to the soundtrack. Sy Snootles and the Max Rebo Band are seen singing a different song than they sang in the original series. Some dialogue has been changed/added for each episode to better lead into the next. While the first installment has the character of Uncle Gundy dubbed by a different actor, the other two feature new lines by the character of Mon Julpa. The original codas for the first three episodes of the feature are cut short. From the first episode ("The Lost Prince") only a few seconds are cut, but the second ("The New King") and third ("The Pirates of Tarnoonga") are each missing an entire scene. One involves C-3PO and R2-D2 talking about their newly received medals, while the other sees them sharing an oil bath and playing with toy bordoks. These omissions and the added dialog were intended to make the story into a consistent whole, in order to give it more of a feature-film feeling.
The cover of the 2004 DVD release of Star Wars: Droids
In 1997, Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox released the film on VHS. Fox created a commercial advertising the newly edited film, along with its counterpart Ewoks animated film, The Haunted Village. The commercial was included on the release, and was later hidden on the 2004 DVD release. The initial shipments of the tapes were sent to many stores in a display bin that featured a Star Wars Animated Classics header. Several stores also received a merchandising kit with shelf danglers, shelf talkers, countertop displays, mobiles and buttons.
The Pirates and the Prince was released on Region 1 DVD on November 23, 2004 under the title Star Wars Animated Adventures: Droids. It contained both The Pirates and the Prince and Treasure of the Hidden Planet. These compilation films were later released in several Region 4 countries, such as Brazil (the Brazilian edition was released in 2005 with the Region 1 and 4 codes on the same disc) and Australia.
The Pirates and the Prince DVD menu