zombie84 said:

What about the Imperial Walkers he stole, I think from Syd Mead? Or C3P0 being straight out of Metropolis? I'd say its well within the realm of possibility and pretty consistent with the style of Star Wars, which is entirely assembled out of borrowed pieces, which is part of what made it so clever.

True. There is no denying he's copied other people's work. The link I posted has some excellent examples. If I'm wrong about the R2 copy, not only will I have even less respect for Lucas than I do now (if that's even possible), I'll make a point of making sure the picture and story are widely distributed.