Star Wars: The Phantom Menace‘s Jar Jar Binks has a reputation roughly on par with the Ebola virus. The bumbling Gungan is generally considered the worst thing in the prequel trilogy, has faced accusations of being a racist caricature, and for all but the very youngest viewers his slapstick antics just aren’t funny. But, could Jar Jar have been redeemed with one simple alteration?
The character is notorious for his garbled way of talking, with dialogue like “You’d say, “boom de gasa”… den crashded da boss’s heyblibber…”, “Yousa should follow me now, okeeday?” and “Ooh, mooey mooey, I love you!” going down as some of the most embarrassing in cinematic history.
Would he have been better received if he just talked normally? Star Wars fans seem to think so:
There’s even a fan edit of The Phantom Menace that replaces his dialogue with alien sounds and subtitles that apparently makes him a lot more tolerable:
It’s also pointed out that Jar Jar’s annoying accent is just one of many in the movie:
Do we need closure on Bink’s story (canonically he ended his life as a destitute street performer on Naboo)?
The voice is only a part of why he’s so unbearable:
It’s also worth mentioning that Yoda’s dialect is similarly bizarre, though he’s a beloved Star Wars icon. Maybe it’s because he wasn’t doing the stupidest thing possible at every opportunity:
The best response we’ve seen is a simple:
Fixing Jar Jar would necessitate a complete reworking from the ground up. Would a better Jar Jar have saved The Phantom Menace? Probably not entirely, but having recently rewatched it, he’s absolutely the worst part of the movie and every second he’s onscreen is genuinely painful.
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is available to watch on Disney Plus.