With millions of fans having seen Revenge of the Sith, and now having had time to watch the classic trilogy again since, I've been bombarded by family, friends, co-workers, and reporters with questions about the ties between trilogies. Most commonly, the well-meaning person thinks they've come up with a brand new "plot hole" that blows apart the credibility of the saga.

I'm thrilled how Episode III has people thinking about all six movies, but there are a few questions that are worth answering here to save myself some time in the long run. Here's the first of what may become a series.

(Note: The views below are Ghent's only.)

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Why doesn't Obi-Wan remember R2-D2?

One easy answer is simply that Obi-Wan just doesn't. Astromech droids are extremely common, it was 18 years ago and it was Anakin's droid. Would you recognize all of your 1987 roommate's appliances if you saw them today?

However, given the specific exchanges between Obi-Wan and Artoo in Episode III, that answer isn't very satisfying to me. I've always assumed that Obi-Wan recognizes exactly who Artoo is. Let's talk though Old Ben's exchange...

"Hello there! Come here, my little friend. Don't be afraid."
Look at Obi-Wan's eyes... there's recognition there, followed by a quick assembly of the puzzle. The son of Anakin that he's been watching over is out where he shouldn't be, and Anakin's droid is standing hiding in the rocks. Whatever is happening is clearly serious, but it probably means that his time of hiding is over, and that makes him a little happy.

"Hello there!" in a gleeful voice... the same one Kenobi uses to taunt General Grievous. "Little friend" is literal... "good to see you!"

"Don't seem to remember ever owning a droid. Very interesting."
Of course, clever fans want to jump on this as a big contradiction since Obi-Wan clearly had droids in his prequel starfighters. Remember, though, that Ben is dealing strictly in the land of "point of view" here, trying to keep the "Darth Vader is your father" secret as best he can.

"Well of course I remember this little guy. He belonged to your mom and then she gave him to your dad until that day I left him for dead!" wasn't going to cut it.

This response is to Luke's statement, "He claims to be the property of an Obi-Wan Kenobi." After first shuffling around with some nonsense about his old name (yes, Yoda calls him Obi-Wan after Luke's birth... let's stay on target here people), Ben is the master of not technically lying.

Artoo was always the servant of Padme or Anakin... never Obi-Wan. Perfect! A simple, "This droid never belonged to me," would have been the truth and accomplished the same thing... but Ben pushes a little further.

But what about R4-P17? Obi-Wan's poor Clone Wars companion suffers off-screen humiliation on Geonosis and eventually has his head cut off at the hand of buzz droids, and that loyalty is repaid with Kenobi denying ever owning any droid ever. (Not to mention, the slight to Hyperspace members who voted for R4-G9's color scheme.)

Here, it's important to recall that the Jedi were firmly forbidden from having possessions or attachments of any kind. They would have thought of starfighters and droids as assets of the Republic. An Air Force pilot wouldn't claim to have owned an F-16, and I would not claim to have owned a photocopier.

"Now, let's see if we can't figure out what you are, my little friend. And where you come from."
This statement might be the best support for the "Obi doesn't remember R2" position, but again I like to think there are shades of subtext here.

At the most straight-forward level, it's easy to imagine that Obi-Wan is thinking, "I left you on an Alderaan cruiser near Anakin's other offspring. What have you been doing since then? What are you doing here?"

Recall that this line is said immediately after the entire convoluted "Vader killed your father" story. Artoo was there for the events described and knows full well that Obi-Wan is stretching the truth beyond anything a droid would be comfortable with.

What if Obi-Wan's abrupt change of subject here is his way of saying to Artoo, "I know that you know that I'm not telling him everything, but keep your mouth shut like we planned"?

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So, it's up to you to judge... either Artoo has the kind of generic appliance face that Obi-Wan doesn't remember, or the old Jedi knows exactly who he's dealing with and we have some rich subtext going on.

Either way... this isn't a plot hole to sink the saga.

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CONTINUED IN: SW Exegesis: Why wasn't Leia a "Hope"?