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

PT Why did C3-PO, R2-D2 and Chewbacca work for comic relief but not Jar Jar?

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by Logan La Marco, Feb 28, 2016.

  1. Darth Downunder

    Darth Downunder Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2001
    You could be right mikeximus. It just struck me that TPM style Wacky Races announcer, and the mustache twirling and the evil laugh and the sabotage of the opponent's vehicle are all so similar there may be a homage there. Certainly nothing new about any one of those factors but all four together in the opening credits raises eyebrows. If it is a nod that's pretty cool. WR was a fun cartoon!
     
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  2. {Quantum/MIDI}

    {Quantum/MIDI} Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2015

    "Dear Diary, Darth Downunder was pretty cool today"
     
  3. Darth Downunder

    Darth Downunder Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 5, 2001
    How did you read that?? Need to invest in better home security [face_thinking]
     
  4. {Quantum/MIDI}

    {Quantum/MIDI} Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 21, 2015

    What ever do you mean?:p
     
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  5. CoolyFett

    CoolyFett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2003
    Was R2 funny? Only in the scenes with Yoda
    Was C3po funny? Only in the scenes with Han and very corny in AOTC
    Was Chewy funny? Nope, mostly annoying. I hated those noises he makes
    Was Jar Jar funny? Nope, very foolish, but meant a lot to the plot.

    Jar Jar annoyed many OT fans.
    Chewy was annoying way before the PT came out.
     
  6. AndyLGR

    AndyLGR Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 1, 2014
    The humour with jar jar was awful, virtually every scene he was in contained some forced humour moment. None were funny for me. It was unnecessary and undermined what could have been a good film (TPM) with a great sidekick. He was too childish overall. The tone of the humour was something that doesn't fit overall with the OT.
     
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  7. CoolyFett

    CoolyFett Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 3, 2003
    Right Jar Jar actually did things that mattered to the overall Story of the main 6, Chewy did get Han to come back to the Yavin battle. He was just a tag along in 5 and 6. No clue about his role in the new Disney movies. Jar Jar was the peace maker of the Gungans and Naboo, he also helped Palpatine gain emergency powers. So it's a 2-1 win for Jar Jar in my book.
     
  8. CT1138

    CT1138 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2013
    But.... I like Chewie. :(
    No Chewie in 6 means no Ewok alliance, which was part of what allowed the Rebellion to win on Endor.
     
  9. darkspine10

    darkspine10 Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Dec 7, 2014
    Well no, that was C-3PO.

    All Chewie did was drive the Walker. And get the group caught in an Ewok trap.
     
  10. CT1138

    CT1138 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2013
    Yeah, Chewie got them together with the Ewoks.
     
  11. Sith_Smuggler

    Sith_Smuggler Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 9, 2016
    I definitely feel the hatedom for Jar Jar is totally ridiculous, but at the same time, he is annoying - just not to the extent of the hate he is receptive of.

    Anyway: I think the C3P0/R2D2 humor works because they just work so well with each other. They've got this incredibly sarcastic banter going on between them, and their quips are legendary. What makes this even better, is that one member of their party doesn't even need speech to solidify his returns or commentary: his tootles and beeps perfectly emphasize what he's thinking and saying and C3P0 replying to this just perfects their harmony.

    Their humor is that of witty, ironic, clever banter with sharp and funny exchanges that rely on dialect and verbal communication. It's far more sophisticated and well constructed. Their humor relies on the situation at hand, and the exchange born of it is a sarcastic, cleverly put overview of what's happening around. What makes this even better is that C3P0 and R2D2 are robots, inanimate objects who perfectly exaggerate human behavior and worry (especially the former) and funny observances in human mannerisms and shortcomings with spot on timing.

    Jar Jar fails in that retrospect, because he's utterly idiotic to the point of grating on the nerves. He is dull and stupid in his speech, and his voice itself is absolutely annoying. Nothing he says is smart, sharp or witty in any way, shape or form and if he tries to be it falls flat on its face. His humor is based on slapstick which is not only aggravating and embarrassing but also painfully childish and out of place even among the more child-like feel of TPM.

    Very few people or creatures are able to pull off slapstick and physical humor and Jar Jar is not one of those things. Not only that, but he's forcefully comedic and in that forcing of humor, all humor is eliminated from his action. His actions are dumb and he dumbs down the viewer when he preforms said actions. It also doesn't work and fails to have a receptive audience because Jar Jar is a cartoon character with cartoony actions in a non-cartoon setting. His actions totally clash with what's happening around him. He's too obvious and in-your-face.
     
  12. Too-Gon Onbourbon

    Too-Gon Onbourbon Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 23, 2016
    Why is hard to fathom that for some people Laurel and Hardy or even Abbot and Costello might work were Buster or the Stooges don't as well?

    It really isn't all the same thing.

    Now, if you're talking especially Threepio in the Droid factory then no that works almost even more poorly, at least Jar Jar can articulate so can invoke a lil chuckle or a quick grin on occassion. I'm pretty good with Geonosis other than the Droid factory though but Threepio is terrible as well as unfunny. "I'm besides myself" may have worked if it wasn't following what felt like 100 corny gag jokes in a row already.

    Other than "Obi-Wan is going to kill me" (foreshadowing the lava pit in a wink and nod fashion) the whole segment was painful. Jar Jar wouldn't have helped a bit but if he felt he could have used him more then maybe Lucas doesn't feel the need to make that awful sequence.

    Overall, I favor the push back because Jar Jar having a Chewbacca like role would be way, way too much for me. I'm not sure I'd still be able to watch the prequels if he wasn't dialed way back, he just grated on my never too much for what he brings to the table which is nothing for me.
     
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  13. Mandalore The Ultimate

    Mandalore The Ultimate Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Jul 15, 2015
    I don't really remember anything from TFA.
     
  14. Sith-I-5

    Sith-I-5 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Aug 14, 2002
    This is one if those instances where people TELL me things, but I never noticed.

    I have a friend who annoyed me once by insisting I was wrong for ignoring ANH's flaws. I was and still am, blind to any; I think it is a perfect film.

    Similarly, I never detected any comedy relief elements to Artoo, Threepio, or Chewbacca...okay, maybe Chewie's Tarzan call and swing in ROTJ, and boarding the AT-ST.
    All I noticed for comedy relief were Han running after stormtroopers on the Death Star, only to turn tail when they encountered a dead end (I adored the tie-in novel - "-turned and ran like hell."); and Wicket taking himself out with bolas.

    I assume you need to lay it on with a trowel for me to detect comic relief, as although I enjoyed Qui Gon grabbing Jar Jar's tongue, I had no idea that it was intentional comic relief, and frankly took everything else he did, in my stride. I missed him stepping in dung till angry fans started pointing it out.
     
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  15. Samuel Vimes

    Samuel Vimes Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    To the OP,

    My answer, Jar Jar was a more "Funny" character than either of the others. And his role was more focused on comic relief than the others.
    With comedy you talk about "living" or "dying", if a joke doesn't get any laughs, the comedian is "dead".

    To all those that Jar Jar failed to get a laugh from, since he doesn't really do much else, his presence is at best a waste and at worst irritating. If you watch a comedy and don't laugh at one joke, that is fine. But if you watch a comedy and never laugh at all, that is very bad. A failed comedy can be hard to sit trough because aside from the comedy, there might not be much else there.

    With R2 and the rest, they had other roles in the films and even if you didn't laugh at what they did, they did other things. Jar Jar, as I've said, does little beside trying to be funny. And you don't find him funny he doesn't offer much else.
    I think that is why C3PO antics in AotC grated on people. Unlike the OT, C3PO didn't have much of a narrative purpose in AotC. His role was comedy and when that failed, it annoyed people.

    Jar Jar is kind of like Rob Schneider's role as comic relief is some films. Like Judge Dredd.
    He annoyed a lot of people.

    It is like if a film has a character that is made to be an intimidating villain. At every chance the villain talks ro tries to show how scary and evil he is. But if that fails all the time then the character doesn't work as intended and if the character has no other function, then he/she tends to stick out like a sore thumb.

    For myself, I never hated Jar Jar, but I never laughed at any of his antics either and mostly I was a bit annoyed that I couldn't understand what he was saying for the first half of the film. Granted he doesn't say much of extreme plot relevance but the first time I saw the film I kept wanting to rewind the movie to hear what he said.

    Bye for now.
    Old Stoneface
     
  16. Lt. Hija

    Lt. Hija Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 8, 2015
    Sith-I-5 wrote

    I have a friend who annoyed me once by insisting I was wrong for ignoring ANH's flaws.

    What flaws? I constantly hear about these, but usually it turns out that those making such claims either didn't pay enough attention to the film or felt that some things should have been made clearer.
     
  17. Too-Gon Onbourbon

    Too-Gon Onbourbon Jedi Knight star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 23, 2016
    I think the argument mostly is leaning on nothing made by the hands of humans is perfect so I can just abstractly talk about problems and the sort logic that holds all infractions as equal. One mile over or 50 make no difference because it's all speeding, dontchaknow!

    The only real flaw to me is at times the big three can have some dodgy acting in spots.

    There is some questionable dialog I'd grant but I can't grant much because the screenplay was nominated for the Academy Award so it can't be too rough.

    Lucas turned in one of the all time directing performances. The editing even better.

    Cinematography top notch at worst.

    The score magnificent and beyond fitting, truly integrated into the film.

    Special effects? Nothing has ever dwarfed the competition so. Some people ought to do an experiment and only watch movies from before 1977 for a year and then watch Star Wars, you'd get to sift through some great cinema and just get a taste of the almost the feeling of having your eyes opened. Quantum leap forward, take these awards and can we hire your people please?

    Star Wars hasn't been my favorite since 1980 but it is no bones, one of the great accomplishments all around in the history of movies for my money, I think it has legitimate argument to be the greatest of the saga and even of all time. It is good enough overall to be in the group where it is more about preferences and what facet is most important to you in filmmaking than actual quality in my opinion.
     
  18. astronaut23

    astronaut23 Jedi Master star 2

    Registered:
    Jan 9, 2005
    I've never had a problem with Jar Jar. The character does work as comedy for me. I never have understood the hate he gets.

    I laugh every time I have seen the Phantom Menace and he gets his tongue stuck in the pod racers energy beams and it goes numb.
     
  19. Lowly Gungan

    Lowly Gungan Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2022
    I think Jar Jar's comparative plot importance is enough to justify his existence. They needed the Gungan army to divert the Trade Federation's army.

    Chewie… did not strike me as funny really. But he was a decent character, which was enough to justify his existence. I think Jar Jar is typically more likable, however, since he is usually a kinder person (I doubt Jar Jar would ever try to pull an arm out of anyone's sockets for beating him at a game).

    R2… is basically the serious counterpart to make Threepio funnier. I think Threepio was okay, but I much preferred Jar Jar, since I found Jar Jar more heroic and much more useful. When you think about it, other than translating a few things and briefly causing a distraction in the battle at the end of Return of the Jedi, what has Threepio actually done to help anyone?

    I suspect Jar Jar was unpopular just because he was new and not the comic relief people were used to. If you talk to younger fans who grew up with the Prequels rather than the Originals, typically they will like Jar Jar. I prefer Jar Jar because, frankly, he seems to have more depth than the aforementioned others, except possibly Chewie (whom I never considered to be comic relief), but Jar Jar is kinder and more heroic, in my mind, than Chewie.
     
  20. christophero30

    christophero30 Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    May 18, 2017
    Because they were funny. I like Jar Jar I am not a hater. But it you do not find Jar Jar funny he quickly becomes irritating. The first half of TPM is just Jar Jar talking nonstop. I like him better in Ep. 2 and 3.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2022
  21. Lowly Gungan

    Lowly Gungan Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2022
    I think the same could be said to a greater extent for Threepio. Jar Jar at least is typically more useful, I think.
     
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  22. gezvader28

    gezvader28 Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 22, 2003
    JJB just isn't a popular character.
     
  23. Sith Lord 2015

    Sith Lord 2015 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 30, 2015
    So? AOTC's Anakin isn't a "popular" character either. But he delivers, kicks ass when he needs to and is the saga's central figure. Is Greedo popular? Jabba? The Ewoks? I couldn't care less! :rolleyes:
     
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  24. Lowly Gungan

    Lowly Gungan Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Aug 11, 2022
    I think the main thing about Jar Jar is that he was new and different from any comic relief before him. If you ask a crowd of Gen-Z Star Wars fans, chances are you'll find many of them Jar Jar fans.
     
  25. Dandelo

    Dandelo SW and Film Music Interview Host star 10 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Aug 25, 2014
    I don't think it was a personal attack on you dude :p
     
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