R5-D4

R5-D4 was an astromech droid that was briefly seen in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. He was the droid that the Jawas first sold to Owen Lars before malfunctioning, forcing Lars to purchase R2-D2 instead.

Biography
R5-D4, or "Red" as he has come to be known, was an old astromech droid from the R5 series, a model developed by Industrial Automaton that predated the more popular R2 series of service droids going back to the time of the Old Republic. During the early years of his career, the R5 series proved to be quite popular, but when production began on the more advanced R2 line, the R5s were considered unreliable and quickly became obsolete. R5-D4, one of the last of his kind put into production, sought to prove the critics wrong and labored intensely to show that the R5's could accomplish the same tasks with the same level of efficiency and output as any R2 unit. Unfortunately, this tactic ultimately failed and R5 grew more spiteful and embittered as he was passed along from owner to owner across the galaxy.

At some point prior to the rise of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, R5-D4 came to reside in the arid wastelands of the planet Tatooine. He was acquired by a band of scavenger traders known as Jawas and left to rot inside the storage basin of their giant Sandcrawler. In addition to cramped living quarters, R5 had to suffer through endless poking and prodding at the hands of the Jawas, which only served to worsen his already gloomy disposition.

One day, R5 found that the Sandcrawler cargo area had received two new acquisitions; a bronzium protocol droid named C-3PO and a feisty R2 unit designated R2-D2. Although he disliked R2 units, R5-D4 could not help but come to appreciate R2-D2's energetic personality. R2 told R5 of their most recent adventure, which involved escaping from a consular ship after it had been overtkane by an Imperial Star Destroyer. He also chronicled some of the details of his current mission; that he was to find a resident named Obi-Wan Kenobi and deliver a message enlisting his aid in the cause of the Rebellion. Upon hearing the story, R5 came to respect R2-D2 and his noble mission.

Shortly thereafter, the Jawa Sandcrawler stopped outside of a moisture farm owned by Owen Lars and his family. Owen purchased C-3PO and R5-D4. R5 knew that splitting Threepio and Artoo up would be disastrous for Artoo's mission, so he intentionally blew his motivator circuit (which had been malfunctioning anyway) to make it appear as if the Jawas had deliberately tried to rip Owen off. After a quick exchange of words, accompanied by Threepio's recommendation, Owen purchased R2-D2 and the astromech was free to fulfill his mission. R5 was still a prisoner of the Jawas, but he was proud that he was willing to sacrifice his own freedom for the sake of the Rebellion.

It was only a short time later that disaster struck once again. A squad of Imperial Stormtroopers came to Tatooine in search of C-3PO and R2-D2 whom they believed were in possession of a set of stolen plans relating to the Empire's newest battle station, the Death Star. They tracked down the Jawa Sandcrawler and although they failed to recover the two droids they were seeking, they did manage to slaughter all of the Jawas and destroy most of the droids in the vehicle. R5-D4 was very fortunate to be one of the few to escape the conflagration. Another survivor was a GNK power droid whom R5 had befriended. They were eventually discovered by a separate band of Jawas who cleaned them up, made some minor repairs and prepped them for a "fire sale".

Some time after the Battle of Yavin, the Jawas sold R5-D4 and the power droid to an Alliance historian named Voren Na'al for a price well above market value. At first, Voren was very resentful to receive such a bad deal, particularly since the Jawas never even bothered to fix R5's faulty motivator. After a thorough examination however, he discovered that R5 was a veritable treasure trove of information. R5 still maintained all of the data in his memory banks and was able to provide Voren with valuable historical information concerning C-3PO, R2-D2 and their master, Rebellion hero Luke Skywalker. When Voren concluded his research on Tatooine, he sold R5-D4 to the Imperial prefect's assistant administrator where he secretly worked as a spy for the Rebellion. R5-D4 continued to serve in that capacity for many years, providing the Alliance with important and valuable data.

Notes & Trivia

 * Unlike R2-D2, who was played by actor Kenny Baker, R5-D4 was operated by remote control and did not have an actor within the prop housing.


 * An action figure of R5-D4 was produced by Kenner as part of the 1978 Star Wars action figure line; assortment number 39070. The figure was re-issued for the Return of the Jedi line.


 * Only a handful of people knew about R5-D4's dual role as a spy for the Rebellion, one of whom was the Ithorian, Momaw Nadon.