ST C-3PO and R2-D2 in Episode VII

The 3PO Band? ...the guy in the background looks like a drummer.

I cannot wait to see Goldenrod open his mouth and say something in that threepioish way about the odds or some other worthless but amusing fact.

 

I think maybe what has happened to threepio is that over time he's sorta turned into a semi-parody of himself. I dont' know if Anthony Daniels had anything to do with it, or the writers or what. But he's become a character that started out with a lot to say to now just being a "oh my!" and "oh dear!" over and over again. Which maybe has an effect on AD's speech patterns when playing him (he's sorta in the semi-permanent high pitch excitable state that 3PO is sorta "known" for)

It's a phenomenon that occurs with a lot of characters, I think. Even yoda. Look at his speech in the clone wars. It's ridiculously backwards 100% of the time. Wherein ESB, it had more nuance to it and sorta fell in and out. For example, he says, "No, there is another". He didn't say, "Another, there is."

I think even Doc Brown from Back to the Future suffers from this sometimes. I see how Chris Lloyd plays him in recent years (when he's on commercials or whatever) and he's sorta a parody version where he's super eccentric "great scott!" 100% of the time.

I think what happens is that the original characters inform the parody versions, which in turn, inform later versions of the character.

It's actually kind of an interesting phenomenon when you see how characters evolve, especially long lived characters.

 

Anthony Daniels ‏@ADaniels3PO 2m2 minutes ago
Join me on 12th for Star Wars & the Power of Costume Exhibition, Discovery, Times Square? I won't be in costume but I will be fully clothed.

 

Rookhelm

Ugh... I really can't stand how Yoda talks in TCW. As you said, they overdo the "backwardness", and everything is so stilted and monotone all the time. When they brought in Frank Oz to do the voice for Rebels, it made a HUGE difference.

And yeah, I agree with you about C3PO. AD did say that the screenplay for C3PO in TFA is great, so let's see... maybe Kasdan remembered that the character can do more than just fret and say, "Oh dear!"
I hope AD gets the voice right, though. When he appeared on Rebels last season, the voice was so high-pitched, it almost sounded like it was recorded at the wrong speed. (I understand, of course, that people's voices change over the years, but it was strikingly off in Rebels.)

EDIT: I just noticed that C3PO's "voice" issue was already being discussed on the previous page of this thread. It first sounded really noticably different to me in AOTC.

 

I don't think it's necessarily Tom Kane's fault that nearly all of Yoda's lines in TCW were backwards. That fell more on the writers. 3PO on the other hand, I found was portrayed very well in TCW. His almost complete lack of screen time in the PT was disappointing to me.

Whenever I think of GL's quote that the story of Star Wars is told through 3PO and R2's eyes, I can't help but think that only the OT fulfills this. (or now that I think about it, the OT could be told from both droids' eyes while the PT would just be R2).

 

Since C3P0 has a red arm, do you think we'll see a TC-4 droid walking around with a gold arm at some point? Maybe he married a TC-4 droid, and they exchanged their hand (and arm) in marriage....

 

Agreed 100%. Especially on the absolute butchering of Yoda's speech pattern in the PT. If I didn't know better, I would have thought it was a parody. Does the impossible in making me dislike Yoda, and compelling me to mute the film anytime he's on screen.

 

Yeah, the PT managed to turn 3PO into an obnoxious unnecessary sidekick. He's there for nostalgia but is not a real character.

 

that's what he was in the ot!

 

Sounds like Flanderization to me:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Flanderization

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

Yes! That's exactly what I'm describing. Funny that it's got an actual term

 

Regarding AD's higher-pitched voice in recent years, it'd be cool if he played it an octave or two lower in TFA as part of his aging, the way a cassette tape can sound distorted and lower when it gets old.

Also, I'm kinda hoping they incorporate more of the "punching bag" character 3PO is in ESB, when he's at his funniest. Imagine how fed up Leia must be with him after all these years. Maybe she just ignores him entirely at this point.

 

Sounds like nostalgia goggles. C3PO was just as "whiny" and "useless" in the OT as he was in the PT. The only difference is he didn't help advance the plot in any way. He was just "there."

 

3PO's red arm contains Sith Lord Leia's red lightsabre

 

I've thought of this, too, but I'm not so sure. Yes, he definitely had his whiny moments in the OT, no one can dispute that. But perhaps what you say about he didn't have anything to do in the PT made his whininess more apparent there. And I think there's definitely "Flanderization" going on where his unique quirks have become exaggerated over time.

For example, in ANH....sure, he's bickering and being crabby with R2, but they're discussing where to go, whether they should go this way or that...then in the next scene he's talking to luke about the ship he served on, etc. Then of course the whole scene where he's re-enacting Star Wars to the Ewoks.

In the PT, it just didn't feel like he had much to say. When he did, it was sorta a distilled version where he's saying "oh dear!" a lot and so on. I'll be watching the prequels again in a couple weeks, so I'll keep an eye out on how 3PO is depicted and see where the major differences are.

 

In ROTJ maybe, but not in the first two.

 

He doesn't even act like that that much in the PT. The only time he really does is AOTC in the droid factory/Geonosis arena, but for good reason. He's getting thrown around and having his head removed and placed on a battle droid. In TPM and ROTS, he doesn't say much, in ROTS he talks to R2 after the battle of Coruscant saying he could do with a tuneup himself, and asks Padme if she needs anything after Anakin leaves for Mustafar, and then at the end a quick "Oh no.." when he's gonna get his memory wiped. He was much more eccentric in the OT, especially ESB and ROTJ.

And on the case of Yoda, his backwards speak was almost there 100% in ROTJ. George took it up a little bit more since that was a characteristic of Yoda that a lot of people noticed, that he talks in an odd way, and it became a staple for him, so of course he'd up it in future films/shows. This is the first time I've ever seen fans complain about Yoda's speech.

 

https://www.yahoo.com/movies/star-wars-icon-anthony-daniels-on-c-3pos-new-183300260.html

 

I want to see Han yelling at C-3PO at least once.

 

Jeeze, they really could have made this look a little different from Yavin, huh? It looks so much like it.

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/11/1...o?hootPostID=156e5ef9572d417967d05bd00c78984e

 

proves my point exactly.

There were some people who couldn’t stand 3PO in the beginning, there were some people who loved him, and they’ve grown up and go, “Oh yeah, I remember him,” and all that kind of thing.

 

Please! Some of my favorite lines are Han and Threeps back and forth.


Also this just occurred to me:

With Kylo being a Vader fan, does he know that 3PO is his creation?