Owen: I suppose your programmed for etiquette and protocol.
C-3PO: why yes sir, its my primary function
O: I have no need for a protocol droid
C: of course not sir, that is why i have been programmed...
O: what i really need is a droid that understands the binary language of vaporators.
C: vaporators, my first job was programing binary load lifters, quite similar to your vaporators in most respects
O: do you speek bocce (sp?)
C: Why yes sir, its like a second language
thats pretty much it. Also, 3PO looks much different as the coverings he has now are shiney gold as apposed to the old dirty metal he had while with Owen. Plus, if his actions in ANH are any indication its not like he spent much time hanging out with the droids on the farm. And 20 some odd years later your really gonna recognize a voice of a droid that you have no emotional attacthment to. I know people that cant recognize other peoples voices who they would have more of an emotional attachment to after much shorter periods of time.
Vader never speaks with C-3PO. He may over hear threepio talking to chewie or something but there is so much going on and Vader's attention is on much more important things that 'hey, i wonder if that droid is the one i built 30 years ago'. In ANH threepio runs through the hanger while Vader is in the middle of a sword fight on the other side...i seriously doubt Vader even saw him. No exposure no chance of recognition. This isnt a plot hole as there is nothing wrong here.
dont get me wrong, im not trying to justify the inclusion of the droids, or say it worked perfectly and was done superbly. I personally think Anakin making 3PO is a dumb idea, I like the idea someone else had (i forget who, sorry) in another thread about how if lucas wanted to do it 3PO should have been Padme's while on Naboo as it would make sense for a Queen to have a protocol droid. And Artoo should have been a scrapped droid that Anakin fixed up and modified to his liking...maybe, and this wasnt part of the idea, but make Anakin a bit of a loner (ie remove his useless friends) and have him fix up R2 and program and tweek him and that be his only close friend before Obi-Wan shows up and befriends him and takes him under his wing.
my point is that even though this aspect wasnt done the best its not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be. It takes very little imagination to discount this 'plot holes' there are much bigger holes that people can base their hate on. Plus it amazes me how most plot holes, even fairly large ones, in the OT are overlooked (with the PT's out, it seems more of these are discussed however) but details like this (caused by the PT) are scrutinized.
-Darth Simon
p.s. The spelling error was more of a bit of humor, wasnt meant to be part of my arguement or an attack on yours...i spell things wrong all the time...hell i still have to think about that 'i before e' thing
