C-3PO
C-3PO or See-Threepio is a humanoid robot character in the Star Wars franchise. He is a protocol droid designed to assist in etiquette and translation, and is fluent in over six million forms of communication. He first appeared in the 1976 novelization of the original Star Wars film, and he appears in all nine films of the Skywalker Saga, which includes the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy and the sequel trilogy. Anthony Daniels portrays in all the Skywalker Saga films and the standalone film Rogue One, and he voices the droid in the animated series The Clone Wars. In addition to films, appears in television series, novels, comics, and video games.
Creation and portrayal
, a concept artist for Star Wars, based the initial design for on the female robot from the Fritz Lang film Metropolis. When Anthony Daniels saw one of McQuarrie's paintings of, he was struck by the vulnerability in the droid's face, and he wanted the role. George Lucas, who created the Star Wars franchise and directed Star Wars, selected Daniels for the physical performance. He was planning to hire another actor for the droid's voice, because he was hesitant to give the character Daniels's British accent. According to Daniels, Lucas wanted to have a "sleazy New York second-hand car dealer" type of voice. Daniels recalled that thirty well-established actors auditioned for the voice role—including Richard Dreyfuss and Mel Blanc—but Daniels ultimately received the part after one of the actors suggested the idea to Lucas. With Daniels voicing him, 's persona transformed from oily used-car salesman to neurotic English butler. In a 1977 interview with Rolling Stone, Lucas called droids the "comic aspect" of the original Star Wars film, and that C-3PO and R2-D2 were designed to resemble the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.Filming Star Wars proved challenging for Daniels. In his memoir I Am C-3PO: The Inside Story, he describes the first C-3PO costume as claustrophobic and painful. It barely moved, cracked easily, and had no ventilation. Daniels overheated, scraped himself up, and could hardly see where he was going. The costume took two hours to put on, and the head took thirty minutes to remove. Although Star Wars was immensely successful, Daniels was initially hesitant to return for the second film, The Empire Strikes Back. According to Daniels, the publicists for Star Wars wanted to give the impression that C-3PO was portrayed by a real robot, and not an actor in a costume. Daniels felt his acting was undervalued, but he eventually agreed to return for a higher salary.
Lucas wanted to create audience sympathy for in The Empire Strikes Back by having him get dismantled. He considered having the villain Darth Vader destroy the droid's heart, or turn it into a mundane object, such as an alarm clock. In the finished film, is blasted into pieces by an offscreen foe, then rescued from a scrap pile by Chewbacca. Because both and Chewbacca were likeable characters—and disliked one another—Lucas wanted them to have a bonding experience. Towards this end, Chewbacca carries and then repairs the dismantled droid.
Appearances
Overview
Anthony Daniels plays C-3PO in ten live-action films, as well as the 2008 animated film Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Daniels both physically portrays the character and provides the voice in all of these films except for The Phantom Menace. For that film, a puppet was operated by Michael Lynch, with Daniels providing the voice.Daniels portrays C-3PO in the television series Obi-Wan Kenobi and Ahsoka, and voices the droid in the animated film The Clone Wars. He also voices the character in the Star Wars Holiday Special,'''' the radio drama adaptations of the original trilogy, various Lego Star Wars series and specials, and the series Droids, Clone Wars, The Clone Wars, Forces of Destiny, Star Wars Rebels and Star Wars Resistance. In video games, C-3PO is voiced by Daniels, Tom Kane and Tony Pope. Simon Pegg voices the character in a Star Wars-themed episode of the animated television series Phineas and Ferb.
Original trilogy
C-3PO first appears in Star Wars aboard a Rebel ship that is boarded by the Empire. Princess Leia hides C-3PO and his companion droid R2-D2 in an escape pod, which she jettisons over the planet Tatooine. There, the droids are captured by Jawas, who sell them to Owen Lars. While cleaning R2-D2, Lars's nephew Luke Skywalker discovers a message in the droid that Leia recorded for Obi-Wan Kenobi. After Imperial stormtroopers destroy the Lars homestead, C-3PO and R2-D2 go along with Luke and Obi-Wan on a mission to rescue Leia, transported by the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca on board the Millennium Falcon. While on the Death Star, C-3PO and R2-D2 shut down the space station's trash compactor to save the lives of their companions. The group then escapes the station and joins the Rebels at their base. When R2-D2 is damaged during the Battle of Yavin, a grief-stricken C-3PO offers to donate his own parts to repair his counterpart.In The Empire Strikes Back, C-3PO identifies an Imperial probe droid, which gives the Rebels advance warning of an Imperial attack on their base on Hoth. C-3PO escapes the planet with Han, Chewbacca and Leia on the Millennium Falcon. They eventually arrive in Cloud City, where C-3PO is blasted apart by a stormtrooper. After searching for the protocol droid, Chewbacca finds him dismantled on a conveyor belt. The Wookiee later tries to rebuild C-3PO, but puts his head on backwards. Chewbacca carries the partially-rebuilt droid on his back during Han's encasement in carbonite. With the help of Lando Calrissian, C-3PO and his friends escape from Darth Vader. On board the Falcon, R2-D2 successfully repairs C-3PO.
At the beginning of Return of the Jedi, Luke sends C-3PO and R2-D2 to the palace of the crime lord Jabba the Hutt, who has purchased the frozen Han from the bounty hunter Boba Fett. To C-3PO's dismay, R2-D2 plays a recorded message in which Luke offers the droids as a goodwill gift to Jabba. Now in the service of the crime lord, C-3PO acts as a translator as Leia, Chewbacca, Lando and Luke arrive at the palace to liberate Han. Jabba foils the plan, but Luke leads a successful escape attempt and the group departs the planet. On Endor, C-3PO and his companions are captured by Ewoks, but are released after they perceive C-3PO to be a deity. Later that night, C-3PO narrates the history of the Rebellion's fight against the Empire to the Ewok tribe, which convinces them to help the Rebels. After the second Death Star is destroyed, C-3PO and his friends celebrate the fall of the Empire.
Prequel trilogy
C-3PO returns in The Phantom Menace, the first film of the prequel trilogy. The film reveals that C-3PO was built on Tatooine by the nine-year-old slave boy Anakin Skywalker. The protocol droid meets his future companion, R2-D2, along with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo and the Gungan Jar Jar Binks. C-3PO and R2-D2 help improve Anakin's podracer for the Boonta Eve Classic race, and C-3PO becomes part of Anakin's pit crew. C-3PO and Anakin part ways when Qui-Gon frees the boy from slavery and takes him off-planet. Before leaving, Anakin assures the droid that his mother Shmi will not sell him.Attack of the Clones is set ten years after The Phantom Menace. Shmi is kidnapped by a group of Tusken Raiders. Sensing that his mother is in danger, Anakin travels with Padmé to Tatooine, where they reunite with C-3PO. He presents Anakin and Padmé to Anakin's stepfamily: Owen Lars, Cliegg Lars and Beru Whitesun. When Anakin returns with his mother's body, C-3PO attends her funeral. When Anakin and Padmé depart Tatooine, C-3PO accompanies them to the planet Geonosis to rescue Obi-Wan from the Sith Lord Count Dooku. Shortly afterward, he follows R2-D2 into a droid-construction factory, where his head is exchanged with that of a battle droid. Influenced by the battle droid's programming, C-3PO reluctantly participates in the film's climactic battle scene. After being restored by R2-D2, he leaves Geonosis with his companions. At the end of the film, he is a witness to Padmé and Anakin's marriage on Naboo.
In Revenge of the Sith, C-3PO is aware of Padmé's pregnancy. After Anakin falls to the dark side of the Force and becomes the Sith Lord Darth Vader, he takes C-3PO and R2-D2 with him as he massacres the Jedi. C-3PO rationalizes Vader's behavior by saying he has been under a great deal of stress. The protocol droid accompanies Padmé to Mustafar, where he witnesses Vader strangle her into unconsciousness. C-3PO and R2-D2 then take her to safety. When Obi-Wan returns to their spaceship following his duel with Vader, C-3PO pilots it to Polis Massa and witnesses Padmé give birth to the Skywalker twins, Luke and Leia. C-3PO and R2-D2 become the property of Captain Raymus Antilles, who orders C-3PO's memory erased to protect the Skywalker children from their father and the newly created Galactic Empire.
Sequel trilogy
C-3PO appears in The Force Awakens, the first installment of the sequel trilogy. He has a red left arm at one point, and is now fluent in seven million forms of communication. He is first seen with Leia and a Resistance team picking up Han, Chewbacca, Finn, Rey, and BB-8 on the planet Takodana. During their adventures, C-3PO is reunited with R2-D2, who is reactivated after being shut off for years. In The Last Jedi, C-3PO serves as an assistant to Leia and the Resistance pilot Poe Dameron. Daniels complained that his character was a "table decoration" in this film, and that C-3PO is "worth more than that".In The Rise of Skywalker, the droid and his companions travel to Passana, where they search for a clue to the location of a Sith wayfinder. With the help of Lando, they locate the clue—a dagger with inscriptions in the Sith language. C-3PO is able to translate the runes, but his programming prevents him from sharing the translation with his friends. The group travels to Kijimi, where a black-market droid-smith extracts the message from C-3PO, erasing his memory in the process. When C-3PO returns to the Resistance camp, R2-D2 is able to restore his memory.