Commentary by Nick “BatKnight” Young
Let’s get something out there right off the bat: Star Wars is legendary. Its legacy cannot be removed or forgotten. Full of interesting characters, fascinating worlds, fun and visible action as well as John Williams scores, Star Wars remains a bright spot in pop culture, possibly the brightest. But the saga isn’t without its blemishes. The Prequel Trilogy is often reviled, and there’s some validity to it. These movies brought some good stuff to the table, but also brought rotten junk that would make Luke think twice about the Millennium Falcon’s exterior. But there is one huge, inescapable strike against the legacy and its captain, George Lucas. What is it, you ask? I’ll give you a hint: it came from Episode I…
No, it’s not Jake Lloyd, who indeed gave a rather poor performance as Anakin. He set the bar so low for the pre-Darth Vader Skywalker that Hayden Christensen had nowhere to go but up. But not even Jake Lloyd is the worst thing about Star Wars. After all, which of us wasn’t an annoying weirdo at that age? No, the greatest perpetrator of annoyance, idiocy and all-around incompetence is that lanky, orange-skinned creep with an anteater tongue that spews nothing but high-pitched, pointless dialogue: JAR JAR BINKS! In fact, that useless piece of gutter trash could have single-handedly brought down the entire movie just as easily as he brought down the Republic (big jerk did so in Episode II by transferring power to Palpatine) were it not for the always badass-Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Samuel L. Jackson and Ray Park to bolster the rest of the movie. How does it take people with the power of The Force to balance out this piece of slime’s influence?!?
C-3PO described this buffoon with the kindest terms: rather odd. I’d correct 3PO by saying “That Jar Jar is rather CENSORED (gotta keep it PG-13 here)”. The dummy does NOT listen! Qui-Gon tells him to stick close and not to touch anything. Naturally, the fool does exactly the opposite of what a wise, worldly warrior says. Qui-Gon’s strength in The Force must lie with his patience. I wish Sebulba would have turned him into orange goo! I would have! How did Lucas think that Jar Jar was an important character to have on screen? He really brought nothing but headaches. Other characters served some really purpose. Not this freak. At least Lucas appeared to learn his lesson by reducing the prick’s screentime in each subsequent Star Wars movie…
Anyway, that’s my little rant about the worst character is Star Wars and perhaps film in general. At least he’s not in the Original Trilogy…
This Rant Made Possible By George Lucas (for creating this heathen) and Spike TV (for playing Episode I these past 2 days)
I disagree. Although Jar Jar is annoying, Lucas always had annoying characters in the movies. C3-PO, Luke, Ewoks, Sy Snoodles (or whatever her name was). Everyone wanted to tear Lucas apart for not making the original trilogy again with the new movies…but you know what? How can you possibly ever capture that magic? You cant. Yes Jar Jar was annoying, but my God, he was far from the worst of the Star Wars characters. Lets complain about Greedo shooting first now, or Lucas fitting a spaceship/robot/thingamabob into every crevice of the original movies. But complaining about Jar Jar is old. He didnt ruin the movies. The fact that Lucas didnt care an iota about the acting hurt them far more than Jar Jar. Just an FYI for those who hate the newer movies, the lightsaber battle with Darth Maul destroys any action scene in any of the original movies. So all these purists who hate the new movies, can take that and put it in their trash compactor!