America’s favorite ‘Star Wars’ movies, characters, revealed they are

Perhaps no question is more internationally divisive than “Who shot first?”

(Or who was the better captain, but the Enterprise has no place here this time; this is Millennium Falcon country.)

Walt Hickey with website FiveThirtyEight wanted to settle that debate once and for all — and determine just which characters America loved more in the process.

Based on a June 3-6 poll at SurveyMonkey, 835 people responded and the results are as follows:

“Star Wars” Movies Seen

Ninety-one percent of those polled had seen “Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back,” followed by “Episode VI: Return of the Jedi” (Ewoks!) with 88 percent…and “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” with 80 percent (sniffle). Only 73 percent of those polled had seen “A New Hope,” the movie that started it all.

Best “Star Wars” Movie.

Not surprisingly, 36 percent favored “The Empire Strikes Back,” making it the favorite among the 471 people who had seen all six movies. “A New Hope” ranked second, while “Return of the Jedi” ranked third.

Favorite “Star Wars” Characters

Let’s start with the LEAST favorite one, “Star Wars” fans. Altogether now…

JAR JAR BINKS!

Out of the 14 characters listed to choose from, the Gungan everyone loves to hate came in dead last with 29 percent.

Jedi Boy Wonder, Luke Skywalker himself, ranked first with 93 percent. Han Solo barely got second place with 92 percent, while Princess Leia Organa, Obi Wan Kenobi and Yoda tied for third with 91 percent. The two most famous droids, R2-D2 and C-3PO, got 90 percent and 85 percent, respectively.

For his part, Darth Vader ranked below Anakin Skywalker, with 58 percent of the votes. Lando Calrissian, Padme Amidala, Boba Fett and Emperor Palpatine followed behind.

And as for the question of “who shot first”?

Of the 834 who responded, 39 percent said Han (hooray!), 24 percent said Greedo and 37 percent had no idea what the question was talking about.

It seems to me that many young Padawans have much learning to do.