Alexrd said: Yet we know that protocol droids can drive vehicles and pilot starships, things that they were not made to do. Why is it so hard to believe that a protocol droid can help at home?

All sorts of things can be used for tasks they weren't meant for. What is hard to believe is that Anakin would deliberately make a droid designed for diplomacy and protocol for a domestic environment. That's like making a sports car for a delivery man. Sure, he could use the sports car for deliveries, but wouldn't it be better to make him a van instead...

Like I said, all he does is searching nits to pick, and that's hardly called a review.

I don't think RLM feels he is nitpicking: he seems to me to be outlining what he believes to flaws with the film. He obviously likes the original film and seems genuinely disappointed with the prequels. I doubt that he set out to find fault.

Right... A gonk is way more helpful...

I fail to see how Artoo can be considered a gonk, not that I would use the term. I think it is perfectly logical for Anakin, a boy who wants to be a pilot, to construct himself an astromech droid. This seems more logical than constructing a protocol droid for his mother.

Then what did you meant with your first post?

I meant that if we wanted to set up a more plausible scenario than the film presents us with, a ruler having a protocol droid for translating in diplomatic situations would be logical. It makes more sense than Anakin or Shmi having one. If Lucas was determined to work Artoo and Threepio into the prequels, this would have been a better way of doing it, as far I'm concerned.