Have the Protocol Droid's mind wiped.

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 5:07 am

I just finished watching Episode 3 again, and something that has been bothering me since I saw the movie in the theater is bugging me again. I'm sure it's been brought up before, probably more than once, but I'd love to know how it's explained in circles where people actually consider these things.
When Bail Organa orders C-3P0's mind wiped, obviously to try and iron out the continuity wrinkle of both C-3P0 and R2-D2 having been along on all the prequel adventures and yet never mentioning them in the original trilogy, why doesn't he do the same for R2-D2? The only thing I can come up with is that someone wasn't worried about it because R2-D2 only speaks in beeps and bloops, but that doesn't make any sense. C-3P0 can obviously understand every beep he makes, why doesn't C-3P0 ever say something like 'What are you talking about, I don't remember that at all!' or anything like that? Also, when R2-D2 is in Luke's X-Wing, Luke can read what R2 is saying on his little monitor, right? I don't know if that's ever shown in the movies, but I know it's mentioned in the Thrawn trilogy of books, and Luke obviously can understand what he's saying when he's taking off for Dagobah from Hoth in tESB. It seems odd that given that the trip from Hoth to Dagobah takes any time at all, Luke and R2 wouldn't get around to talking, since they had nothing else to do. Wouldn't R2 have, if not then, at SOME POINT told Luke the stories of his earlier adventures? Or told them to C-3P0? And if R2-D2 knows Darth Vader's true identity as Luke's father, wouldn't he have spilled the beans about that to Luke at the earliest opportunity, given his obvious affinity to him?

BAIL ORGANA: I'm placing these droids in your care. Treat them well. Clean them up. Have the Protocol Droid's mind wiped.

C-3PO: Oh, no.

I know that the obvious answer is that Lucas simply had no idea what had happened in episodes 1, 2, and 3 when he wrote 4, 5, and 6. I know that with the volcano story, it's almost certain Lucas had no idea Vader was Luke's father in episode 4. But is there any theory to make this work as far as continuity goes? I guess I'm just hoping someone has put SOMETHING forward so I can put that up there in my head and it won't bother me anymore when I watch the films.

Enterprise E · Post by **Enterprise E** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 4:25 pm

I think that Bail only wiped C3PO's memory because, unlike R2-D2, he couldn't keep his mouth shut, R2 could. R2 always seemed to know more about what was going on than C3PO. This could explain why.

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:12 pm

That doesn't explain why R2 didn't tell Luke about Vader, though.

Mr. Oragahn · Post by **Mr. Oragahn** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:41 am

Did Luke ever understand a word of what R2 said, when he didn't have C3PO translating the stuff, or when he didn't have the X-wing computer making the translation?

It seemed one sided to me. Luke would say something, generally giving an order, R2 would *bleep* the order, but that's all.

That said, sure, it might have tried at one point to tell him.

Did R2 ever knew that Obi-Wan took Luke with him though?

Praeothmin · Post by **Praeothmin** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:02 am

Yeah, but how many Luke Skywalkers were there?

I mean, as soon as the Skywalker name is mentioned, both the Emperor and Vader knew who Luke was.
So I can only imagine that R2 would remember the last name of his former master turned Sith Lord... :)

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 4:29 am

I think it's at least open to argument whether or not Luke is able to understand what R2 is saying by tESB. He seems to understand the beeps and bloops, at least to me. And even if he can only understand R2 when R2 is linked up to the X-Wing, again, there's a decent amount of time spent there in hyperspace, isn't there? Time during which all R2 and Luke have to keep themselves entertained is each other? And Praeothmin makes a good point. I can't imagine R2 wouldn't put two and two together when he learned Luke's last name was Skywalker. At the VERY LEAST I would think he would comment on the fact that he was once friends with Darth Vader, who shared his last name. At which point Luke SURELY would have been asking everyone around him why Darth Vader's last name was Skywalker.

Post by **Jedi Master Spock** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:18 pm

Unless R2 doesn't want to for the same reasons Obi-Wan doesn't want to.

Mike DiCenso · Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 6:30 pm

It may also be that Artoo has been simply ordered not to tell Luke or Leia ever about who their parents really were. Maybe the upcoming live-action TV series will help to clear this all up.
-Mike

Cpl Kendall · Post by **Cpl Kendall** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 7:05 pm

Two things come to mind on this.

1. Would Luke have believed it? He obviously didn't have the anti-droid sentiment that others had but if your vehicle diagnostic machine told you that your wife was cheating on you, would you believe it?

2. Han could understand the maintenance droid on top of the Falcon in ESB (the scene where Luke says goodbye).

Mike DiCenso · Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:47 pm

Han also seems to understand Chewie, even though others apparently cannot. Either Han has access to some interesting universal translator tech, or he's taken the time to understand things like the Wookie and droid languages.
-Mike

Mr. Oragahn · Post by **Mr. Oragahn** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:31 pm

Mike DiCenso wrote:Han also seems to understand Chewie, even though other apparently cannot. Either Han has access to some interesting universal translator tech, or he's taken the time to understand things like the Wookie and droid languages.
-Mike

Makes sense for Han to understand his friend's language, and understand the words of droids which must help him rather frequently considering his job, and the amount of repairs and modifications he put on his own ship.

Luke, on the other hand, has been living in a farm, and I don't see him even needing to understand what an astrodroid has to say in detail.
The astrodroid is probably there to maintain the other droids used in the farm, and to repair the hydroponic machinery.

Still, it's something that may need to be adressed.

Cpl Kendall · Post by **Cpl Kendall** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:39 pm

Mike DiCenso wrote:Han also seems to understand Chewie, even though other apparently cannot. Either Han has access to some interesting universal translator tech, or he's taken the time to understand things like the Wookie and droid languages.
-Mike

Han actually does understand Wookie, though I understand he doesn't speak it that much because he thinks he sounds like a jackass. And Chewie understands Basic but Wookies aren't able to speak it due to their vocal chords being rather different than humans.

Mr. O wrote: Luke, on the other hand, has been living in a farm, and I don't see him even needing to understand what an astrodroid has to say in detail.
The astrodroid is probably there to maintain the other droids used in the farm, and to repair the hydroponic machinery.

The Skywalkers had several droids, I wouldn't be shocked to learn that Luke could understand them. They didn't have a translater until C-3P0 was bought. So what did they do before hand?

Mike DiCenso · Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:00 am

Although this is getting somewhat off-topic, the ANH novelization does mention the use of a translator device by Greddo on pages 103 and 104:

The Corellian couldn't identify the voice, coming as it did though an electronic translator. But there was no problem in recognizing the speaker or the gun it held stuck in Solo's side.

Something which might have been a laugh came from the creature's translator. "They'd hardly notice. Get up, Solo. I've been looking forward to this for a long time. You've embarassed me in front of Jabba with your pious excuses for the last time."

So some kind of miniature, portable translator tech does exist, however there is no mention of whether Han or anyone else makes use of them.
-Mike

Mike DiCenso · Post by **Mike DiCenso** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:26 am

Mike DiCenso wrote:Han also seems to understand Chewie, even though other apparently cannot. Either Han has access to some interesting universal translator tech, or he's taken the time to understand things like the Wookie and droid languages.
-Mike

Cpl Kendall wrote: Han actually does understand Wookie, though I understand he doesn't speak it that much because he thinks he sounds like a jackass. And Chewie understands Basic but Wookies aren't able to speak it due to their vocal chords being rather different than humans.

I know that. I wrote the above as more of a retorical question. It's made clear in the Thrawn trilogy, and Leia is even supposed to be in the process of learning the Wookie language.
-Mike

Cpl Kendall · Post by **Cpl Kendall** » Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:39 am

Mike DiCenso wrote:
I know that. I wrote the above as more of a retorical question. It's made clear in the Thrawn trilogy, and Leia is even supposed to be in the process of learning the Wookie language.
-Mike

The other threw me off, I thought you were trying to say that Chewie can't understand Han.