Think you answered it yourself ;-)...

"I always assumed that he must have gotten blasted by a storm trooper or something"

In answer to...

"Why would the storm trooper blast 3PO and just leave his bits lying around?  Wouldn't that raise suspicions?"

He doesn't, they throw Threepio into the trash where nobody should find him.

A more pertinent question would be: How did Chewie possibly find Threepio in the trash, in a vast place like Bespin???

So he was blasted so he couldn't reveal that he saw a stormtrooper?

Yeah you pretty much answered it yourself. The Empire was hiding its presence their until Vader sprung his trap. So when Threepio wandered from the group and accidentally stumbled upon a Stormtrooper (probably stationed nearby in case they try to run) he's blasted before he can warn the others. They then try to dispose of his body but of course Chewie manages to find it.

THREEPIO: Oh, I'm terribly sorry. I...I didn't mean to intrude. No,

no, please don't get up. No!

 

Chewie looks at Threepio in bewilderment, then scratches

his furry head. He gets an idea and adjusts some connections,

whereupon Threepio immediately begins speaking normally.

 

THREEPIO: Stormtroopers? Here? We're in danger. I must tell the

others. Oh, no! I've been shot!

I've always loved that moment.

The programmed veneer of Threepio being cowardly, self-serving and the butt of humour is inverted.

Despite being the Cassandra of the piece and constantly told to shut up or shut down his first concern is still for the others and then himself.

Jaitea said:

I always had it in my head that the 'Who are you?' voice was of either an Imperial officer or a Stormtrooper with his helmet off......maybe eating sandwiches

J

This all the way! When 3PO says "No, please don't get up.." I can see a trooper standing, dropping his meatball sub and grabbing his blaster.

It were a couple of rebels dressed up as stormtroopers:

love the mace windu poster LOL

Threepio walked in on a pair of Kryptonians having sex. Startled by the unexpected intrusion, the man pulled out while climaxing, firing off a load that hit Threepio and blasted him to pieces.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Threepio walked in on a pair of Kryptonians having sex. Startled by the unexpected intrusion, the man pulled out while climaxing, firing off a load that hit Threepio and blasted him to pieces.

THREEPIO: Oh, no! I've been shot!

This is a very dramatic moment. We laugh because it's 3CPO, he's a robot. Yet think of a human in a similar situation: imagine a corpse of a soldier (torso, head, one hand) resurrected from the dead, recalling that moment. "So we were assaulting that position, I threw a grenade towards that MG nest and... wait, that's when I took the bullet!?!?"

Creepy. That's why ESB is so grand.

RRS-1980 said:

THREEPIO: Oh, no! I've been shot!

This is a very dramatic moment. We laugh because it's 3CPO, he's a robot. Yet think of a human in a similar situation: imagine a soldier resurrected from the dead, recalling that moment. "So we were assaulting that position, I threw a grenade towards that MG nest and... wait, that's when I took the bullet!?!?"

Creepy. That's why ESB is so grand.

Yes the whole Droid/humanity thing is quite vague in SW (OT and PT). The Droids appear to have human emotions, feelings and frailties. But all the "good" characters are perfectly fine with...

- Kidnapping, keeping and trading them as slaves. Especially in ANH with things like "restraing bolts".

- Wiping their memories and personalities.

- Sometimes not giving a sh*t when they die. Like Ben's "Friend" of 3 or 4 years, R4.

- Abusing and torturing them, verbally and physically. They feel pain, but who cares.

- Massacring them in huge numbers in the PT.

- *

- Generally treating them as beneath second-class beings. But still quite happy to have them as bounty-hunters or generals if they have need of it.

- Using them for situations too dangerous for precious humans. Like repairing Naboo royal starship engines, scouting Jabba's palace or serving drinks to irritable Jedi.

A lot of other classic Sci-Fi Film and TV has central themes of Robotic-Humanity e.g. BSG, Blade Runner, A.I., Aliens, TNG etc etc but Star Wars has ignored it.

Thoughts?

* Forgetting they even owned Droids... but I'll put that down to GL's bad writing in the PT, rather than old Ben being a douche ;-)

DuracellEnergizer said:

Threepio walked in on a pair of Kryptonians having sex. Startled by the unexpected intrusion, the man pulled out while climaxing, firing off a load that hit Threepio and blasted him to pieces.

Ugh, thanks for sharing.

That's what he said.

Yes, that's what I said.

Ryan McAvoy said:

 

Thoughts?

I hate that robots face. Like a sad, fat, bald man. Also hate the scene he appears in. Rubbish all around.

Story-telling wise, 3PO getting blasted is so they don't have to figure out "but what is 3PO going to say about this without ruining the dramatic tension?" Notice how 3PO isn't around or is shut down for nearly every dramatic scene in the OT. Obi-Wan tells Luke about his father, 3PO is shut down. Han and Leia discuss where to hide, 3PO is shut down. The gang is captured by Vader, 3PO is in pieces. Think of his dialog during the carbonite scene, its expository and kind of goofy. It would be really hard to have him being quiet unless he was shut down/not present.

The droid torture scene in ROTJ is possibly the worst thing George has put in a Star Wars film in my book and that's up against some pretty stiff opposition (and it wasn't introduced in 1997).

Star Wars (1977) wow the two characters we are meant to relate to the most are robot slaves. The torture scene with Leia is pretty horrible.

ESB (1980) wow the droids are still interesting characters even when you separate them for most of the movie. The torture scene with Han is pretty horrible.

ROTJ (1983) Ha ha ha cheap gag where robots get pulled to bits and scream LOL.

*sigh*