Musings on new and old Star Wars

[den]

At some point in R2D2's future (between movies 3 & 4) he has a serious downgrade of his graphics projection unit to replace his current nifty unit with a vector graphics unit. And they rip out his jets.

R2D2 should be pissed off.

Comments

[charles.livejournal.com]

He'll have no reason to be pissed off because he won't remember ever having them. At some point near the end of episode 3, both droids have to have their memories completely wiped. Their behaviour at the start of Star Wars makes no sense otherwise.

Of course, it's harder to explain why Anakin fails to recognise both his droids and his home planet in Episodes 4-6.

[hedgegoth.livejournal.com]

or that Uncle Owen doesn't recognize C3PO either. Especially when he introduces himself by name. Or that Ben Kenobi doesn't recognize them either.
Plot holes? In Star Wars? Lord forbid!

[blaisepascal]

A friend of mine were discussing this the other day...

First of all, keep in mind that Ben Kenobi doesn't talk much, and he dissembles quite a lot. He knows a lot, and tells people what they need to know, sometimes outright lieing.

He didn't say he didn't know Artoo and Threpio, he said he "didn't recall ever owning a droid." However, his behavior towards Artoo is friendly, even from the very start. We think that he knows Artoo, but never actually owned him.

We are agreed that Threpio must have had to have been wiped, since there is too much that he doesn't recognise. Artoo, on the otherhand, acts like he knows more than he can communicate with beeps and whistles. I don't think he's been mindwiped.

Uncle Owen was relatively young when Threpio left. By the time he comes back, it's been a long time -- close to 30-40 years probably, and he went off with Anakin and Amidala (both of whom Owen probably things of as long dead). In A New Hope, Threpio is wearing a new body coverings of bright, shiny gold metal, looks just like any other protocol droid, and evinces no knowledge of Tatooine. Threpio doesn't look like the droid of Owen's youth, and there are probably plenty of similar protocol droids, some also named C3PO. Combine all these factors, and it's not entirely surprising that Owen didn't recognise Threpio.

Any other plot-holes you'd like cleared up?