Sometimes the slimmest connections are used to explain various characters in movies after people have been given directions to think that they’re worth more attention than many are initially willing to give them. Babu Frik is one of many aliens in Rise of Skywalker that was put into the story for a purpose and was also there for a bit of comic relief since it did take away at least a little of the seriousness that had to do with why he was there in the first place. As fans and even those that simply watched the movie remember, Babu Frik was the droidsmith charged with retrieving a memory deep within C-3PO’s memory banks that couldn’t be accessed due to a programming block that had been set firmly in place. Since the droid couldn’t remove it or bypass it on his own, Babu Frik was hired to do the job, and the concept art is where we get the connection to the 1989 Gameboy, a handheld videogame that many of us likely remember owning once upon a time. The consoles that Babu was working from greatly resembled the first-generation Gameboy, and this is where the connection lies since in order to work his wonders Babu needs his equipment, even when the equipment is just about as big as he is.
That’s where the connection to the videogame starts and ends however since the rest was a fabrication to bring Babu into existence and to give him the personality that he would end up using in order to get people to pay attention. Babu doesn’t have a huge presence in the movie, but he did manage to get a lot of people on board with his presence in the same way other creatures and characters have throughout the Star Wars franchise. Ask anyone that enjoys the Ewoks or the Porgs and you might find that that there are similar reasons why such characters and creatures are thought to be more than minor annoyances to the fans that enjoy seeing them whenever they think of Star Wars. In the grand scheme of things Babu is quite honestly a valuable character since a droidsmith is a highly-specialized function in the Star Wars universe, and not the type of work that just anyone can do. Babu is obviously the type of character that a lot of people would simply look past after he serves his purpose, but there are plenty of people that have gone on to think that he’s even cuter and more useful than Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian. Of course, this is something that would be up for debate among many fans, but the idea remains that he’s a useful and desired character when it comes to the overall story and one that could possibly have a future.
Right now there’s no telling if Babu Frik will make his way into any future Star Wars movies or TV shows since the general idea is that we don’t know what’s coming from the franchise other than The Mandalorian and unless there’s a plan to see Babu’s origin in some way it doesn’t feel that we’ll be seeing him unless someone decides that he needs to come back in another movie. Babu Frik could be a character that was useful at one point but no longer has a firm place in a lot of stories since, despite his skills, he’s the kind of character that was brought in for a very specific case and might have worn out his welcome early on. There’s nothing to say that he won’t pop up in the future, but right now the likelihood of seeing him again feels like it might be kind of dicey at best. If nothing else, Disney might have rolled him out to give the movie the same feel as the other movies and figured that people would appreciate the character for what he was, a plot device that was needed at the time and was easily discarded not too long after. It’s easy to note that a lot of people aren’t really talking about Babu Frik that much these days despite the fact that fans might still be wondering just what will become of him at one point or another. Like many other characters in the Star Wars franchise he could show up again or he could be relegated to the archives at some point simply because he’s not needed and, as one might guess, he’s not that useful for much more than the purpose he was designed for.
The only problem with fictional characters that are created for a specific purpose is that once they fulfill that purpose there’s not a lot left for them when it comes to their place in the overall story. Babu Frik might return one of these days, but don’t hold your breath just yet.
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