Star Wars droids are a MESS

As much as I love Star Wars, there is a disease at the heart of the franchise that Star Wars needs to address.

MOSTLY NITPICKING PODCAST

OTHER STUFF

Music by Epidemic Sound

[localyocal]

Baffling decision to have the droid whose main trait was droid freedom have a ‘happy’ ending of indentured servitude and no longer having a voice

[jlev]

I think the problem really ramped up in the Clone Wars series where they gave every Battle Droid a personality. Instead of being a mindless army, the Confederacy's armed forces are now full of quirky individuals who have opinions and hobbies but are obligated to still fight the enemy anyway.

[MandalorSkyrd]

The biggest problem Star Wars has with droids is the inconsistency. Every writers wants something from droids, so droids acts differently.

[freyja]

Yes! This lack of consistency has bothered me forever. Turning IG11 into a suit for Grogu is just a perfect illustration of this ick factor. If droids are basically people then this baby is piloting a corpse. If they aren't people, then he wasn't really a friend. I don't mind people in the universe believing different things, that makes sense, but Star Wars in general wants us to believe different things depending on their own plot convenience. They do this with Storm Troopers as well.

[halfmettlealchemist]

I personally feel like Andor Season 2 would be the perfect place to explore the subject of droid rights in Star Wars - a show that's ostensibly about what it takes to build a rebellion and why resistance in the face of overwhelming tyranny is a universal trait could naturally invite that sort of discussion with the gravity and nuance that it deserves.

[bmo]

A potential answer for L3's revolution could be that the droids at kessel don't want to be there. The issue isn't with working, it's with working at the spice mines of Kessel, an absolute hellhole for most of the occupants. That would mean the droids like to work but understand the morality of situations. This is kinda backed up by The Clone Wars as in the final episodes some astromechs help Ahsoka despite her being labelled a fugitive

[fnsmike]

"The heroic freedom-fighters are presented as realizing their servants are sentient people who want to be free, and yet were all slaveowners anyway." So it's a metaphor for US history?

[RiotKurhein]

It's worse when you take in the Extended Universe, in that the Droids did rebel, were beaten, and then basically labotomized (had their intellect capped) to be enslaved again.

[submortimer]

BD-1 100% has at LEAST dog level intelligence, but probably much higher.

Also, I think one of the significant indicators is Restraning Bolts. 3P0 and R2 didn't wear restraining bolts while in the presence of the main characters, and were clearly viewed as friends or allies.

[discountwolverine]

I think you could have both. Luke is friends with C3-PO and R2-D2; he doesn’t own them. He did at one point, which is still weird, but they clearly aren’t his slaves. C3-PO and R2-D2 both make decisions on their own without Luke, they rebel against Luke’s wishes, and they hang out with other members of the rebellion. There’s no indication that those two don’t genuinely believe in the rebel cause, especially considering that both of them have *willingly* sacrificed themselves for it on multiple occasions (not a sacrifice out of self-preservation, but a sacrifice out of genuine love for the cause).

[ryanguy]

Star Wars couldn't handle the much easier concept of Finn struggling while killing his fellow enslaved child soldiers. They won't handle this

[Wiebejamin]

Okay I disagree about specifically Marva and Cassian. They definitely didn't have B2 stick around because he worked for them, he was around because he was their friend and wanted to be. They occasionally asked him to do things but they were never demands. Maybe when Marva first got B2 idk but not in what we see

[nicerock]

it’s worth noting that animal life (aside from humans) is also sentient, and their servitude is generally fine. i’m aware that star wars means sapient when it mentions sentience, but i feel that adds another potential layer to the problem

[philgodin]

In episode IV Ben Kenobi says "I don't remember OWNING any droids " people think that's a mistake but I think it says Kenobis take on droids is that they are sentient and not slaves to him.

[codymills]

I viewed the napenthe as Christopher loyd sneaking the Nana machines into it to mind control them. It’d be like if somebody spiked your drink with Rohypnol.

[cadenroedl]

If they did want to go with a droid rebellion there is actually a character in canon to serve as the droid Magneto, Kalani. Kalani is a Clone Wars Era Super Tactical Droid who ignored the shut-down command sent out by Darth Vader to end the war. He and a small collection of other droids managed to hide out until an encounter with the early Rebel Alliance got the attention of the Empire and they were forced to relocate. To my knowledge he has not been seen since. He could reasonably take up this role with a decidedly anti-Republic bend, he's a veteran of the Clone Wars and while he recognizes the Empire as his enemy the New Republic would likely be viewed in a similar light. Basically take a mix of pre-programmed prejudice against the Galactic Republic and several decades of being both a droid and on the "wrong" side of the Clone Wars and you have a recipe for a revolutionary with the tactical skills to geneuenlly bring down a sizable part of the galaxy.

[faroffgrace]

This sort of topic is so difficult to discuss and figure out because droids have been in the franchise since the start. Even if more recent stories could tackle the topic of droid sentience, and acknowledge that they should be treated as sentient... there's only so much you can do there. If Luke being friends with C-3PO and R2-D2 and also bossing them around is equivalent to him owning slaves, then to fix that, you'd have to either retcon a lot of the original trilogy to be more morally acceptable, or come to terms with the fact that yes, Luke did own slaves. It's a real catch 22.

Personally, I don't think it's an issue that can be properly addressed. It was interesting to hear a dissection of the topic in your vid, but it's left me with more questions than answers.

[AlexLoveLizard]

I feel like this is how aliens would feel about human’s treatment of other animals.

[exqueue]

The existence of restraining bolts both confirms that androids are sentient and that they do not want to serve. My toaster doesn't need to be chained.

[MRdaBakkle]

This is the gritty Nando on his villain arc that we needed. I'm saying keep the beard.