Does R2-D2 have a conscience?
I was re-watching “Revenge of the Sith” once again. You’re all right, by the way; Obi-Wan Kenobi did hear Anakin being dubbed “Darth Vader.” I was also puzzled as to how Obi-Wan knows that Vader is the same guy walking around in the mask and robes, but actually, in re-checking the dialogue of the original Star Wars, there isn’t any indication that Kenobi knows he is alive until they meet on the Death Star.
Oh, and that’s the name of it. “Star Wars”. It’s just “Star Wars” (1977). It’s not Episode IV, it’s not “A New Hope”, it’s just “Star Wars”. Best movie title ever: Star Wars. If the movie had been released as “A New Hope” no little kids would have ever gone to see it. The “New Hope” thing was no more than a chapter title for the opening crawl, which was simply Lucas’ way of putting everyone into the mood of watching an old sci-fi serial. “A New Hope” is not a title that should ever be on a movie poster. Not in big letters, like IT’S the title of the movie, with “Star Wars” wrapped around it as if it were merely a category. And in my day we had wooden toboggans that weighed a ton, and you dreaded dragging them back to the top of the hill, and we liked it. We didn’t have these light-as-a-feather space age plastics. Bosh! Rimshaw!
There’s a scene in Sith that piqued my curiosity.
After R2-D2 and Anakin land on the volcanic planet, Anakin tells the droid to stay with the ship. R2 doesn’t know that Anakin has been slaughtering children and he’s now going off to butcher all of the members of the Trade Federation. Perhaps Anakin tells R2 to stay back so the droid doesn’t get in the way, but it seems to me as though Anakin didn’t want the droid to witness the massacre.
What if he did? What would R2 do if the Jedi Knight he has been serving is now verfiably a monster? Would R2 serve Darth Vader from then on, acting as his copilot and assistant? Would R2-D2 override elevators and trash compactors for Darth Vader as he went on missions to kill innocent people?
After all, R2 can’t talk in English but he certainly seems to have his own opinions and personality. And droid personality doesn’t seem to be easily customizable once established; if it were, Jabba the Hutt’s steamroom droid 99 (Ninedenine) would simply hook up a cable to R2-D2 and hit “REFORMAT and REINSTALL SOFTWARE TO FACTORY SETTINGS”, rather than threatening the droid that “You’re a feisty little one, but you’ll soon
learn some respect. “ Can’t they just install a “respect” disk?
The personalities of droids must be intrinsic. Or are they developed by the droid as opposed to programmed, a la the frisky Platinum, arrogant Mercury and insecure Tin of the Metal Men? After all, Anakin Skywalker built C-3PO. Do you think the little kid intentionally hard-coded it into C-3PO’s wiring that he should be a nervous, effeminate, dainty, cowardly fussbudget?
For that matter, why did the Trade Federation program their “battle droids” to be slow-witted wimps who are awful shots? “Sith” has this scene where an elevator is rocketing up a shaft as two droids lean into it. The droids say “Uh-Oh” and they STILL have a full second before the elevator arrives. SOMEBODY with a sense of humor had to program the droids to say “Uh-Oh” rather than taking a defensive action in that same amount of time.
OK, the battle droids suck. We’ve known that ever since they “Rioger roger”-ed their way onscreen seven years ago. And all the prequels are pretty sucky story-wise (and acting-wise, directing-wise, continuity-wise and most definitely dialogue-wise). My point is not to whine about the prequels but to prompt some debate about the nature of R2-D2.
Final thought I’ll leave you with: I had previously thought it odd that Senator Organa orders the wiping of C-3PO’s mind only. R2 would retain his memories, and I always figured that R2 would just fill in his buddy on everything he had forgotten.
Especially important bits like “We’ve been on Tattooine before, you just don’t remember” and “What are the odds that we’d wind up on this same farm again? You don’t remember, but you used to till the soil here for like a dozen years. No, I swear, that’s the exact same guy you used to belong to before. Funny how he doesn’t recall the camp gay robot named C-3PO who worked here before!” and even , “Obi-Wan, you old dog, how you been keeping yourself?! Threepio, please tell him what I’m saying. WHAT? What does he mean he doesn’t recall ever owning a droid? Don’t chu do me like that! Tigga, please!”
You would think that what R2-D2 is saying in his own language would be completely different, and C-3PO would be confused by his rantings. The only way to explain how this isn’t the case in “Star Wars” would be if both droids had their memories wiped. (Actually, the only explanation is that Lucas never really thought out the prequels when writing “Star Wars”. I mean, if you read the 1974 pitch script, it’s so different from what Star Wars was in 1977 that Lucas clearly didn’t have some long-planned backstory fully thought out.)
So, as I said, I thought it odd that R2’s memory isn’t wiped. But this time, watching Sith, I noticed that R2 giggles at his pal C-3PO getting his memory wiped. Why? Because they’re not really pals. They’ve met from time to time but R2 just regards him as an annoying and useless droid who gets in trouble and needs his help, whereas R2 is a much more capable adventurer and fighter in his own right. Even in “Star Wars” he talks about being on a mission.
R2-D2 thinks he’s James Bond. Why not? He travels around in cool vehicles, he is always whipping out nifty gadgets, and chicks love him. In the prequel he even has ejector seats and rocket packs!
8 responses to “Electrethical dilemma”
I’m not why sure why they didn’t wipe his memory, but it’s clear to me that R2 knows alot more than he’s telling. And that’s just it. He believes he’s on a secret mission. He may have even been instructed at some point to not say anything about the whole Anakin-Vader thing and his previous adventures to anyone, even C-3PO.
And as for the whole C-3PO / Owen thing, this is one I’m getting a little tired of hearing. Let me break it down for you. There are thousands if not millions of 3PO and R2 model droids throughout the galaxy. All have similar numbers, and look identical, except in some cases for color. It’s not so far fetched to believe that after 25 years, Owen doesn’t remember what the number of his step-mother’s fussy protocal droid was. He looked completely different back then with his dingy coverings. And Owen only saw R2 for like a minute in Episode 2. And with all this in mind, rewatch Star Wars. At no point in the movie are C-3PO and R2-D2 identified by name to Owen or Beru. They only give their names to Luke. And leave shortly after. although I like to think that there was a moment of realization for Owen as to just who the droids were as he’s being gunned down by Imperial Stormtroopers.
The more I think about it, the more the “R2-D2 is a dick” theory makes sense to me. He clearly doesn’t feel that he needs to explain his actions to anyone.
Regarding Vader not recognizing C-3PO: the only time Vader spends any time in any kind of proximity to 3PO is on Cloud City during the scene where Han is frozen, and:
1) C-3PO looks exactly like every other protocol droid of his model. Vader has probably seen hundreds by this point, and ignores them the way everybody else does. That’s what makes the assassin protocol droid (whose name I forget) so effective.
2) C-3PO has maybe three lines, none of which are directed at Vader. Again, why bother paying attention to a protocol droid unless you have to? They’re annoying.
Patrick J McGraw
Hi thehutch.
You pointed out some interesting questions.
As for droid personalities: some years ago I read the sequel books (I was young, OK?). I can’t find any quotes now but in about every second book they are talking about a memory reset. But this does not seem to be the light version of the movies (3P0 has not changed much after it). It is frequently said that deleting a droid’s memory also means deleting his personality. That’s why Luke never allowed such a procedure on R2 and 3P0. So actually your “REFORMAT and REINSTALL SOFTWARE TO FACTORY SETTINGS” seems to exist. Come to think of it, why didn’t Jabba order this? Would be a sensible standard procedure for stolen droids. The only explanation I can find is that they were in quite a hurry for the big execution party and a memory wiping would have taken too long.
But this concept indicates that your second guess is right – droid personalities are developed. But their programming must have a lot to do with it. Otherwise C-3P0 wouldn’t have developed the exact same personality again after his memory was deleted.
“Can’t they just install a “respect” disk?”
Know where I can download one for my son?
“What makes you think there are settlements that way?” That line takes on a new meaning after R2 and 3PO crash on Tattooine. Whether or not R2 responded, “Because we’ve been here before” can be up for debate. What I truly believe is that R2 is kind of a dick. He’s my favorite character, but he is pretty mean. Examples:
Episode I: R2 shoves Jar Jar out of the way to get to the elevator during the initial blockade run; he makes fun of 3PO by calling him “naked” and his “parts are showing.”
Episode II: R2 pushes 3PO over the edge of the droid manufacturing plant on Geonosis.
Episode III: R2 messes with the elevator on General Grievous’ ship. He later zaps a battle droid out of spite.
Episode IV: R2 ditches 3PO to get Leia’s message. R2 then shoves 3PO into the escape pod and doesn’t bother telling him what happened. He then refuses to play Luke the message after his restraining bolt is removed.
Episode V: R2 doesn’t hesitate to express his pessimism about Luke and Han’s survival on Hoth. He taunts Luke after falling into the swamp, and later, he messes with Yoda when Yoda tries to take Luke’s food.
Episode VI: R2 shoves 3PO overboard Jabba’s sail barge. He also zaps an Ewok who freed him from his bonds.
I’m sure there are others — it’d be nice to see how many other examples people can come up with. If things were different, it’s possible R2 could have been Vader’s loyal servant!
My view is that droid personalities are at least partly derived from the actual hardware build of their “brains”, but their memory is pure software. So you can wipe the memory all you want, but personality elements will be retained, at least in part.
Upon rewatching Star Wars a few years back, I noticed that Obi Wan delivers the “Can’t seem to remember owning a droid” line with a definite touch of amusement about something. Maybe it’s one of those “certain point of view” things.
All these questions people are raising lead immediately to the obvious pressing moral issue of galaxy-wide droid slavery, and how that can be justifiable given that these things pass any test for sentience I can come up with.
Nicolas
I’m with Omar. We all know that Episode IV is a movie that follows and is about the droids, the whole thing told from their perspective. It’s all them.
I think R2 is the real antagonist — Vader just gets the blame.
Is the linked-to Star Wars script legit? It seems like it could be an older version of the story, but there’s a line that says: “Annikin lights up like a Bantha at feeding time,” which seems an odd bit of direction to give.
As for R2-D2 and his dickery, I’d vote 50% for that, and 50% Lucas didn’t think the trilogies through sufficiently, and wrote himself into some nitpicking corners.