R2-D2's Star Trek Cameos Are More Than A Simple Star Wars Homage

Steven Spielberg's alien abduction thriller "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was released in November of 1977, only six months after the world of blockbusters had been rattled by the release of George Lucas' "Star Wars." Lucas and Spielberg were friends and collaborators, and deep-cut "Star Wars" fans might be able to tell you about several times that Spielberg has included "Star Wars" references in a few of his films. Notably, in Speilberg's 1982 film "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," a kid is seen wearing a Yoda costume on Halloween, and the titular alien seems to have recognized him. This reference was famously handed back to Spielberg when Lucas included E.T. aliens in his 1999 film "Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace." Starwoids might also know about the C-3PO and R2-D2 hieroglyphics in Speilberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark." In Close Encounters," if one looks closely at the alien mother ship, one might be able to see R2-D2 hanging upside down from the ship's hull. This was, of course, deliberate. Spielberg wanted to include a little wink to his friend Lucas and the many fans of Lucas' six-month-old movie. 

Fast-forward to 2009, and filmmaker J.J. Abrams — an openly unabashed "Star Wars" fan — has been hired to reboot "Star Trek." Abrams has admitted that he knew little about "Star Trek" going into his 2009 reboot, which may explain why his Trek films were so action-oriented and, well, similar to "Star Wars." According to a decade-old red carpet interview, Abrams admitted that he took "Star Trek" and its 2012 sequel "Star Trek Into Darkness" as opportunities to pay homage to ... the "Close Encounters" homage to "Star Wars."

In the "Star Wars" movies, R2-D2 is more or less an outsized, high-tech Swiss Army knife, equipped with tools and soldering irons and holographic emitters. It also serves as a navigational computer that can be removed from one ship and plugged into another. Given R2-D2's position on the "Close Encounters" ship, a fan might posit that R2 is serving as the navigator for the "Encounters" aliens. 

The same might be posited about the exploded ship that the U.S.S. Enterprise encounters in "Star Trek." Someone with sharp eyes might have seen, flying through the debris, a little tiny R2, clearly blown off the hull. Look just above Sulu's head in the picture above, and one can see R2-D2 on the ship's viewscreen. R2-D2 also sails by the screen, albeit even more quickly, during an explosion scene in "Into Darkness." One really has to know what they're looking for to see the droid. 

On the red carpet, a fan pointed out to Abrams that they had spotted R2. Abrams eagerly pointed out that he played the same trick twice, saying: 

"He was also in this movie. He's been in all the movies I've directed. [...] But the reason I did that is because in 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind,' which I saw when I was a kid, R2-D2 was in that movie. So, oddly, putting R2-D2 in these movies is really an homage to 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind.' So it's a very strange homage to a movie that was making an homage to a movie." 

R2-D2 is not a "Star Wars" reference, but a reference to a "Close Encounters" "Star Wars" reference. Weird that Abrams seemed to have killed R2-D2 in both films.

This wasn't the first time that Trekkies might have seen R2-D2 in "Star Trek" either. The makers of "Trek," like most anyone into sci-fi, were "Star Wars" fans, and they snuck little, tiny, non-visible "Star Wars" references into "Star Trek" all the time in the 1990s. In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Measure of a Man" (February 13, 1989), the android Data (Brent Spiner) is put on trial to judge if he is a mere machine or if he possesses consciousness. Arguing for the prosecution, Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) proves Data is a mere machine by removing his arm in court. Looking closely at the exposed circuitry in Data's arm may reveal to eagle-eyed Trekkies a small, silver R2-D2 hiding within. 

I may also offer a personal anecdote. I had once visited the set of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and there were multiple, small ovoid buttons on the wall panels of the Enterprise-D with teeny-tiny, invisible-to-the-camera jokes that the set designers included for their own personal amusement. Looking up close at the buttons revealed sayings like "May the force be with you." Also pieces of advice like "Don't spit into the wind" and "Don't tug on Superman's cape." 

There may have been other references besides. A lot of the "Next Generation" computer panels included the initials of the set designers and technical consultants (usually called Okudagrams after designer Mike Okuda), as well as oblique references that no one I was with (that is: the Paramount guides) could explain. 

A very close examination of the above photo might also reveal the planet Alderaan on the manifest. That's the one that got blown up in "Star Wars."