On the topic of droid sentience there was a minor plot line in a few of the New Jedi Order books where C-3PO became rather concerned with his own mortality and tied to this plot there was a droid revolt Han assisted in that certainly seemed like the droids had independent thoughts.
Apparently if droids aren't memory wiped enough they begin to develop "quirks" outside of the usual programming so it could have just been that but I did feel at the time I was reading it they were going for more of an Astro Boy vibe with the issue of droid rights.

Also on topic for this week, check out this cool R2-D2 prototype lunch pail that wasn't released
http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=66523
I totally want one!