CT Why didn't 3PO & R2 get caught on the Death Star?

Now, I know the common thought is that Droid's are "beyond notice" to anyone, but every Imperial droid on the Death Star (and pretty much in their employ altogether) has a black color scheme. So why do the Stormtroopers on the Death Star seem to so easily accept that the obviously "un-Imperial" looking 3PO & R2 belong there?

 

There may be colored droids on the Death Star for all we know, we only see black ones as a motif of the Empire's evil. It's the same deal with red lightsabers, it makes no difference to the characters, but the audiences can tell whos good and who's bad.

 

Obi-John Kenobi wrote

Every Imperial droid on the Death Star (and pretty much in their employ altogether) has a black color scheme.

Second Death Star, yes:





first Death Star, no.

I wasn't able to find again this great website illustrating all the astro-droid variations from the OT, so instead here are a couple of screencap pages where you can see astro-droids on Death Star I, that aren't just black:

https://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1977/51/ (frame # 14, blue R2 unit)

https://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1977/59/ (frame # 49, same blue R2 with transparent dome)

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(interesting, they all show up in scenes with Kenobi - coincidence?... )

And there is the deleted scene with Vader and Commander Number One ('Chief Bast'), featuring an R2 that is not black:



And another R2 unit:



and finally a conehead R2 that appears to be black:



My theory: While pursuing the Falcon they analyzed how Leia's rescuers were able to do what they did and found out that the droids they had with them were largely responsible, because they were able to pretend they were Imperial droids. After ANH the Galactic Empire plugged that particular security hole.

 

Angelfire prevents hotlinking. Remember that in the future.

Anyway, the droids aren't pursued because no one in the Empire knows what kind of droids they're looking for. This is evident in Mos Eisley when the Stormtrooper ask Luke how long he has had them. They're checking all manner of droids. Garindan saw two humans and two droids and suspected them of being the ones, hence following them and then reporting to the Stormtroopers. It is unclear if the detachment told Vader what kind of droids they were.

 

Cool explanation!

I never saw that clip before. Why does it sound like Bast is saying "We waste time with Tarkin's foolish bathroom break."?

 

Thanks for the heads-up, unfortunately only Angelfire hosted these images. But anyone interested can use the searchword "Death Star droids" and check out the picture results.

Sorry, but no, Garindan (the cloaked alien spy) only saw two humans and followed them. Artoo and Threepio joined Luke and Obi-Wan somewhere on the road, they do not show up all together until they reached the street leading to Docking Bay 94.

 

I thought the stormtroopers in Mos Eisley were only after Luke and Obi Wan because the snitch in the cantina told them about the light-saber incident and then Garindan continued to track them down.

 

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Exactly, that the attention shifted from finding the droids to finding the owners of the droids, instead is evident from the SW draft version from January 1976:

B50. INT. DEATH STAR CORRIDOR
Darth Vader and a stormtrooper commander stride down one of the long Death Star corridors, followed by several aides.
COMMANDER
We’re starting to search the spaceport. It’s just a matter of time before we have them.
VADER
What of this old man?
COMMANDER
It’s only speculation at this point that he is traveling with the droids. Good with a lightsaber, unusual for that area.
VADER
I think this confirms a feeling I’ve had. If he’s with the droids, be careful. He’ll not be taken easily. We’ve been waiting for him for a long time.
COMMANDER
Nothing will leave the spaceport until they’re found.

Obi-John Kenobi

Here is how that scene got rewritten for the March 1976 draft version (before it ultimately ended on the editing floor, yet was recycled for the Star Wars Holiday Special but with different dialogue and - now - took place aboard an Imperial Star Destroyer):

BA53. INT. DEATH STAR – CORRIDOR
Darth Vader and a stormtrooper commander stride down one of the long Death Star corridors, followed by several aides.
COMMANDER
We’ve started to search the spaceport at Mos Eisley. It’s just a matter of time before we’ve found the droids.
VADER
Send in more men if you have to. It’s her hope of that data being used against us that is the pillar of her resistance to the mind probe.
COMMANDER
Until then we must waste our time with Governor Tarkin’s foolish plan to break her.

 

My theory is that R2D2 and C-3PO were identified as being cargo unloaded from the Millennium Falcon and not identified as lifeforms therefore irrelevant to the task of locating the crew. Vessels do enter the entrance from time to time depositing those sort of droids. A protocol droid can easily fall in line when he had to address a Stormtrooper Commander just like he did back on Tatooine when he passed ownership from the Jawas to the Skywalkers.

 

The Falcon is determined to be empty based on a physical examination and before the scanners are used. So the Imperials would have no reason to think that those particular droids were from the Falcon.

 

Wandered off the ship and into the control station. The Stormtroopers were looking for the passengers.

 

They don't know what kind of droids they're looking for. Hence the Stormtroopers that enter control tower don't question Threepio and Artoo when they're let out of the supply closet. The Stormtroopers are only alerted to the presence of intruders in the detention center, who have identified them as two human males,a female and a Wookiee.

 

As we see in Rogue One the last time the plans were visible was in the hands of a rebel. They could have been downloaded into any droid and the Star Destroyer did not have an inventory of what droids were kept on the Tantive IV ranging from Imperial droids to bots. Their is reason to believe that the Death Star was aware that Millennium Falcon was in possession of the Death Star plans but here again a few inaccuracies in intel emerge.

The Falcon had escaped detection from Tatooine and flew into the Death Star taking the battle station by surprise. Not knowing what this ship was up to so not connecting the missing droids to this unidentified vessel. Also the Stormtroopers would have expected the plans to be near to the crew and not left carelessly behind. Valuable plans like those being allowed roam the station, had they suspected the crew of having the plans they would be holding on to them dearly.

Finally the Imperials had no record of the Falcon up to this point as it was not part of the Rebel fleet this reveals for me at least that a gangster working for Jabba has broken into the battle station for a ransom. Princess was under Imperial detention so a bounty may have been placed on her head to get her out and Rebels payed Jabba to do the work for them and hired a Bounty Hunter to conduct a raid on the station.The droids would thus not be on the ship and so they would not be looking for them.

 

The same reason some of the main characters in the OT don't remember them from the PT... In-universe they are just generic astromech and protocol droids. No different than a random Samsung galaxy or iphone, or ford f-150, dodge charger etc. There are trillions of identical droids across the galaxy just like them.

OOU they seem iconic to only us, the audience. The only reason they are the only droids in that color scheme of their kind is so not to confuse the fans.

 

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