For the life of me I can't figure out why R2D2 doesn't speak in any coherent language. It seems like every other robot from Star Wars can speak. It just doesn't make any sense that they can't give him (or her) any speaking ability. I'll submit to the fact that R2D2's design makes him an efficient service /repair droid. A small barre ll can't be better than a humanoid form. C3P0 gets around just fine. They tried to enhance R2D2's usefulness in the later movies (there were several scenes where he (she) could be seen repairing things). The current animated series, the Clone Wars, really attempts to show off R2's design advantage. Like I said, I can accept the barrel shape... but at least let him (her) talk at the level of Jar Jar Binks!
