Slight Nitpick, I am pretty sure R2 never gets his memory wiped. Just 3PO
Hmmm… I think having just seen her homeworld destroyed by the new weapon she thought time was of the essence. She was gambling that the Rebels could find the weakness in the Deathstar inbetween their arrival at Yavin and the Deathstar’s. In the movie we are not shown how long that is and with lightspeed space travel in the Star Wars universe being wonky who knows if it was hours, days or weeks.
If the Deathstar is chasing them- it’s NOT blowing up other innocent planets. Leia took a gamble–she’s not an idiot.
Moreover, Artoo never getting wiped is highly unusual. Vader would have no reason to think that this particular 'bot would be the exception to a long-standing and society-wide rule.
And, of course, he doesn’t interact with Artoo anyway. (Which makes including Artoo in the prequels sort of pointless.)
If that’s the case, then why, when the droids landed on Tatooine in “A New Hope” and encountered Luke and his uncle, didn’t R2 say something like, “Hey this guy’s last name is Skywalker. You don’t think he’s related to that Jedi Anakin from back in the day, do you?” *
OK, so I can buy that for whatever reason Luke’s last name didn’t a ring a bell with R2 (and even if it did, C3PO wouldn’t have remembered anyway). Or perhaps it’s just a really common surname in that part of the galaxy. But he most definitely should have been familiar with Obi Wan, and said to C3PO, “Hey, I know this guy.”
*I know, I know, R2 can’t “speak,” but he seems to be able to communicate well with C3PO.
I don’t really recall R2 doing anything inconsistent with its remembering Ob-Won. Presumably he did recognize him, but it didn’t really make a difference.
Okay, I’m hoping anyone even remembers this film. The Dresser, 1983, set in WWII England. Albert Finney is “Sir”, a Shakespearean actor who is having a nervous breakdown. It’s afternoon, and the company is in one of the towns they travel to. Firefighters surround a blazing house*, while the elderly owner sits watching bleakly. Sir approaches him and says pompously (not that he can be any other way), “Two tickets to tonight’s performance. I trust…you will find comfort there.” The old man doesn’t make eye contact or respond in any way, except to open his hand juuuust enough to accept the tickets, and continues sitting stolid in his grief.
All I’m saying is, I’ve never known how to react to that scene, except that it’s uncomfortable to watch, and I sure don’t know if Sir is doing a good thing (although he clearly thinks he is) or if he’s being horribly tactless. 
*I think it wasn’t bombed, just caught fire because it was an old building, like in Hope and Glory.
Huh? Whom is he going to say this to? Threepio doesn’t remember Anakin.
I always assumed that it was on an automatic disposal cycle. I recall reading somewhere, maybe in the novelization, that the Death Star routinely compacted and ejected its waste just before making a hyperspace jump - which, presumably, they were getting ready to do, as there wasn’t much point hanging around in the Alderaan system anymore.
The other thing is, the Stormtroopers probably don’t have any idea where that chute goes. They might not even know its a garbage chute - I don’t think they were entering through a standard access panel. But even if they do, they probably don’t know the location of the trash compactors off the top of their heads, or which compactor is fed by that particular chute. They are, after all, on a space station the size of a small moon. It’s probably pretty easy to get lost up there, especially in maintenance areas.
Who was surprised to see that Obi Wan was still alive? Only three characters in the first movie ever knew he existed: Princess Leia, Uncle Owen, and Darth Vader. The only one who ever says anything about him being dead is Uncle Owen, and from context, it’s likely he was just saying that to discourage Luke from looking for him.
According to this, Obi Wan was 57 when he died. Alec Guinness was 63 when Star Wars was filmed.
At any rate, if anyone were surprised to see him alive, I suspect it would have more to do with that whole, “Every Jedi in the galaxy has been eradicated,” thing, and not so much his age.
Star Wars always seemed to imply R2 knew more than he let on. I think it can be reasoned he kept some info to himself because 3PO was kind of a blabber mouth.
Gawd, that is right. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.
Regarding another post about Obi-wan knowing R2. I believe their interaction in the prequels was very minimal and when they did share screen time, it was Anakin dealing with R2 (from what I recall). Obi-wan was a high level Republic general who led numerous campaigns not to mention other things he was up to in the 10 year gap between I and II and his exile on Tatooine. A busy dude with much on his mind. He was never much of a fan of technology or droids. It’s totally plausible that he just didn’t remember R2. Astromechs are pretty common in Star Wars universe.
About Luke…I don’t believe R2 had any reason to suspect he was son of Anakin. I think it was explained somewhere that Skywalker was a common slave name on Tatooine.
When Mary is driving away from the farm house, with the farmer blasting away with a shotgun, you hear the farmer yell “You ##! You killed one of my pines” or something to that effect.
He could have said something like, “I know you don’t remember, but he has the same last name as this guy we used to hang around with…”
Anyway, this is just another reason(of many) why R2 and C3PO don’t really belong in the prequels. Just strains credulity in a story that had already stretched it pretty thin. I could see maybe them having a cameo appearance in ROTS, but their prominence in all three flicks is little more than Lucas trying to placate the fanboys (not that he did a very good job of that anyway).
Maybe all that time Luke was bulls-eyeing womp rats and Obi Wan was hanging around teaching himself to communicate with Liam Neeson, maybe Obi Wan played around with force lighting a little. Not a lot so he got all mummified like the emperor, but maybe a little force spark. 
On the Death Star, Vader says something like “Obi Wan is here.” and General Whatever-his-name-was answers “Obi Wan Kenobi? Surely he must be dead by now.”
Something that makes no sense without the retcon of Kenobi being an apprentice in the time frame of the Phantom Menace.
Regarding Thelma and Louise, the “tough one” (I can’t get the names straight) strongly implies in multiple places in the movie that she has been raped before, and that she got totally screwed over, and nobody believed her.
And was the “ditzy one’s” marriage abusive? I didn’t read the husband as abusive, but rather a totally insensitive, so much so that even the cops cursed him out (the scene where he changed the tear jerker movie to a football game)
As I said, I haven’t seen the film for some time, so my memory of the exact details of the marriage (or any other point of the plot!) is hazy.
Ellis Dee, I’m not trying to have or eat cake. I’m pointing out that it’s a work of fiction with a “message” to put across, and that the events - including the ending - make sense in that context, as far as I’m concerned. You asked me how I would feel if you blew up my car in real life, and I responded that I wouldn’t be best pleased. However Thelma and Louise is not real life, and I slightly can’t believe that I’ve got this involved in a conversation about it!
All of which comes after Donald Baumgart, the actor that originally got the role that got Guy noticed in the play that they both were up for, woke up blind right after Guy made the deal with the coven and before Rosemary was impregnated. If Baumgart hadn’t gone blind, he would have been the one getting the good roles.
At the end of Ep. III, Jimmy Smits says “wipe the protocol droid’s memory,” which heavily implies that R2 was not wiped. In Star Wars, R2 seemed to have a pretty good idea what he was doing and where he was going, so it makes sense that he had memory of previous events. It doesn’t really bother me that they were in the prequels. Those movies had so many bigger issues than trying to make 3P0 and R2 fit.
Phantom Menace: they have to stop at Tatooine to repair their ship. A party goes into Mos Eisley to get parts. Qui-Gon goes because he’s in charge. The Queen (in disguise) goes because she’s the Queen and she does what she wants. R2-D2 goes for technical support. Why the fuck did Jar-Jar need to go?!
Because all the Jedi were hunted down. Tarkin is high up, but I imagine the Jedi-hunting was left to Vader.