Generally speaking, Star Wars is a success story when it comes to characters. The vast majority of the major players are thoroughly likable - even if you just like to hate them - and they all work well together.

But there's always a few malcontents who just don't fit in with the rest, and I'm sure each person's list of these failures varies. Here's my personal list of Star Wars characters whom I wouldn't mind seeing expunged from the trilogy times two.

(Note: I'm sure lots of people who try to write this article accidentally slot in characters from the expanded material. I'm going to do my best to stick to what you see in the movies alone.)

Jar Jar Binks: Yeah, I know, no big surprise, though to be honest I don't dislike Jar Jar for the same reason as most people. Star Wars has always had its share of goofy characters, and I didn't find Jar Jar any more annoying than the rest. Problem is, he just doesn't serve a purpose. His spot probably could have been filled by any of the other characters just as easily. Sorry, Binks, but you're as superfluous as they come.

C-3P0: In this I must insist that I don't hate C-3P0 in the original three movies. His bitter complaints are fine, and even though he's almost as useless as Jar Jar he still manages to contribute a few times. I just HATED C-3P0 in Attack of the Clones - the whole slapstick routine of him rolling around in the droid factory and losing his head is about as stupid a sequence as I've ever seen in a movie.

General Grievous: Great in the cartoon, pretty dull in the movie. I didn't mind his coughing that much, and he would've been cooler if he'd just been some scheming leader who could fight decently - but a crazy Jedi killer? C'mon.

Bail Organa: Aside from being a way to get the Jedi out of a pickle, this guy really didn't do much of note. Even the actor playing him seemed pretty bored with his scenes. I can't say I blame him, since he's one of the few Star Wars characters who NEVER gets to hold a weapon, or at least not as far as I remember.

Nute Gunray: Did I spell his name right? Either way, he was the whiniest excuse for a villain I've ever seen. No backbone whatsoever, especially when it came to facing death at the hands of the freshly minted Darth Vader. (Actually, that was his best scene, since he DIED.)

Jango Fett: I love Boba Fett. Love him to DEATH. I'm not so enamored of his daddy, however, who not only destroyed the mystique of Fett himself - he's an annoying little prig as a kid - but managed to die rather easily. And no offense to the actor, he's an OK guy, but the accent just doesn't work. Boba Fett isn't Australian, and therefore good ol' pops shouldn't be either.

Uncle Owen: This guy's just a jerk. Beru was nice, though.

Yet, despite how much I may dislike all of the above, one little guy has earned my enmity most of all:

Ani: Yes, little Anakin Skywalker. He had some of the worst lines in any of the movies, and Jake Lloyd, bless his heart, just couldn't act to save his life when he was a kid. Anakin's not so bad later on - don't get me started on his prepubescent whining, please don't - but Ani? No redeeming points, outside the fact that we never see him again after the first movie. I almost put Darth Maul on this list just because he didn't end up decapitating Ani while he was on Tatooine (though the cool tattoos saved him at the last second).

Learn more about this author, Matt Bird.
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