12 Days of Star Wars | The Prequel Trilogy with Darth Jar Jar
Jar Jar Binks: The symbol of everything we hate about the prequel Star Wars trilogy and the target where we vent most of our frustrations towards. He wasn’t the only thing wrong with the prequel trilogies but he was certainly one of the biggest. For over a decade I could not find one redeeming quality about this character; that is until I read the Darth Jar Jar theory.
To sum this up really quickly (because it does fairly in-depth), the theory is that Jar Jar Binks merely acted like a fool for all of Star Wars Episode One but all of his luck and clumsiness were purposeful actions to influence the discovery of Anakin Skywalker in league with the soon-to-be Emperor Palpatine. Many of his actions have been interpreted as those of a sith lord capable of using the Force.
To read up this theory (and I highly recommend this) go here: http://darthjarjar.com/
While this does seem pretty outlandish, there is one quote from George Lucas that really caught my eye:
“Well, I guess you could say I do regret not following my heart with regard to my original vision for the rest of the prequels. Certain character and certain surprises. But you also have to give the fans what they want and Star Wars fans are certainly very vocal.”
I’m not going to go into whether or not this could be true, I’m just going to assume it is. This then begs the questions: What was that ‘original vision for the rest of the prequels’? I’m going to make some assumptions here based on two things we know for sure about the prequel: We know how it ends (because that’s how the original trilogy started) and we know the prequels were designed to ‘mirror’ the original trilogy (not going to give supporting evidence, it’s out there quite a bit if you want to read up on it).
How The Prequel Needs to End:
- Emperor Palpatine and Vader are the only two Sith left in the galaxy
- Palpatine is Vader’s master
- Obi-wan and Yoda fail and go into hiding
- Vader betrays the jedi and kills most of them
- Anakin is a jedi before he is Vader
Mirror Elements
The Darth Jar Jar theory relies heavily on Jar Jar being the ‘Yoda’ of the prequel. This does not mean he needs to serve every purpose that Yoda did in the original trilogy. We know that Palpatine will still be the spiritual guide toward the dark side just as Yoda was a mentor to Luke, and therefore Jar Jar doesn’t need to fill that role — BUT, we do need someone to play the plot roles that Darth Vader did in Episode 5 and I put forth that Jar Jar would have been playing that role.
Here’s a quick break-down of Episode 5: Our protagonists are split into two groups, one group is betrayed and put into a situation they must be saved, our hero foolishly rushes in too quickly, there’s a big reveal, he gets his hand cut off and evil gets away while our heroes re-group.
Episode 2 has Obi-wan needing to be saved, Anakin rushing in to save him, getting his hand cut off, and evil getting away. There are some similarities, but the whole Count Dooku (and obviously under-developed character who was just thrown in there) throws off the potential for how similar it could be. Let’s replace Dooku with Jar Jar Binks and let these stories mirror themselves a bit more.
Episode 2 Re-Done
Heroes Split Up — This much is already in Episode 2, we have on hero in Anakin being a bodyguard to Padme to facilitate that love story while Obi-Wan goes off to inquire about the hidden clone army.
Betrayal — Just as Lando betrayed Han and friends in Episode 5 it would be Jar Jar who betrays Obi-wan in Episode 2, but at this point we don’t know how evil he is. His hand was forced because Obi-wan discovered the clone army and Jar Jar is revealed as working for the other side.
Friends in Distress — after being captured in un-spectacular fashion we find Obi-wan needing to be rescued and Anakin needs to come to the planet and rescue him from Jar Jar.
Fool Rushes In — Anakin is torn between Padme and his friend Obi-wan, just as Luke was torn between his training and his friends, and foolishly rushes to go save Obi-wan.
The Big Reveal — Just as Episode 5 had a shocking reveal in learning that Darth Vader was Luke’s father, it’s not until the end of Episode 2 that we get the shocking reveal that not only is Jar Jar playing for the other team, but he’s also a sith lord! I assume this comes after Anakin rescues Obi-wan and they both track down Jar Jar thinking he will be easy to capture but then get into a big lightsaber fight
Arm Cut Off — Just as Luke under-estimated Vader, Anakin will under-estimate Jar Jar and get his arm cut off (just like Dooku does) and defeat both of them.
Jar Jar vs. Yoda — We get a supposed big moment at the end of Episode 2 when Yoda takes out his lightsaber for the first time and goes into battle. In the Darth Jar Jar trilogy, this would have been the weirdest CGI fest of Yoda and Jar Jar doing crazy flips while swinging sabers and who knows whatever else.
Episode 3 Re-Done
The Captive — Episode 6 begins with our heroes going off the rescue one of their friends. Taking the place of Han Solo is Chancellor Palpatine. We could not have ended Episode 2 with Palpatine being captured because we wouldn’t feel sad about it. We already know he’s going to be a bad guy and survive this so we have no emotional investment in being worried about his survival like we did with Han. Therefore I think we kill a lot of the opening of half of Episode 3 with Anakin having premonitions of Padme dying, Palpatine hinting that he might have insights on how to save her, and then him being kidnapped by Darth Jar Jar. This gives a lot more weight to Anakin needing to save him to therefore save Padme (instead of that silly Mace Windu scene)
The Rescue — Our friends will find themselves infiltrating the place where Palpatine is being kidnapped, probably in disguise, to go save him.
Jar Jar vs. Anakin Part 2 — The Vader vs. Luke fight of Episode 6 was very much Luke’s ability to control his anger and desire for revenge. It wasn’t so much about ability as it was the desire for hatred and the use of the dark side. Just as Vader egged Luke on by talking about Leia, Jar Jar will egg Anakin on by talking about Padme and her impending death. In this moment Anakin finds the dark side and discovers the power it gives him.
The Moment of Truth — Luke’s victory in Episode 6 is not about winning a lightsaber fight, it’s about being able to control his anger and remain a jedi. His moment of truth comes from when he defeats Vader but decides to throw his lightsaber away instead of seeking revenge. Anakin will very much have this same moment of truth in Episode 3 EXCEPT he makes the other decision. Instead of throwing his lightsaber away we see a moment that ended up happening much earlier in Episode 3 to Count Dooku (the Jar Jar replacement)… he cuts off Jar Jar’s head!
Order 66 — One of the more memorable scenes of the prequel trilogy, Order 66 would still need to happen in the prequel trilogy and we’re running out of space to make this happen. I assume that some of this would have been prefaced earlier. Perhaps Palpatine was revealed as a sith lord before being kidnapped by Jar Jar. The Jedi then would have forbid Anakin from trying to save him (perhaps still thinking he was a minor sith and that Jar Jar was still the real threat). When Anakin disobeys and goes after Jar Jar/Palpatine Obi-wan senses that he is going down the path to the dark side and goes after him to stop him. Obi-wan walks in just in time to see Anakin be-head Jar Jar, sees one more sith remaining (Palpatine) and tries to capture him as well. Anakin stops him because he needs Palpatine. Anakin and Obi-wan get into an epic fight where Obi-wan wins, leaving Palpatine already there to save him and turn him into Vader. While they were fighting, Palpatine has already initiated Order 66, killing most of the jedi, and creating the Galactic Empire.
In this version we would not have had Count Dooku or General Grevious, two fairly disappointing villains, and the emotions between characters could have been carried out for an entire trilogy instead of changing each movie. Obviously I like this version better but some better plot lines alone would not have made the prequels good. We still would have had way too much CGI and entirely too much expositional dialogue from characters sitting around.
What would Darth Jar Jar have been like? Would he still have that stupid voice or would his true nature be more brooding and controlled? Can you seriously look at Jar Jar as an intimidating villain?
Whatever you think the real story was supposed to be, it’s fun to think about the possibilities of Darth Jar Jar.
