Geekdom Madness: The Real Game - Battle Amongst the Stars

Welcome to Geekdom Madness: The Real Game! The preliminaries were certainly exciting, but here's where it really gets serious! And boy, do we have a doozy to start with: The eternal battle of Trek v. Wars!





Let's reacquaint ourselves with the combatants:

JAR JAR BINKS

Jar Jar Binks was created by George Lucas for the film "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace," released in 1999. The character had a number of different inspirations and meanings in the film. While first and foremost a comic relief character that would appeal to younger audiences as well as homage classic slapstick greats like Buster Keaton, Jar Jar's purpose in the narrative was to embody Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn's philosophy about the Living Force: All life is important and worthy, regardless of how seemingly useless it is.

The final Jar Jar design was drawn by paleontological illustrator Terryl Whitlatch, combining traits of amphibians and hadrosaurs with a few more alien pushes. He was brought to life through a combination of on-set performance reference, computer animation, and motion-capture technology.

While there is a vocal hatred of Jar Jar from many geek communities, he remains a favorite with the younger fan base and, according to a recent poll, is still more popular than the US Congress.

In all official appearances (and a few unofficial), Jar Jar has been played by Ahmed Best, with the exception of a few episodes of the Clone Wars series where BJ Hughes filled in when Best was unavailable.

MR. SPOCK

Mr. Spock was created by Gene Roddenberry for the television series "Star Trek"premiering in 1965. Envisioned as the token alien crewmember, writer Samuel A. Peeples objected to some of the more out-there ideas in the original pitch and suggested "he should at least be half-human and have the problems of both sides." His logical Vulcan side was actually the result of his character being combined with another rejected character named Number One (played in the failed 1964 pilot by Majel Barret).

Out of the many alien concepts Roddenberry had, the only ones that survived were the pointed ears and the slanted eyebrows. Even still, NBC wanted the character axed due to concerns he would frighten children. Luckily, Roddenberry and Desilu producer Oscar Katz convinced them to keep Spock around and he remains one of if not the most popular and recognizable characters of the franchise.

In nearly every official appearence, Spock has been played by Leonard Nemoy, who inspired much of what is memorable about the character (such as the Vulcan salute, based off of a sacred hand position used by the ancient Jewish priestly class). Young versions of Spock have been played by Carl Steven, Vadia Potenza, Stephen Manley and Joe W. Davis in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" (1984), and by Jacob Kogan and Zachary Quinto in the prequel/alternate timeline "Star Trek" (2009) and "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013).


Final Thoughts
This match-up is being posted on my 28th birthday. Do you know what I would love as a birthday present? To see my favorite character of all things beat one that's massively popular. But, hey, this isn't about me, this is about my dear readers.

As always, make sure you're viewing the WEB version of the site and vote in the poll on the right-hand side of the screen. Poll closes Friday, and results posted on Saturday. Feel free to discuss your pick in the comments below