Saga Appreciation for Underappreciated Characters

Depa Billaba seemed kind of boring to me, and her EU story as I understand it is exactly the kind of thing I really don't like. But her portrayal in the Kanan comic made me really like her a lot. A very unique Jedi and I got the feeling she was on her path to that same kind of enlightenment that put Qui-Gon on a different level.

 

I didn't know she's from Alderaan. That's very cool.

My favorite underappreciated character is Jar Jar Binks. I think he's funny and his relationship with Anakin and Padme was very sweet. His TWC episodes were always among my favorites.

 

Allegiant General Pryde and Captain Canady.

If only because they give the First Order some much needed competence and personality.

Plus actor Richard E. Grant looks right at home as a First/Final Order officer, giving that uniform some dignity.

 

I thought Jimmy Smits was very good as Bail Organa but doesn't get many mentions.

 

General Grievous

What can I say, I love this old cowardly warlord of death and coughing hazards. His design is one of my favorites in the entire saga and the concept of a non-force sensitive Jedi killer fascinates me.

Jango Fett

Such an underrated minor character, played exquisitely by a charismatic actor in the form of Temuera Morrison. Additionally, Jango being the cornerstone of the clone army also makes him oddly one of the most impactful characters of the saga.

 

Wedge doesn't seem to get much love, even though he's in all the major OT battles.

 

I think Tarkin is also an underappreciated character. Played by the great Peter Cushing !!!

 

Looking at this guys age he grew up with Star Wars. He was a kid again in a big toy X-wing....he was loving it. I'm pretty sure he's smiling and saying ''YEAH!'' when he blows up. Hilarious.

 

Shaak Ti. Best Togruta, don't care what anyone says.

 

My list:

• Captain (eventually General) Tarpals I think he gets a grand total of 15 minutes on screen, between TPM and two episodes of TCW,
• Lobot (particularly as portrayed in Michael P. Kube-McDowell's Black Fleet Crisis trilogy)
• Shaak Ti. I wasn't much of a TCW fan, but I loved her character (and character design). Compassionate, dignified, capable.
• Maz Kanata. This character could carry her own series on Disney+: older than Yoda, collector of rare items, and nicknamed "The Pirate Queen."

I will be sitting in one of the side booths. Give me a wave when you come in.

I didn't understand that one, either. She was a perfectly good character, and it was nice to see someone who wasn't another straight white guy....

Another case where I don't understand the hate. Seriously, he's mostly an overgrown kid in TPM, and by the end of the PT he's matured a lot. I wasn't impressed by Chuck Wendig's "official final fate" for him in Aftermath: Empire's End.

 

He's been mentioned already, but the dashing Antoc Merrick is perhaps my favorite starfighter pilot character despite not even being mentioned in the 9 part saga. Actor Ben Daniels is clearly having a ball as a X-Wing pilot and really plays the part to perfection. To the point he fits like a glove into the Star Wars universe and would feel right at home in the OT. It must also be said that his mustache is glorious, only rivaled by Biggs Darklighter.

The bevy of minor solider characters are also a highlight of Rogue One for me. Sergeant Melshi being my favorite and to his credit actor Duncan Pow gave this solider some unexpected presence. Outside of him I wish we could have gotten more of blink and you'll miss him Corperal Mefran. He's played by Francis Magee, a small underrated actor who featured in Game of Thrones as Nights Watch ranger Yoren and also starred in The Bible miniseries as King Saul.

 

Oh if I get to include someone in my list, from Mandalorian, is the Client. He made the series for me in the first season.

I do wonder... with Jason Isaacs saying that he would love to play the Grand Inquisitor live, and series like Obi-Wan and Andor coming, am I the only one who thinks not seeing him in live action is a waste of a potentially great antagonist? I think he would do a great job...

 

Captain Cannady... nuff said

 

Salacious Crumb - that was one creepy little muppet.

 

Seriously not making fun, but I haven't cracked up about something on these boards for awhile. LMFAO!!!

 

I have a few I feel were underappreciated, or perhaps just "underused":

1. Mon Mothma - I was ecstatic to see more of her in Rogue One, but as the leader of the Rebel Alliance-especially once Bail Organa was gone, I would've loved to see her play a more active role in the OT (and perhaps even the PT-pity her scenes were deleted). I wouldn't have minded seeing her in TFA as well. We know from the book Bloodline, she was still around during that time, albeit more or less retired. But her character is so regal, and demanding of attention and respect.

2. Lobot - Not only was his headset thingy (not sure what it's called) a slick piece of tech to introduce in a SW film, with many possible uses, but I feel like he and Lando could've had all kinds of adventures together. Kind of like Lando's right hand man, sort of an assassin/spy type, that is just as competent as Lando but much quieter. I would love to see Lando meeting and befriending him in the upcoming Lando series.

3. Lor San Tekka - It's sad that such a great actor was wasted on a character that was killed off right at the beginning of the ST. Max Von Sydow could've brought some great "street cred" to the ST. Now that I'm well thru the High Republic book Light of the Jedi, I find the whole San Tekka family and their exploration endeavors very interesting. I would love to have learned more about Lor and his contributions to galactic exploration-and HOW THE HECK he ended up on the same planet as Rey?!

4. Master Code Breaker - I actually would've loved to see him in action, rather than the rag-tag "DJ" we did get in TLJ. I imagine him as a sort of suave, James Bond type-which IMO would've been a fun addition to the saga.

 

I've always been fascinated by Mas Amedda. I always wondered how much he knew about Palpatine. Based on this scene, it is apparent that he knew that Palpatine confided in him at least to some degree about his plan to subvert democracy and gain absolute power, but did he know Palpatine was a Sith Lord? I also think the design for the Chagrians is really cool - one of my favourite alien species!

 

Plus she's a fantastic hero to play as in Starfighter Assault for Star Wars: Battlefront II. I really regretted playing the TLJ DLC the weekend before the film released, because I was hyped to see what she'd do in the movie itself. Suffice to say, my favorite ST character was unceremoniously offed way too soon.

 

Films:

Gotta give respect to Captain Antilles...longevity of career is a mark of merit unto itself, let alone the stories in service to the Organas and the rebellion told and yet to be told. He should probably have a service medal named for him.

Non-Film:
Saba Sebatyne

Honestly, Troy Denning's best contribution to Star Wars. A character that was, both at once, very alien, and very relatable. One of the more rounded out Jedi to come out of the NJO, which is major accomplishment considering how late she entered the EU.

By the end of the EU, she was seemly on par with the greatest of the Jedi in terms of respect, gravitas, and trust amongst the order and their allies...ceding only to Luke by his mastery of the force...but only just.

I thought many times that if the EU soldiered on, Luke should leave the order and Saba should become Grand Master.

She needs to be brought back, perhaps in POST-ST material...make her a new mentor for Rey.

 

Oh gosh, there's a lot of characters I could list, but I'll try sticking with the ones off the top of my head.

G0-T0 (Legends): As far as the KOTOR 2 crew goes, I feel like G0-T0's often given the short-end of the stick. It doesn't help that gameplay-wise, he's average in the fields that T3 and HK excel in. But as a character, gosh, going into his backstory really made the character for me. I remember a KOTOR 2 player describing it best as being "part Douglass Adams, part Arthur C. Clarke, and 2 parts Isaac Asimov". I already enjoyed his whole 'cliché mob boss' persona, but I have to praise his 'breaking point' for being so unique compared to most fictional robots. Usually when a droid 'breaks' they go berserk ala IG-88, but G0-T0 retained this ruthless line of logic until the bitter end.

Tam Posla (Canon): While I thought he had a neat design in Rogue One, it's the Aphra comics that really made this character shine. He's like a hammier, more 'heroic' Judge Dredd, and and I love watching him bounce off his more morally ambiguous teammates. While certainly not without his faults, he was one of the more morally just characters in the comic, and I can't begin to describe how refreshing he was. I was really starting to tire of Aphra and 0-0-0's antics around the time.
I also thought his relationship with Caysin Bog was incredibly sweet, sue me.

Greer Sonnel (Canon): Among the canon Star Wars books I first collected, I had put off reading Bloodline till the end. The premise interested me the least, but ironically the book wound up being one of my favorites! I really enjoyed Greer as a character, she just had the spirit and strength of character that made her interactions with Leia and Joph such a treat to read. I was also glad we got to learn more about her homeworld, Pamarthe, it really helped flesh out her character further.

Spoiler

Even though she's suffering from bloodburn, I'm honestly surprised with how little she's been utilized since Bloodline. I wasn't expecting a Cobb Vanth sort of jump to live-action (though I'd certainly love it if it happened), but surely she lasted long enough to at least reach the TFA?

Delta Squad (Legends/Canon): Like Greer, Delta Squad wasn't utilized much beyond their initial appearance (though the Deltas did appear in Traviss' novels, to my understanding?). Just from the Republic Commando game alone they had rather fleshed out personalities that, imo, mesh well with both the Legends and Canon take on the clones. Much as I love the Bad Batch (the squad and the show), I do worry that they may have made Delta Squad 'redundant', at least to more general audiences.

Spoiler

Not going to stop me from hopping they utilize the old concept for Imperial Commando by having Sev be an early rebel, like Rex.

General Grievous (Canon): What can I say, I'm a sucker for droids/cyborgs. With the excellent novel Jedi Lost to finally give Dooku a canon backstory and everything related to Maul, I feel like Grievous is starting to stick out like a sore thumb. He feels underdeveloped in a sense, at least compared to his Legends counterpart. A lot of the canon encyclopedias tend to skit around Grievous' backstory, leaving it uncertain why he holds such a grudge against the Jedi and Republic at large. I really enjoyed his portrayal in his Age of Republic issue and the Kanan comic, and I wished we got to see more of his cunning nature like in 'Heroes on Both Sides'. Having him be this underhanded warrior is a great angle that even adds a layer tragedy if one goes off his Legends backstory and makes him all the more menacing for managing to outwit the Jedi even as a non-Force sensitive (that did wonders for Cad Bane's villain cred!)

 

Personally, I feel like Beru is very underappreciated. She's the only mother figure that Luke has ever known and helped raise him to be a good man. Padme is also underappreciated to some degree in my opinion, or at least overlooked in comparison to the Skywalkers. Like, I want more stories about Luke and Leia learning about their birth mother and her life. That's something I feel should be explored more. Luke always wants to know more about his father, but what about Padme? Just because she isn't a Jedi and doesn't have that Skywalker blood, doesn't mean she's not important. Same with Owen and Beru.

 

My Favorite Underappreciated is Wedge Antilles.

 

THIS!

and also Bala-Tik - that character was wasted.

 

Tooqui from The Approaching Storm. The Sequel to his story in that Book Must be told!