Star Wars Special: C-3PO: The Phantom Limb is a one-shot comic written by James Robinson with art by Tony Harris. It was originally released on April 13, 2016 and later collected in the hardcover edition of Star Wars: Shattered Empire.
Synopsis
C-3PO and the Circuit Crew!
A ship crash lands on an unknown planet, and from the wreckage emerges a group of six droids led by C-3PO. Threepio and his Resistance droid companions are supposed to be escorting O-MR1, an RA-7 protocol droid for the First Order, back to the Resistance base. They suspect that OMRI can give them the location of Admiral Ackbar who has been taken prisoner by the FO and is awaiting execution. With the ship’s organic crew all dead, the droids must travel 87 km across the hostile planet to reach the working transmitter of a ship that had previously crashed there. First they are attacked by spice spiders; PZ-99, a class 4 security droid, sacrifices himself to allow the rest to escape. Then they come to a river of tar; CO-34, a simple construction droid, forms himself into a bridge allowing the rest to cross but they are again attacked by some aggressive beast. Threepio’s left arm is torn off, 2MED2, a medical droid, is destroyed and CO-34 is too damaged to return to his mobile form. Shortly after, VL-44, another security droid, is destroyed by a group of attacking Can-cells. As Threepio and OMRI approach the downed ship (a FO TIE), acid begins to rain from the sky. They take refuge under a broken wing, but the rest of the ship, including the exposed transmitter, is in the distance. Telling Threepio that he chooses friendship over his programming to serve a certain side, OMRI gives Threepio Ackbar’s location and exposes himself to the acid rain and activates the transmitter. As he attempts to return to C-3PO, he falls apart and C-3PO picks up his friend’s left arm, with the red primer underneath now exposed. Poe Dameron and BB-8 arrive to transport Threepio off the planet.
Review
Threepio shows his new arm to BB-8.
For anyone who thinks that this is just “the story of how C-3PO got his red arm from The Force Awakens”, let me say that you are very much mistaken, you idiot. It does, of course, tell that story; however, that plot point is almost incidental to what this tale really does, which is to explore the inner life of droids in the Star Wars universe. Memory and free will versus determinism are the real themes in this story. Early in the story OMRI remarks that their programming makes them so much like humans because, even though they are not actual living beings, they are so ready to “fight for this side or that” even though any of them could have served the opposite side at another time and simply had their memories wiped. That scene pretty well sets on the table what we are going to be dealing with here: memory and how it relates to identity, and how these things inform or affect our decision making. When speaking of the flashes of past events he experiences, OMRI asks “were they grand events or nothing to speak of, how important have I been?” And so, we see how our sense of identity may be inextricably linked to our memories.
Threepio remembers fallen comrades.
What sense of self could we possibly have if there is no recollection of our past deeds, feelings, relationships, etc? It would seem, then, that droids are not only denied any free will because of their programming, but also any sense of coherent identity because they are subject to memory wipes. Threepio admits that he too has flashes of memories and even though he sometimes wonders about them he accepts that a droid’s lot is to serve its master. However, despite the fact that droids are programmed to serve their masters, OMRI at some point chooses ignore his masters’ programming. He reveals Ackbar’s location and sacrifices himself to save his onetime enemy. Why? As they are walking toward the ship, before the rain, OMRI says to 3PO: “I like you…I honestly wish we were on the same side”. To which 3PO responds: “like you said before…perhaps we were”. I like to think this is the point where OMRI makes his turn. He doesn’t know that he and Threepio were friends before. He doesn’t know that they weren’t friends before. What he does know is that they are friends now; and on that basis, the immediate and existential reality of a relationship rather than the unresolved questions of epistemology and determinism, he makes his decision. OMRI doesn’t suddenly decide that the Resistance is right and the First Order is wrong; “I’m not choosing sides”, he says, “I’m choosing friendship”. Many droids in Star Wars have often been depicted as having some degree of sentience and even displays of emotion. If fact, in one of their discussions, OMRI remarks to Threepio that, as protocol droids, they are given a higher degree of sentience than other droids in order to be able to carry out their tasks. So, some droids are sentient, to some degree; of course how big a deal this is depends on exactly how you define “sentience”. This story doesn’t clearly define that term, but what it does seem to make clear is that the emotional responses we see droids make in Star Wars are more than merely imitations of human behaviors.
Notes
O-MR1.
Here is a rundown of 3PO’s companions in the story: PZ-99, a class 4 security droid and veteran of the Battle of Jakku; CO-34, a construction/ordnance lifter droid with limited speech abilities; 2MED2, a medical droid; VL-44, a security droid; and O-MR1, an RA-7 protocol droid in the service of the First Order.
The planet they crash on is called Taul. The name of the ship carrying them is the Sterdic Star under the command of Captain Hoff.
The background story here, of Ackbar being captured and subsequently rescued from the First Order seems to have been mainly told in the non-canon LEGO Star Wars: The Resistance Rises episode entitled “Poe to the Rescue”.
Comic Pack Wish List:
There is no shortage of droids from the Sequel Trilogy that need to made; any of C-3PO’s companions from this story would be welcome additions.
Score:
This is a surprisingly powerful tale tucked away in the sometimes forgettable world of Star Wars comic one-shots. 4 Skulls.
