PT The Jar Jar Binks Appreciation Thread

True. there is no hiding alot of the bullying now.

 

Have I missed some extra details from Best? If not he didn't say it was this type of situation at all. He said the media backlash to the movie & his role in particular damaged his career, which put him in a very dark place. For all we know he didn't care about nor take the media "bullying" personally. Rather it sounds like it was his career dreams in tatters that drove him to the point he describes. He's far from the first up & coming young actor who's first notable role was poorly received, which curtailed their career. No doubt that's a situation that could be severely depressing. Unfortunately that's the brutal nature of show-business, & always has been. You go up on stage or on the screen, you perform & you either have roses or tomatoes thrown at you. If it's the latter then your career doesn't last long.

 

Simon Pegg regrets hating on Star Wars' Jar Jar Binks

 

wowsers! I wonder if he'll ever feel regret for accusing Lucas of infanticide by making the prequels.

 

In other words, he can dish it out but not take it.

 

if you read it you'd see that he does and it's not about dishing or taking anything, it's about reading what ahmed best wrote. good job being as bad as you think he is.

 

I'm sorry? I did read it, and Pegg didn't say anything about Lucas in his recent comments, nor did I say anything dishing or taking. I'm being bad? I did something bad? Huh?

FWIW, this is what I was referring to, a comment made by Pegg two years ago:

Spoiler

"I don’t really have any respect for anyone who thinks those films are good, they're not. (They're) a monumental misunderstanding of what the (original) three films are about," he said. "It's an exercise in utter infanticide ... (like) George Lucas killing his kid."

 

It's POSSIBLE that he implicitly included his Lucas bashing in that, because he did seem to be talking in general terms at the end of that clip, but it would be nice to hear him actually say it. I mean, he must be aware that the person George Lucas has been deeply affected by all the aggression that's been directed at him over the years. The least he could do is to explicitly acknowledge that he's contributed to that, too.

On topic, I have a feeling that 2019 will see a renaissance for TPM and Jar Jar Binks! It'll be the mother of all anniversaries

...but we're gonna need a Jar Jar emoji! Right, guys?

 

I'm indifferent towards him. I don't care much for the prequels as it is, but when I watch them, the plot does not really get affected by him.

 

Actually the plot indeed depends on him, especially in TPM. And in a very good way, I should say

 

In Attack of the Clones as well.

 

Indeed, Jar Jar is pretty central to some of the plot in TPM. If you take him out it would completely change a number of things. His involvement in the Phantom Menace's plot works for me.

I would argue he is only really involved in AOTC for one key element - the motion in the Senate that Palpatine is given emergency powers.
But Imo this could really be made by any character and it wouldn't change much in the grand scheme of things.
I wonder what Lucas was going for here - making Padme's representative while she was away declare a motion she would never make herself (Padme being the main opposition to exactly this).
It's a little strange to me.

 

I've always thought it was supposed to be an illustration of how the political process can corrupt even someone as pure-hearted as Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar doesn't want wealth or power, but he does crave the validation of his peers. Palpatine manipulates him into thinking that in making the motion he would be doing something brave and making Padme proud, and the acclamation he receives from the other senators in the rotunda only further reinforces his decision.

And it was precisely because of Padme's opposition to the Military Creation Act that the Naboo delegation was seen as the perfect party to make the motion. Having Jar Jar make the motion in Padme's name would depoliticize the process and unify a still-divided Senate.

 

That makes sense.
It fits in with his suggestibility in the last film I suppose, like when Qui-Gon convinces him to take them to Otah Gungah.
And maybe an echo to his bringing peace between the Naboo and Gungans, where inversely this time his attempt to help others and bring "peace" is leading him astray.
Yes, initial good intentions leading the galaxy down a dark path seems relevant.

I wonder how the cut scene in ROTS where Jar Jar seems loyal to Palpatine would have played out on screen. Jar Jar seems somewhat under his spell in the scripted version.

Hadn't thought of that.
But it still is a strange moment, where Mas Amedda speaks out loud (Palpatine speaking through him?) "If only Senator Amidala were here...".
I just wonder how much Palpatine is influencing Amedda and Jar Jar here.

Also I have noticed a lot of symbolism regarding the characters shifting from a more natural Naboo centrally towards a more industrial or urban Coruscant.
Perhaps an indicator that Jar Jar moving to the Capital has changed his values?

 

That's exactly it, in fact that's how it's explained in... The DVD commentary or the novelization? Can't recall at the moment.

Mas Amedda was in with Sidious and his plans.

Yes, the trilogy shifts settings as it shifts tones, even the color is drained as the feminity also wanes. And notice how it all gradually shifts back in the OT by returning to nature, color, love, balance and on and on.

 

I adore Jar Jar, and although his reduced roles do make a certain thematic sense, I’ve never been able to shake the feeling that Lucas would have found a way to keep him in the main cast if he had been more warmly received. I would have much preferred his antics to Threepio’s in AOTC for instance. And I sort of hate that he’s virtually non-existent as a character in ROTS.

 

I liked him. I had a small jar jar plushie/Clipon that I kept, hanging on my rear view mirror of my ‘97 amethyst dodge neon — from opening of TPM through 2000. I was proud of it then. Maybe I should break it out of its box and rock it again.

 

I wonder whether Jar Jar was made the Governor of Naboo for services rendered to the Galactic Republic after Palpatine proclaimed himself Emperor. Jobs for the boys maybe?

I also liked Jar Jar. I wouldn't mind him returning in the new films and besting a few people. I did wonder whether Jar Jar was going to have a bigger role when you hear rumours of him being the villain in the PT and the whole Darth Jar Jar theory?

I think it might have been difficult for Jar Jar to replace C3PO for antics in AOTC, because a Gungan might stand out in the droid factory more than the protocol droid.

I thought Jar Jar was funny, he just needed some tweaking and perhaps a little more growth to show him to become serious also.

As for the military act, it would have been symbolic in my view, if it had been Alderaan which had pushed for the Emergency Powers, or been the one to second it.

 

@DarthTalonx Seriously doubtful that Palpatine would have made him a Governor. Jar Jar was a tool to him, nothing more. I don’t think for a second he would trust him to govern his own planet.

To be honest, I’ve always hated the desire people have to make Jar Jar into a villain. The thing I love about him is how pure and innocent he is. It’s nice to have one character like that in the saga, even if his naiveté does have galactic ramifications.

As for the AOTC antics, I was thinking more along the lines of the arena than the droid factory, which was a last minute addition to the film anyway. But as for the droid factory, there is a certain fitting quality to the fact that it was a droid having troubles in the factory, and it did develop the Artoo/Threepio relationship that we see in the OT, so it was worth it for that alone IMO, but on the other hand I could totally see Jar Jar hopping around and being generally clumsy while trying to avoid all those machines as well.

 

Oh I meant in terms of "Jobs for the boys" - as in rewarding Jar Jar for his services to the Office of the Chancellor with a plush job with perks such as a Governor.

Yes I enjoyed Jar Jar's character and antics. I think you're right about the innocence and indeed it gave us a perspective of a native species of the world of Naboo. He also grows in character given he becomes first a General and then of course a Senator. I might have liked to have seen Alderaan having either proposed or seconded the emergency powers to add some connection/irony as to their role in Palpatine's rise.

Yes I suppose the Arena though, the trouble with using Jar Jar there, was ultimately the Jedi/good guys in the fight were getting surrounded. Padme is shown to be able to hold her own. C3P0 is temporarily a batte droid before he is taken out of the fight. R2D2 is a little legend and seems to make it through. But I think if you had Jar Jar there, it would be difficult to justify too much humour in a scene where the Jedi are getting overwhelmed and almost beaten by sheer force/numbers. So either Jar Jar would have to have been much better at a blaster than he was in TPM, or somewhere safe. Of course, then he might not have been around in the Senate etc.

I think Jar Jar would have worked in the droid factory, but I think it would detract a little from the sheer scale/seriousness of the Arena. I remember thinking in the cinema, when the music played as Anakin and Padme were take out that this was the end of an era, the Twilight of the Jedi Order. And the shock of seeing the scene as Dooku orders the Droid to stop as the Jedi are surrounded.

 

I always thought it made sense for Jar Jar to step away from the comic relief spotlight to make room for Threepio.
However, even though AOTC and ROTS both work fine just the way they are, there was definitely room for more Jar Jar involvement on the political side of the story. ESPECIALLY in ROTS, where he’s basically not in it at all. There’s that omitted scene where Palpatine thanks Jar Jar for his help, of course, but I imagine he could also have teamed up with Bail during the second half of it and been involved in the rebel side of things.

 

Love this. Natalie Portman comes to the defense of Ahmed Best.

 

Awesome news.
https://www.starwars.com/news/erin-kellyman-ahmed-best-star-wars-celebration-chicago

 

I'm sure it's been mentioned before but the guy almost took his own life because of depression because people had been so cruel towards him for his role. This is a powerful video for anyone with a soul...

 

Apparently, the comics have great love of Jar-Jar Binks, as evidenced, here: