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'I've done my damage' Ahmed Best on playing Jar Jar Binks

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Star Wars has always been a kid movies, why they thought otherwise is beyond me.

Star Wars fans are weird.

A kids movie about trade disputes, limb dismemberments and a weird rabbit stepping in shit.

The tone of TPM is all over the place, which is the problem.
 
The failure of Jar Jar is more on the writing and the direction than it is on Best. It's a shame that he feels responsible for it all, since the behind-the-scenes stuff shows he did his best to make as much potable lemonade as he could out of the rotten lemon they gave him.

I think that goes for most of the actors, too.
 
Dismissing the cheap fart and stepping in poo jokes critics because it was aimed at children is so wrong.

Monsters Inc, Cars etc was aimed at children, yet, the jokes were cool and I loved those movies, even if I've seen them when I was past 30 years old.
 
the insistence that people didn't like jar jar because he was for kids is a hilarious side-step.

people didn't like jar jar because he made a bad movie worse. he made no sense at all and stuck out like a sore thumb.
 
Jar Jar is terrible. Even as a character that is meant to pander completely to children he is terrible. Why? Because he panders SO hard that he is out of place. Everything around him is sterile and stiff and stoic and then HERE COMES JAR JAR! HYUCK! HYUCK! Look at him tripping every five seconds! Listen to how goofy he speaks! Lololol he slipped in some poop! Meanwhile back in the political drama with characters trying to speak badly written Shakespeare....All that stuff only made an already terrible version of an archetype stand out even more as a sore spot.

There were ways to create a character like Jar Jar successfully in that framework. Lucas just failed hard on this one and excusing it as "Well he's for kids!" isn't a valid excuse. When your character is still the most insufferable thing in a cartoon that's even more directed at kids, you have gone too far.
 
Best has a point. Jar Jar is the precursor to CGI characters like Gollum and King Kong and the Navi and the Hulk. He's pretty much the first instance of an motion captured actor playing a CG character.
 
It's a TV show.

Why not?

http://deadline.com/2015/12/2-black-dudes-comedy-j-lee-seth-macfarlane-fox-1201666611/



Also the writer of the show isn't Seth. He's just producing it. This is the writer:

j-lee.jpg


Dude has an awesome story:

That actually sounds kind of entertaining. Might give it a shot.
 
I didn't mind Jar Jar, he had good comic relief and had a lot of personality then the actual main characters. Plus, if you consider Jar jar as a list of problems with the prequels, he should be considered at the bottom, because there are more problems with those movies than Jar Jar... Such as midichlorians
 
Poor guy. Poor almost everyone involved with the prequels, especially episode one. They all mustve thought it was going to be great, being as you literally would have no way of knowing because you're on a green screen the whole time.

Fun tidbit is Ahmed didn't always say he wasn't interested in reprising his role: https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/236oks/iama_ahmed_best_actorwriterdirector_best_known/cgtxu89

Maybe it was after he saw ep 7 he realized just how out of place the character is in this current iteration of the universe.
 
As the years go on, I'm starting to become a Jar Jar Binks fan. Yeah, maybe in an ironic way... But it's starting to get genuine. The movies would have still sucked without Jar Jar. He's just a scapegoat for all the other awful shit in those movies.
 
Best has a point. Jar Jar is the precursor to CGI characters like Gollum and King Kong and the Navi and the Hulk.

You can't take that from the character, it's very true. But it doesn't make me appreciate Jar Jar more.

I didn't mind Jar Jar, he had good comic relief and had a lot of personality then the actual main characters. Plus, if you consider Jar jar as a list of problems with the prequels, he should be considered at the bottom, because there are more problems with those movies than Jar Jar... Such as midichlorians

Midichlorians never bothered me like it seems to with a lot of fans. Guess George watched DBZ or something and wanted power levels in his shit. Jar Jar actively ruins my enjoyment(?) of Phantom Menace. I couldn't stand a single scene with him in it when I re-watched the film over the holidays.
 
Well, even if you erase jar jar from TPM it's still an awful movie.

Being aimed at children is no excuse. Pixar's movies are aimed at children but an adult can watch them without feeling insulted.
 
Well, even if you erase jar jar from TPM it's still an awful movie.

Being aimed at children is no excuse. Pixar's movies are aimed at children but an adult can watch them without feeling insulted.

Seriously, what even prompted them to add this character "exclusively for children?" The OT appealed to children just fine without the need for some goofy amphibian electrocuting himself.
 
Well, even if you erase jar jar from TPM it's still an awful movie.

Being aimed at children is no excuse. Pixar's movies are aimed at children but an adult can watch them without feeling insulted.

Honestly the "but it's aimed at children" excuse is just a way to deflect the awfulness of the PT.

Star Wars is a series for everyone, just as the Marvel universe is. They can appeal to children and adults just fine without putting juvenile shit like Jar Jar in it.
 
the insistence that people didn't like jar jar because he was for kids is a hilarious side-step.

people didn't like jar jar because he made a bad movie worse. he made no sense at all and stuck out like a sore thumb.
Yeah, Jar Jar is only one aspect of everything that is wrong about that movie, but he's one of the most visible ones. If people hated him only because he was designed as an approachable comic relief for kids, we'd be seeing a ton of backlash around BB8, which isn't happening at all.

Still, I have zero beef with Best. If anything, I feel sorry for the guy.
 
for fuck sake this is not needed.

Wow. Really?

And the ONLY person responsible for the hate of those films is Lucas. Best was doing his. . .well Best.

Michael Jackson spent a large portion of his career trying to appeal to children and do things that he thought kids would think were cool.

regardless on how you fall as to whether the allegations towards him are true or not, what i just stated is fact.
 
Jar Jar always makes me think of Poochie, when the studio exec says "ok let's Rastafy him by 25%...perfect". Terrible character, but it wasn't the actor's fault.
 
Having grown up with the Prequels and the OT (I'm almost now 22), I like them all equally so Jar Jar was never a particularly problematic thing for me.

Rewatching them now he's clearly juvenile and meant for the kiddies, and I'm glad his role is substantially reduced in 2 and 3 to give way to the darker story, but I still have the occasional chuckle at some of his antics.

It's sad to me that there are Star Wars fans out there that can't enjoy the Prequels, it feels great to be able to watch all (now 7) the movies in order and enjoy them all the same.
 
I actually liked Jar Jar.

I was 9 when TPM released

Literally what I came in here to say. As a nine year old, I thought Jar Jar was great.

Personally, I always had ways more problems with Ruby Rhod in The Fifth Element.

Yeah, at some point it just became waaay funnier than Family Guy. I enjoy the show whenever I watch it.

Was that point almost immediately? American Dad is fantastic. I get the impression that the people in here criticising it are just blowing it off on account of it being connected to MacFarlene, despite the fact that he's barely involved outside of the voice acting aspect.
 
This isn't on Ahmed Best. If you watch the "making of" on the Blu-Ray, you can tell he really cared about the character. Made sure the walk, mannerisms, etc. matched what Lucas was after.

Its a shame that him and Lloyd were blasted so hard by the fanbase. This wasn't on them.
 
Was that point almost immediately? American Dad is fantastic. I get the impression that the people in here criticising it are just blowing it off on account of it being connected to MacFarlene, despite the fact that he's barely involved outside of the voice acting aspect.

No, it took a season or two for me. Then it became far and away the superior show.
 
It's sad to me that there are Star Wars fans out there that can't enjoy the Prequels, it feels great to be able to watch all (now 7) the movies in order and enjoy them all the same.

I try to enjoy the prequels. There are just so many deal breakers in there I can't look past, the biggest one being that I actively dislike most of the characters involved due to poor acting and dialogue.

The one thing that makes the OT truly timeless isn't the effects or the story, it's just fun as hell watching those characters. They look like they are having a good time and you want to see what happens to them next. I think that's why Episode 7 resonated so well despite being so close to ANH in terms of plot. The characters are just pure fun to watch on screen.

IMO PT completely lacks this. The characters are very wooden and awkward. Most of the time I can't wait until they are offscreen and Lucas just gets back to the crazy effects and world building.
 
As a ten year old watching my first Star Wars movie in the theater, Jar Jar made me laugh. Even now I think Jar Jar has all the best lines in TPM. He's the one pointing out all the absurdities and injecting some light into what's ostensibly a pretty serious story.
 
A Star Wars that takes itself seriously is boring. It takes place in SPACE, why should every character be the same?

Your first statement is true and I agree!

However, there is "not taking yourself too seriously" and then there's crossing the line into slapstick that doesn't fit with the originals. That's the entire problem with the prequels, they don't fit. They feel forced and wrong. Jar Jar is Poochie.
 
I like Jar Jar.

A Star Wars that takes itself seriously is boring. It takes place in SPACE, why should every character be the same?

Ironically the only set of SW movies that takes themselves too seriously is the PT. The OT and TFA are filled with good quality humor throughout while the PT makes hard swings from slapstick shit jokes to politics, severed limbs, child killing, implied rape and super serious dialogue. Outside of Jar Jar, C3PO and the droid army, most of the PT is very sterile and humorless.
 
Remember in ESB when Luke meets Yoda and he's pretending to be some crazy old kook, eating Luke's food and fiddling with all his instruments, just annoying the hell out of him? It's like a metaphor for the audience's reaction to Jar Jar, it's like poetry.

Obviously in 1980 George knew nobody could tolerate a character who was actually like that, but something happened to his brain in the 20 years afterwards.
 
errr American Dad is pretty damn good IMO. It's certainly not bad at the very least.

Yeah AD is a fantastic show and one of the best animated comedies on TV.
I know GAF has this unhealthy hatred for Seth MacFarlane, but people don't seem to understand McFarlane isn't involved at all with American Dad beyond voice acting (and also hasn't been involved with Family Guy beyond voice acting for many, many years now, so hating MacFarlane because of current Family Guy is just like hating Matt Groening because of current Simpsons) but GAF will be GAF. You are allowed to enjoy good TV (American Dad) while still maintaining your "I hate MacFarlane" cred.
The only things MacFarlane writes these days are his movies.
 
Jar Jar was a racist stereotype, and as much work Ahmed put in the character, he really shouldn't have taken that role. Or at least asked to have it modified. Even to Clone Wars levels.

Just plain cringe inducing.

I hope for good things for Best, but I can't say I'm surprised he got that nasty backlash. Hell, he probably should have taken that into account.

But ultimately, it was Lucas' fault. Who should have known better. Kids movie is not an excuse.
 
I have never met a black person that liked Jar Jar.

It's like George met a Rastafarian the day before writing TPM script and liked the idea for an alien in Star Wars. I really can't unsee it anymore, it's a mild slap in the face. I won't lie though, I loved that motherfucker when I saw the movie as a kid.

Can we also talk about how the aliens working with the federation were clearly based off Asian people?

databank_tradefederation_01_169_4d5122ac.jpeg


Jesus, Lucas you fuck.
 
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