Big Continuity Issue...

[The 'Xir]

I'm sure this has been discussed but in Ep IV ROTJ, as 3po and R2 approach Jabba's palace their conversation consists of roughly this: R2: bleep pleep bleeep, 3po: "don't be so sure, if I told you half the things I've heard about this Jabba the Hutt, you'd probably short circut!".
Well, Mr McCullum and Mr. Lucas better sit down and discuss how they're going to incorporate this into Ep II or III, because TPM destroyed the continuity of this scene in "Return"!
Because How could R2 and 3po not know who Jabba is when 30 years before they were at the Boonta Eve podrace hosted by none other than...! Especially seeing as the 2 headed announcers..well.. announce to the whole stadium Jabba's arrival in his private booth!
I'm assuming the easiest way to handle this would be; the on screen explanation of routine Droid memory wipes as mentioned by Owen Lars in ANH. ex) "I want you to take those two new droids down to tosche station and have their memories erased, they belong to us now"!
what do you guys think?

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Maybe (why do all our topics usually begin with that word? ) Jabba is such a galaxy-wide evil crime lord that if even if Threepio and R2 get frequent memory wipes, his influence in the universe means they find out more information all the time. Besides, they might not have known Jabba was the race's host, or at least not really cared if they had known. I don't think this is such a "Big continuity error," 'Xir.

[Eternal Padawan]

Plus, you don't know what R2 is saying. ever. In theory R2 said: "Hey! it's that wonderful Jabba Chap. Remember him from the Boonta Eve race all those years ago? What a nice old guy..." And 3PO responding "if you heard all these things about Jabba, you'd probably short circuit...." and then R2 says. "What??! Nooooo... You're kidding!!! I had no Idea..."

[JediTricks]

I think this has the potential to either cause a somewhat minor continuity error OR a cheap, poorly-thought-out excuse like "memory wipes for both droids" (cheap and poor IMO because the memory wipes would change the character's personas and we know from Ep 1 that these guys still act like this in ANH).

[El Chuxter]

Did C-3PO say he'd actually met Jabba? Imagine you go to a Nascar race hosted by Al Capone (I know, big stretch, but bear with me). You probably won't care at the time, but years later, when you actually have to go before Capone and make demands, every scary story you've heard in the meantime will come to mind.

[JediCole]

El Chuxter has touched very well upon the point I was going to make. Just because Jabba is at the race (as are R2 and 3PO) it does not mean that the droids even noticed. The 'Xir is making a rather broad based assumption. R2 and 3PO are not Commander "I recall every fact I am exposed to" Data from Star Trek. R2 is essentially a tool, a thinking tool, with some cognative ability to be sure, but a tool none the less. C-3PO, though he is more specialized for interactions between species, still would not retain a solid memory of every single snipit of information he overheard. These droids are not simply listening and regurgitating machines. They are not tape recorders or spy devices. They would be designed to stay even more focused on the specifics of thier tasks or the situation at hand than any human. Sure they probably both heard Jabba's name announced, and 3PO could almost certainly understand the announcement in both languages, but that does not mean that he paid the name any but the most passing interest. There is no need for a broad-based memory wipe when 3PO and R2's on board memory is probably automatically filtered, removing all of the unnecessary flotsum and jetsum of ambient hearing from the core memory. All those years later, the droids would have no more recollection of Jabba's presence at Boonta Eve than they would the roster of racers present that day. It is useless junk information that they would have let fall out of memory long before either of them needed even a routine memory wipe.

[The 'Xir]

I don't know, all I gotta say is this is a great excuse to watch ROTJ again However when I watched that scene; it was just how it came across, it 'now' didn't seem to make sense. Watch it again for yourself and judge for yourself! Like you need another excuse right?

[JediTricks]

Ah! A 3rd alternative, what if 3PO's line in ROTJ is referring not to a general set of widely-circulated stories about the hutt crime lord, but actually referring to stories Han Solo and/or Chewbacca told him while R2 wasn't around? Wouldn't that solve the whole thing, with 3PO thinking he's heard "insider" stories that R2 wasn't privy to?

[Bel-Cam Jos]

Or, the stories are tall tales, like Paul Bunyan or Sloo Foot Sue (sp?). For example:

"Did you hear that Jabba sells candy bars with razor blades in them?"
"I heard Jabba is really a woman!"
"Jabba has a third eye."
"Jabba once jumped over a landspeeder that was coming at him at full throttle, did a handstand on the back engine, and knitted a Mandalorian Armor suit while landing."
"I dated Jabba when he was in college and he couldn't drink a thimble full of jury juice!"

Or not.
Ore knot.
Oar naught.

[GNT]

Originally posted by Bel-Cam Jos
"Did you hear that Jabba sells candy bars with razor blades in them?"
"I heard Jabba is really a woman!"
"Jabba has a third eye."
"Jabba once jumped over a landspeeder that was coming at him at full throttle, did a handstand on the back engine, and knitted a Mandalorian Armor suit while landing."
"I dated Jabba when he was in college and he couldn't drink a thimble full of jury juice!"

aaahhh some good signatures I could use