Why didn't Obi Wan or Owen recognize C3PO and R2D2?

Doesn't he give Owen the usual "I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations"?

 

I call shenanigans. I WOULD recognize my first computer or first car. Every nook and cranny, every scratch, every imperfection, every modification I'd made.

 

I don't think so... I think this is the only conversation between C-3PO and Owen:

OWEN: I have no need for a protocol droid.
C-3PO: Of course not, sir, not in an environment such as this. That's why I've also been programmed -
OWEN: What I really need is a droid that understands the binary language of moisture vaporators.
C-3PO: Vaporators! Sir, my first job was programming binary load lifters... very similar to your vaporators. You could say -
OWEN: Can you speak Bocce?
C-3PO: Of course I can, sir. It's like a second language for me -
OWEN: All right, shut up. I'll take this one.
C-3PO: Shutting up, sir.

Later on, just to Luke, he says:
"And I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, and this is my counterpart, R2-D2."

 

We know she found out at some point, based on her lack of confusion at Luke's reference to her "real mother".

 

They're lying liars who lie. Haven't you noticed that about them?

 

Who's lying?

 

I heard somewhere that apparentley Obi Wan didnt want to reveal the identity of his past or something of that manor. If you notice, when Luke asks him if he know's the droids, He pauses with a stern look in his eyes as if he had to think about it whether to reveal the truth or not.

 

very interesting theory, There has to be more then 26 3po protocol droids. What i stand by is just that most likely Lucas didnt initially intend to have owen in the prequels, espiacally at the time the first movie was made.Even if C-3po was common protocol droid name and still think we would've seen a facial gesture or some sign of recognition from Owen, as he could've atleast made the assumption taht it was the same protocol droid.

 

I would assume that C-3po eventually introduced himself, if not Having their been no introduction that would be a good reason for the lack of memory espically since there are supposedly many protocol droids.

 

For OB1, I don't think he lost his memory at all. A particular secret still had to be kept so he had to play dumb.

As for Owen and Beru, time and memory were probably the reason...or not. Owen may also have been trying to bury the past. Remember the conversation at the dinner table? And he wanted to perform a memory wipe on both droids as well.

 

He did [image=http://www.chroniclebooks.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/tales.jpg]

 

Out-of-universe, George makes it up as he goes along.

In-universe, it's simple: We recognize C-3PO and R2-D2 because we've been on adventures with them. Same as the main characters. But in-universe, C-3PO and R2-D2 are mass-produced machines, and it could've been any R2 droid. That, and Obi-Wan has already been proven to be a lying liar who lies.

 

Owen does recognize R2-D2 & C3P0; when Luke mentions the message that R2 had of Leia referencing someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi, he gets all quiet, and hurriedly wants luke to have their minds erased first thing in the morning.

Before that, he hasn't seen those droids for over 22-23 years ( Adding the clone wars, plus the years between then and ANH). Protocol & Astromech Droids are essentialy mass produced droids that come in a wide variety of models and colors. When he first met them in ANH, he could have thought " You know, I remember years ago when I had a protocol droid, and i seem to remember my stepbrother having a little blue astromech droid with him as well", but other than that, he probably couldn't recall...

 

But Owen doesn't need to recognize R2-D2 and C-3PO to know that something is up when he hears Luke say that the droids mentioned Obi-Wan; just hearing "Obi-Wan Kenobi" is enough, and especially because it's "Obi-Wan" and not "Ben".

 

Maybe Uncle Owen is just as prejudiced as the rest of them, & all shinies/clankers look the same to him. Their names were never something worth remembering, just as long as they did their jobs, stayed out of proper establishments, rode at the back of transports - and stayed the hell away from our women.

And BTW - why would he remember them anyway? C-3PO looked extremely different & Artoo wasn't in his possession during the PT era. Putting aside the whole 'droid prejudice' issue, there wasn't any real connection ever established between the Lars & C-3PO, except that Threepio was a droid that once belonged to Shmi. Owen & Beru may have had very little to do with him. Artoo was nothing more than the droid which accompanied Anakin & Padme when they visted - it's unlikely they would have bothered to introduce him.

As far as Obi-Wan's concerned, I'm happy to go with the idea that Obi-Wan never revealed any information that he didn't have to, & was quite adept at keeping it hidden, even when people strongly connected with it were in his presence. Luke bought the story about his father, probably never occurred to him that there was ever any connection between & Obi-Wan & either of the droids.

In-universe, there's an very simple explanation - Owen Lars & Obi-Wan Kenobi had spent 20 years keeping extremely dangerous secrets. By the time the two droids turned up, they'd well & truly perfected their poker faces.

 

Owen and Obi-Wan lied to Luke about everything.

 

As far as I recall, Obi-Wan never flatly lies... he either omits or says things that are true "from a certain point of view". Owen tells one direct lie I can think of (he says this about Obi-Wan, trying to make a distinction between "Obi-Wan" and "Ben"): "I don't think he exists anymore. I think he died about the same time as your father."

 

"Darth Vader murdered your father" is basically a lie... it may be metaphorically true "from a certain point of view" but that's not the way Luke would be expected to interpret it.

 

True, Obi-Wan had to be leaning pretty heavily on the metaphorical truth "from a certain point of view" on this one, because he knew how Luke would actually take it. Still, at that time he placed more value on not telling Luke too much too soon, and when Luke asked him directly it was the best he could come up with on the spot.

 

For Owen: The old toaster argument. Would you recognize a toaster if it was painted in a different color and showed up at your house 20 years later? He also only saw 3P0 for about a day in ANH--so there was no real time for it to sink in. Luke was handling the droids.

For Obi Wan: I think he recognized R2. A few things--he knew who R2 was by ROTS, R2 was critical in the opening scenes of that movie and Obi Wan referred to him by name several times. It was clear the droid was incorporated in many of the missions that he and Anakin had during the clone wars. He also knew the droids ended up in the custody of Capt. Antilles and that they had just left that ship to bring the message from Leia. Alec even gives the droid a little smirk.

Obi Wan knew--but he couldn't say: "Hey Luke, your parents owned these droids 20 years ago!"

 

actually Owen speaks truth from a certain point of view as well- Obi died about the the same as Anakin only 4 years difference also "Obi-Wan Kenobi" name don't exist anymore like Anakin-name has no meaning for Vader.....

oh and Owen says to 3po "You, I expect you're programmed for etiquette and protocol" why he expects so?- because it looks just like Shmi's old protocol droid except it's golden color- that golplating must be reason why he don't really recognise the droid.... artoo never was familiar to him anyway but something in it may have reminded him of something unpleasant "No not that one!" what's wrong with artoo?- perhaps it's too much like Anakin's droid who came to take his stepbrother for old Obi-Wan's idealistic crusade when he finally saw that mythical Anakin- his longlost brother Shmi talked about all the time.....

Obi-Wan however don't really care about droids but he seems to know exactly what r2-units can do "Plug in, he should be able to interpret the entire imperial network." why he knows that- because he worked with r2-units during the war (with very same r2 in fact ) including r4-p17 jedi temple's droid that worked his co-pilot but it was not his property..... and in his hut Obi-Wan seems to understand that "damn- after all these years NO ONE have wiped out memory of that carbage bin" artoo knows ben's hiding place and all secrets- birth of twins and all since he tend to escape from routine memory wipes during his time in Tantive4....

Also Obi may be bit crazy and demented after living in small hut in the middle of the desert with no one but ghost of Qui-Gon Jinn

 

Downfall of the Droids episode of the Clone Wars explains this issue a bit- Obi-Wan says r2-units are "a dime a dozen." he is also surprised that Anakin don't erase r2:s memory in routine maintenances like he should.... in ANH Ben seems to understand no one has been able to erase the memory of r2 during all these years- since r2 said "he is property of Obi-Wan Kenobi" like he probably thinks on Mustafar after Anakin went odd and disappeared "Now i'm Obi-Wan's droid" ... R2 seems to recognize Obi-Wan well enough in ANH and on Death Star Ben is like "R2 plug in- like in the old times remember?" he probably won't say anything that Luke wouldn't get attached to that droid too much like Anakin did- ironically who is that nearly kills artoo?- Vader- that blast may have blown up parts of artoo's memory cores making it impossible for him to remember all his past adventures so r2 cannot tell to Luke that "I fought in the Clone Wars too- with your father- and once i pwned 2 superbattledroids all by myself" "Yeah sure you did artoo, sure you did"

 

YES, the same step-mom's service droid who was built buy her son who eventually came to find her, slaughter a camp of sandpeople and eventually take 3PO away from them when he left on his way out. I'm guessing they weren't bitter about Anakin taking back his C3PO since they agreed to adopt his son ;P

 

For Obi Wan: I think he recognized R2. A few things--he knew who R2 was by ROTS, R2 was critical in the opening scenes of that movie and Obi Wan referred to him by name several times. It was clear the droid was incorporated in many of the missions that he and Anakin had during the clone wars. He also knew the droids ended up in the custody of Capt. Antilles and that they had just left that ship to bring the message from Leia. Alec even gives the droid a little smirk.


I believe the only way for Obi-Wan to recognize C3-P0 and R2-D2 was by their names. Because the two droids resemble other droids of similar build or unit.

 

Also, R2 was Anakin's droid not Obi-Wans. Obi had R4 near the end. And then it wasn't really HIS droid either.