So Spike TV has The Phantom Menace on right now, and i was thinking about how Phantom Menace, while being the worst of the prequels, is also the most similar to the original trilogy (its not a tragedy and lacks the political philosophy themes of II and III, and just seems to incorporate more randomness like the original three, where not everything was essential to the main plot)

Anyway, i was reflecting on why Jar Jar Binks is so hated, when they had very similar characters in the original who were beloved, comic relief sidekicks. I believe i have a solution that could have optimized Binks' appeal while minimizing his cringe-worthiness: Have him speak gibberish. If he had been effectively "mute" like Chewbacca or the Ewoks, his antics might have actually been fun, and at the least been tolerable. He would have been more about physical comedy than his idiotic jokes...

What do you think?

How could Jar Jar Binks have been better?

They should have made him more like Tarpals. Not some comic relief guy, but a badass Gungan who could fight. Not screw stuff up.

Then, he would have been loved.

Remove the voice, or make it really deep/dark

And have him kill a lot of people. I mean, Jar Jar the planet slayer would have been loved.

He was made a general, right? Make him a general for the Gungans in the Clone Wars. And just not have him appear much at all in the first movie. Or just not have him at all. Humor in Star Wars is rarely a good thing.

jar jar is hated?
he was my favorite star wars character

Jar-Jar Binks is an annoying unnecessary character where his only redeeming characteristic is that he prevented Anakin Skywalker from being the most annoying character in the series. He is the perfect symbol of how much poorer the writing in the prequels were from the original trilogy.

I still don't get how Jar Jar was annoying....some people get annoyed too easily!

I LOVED Star Wars Episode 1...it got me into the saga!

How could Jar Jar Binks have been a better character? I have an idea, and it involves Carbon Monoxide poisoning in the first scene.

Also, WTF was the deal with Qui Gon Jin? What a pointless character he was. They should have combined him with Obi Wan Kenobi to form a new character called Obi Wan Kenobi.

Someone once made a good point, that children in a coming of age story should be in their teens. Anakin is too young, he doesn't have the rebelling attitude or teenage angst that, say, John Connor in Terminator 2 had which made his realisation of how the world is so compelling.

If they have no conflicting personal feelings, then the character is just boring and annoying. You could argue that Anakin had the issue with his mother being a slave, but then again his mother is only in a few scenes and so we feel nothing for her.