By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Star Wars fans who grew up with the Original Trilogy had every reason to think that the Jedi were very smart. After all, Obi-Wan Kenobi describes them as guardians of peace and justice who had protected the galaxy for a thousand generations, and Yoda was the ultimate embodiment of otherworldly wisdom. Unfortunately, the Prequel Trilogy presented the Jedi as collectively having the intelligence of Jar-Jar Binks. And if you have any doubt about that, just go back and watch the Jedi’s weird incompetence during the Battle of Geonosis in Attack of the Clones.
The Battle Of Geonosis
This particular fight marked a real turning point for the Jedi, showing just how vulnerable they were against an army of droids. So vulnerable, in fact, that it took the arrival of Yoda and the Clone Troopers to keep the Battle of Geonosis from turning into a complete bloodbath. However, that vulnerability had nothing to do with the strength or tactics of the Separatists and everything to do with the Jedi waltzing into a warzone with no real battle plan whatsoever.
Remember, before the full-blown Battle of Geonosis, we had several Jedi show up to rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Padme Amidala. However, they are foiled by the sheer number of droids that the Separatists have on hand. These Jedi are soon at the clankers’ mercy, but this seemingly only happened due to these mystic space wizards being deeply, deeply stupid.
For example, we as viewers are meant to be surprised by how many droids show up during the Battle of Geonosis. But the Jedi should not have been surprised, especially when every single one of them can sense danger to some degree. On top of that, we see Obi-Wan Kenobi warning the Jedi Council that “The droid foundry seems to be working at full capacity,” yet they only send a relative handful of Jedi to tackle what they already knew to be an entire planet full of relentless robot soldiers.
Yoda’s arrival is what saves the surviving Jedi during the Battle of Geonosis. Between this and his reputation as this wizened Jedi elder, you might think that he’s the brains of the group. However, the only significant order he gives is to create a perimeter around the survivors, and the only reason that those Jedi survivors weren’t shot as soon as the Clones entered the atmosphere is a combination of movie magic and plot armor.
Finally, while this is the kind of thing no Star Wars fan should question too deeply (the Force, after all, moves in mysterious ways), it’s kind of insane that Yoda, the one Jedi we know who can easily get visions of the future, had no way to predict how the Battle of Geonosis could potentially go down. It’s equally crazy that he didn’t show up with the rest of the Jedi. Considering he’s the only one who can hold his own against Dooku and can move very heavy objects with his mind, he would have been way more useful as a soldier than as some rearguard general reluctantly going into combat.
It’s only a movie, of course, and many Star Wars fans would argue that we shouldn’t put the Battle of Geonosis under such an intense microscope. But this single battle highlights how utterly incompetent the Jedi really were and how many of their lives they would willingly throw away rather than conduct two seconds of planning. Forget Order 66. In all likelihood, you could defeat Jedi this dumb by simply imprisoning them in a paper bag.