WED-15-77

For other uses, see Treadwell.

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WED-15-77 was a WED-15-XT Treadwell repair droid that served the Lars family at their moisture farm on the planet Tatooine for more than twenty years. Built sometime prior to the Clone Wars, WED-15-77 was responsible for many jobs at the Lars family moisture farm, including helping the Lars' nephew Luke Skywalker to repair and maintain his uncle's moisture vaporators.

Biography

WED-15-77 was a WED-15-XT Treadwell repair droid.^[3] Sometime prior to the Clone Wars, which broke out in 22 BBY, the droid began to serve moisture farmer Owen Lars' family at their moisture farm on the planet Tatooine. The droid worked with the protocol droid C-3PO for several years before the Jedi Anakin Skywalker, who had built C-3PO as a child, visited the Lars family at their moisture farm and took him away.^[5]

The droid continued to serve the Lars family for more than twenty years, leading into the time of the Galactic Civil War. It would do jobs such as helping the Lars' nephew Luke Skywalker with a variety of chores, including repair work on his uncle's moisture vaporators out in his desert. Although it appreciated working with Owen and Luke, WED-15-77 preferred working for Beru, as she would always ask it to do the same predictable jobs.^[3]

One day in 0 BBY, WED-15-77 accompanied Luke Skywalker to repair his uncle's vaporators in the desert when Luke caught sight of a battle in the skies above between the Tantive IV and the Devastator.^[6] After that, this droid broken down, but its master abandoned it in the desert. And WED-15-77 was subsequently taken by the scavengers of the desert.^[1]

Behind the scenes

John Barry's production sketch of WED-15-77

WED-15-77 was designed for the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope by production designer John Barry.^[7] The same droid model was used for two other droids in the film's production; one was identified in Star Wars Legends as WED-15-I662, but the other droid was never identified.^[8] Barry's notes show that the prop had one functioning arm, and that its base housed a radio controller that allowed for off-screen crew members to control it during filming. Barry's production sketch of WED-15-77 indicated that the prop stood between four and four and a half feet. Scenes featuring the droid were shot on location in Tunisia in March 1976.^[7]

When A New Hope entered post-production, Treadwell was the first of the droid characters to receive a voice from the film's sound designer Ben Burtt. To create its vocalizations, Burtt combined electric noises with sounds of himself speaking in "baby talk." Although some crew members likened the voice to that of a talking chicken, director George Lucas ultimately approved the sound effects, and Burtt's voice for Treadwell served as a template of sorts for the other droid characters in the film, including R2-D2. Treadwell made its first appearance in Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, the novelization of A New Hope ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster and released in November 1976. The novel predated the film's release by over six months. The droid was originally featured in a scene with Luke Skywalker that was ultimately cut from the final release of A New Hope, where Luke is in the Tatooine desert repairing a moisture vaporator when he notices shining objects in the sky. He uses his macrobinoculars to see two ships that are engaged in combat beyond the atmosphere and jumps in his landspeeder, but Treadwell blows a fuse and is unable to follow. Although it was cut from the film, the droid still appeared in the film's various adaptations, including its previously released novelization and its storybook,^[9] radio drama,^[10] and manga.^[11]

WED-15-77 eventually made its full movie appearance in the 2002 film Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones,^[5] which made it one of the few characters to appear in both the original and prequel trilogy of Star Wars, even though its appearance in the original trilogy had been cut.