CT R2-D2's (illogical?) escape from Lars Homestead

First question, how accurate is this map? If this map is accurate then R2 would have had to have traveled approximately 85-100 miles (didn't do precise calculations) in one night and the time it took to catch up to him. Tatooine has a standard rotation of 23 hrs so it stands to reason the day/night cycle is similar to Earth's I would assume. So my main question is how did R2 get so far in one night? I never gave it any thought until I found this map on Wookieepedia because I never gave much thought to the layout of locations on Tatooine until I started reading Kenobi.

 

He's a droid - droids don't have to stop to rest.

Still - that would mean a nonstop pace comparable to a running human.

 

Which Artoo has never been shown to move at anything close to. This does seem like an error on the mapmaker's part (or whoever established the distances on the map, anyway).

 

Except when he uses his jets in the prequels - but I can't see him travelling a hundred miles on jets.

I would guess the map came from Curtis Saxton & David West-Reynolds's Inside The Worlds of The Star Wars Trilogy.

 

SAAAAAAXTON!

...of course it would.

 

Hmmm... My thought is someone put waaay too much thought into that map, and that Lucas when he made ANH never drew up a map where everything was.

 

All right I went through the sources for the map on Wookieepedia and found the map came from a blog post from John Jackson Miller, the author of Kenobi, on the Star Wars blog: http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/2013/08/26/the-world-of-star-wars-kenobi/

 

In that blog post, he explains where the map came from:

The “operative” map of Tatooine, as far as Kenobi is concerned, comes from 2005’s Star Wars Complete Locations by DK Press, written by Kristen Lund, Simon Beecroft, Kerrie Dougherty, and James Luceno, and illustrated by Richard Chasemore and Hans Jenssen.

Complete Locations was mostly a reprint of Inside The Worlds, plus some new content.

 

I like how the map tries to incorporate all appearances of Tatooine in the saga, but R2's escape does seem a bit lengthy. I'd imagine Ben's hut would be a bit closer.

 

Random thought:
Where is the Tusken camp we see in AOTC? That's pretty important to leave out on a map

 

I thought the spot that says "Remains of old Tusken camp" in the Jundland Wastes, was it.

 

I think Ben's hut would be a tad bit closer to the Lars' farm, so Ben could keep an eye on Luke from a distance but without having to walk through dangerous territory every time he does so.

Also, R2 is a robot, he doesn't need to rest and, if I recall correctly, he had at least twelve hours before Luke and C-3PO found him. That's a lot of distance one can cover when one does not need to rest or eat at all.

 

There are disadvantages to keeping too close an eye on Luke - as was pointed out in The Life & Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi:

"Hello, Owen," Obi-Wan said as he brought the eopie to a halt. "Is something wrong?"
Owen nodded once. Obi-Wan began to dismount, but Owen held up one hand and said, "Don't bother. What I have to say won't take long."
Obi-Wan kept his eyes on Owen as he shifted his weight back onto the eopie.
"I'm not sure how to put this," Owen continued, "so I'm just going to say it. The way you come around my place ... it bothers me."
Obi-Wan sighed. "I'm sorry, Owen. But as I told you, I need to make sure the boy is—"
"Wait," Owen interrupted. "My wife and I are the ones raising Luke, right? That's what we agreed to?"
Obi-Wan nodded as he wondered where the conversation was going.
Owen said, "Well, I didn't agree to you checking on us daily, let alone twice a day. I don't mean any disrespect, but I've been keeping Tuskens off my property for years and ... well, I just think you coming here so often is just a bad idea!"
Keeping his voice calm, Obi-Wan said, "Owen, I assure you, I don't question your ability to handle the Tuskens. But as we've already discussed, it's not the Tuskens I'm worried about."
"Oh, right," Owen continued. "It's the Empire. But then let me ask you something." Owen swallowed hard before he continued. "If you're so concerned about the child's well being, why don't you try staying away from us? Didn't you ever think what would happen to Luke if the Empire tracked you down and found you living in my back yard?"
Owen's words left Obi-Wan momentarily dumbstruck. Then he shook his head and said, "Forgive me, Owen. "You're absolutely right. I'll be more careful. More discreet."
"That's a start," Owen said. "Again, I don't mean any disrespect, but ... my wife and I can't raise Luke in any ordinary way if we know you're always lurking about. Understand?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan said. He expected — maybe even hoped — that Owen was going to say something more, but when he didn't, Obi-Wan said, "Good night, Owen."
Owen nodded once again, then turned and headed for the entry dome. Obi-Wan turned his eopie around and guided the creature back across the desert.

 

Thanks for sharing that, Iron_lord. I didn't know that.

 

That author (Ryder Windham) is pretty good when it comes to filling in the periods between movies - as well as showing what characters are thinking at key points in the movies.

 

Just because he's never been shown to move that fast in the movies, doesn't mean he's unable to. I can think of no reason he wouldn't be able to. And TCW does show him moving at least as fast as a jogging human. "Artoo Come Home" is the example I'm thinking of, but there could be others.

So assuming Artoo can move that fast, he could very easily make it that far in 12 hours or less (I measured it more exactly using line segments in PowerPoint, and his route seems to be about 71 miles long). And remember that it would take Luke and Threepio a little bit of time to reach him after they set out in the landspeeder. Depending on when it gets dark and when it gets light on Tatooine, it's definitely doable to square it with the depiction of time in the movie.

 

I vaguely remember Artoo units in general moving pretty fast on occasion in TCW.

Didn't Goldie do so a couple of times?

 

R2 could knock out a hundred miles in a night and a bit easily. Come on, it's R2! Ten miles and hour. That's a lot slower than an Olympic marathoner and I reckon R2 could hold that pace all night if he put his mind to it. Not like he's going to go into glycogen deficit.

 

It's not in the movie, it contradicts the movie, and it's not accurate.

 

Did you read the thread? We measured Artoo's route and did the math, and it doesn't contradict the movie at all.

And for all we know, it wasn't just all night. He probably started out not long after Luke got called in to dinner.

 

Nope, just the OP's post.

 

...Why would you post a kneejerk-negative post without reading the entire thread? It's not even a single page long yet.

 

Because I am replying to the OP's post, which I have every right to do.

 

A map not being in the movie - doesn't mean it wasn't in Lucas's notes for the PT material.

I could see a lot of the Complete Locations material being based on notes, film sets, etc - not just made up.

 

And utterly impractical as a result - but I still like the map. Even includes Mos Taike, which was the closest village to my homestead/art gallery in SW Galaxies.

Still seems to jam all the featured locations into a smaller area than I imagined - I imagined Mos Espa being practically on the other side of Tatooine to Mos Eisley and Anchorhead. With this map, it looks like Anakin Skywalker's old stomping grounds were only one or two counties across from Luke's (and Jabba's Palace).