Buboicullaar, often shortened to Bubo, was a male frog-dog who served as a pet and guard dog for the Hutt crime lord Jabba the Hutt. Residing in Jabba's palace located on the desert planet of Tatooine, he successfully prevented numerous assassination attempts, despite being widely regarded as a simple, unintelligent nuisance. The Gran named Ree-Yees was responsible for the frog-dog's care. However, on one occasion, he lost track of Buboicullaar aboard Jabba's sail barge, known as the Khetanna. Ree-Yees pledged to Jabba that he would locate his ward and tidy up the barge, but Buboicullaar managed to evade his keeper during the search. When Ree-Yees felt he was out of time, Jabba simply summoned Buboicullaar by calling his name.
In the year 4 ABY, Buboicullaar barked in the direction of the protocol droid C-3PO as the droid, accompanied by the astromech droid R2-D2, entered Jabba's throne room to deliver a message on behalf of the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker. Later that day, the frog-dog was present during a performance of the song "Jedi Rocks" by the Max Rebo Band, which culminated in the enslaved dancer Oola being fed to Jabba's pet rancor, Pateesa. Subsequently, Buboicullaar bore witness to Princess Leia Organa, disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, threatening Jabba and his entourage with a thermal detonator in an attempt to negotiate the bounty placed on the Wookiee Chewbacca.
Living within the palace of Jabba Desilijic Tiure, the Hutt crime lord, on the desert planet Tatooine, was Buboicullaar, also simply called "Bubo," a male frog-dog. His role was to function as a guard dog for the crime lord, protecting him from various assassination attempts, including one instance where he thwarted an attempt by consuming the detonation link required for a bomb to explode. Ree-Yees, a Gran, was assigned the unenviable task of caring for Buboicullaar. However, on one occasion, he lost track of the frog-dog while aboard Jabba's sail barge, the Khetanna, as it traveled across Tatooine.
The Gran, pleading for his life, promised to locate Buboicullaar and also to clean the entire sail barge to prevent his ward from wandering off again. Jabba granted Ree-Yees the time it would take for the Khetanna to return to the palace to fulfill his promises. Buboicullaar roamed the barge, ignoring Ree-Yees as the Gran cleaned and called out for him. When Ree-Yees presented a plate of fecal worms, Buboicullaar's preferred [food](/article/foodstuff], as bait, the guard dog simply ate the worms when the Gran wasn't looking and continued to avoid him.
Eventually, Ree-Yees cleaned the pit on the barge where Jabba housed a krayt dragon and discovered Buboicullaar's dog tag among sewage beneath a grate in the room. The Gran escaped from the pit, assuming Buboicullaar had been devoured, and upon reaching the top deck, saw that the barge had arrived at Jabba's Palace. To spare Jabba the trouble, Ree-Yees offered to throw himself overboard, but instead of executing the Gran, Jabba simply called out to Buboicullaar. Hearing his name, the frog-dog emerged onto the deck, much to Ree-Yees' surprise. The Hutt then laughed at the Gran and instructed him to take better care of Buboicullaar in the future.
In 4 ABY, Buboicullaar was positioned in the entryway to Jabba's throne room when the Hutt's majordomo, Bib Fortuna, along with a pair of Gamorrean guards, escorted the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO into the room. As C-3PO brushed past the frog-dog, Buboicullaar began barking loudly but ceased once the group had passed, turning to listen as they addressed Jabba. R2-D2 projected a holographic message from the droid's master, the Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker, in which Skywalker requested to bargain with Jabba for the freedom of the smuggler Han Solo and gifted the droids to Jabba as a sign of goodwill. Once the message concluded, the Hutt declared he had no intention of relinquishing the imprisoned Solo, who he displayed frozen in carbonite on the wall of the throne room, and ordered the droids to be taken away to begin their work.
During a performance of the song "Jedi Rocks" by the Max Rebo Band, Buboicullaar was later seated on the floor of the throne room with a Jawa holding his chain. He swayed to the music as the enslaved dancers Oola and Yarna d'al' Gargan performed in front of him. However, after Jabba requested the song be repeated, Oola resisted advances made by Jabba during the second performance. The Hutt then dropped the dancer through a trap door into the pit beneath the throne room, and the court, including the Jawa holding the frog-dog's chain, rushed forward to a grating in front of Buboicullaar to witness her fate. Buboicullaar continued to sway as the crowd cheered while watching Pateesa, Jabba's pet rancor, devour Oola.
Once the spectacle concluded, the court's attention was drawn to the courtroom's entrance by the sound of blaster fire. Buboicullaar turned to identify the source of the sound as courtiers began approaching to investigate, but its origin quickly became apparent when Princess Leia Organa, disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh, entered with the Wookiee Chewbacca as her prisoner. She dragged Chewbacca to the center of the room in front of the frog-dog and presented her prisoner to Jabba, who offered the twenty-five thousand credit bounty he had placed on the Wookiee.
To that, Organa demanded double that amount, revealing an armed thermal detonator as leverage. While most of those present in the room ducked for cover, Buboicullaar began to sway more energetically, and Jabba merely laughed, counter-offering thirty-five thousand credits instead. Organa accepted and deactivated the detonator, and the band began to play once more as Chewbacca was led away. Organa and Skywalker himself were later captured by Jabba but ultimately killed the Hutt and much of his court when they were taken to be executed at the Great Pit of Carkoon.
In 34 ABY, the memory banks of the astromech droid C2-B9 contained an internal data record that depicted Buboicullaar in Jabba's Palace alongside the Jawa holding his chain and several other court members seated in a booth. The image was paired with a question about whether the sail barge should be repaired. An illustration of Buboicullaar, along with a description and caption, was included in a journal from an artist, which was restored, expanded, and exhibited at the Graf Archive at some point no earlier than 34 ABY.
Buboicullaar possessed a large mouth with sharp, protruding teeth, giving him an appearance that was simultaneously grotesque, ferocious, and ridiculous. Due to his looks, many in Jabba's Palace assumed that the frog-dog was merely a pest, not an intelligent being. In reality, Buboicullaar was significantly smarter than many of the Hutt's other employees. He would growl at anyone who approached him. Buboicullaar weighed 35 kilograms but could pull up to 119 kilograms (262 pounds) using his tongue. He consumed gorgs but would have preferred to eat Salacious B. Crumb, the Kowakian monkey-lizard who served as Jabba's court jester.
Buboicullaar wore a circular golden dog tag with his name inscribed on it in an alien script.
The role of Buboicullaar was played by Franki Anderson, who was six months pregnant at the time, in the 1983 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi. The creature's costume consisted of a suit worn on the upper half of the performer's body and operated from below the raised throne room set. The costume was based on a maquette of Buboicullaar.
According to a list of all the creatures being created for the film, dated November 4, 1981, the character was listed as number fourteen with the production name "Bubo," based on the frog-dog's resemblance to a blister. The palace throne room scenes were filmed between January 25 and February 8, 1982 on Stage 8 at Elstree Studios.