Jar Jar Binks Has This One Advantage Over Boba Fett, And It Just Makes Us Sad

Back when "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" was released, on May 19, 1999, it introduced the creature that became one of the second "Star Wars" trilogy's most reviled characters: Jar Jar Binks. Meant to be a comedic foil to the two Jedi played by Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, the CGI character played by Ahmed Best received such a terrible reception that Jar Jar still makes some of the "worst character" lists, and the actor received death threats; Best even told The Guardian that he considered taking his own life. In the following movies, Jar Jar's role was reduced to eliminate criticism of how stereotypically racist his depiction was, but the damage was done. 

On the other side of the spectrum, there's Boba Fett. Everyone loves Boba Fett, the menacing mercenary who first appeared in "The Empire Strikes Back." Well, technically, he debuted in a county fair parade in San Anselmo, California, followed a few months later by the 1978 "Star Wars Holiday Special" (via Inside the Magic). Regardless, even though Boba Fett ended up dying by getting dumped into the Sarlacc pit by a still mostly-blind Han Solo for a laugh in "Return of the Jedi," his popularity remained so high that Disney executives resurrected him through the Expanded Universe books and comics. That way, he could canonically return in "The Mandalorian" (via CBR.com).

Yet, despite all the cool armor and the fact that even Darth Vader afforded him a certain level of respect, there's one disadvantage that Boba Fett had compared to the bungling Gungan.

As one of the most popular and highest-grossing franchises on the planet (via Mental Floss), pretty much every part of "Star Wars" has been analyzed to pieces. And that includes the amount of screen time each character has received within the movies. According to a chart posted to Reddit by user u/–TheForce–, Jar Jar Binks got 17 minutes and 45 seconds of screen time in "The Phantom Menace" and a total of 20 minutes 15 seconds in the entire prequel trilogy. Only six characters received more in "Star Wars Episodes 1-3": Anakin, Obi-Wan, Padme, Palpatine, Qui-Gon, and Yoda. 

Meanwhile, Boba Fett didn't even make the chart, which basically looked at the top 10 in each movie and category. However, fans have naturally calculated these numbers anyway. The Boba Fett Fan Club says that in the original movies (not the special editions), the bounty hunter in the Mandalorian armor gets a total of 6 minutes and 32 seconds of screen time, although about 13 seconds of that is only of his ship. However, this seems more generous than other calculations. Digital Spy estimated Boba Fett got 5 minutes of screen time altogether on the big screen, while an IMDb list has him at 1 minute and 45 seconds for "The Empire Strikes Back" plus 1 minute for "Return of the Jedi." Elsewhere, the list has his appearance as a child on "Attack of the Clones" clocking in at 2 minutes and 15 seconds, so it agrees with Digital Spy's estimate.

Clearly, all these sources are using different standards and perhaps different versions of the movies, but there's one fact that can't be denied: Boba Fett got way less screen time than Jar Jar Binks and was able to telegraph his infinite coolness in way fewer lines of dialogue. That explains, of course, why he's getting his own television show with "The Book of Boba Fett" on Disney+ starting on December 29 (via Starwars.com). Sadly, Jar Jar Binks remains an artifact of an (arguably) less civilized age.