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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Saga Most Overrated Star Wars Character?

Discussion in 'Star Wars Saga In-Depth' started by skyrimcat9416, Dec 20, 2013.

  1. sungrey

    sungrey Jedi Master

    Registered:
    May 29, 2005
    Hmmm. Either Boba Fett or Yoda. Fett being overrated is obvious, but I include Yoda because he's not very wise for an 800-year-old Jedi.
     
  2. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    The PT was way too Jedi heavy. How many major non-Jedi were there? Padme? Compared to Anakin, Obi-Wan, Palpatine, Yoda, Mace Windu, Maul, Dooku, Kit Fisto, Aayla Secura, and whatever other Jedi were there. Yeah the Jedi are important but Han shows that you don't have to have the Force to be important.
     
  3. Darth Raiden

    Darth Raiden Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Aug 28, 2013
    But its important to note that the PT shows the jedi in their prime. Its a different era, hence there will be more seeing as they are the keepers of peace. As for Han, I like him, a lot really. But I think he stay in the OT (and ST oo I guess). Reason being is he definitely brings a lot of humor and comradery to those films especially at a time when the empire was at it most oppressive you need those type of characters to to show you that not all is lost and that there is a strong brotherhood.
     
    Jesse Booth likes this.
  4. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Still be nice to see another non Force user though. Even if it was only Bail. Yeah Jedi are important but still nice to see some more non-force sensitive characters.
     
  5. Rachel_In_Red

    Rachel_In_Red Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    May 12, 2013
  6. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    The Sarlacc. Get a bulldozer to remove the sand around it and whatever else it's implanted into.
     
  7. Han Burgundy

    Han Burgundy Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2013
    Maybe, but I think the real reason Han (or a character like Han) is essential, and why the PT suffered without a similar presence, is that Han's attitude provides a bridge between the ostensibly ridiculous world of Star Wars and the audience. You can take a person who hates fantasy movies, hates science fiction, and sit them in front of A New Hope, and Han will be the redeeming element that wins the person over. Why? Because he calls the story out in its own bull****. He calls out George Lucas, mid-movie, on his audacity for expecing the audience to accept the idea of laser-sword wielding telekinetic mystics. When he tells Obi Wan "that's just a bunch of simple tricks and nonsense" or when he's crowded by spear holding Ewoks and lets out an incredulous smirk, it communicates to the audience a subtle but crucial message from the filmmakers: "Its okay, we know how stupid this all is. Just go with it."

    It's like a comedian who is telling a joke with a very long, bizarre, and awkward set-up. A good comedian will sense the audiences hesitation to invest in the setup and thus choose to address that bizarreness head-on, saying something akin to "I feel you backing away, but trust me", or even making a subjoke about his joke. That acknowledgement allows the comedian to go forward without pretension, improving the investment of the audience.

    The PT has no such sense of self-awareness. When we see Jar Jar Binks, the straight-faced aliens in rennaisance-fair robes discussing politics, C3PO making horrible puns, the movie forces us to just deal with it. And if the filmmakers don't have the awareness to stop being so relentlessly earnest for a moment and poke fun at themselves, then it's inevitable that the audience will fill that role on their own.
     
  8. Force Smuggler

    Force Smuggler Force Ghost star 7

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    ^:)^[face_peace]:D[face_dancing]=D=
     
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  9. MOC Vober Dand

    MOC Vober Dand Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 6, 2004
    Sidious. All those years of Sith scheming and plotting and the guy can only hold on to power for, what, twenty odd years? Pathetic.

    Runs and hides...
     
  10. Jedi_Ford_Prefect

    Jedi_Ford_Prefect Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 9, 2003
    Yeah, but you can't really manufacture the Han thing. That was a lot about finding the right actor in Harrison Ford, and coming from just the right kind of cultural moment that needed things to be more familiar to audiences to really succeed in a mainstream way. It's why the Western and WWII stuff had to be there as much as the Kurosawa and Space-Opera. "Star Wars" was new in the 70's, and it needed some down-to-earth stuff to relate to most moviegoers, and it was lucky to run into somebody like Ford who could invest it with enough realism and cynicism (another thing in high demand in the 70's).

    But by the 90's came around? "Star Wars" was accepted, and the whole new wave of sci-fi and fantasy entertainment it engendered was strong. It didn't really need a Han to poke fun at the trappings and lull people into security-- in fact, it might've done more harm than good, and turned it all into a far too self-aware parody of itself. Mainstream audiences accepted the PT in ways that the die-hards who can't see past Han's nose sometimes lose sight of-- sometimes it's nice to be able to take something seriously, and not have to put up with winking asides. Besides, without the X factor of a Harrison Ford in the mix, there really wouldn't be much point in trying to duplicate that character's type to begin with. All you'd have is a cheap facsimile clone, and nothing more.
     
  11. Barbecue17

    Barbecue17 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Nov 11, 2013
    Willrow Hood. Everyone I know goes on and on about how awesome he is. C'mon guys! There are more characters in Star Wars than Willrow Hood. Just because he beat up Bossk and IG-88 single handed, hooked up with both of the Tonnika Sisters, and beat Chewbacca at a game of Dejarik doesn't mean he's the be all-end all.
     
  12. MOC Vober Dand

    MOC Vober Dand Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 6, 2004
    I agree that trying to create another Han Solo would've been a mistake. Harrison was the right man for that time and place. However, I also agree that the PT would've benefitted from some strong non-force using characters being better utilised. I would've liked to have seen Dooku as a non-Jedi character leading the separatists and Mon Mothma and Bail Organa playing more significant roles, for instance.
     
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  13. Han Burgundy

    Han Burgundy Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 28, 2013
    Jedi_Ford_Prefect , I wasn't arguing that a Han Solo substitute should have been in the films. That indeed would have been disastrous. What I was arguing is that his presence brought something to the films that the others lacked. And that sense of self-awareness could have been written into any character. A brief sarcastic remark from Obi Wan, Padme speaking a little more plainly, any number of small flourishes would have gone a long way toward making the films free of pretension. It would have made Jar Jar's cartoony antics a lot easier to swallow if he had a comedic "straight man" to play off of (Qui-Gon actually fills that role briefly, but there was comedic gold there that wasn't quite capitalized). The numerous, possibly-intentionally comedic awkward moments in Episode 2 caused by Anakin's angst would have gone down a lot smoother if someone had acknowledged it head-on.

    And while I get your point that Han's presence was needed at the time, when people were just being introduced to the new world of Star Wars, I'd argue that applies just as much to the PT. I mean, how much new stuff is introduced to us in just Phantom Menace alone? A lot. Not to mention, Episode 1 is exactly that: the first episode. We're meant to be introduced to the universe through the lense of this film. We are introduced to a lot of weird, crazy, wacky things. But the film plays it straight as an arrow. It never truly lets its hair down. That barrier-breaking element of human humor never comes.
     
  14. ObiAlKenobi

    ObiAlKenobi Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    Mar 10, 2012
    Prequel Anakin.

    He just comes across as whiny, petty, angry, jealous, insecure, arrogant, not too bright, creepy, etc. It's like he was a big jerk the entire time, making his transformation not that shocking or tragic. If he was written better as a character, I would have had empathy towards his plight.
     
  15. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 8, 2006
    Anakin Skywalker, Bobba Fett, Mara Jade, Han Solo, Allana Solo, Jania Solo, Padme, Mace Windu, Yoda, Yuuzahan Vong,
     
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  16. Vthuil

    Vthuil Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jan 3, 2013
    As anakinfansince1983 noted earlier, I don't think Anakin is well-liked enough in the first place to count as "overrated."

    (You could arguably say the same thing these days about some of the other frequent names in this thread like Boba Fett and Darth Maul, but they - especially Fett - also still do see a lot of hyperbolic gushing).
     
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  17. Big_Benn_Klingon

    Big_Benn_Klingon Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Nov 14, 2013
    Han Solo.. he's fine for what he is but fans have always blown him to god-like status. Personally I never liked him and was more of a Luke fan as a kid

    Boba Fett is so obviously overrated it almost goes without saying
     
    Jangounchained1990 likes this.
  18. Mr. Forest

    Mr. Forest Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Nov 1, 2012
    Han Solo - I like the guy but his is without a doubt overrated.
    Boba Fett - Here's a guy who looks cool but when he gets into the fight he is dealt with very quickly.
     
    Dark Ferus likes this.
  19. SkywalkerSquadron

    SkywalkerSquadron Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 2, 2013
    I'll have to go with Han Solo. From the EU, Kyp Durron
     
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  20. MOC Vober Dand

    MOC Vober Dand Manager Emeritus star 5 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 6, 2004
    I don't think Boba Fett's been highly enough rated to be overrated for many years now.
     
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  21. TheWatcher

    TheWatcher Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 26, 2013
    I'm going first with movie characters ad handled by Big Papa,Lucas:

    10) Mace Windu- he's just Sam Jackson being badass...I feel no emotional link towards the character save he is Samuel L. Jackson. God knows I cried when Ki Adi died, yet no tear was shed for Mace Windu.
    9) The three generals in the OT (Jan Dodonna, Riekan {awesome name btw}, and Crix Madine) they do absolutely nothing as strategist. Jan and Riekan just look worried. And all three just give a sorta summary of what they should do. But they dont give any orders in the rest of the scenes. The most redeemable of them is Riekan, yet he lost the Battle of Hoth.
    8) The stormtroopers. The empire's foot soldiers of death who miss every shot after the first scebe of ANH.
    7) Kaminoans. They use great tech yet opperate as a brothel, they are not misterious they creepy at best annoying usually.
    6) Jedi. Save a few, they got their butts handed to them
    . Maul fought evenly with two Jedi, so did Dooku who fought the Chosen One, the a great Jedi (Obi) and the Grand Master.
    . Palpatine with four of the best, and sorta won over Yoda
    . Got beat on Geonosis, when Qui Gon and Obi handled a few in TPM
    . Order 66
    . Obi-Wan gets killed because....because.
    . Yoda dies of old age, but wouldnt go to face Vader. He sent a half trained Jedi, who gets his arm sliced.
    . Luke is deafed by Vader in Empire and then he gives in to the darks side and defeats his father and when good finally stands up, Palpatine blows it with lightning
    5) Anakin Skywalker- emo, bratty, egotistical everything we can dislike about an 80's teen movie bully.
    4) the clone wars...start and end too quick
    3) The Rebel pilots
    2) The Ewoks, should been wookies
    1) Boba Fett
     
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  22. Jawasinhats27

    Jawasinhats27 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jan 2, 2014
    I'd have to say both Boba Fett and Darth Maul. Both had almost no dialogue, were not a major part of the immediate story, and were brought back in an attempt to make them more then they really are.
     
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  23. DarthCider1999

    DarthCider1999 Jedi Youngling

    Registered:
    Jan 9, 2014
    He only save Luke at the Battle of Yavin, which led to Luke blowing up the Death Star in the original SW, and then saved Luke on Hoth which led Luke to being a Jedi and eventually turning his father back from the darkside who eventually killed the Emperor and saved the Galaxy.

    Yeah, Han Solo is real overrated! ;) :p
     
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  24. IIA_MasterSHenson

    IIA_MasterSHenson Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 1, 2013
    Overrated but served a purpose (Main-ish Characters)
    -Han
    -Mara
    -Ahsoka

    Overrated but plays a fairly critical role
    -Boba
    -rebel pilots
    -clone troopers
    -Bounty Hunters

    Overrated and did little to nothing
    -Maul (I get it. Killed Qui-Gon :(Horrible but, thinking about it...
    [So could AniVader, SidiPalp, Yoda, Mace, Obi (2-6), maybe even a trio or so of droidekas]
     
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  25. IIA_MasterSHenson

    IIA_MasterSHenson Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Dec 1, 2013
    I understand appealing to the non-scifi/mystical/fantasy viewers but, ultimately, factoring in a character who can help ease in the already-oppositional audience is not essential to the quality of the movie in itself, especially for those who aren't opposed to it coming in. His lines, for non-opposed, are actually just a good representation of the skeptics of the SW universe and shows diversity in how the Jedi and Sith are seen. That's good but I did see those in the PT as well

    True, having characters who can poke fun at themselves or the establishment is always good for a movie. And part of Han's persona in non-believing was to be teasing and poking and full of banter. Though 1-3 didn't have as much full-blown Jedi disbelief, sith scoffs, or force contempt, they didn't necessarily need to. We had unorthodox jedi like Qui-Gon, the young and laid back Obi, and Jango and JarJar's sarcasm about the force (subtle but there). While people like Han and "poking fun at the movie/organizations in the movie" are good devices to use, they're not essential is all--as you seem to be making them out to be.