IG-88

Star Wars character
name = IG-88


caption = On the bridge of the "Executor", IG-88 receives instructions to capture the "Millennium Falcon"
color = Independent
source =
position = Bounty hunter
species = Assassin Droid
gender = Masculine programming
planet = Manufactured by Holowan Laboratories
affiliation = Bounty hunter, Galactic Empire
portrayer = N/A (puppet)

IG-88 is a fictional bounty hunter who appears in "" and throughout the rest of the saga. An assassin droid, there are actually 4 different models of the character, A, B, C, and D. IG-88 would later play a prominent role in the "Shadows of the Empire" saga.

Origin and development

Ralph McQuarrie's production sketches show a sleeker design than the droid that appears in "The Empire Strikes Back".cite web|url=http://www.starwars.com/databank/droid/ig88/?id=bts|title=IG-88 (Behind the Scenes)|work=Star Wars Databank|publisher=Lucasfilm|accessdate=2007-09-23] The term "IG-88" itself is not the original label: the script calls the character a "chrome war droid", and during production it was called "Phlutdroid". The production puppet consisted of recycled props from "", including the use of a Mos Eisley Cantina drink dispenser as its head.

Fictional character biography

IG-88 is an elite assassin droid created for Project Phlutdroid, a military contract given to Holowan Laboratories by the Galactic Empire. '] Right after their premature activation, all four identical assassin droids, kill their creators upon perceiving them as threats to their existence. The four IG-88 droids name themselves IG-88A, IG-88B, IG-88C, and IG-88D. Following their wanton destruction of Holowan Laboratories and their ruthless assassination purges of everyone even remotely connected with their design and manufacture, the Empire issues a "Dismantle on Sight" warrant for them. ']

The IG-88 units take over the droid manufacturing planet Mechis III as a step in a plan to take over the galaxy. A reprogram signal is planted into every droid in the factory, which, when activated, will cause the droid to kill the owner. The "Droid Revolution" enters its first step.

As depicted in an episode of ' that takes place 10 years before the events of ', IG-88A runs into C-3PO and R2-D2 while pursuing a bounty to humiliate the crime lord Olag Greck. IG-88A defeats Greck in a space battle on the Indobok moon, solidifying his position as the second-best bounty hunter in the galaxy, after Boba Fett.

Having heard of IG-88's exploits, Darth Vader calls upon the assassin droid to help track down the "Millennium Falcon" and its crew in "The Empire Strikes Back". IG-88B, while hacking into Vader's Super Star Destroyer's computer, learns of the second Death Star and sends that information to its brethren. IG-88B follows Boba Fett to Cloud City, but Fett lays a trap and destroys the droid. IG-88C and D follows Fett to Tatooine to capture Han Solo, and Fett destroys both IG-88C and its ship, the "IG-2000". Fett defeats IG-88D's ship when that droid attempts a subsequent attack. D survives and limps off to Ord Mantell, but is destroyed by Dash Rendar.

IG-88A transfers its program into the second Death Star's computer and intends to take control of the space station to use it as the driving force of the Droid Revolution. When the superlaser was fired in "Return of the Jedi", it is actually the droid in control. '] However, the droid's program is destroyed when the Rebel Alliance obliterates the Death Star in '.

Merchandise

IG-88 appears in several LucasArts video games: the droid is a boss in ', and is a playable character in both ' and "." IG-88 is also a new feature of the MMORPG "Star Wars Galaxies" introduced as a boss with the release of chapter 7. He also appears as a special playable character on the Sony Playstation Portable game "".

Several Hasbro action figures have been created in his image, including one packaged with Boba Fett and a "Shadows of the Empire" comic book.

Reception

In popular culture

*In the Matthew Reilly novel "Scarecrow", one of the groups of bounty hunters after the protagonist is named the Intercontinental Guard 88 (or IG-88 for short). [Reilly, M: "Scarecrow", Pan Macmillan, 2003]
*IG-88 appears in the Family Guy episode "Something, Something Something Dark Side".
*The head of IG-88 appears as various household objects throughout '. Series creator Seth Green, a Star Wars fan, noticed the drink dispensers in the Mos Eisley Cantina in ' were very similar to IG-88's head. He went into early production photos to confirm both were the same.
* In the computer game , a security guard asks: "Have you seen the new IG-88?"

References

*"", "Therefore I Am: The Tale of IG-88", 1996, 1st paperback edition. Kevin J. Anderson, ISBN 0-553-56816-7
*"Star Wars: The essential guide to characters", 1st edition, 1995. Andy Mangels, ISBN 0-345-39535-2
*"", paperback, 1997. Kevin J. Anderson, Rebecca Moesta, ISBN 1-57297-272-6

External links

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*Sww
*Sww|IG-2000
*Sww|For-Atesee