And here I thought it was because even Disney recognized what an embarrassing piece of trash it was.

Jar-Jar Binks. That's all that is necessary to remember why.

He was followed by one of the most wooden actors, ever.

I think Lucas was over it when he made the first series, honestly.

What Lucas is good at it he's still good at - special effects, world building, and the general plot. If he had taken the plot and design elements for the prequels and given them to someone who could bash it into a reasonable shape (and rework the problematic elements of Jar Jar Binks/the Trade Federation) - they might be well remembered today. Instead of being generally crummy movies with a few good sequences.

Bryant

but movies would not be what they are today without him. Advances in projection, sound and special effects all go back to Lucasfilm and Skywalker Sound. Not to mention he created Pixar....

Jar-Jar gets so much flak, but C3PO doesn't. They are both really annoying, but some how C3PO gets a slide on episodes IV, V, VI

Short version: because Jar Jar was a foregrounded attempt at dumbed-down, lowest-common-denominator idiot "humor" in a way that C-3PO simply was not, at least not in the original trilogy. That, plus the nauseating racist tone of the character and the fact that he was hard-marketed as a merchandising tactic serves to further compromise the value of the character.

Further, he is the single most obvious embodiment of Lucas' ongoing theme of "innocent stupidity and clumsy luck are superior to skill and experience." Witness him taking out a bunch of battle droids and at least one AAT all by himself, by virtue of his stupidity. Anakin is similarly guilty in this regard, but his involvement is ttivial compared to Jar Jar's. Even the deplorable Ewoks are better, because they're established as a self-sufficient indigenous species rather than a single idiot saving Naboo.

That's it in a nutshell. A terrible character terribly conceived and terribly executed. His removal alone would improve Episode I by about 90%.

To me Jar Jar is just following the formula of C3PO and the Ewoks... they are the same (as you say) embodiment of "innocent stupidity and clumsy luck". Thats why I think anyone complaining about Jar Jar needs to equally complain about C3PO, and Ewoks too now that I think about it.

Just my opinion on it. To each their own I suppose

When the ewoks were new don't realize that people who were kids when jar jar was new aren't bugged by him.

Hated the Ewoks from their first moment on the screen and hated everything that happened as a result of them, including (especially?) Chewbacca's "Tarzan" yell.

I simply don't believe that children loved Jar Jar in the way that I (and every kid I knew) hated the Ewoks.

Honestly, THIS ARTICLE says it all.

what I am trying to say is that people from my generation forget that the movies were for kids when we first saw them.

Here's a tip for George if he ever decides to inflict his genius upon us again: you don't need comic relief in a scene that has no dramatic tension. So in the zero-stakes, low-intensity scene leading up to the interminable and repetitive pod race, Jar Jar steps in shit for no better reason than because Georgie wanted to pay $115M to have a CGI character to step in (presumably) virtual shit.

In the past 15 years I've seen a lot of arguments favorably comparing Jar Jar to C-3PO and the Ewoks, and every single one of them hinges on the dubious claim that the movies are for kids and that kids are dim enough to enjoy any crap that can be thrown on a screen.

Simply put, kids aren't stupid. I know that you know this, but Georgie sure doesn't seem to get it.

My now 10-year-old son loves eps 1-3 a lot more than me so I just shrug. He was never a jar jar fan though. He was always an Anakin and Boba fan though. I'll tell you this, Daniel Logan is 1,000 times better meeting kids that Jake Loyd is, fwtw.

It is much better. I will disagree about the "theme" though. What did Jar Jar do with his stupidity in Ep 2? He brought up the vote that gave Palpatine unlimited power.. In essence Jar Jar created the Empire. And Luke in his "innocent stupidity and clumsy luck" almost got himself killed. It wasn't until he was trained (skill/experience) that he was able to face Vader.

Regarding that part from Ep 2.... (skip to 1:23)

Thanks man!

Threepio, in the original movies, is awesome. He is fussy, yet endearing. He's NOTHING that that ridiculous Binks.

Grrrr!!!!!!

What with all the credible threats and stuff!

[IMG][/IMG]

Have we forgotten the lessons learned when the countries of Freedonia and Sylvania joined forces in the 1930s and attacked America because of the Marx Brothers?

TlalocW

Excellent reference, by the way. Much better than my OP.

Freedonia
Sylvania

Paula Poundstone

As with others like that, he wouldn't let his team do their jobs, and second-guessed every freaking thing.

I read somewhere that he even had the audacity to make edits to the first three films AFTER they had been released, though I can't say I know firsthand that this is so, but I believe it.

Han shot ONLY.

Once you buy into that "shot first" propaganda, you've already surrendered the discussion!

I would've backed down too.

Michael Bay movies and no more Transformers."

- Michael Moore on Twitter

https://twitter.com/MMFlint/status/545341254629093376

Although I used to consider it the worst film in history, I'm no longer sure that it even rates among Lucas' worst three!