WED-15-77

"What's up there?''" [Treadwell burps a noncommittal reply] "I know you'' don't know, you maniac. Where're my macrobinoculars?"

- Luke Skywalker and Treadwell, spotting a spacebattle above Tatooine

WED-15-77, or simply called Treadwell, was a WED-15 Treadwell repair droid that operated during the Imperial Period. The droid served moisture farmer Owen Lars on the planet Tatooine for more than twenty years. WED-15-77 often worked with Lars' nephew, Luke Skywalker, on the moisture vaporators of the farm. On one such occasion, the droid suffered a meltdown and was left in the desert by Skywalker, because he was eager to meet his friend, Fixer, on the Tosche power station.

Biography
"Come on, Treadwell, get yourself over to the landspeeder. I've gotta get into Anchorhead and tell Fixer about this!"

- Luke Skywalker, to Treadwell

WED-15-77 was a WED-15 Treadwell repair droid produced by one of the two largest droid manufacturing companies in the galaxy, Cybot Galactica during the Republic Classic era. The droid served moisture farmer Owen Lars' family on the planet Tatooine before the Clone Wars. Treadwell worked with the protocol droid C-3PO until its creator, the Jedi Anakin Skywalker, arrived on the Lars homestead and took the gray protocol droid away. WED-15-77 continued to serve the Lars family for more than twenty years, and later, he was accompanied by another Treadwell.

During the Galactic Civil War, WED-15-77 often helped Lars' nephew, Luke Skywalker in a variety of chores, like repairing moisture vaporators out in the desert. One day, Lars asked Skywalker to repair the vaporators on the south ridge with the help of Treadwell who got an electric shock during the work in consequence of using an uninsulated manipulator. Not much later, Skywalker spotted a space battle above the planet. He ran to his landspeeder and called for the droid to follow him, but Treadwell suffered a final meltdown. Skywalker thought that the vital components of the droid were shot, so he left the smoking droid in the desert and raced off to Tosche power station to tell one of his childhood friend, Laze Loneozner about the battle. On the way home, Skywalker returned, but he didn't find the droid, because it was taken by the scavengers of the desert.

Personality and programming
"Treadwell, clamp these two leads together while I splice them... No, no, you idiot! Use your insulated arm! ... Release! Back off!"

- Luke Skywalker, to WED-15-77

WED-15-77 was capable of accomplishing even very specific tasks with close supervision, but it could not make complicated work on its own due to its limited intelligence. It was a recalcitrant yet hardworking droid that prefered working for Owen's wife, Beru, since she gave the droid simple, predictable jobs.

Features and functions
WED-15-77 was a typical Treadwell repair droid with two treads on its base. The droid had enhanced binocular fine-focus vision, which helped it to spot circuitry damage. The droid's photoreceptors were mounted on a long, telescopic stalk, which also held six arms, including an equipment test arm and various manipulators, at least one of which was insulated. By 0 BBY, WED-15-77's move became unsteady and only three of its arms were functioning.

Behind the scenes
The WED-15-77 droid first appeared in the December 1976 novelization of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster. The droid featured in a scene that was cut from the released version of A New Hope, but it appeared in various adaptations including the novel, the radio drama and the manga comic.

The same droid model was used for WED-15-77, for WED-15-I662 and for a unidentified Treadwell during the filming of A New Hope. 15-77's scene was ultimately cut, but the Treadwell melted down chronologically earlier than the appearance of the unidentified one. In the film's radio drama, however, 15-77 only stopped moving instead of melting down, and Owen Lars mentioned at a later Jawa auction that he "already got a Treadwell... don't need another." This suggests that the unidentified droid was intended to be WED-15-77, not another droid of the same line. However, the StarWars.com Databank confirmed 15-77's meltdown to be final and the droids to be separate characters.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones photo comic
 * Star Wars: Empire 8: Darklighter, Part 1
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope novelization
 * Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
 * Star Wars radio drama
 * Star Wars Manga: A New Hope 1