Profile

Name: C-3PO
Played by: Anthony Daniels
Species: Droid
Status: Protocol Droid
Age: 80 years since activation
Height: 1.67 meters
Sex: None
Homeworld: Unknown
Political Affiliation: Unknown
Weapon of Choice: None
Vehicle of Choice: None
Quotes: "Hello, I'm C-3PO, human cyborg relations. How might I serve you?"
"Are you sure this floor is entirely stable?"
"My parts are showing? Oh my goodness!"
"What do you mean naked?"
C-3PO
Copyright Lucasfilm

From Entertainment Weekly Jan 22-29, 1999 (scanned by T-Bone.)

The Facts

Anthony Daniels will be returning as the voice of our beloved protocal droid C-3PO. All else that has been revealed about the robot's role is that he will be appearing in an earlier form.

From the back of the C-3PO card:

"Beginning life as a home built protocol droid, C-3PO was an unfinished bundle of wires and metal before becoming the shiny golden droid we all know."

C-3PO
Copyright Lucasfilm

Spy Reports


From Vanity Fair, Feb. 1999

The Bothan Spy:
3/24/98 - Bothan Spy sent in the following report. This has been reported on some other sites, but it is good confirmation. Anyway, it's a spoiler, so highlight it in order to read it:

"I can confirm that C-3PO is rebuilt by Anakin after finding him in junk heap and the actor inside the costume just had rods of metal sewn on top of a black under-suit, which they'll take out later. The rumors about See-Through-PO are mistaken and actually refer to the fact that C-3PO has most of his gold plates missing when Anakin finds him!"

[Tinman's note: the "See-through Threepio" still makes sense, but the idea that his shell was going to be transparent seems to have been just a misinterpretation.]

Unnamed Source:   Threepio will not have a lot of screen time in the new film (9/17/97).

SPOILERS! Highlight Below to Reveal Them!

We will be able to see Threepio's insides in Episode I. The image above, drawn by Kathy Burdette for the Star Wars Adventure Journal is her interpretation. But his outer shell is transparent and you can see all of his inner workings inside. ILM has nicknamed him "See Thru See Threepio"!

9/17/97 - Today one of our sources confirmed what we've been hearing behind the scenes for a while - in the new movie, C-3PO is going to have a transparent exterior! You will be able to see through his outer shell and peek at his inner workings moving inside. Apparently they have a complicated robot puppet that will be used with some CGI. Word is they have nick-named it 'See Through See Threepio' as a joke. Anyway, Anthony Daniels will only be doing the voice of 3PO and not the actions of the character.

9/14/97 - Here's a report from Harry Knowles' spy. He tells us that there is an underwater battle in Episode 1. :

And as for C3PO - well, according to the "Imperial Droid" Anakin builds C3PO! The spy goes on to say that Qui-Gon (daddy) aka (Liam Neeson if you believe this spy) buys two droids off Jawas (sound familiar?). One is R2, and the other one is 3PO, but not as we know him! Oh no. There's a twist. He's just a lump of wires. That's what the "Imperial Droid" claims Lucas meant by "an earlier form of C3PO". He has no gold bits, no arms and just one leg. Anakin 'repairs' him, showing his great talent, and thus we have 3PO.

The part about Qui-Gon buying R2 is obviously wrong, but the rest seems correct.

Unnamed Source - 7/16/98

What does C-3PO look like? You'll have to highlight this to get the details.

You've heard about See-Through-Pio. We know he is basically the old robot without his exterior. Have a hard time visualizing him? Well consider this. This "robot-without-an-exterior" thing rang a bell for one of our TF.N members. A comic called Magnus: Robot Fighter once had a similar concept on the cover. Wanna see it? Look here! Now forget the fact that the robot is female formed (harder for some of you, I know. Close your drooling mouths). The look of the robot under the shell is basically the same concept for Threepio. Kind of a robotic skeleton. Another scene in the comic (seen here) also brought that home. It's a scene where a robot removes the outer covering of it's head. Done properly, Golden Rod can look very cool as this comic helps illustrate.

Gary Weaver sent in his rendition of the Episode -1 See Threepio. Our informants looked it over and they say it is fairly accurate. So if you're avoiding spoilers (why ARE you here anyway? :) then avoid it.

4/20/98 - REFLECTION
It is common knowledge that the prequels will change our perception of Episode 4, 5, and 6. There's lots of speculation on what significance the throw away lines in the original trilogy will have. Here's what Trevor Stewart was pondering about the subject:

"I was watching ep.4, and when Owen is trying to find a droid that speaks Botche. C-3PO mentions that his FIRST job was programming binary load lifters (or something to that effect). Either way, unless he's had his memory wiped, that was his first gig. You guys have probably picked up on that, but I've watched these movies so many times, that sometimes little nuggets like that slip by. That was the first time I picked up on that reference, and I don't recall anyone mentioning that when discussing 3PO's role in the prequels."

Interesting speculation! Between that and a friend of mine recalling the line "He found him in a junkpile!" from ESB, it's interesting to see how even the smallest lines change meaning when you take into account the prequels.

False Rumors

This originally came from one of our sources:

"It is a well known fact that C-3PO and R2-D2 will be seen in different forms in the prequels. A recent rumor on the subject has arisen from a reliable source. He told us that a rumor is going around Lucasfilm that C-3PO's other form will be that of a female-formed nanny droid. (!)"