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star wars - Why did R2-D2 not fly in Return of the Jedi?


In Return of the Jedi:



Artoo butts the golden droid over the edge and steps off himself, tumbling toward the sand.



But in Attack of the Clones:



ARTOO uses his rocket jets to fly up and into the factory.




Why didn't R2-D2 use his jets in RotJ instead of ending feet up in the sand?


Update: I am looking for an in-universe explanation.



Answer



This obviously looks like an afterthought explanation but here is what I found :



The magazine, Star Wars Insider Issue 62, explains that R2's manufacturers at Industrial Automation had limited their factory warranty on astromech rockets to about 20 years, which would explain why R2 doesn't have his rockets in the Original Trilogy.
generalanswers.org



I was dubbing on that reference because I don't have any copy of Star Wars Insider Issue 62. I also found the same text in a cached wikipedia page and that section has been removed long ago. (see wikipedia Talk on R2-D2)



Anyway, from the Industrial Automaton wookieepedia article there's a remark on this limitation of the warranty that cite holonetnews as reference:



RORDIS CITY, NUBIA - Rescinding previous consumer documentation that guaranteed a "lifetime" of reliability in their after-market astromech hover rockets, Industrial Automaton has now capped the warranty at 20 standard years. This decision affects all optional R2, R3 and R4-adapted leg-bracket and barrel-housed propellant rocket systems.[...]



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