Voice said:
In my mind, the only major problem with JarJar was that he succeeded *because* of his incompetence, not *in spite* of it. Sure, there were other minor issues (his voice, for example), but those aren't significantly worse than select other characters from the other movies that no one has any real issues with. Luke's "power converters" line, for example is roundly mocked, but the character is accepted despite that. As another example, 3PO's voice grates on the nerves of several people I know, and he serves largely the same role in the original trilogy, but where he fails he fails, and where he succeeds it's either because of dumb luck (remembering to turn the comlink back on in the Death Star), or because of his strengths (getting R2 bought, the Ewoks, etc.).
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Lucas does Plot, Pacing, and Action well, and even does a passable job with intrigue, but the man *can't* write dialogue to save his life. Unfortunately, the surrounding Myth meant that no one had the guts to sit the man down and *tell* him that for the prequels.
I find that 3PO is much better a character than Jar-Jar - he has a narrow skill set, and shows competence within it. Jar Jar lacks ANY area of competence.
3PO is only mildly annoying; Jar Jar is exceedingly annoying, as what Lucas thought of as Cute is merely Insipid. Even my kids hated Jar Jar from the get go.
In game terms, JarJar is spending destiny so fast that the party has to be 8+ players…. and in order for Jar Jar to have it back to spend again, the GM is having to beat the party within an inch of their lives. So, let's see… Jar Jar, Anniken, Quigon, Obiwan, Amidala, R2, C-3PO… uh, hm… Ok, that's 7…
TPM also has the annoying Anniken being WAY too competent for his age, and almost as lucky as Jar-Jar. TPM is a pair of marty-stu's on a rampage, showing up the pair of Jedi… and doing it with a wink and a nod, as well.
TPM was a commercial success and an intellectual failure. And makes an excellent warning for GM's of what NOT to do.
EOTE CAN model both Anniken and Jar Jar… with a deep enough pool of destiny. But it's going to annoy players with splitting the party, hogging the destiny, and hogging the spotlight. WEG can't do TPM; it can do all the others. EOTE can do them all, except for force lightning, force choke, and force-based-healing, as is.