Sorry it’s a little late, but I was due for some professional function upgrades in New York and wasn’t able to get my weekly dose of Clone Wars on time, so I went a little crazy.  To make up for it, I got drunk and watched Return of the Jedi in my hotel room.

But now I’m back and had a chance to watch the first Clone Wars appearance of Jar Jar Binks, “Bombad Jedi”.

This was not the best episode so far.  But that didn’t make it bad.  In fact, this episode was pretty damn good.  It set up what I think is going to be a really great continuing dynamic between Jar Jar and Threepio.  It fit into a structure of action and political intrigue with Padme on a diplomatic mission to Rodia in the Outer Rim.  Rodia has been under extreme strain because of the war and was interested in striking a deal with either the Republic or the Separtists for vital supplies for the survival of the Rodians.

Like many things in the Clone Wars, the Separatists are involved in the background and the whole thing was a ruse to kidnap Padme so that Nute Gunray could once again try to enact his revenge.

The only two people left to help Padme out of this sticky spot is Jar Jar and Threepio.  And they try very hard, but the results are hilarious…  It felt very much like Buster Keaton or Chaplin.  It was funny and worked really well for the episode.  Things get even funnier when Jar Jar finds one of Anakin’s cloaks, no doubt left behind from a forbidden rendezvous with Padme, and all of the droids on Rodia mistake him for a Jedi coming to make short work of them.

There are a lot of people who will reject this episode outright because it prominently features Jar Jar Binks.  I think these are the same idiotic masses that did the same thing for The Phantom Menace and that’s one of the coolest movies ever made.

Having said that, I would actually like to see more Kevin Rubio scripted episodes about this batch of characters.  I have no idea how he actually feels about the prequels, but I know he loves Star Wars almost as much as I do and it really came through in his writing.  There was an unspoken enthusiasm for the world there and I wish more people could have that for Star Wars.

Now if they could only get me writing and they would have all the Star Wars enthusiasm they could handle.  But I hope you guys are able to take my opinion about this show seriously.  If it was really bad, I’d tell you.  But it’s not.  It’s great.  Even the Jar Jar episodes.