Why does R2-D2 try to electrocute Yoda?

Question

I don't have trouble explaining away most of the other problems that the prequels introduced. However, R2-D2 has an intact memory of the events of those films. He should be aware of what Yoda looks like, and probably has met him.

So why did R2-D2 attack Yoda?

Are there any in-universe explanations for this?

Answer 1

I can't recall R2-D2 ever meeting Yoda in the prequel movies, and I haven't read many novels set in the prequel-era. Therefore I cannot be certain R2 has ever actually seen Yoda.

That said, I'm going to continue my answer with the assumption that R2 HAS seen Yoda, but I have no evidence for this. Occam's Razor would suggest the answer is, "R2 never saw Yoda"...but that wouldn't be as fun.

R2, when he met Yoda again on Dagobah, was somewhat irate. Yoda had blinded Luke's instruments, causing them to crash into the swamp. Yoda put R2 through the whole 'travel through the water and get eaten' thing...not R2's happiest moment.

That said, R2 knew it was for Luke's benefit - Yoda was trying to teach. If R2 didn't act as if he wasn't aware of who Yoda was, it could have lead to some uncomfortable questions and/or undermined Yoda's efforts.

So, they played for a bit - R2 gave gentle rebukes (Yoda held Dooku's force lightning in his palm, the arc welder was gentle by that standard) and Yoda played the silly little native for a bit. Inside, they were both grinning.

Answer 2

I like Jeff's answer, but I thought I'd point out some other potential explanations:

• It's reasonable to assume that a droid's memory is limited, and the movies make it sound like wiping a droid's memory is a frequent thing. Based on that, maybe R2 periodically "cleans up" his memory and removes the least important things. It's possible that over the 20-ish years between the movies, remembering what Yoda looked like was less important than remembering something else. For example, if R2 thought Yoda was dead, being able to recognize him would be pretty useless. It's also possible that he doesn't have control over his memory clean-up algorithm, and things over a certain age are automatically deleted. He is designed to be a mechanic -- recognizing people he hasn't seen in 20+ years wouldn't be that useful.

• R2 is frequently show to be fairly smart in the new movies. It's possible the Empire has a way to extract information from droids. R2 may have erased his own memories related to Yoda in case they contained information that could be used against the Rebellion. He's not designed to be a spy, so it's reasonable that he just deleted all of his memories of Yoda because he wasn't sure which ones were dangerous.

• Just because his memory isn't erased at the end of the new movies doesn't mean it wasn't erased at any point after that. R2 and C3-PO seem to be involved in spy operations, so it wouldn't be surprising if someone else erased their memories (either the Rebellion because they have sensitive information, or the Empire because hey, free droids).

And of course, the real explanation for any plot point in the new Star Wars: