PT Was Jar Jar supposed to have a role of R2 and 3PO in AOTC ?

I have heard some people say that Jar Jar backlash made GL to downgrade Jar Jar's character in AOTC and ROTS.

I really don't like or believe the idea of Darth Jar Jar. It completely contradicts the role that he had in TPM and that would have shown that Qui Gon made a wrong choice of bringing Jar Jar with them.

I believe that Jar Jar's role was given to R2D2 and 3PO in the next movies.(The child friendly characters of the OT which Jar Jar had their role in TPM)

Just replace R2D2 and 3PO in those movies with Jar Jar and you get a plot that makes sense.

1.Jar Jar could have been with Anakin and Padme on Tatooine.

2.In the factory section Jar Jar could have been the one saving Padme from being burned.

3.Jar Jar could have face a monster in the Geneosis arena similar to Anakin,Obiwan and Padme. And he might have been a more competent fighter in that section compared to TPM.

4.Captain Panaka or Captain Typho would have proposed the idea of giving Palpatine total control to the senate instead of Jar Jar.

5.And in the end Jar jar could have either died in AOTC or he could have died in episode 3.

Has George Lucas ever revealed the ideas that he had for Jar Jar in the AOTC and ROTS ?

 

I think you are looking at it from the wrong perspective.

I don't think Jar Jar was "supposed" to have a specific pre-planned role in Episodes II or III, and I don't think the droids inherited any specific role either. In other words, Lucas didn't have a specific plan for any of those secondary characters (by his own admission, his first draft on Episode 3 didn't even include the droids, and he just had to find ways to insert them into scenes). For example, the role of the droids in the droid factory scene was concieved after shooting principal photography for Episode 2.

However, you are right assuming that Jar Jar would most probably have a more prominent role as a secondary character in those episodes, had there been no backlash. What role? I don't think Lucas had anything specific decided, but most probably yeah, he would've accompanied Anakin and Padme on their journey (although it might've been funnier to have him paired with Obi-Wan, actually).

So, in my opinion, yes, Jar-Jar would've had a bigger role in those episodes, and no, that role wasn't decided yet and wasn't passed on to the droids. The droids were always going to be in there anyway (3PO was always going to be on Tatooine).

One thing I don't agree with is with Jar-Jar being killed off. I really think he would've lived -there is enough tragedy with Padme and Anakin.

 

Always thought he was meant to be the Chewbacca type for the PT, part of the gang but just in a supporting role.

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I like that idea! I can picture him stepping in and using his unconventional but effective diplomatic skills to win Lama Su's trust after Obi-Wan happens to make him suspicious

 

IDK, but Chewbacca was inspired by GL's dog Indiana.

And if you remove Chewie from the OT, the plot doesn't change at all.(Maybe some minor things)

But if you remove Jar Jar from TPM then lots of scenes have to be rewritten. So, imo Jar Jar was supposed to have a more C3PO and R2D2 role in AOTC and ROTS(If he was originally going to be there) than Chewbacca.

 

Honestly, outside of adding him to some of AOTC’s early coruscant scenes, there really isn’t much more you could do with him in either AOTC or ROTS.

 

In the early 00s, I remember reading that test audiences for AotC had loudly booed and reacted very negatively when Jar Jar appeared on screen. I don’t know if this had any impact on Jar Jar’s role in the movie, but I do believe that the hatred directed against the character lead to Jar Jar featuring less prominently in AotC and RotS.

I often wonder if Lucas limited Jar Jar’s screen-time in AotC and RotS as a result of the horrible backlash endured by Ahmed Best. Lucas must have spoken to Best and understood the toll this was taking on the young actor’s mental health. It’s possible that Lucas made Jar Jar a more reserved character and restricted his screen time in order to protect Best.

 

I remember reading somewhere that a Jar Jar's dialogue in episode 3 was removed.(At the beginning of the movie at that scene when Palpatine returns to the Galactic Senate with Anakin.)

 

Well, of course it was removed, since he doesn't speak at all in the movie, except for one word! (and he did have some dialogue in a few scenes). However, that wasn't a result of any test audience (as far as I know, the prequels were not test screened for anyone in advance, much less leading to any changes). Just the natural process of editing down the movie.

It's difficult to know exactly how much impact had the backlash on Jar-Jar's role in the prequels. As others have said, the seriousness of AOTC and ROTS doesn't blend well with a character like Jar-Jar.

 

I like it that GL always calls Jar jar as his favorite SW character.

 

I don’t think we’ll ever know for certain. My personal suspicion is that Jar Jar would have played a larger part in the PT had the character not been rejected by so many. I also think that Jar Jar’s character would have changed to mirror the tone of the movies.

I think that we would have seen the weight of his responsibilities and the galactic upheavals take a serious toll on Jar Jar over the course of the three movies. The transition from buffoon to war-weary politician would have reflected the gradual darkening of the galaxy as Palpatine’s plot unfolded.

 

In a way you see that progression, both in the diminished role of Jar-Jar, and also in his behaviour (his serious attitude in Clones and his sadness in Padme's funeral).

However, that sounds good in theory, but I don't know if there would've been enough time to include that (in other words, it would've been the first thing to be cut out-... as it was ultimately).

 

Not in ROTS, no. It's the only SW film in which we don't have a group of heroes in a proper journey from planet to planet.
In AOTC you could tag Jar-Jar along with either Obi-Wan or Anakin/Padme, just as C3PO was tagged along Han/Leia on Empire.

 

You could but he wouldn’t contribute anything substantial enough to either group to make it worth the effort. There’s nothing he can really contribute to either path.

 

Jar Jar was like Scooby Doo in Star Wars.(He was inspired from Scooby)

So, giving him a role would have been kinda easy. He could help the main characters in some parts. Alongside the heroes saving him in other parts.

 

I tend to think that Jar Jar filled in for Threepio as the primary comic relief in TPM due to Threepio playing such a small part. That's not to say Jar Jar wasn't always going to be a comedic character, but I imagine he wouldn't have taken up quite so much space if Threepio had been along for the whole ride.

That said, I do believe Jar Jar would've had a - somewhat - larger role in AOTC and ROTS if the backlash hadn't been so severe.
Still, as @devilinthedetails says, his happy-go-lucky personality suits TPM the best. As a poster boy for happier, more innocent times, he should fade into the background as the story progresses.
Or just become more subdued.

 

I see that a lot of you think about Jar Jar as a character serving a similar role to the droids or Chewie in the OT. But I don't really agree with the analogy. True, they're all secondary characters; but unlike others, Jar Jar has a substantial importance on the main plot ot TPM (to provide an army to win the battle), and on one of the main stories (symbiotic relationships triumph over oppression). In a way, he is the Wicket of TPM.

What I mean with that is that Jar Jar wasn't created to fill a secondary/comic relief role equivalent to other characters on the OT. Jar Jar was created with an organic role in both plot and story. The film needed Jar Jar. But AOTC and ROTS didn't (same as ANH and ESB didn't need any ewoks). So, from that perspective, Jar Jar wasn't an stand-in for any other character, nor was he substituted with any other character in the following movies. He filled his role.

 

Agreed. Jar Jar is more or less Chewie, droids and Wicket rolled into one!

 

Maybe but I do think Lucas intended for Jar Jar to propose emergency powers all along. With that in mind, it’s difficult to imagine Jar Jar going along with Obi Wan (which WOULD have been great) or Anakin/Padme. It’s just so thematically important that Jar Jar as the hapless fool who wants to help but messes everything up, be the one and not Typho or Dorme. Unless he went with the Jedi to Geonosis after the vote. Jar jar wouldn’t know Padme was there though so I don’t see why he’d want to go into another battle.

Fortunately we get more of Jar Jar in all his innocent, goofy, childlike glory in the clone wars show!

 

I kind of like how Jar Jar stayed behind, to oversee things in Padme's place. It really lends itself to the plot point that Palpatine played on Jar Jar's gullibility and intentions to do right by Padme by proposing the vote to give him power. It's an interesting little detail that kind of set things off, showing Palpatine knew how to play people to manipulate things how he wanted them. If Jar Jar was instead bumbling all over the place on Geonosis, that wouldn't have gone down-and it would've had to have been some random senator, and that wouldn't mean as much.

 

The droids have very specialized roles that I don't see Jar-Jar filling to any plausible degree.
I like the clumsy Gungan, but the role he was given is what is best for him. It's actually interesting to see him fall deeper and deeper into the background as the saga falls into darkness and the fun and humor from TPM begins to fade as a result.