The Redemption of Jar Jar Binks

[Havok]

Now that there are new movies coming out on a consistent basis, will there be a place for Jar Jar and is there a director with enough balls to do it?

Personally, I like Jar Jar and think he got shafted by the same idiots that love Boba "I got killed by a blind guy with a stick" Fett, and he was the one character with the potential for an interesting and compelling story arc that we didn't know anything about in the prequels.

As far as Disney goes, Jar Jar is a kid friendly character a la Goofy that I think they would want to utilize.

What say you?

[Gandalf]

If handled well, an older Jar Jar could be interesting. Imagine being the guy who moved to have the Chancellor start his road to Emperor? How many lives are on Binks' conscience?

I don't think it's the direction they'd go, but he could have a neat scene or two as someone trying to rebuild the Republic or whatever they're doing.

[Galvatron]

Nope. I think George mandated his inclusion in TCW for the very reason you're suggesting, but I doubt Disney has any affection for the character at all.

[Grumman]

Out of a galaxy of trillions, why go out of your way to include the one creature that people want to see the least? It would be like JJ Abrams announcing that the Pakleds will feature in Star Trek 3.

[Prometheus Unbound]

yeah look, whatever potential Jar Jar had, he doesn't any more. He's toxic to the brand. If they turned around and said he'd play a major ish part in a film, I'd just not watch it. Not out of spite, but I hate that character.

It's like if someone said a film was coming out with Jaden Smith in it. I don't care if it's the best movie ever, I wont watch it because every time he's on screen I'll be grating my teeth.

[Nephtys]

Jar Jar was just done... awfully.

If the idea was to make him some alien bumpkin who gets swept along a space adventure way over his head? Cool, that's a fine idea. But it was just executed abysmally. Instead of just being a fish out of water, he was an idiotic, bumbling, vaguely racist, annoying, and plain unrelatable character who also served zero plot purpose except for helping the jedi rent a car.

His later use was a lot better. Being a nobody in the background, who does nothing except be one of Padme's groupies and incidentally leading to voting in an evil wizard as leader of the republic.

[biostem]

Jar Jar would have worked if they wrote him as a sensible, well-meaning character who had some quirks as a secondary trait, not as comic relief that felt shoehorned into the movie. Focus less on the bumbling idiocy and more on his naivete and awkwardness.

Regardless, given that the Gungans were portrayed as isolationist and practically xenophobic, I don't really see them taking part in a post-empire galaxy. Still, I wouldn't be against, perhaps, someone trying to trace Luke or Leia's lineage, only to eventually arrive an Naboo, and seeing that the Noobians and Gungans have become somewhat integrated...

[The Romulan Republic]

Given how reviled Jar Jar is and how heavily the new film is drawing on the OT, I highly doubt their will be so much as a hint of a Gungan.

[Adam Reynolds]

Wasn't there a rumor that Abrams hid Jar Jar's skeleton as an easter egg? Pretty sure that's not what you meant as another crack at him.

[Batman]

If it's a skeleton how the hell would you be able to tell it's his? It's Not like Gungans built essentially like him were in short supply.

[Adam Reynolds]

If it's a skeleton how the hell would you be able to tell it's his? It's Not like Gungans built essentially like him were in short supply.

The idea would be that a Gungan skeleton would be assumed to be Jar Jar.

[Sidewinder]

Starting life as tadpoles, Gungans developed into tall beings with extremely flexible cartilaginous skeletons.

Comparing a Gungan to other creatures with cartilaginous skeletons, the closest would be sharks. That means, barring technology to magically fossilize a dead Gungan's skeleton, a Gungan's teeth will be the only part of him that can be preserved in a meaningful way.

[Gandalf]

Given that they can put people in carbonite with relative ease, preserving a cartilaginous skeleton shouldn't be too much of a stretch.

[ray245]

No, Star Wars is practically in the hands of people that wished they could dissociate themselves with the prequels entirely.

[Adam Reynolds]

Gandalf's and Sidewinder's posts above are exactly why I love SD.net. Only this site would try and figure out whether it was physically possible to make a skeleton of Jar Jar. Carbonite is an amusing explanation but it seems rather odd to use that on a skeleton.

Thinking about the cartilage issue, it would explain something odd from TPM with Gungans. Despite the fact that they are able to leap several times their own height and absorb hits from personal shields that would likely injure a human, standard battle droids are able to wrestle with them without the Gungans able to gain the upper hand easily. Their unusual skeletons would explain why they seem to be weaker in certain contexts due to a potential concern about injury or possibly an actual injury.

[Sidewinder]

Gandalf's and Sidewinder's posts above are exactly why I love SD.net. Only this site would try and figure out whether it was physically possible to make a skeleton of Jar Jar. Carbonite is an amusing explanation but it seems rather odd to use that on a skeleton.

Thinking about the cartilage issue, it would explain something odd from TPM with Gungans. Despite the fact that they are able to leap several times their own height and absorb hits from personal shields that would likely injure a human, standard battle droids are able to wrestle with them without the Gungans able to gain the upper hand easily. Their unusual skeletons would explain why they seem to be weaker in certain contexts due to a potential concern about injury or possibly an actual injury.

I think a better comparison would be to think of a bone skeleton as a wooden baseball bat, and a Gungan's cartilaginous skeleton to a rubber bat. The rubber bat is obviously more damage resistant, because it will bend instead of breaking when stress is applied; however, this also means it cannot be used as an effective weapon, as it will bend upon impact with a target, and the act of bending will absorb energy that would otherwise be applied to the target to damage it.

[Prometheus Unbound]

Which makes sense - they'd want bodies that are flexible to swim and they seem to have long tongues for darting after food.

[Knife]

Meh, it could be interesting if handled right, but the movies should not be weighted down with to many cameo's and forced links to previous plot lines. Isn't this movie supposed to be 30 years post ROTJ? That makes it around 50 post TPM? A very old Gungan lamenting his youth and stupidity could be interesting but much more would not. Making him some sort of sacrifice would appease some the PT haters but don't see how it would benefit much of anything else that more 'main' characters like Luke or Han could not fulfill.

[The Romulan Republic]

I feel like if they want to redeem Jar Jar, the place to do it is Rebels.

Jar Jar is an inherently cartoonish character, and he's already appeared in The Clone Wars. His presence wouldn't weigh down the movies.

And having him realize that his blunder let Palpatine take power, and trying to atone for that by helping the early Rebellion (maybe dying in the process), could work pretty well.

[Zixinus]

Jar Jar is the fool. Fools are incredibly straightforwardly honest and emotionally pure but always cursed by dramatically-appropriate clumsiness and silliness. The problem was that Jar Jar was played for the latter rather than the former. His antics were meant to give humor in an otherwise grim situation. None of the characters laughed however, so why would the audience?

[Knife]

I feel like if they want to redeem Jar Jar, the place to do it is Rebels.

Jar Jar is an inherently cartoonish character, and he's already appeared in The Clone Wars. His presence wouldn't weigh down the movies.

And having him realize that his blunder let Palpatine take power, and trying to atone for that by helping the early Rebellion (maybe dying in the process), could work pretty well.

Ok, I can get behind that. Good idea really.

[Lord Pounder]

If I recall correctly there was a gangly stupid looking Gungan frozen in carbonite in Force Unleashed game, on Kashyyk I believe.

[Prometheus Unbound]

Jar Jar is the fool. Fools are incredibly straightforwardly honest and emotionally pure but always cursed by dramatically-appropriate clumsiness and silliness. The problem was that Jar Jar was played for the latter rather than the former. His antics were meant to give humor in an otherwise grim situation. None of the characters laughed however, so why would the audience?

They didn't just not laugh, Obi-wan was openly showing contempt and Quigon showed visible irritability when interacting with him.

[Executor32]

Look at the bright side: without Jar Jar Binks, no one would have created George R. Binks, and we'd be living in a dark, dismal world indeed.

[Prometheus Unbound]

Good God.