The initial episode, "The White Witch," belongs to the series, Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO. This episode, penned by Peter Sauder and with direction by Ken Stephenson, was initially broadcasted on September 7, 1985 via ABC. It functioned as the pilot episode for the entire series.
Following their ejection onto the Ingo deserts by a dishonest former owner, C-3PO starts looking through the debris for his droid partner, R2-D2. C-3PO assumes his friend perished in the corrosive acid salt, and bids him farewell. However, R2-D2 quickly emerges from the sand, making C-3PO complain. While going through the desert, the two droids notice a landspeeder passing by.
The initial landspeeder drives past, but a subsequent one, operated by a human man with orange hair called Thall Joben, halts for them. C-3PO introduces Thall to himself and R2-D2. As Joben examines R2-D2, a second landspeeder driven by Jord Dusat shows up. Jord mentions they were searching for an astromech droid and inquires about R2-D2's state. Joben answers that R2-D2 has some circuit corrosion and a few dents, but he is repairable. C-3PO gets worried about being disregarded, but Joben and Dusat assure him that they are now his masters. Jord welcomes C-3PO to their racing team, and the two racers head home together with their new droids.
Thall and Jord journey through a zone with restrictions. A masked human woman spots them, and she worries that the seeker droids will eliminate them unless she intervenes. C-3PO sees the seeker droids and warns Thall, who accelerates his speeder. Thall drives the speeder towards a canyon, resulting in one of the seekers crashing into a rockface. C-3PO is ejected from his speeder due to an abrupt, jerky movement. Thall barely avoids a collision with a second seeker drone.
Two more seeker drones go after Jord, who jumps out of his speeder while wearing a bouncy suit. Thall proceeds to pick up Joben. Meanwhile, C-3PO comes across a Fromm Tower Droid, which gets ready to fire at him. However, the masked woman hurls a grenade that obliterates the armored vehicle. C-3PO feels relieved. The masked woman removes her face covering from a distance, revealing herself to be a woman with dark hair. Joben congratulates C-3PO, thinking that he destroyed the Tower Droid. Thall makes the decision to leave because someone clearly wants them gone.
Vlix Oncard, the security chief of the Fromm Gang's, informs Tig Fromm that the intruders managed to escape. When the assistant inquires whether they should inform his father Sise Fromm, Tig declines, promising to finish the Trigon One, which he intends to use against the Fromm Gang's competitors. The assistant is worried that the two intruders will expose their secret project, but Tig vows to handle them first.
At a speeder shop, Thall and Jord are repairing Thall's landspeeder, which sustained damage during the desert skirmish. Jord expresses sadness over his lost speeder. Thall shows the droids his prized landspeeder, the White Witch. Jord is humble regarding his contributions, but Thall emphasizes that his friend handles the majority of the labor and driving. Jord is hopeful about racing the White Witch, but Thall points out that they must first transport the speeder offworld. Jord responds they have a whole team before hugging the droid.
Later that night, Kea notices a pair of armored landspeeders approaching Thall's speeder shop. A muscle droid has Jord cornered. C-3PO alerts Thall about the intruders. Upon returning to the speeder shop, the three discover Jord is missing and the shop is in disarray. The dark-haired woman joins them, revealing that a couple of Muscle droids abducted their friend. She introduces herself as Kea Moll and explains that her Starruner-class starship was damaged on the salt flats due to engine issues. She wants Thall to fix it, but realizes that he has his own problems.
Thall detects movement outside the speeder shop and goes to investigate. C-3PO believes there is nothing out there. While Thall is attempting to start his speeder, he is confronted by several muscle droids. Kea intervenes, utilizing the White Witch to rescue Thall and chase away the intruders. Vlix is unimpressed with the droid's performance, but Tig dismisses it as a glitch. Tig states that he does not trust anyone who are not droids. Vlix disagrees and teases him by calling him Tiggy. Tig worries that word will spread about his secret operations base or the Trigon One.
Later, Thall and Kea examine Tig Fromm's secret base, which is being guarded by a Fromm Tower Droid. Kea suspects that Thall's friend Jord is inside. R2-D2 has already infiltrated the base. When C-3PO questions how they will extract his companion, Thall suggests employing a decoy to facilitate entry and exit. C-3PO expresses pessimism about serving as a decoy. Inside the base, R2-D2 connects to an access terminal. With R2-D2 in position, Thall uses the White Witch as a decoy to draw a Tower Droid and behead it. This enables R2-D2 to rejoin them.
Thall, the droids, and Kea discover a service tunnel. R2-D2 also provides Thall with a schematic of Fromm's base, including his detention cells. Thall asks C-3PO about the odds of navigating the Witch through the service tubes, rescuing Jord, and escaping. C-3PO is pessimistic about their chances of success, while Thall and Kea are more hopeful.
In the meantime, Vlix brings Jord before Tig Fromm. Tig declares that he is distinct from his father Sise Fromm and that technology, not ancient blood ties and old world methods, is the key to the power of the new Fromm Gang. Jord is familiar with Sise's infamous criminal activities, which include kidnapping, extorting and blaster running. Tig warns that he is an ambitious man and dismisses his friendship. Jord asks what he wants to know.
Tig responds that he wants his silence, fearing that information about his base will leak into the hands of his rivals Jabba and Arnat. Jord senses Tig's ambitions, but Tig does not appreciate his jokes and humor. Tig instructs Vlix to transfer Jord to his father's stronghold on Annoo. Jord says that his friends will get him out but Vlix throws him to the ground and claims that he is better than Tig's droids.
Thall reveals that one of his previous customers left behind a blue lightsaber. Thall uses his lightsaber to cut down a blast door. While Thall and R2-D2 travel through the service tube, he tells C-3PO and Kea to monitor his position and to redirect the traffic out of his path. C-3PO and Kea work together to guide Thall past a loading area. While they are redirecting the traffic, the two are confronted by a blue Fiddler 10 droid. C-3PO claims they are maintenance droids and the automatic service systems are malfunctioning.
The Fiddler 10 droid points out that it is part of the maintenance crew and doesn't recognize them. C-3PO claims they are security and that somebody sabotaged the systems. A second Snic 2-4-2 droid arrives. C-3PO tries to claim the new droid is the culprit but the droids realize that C-3PO and Kea are intruders. A scuffle breaks out and the two Fromm droids are destroyed when they collide. Kea compliments C-3PO for his fighting prowess.
Thall warns C-3PO that the gates are closing. Kea and C-3PO try to open the gates but find that it has an override system. C-3PO kicks the control console, giving Thall and R2-D2's speeder enough time to slip through. Kea helps C-3PO up. Thall travels up the elevator shaft, narrowly avoiding being crushed by a descending lift. Thall takes his speeder through a lift door. A joyous Jord knocks two Fromm droids into a lift shaft and rejoins his friend. Thall frees Jord from his restraints with his lightsabers.
Thall and Jord's speeder dodges laser fire. Watching the escape via security cameras, Tig orders Vlix to cut off the escapees at Subsection Five. C-3PO however redirects the Snic 2-4-2 droids to Subsection Six. The White Witch plows through several Fiddler 10 droids. Tig orders Vlix to send more cruiser droids, shut down the power to the laser pods, and to seal exits. Vlix warns that the sentry droids will blow up his droid cruisers. Tig panics and tells Vlix to shut down power to the laser pods. Vlix grumbles that this is what happens when you send droids to do a man's job.
Thall races on the White Witch through the service tunnel with R2-D2 and Jord. Kea and C-3PO prepare to exit the control room but are confronted by several Snic 2-4-2 droids. C-3PO pretends to have captured Kea but Thall rams through the Snic 2-42 droids. C-3PO calls out to his master. Thall returns and together they go through a garage full of several deactivated Fromm Tower Droids. The group find their path out of the garage blocked by several droid cruisers.
C-3PO heads to the override controls, which is guarded by a security droid. C-3PO tricks the security droid into destroying most of the console, allowing him to reactive the Fromm Tower droids. The Tower droids race out but are attacked by the cruiser droids, with several being destroyed. Thall takes advantage of the fighting to escape with his friends. They flee past several seeker droids through a canyon which leads into the restricted zone. A spherical droid gives chase but Thall destroys it with an object.
Meanwhile, Vlix chastises Tig Fromm for his failure, warning that the other gangs won't respond well to their attempted take over. Tig wants to take a long vacation and suggests the swamps of Borga. Vlix chuckles.
While flying through space aboard Kea's ship Sand Sloth, Jord says that this is the last they will hear from Tig Fromm for a while. Jord thanks Thall for getting them and the White Witch offworld so that they can compete in the Boonta Speeder Race. Jord is jubilant. Kea points out that she was the one who risked her neck to save theirs. Jord is grateful towards R2-D2 for helping them but C-3PO doesn't think well of R2-D2's abilities. C-3PO boasts of his abilities but is humbled when he trips.
"The White Witch" saw two releases on VHS; in the US, J2 Communications released it in 1990 as a component of their "The Star Wars Trilogy Animated Collection." It appeared on the Volume 1 "Special Double-Length Edition" cassette alongside "Escape Into Terror." The second VHS release occurred in the UK. However, it still hasn't had an official DVD release in any region.
This episode was turned into a children's storybook with the title The White Witch: A Droid Adventure. The episode's title may be a reference to Jadis the White Witch, the primary antagonist in C.S. Lewis's novel The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
The opening sequence marks the first appearance of the craft retconned to be the R-22 Spearhead, although it is sold in the Kenner toy line as an A-wing.