Wikipedia:Today's featured article/September 15, 2006

Jabba the Hutt is a fictional character in George Lucas's science fiction saga Star Wars. He first appeared on film in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi as an obese, slug-like alien. Jabba was originally portrayed by an immense latex puppet, but in other films he is a computer-generated image. The character's role in Star Wars is primarily antagonistic. He is a 600-year-old Hutt crime lord and gangster who employs a retinue of criminals, bounty hunters, smugglers, assassins, and bodyguards to operate his criminal empire. Jabba has a grim sense of humor, a bellicose laugh, an insatiable appetite, and an affinity for gambling, slave girls, and torture. The character was incorporated into the Star Wars merchandising campaign that corresponded with the theatrical release of Return of the Jedi. Jabba the Hutt's image has since played an influential role in popular culture, particularly in the United States. His name is used as a satirical literary device and a political caricature to underscore negative qualities such as morbid obesity and corruption. (more...)

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