Have the Protocol Droid's mind wiped.

[Cpl Kendall]

Then why wipe the mind of C3P0?
If people didn't put a lot of stock in droid's ramblings, as you say, then why have 3P0's mind wiped?
It's not like people would listen to him then, would they?

People probably put more stock in what a translator droid says than a toolbox.

I see no logic in wiping the mind of 3P0 and not that of Artoo.
You either do both, or none at all.
They probably kept Artoo's mind untouched so that Lucas could do one part of the continuity right:
Artoo remembering he once belonged to Obi-Wan... :)

I don't believe that actually happens. Kenobi says he doesn't remember owning a droid. But IIRC nothing is mentioned about Artoo thinking that.

[Praeothmin]

3P0 keeps mentions to Luke that Artoo left to find his old master.
Luke mentions to Kenobi that Artoo was looking for him, its old master.
I'd say Artoo thinks Kenobi is his old master.

That "Toolbox" was also entrusted with Luke's Lighsabre, and it had an important role to play in a crucial rescue operation.
I think Artoo's proven himself reliable enough that his opinion matters more then most other droids...

[Cpl Kendall]

3P0 keeps mentions to Luke that Artoo left to find his old master.
Luke mentions to Kenobi that Artoo was looking for him, its old master.
I'd say Artoo thinks Kenobi is his old master.

Perhaps, unless Organa programed him to do this.

That "Toolbox" was also entrusted with Luke's Lighsabre, and it had an important role to play in a crucial rescue operation.
I think Artoo's proven himself reliable enough that his opinion matters more then most other droids...

In ROTJ, yes. At the start of ANH there's really nothing to indicate that he was anything more than a toolbox. There's no reason for anyone to believe him, save Obi-Wan and Captain Antillies. Seeing as their the only ones who know his history.

[Mike DiCenso]

Star Wars is actually not the first SF movie to portray little non-humanoid, "machine language" speaking robots whose job it is to go out and fix things on spaceships:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_running

Silent Running from 5 years earlier had Huey, Dewey and Louie, the original "astromechs".
-Mike

[Praeothmin]

In ROTJ, yes. At the start of ANH there's really nothing to indicate that he was anything more than a toolbox. There's no reason for anyone to believe him, save Obi-Wan and Captain Antillies. Seeing as their the only ones who know his history.

This is stretching it a bit.
Even if it was true, I find it hard to believe that Artoo going "Hey, master Luke, your father is actually Darth Vader, who was known as Anakin "Emo-Boy" Skywalker a few years back" wouldn't even have Luke raising an eyebrow and wanting to know what in the name of the Force that astromech droid is whistling about...
Anybody being told something like that, knowing that droids, even the temperamental ones, don't invent things, would find that story pretty far-fetched to be the imaginings of one little astromech droid.

[Jedi Master Spock]

For that matter, it is R2 who Leia trusts with the message.

I'm telling you, R2 is one of the real movers and shakers here. Him and Chewbacca have a lot more on the ball than you might expect.

[SailorSaturn13]

Does R2 know who Vader is? To him Anakin died on Mustefar all those years ago. Only Obi-wan can make a connection, and only because of the Force.

[Mike DiCenso]

It would not have taken very much for a smart and savy droid like for Artoo to make such a connection, especially in the intervening 20 years between RoTS and ANH, when he (Artoo) would have been hearing all kinds of information about "Darth Vader" who likely is the same Darth Vader that his former friend and master Anakin had become. It is also likely that Obi-Wan, Senator Organia, and Yoda talked about this in front of Artoo and Threepio while they were on the Tantive discussing what to do next.

It's the droids Artoo and Threepio's knowledge of this and the survival, and hiding of the twins Luke and Leia that probably got poor Threepio's memory wiped since he can more readily communicate with humans and aliens than Artoo.
-Mike

[SailorSaturn13]

Another possibility is that the reason for wiping C3P0 was his mixed loyality. Anakin built it, after all. R2 would serve Padme's children, but 3PO...

[Mike DiCenso]

That still would mean also wiping out Artoo's memory, since Artoo belonged to Anakin as much as Threepio did, and would possibly also have similar loyalties.
-Mike

[Jedi Master Spock]

That still would mean also wiping out Artoo's memory, since Artoo belonged to Anakin as much as Threepio did, and would possibly also have similar loyalties.
-Mike

Not quite. Anakin built Threepio, and was thus Threepio's original owner and therefore official master.

R2-D2 was one of the astromechs assigned to Padme's yacht. Thus, he was in service to her and simply "on loan" to Anakin; his ultimate loyalty, whether hard-coded or as a matter of conscience, is not in question.

[Sandyin]

I always thought it was very strange that R2 and other droids couldn't speak basic galactic basic. Given their other technology you'd they there would be room inside R2 for a speaker and the needed programing. It seems a very odd limitation.

But as for R2 not saying "Hey, one of my previous owners was named Skywalker and he ended up becoming Darth Vader, you think he might be related to you?" That doesn't seem like the thing a computer would say. Granted R2 has a fair amount of personality but I don't recall him engaging in small talk. The closest thing I recall was when he played Chewie in holo-chess but that could have just been Chewie wanting to test his skills; until he started losing.

"I thought you came here looking for a challenge."
"Duh! A challenge I could do!"

[mojo]

I have to say I could not disagree more. R2 is constantly chattering away about something in the films and the EU, and it seems to me he would certainly throw that out there considering he would actually know for sure that Luke was in fact Vader's son. I don't mean any disrespect, and I could be completely wrong, but I have always had the impression that R2 was a very chatty droid. The EU says that droids that aren't wiped regularly begin to develop personalities of their own, and I've never heard of R2 being wiped at any point, ever, so that would seem to me to indicate he'd have developed far more personality than most droids.
I also disagree with the idea of Chewie playing R2 simply to test his skills. Again, just my opinion, but since R2 clearly shows fear in that scene I would expect him to be capable of feeling simple boredom or curiosity. I admit freely that this could simply be that I WANT to believe R2 is a sentient being.

[Mike DiCenso]

Well, Threepio certainly shows fear after Han makes the "arm socket" comment, and we know that droid has had his memory wiped at least once before. This means that droids do come with some sort of "emotion algorithims" in their basic programing set up as well as personality and voice. Whether or not there are other droids running around out there that sound and act like Threepio is an interesting thing to ponder.

As for Artoo, he clearly demonstrates emotions, such as that sad little whistle he makes when Ben dies and Luke is grieving for him on the Falcon after their escape. Or that angry twang of insult he directs at Threepio when they are on the Tantive before climbing into the escape pod at the begining of ANH. Or even that chuckling twitter sound he makes as poor Threepio is to be taken away for memory wipe in RoTS.

Lots of examples of Artoo demonstrating emotion.
-Mike

[Airlocke_Jedi_Knight]

I believe, without doubt, that R2-D2 was wiped with threepio because artoo seemed to have knowledge of what happened before the original trilogy. It is clearly shown that he believes himself to belong to Obi-Wan.

It is definitively stated, in the EU, that Luke refused to allow artoo to be memory wiped. He liked that Artoo's personality was growing. In the first book of the Dark Nest Trilogy, the slicer ghent is having difficulty extracting holos that Artoo had taken of Anakin, Padme, and Obi-Wan, from RotS, because his programming is a mix of military protocols(which won't allow unauthorized access and will destroy the programming if access is gained by force) and his personality, which is a direct result of his lack of memory swipes over a 50 year period. R2 refuses to let Luke see them, because he is trying to protect Luke. It is clearly stated in the text. The average astromech droid gets a memory swipe every 6 months.


C-3po DOES have a basic emotion program. This is shown in Agents of Chaos I: Hero's Trial, at Chewies funeral. A portion of the text is written from the droids pov, and he mentions feeling what his programming tells him is grief and then describes a weird twinge that he interprets to be real grief. Later in the novel, C-3po expresses to Han Solo that he fears death. He fears ceasing to be. Han has Threepio's memory and personality recorded in case his body is destroyed.

I think that addresses every question in this thread. I hope I helped MoJo, my friend.