Why Jar Jar Binks is Responsible For Everything

Alright, let's be honest...We all hate Jar Jar Binks. There's no reason not to. He's annoying. His slapstick and awkwardness distracts us from the movies in a way which compromises their flow.

Some hate him more than others:


or "Death to the great hated Jar Jar Binks!"


Personally, I feel that Jar Jar was a mistake. The other Gungans were bearable and had a purpose, but due to his antics, Jar Jar's point in the movies is difficult to be realized. So let me lay it out for you:

Episode 1:
Jar Jar Binks is responsible for setting up Star Wars as we know it. Without Jar Jar, you wouldn't have Obi Won meeting Anakin, a Clone War, a Galactic Republic, or Luke & Leia. Seem absurd? I thought so two when I first realized it, but let's look at the facts:

-Jar Jar meets Qui-Gon and Obi Won. It is only through Jar Jar's "help" that they make it to the capital in time to get Padmé.

-He tells Padmé of the "grand army" the Gungans have. Through his introductions, Boss Nass and Padmé create a resistance army to the Trade Federation. Jar Jar even destroys some droid (albeit by being moronic).

Episode 2:
-Jar Jar once again shows his stupidity (and that of Padmé) when he takes over for Padmé in the Galactic Senate. He then proposes to give Palpatine emergency powers. He has now handed control of the Republic to a Sith lord, thereby creating the Empire.

Episode 3:
This is where you say, "But...Jar Jar isn't properly in Revenge of the Sith! He just walks/stands and says, "Excuse me." But, if we look at the deleted scenes, we see he joins the Delegation of 2000, the body with forms the Rebel Alliance.


So there you have it. Without Jar Jar you essentially have no Star Wars. I'm not saying that the same couldn't be said about other minor characters, since Lucas made the prequels and interconnected set of fan-service, but he's quite important to the overall scheme of things.

Revisiting the Trilogy

I watched Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi again this week and have come to a realization: Jedi is in no way as bad as I thought it was originally.



The first half of Jedi is well done, dark, and does an excellent job of displaying the drastic change in character of Luke Skywalker. Also, Boba Fett is awesome. Just pure badass.


Now, I will admit that the sections with the Ewoks are campy and many times I found myself wishing that they had just put in Wookies in their place. those segments weren't the best parts of the series, but I have to say that the prequels really do make you appreciate the lack of CGI in those first movies. The creativity used to put on space battles and incorporate a vast array of aliens is impressive.

I'll rank Jedi higher on my list of movies from now on. Hopefully, someone can just recut the entire series to eliminate all traces of Ewoks and Gungans. Also, I'd like Attack of the Clones to stay a bit darker (literally and figuratively) and stick with its film noir influences.

Left4Dead 2: The Big Easy

Alright folks, the Left4Dead 2 trailer was released at E3:



Now, this is simply awesome. I love the New Orleans concept. It really had a great feel and one of my friends currently living there cannot even begin to express his excitement for it. I've seen complaints about the atmosphere being compromised because of the daylight, but I think it will be perfect as long as that humid haze is kept in the sky. From my visit to the area, that crushing humidity made it feel like you were struggling to move and that's what I'll be imagining as I fight off the zombie hordes.

I'm particularly excited about the melee weapons. From the trailer, it looks like there will be a chainsaw, axe, baseball bat, and frying pan. It adds a great comic element to the game, which left my friends and I scared to death the first few days we played it (after awhile, you block out the moans and screams and only listen for the 'boss' sounds of the boomer, smoker, hunter, and tank).

Needless to say, everyone I know is pretty excited for it. We'll see how well Valve did and if they'll actually stick to their release date of November 17th. I'm guessing they will since all they're really doing is giving us new maps, character models, and weapons. There probably won't be a big change in gameplay: you're going to wade through hordes, kill bosses, activate some piece of machinery to get to the next area, and run to safe houses. I've stopped playing L4D for a few months now because it got boring playing the same maps, even with the randomization. What would really impress me would be if there was a drastic new element in L4D2 that made my jaw drop (and yes, I'm ecstatic about the chainsaw, but it's still just a weapon) like new interaction with the environment, puzzles, etc. We'll see in the fourth quarter...