The droids in the "Star Wars" universe aren't only used for Clone Wars and the thankless work of everyday tasks. As R2-D2 and C-3PO have proven, droids can have fully formed personalities and become integral team members for our protagonists. Anakin and Luke Skywalker genuinely bonded with the two robotic helpers.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will continue that trend with BB-8, the plucky soccer ball-like rolling droid. Puppeteers Dave Chapman and Brian Herring brought the little droid to live and noted that there is much more to him than circuit boards and wires.
"BB-8 can cock his head over and look away, he can double take, he can look scared, he can look angry," Herring said in an interview with StarWars.com. "We managed to find a whole vocabulary of movement for him, if you will. We worked out a whole bunch of stuff. What would he do if you turned him off? What happens to his head if you power him down? Does he go down stairs? Does he go up stairs?"
Beyond the more pronounced emotions of happiness, sadness and fear, the duo also had to figure out a way to convey more ambiguous feelings such as curiosity. Like the original trilogy, this all adds up to BB-8 having a personality of his own and not being just another bucket of bolts.
Director J.J. Abrams has diplomatically said in no uncertain terms that he wants "The Force Awakens" to differ from the critically panned prequels. As such, he avoided gratuitous use of CGI when able and hired Chapman and Herring to bring the BB-8 puppet to life. This reliance on practical effects is meant to provide fans with a sense of the original trilogy.
We'll see what kind of mischief BB-8 gets into when "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens in theaters on Dec. 18.
