R2-D2: The REAL Hero of Star Wars

[ZombieNixon]

Let's face it, without R2-D2, the Empire would a) have been formed much sooner, and b) never ended. R2-D2's in every movie, and in every movie he does something heroic, without which the "heroes" would be squashed.

Episode I: Fixes the shield generator on the Naboo starfighter, takes young Anakin to the droid control ship and gets the fighter off autopilot.

Episode II: Fixes C-3PO, stops Padmé from being liquefied by molten metal.

Episode III: Wails on those two battle droids in the hangar of the Separatist ship, stops the elevator from killing Obi-Wan in free-fall.

Episode IV: Carries Leia's message and Death Star plans, finds Luke, delivers the message to Luke, finds Obi-Wan, delivers the message to Obi-Wan, shuts down the garbage masher, delivers Death Star plans to Alliance.

Episode V: Fixes the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon.

Episode VI: Carries Luke's lightsaber with him when he infiltrates Jabba's palace, shoots it off the Luke when Luke's about to be killed, frees Luke, Han, Chewbacca, C-3PO and himself from the Ewok trap.

In Episode II, where Anakin tells Padmé not to worry because they have Artoo with them, he's not joking! Without Artoo, you're screwed.

Plus, according to Lucas one hundred years after the fall of the Empire, Artoo narrated the whole Star Wars saga to a shaman of a race known as the "Whills" (possibly Yoda's species, but this has never been confirmed), who preserved it for posterity (this is a sneaky reference back to the prologue of the original 1976 novelization of Episode IV). Without Artoo, there would have been no Star Wars.

But, does anyone ever give R2-D2 any credit? Rarely, mostly, they're just like "Aww, cute little droid," never recognizing that R2-D2 is the personification of Deus ex machina, or "The Force in the machine."

;)

[ET Awful]

1. Is that "the force in the machine" or "the machine with the force"?

:evilgrin:

[dhinojosa]

2. Yeah! I just saw Episode I yesterday, and that is totally true....

and it just sucks that in III that Obi-Wan doesn't trust him. What an ass.

[RogueTrooper]

3. True - and R2 knows the whole story

I am looking forward to watching the original trilogy again - you always got the feeling R2 knew just that little bit more that the rest.

[dhinojosa]

6. His memory was erased at the end of Episode III.

Too bad for that though.....if the Jedi had thought about it, they could've used his knowledge of enemy technology to defeat the Empire more quickly, since he just plugged into everything the federation had. (nudge, nudge)

Stupid Jedi....

[sir_captain]

7. No, only threepio's was

R2 remembers everything

[Enraged_Ape]

12. That's right. Only 3PO got the wiping.

This probably explains why R2-D2 knows that Obi-Wan Kenobi lives near Luke on Tattooine in Episode IV. Princess Leia never told him.

R2-D2 is a total robot stud. He's the only character in the whole saga who seems to ALWAYS know exactly what to do.

[ZombieNixon]

9. No, it wasn't

Remember, Bail Organa says "have the protocol droid's <3PO's> memory wiped." He doesn't say anything about R2. I guess they reckoned R2 could keep a secret.

[dhinojosa]

13. I thought it was both...Do you have a transcript?

Or did you see it like 10 times already? :)

[Enraged_Ape]

15. Bail Organa says to "Erase the protocol droid's memory".

He says nothing about R2-D2's.

[ZombieNixon]

18. I've seen it twice, but I have a photographic memory

and I can remember almost every line (that's worth anything, which makes about 12) from the movie.

[RogueTrooper]

20. Only C-3PO's memory was erased.

[gordianot]

4. Doesn't R2-D2 get fried at least once in every movie?

Maybe not in episode 5, can't remember.

[Squeech]

5. They killed Kenny!

You bastards!

[gordianot]

8. He does look a little like R2, maybe Lucas needs to have a talk with them.

[Beware the Beast Man]

19. Pun intended?

:D

[ZombieNixon]

10. Oops, replied in wrong place.

Hold on, no I didn't, just got thrown for a loop by the setup. Whoops.

[ZombieNixon]

11. I can only think of 4 and 6.

He gets shot by Vader's TIE in 4 and by a stormtrooper in 6. He gets a little beat up in 1 and swallowed and covered in Dagobah mud in 5, but I can't remember anything else.

[hunter]

14. R2D2 and Jar Jar Binks are the center of the Star Wars universe...

They were the first to recognize Senator Palpatine as evil, and all six movies are about their efforts to destroy him.

Their biggest problem was remaining hidden. They did this by playing the fools.

:silly:

[Dukkha]

16. Kenny Baker's the only one to appear in all six

Anthony Daniels only did a voice over for the CGI C-3PO in EPI

[Enraged_Ape]

17. Tony Danza also appeared in all six episodes

That's a little known Star Wars fact. It's super-tough to spot Tony in each movie. For instance, look for him in the garbage compactor scene in Episode IV. I'm not going to tell you where to find him.

[ikri]

21. Soon to be explained in Episode -1

R2 is Anakin's father!