Why was Threepio driving?

"Might be our little R2 unit, hit the accelerator!"

Luke's line indicated that Threepio was driving the landspeeder.

My question: Why?

 

Luke was drunk as hell.

 

In the Star Wars novel Threepio tells Owen Lars that his full name is See Vee Threepio - Vee for versatility. When driving for Luke he confesses that "on occasion I have been called upon to perform unexpected functions in circumstances which would have appalled my designers." It also refers to Luke "luxuriating in unaccustomed relaxation as Threepio skillfully directed the powerful landcraft around dunes and rocky outcrops". So maybe Luke was just being a lazy blighter that morning.

 

lol!!

 

I saw something in the CT doc. where it showed Threepio driving the landspeeder in the first cut.

 

Luke had other things on his mind obviously....... probably thinking about how he is going to be a Jedi like his father or something like that.

 

In the first cut it looked terrible from that angle and having 3PO to drive like that. He looked like a little kid spinning the wheel aimlessly in every direction but what he was driving went perfectly straight. I guess Luke was using his binoculars [or whatever they are called in ANH] because that's something that 3PO can't do, so 3PO had to drive.

 

It is hard to drive while looking for an R2 unit through binoculars.

 

Amen, brother!

 

If Threepio can drive a Naboo Starship, he can drive a Landspeeder.

 

But he probably didn't have to actually fly the Naboo Starship. Just set it on autopilot and enter the coordinates of a landing site once they got closer to Mustafar.

 

3-PO was flying the ship.

 

I think Han should have let him fly the Falcon while they were in the asteroid field...

 

Precisely.

 

lol I was thinking about this a couple nights ago and I was like, "Nah it couldn't be! It is!"



Why on earth was Threepio driving?

 

I'm going on memory here, and it's been a while since I've watch ANH very closely, but I clearly remember him driving. I agree with the other posts, it was to allow Luke to look for R2 with is binoculars.

 

we don't actually see him driving the speeder a bit far back in the shot to really see who really driving

 

What gets me about that shot is that Anthony Daniels and Mark Hamill are obviously having a conversation that has NOTHING to do with Hamill's V.O. on screen, with Daniels clearly moving his hand, accentuating a conversational point to Hamill.

I DEMAND that be removed for saga continuity

 

Why not? I,ll let 3PO drive all the time. Well until I need to do a gutsy move or something.

 

^

As I recall, the driver's seat on the speeder (I had the toy as a kid, will be sure to double check at my parents' house at thanksgiving) is on the right-hand side, which is where C3PO is sitting.

 

If you listen to the Radio Drama of ANH C-3PO offers to drive the landspeeder while Luke looks through the binoculars. It is a simple case of Luke not being able to both drive safely and look for R2 at the same time.

 

Well we know one of Luke?s influences was Ben and Ben was a member of the Anchorhead AA Chapter.

Ben: ?Hi my name is Ben and I?m an alcoholic.?

Group: ?Hi Ben?

Ben: ?At one time I only drank on special occasions. My drinking became more frequent as I trained the chosen one and when he fell to the dark side and killed everyone I liked I started hitting the bottle hardcore. After nearly two decades in the desert I am now a raging Alcoholic.?

 

Um, maybe Luke WAS driving, but he couldn't handle all the controls, like maybe one hand on the steering wheel, one holding binoculars, so C-3PO had to hit the accelerator for him.

As for Padme's Naboo yacht, I think she did the piloting. Yeah, Treepio says something about flying, but remember, Padme sits on the right side, like in the AOTC. The yacht, unlike Falcon, has pilot on the right. Methinks.

 

I always assume Falcon was like most airplanes, where both the pilot and copilot can fly. I'm pretty sure the speeder only had controls on the right, though, like cars in the UK, and that's where C3PO was sitting.

 

He had no idea his father was a Jedi at this point in time. Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were still alive, and he had yet to bump into Ben yet. At this point in time he was still a farm boy from Tatooine looking for a lost droid.