The Dark Side: George Lucas' 10 biggest mistakes

By MATT THOMPSON
Austin360.com

1. Jar-Jar Binks (as a character): The poor Gungan was not as bad as people like to paint him, but he was still awful. In a way, he's become a symbol for everything people didn't like about "Menace" — the herald of the audiences' sneaking suspicion that something was going wrong here. Only so much is his fault, though, people. He's the Bill Buckner of the "Star Wars" Universe. (And, as noted earlier, the attempt to push the envelope, technologically speaking, was commendable.)

Lucasfilm Ltd. 'Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith' Director: George Lucas Starring: Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Ian McDiarmid, Samuel L. Jackson, Jimmy Smits, Frank Oz, Anthony Daniels, Christopher Lee Run time: 140 minutes Release date: May 19, 2005 Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi violence and some intense images. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer Rate "Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

2. Too much Jedi stuff: Some dearly love the Jedi Order, but the Jedi's pointlessly courtesan style of speech strained Lucas' already-creaky dialogue skills beyond the breaking point. What's missing is some sort of foil, a common rogue along the lines of Han Solo, handy to punch holes in the stuffy Jedi faŤade when the audience has heard a few too many "m'lord"s and "m'lady"s. Remember: When kids use to play "Star Wars," nobody wanted to be Luke. Everybody wanted to be Han. Important lesson there.

3. Midi-chlorians: While it was an interesting idea to move the Force from the realm of vague pseudo-religion to the realm of vague pseudo-science, it was a step that really didn't bring anything all that critical to the storyline. And what was the thinking behind a blood test? Does it give you a cholesterol count to go with your "Force Quotient" or what? Along those lines, making Anakin an immaculate conception just made everybody uncomfortable and should've been junked in the "first draft" stage.

4. Anakin making C-3PO: Cute, perhaps, but it was that one coincidence too many, straining even the credibility of a kiddie sci-fi movie. It started out as a cheap way to have Threepio make a quick cameo. It turned into a way to sell still more toys. Low point? The steady stream of bad puns Threepio belted out during the otherwise-excellent battle sequence on Geonesis at the end of "AOTC."

5. Weird politics: Explaining away the Force was only slightly less baffling that attempts to explain away the odd political system on Naboo. Amidala was elected queen? With term limits? So, a space-faring race made the decision that the best form of government is governance by 14-year-old girls? (There's a "Secretary of State Timberlake" joke in here somewhere.) Lucas would've been better served just moving along without trying to "explain" all this nonsense. We wouldn't have cared had she just suddenly become a Senator. What difference does it really make?

6. Romantic "chemistry": I've seen "Attack of the Clones" way too many times ... and yet I still don't get why Padme falls for Anakin in the first place. Is it his stilted attempts at smooth talk ("I don't like sand ...")? His sudden bursts of irrational anger? Or perhaps his wholesale slaughter of an entire village of Tusken Raiders (women and children included)? Nope. She falls in love with him for one reason only: The plot requires it of her.

7. R2-D2 flying: Even in the most fantastic of films, you have to obey the rules. Changing the rules that a character has operated under through four films and numerous incarnations on TV and in books smacks of a desperate reach for a lazy payoff. Somebody really should've talked him out of this one.

8. Count Dooku: So, is he a source of darkest evil or is he your high school geometry teacher? Dooku gave off a vibe more consistent with the latter than the former. It's hard to fault Christopher Lee, because that cat can do evil ... the part was just too wishy-washy to do anything with. The worst part was probably the name: can a "Dooku" sincerely strike terror into your heart?

9. Dex, the Diner Alien: Who's got more wisdom than all the Jedi archives and can also cook you up a tasty "blue plate special" with Space ham and Space eggs? Why, it's Dex, the friendly diner-owning alien, who brought the entire series well over the line into the territory of self-parody. Quick, which movie would Dex look more at home in: "Attack of the Clones" or "Spaceballs"? That's what we thought, too.

10. (Rest of) The Pod Race: Almost everything surrounding the pod race itself should've been junked: The two-headed announcer; the goofy little aliens and their pit crew robots; most of the crowd shots. It took what was kind of a silly plot twist in the first place ("We have to win this race to escape Tatooine!") and made it ever sillier.

 •The Dark Side: Lucas' 10 Biggest Mistakes