Star Wars is a movie series filled with gobs of interstellar bad-assery. And then there are these guys.

Some Star Wars characters have it rough. Living in a world (or rather, worlds) with Jedi, laser blasters, high-speed starships and terrifying monsters, it’s a little hard to keep up.

We all make mistakes, these five would say, but for many of the characters on this list, those silly mistakes cost them their fictional lives. Here’s to all the characters whose incompetency made the Star Wars series possible.

Nute Gunray

Viceroy Nute Gunray 

A complete puppet, Nute Gunray would never have gotten anywhere without help. How the guy got into politics with a face that looks like chewed-up Orbit mint gum is a wonder to me. Regardless, his rise to power as viceroy and then Separatist leader can be completely credited to powerful allies such as Darth Sidious, Count Dooku and the other dark Jedi. Unsurprisingly, they turned on him as soon as it was convenient.

Zam Wesell

Zam Wesell 

Poor bounty hunter Zam Wesell really chose the wrong Jedi tag-team to mess with. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker nearly slipped up, allowing the would-be assassin to use poisonous millipedes to infiltrate senator Padmé Amidala’s bedroom while she slept. I’m no assassin, but I’m sure there are more efficient ways of killing a person than with millipedes. (She should’ve taken a note from the Snakes on a Plane assassins.) Besides, she had plenty of clear shots at the Jedi with her blaster once they were on her tail — you’d think she could have killed at least Obi-Wan in the bar where they eventually caught her.

Space Slug

Space Slug

Now this big fella should’ve had an easy win. Han Solo and crew, looking for a safe place to land their ship, unknowingly fly the Millennium Falcon directly into the mouth of a gargantuan space slug. The ugly-looking thing had our clueless heroes in his mouth — by the time Han realized where he’d landed, he could have been dinner. But thanks to Han’s expert piloting skills, combined with the complete obliviousness of a worm the size of the Empire State Building, the ship cruises right between the behemoth’s teeth. Come on, ya big dumb animal.

Stormtroopers

Bantha Fodder (AKA, the extras)

People love to make fun of the Stormtroopers’ incompetency. Sure, they couldn’t shoot straight if their lives depended on it — which their lives often do. But let’s not blow their flaws out of proportion; the Clone Troopers wiped out many of the Jedi pretty easily once Darth Sidious turned his troops on them. One moment the Jedi are kicking ass and taking names; the next, they can’t remember how to use the Force or deflect laser blasts the way they were doing a few scenes ago. And while I’m at it, those bumbling Trade Federation battle droids from Episode I are no better. The “I, Robot” rejects save human casualties twofold: The Federation doesn’t have to spare soldiers to fight for them, and any competent person who faces them walks away with nary a scratch. A freshman computer science major could program a more accurate firing system.

Jar Jar Binks

Jar Jar Binks

Easily the most mocked character of the Star Wars series, glorified swamp man Jar Jar Binks happened to be in the right place at the right time and got taken for a ride by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan. As the comic relief character in the new trilogy, Jar Jar is clumsy and clueless, stepping in poop and breaking things. The fact that he eventually becomes a Galactic Republic senator makes the Star Wars universe’s government a bigger farce than Spaceballs could ever parody.