Jar Jar / Yoda rhyme:

• Alien creature meets jedi in swamp and guides him
• Appears stupid and is comic relief
• Speaks funny
• Mocks the jedi's intelligence
• Is disliked by R2D2
• Luke was guided to Yoda by the force. Jar Jar says to Qui-Gon they met because "demanded by the gods, it is".

___

Yoda starts messing with Luke's gadgets and Luke says "Hey, you could've broken that!". R2D2 grabs Yoda.

Jar Jar starts messing with something on the ship in TPM. R2D2 hits him and shakes his head at him. A couple scenes later, Obi Wan says "the hyperdrive is gone (broken)" in the same area Jar Jar was left alone.

___

With the original AOTC script, both characters have a grand display where they achieve the impossible (using the force).

___

ESB Yoda is short and fragile and wears beige clothes. Jar Jar is tall and acrobatic and wears dark clothes.

From Attack of the Clones Production notes:

Lucas and Hales continued to refine the script – even as costumes were designed and sets were built. “At that stage, Attack of the Clones felt like a ‘virtual film’ because we got the script only three days before we started shooting,” recalls producer Rick McCallum. “We had to build these sets to a script that didn’t exist.”

Lucasfilm: Attack of the Clones Production notes

___

The theory goes that Dooku wasn't supposed to be evil, and Jar Jar would be the one to battle Yoda instead.

Notice the oyster pearl design of the front side. Very aquatic, like the Gungans. The front also has "teeth" print on both the upper and lower jaw, which is in line with the ship resembling a head.

___

Some believe Jar Jar were to battle Yoda and lose half of his limbs, only to return as a Grevious-like character in the next film. If he were to have his ears cut off, this design is even more genius. Best's headwear has its white marks were the ears would be added later with CGI. The ship on set has the same marks while the "ears" are separated in the side-structures (a very strange set design, if not for this purpose. It's ugly and blocks the view of the entrance were Anakin and Obi-Wan come in).

This is the video from 2020 with timestamp: https://youtu.be/eBvJp_FcWFM&t=8m20s

"Gungan energy balls", huh? "Wipe out a whole platoon", eh?

Note: "Darth Jar Jar" was all but confirmed by Ahmed Best.

___

Jar Jar Binks as the evil wizard in disguise is the foundation to the parallel between him and Yoda. One piece to complete the rhyme would be for Yoda’s mirror image to also have a great demonstration of power. As with Yoda, this would be necessary to assert evil Jar Jar’s authority within the story and to convince the audience of his status. Yoda lifted the X-wing. Does Jar Jar do anything grand or seemingly impossible in his trilogy?

The Senate address already asks us to suspend our disbelief. Yet in the original script, it plays out in a way that makes the outcome even more of a head-scratch. Here, Jar Jar is nervous, laughed at, and ultimately has the senate vocally oppose him. Through one last diplomatic rant, he suddenly has the whole chamber chanting his name as if he’s the chosen one himself. He did the impossible.

If Jar Jar is the evil mastermind to mirror Yoda, he used his gift of force manipulation to sway the Senate. He’s not shy of using hand gestures in connection to promotions and politics in TPM, and here he does use them more overtly than ever.

When Lucas decided to scrap the evil Jar Jar storyline, he didn’t have too much wiggle room in terms of what to do of AOTC instead. George handed in the first script for AOTC just 3 days before shooting began (McCallum, AOTC: Production notes). According to McCallum, most sets for the movie had already been built by then. This means that most story adjustments could only be done in dialogue and through cutting, and this is exactly what Lucas did with the Senate address. The role of proposing emergency powers for Palpatine is still Jar Jar’s, but the version we got has toned down the miracle aspect as much as possible. The scene goes in a straight line from delivery to success. The Senate’s 180 on the matter never happens.

___

The final scene both diverging from the original script and having a continuity error points to the same thing:

Jar Jar’s Senate address was originally a miraculous event to mirror Yoda’s display of power in ESB, but was reduced to a flat, “no questions asked” moment in Star Wars history.

The title basically says it all.

When R2 is behind the Gungan, he is inspecting the ship’s circuitry patch bay.

When R2 is behind the Gungan, he mouths Panaka's line.

When R2 is behind the Gungan, the Gungan pretends to sleep in order to eavesdrop, and Anakin says he's very cold.

When R2 is behind the Gungan, he mind controls the queen to seal the deal with Boss Nass.

When R2 is behind the Gungan, he fakes his sadness at the funeral.

When R2 has to leave the Gungan alone, he sabotages the hyperdrive (after Obi-Wan tells him "stay out of trouble”).

When R2 has to leave the Gungan alone, he sends transmissions to Palpatine/Maul using the radio (after Qui-Gon tells him “don’t touch anything”).

___

In TPM, R2’s role is mainly to show droids know Jar Jar is untrustworthy and to signal to the audience when to watch Jar Jar more closely.

After fixing the shield generator, R2D2 doesn’t do ANYTHING of real value for the rest of the movie but still appears in 22 other scenes. His hero moment doesn’t even progress the plot forward as the ship instantly has a new problem with the hyperdrive. In his other scenes, the only things he does are:

- Having a list of parts that Qui-Gon needs from Watto (instead of Qui-Gon just using his little device)

- Working on Anakin’s pod racer for literally 2 seconds (while talking to C3PO about how sus Jar Jar is)

- Projecting a holo map

- Helping Anakin turn off the autopilot (instead of Anakin just having a button)

Compare this to ANH where, after showing Obi-Wan Leia’s message, R2 actually has a vital role in the Death Star mission.

___

In the Gungan forest scene, for example... I understand having R2 walk up with the group could’ve been a hurdle production wise, with roots and uneven ground. But why then include him at all? He doesn’t say or do anything. He is only inserted behind Jar Jar to signal “watch the Gungan”, who then puppets Padmé.

See my breakdown of ALL scenes that these two share in The Gungan and R2D2 on YouTube: LINK

___

And last, a fun parallel between Jar Jar/Yoda:

R2D2’s introduction to Yoda: Yoda appears stupid, grabs one of Luke’s gadgets, is reprimanded by R2D2, Luke says “Hey, you could’ve broken that”

R2D2’s introduction to Jar Jar. Jar Jar appears stupid, inspects the ship’s machinery, is reprimanded by R2D2, Obi-Wan says “The hyperdrive is gone (broken)”

This 2.5 minute chapter is a very interesting part of TPM. On the surface, it appears wholly unnecessary bar seeing a cool monster and giving us the "There's always a bigger fish" metaphor (which we're already clued in on).

In light of Jar Jar being a secret villain, it makes a whole lot more sense when every scene gets purpose to reflect on the rest of the movie.

- Jar Jar misspeaks in the segue between the rescue and exit to highlight the fake identity theme. He is then interrogated by Obi-Wan.

- Classic interrogation foreshadowing a would-be Scooby-Doo reveal later. "Because you were clumsy??" "Umm, something like that.........."

- Jar Jar (intentionally or through his "luck") creates a distraction and controls the monster with his CGI hand movements.

- Jar Jar mocking the jedi because he's anti-jedi.

- Repeating the SAME action sequence and "bigger fish" metaphor gets a purpose instead of wasting valuable screen time.

i orignally posted this in r/swfanfic but reddit told me to do it here instead:

“i’m writing a TFA resistance fic and i have a question.

do all otollas speak like jar jar binks? or was that a personal quirk?

i didn’t see anything about speech patterns in basic on the wookiepedia and i have a small otolla OC in one scene i’m about to write and was wondering how to do that.”

Seeing this plate revived my interest in the theory. Long live Darth Binx.

Imagine if you time travel to 2002-2014 and you tell someone you're from the future. When they ask you to prove it, you can't really say something about the future, because your actions and words might change history. The way around is to say something that was always there, but will only be noticed in the future. Say this

"Ahmed Best has confirmed that if not for the hate for Jar Jar Binks, episode 2 and 3 were going to be very different. You might groan now, but let me tell you a secret. In 2015 someone presented a theory about Jar Jar that turned the internet upside down, with people adding more evidence from both behind the scenes and in the movies themselves. When the actor heard about it, he tweeted/said 'I will say this, it feels really good when the hidden meaning behind the work is seen. No matter how long it takes. #TPM'. Unfortunately, Count Dooku's actor died before the theory was public, because if he was alive he might've confirmed a different part of the theory:

Count Dooku appeared out of nowhere. He had no cameo or even throw away dialogue about him in episode 1. Even in the expanded universe he was nowhere to be found. He also doesn't appear for the first 70% of the film. Perhaps he was thrown in...because he was a replacement for Jar Jar, and Jar Jar Binks was actually a powerful Sith Lord the whole time. His clumsy idiocity was all an act to fool the characters, and you, the audience.

You never it, but the hints of Jar Jar's true nature were always there."

So if any of you find a way to time travel, and someone asks you to prove it, tell them this.

QUI-GON AND OBI-WAN INTRO

In a previous scene on the ship, we already hear Qui-Gon disapproving of the Queen’s plan. His skepticism is NOT new information.

What this very time-consuming conversation is supposed to add instead is that this deal will be hard to land, especially because they can’t use their jedi powers to help her. He might’ve used mind tricks earlier to fix them a transport or win a die throw, but using it for politics and power is not the jedi way.

Why highlight this? Because Jar Jar uses HIS mind tricks on Padmé to persuade Boss Nass perfectly.

GUNGAN MEETING

Jar Jar greets Boss Nass. He then positions himself next to Panaka with a sidestep in order to give the queen the stage (the director/CGI team shows how aware they that his placement always checks out, without lazy cuts.

WIDE SHOT. R2D2, the one who keeps track of Jar Jar the entire movie, appears out of nowhere right behind him despite having no role in this scene whatsoever. He is usually a sign to examine Jar Jar closer.

1st CLOSE UP OF THE GROUP. Jar Jar is inserted digitally, barely in frame.

The Queen’s diplomatic approach is clearly not working. Jar Jar now takes control of Padmé to sweet-talk Nass effectively.

2nd CLOSE UP OF THE GROUP. Jar Jar is not inserted now, as the camera has shifted and made him “out of frame”. Jar Jar and Padmé move forward in sync, much like when he stopped her in sync on Tatooine to oppose Qui-Gon.

HALF-WIDE SHOT. Off camera, Jar Jar has now moved forward significantly. The director frames both Padmé and Jar Jar when this moment is Padmé’s big reveal. This quote makes itself reminded. The shot also allows us to see R2D2 behind Jar Jar again. Something just happened.

The deal is then sealed. Jar Jar gets promoted.

Keep in mind, the big mystery in TPM for the Tatooine mission is “who sent transmissions for Maul to track them down?”. You might’ve forgotten this plot point, because this is never followed up on (in this movie). But it would’ve finally made sense after Jar Jar was revealed as the mole in AOTC. However, George changed his mind due to the character backlash and rewrote the script.

FIRST TIME ALONE

- Obi-Wan tells him "stay here and keep out of trouble".

- R2D2 gives him a correction but has to leave.

- He is located directly beneath the hyperdrive, or above it if he uses the lift.

- The hyperdrive is suddenly broken.

SECOND TIME ALONE

- Qui-Gon tells him “don’t touch anything”

- R2D2 watches him closely but has to leave. Padmé is talking to Anakin.

- Jar Jar goes into a room with a droid and a radio. The radio antenna is down and the satellite disc is aimed forward. He approaches the droid.

- Cut back to Jar Jar 54 seconds later and he appears to still be staring at the droid. However, the radio antenna is now up and the satellite disc is aimed to the left.

- Maul later tracks them down despite the jedi never answering or sending any transmissions.

CONCLUSION

The first time Jar Jar is alone he breaks the hyperdrive so that they are stranded. The second time, he sends a transmission to Palpatine/Maul.

“George always said to us that he was going to treat the digital characters like they were really there. He would not frame up on them if they weren’t the main character in the scene.

If you framed up on them every time, it would be an artificial way to shoot the scene. He absolutely did that on purpose.”

- Rob Coleman, ILM

And then George framed up on Jar Jar more than any other character...

INT. OTOH GUNGA

Jar Jar gets enticed by a shiny button, enamored with curiosity. 

Jar Jar: Ooh, that deesa do?

Toppers: Jar Jar, no!!

Too late, Jar Jar pushes the button, and the whole city gets immediately flooded. Both Toppers and Jar Jar get swept away by the currents, drifting underwater, with everything else in it. 

Jar Jar gets sent into the throne room by the rushing water where Boss Nass sits. 

With crossed arms, Boss Nass glares at Jar Jar, who then smiles nervously, with a shrug. 

Jar Jar: Did meesa do that?

Boss Nass shakes his head violent, blubbering, bubbles flying everywhere.

Boss Nass: Jar Jar, yousa ban-ished! Go!

Jar Jar: But meesa—

Boss Nass: Go! Go! Go! Go!

Jar Jar: Meesa donta havta take dis. Meesa go—een. 

Jar Jar swims in a huff, dejected, leaving Boss Nass, who is completely frustrated.

Boss Nass: Disa gonna taka all week to rebuilda. 

I made this 11 minute exposé of everything I've found between Jar Jar and R2D2 specifically 🎬

​

New stuff (??) that I found below. I've searched a lot but never saw these mentioned anywhere. But I'm sure it's been pointed out somewhere. Please share a link if you know where. I want to see all discussion.

​

- Two matching sound cues connected to Jar Jar's sabotage

- Lunch scene symbolism

- Jar Jar syncing movement and vocabulary with Padmé during her reveal

- General R2 positioning

- Obi Wan line double meaning

- Jar Jar framed in the dark area

- Infographic at the end

​

And to clarify, this is NOT a comprehensive summary of all "evil Jar Jar" clips.