Due to a computer malfunction, this page was lost. It is about irregularities in the names of droids in Star Wars.

This may help revive the topic:
Why do most novelists spell-out the names of droids instead of using the letter designations? What's the point of calling R2D2 "Artoo" and C3PO "Threepio"? I don't feel this gives the character any more of a "human" ambiance. Also, the very word "droid" is a nickname that most nearly fits C3PO, because R2D2 doesn't look ANYTHING like a human being. (assuming the the word "android" means human-like robot)

The letter/number/letter/number designation allows for approximately 68,000 designations before duplicated designations begin to happen. Perhaps there is another droid sequence, but if not, the Empire would soon be over-run with a gaggle of C3P0's and R2D2's with such a numbering system. (Although I've heard in a radio drama of Star Wars a designation of 21B (2wonbee) for a medical droid.)

The is a EV-9D9 and a EV-9D9a, so runing out of designations wouldn't be a problem. (By the way, there are quite a few John Smiths around. But there are few problems.)

Enlighten me, please sir. The EV-9D9 designation ... would that be a Phantom Menace reference, or an earlier movie? (or perhaps, a printed reference) Even so, I'm glad to hear that there may not be millions of C3P0's and R2D2's running amuck in the Empire. Even if there WERE that may John Smith's, I wouldn't want to be in charge of their Imperial Credit Account!

Eve Ninedenine was the droid in Jabba's Palace who oversaw Jabba's droids and put 3PO and R2 to work in Return of the Jedi.

THAT spindly-little droid? C3P0 had only four characters to his name, but a droid smaller than him gets EV-9D9! What a racist droid-naming system! (droid racism?! ... delete that last comment)

This topic was created due to an argument between me and an individual who decided to call himself "Darth Sarcasm." It began when I was mentioning an R5 unit and D.S. claimed that no such thing existed. We then got into a debate over whether R5-D4 (you know, that red droid from SWIV:ANH) was an R2 or R5 unit, depending on the sources.

Another discussion we had here was about 4-LOM, the bounty hunter. In the original ESB script, and in the novelization, Boba Fett, Bossk and IG-88 were described well enough, and also listed were "Dengar and Zuckuss, two mangy human types". There were actually six bounty hunters in the film, as well as Boba, Bossk, and IG-88 was a human in cyber-armor, a droid and an insectoid. The human in cyber-armor was Dengar but which of the other two was Zuckuss became a mystery. The name 4-LOM was created as an acronym of "For the Love Of Money" by the action figure company (Kenner), and it's unsure whether this was intended as a droid designation or not. However, the name was given to the Insectoid and the droid was known as Zuckuss. For obvious reasons, this was switched later on, and the current edition of the script lists 4-LOM, but only as "a bounty hunter", not as a droid. The droid is also more of a "human type" than the Insectoid.
It is also worth noting that a comic produced between the screenings of ESB and ROTJ includes the armored figure knon as Dengar, but in it he is called "Zuckass" [sic]

Not sure whether or not this was mentioned in the original discussion: Standard Star Wars non-fiction works (the Encyclopedia, for one) define the various R-series astromech droids:

R1 = tall, cylindrical droids whose shells were taken from Mark II reactor drones. These were used on large freighters. There's a black one at the Jawas' sale and a blue one in Watto's shop.

R2 = short and barrel-shaped, with domed heads. The heads have one photoreceptor (eye) in the front. Since R3, R4, and R5 droids have bodies nearly identical to the R2, they are often called R2 units, though their names match their R designation.

R3 = just like R2 units, but with a clear dome. We see these in Mos Eisley, on the first Death Star, and at Echo Base.

R4 = droids with R2-unit bodies but with heads shaped like truncated cones. One of the Imperial droids on Leia's ship was an R4, and we see one near the Landspeeder lot in Mos Eisley.

R5 = R2 body, squat truncated-cone head. R5-D4's the most famous one, but they're all over the movies, including The Phantom Menace.

The novels also mention R6, R7, R8, and R10 units.

From reality's standpoint, the practice of spelling out the droid names goes back to the script and the ANH novelization. We don't really know whether the people in the Star Wars universe spell out the names of droids, or how our English designations match up with their alphabet.

I was fairly satisfied with the droid naming system until someone (Decipher or West End Games) game all the C-3P0-type droids names ending in "3P0." (U-3P0 on Leia's ship, K- and R-3P0 at Echo Base, E-3P0 on Cloud City.) This only leaves 26 possibilities.

Could it be that these designations aren't "names" per se, but just indicate the specific model of droid? I call my car "the Buick" or "the LeSabre" even though there are lots of other Buick LeSabres out there. This may explain why some in the Star Wars universe give their droids nicknames (like Whistler) instead of going by designation.

I was fairly satisfied with the droid naming system until someone (Decipher or West End Games) game all the C-3P0-type droids names ending in "3P0." (U-3P0 on Leia's ship, K- and R-3P0 at Echo Base, E-3P0 on Cloud City.) This only leaves 26 possibilities. - The Chronicler

Unless you get droids with names like 3-3P0, DL-3P0, C6-3P0, 32C-3P0, etc.

Padawan-

"Your over-confidence is your weakness."

This discussion was started, not for an argument, but for a debate. And then you get the facts all messed up. Let me clarify...

You said that I claimed that an R5 unit never existed, yet I *never* made any such kind of sssertion. The entire debate was over whether R5-D4 was an R2-unit or an R5-unit.

My contention was that according to the film, it was an R2-unit. Luke identifies it as an R2-unit. Neither his uncle, nor Threepio correct him on the matter. In fact, when Threepio refers to Artoo, he says "*that* R2-unit," stressing that... meaning *that* one as opposed to *this* one.

In response, you offered me information from tech manuals, RPG books, the radio drama, even a comic story where R5-D4 is a Jedi droid to prove me wrong. But the fact remains that according to the film, R5-D4 is some type of R2-unit (in fact, R5-D4 didn't even get assigned a name until the toy was released). And I thought it was generally accepted that when there is a discrepency between the film and another source, the film should take precedence.

As for the practice of giving the droids "nicknames," this harkens back to Asimov, whose characters often referred to the robots by "nicknames." For instance, the robot in The Bicentennial Man (ND-somethingorother) was called "Andrew" (ND = Andy) by the characters, if I'm not mistaken.

Oh! And BTW, Padawan, why do you refer to me as "an individual who decided to call himself `Darth Sarcasm,'" as though that hasn't been the name I've posted under in the past? Why not just refer to me as "Darth Sarcasm?" Or should I start referring to you as "some individual who used to call himself Padawan Nitpicker, but now has chosen to call himself simply Padawan?"

This discussion was started, not for an argument, but for a debate.

OK, chalk that down to bad terminology on my part.

You said that I claimed that an R5 unit never existed, yet I *never* made any such kind of assertion.

No, you misunderstand, I said (or rather, meant) that you claimed that nothing *called* an R5 unit ever existed.

My contention was that according to the film, it was an R2-unit. Luke identifies it as an R2-unit. Neither his uncle, nor Threepio correct him on the matter. In fact, when Threepio refers to Artoo, he says "*that* R2-unit," stressing that... meaning *that* one as opposed to *this* one.

Yes... but bear in mind when the script was written the droids had not been designed.

In response, you offered me information from tech manuals, RPG books, the radio drama, even a comic story where R5-D4 is a Jedi droid to prove me wrong.

Nope! This time you have the facts wrong! The comic story, I believe, never actually uses the name R5-D4, we just see him. And the Tech Manual calls the droid R2-AG4, but it is well known for being unreliable. All the official "Expanded Universe" sources call the droid R5-D4, as well as providing the information on the various types which "The Chronicler" kindly listed above.

But the fact remains that according to the film, R5-D4 is some type of R2-unit (in fact, R5-D4 didn't even get assigned a name until the toy was released).

But the term "R5 unit" first came from the radio drama... on the other hand, this may have been to avoid confusion. (I think I read that somewhere.)

And I thought it was generally accepted that when there is a discrepency between the film and another source, the film should take precedence.

I think the difference in the appearance of the droids, despite being given the same classification, was a discrepancy in the film which was fixed later by some inventive fellows.

Oh! And BTW, Padawan, why do you refer to me as "an individual who decided to call himself `Darth Sarcasm,'" as though that hasn't been the name I've posted under in the past? Why not just refer to me as "Darth Sarcasm?" Or should I start referring to you as "some individual who used to call himself Padawan Nitpicker, but now has chosen to call himself simply Padawan?"

Well, I get the idea you post, or have posted, under a different name also. Wait a second...

`Darth Sarcasm,'

It couldn't be!

You have been around longer than BF! And you can't be Mike Ram, because he does "double quotation marks" in a different style. Who are you...? You're not KC, are you?

An explanation for why R4 from AOTC doesn't look like an R4 droid can be found at http://www.astromech.net/gallery/astromechs/R4-P17.htm

The Expanded Universe novels are very inconsistent about droid naming systems. Only (guess who!) Timothy Zahn is consistent with the 'official' naming system. Some errors:

In the Rogue Squadron Dramatis Personae, Whistler and Mynock are called 'R2-D2 droid' and 'R5-D2 droid', as though the whole of R2-D2 is just the droid model. (This was corrected in later X-wing books)

The Black Fleet Crisis Trilogy had Colonel Pakkapekkapakkapekkat (or whatever) say 'we don't need C-3PO, we already have protocol droids and they're all 'E' or newer models'). Officially 3PO is the model classification, not C.

New Rebellion and Vector Prime: both feature a new protocol droid (possibly the same one) called C-9PO. This would be fine, except that in the New Rebellion the model name is called 'C-9', with C-3PO's being 'C-3'. Groan...

Could it be that these designations aren't "names" per se, but just indicate the specific model of droid? I call my car "the Buick" or "the LeSabre" even though there are lots of other Buick LeSabres out there. This may explain why some in the Star Wars universe give their droids nicknames (like Whistler) instead of going by designation.

I think this is very much the case. Having each droid in the entire galaxy have a different letter-number-letter-number name would be ridiculous: C-3P0 is a protocol droid, C-3P1 might be an astro droid--there's no consistency. It makes much more sense for C-3P0 to be a model number, with many C-3P0s running around out there.

This also solves the problem of consistency: different droid manufacturers may use different numbering systems. For example, Mercedes-Benz uses a letter-number system, i.e. S500 or M430. Acura uses letters, i.e. RL and RSX. BMW uses multiple systems, i.e. 750il and X5.

To add to the confusion, organizations that purchase droids may redesignate them. For example, the 3P0-looking protocol droid at the beginning of Ep. 1 identified "herself" as TC-14...perhaps she was a C-3P0 protocol droid purchased by the Trade Federation and relabeled, much the same way most company computers are designated with a serial number rather than their model number.

you guys are beyond virgins.

And what is that exacty? Do you have something to add to the conversation or do you just want to break the rules of this site?