By : Valeda Kor
Whether they're called robots or cyborgs or droids, a staple of science fiction writing is that a mechanical device is often used to reinforce the moral judgment of a story. That outcome can be positive or negative, depending on the writer's point of view. Can a "killer droid" feel remorse? In Sir Gerry's capable hands in "The Circle of Life," it certainly can.
This is a highly inventive story, told from a battledroid's point of view as "he" and his fellow mechaniks, to borrow Boss Nass's word, wait to face the Gungan army. Sir Gerry has given his readers a neat, plausible excuse to explain why 52-K is able to remember his own thoughts, and to react in an anthropomorphic fashion to the images around him. It's difficult to keep from making such a "character" too cutesy and contrived, yet the author manages it very well.
It takes little imagination to transform the droid's thoughts and comments on the fight being waged, and the reasoning behind it, to the realities of human aggression. The droid comes to a realization of why anyone, mythical people or no, fight against overwhelming odds. An affirmation of an eternal theme -- of good triumphing over evil -- "The Circle of Life" is a fictional reminder that in a
Star Wars-driven universe, whereby heroes are found in every shape and form, higher ideals are alive and well on the plains of Naboo.
