Why I think Owen may not remember C-3PO.

[Boba Fetish]

Sorry if this topic has been beaten to death, but I find this current inconsisteny between the OT and the PT something I can not let go so I came up with a possibility that I wanted to get your guys' feedback on.

Why doesn't Owen recognize 3PO in ANH? I can't see Owen forgetting the name and voice of a droid that belonged to his stepmother who met a very tragic demise, irregardless of the fact his plating changed to gold. Also, the same day Anakin leaves after uncovering his mother's body, 3PO leaves with him. Then, in the not in the too distant future, he receives the son of Anakin which should serve as another reminder of the day 3PO left their homestead. I think these events and all details associated with them would serve as lasting memories.

My thought is this. If someone saw it fit to erase C-3PO's memory, maybe someone else saw it fit to stunt Owen's memory as well. How would this happen? Well if a Jedi could use a Jedi mind trick to temporarily cause someone to overlook the obvious, who's to say a Jedi couldn't use the same trick to selectively delete certain memories from one's conscious. Say, like Obi-Wan for instance, decided that Owen should forget certain connections between him and Anakin, then waved his hand, and whalla, Owen forgets. Why it would be a problem for Owen to remember who 3-PO was is speculative, but I hope Lucas explains this issue.

What are your thoughts? Is this poppycock or is it plausible? Give your input or theories, and like I said, sorry if this topic's been covered to the point of redundancy.

[Beast]

Who says he doesn't remember C-3PO? Maybe that's why he was testing 3PO's memories with the questions. And he did try to shut him up, when he was offering his name. And it's clear from C-3PO's words that he doesn't remember Tatooine, his first job, or Uncle Owen. So no need for Owen to worry about such things.

And even if he doesn't, it doesn't mean he's had his memories messed with. Droids like C-3PO are very commen in the Star Wars universe. Even that particular voice is commen. They're like a car or a toaster. Can you seriously tell me that you could recognize a car or toaster that was in your home, and had been totally repainted since the last time you saw it more then 21 years ago?

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[The 'Xir]

It's funny, sometimes Lucas appears to be very indepth in the details of his movies, and then in other aspects within them he falls short! I have gotten the impression over these prequel making years, that he knows the basic story he wants to tell, and he is cookie cutting them out as fast as he can, while milking them on the marketing end, and why we have to wait 3 years betwen movies.
Based on that Idea, I'm sure Lucas will be satisfied with just keeping the simple explanation of the different colored platings! And dismiss whatever possible logical arguments against that explanation!

[Beast]

There is no logical arguments against that explanation. It's 21 years since the last time Owen saw C-3PO. And he was Shmi's droid anyway, so it's not like Owen would take a lot of intrest in him. Remember, Luke is one of the few people that actually treat droids like something other then just an tool or object. Owen from his dialogue about the droids in ANH, shows that he doesn't see them as anything more then that either.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[B'Omarr Monkey]

I think it really comes down to some degenerative brain condition caused by the same phenomenon which causes Owen and Beru to age 40+ years in the 20 years since they last saw C-3PO.

Of course, if there's any truth, and why wouldn't there be, that Lucas is replacing all of the footage of Shaw as Anakin from ROTJ with newly shot scenes of Christensen as Anakin in ROTJ, then he will probably do the same thing with Owen and Beru, and heck, why not Obi-Wan, since he clearly ages over thrirty years between SW III and ANW.

The whole timetable is bogus, as is the fact that Lucas clearly got caught up in all that Joseph Campbell stuff attributed to the movies and forgot that what he initially set out to do was make a Flash Gordon movie.

[stillakid]

I think that anybody could rationalize this one out (and there is proof right here in the thread), but the most accurate explanation is that the Prequels are Expanded Universe material where continuity doesn't apply.

The reasoning is this: In the soon to come Episode III, Obi Wan Kenobi has absolutely no justification for taking the Luke-baby to Tatooine at all. The point is to hide the kid out until he is old enough to begin the training so that he will be "a new hope." (See, it's even in the title) (side note: Old Ben has to wait until Luke is older so that his accelerated training...minus mention of Midichlorians ... won't create tremors in the Force before his young body would be able to fend off attack from adult enemies).

So anyway, as we've already seen in the two prequels thus far, Obi Wan has spent very little time on that planet, knows virtually nothing about it, and has no reason to know anything at all about this trailerpark family that is ever-so-loosely related to the baby. So even if Anakin did tell Obi Wan about the Lars people, and even if Padme does ask that Luke be taken there (whatever reason might be thought up, it still won't make sense, so save it), Obi Wan still would be out of his mind to hide the "new hope" in a place that both Anakin/Darth and Palpatine/Emperor would be likely to search. It is only logical that the hitherto sane-minded Obi Wan (and hasn't lied to anybody even once yet) wouldn't dream of hiding the kid on a planet that he doesn't know, with people he doesn't know, in a place that is likely to be recalled by the evil people. It is for this reason (and a few others) that the continuity between the Prequels and the OT is proven to be inconsistent therefore the only possible avenue left is to label the Prequels as Expanded Universe material and move on.

Bottom line is that Owen wasn't "testing" 3PO That's a good one though! The "explanations" are getting more creative. But to be fair, even if Owen ever did have C3PO in his younger days, because these protocol droids are so common, he really would have little reason to suspect that he was seeing this one for the second time in his life.

[Boba Fetish]

Jar Jar- I concur with you that Owen's inability to recognize C-3PO may be due to time and the prevelance of similar protocol droids, but from the cinematic point of view, this inconsistency appears as sloppy storytelling. Many of my friends and aquaintances, who are softcore Star Wars fans at best, had even scratched their head in wonderment as to why Owen does not recognize 3PO. I think the average viewer is going to have a narrower field of vision and not consider posibilities such as the fact that 3PO is your run of the mill droid that has multiple counterparts just like a toaster or a car. For the story's sake, I think people want answers to why key characters don't recognize each other and answering this is what will establish the dynamism between the intertwining histories of these two. It will also lend credebility to the director, in this case Lucas, that he researched his past works in oder to avoid potential loopholes. Here's another possibility. Maybe Owen does recognize 3PO, and that is the reason he so quickly requests Luke to erase his memory, just in case.

Also, yes, Owen does not regard droids very much, but Obi Wan does.
He even adresses R2 as his little friend in ANH. You'd think after seeing the message Leia put in there that he would put two and two together and say, "My, perhaps this is R2, Padme's droid before she died. He must have stayed with her daughter and Bail after I left for Tatooine." So in otherwords, I think Lucas also needs to adress this inconsisteny to give more power to his tale.

B'Omarr Monkey- I do believe that Lucas will "not" be replacing footage of Sebastian Shaw with new footage of Hayden Christensen. I think it was dispelled as a rumor that some ultra dork had come up with. In the remote chance it does happen, I will be buying as many copies in bulk that I can and will have them burned. No offense Hayden.

[stillakid]

Here's another possibility. Maybe Owen does recognize 3PO, and that is the reason he so quickly requests Luke to erase his memory, just in case.

That won't work because the ANH lines really show that Owen is reacting to the news that R2 mentioned Obi Wan Kenobi. With the original continuity, Owen was the more stable, stay at home son in the family and didn't rush off to "bigger and better things," like his brother, Obi Wan. When Obi Wan needs a place to stash the kid, he picks a place which is waaay off the beaten path where the bad guys won't just happen upon them. Tatooine is the perfect place because it isn't overrun by the Empire yet and his brother, Owen will be able to raise the boy quietly. Obi can live on the outskirts of Luke's life and keep an eye on things until he's ready. With Luke getting on in years, it's possible that Owen held out hope that if he could keep Luke involved with the farm and away from that crazy koot of a brother, he might keep Luke safe. Afterall, the "war" is far away from Tatooine and their farm. If they don't draw attention to themselves, they can live a long and satisfying life.

But the droids change that. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Luke pops into dinner and announces that the droids know the name of Owen's brother. Owen doesn't want to tip his hand that he knows more about Luke's lineage than he lets on, so he plays it cool and calmly tells Luke to go have the droid's memories erased.

Well, that's the way the story played before Lucas's reimagining of the continuity. Now it doesn't make much sense at all without significant twisting and turning of the plot. As I mentioned before, if Owen has no relation to Obi Wan, and Anakin originated from Tatooine, then why on earth would he choose that place to hide the galaxies only hope? Obi doesn't know the place, he doesn't know the people. For all he knows, the Lar's family will rat him out for some reward money or something.

Bottom line is that this is just frustrating. George didn't have to muck this up but chose to anyhow. Why? Why?

[Beast]

It was never canon continuty, that Owen and Obi-Wan were brothers. Why do you think it was cut from ROTJ in the first place. The novels are not official canon. If it doesn't appear on-screen, it's not a canon fact. All this is, is another example of nitpicking a story element to death, just to try to tear down the prequels. It's really becoming a sad and repetitive pattern from you Stillakid.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

[stillakid]

It was never canon continuty, that Owen and Obi-Wan were brothers. Why do you think it was cut from ROTJ in the first place. The novels are not official canon. If it doesn't appear on-screen, it's not a canon fact. All this is, is another example of nitpicking a story element to death, just to try to tear down the prequels. It's really becoming a sad and repetitive pattern from you Stillakid.

MTFBWY and HH!!

Jar Jar Binks

No, it wasn't "canon," BUT it made complete sense...which is why it was written as such in the first place. This "new" idea of George's doesn't make sense at all given everything else that has been filmed and shown.

You're suggesting that it's "sad" to request quality in our literature, filmmaking, and art? I'll tell you what's "sad." It's the consistent acceptance of the "mediocre." But I'm not here to tell you what to like or not. If "good enough" is what you like, then there is plenty of material out in the world for you to enjoy. But I prefer to demand more than "mediocre." And the Prequels aren't "good enough" for me. It's not "nitpicking." It's called literary comprehension.