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Star Wars - why no subtitles?

Then that raises the question of why... yeah, you got it.


Come to think of it, if Threepio is completely redundant, that would explain why Anakin was able to throw him together so (apparently) easily in his slave quarters. He isn't a the product of a child prodigy -- he's the "Star Wars" equivalent of a Lego set or model airplane. Might also explain why he's so easy to repair.
Why would 3PO be redundant? The X-Wing is designed to operate with an R2 unit, so it stands to reason it would be able to translate the language one uses. 3PO carries around six million forms of communication in the relatively compact body of a humanoid.

Yeah, C3PO does far more and it's not like the only time people need to communicate with R2 is inside an X-Wing.

I guess I was thinking that if you could fit six million forms of communication inside a humanoid body, then you could fit them a whole lot of other places without much more difficulty. The X-Wing translator would be an example.

However, that doesn't account for things like diplomacy and negotiation. We hardly ever saw him use them other than negotiating with (shudder) the Ewoks, but I guess he's not called an "etiquette" droid for nothing.

And of course, nonverbal skills like pantomime are forms of communication. Threepio as depicted doesn't seem all that flexible, but with a little artistic license I'd grant that he could make like Marcel Marceau if necessary. A UT build into an X-Wing would have a hard time doing that!

So, point withdrawn.

But I still wonder if Anakin ordered a C-3PO kit from a holographic catalog. :devil:
 
I picture Lucas reading the OP and going, "Boy, do I have a new idea for the next Special Edition release!"
 
I don't think Luke did understand Artoo, besides the basic emotive quality of the beeps and whistles. recall on Dagobah he says, "If you're saying coming here was a bad idea..." And elsewhere Threepio is forever announcing what he's saying. So Luke only knows what Artoo is saying for reals when he's in the cockpit and looking at the readout. Why not let Artoo speak Basic? I dunno.

In William Shakespeare's Star Wars, It turns out that Artoo very much can speak the King's, but chooses to play the idiot to mess with C3PO.

--Alex
 
Wouldn't that be a yard/light?

A light-yard would have units of squared distance over time....I'll have to try asking a contractor to estimate how fast they can install flooring, in light-yards.
 
I don't think I've ever derailed a thread so effectively before. (bows)

Anyway, a yard light would be something you have in your yard to provide additional illumination. It's useful when you have to worry about Jawas or Sandpeople sneaking onto your property.
 
if Threepio is completely redundant, that would explain why Anakin was able to throw him together
What heresy is this? :p

Whoops, don't mind me. Just trying to substantiate some fanfic someone filmed once.:evil:

"Turn right in 500 light-yards."

WTF is a light-yard? A yard is a unit of distance.

Are we sure about that in the Star Wars universe? :lol:

In the SW universe, time just works differently. To wit:
1) A parsec is a measure of time
2) Exceeding c by a marginal amount is practical and is considered superior FTL
3) Interstellar travel is still possible within a reasonable timeframe without FTL drive — it just takes a little longer
4) Galaxies rotate so fast that the rotation is visible to the naked eye
5) Super-powerful empires rise and fall in less time in-universe than it takes to film them in real life

So on top of that, a light-yard is a measure of distance. No problem.


I never once thought that R2 or Chewbacca needed sub-titles.

I still want to hear who thinks Chewbacca is capable of pronouncing his own name.
 
Lucas isn't alone in this technique. Jabba gets subtitles because we need to understand him to understand the story. What Chewie says is not important because we understand it through the context. This trick is used in lots of films. But I always like in Star Wars how characters can speak different languages and still understand each other.
 
The ESB novelization had Luke's cockpit display translating everything Artoo said. Luke was just responding to that. I don't remember if we saw anything like that onscreen.

Yes, it was shown onscreen.

esb_screen_zps19062870.png
If sub-titles were included, I would want them to be in this language.
 
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