Mobile Suit Gundam inspired Attack of the Clones’ biggest moment, and it’s all thanks to the man behind Jar Jar Binks

This week, the highly anticipated second season of Andor premiered on Disney Plus with its first three episode arc. Naturally, most of the attention among Star Wars fans has been concentrated around Tony Gilroy’s live action drama series, but that’s not the only major Star War-related release to come out this past week. Last Friday, the second season of Light & Magic, the documentary series on the history of the visual effects company Industrial Light & Magic, also came out, along with an episode dedicated in part to Jar Jar Binks actor Ahmed Best.

The second episode, “There Must Be A Way,” covers a lot of ground, including the scaling up of Industrial Light & Magic in the aftermath of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, the emotional toll the critical backlash to Jar Jar Binks took on Best as a young actor, and the production of the 2002 sequel, Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. One of the biggest challenges the production faced was not only creating a convincing computer animated rendition of Yoda, who before had been portrayed by puppeteer Frank Oz, but to bring to life Lucas’ dream of a climactic battle between the Jedi Master and his former apprentice Count Dooku.