Why did Obi-Wan didn't seem to recognize the droids

I think it's interesting to rewatch (and I just did) Obi-Wan's first meeting with Luke and see it as if he recognizes R2. With his reluctance to speak about Anakin, it's quite logical to assume he wouldn't say anything to Luke about that. But when he says "interesting" after saying he never owned a droid, it could be read as him thinking about R2 ending up in the hands of the son of R2's most loyal master.

If I was a droid, and one Skywalker was continuously upgrading me, I'd probably look for his offspring as well!

 

1.) When "A New Hope" was written, GL didn't know what he was going to do exactly with the prequels.
2.) Now that the prequels exist and Kenobi spent tons of time with R2, he's basically just lying to Luke, which he also does a bunch in the next couple scenes, so its really no big deal. (Interestingly, speaking half truths/pretty much lies is something Palpatine does to lure Anakin to the Dark Side)

3.) The best part of retconning the OT with the fact that the droids are in the PT is when Luke and R2 show up on Dagobah, and R2 never beeps out: "Hey, Dummy, that is Yoda! You are making such a fool of yourself right now!".

 

Of course Lucas wrote episode 4 first, which means at the time he didn't have 1 - 3 happenings as a frame of reference for that script. Still, he wrote the PT, knowing what happens im episode 4. It's really not that big of a deal, but he could have done a better job combing through the OT when writing the PT and avoided some of these minor inconsistencies / oddities.

 

I think it's possible he remembered Artoo, specifically by his behavior, that is uncharacteristic of typical astromech droids. By this I mean, Artoo typically does his own thing, regardless of what others tell him. (Tricks Luke into taking off his restraining bolt... Goes off into the desert... Pushes Threepio off a ledge to go save Padme, decides to fight Super battle droids and wins... etc) Thus, Obi-Wan may have recognized artoo or at least was suspicious that it was him.

Threepio on the other hand... Obi-Wan had very little interactions with him, expect for leaving Mustafar with him as was said above. However there are probably thousands, if not millions of protocol droids in the galaxy, and probably all have the same or similar voices and coverings. (We see one walking behind Artoo and Threepio in Tantive IV at the beginning of ANH. We all see another on Bespin when it cusses out Threepio.)

Obi-Wan probably thought Threepio was just another protocol droid. Artoo, I'm less sure about.

 

I don't know. When Luke mentions the droids Ben gives a very suspicious look. As if he knows that his wait is over and things are falling into place. Because of that context, I think he knows exactly who those two droids are. Especially R2.

 

Obi-Wan doesn't have any attachment for droids. Just look at how he reacts to R4-P17, who was 'his droid' for years, when she dies!

I think the old argument is the only way to rationalize things: droids all look the same, and who's going to remember which droid was which 20 years later? He didn't really even interact that much with Artoo and Threepio.

 

It works for me since I pretend that the prequels never existed.

 

That's actually the retcon I like best out of those put forth so far. More troubling really is the fact that Yoda and Artoo don't seem to recognize each other in ESB. We know from TCW that Yoda was very familiar with Artoo, even taking him with him on his journey to understand the force in the final episodes of the show. I guess we can say that they were purposefully putting on an act, Artoo realizing that Yoda didn't want to reveal himself yet, which if we go with that explanation, lends some additional playfulness to their interaction.

 

Actually R2's memory was not wiped, just C3PO. What you say about them being through numerous missions is the real rub. Can we retcon it to make things make more sense, sure, but the retcons sometimes end up stretching plausibility in order to do so. With better writing on George's part we wouldn't need to retcon things in the first place.

 

He did have C3PO's memory wiped, but not R2.

 

Not to mention, why did he never say anything to Luke about any of this, like when they are on the way to Dagobah, when the computer screen is translating what R2 is telling Luke. Honestly, its technically possible to retcon these things, but it ends up getting kinda messy and convoluted.

 

Let's try to forget that ever happened, shall we

He used them sparingly in ROTS but I swear I would have punched GL in the gut had he been standing next to me when I first saw the droid factory scene in AOTC


On the topic in general,

I used to own a Nissan Sentra back in the early 90's. I wouldn't recognize that car today if it rolled over my foot. Or one of my previous laptops, or my game console, or that hoodie with the sports team logo that I wore a couple of times a week for two years.

Things may seem unique when they are "ours" but realistically they are disposable consumer items.

R2 was the equivalent of a mass produced family sedan that came in a choice of 4, maybe even 5 or 6 colors. 3P0 was even more generic.

 

I always figured R2 was a vital part of the plan. He kept his memory, and kept things to himself.

 

I asked myself the same question. And I wonder how he didn't remember Leia's birth too ...

Vador didn't recognize R2 either. He was his marriage's witness and his best friend ever.

 

Easy answer... Lucas didnt rewatch the OT before writing the prequels (hence all the plot holes)
Heck I can't remember what I had for breakfast yet alone what I did 20 years ago.

 

Even though R2's memory wasn't ordered to be wiped at the end of RotS, it's probably safe to assume that he had his memory wiped at some point in the following 19 years. Imagine if two generations of your family used the same computer for two decades. You'd probably reformat it a few times.