C-3PO is 112 years old...

That's what it says in the 2nd Edition "A Guide To The Star Wars Universe".

There's no mention of it in the entry for C-3PO, but there's a timeline in the front of the book that says:

112 BSW4 (before SW Ep4): C-3PO activated.

it also has:

35 BSW4: Clone Wars ended.


Where the hell do these come from?!?!

 

Originally the Clone Wars were supposed to have taken place much earlier, as evidenced by Obi-Wan Kenobi's apparent age in ANH (57 my ass) and references in TTT.

 

How can Threepio (not Del Rey's ugly block caption C-3PO) be that old if he was built only decades ago?

 

One could say that his brain was activated that long ago. Because I don't think Anakin made it, did he?

 

That book was published in the early 90s, well before Episode I came out. It was a very good guide in its day (though unofficial), but it's now outdated.

 

The way that's been reconciled (C-3PO) is that most of his parts came from Cybot Galactica droids that were originally produced around that time. So his parts in many cases date back that far, but not the droid himself.

As for the clone wars, that date was derived from info given by Lucas to Lucasfilm to Zahn that Lucas later changed his mind about, just as he did about the timing and a bit of the background he gave to Dark Horse, Anderson, and Vietch for the TOTJ comics era when they asked a series of direct questions about the Sith Lords' origin.

 

Where the hell do these come from?!?!

And did you happen to pay attention to the publishing date on it? The early '90s. The most recent EU out at that time were TTT, DE, about three sourcebooks covering TTT and DE, and the GoDV series. The second edition of the book predates the Jedi Academy Trilogy and so much else published in the '90s.

 

This is all good but it doesn't help me much. Of COURSE I know that this was Pre-Ep1 info. Thanks for pointing that out.

Since the book was copyrighted 1994 it predates the Decipher CCG so it wasn't that.


I'll restate the question: Which publications were these bits of information sourced from?

 

The 112 figure sounds made up... or it's an obscure reference from Marvel or something.

 

From the OS regarding Threepio:

"An earlier version of Threepio's life story was extrapolated by Brian Daley in a 1977 internal Lucasfilm interview. In it, Daley answered a number of questions as Threepio. Here, the droid revealed that he believes he comes from the world of Affa, where he was constructed in a robot factory about 112 years ago. Threepio thinks he has had a string of 43 owners before serving Captain Antilles aboard the Tantive IV. Of course, this story has since changed and Threepio's true origins were revealed in The Phantom Menace."

 

Thank you!!! That's one big "Duh?" on my part for looking everywhere BUT his "Behind the Scenes" bio on the OS...and I mean EVERYWHERE!!!

...and I had to wait for a walrus to answer my question. =)

I hope everyone that replied understands that this stems from a purely quizical notion on my part, and no EU/continuity-bashing is implied (Not reading much EU on a regular basis, I don't have much to bash). =)


Thanks to everybody for replying!!!


p.s. - Nathan P Butler - Did they actually play off of that info in a story while explaining that Anakin recontructed him? Or is that reconciled as part of a LFL literature "bible"?

 

For EU-fanatics who want to include all the stories, there only seem to be two solutions:

One, 3PO really only refers to the age of some of his parts

Two, his memory gets wiped so he forgets about Anakin (which is something Lucas has suggested ever since 1999, and which is the only way to explain the droids' behaviour in the OT). As he might then inquire about his background, he's given a fake biography.

But I guess this has already been decided by higher powers...

 

DS: I'm almost certain the first time I saw it was in the New Essential Guide to Characters by Dan Wallace.

 

::grabs Leto's tongue::

[Qui-Gon]Don't do that again.[/Qui-Gon]

 

isn't announcing that there is a spoiler regarding character X pretty much a spoiler in itself?

 

Yes. Leto II - please stop that.


I think that a mod actually should have edited that. Of course there is an ambiguity to the statment, however slanted.

Anyhoo, thanks again everyone for the speedy answers.

 

I've always figured a spoiler would be posting actual specifics. Not "C3PO is gonna be in Episode III. Big suprise eh?"

It's like saying Anakin does things in ROTS that lead to him becoming a Sith. Everyone knows that

 

Official Answer from TOS's "Ask Jocosta Nu" feature

Q:In the Second Edition of A Guide to the Star Wars Universe (published in 1994) it states that C-3PO was activated 112 years before A New Hope. It also says that Anakin Skywalker was born 55 years before A New Hope. This would have made him 15 years old in Episode I. What's the deal?

A:The Star Wars Encyclopedia and the Third Edition of the Guide has done away with these erroneous dates. Back in 1994, the researchers who compiled the guides weren't privy to the developments of Episode I, so that explains the discrepancies in the dates.

As a side note, the Star Wars: Episode I Visual Dictionary reveals that the body frame Anakin found in constructing C-3PO is over 80 years old, making the 112 year date accurate... from a certain point of view.

 

Even better. Thanks.

Well, we can probably lock this puppy down, questions answered.

 

Bite your tongue 2ndQuest. I find most of the 3PO dialog about as annoying as JarJar Binks. He serves as comedy relief or translator for R2, and not much else.

Saying that, I could see it as a children's cartoon series or something.