The Road to Episode Infinity: More Polls! (Characters)

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

Today we are going to dig into the favorite characters of fandom (and also the least favorite characters). One of my goals during this polling process was trying to parse out the popularity of characters from each era (Classic characters vs. Prequel characters vs. Sequel characters). I chose 10 characters from each category (30 total), and asked fans to pick their 10 favorites from the 30. I had some people complain that Palpatine was not on my list and this was partially by design. I couldn’t figure out whether to classify Palpy as a “Classic Character” or a “Prequel Character”, so I left him off the list. It should be noted that for the purposes of this study I am lumping “Rogue One” into the Sequel category.

Let’s examine the top ten characters first. It should be no surprise that “The Big Three” wind up on the top of the list. In a galaxy full of aliens, robots, cyborgs, and clones, it may be a little surprising to see three humans on the top- But without “The Big Three”, Star Wars would be indistinguishable from any other cheesy 70s Sci Fi film. Mark, Harrison, and Carrie ultimately sell the story. It would also have been hard to make the sequel trilogy without the appearance of “The Big Three” because they are so loved among fandom, and so many fans wanted to see these three back on our screens.

It is notable the two “Sequel Only” characters do make this list. I think J.J. Abrams had a monumental task of creating new compelling characters who would shine even in the presence of “The Big Three”, and to his credit he seems to have succeeded. Rey and Kylo were also arguably the best part of “The Last Jedi” and we can thank Rian Johnaon for elevating these characters to a place where they compete with Yoda, R2, and Chewbacca.

We don’t really see any prequel characters in this top ten list (unless you count Obi-Wan and Yoda). But for now I’m going to consider prequel characters as characters who were created or flashed out during the prequel era. We do see that Anakin Skywalker comes in at #11. It can be argued that Anakin was introduced in “Return of the Jedi” but in this instance I will include him in the Prequel category. Still, we can’t really tell which version of Anakin people actually enjoy. Is this the Jake Lloyd version or Hayden Christenson? Could it be the Sebastian Shaw version or possibly the Matt Lanter? I hesitate to venture a guess.

We don’t actually see any characters created specifically for the prequels until we get to Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, who appear at #16 and #17 on this list. It is notable that these characters only appear in “The Phantom Menace” and are killed off near the end. Was this Lucas’ biggest mistake in the Prequel Trilogy? Creating two compelling characters and immediately killing them off?

Looking at the “Bottom Characters” list, I am most surprised to find C-3PO at number 23. Considering Threepio pretty much carried the first third of “A New Hope” it is kind of sad to see that he has since fallen from grace. It can be said that the Prequel Trilogy didn’t do Threepio justice and that he wasn’t in much of “The Force Awakens” either. It isn’t until “The Last Jedi” that we really see Threepio return to form. I know that Anthony Daniels really worked with Rian Johnson to get Threepio into as many “Last Jedi” scenes as possible. He is featured in many scenes in “The Last Jedi” and he is very much still the droid we met 40 years ago.

I wanted to really dig into some of these “Bottom Characters” to see exactly what kind of fans chose them as their favorites. For example, who would choose Jar Jar? Were they doing it ironically? When I dig into the data I find one fan who appeared to take the survey twice and chose Jar Jar both times. This fan also chose some of the prequel films as his favorites and he would have been very young while the prequel films were releasing in cinemas. But, I also find a male in his 30s who didn’t like the prequels but still chose Jar Jar to be part of his top 10. Most fans detest Jar Jar, but I guess it’s good that he does something for somebody.

Let’s move onto the lowest rated character, Rose. It should not be a surprise that fans of Rose are even younger than fans of Jar Jar. We find a 21 year old that finds “The Last Jedi” to be her favorite film and half of her favorite characters are also from the Sequel Trilogy. We also find a 19 year-old, a 18 year-old, and a 27 year-old picking Rose.

Overall, fans have picked “Classic” Star Wars characters as their favorites. After 40 years, these characters are still seen as iconic, though some sequel characters have also become instant hits. It might be fair to say that we should not judge sequel stars such as Rey, Finn, and Kylo until they have completed their three-movie arc.

Overall, Prequel characters are just not as popular, though if we adjust things a little and consider Obi-Wan and Yoda to be prequel characters, things look a little better. Of course it could be argued that we could consider “The Big Three” to be sequel characters and all of the sudden “Sequel” characters are just as popular as the “Classic” characters.

Anyway, I’ll be back tomorrow for “Revenge of the Sixth” with more polls that look at the popularity of The Expanded Universe. Happy May, Star Wars fans!

May the 4th Specials

The Road to Episode Infinity

Saturday, May 5, 2018

More Polls! (Characters)

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