Ahmed Best talks about making The Prequels and explains what he thinks Jar Jar did to get banished
On May 4th, Scum and Villainy Cantina, a popular sci-fi themed bar in Los Angeles, put together and streamed 24 hours worth of Star Wars related content. There was a lot of great stuff shown throughout the day, but the thing we here at the International Talk Like Jar Jar Binks Day website were most excited about was the Star Wars Prequels discussion.
The discussion featured Ahmed Best, as well as Kyle Newman (Director of Fanboys), Sam Witwer (Maul in The Clone Wars), Clare Grant (Latts Razzi in The Clone Wars), and Jennifer Muro (writer of Forces of Destiny). During the panel Best talks about his experiences getting cast as Jar Jar, meeting George Lucas for the first time, working on the films, influencing the character’s development, and more!
One of the most interesting parts of the conversation came when Best talked about the meaning behind Jar Jar’s Phantom Menace quote, “Yud-Say Boom Da Gassar, Den Crashin Der Boss’s Heyblibber, Den Banished”, a line which has frequently confused the casual viewer.
Ahmed mentions how he was concerned about this particular piece of dialogue, because he didn’t understand what he was supposed to be communicating in the scene. He asked George Lucas what the line meant, and Lucas said “I don’t know, just do what you’re doing, it’s fine” which taught Best an important lesson about making movies, and life, – sometimes it’s good not to know everything, and to discover things along the way.
When Sam Witwer asked Ahmed if he ever figured out what the line meant, Best explained what he thought:
Ahmed Best: “Boss Nass had a ship called a heyblibber. Right? I was driving the heyblibber. I pressed on the gas, it crashed. Boss Nass got pissed and banished me from Otoh Gunga.”
Sam Witwer: “Right, now was there something called a gasser that you also boomed? What was the boom da gasser thing?”
Ahmed Best: “Boom da gasser is like I stepped on the gas and it went too fast. Pedal to the metal, crashed the bosses heyblibber, he hated it and he was just like ‘get out’.”
This is an interesting way to interpret the line, and one which partially contradicts the generally accepted reason for Jar Jar’s banishment. The way it was explained in the old Expanded Universe was that Jar Jar booming the gasser and crashing the heyblibber were two completely separate incidents – the heyblibber was indeed a ship that Jar Jar crashed, but the gasser was said to be a stove or oven which Jar Jar blew up. Best’s explanation makes perfect sense though, and short of a new canon source spelling out the incident(s) explicitly, it’s totally up to you which explanation you choose to accept as the truth.
The Prequels discussion is now up on Scum and Villainy’s YouTube page. We strongly recommend you take some time and watch the whole thing for more great insights from Ahmed Best and general prequel talk.
Tags: ahmed best, gasser, heyblibber, jar jar binks, scum and villainy cantina, star wars, starwars