MovieChat Forums > Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) Discussion > Seriusly, Is Jar Jar Binks Supposed To B...

Seriusly, Is Jar Jar Binks Supposed To Be Mentally Challeneged?

posted 8 years ago by Kings_Rule
11 replies | jump to latest

I watched this film yesterday for the first time in about 5 years. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Star Wars, but whilst I was watching this film I couldn't stop laughing at how "retarded" Jar Jar was. It was just so over the top!

When you consider that Jar Jar was a major player in Palpatine eventually ascending to power it does make a person wonder whether Jar Jar was "in on it" - voluntarily or by way of being manipulated by the Sith - or he just happened to be one of the stupidest creatures ever elected to office in the galaxy?

In terms of how "good" Phantom Menace is, I still love it because it is Star Wars, but I truly realise how massively flawed it is.

KR

[–] death-lord 8 years ago

when one looks at new hope you begin to realize just how little lucas was involved with star wars to begin with

"Dialogue has never been my strong point, and so I talked to Willard and Gloria and asked them to do a quick dialogue polish. I gave them the fourth draft of the script, and they just improved the dialogue where they felt they could make a contribution. Then I took their changes, and sometimes I rewrote some of their lines. Some of their dialogue of course changed again when we started shooting. Some of it survived; some of it didn’t. They did about thirty percent of the dialogue"

mark hamill praised harrison ford for his "improvisation" that set "a unique voice for the character"

it is no coincidence that r2-d2 was eerily similar to jar jar...in that in the original draft he is useless to the plot

[–] broforcesquad 8 years ago

This is a GREAT point. Don't get me wrong, I worship at the altar of George Lucas, without whom none of this would be possible, but as an on set creative mind I think the prequels and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull really exposed some of his flaws from page to screen.

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[–] InternationaleClique 8 years ago

Lucas' flaws towers over others successes. I'll take his artistic purity over polished, greedy blockbusters any day.

[–] death-lord 8 years ago

really...his flaws undermine his successes if anything

new hope was a great movie undermined by a lot of the things that plagued george lucas's prequels but was migigated by the lights of gary kutz and the actors

[–] InternationaleClique 8 years ago

The man is responsible for creating one of the most successful and popular movie franchises in the world. Ten years after the supposedly "terrible prequels" he sold the property for billions, which turned out to be a steal when the first movie they made, a sixth sequel, broke box office records despite being woefully average in content.

That's the strength of his successes.

[–] otter 8 years ago

There's a fan theory floating around, that Jar-Jar was supposed to reveal himself as a Sith in the second or third film. Look up videos, there are all sorts of little oddities and clues about Jar-Jar having hidden powers, and fooling the Jedi because they didn't take him seriously.

Personally, I don't think it would have worked, because Jar-Jar would be just as annoying if he turned evil, but it does put a new spin on his bringing Palpatine to power.

“Seventy-seven courses and a regicide, never a wedding like it!

[–] Kings_Rule 8 years ago

Is this the video you were talking about? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOf3hhsjtOg

KR

[–] yusef-ghanima 8 years ago

clumsy is the politically correct term.

[–] InternationaleClique 8 years ago

Jar Jar is the Forrest Gump of the movie. Dumb as bricks, but ultimately a hero with a good heart.

[–] death-lord 8 years ago

forrest gump is a classic character who has a good heart and is ultimately enduring...jar jar isnt enduring, his story completely sucks

[–] LostKiera 8 years ago

Jar-Jar isn't so much stupid as he's clumsy, cowardly and impulsive. He can sometimes be smart. When it was looking hopeless, JarJar mentioned the Gungan army and he discounted Panaka's idea that they had been wiped out and indeed found where they were hiding.