Esoteric Star Wars III: R2-D2 what are you?

R2-D2 is arguably the most significant character of the Star Wars film series. This is not just my opinion but the opinion of George Lucas himself. There are multiple instances in the commentaries of the films where Lucas testifies to this point. When asked in an interview if there was a character that he was going to miss Lucas replied:

"Well, R2-D2...because he's the hero of the whole thing. He's the one that always comes through and saves everybody. I'd like to have a pal like that that would come and save me once in a while..."

Ewan McGregor, Obi-Wan portrayer in the prequel trilogy, stated in an interview, "As soon as Artoo-Detoo comes on the set, everyone goes a bit silly". He further mentioned that his then four year old daughter announced to him that she was in love with R2. McGregor furthered:

"...there is something about him that makes you feel great affection for him. I think it is a combination of his shape, his high-pitched voice. He's just incredibly appealing. In fact, I believe he is George [Lucas]'s favorite actor."

This status of R2 as the true hero of the epic maybe why in some Spanish speaking countries he is renamed Arturito, meaning "little Arthur". Love for R2-D2 is nearly universal. I can think of people who have stated "I don't like/I hate Star Wars", but I can't recall anyone ever specifically stating that they hate R2-D2. The same can't be said of C-3PO. This is likely due to a number of factors of the character design and portrayal. One essential might be in the human qualities of his appearance, made abstract to a degree that allows for universal personal identification, a concept described towards emotional response to cartoon characters by Scott McCloud in "Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art".

McCloud also talks about the human propensity to project ourselves into certain objects and tools, especially so with cars (i.e. when someone bumps your car with their car you'd likely state "He hit me!" rather than "He hit my car with his car!"). I believe this in part is why many people develop autophilia. I make mention of this because I believe the character development of the Droids, especially R2, largely stems for Lucas' much professed love of auto racing and custom cars. R2-D2 is the offspring of Toto and the souped-up, customized hobby car in the garage.

I left you hanging at the end of my last article, These Artoo the droids you're looking for,with my emphasis of the fact that as an astromech droid R2-D2 by necessity must think at faster then light speeds into extradimensional directions in order to perform the calculations necessary for hyperspace navigations. To me this seems a clever sci-fi manner of describing a heightened consciousness far beyond the "limits" of a human mind. Add this intrinsic but quiet aspect of R2 to the fact that this simple seeming figure elicits instant love in viewers, and Lucas' assertion of the character as the ultimate hero of the saga, and you have a highly significant figure. In this article I'll look at the development and portrayal of R2-D2. My next article will focus on his in-story origins and actions.

Like much of the original trilogy material, R2-D2 was visually developed from designs by futurist artist Ralph McQuarrie. While not exactly a household name McQuarrie's work as a futurist visionary will inevitably come to be seen as some of the most important and influential material of this era. I say this due to his fundamental role not just in the design of Star Wars but also in the original "Battlestar Galactica", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "E.T.", "Cocoon" and "Jurassic Park".




From a point during early script development when Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia were the same character, "The Hidden Fortress" in space


Action figures based on McQuarrie's initial 3PO and R2-D2 designs

I'm fascinated by the beautiful McQuarrie paintings. The gold and silver aspects are more prominent in this early version of 3PO and R2. The arms attached to the dome, at least in the action figure version positioned as they are, gives him the appearance of an animated Mercury symbol. Look at those arms again and think caduceus.

Other then the coloration and those permanent arms the design of R2 remained relatively intact. One cited source of inspiration are Huey, Dewey and Louie from the 1972 film "Silent Running".



He's even more visually similarity to Analyzer/IQ-9 from "Space Battleship Yamato/Star Blazers" though this seems more synchronistic in nature as initial drafts of "Star Wars" were completed by the time "Yamato" first aired in Japan in 1974.



Another amazing R2-D2 synchronicity is the mechanical owl Bubo from the 1981 Ray Harryhausen movie "Clash of the Titans".



Despite public perception, and "Titans" coming out after both "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back", Harryhausen had developed Bubo prior to R2-D2's introduction in 1977. This seems difficult to believe, given the similarity of the characters' appearance, vocalizations and roles in the story, but a creative force like Ray Harryhausen had no need to swipe characters from other movies. In "Titans" Bubo is a gift to Perseus from the goddess Athena. In "A New Hope" R2-D2 passes from sovereignty figure Princess Leia to solar hero Luke Skywalker.

That R2-D2 was a part of the picture from the outset can be testified by the account of the origins of the character name. George Lucas was working on the script for "Star Wars" during the production of his 1973 film "American Graffiti" . As the legend goes a crew member requested Reel 2, Dialog 2 by using the abbreviation R2,D2, and Lucas thought it had a nice sound as a name for one of his robot characters.

The original trilogy split the portrayal of R2-D2 between a live actor in a costume/puppet and a remote control model, the distinction based on the actions being performed. In the prequel trilogy digital depiction was added to these methods. The talented Kenny Baker performed as R2 in five of the six movies. Though he's credited with the role for "Revenge of the Sith" he did not actually work in that film.



Baker has also appeared in David Lynch's 1980 film "The Elephant Man", the 1980 "Flash Gordon", the 1984 Mozart biopic "Amadeus", Jim Henson's 1986 "Labyrinth", and Neil Jordan's "Mona Lisa" that same year. His most prominent role besides R2-D2 was certainly as Fidgit in Terry Gilliam's "Time Bandits", one of my favorite films which I discussed in Inside the Map of the Universe. In "Return of the Jedi" he also played the part of the Ewok Paploo, the one who bravely stole the Stormtrooper speederbike creating a diversion allowing the Rebels to break into the Death Star's shield generator.



He was originally meant to play Wicket W. Warrick but had to be replaced when shooting came with a young Warwick Davis (Warwick "Wicket Willow Flitwick Griphook Leprechaun Marvin Reepicheep Nikabrik" Davis) due to a sudden illness, likely food poisoning. The performance of Baker in this role synchronistically connects humble-seeming R2-D2 to no less then the major mythological figures of Dionysus and Osiris via his birthday, August 24th. According to Plutarch this is the date of birth of these concurrent solar deities as described in the article Five Days Out of Time by John Opsopaus.

The other major component of R2's portrayal, and another key to his high likability, are his vocalizations, created and performed (playing his own recorded vocalizations) by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt. Burtt had auditioned for the role of Luke. The voice of R2 may be an even more significant role. R2's speech is largely similar to and designed after infant vocalizations, sounds we're hard wired to find endearing, working much the same as R2's child-size stature. Interestingly Ben Burtt also provided the vocal sounds for the Pixar (which would never have existed without Lucasfilm) movie "WALL-E". WALL-E then might be viewed as a form of R2-D2 in the starring role he's always deserved.



Or perhaps WALL-E is the crossbreed of R2-D2 and Johnny-5 from "Short Circuit" (which starred Steve Guttenberg, also born on August 24th, also in the film "Cocoon").  WALL-E is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of robot characters obviously informed by R2-D2, many of which are far more visually blatant (i.e V.I.N.CENT and Old B.O.B. from "The Black Hole", or H.E.R.B.I.E. from the late 70s "Fantastic Four" cartoon* replacing the Human Torch on the team). Indeed the cultural influence of R2-D2 is profound. He was inducted into The Robot Hall of Fame in 2003, the first year of nominations, sharing the honor with the Mars Pathfinder Sojourner Rover, Unimate (the first assembly line robotic arm) and HAL 9000. C-3PO didn't make it in until 2004.

R2's simple shapes have made him the most marketable of Star Wars icons. In March 0f 2007 the USPS replaced several hundred mailboxes around the country with ones designed to look like R2-D2 to promote the Star Wars Stamps (illustrated by the great Drew Struzan) celebrating the 30th anniversary of the franchise, emphasizing his role as Messenger.





He's also the nickname for the Phalanx CIWS anti-missile defense system. Beyond this there are R2-D2 shaped movie projector/DVD players, trash bins, laundry baskets, soap dispensers, night lights, etc. He even makes your food taste better.





R2 has made some subtle film cameos in what are, you may agree, highly significant locations. He makes a brief appearance in "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", hanging upside down from the Mothership, just to the viewer's left of the three spot lights in the image below.



He also appears, along with C-3PO, amongst no less then the figures of the ancient Egyptian pantheon. This was in "Raiders of the Lost Ark" in the Well of Souls, the holding place of the Ark of the Covenant.





With R2 the center of this mythological scene, perhaps receiving vital data as he did in "A New Hope", making him a repository of information, equating R2-D2 with the Ark of the Covenant itself. Just an in-joke/easter egg by Lucas or a subtle hint of a greater cohesiveness between the various works of George Lucas? Ancient Egyptians could potentially have made contact with the Droids considering the action of Star Wars took place an unspecified long time ago.

More on R2-D2 the next time around. While you wait you can play with the R2-D2 Translator. You can make him say your name, swear or whatever you like. I made him say Faster than light thought into extradimensional directions.

*Besides the interest that can be taken in an R2-D2 based character replacing the Promethean Human Torch, there's further interest here as the character was created for the cartoon by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the work of which had definite influence on Star Wars. A case of circular inspiration.