Jar Jar Binks was meant to be a star, but ended up the most hated character in cinema. The Gungan deserves better, says Ed Cumming

Star Wars' secret weapon was always humour. The films were never afraid of a C-3PO, Chewbacca or Ewok to serve as a foil for all the Jedi portentousness; a quip or bit of slapstick to lighten the mood. This was the series' real Force, the invisible field that let a story about a farmhand's quest to murder his genocidal father be classed as family entertainment.

The formula worked. The Phantom Menace was the most anticipated film of the Nineties. Fans queued around the block just to watch the trailer. With George Lucas's vision, all the modern special effects money could buy and millions of devoted fans, nothing could go wrong.

All that remained to be seen was the exact make-up of the new instalment. We knew about the dry characters of young Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker, and it didn't take an X-Wing mechanic to guess that Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jin might not be a rollicking gag-fest. Who would provide the comic relief?

Jar Jar Binks, that's who. A plucky but awkward Gungan: an amphibious biped with a heart of gold and the voice of a rasta on laughing gas. We met him just as he had been exiled by Boss Nass, the Gungans' blimp-like ruler, for his clumsiness. Qui-Gon saved him from being run over by a spaceship in the woods. "Oh boy boy I luuvvv youuu," said Jar Jar, pledging his service as a debt of gratitude.