[Editor’s note: The following interview includes spoilers.]
Once a much-maligned character, yet one hugely important to the history of CG, Jar Jar Binks (like the prequel trilogy at large) is being re-evaluated. Now, the “Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy” special aims to convince audiences that the character is not that bad. “We wanted to bring Jar Jar back into prominence and show the depths of what the character is able to do that has not been fully explored,” co-creator Dan Hernandez told IndieWire. Specifically, Hernandez and co-creator Benji Samit wanted to show a version of Jar Jar that’s legendary among hardcore “Star Wars” fans but not part of the official canon — Darth Jar Jar.
A fan theory turned meme, the theory goes that George Lucas planned something bigger with Jar Jar, that his clumsiness was meant to be a ruse, part of the character’s brilliant ability to manipulate everyone around him. Add in comments by George Lucas saying Jar Jar is his favorite character and that he is “the key to all of this,” and the theory spread like wildfire on the internet before finally becoming official (kind of) in the new Lego special. “It was one of the earlier ideas that we had,” Samit said. “We looked at each other and said we might have the opportunity to actually do this in a way that no one else maybe ever will.”
Jar Jar is not the only character who gets a makeover in “Rebuild the Galaxy.” The four-episode special follows Sig Greebling, a young hero who finds an ancient relic that rewrites all of reality, changing events, people and locations. Suddenly, Tatooine becomes a beach destination, ewoks become bounty hunters, Sith become Jedi, and Jar Jar becomes a Sith Lord. Though the special boasts an impressive cast of new and returning players — including Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels and Billy Dee Williams — the standout is Ahmed Best’s performance as Darth Jar Jar. The actor relishes making the gungan exile-turned-war-hero-turned-senator a mustache-twirling villain. “Ahmed couldn’t have been more excited to do it, he was completely aware of the memes and theories, and he embraced it,” Hernandez said. “You basically can’t appreciate what a brilliant performer he is until you see him physicalize and vocalize Jar Jar.”
The biggest asset of “Rebuild the Galaxy” is not the cool cameos, but the story of Sig and his brother Dev, which has all the ingredients of a classic “Star Wars” tale of friendship, family, sacrifice, and bravery, a story with a big climactic third act space battle and lightsaber duel. It could have been easy for the special to focus more on delivering fun gags and cameos, or even just tell a story focused on characters we already know. But Hernandez and Samit wanted something more, knowing they couldn’t sustain a narrative for 90 minutes on cameos and gags alone. “It would start to wear its welcome,” Samit said. After working on franchises like “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” and “Pokémon,” the writing duo knows a thing or two about handling nostalgia and canon while telling original stories. “It still needs to feel like the thing that we all love,” Hernandez added. “But if it feels like that at the expense of a new or surprising story, then we’ve kind of failed in our mission.”
Of course, this being a Lego project, there is a lot of building. Much like “The Lego Movie,” the four-episode special turns the act of building Lego into a superpower — especifically, a part of the Force referred to as Force Building. Sig Greebling is constantly taking apart things like walls and vehicles, and making them into something new. A standout sequence comes in the second episode when Jedi Bob helps our heroes escape by transforming their basic shuttle into a versatile vehicle with many modes — a podracing mod, a walker mode, an aquatic mode. It’s a sequence straight out of the “Lego Star Wars” games, which served as a source of inspiration for the special, and a great introduction to Force Building as a unique skill.
The animation by Atomic Cartoons focuses on making each brick feel tangible, every Lego assembly feel like an actual existing set is being used. This was particularly important for Samit, who made sure that scene could be done for real. After coming up with the idea, Samit took the shuttle from his own Ambush on Ferrix “Andor” Lego set, and started modifying it with parts from other Lego sets. “I actually put it together with the podracer engine, then I put quad jumpers on it and I put some AT-ST legs on it,” Samit explained. “Everything that you see in that sequence I built with my hands out of Lego to make sure that it worked, and only then we wrote it into the script.” Every one of the Lego builds throughout the special is what Samit calls “a legal build,” referring to builders adhering to only putting Lego bricks together if they actually fit, according to Lego design standards — meaning all the builds could actually be replicated.
Every “Star Wars” movie needs a wise mentor, and to portray the idea of Force Building, “Rebuild the Galaxy” has Jedi Bob. He is a bit of a legend in the Lego community, an unnamed Jedi Knight minifigure who appeared in the 2002 Lego Star Wars Republic Gunship set. After fans dubbed the figure “Bob,” the name was canonized in the 2009 Visual Dictionary for Lego “Star Wars.” In the special, Bob is not only a fully fleshed-out character, but one with a tragic backstory that explains not only why no one remembers him, but also why Lego “Star Wars” minifigures are no longer yellow. “That idea was met with more than a few ‘wait, who?’ just because it is such a deep cut,” Hernandez said. “But we felt it was a great way of honoring the entire history of both ‘Star Wars’ and more specifically, Lego ‘Star Wars,’ and incorporate some of those early builds and those early sets, personified in Jedi Bob.”
The biggest surprise in “Rebuild the Galaxy” is that, unlike previous Lego “Star Wars” specials, the galaxy doesn’t reset back to normal by the end. Instead, it teases a second season, and future stories, by firmly establishing itself as a separate timeline from the rest of the canon. This was hugely important for the writing duo. “I don’t think that’s how life works,” Hernandez said. “I think it’s an important lesson, not just for kids, but for everyone to say that there are these things in life that come out of nowhere and you’re not really prepared for. All of your supposed expertise on one thing may suddenly become totally invalidated, and you just have to adapt. All you can control is your reaction to it.”
All four episodes of “Lego Star Wars: Rebuild the Galaxy” premiere September 13 on Disney+.
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