Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Corrected entry: When Senator Palpatine informs Amidala that he is a candidate for the Chairman, she asks who are the oponents. He answers: "...and Bail Antilles of Alderaan." Antilles (Wedge) was from Correlia, and Palpatine's greatest opposition was Bail Organa of Alderaan (Leia's father).

Correction: It's been explained that Antilles is a fairly common surname, and Bail is a relatively common first name, so the similarity is entirely coincidental.

Corrected entry: When Qui Gon first enters Watto's shop he is greeted by Watto in a language other than English (let's just abbreviate this language as OTE - Other Than English). Even though Qui Gon is greeted in OTE he then speaks English to Watto. This would indicate that he either understands OTE, or knows that Watto can also speak English. Watto then calls in Anakin and speaks to him in OTE. Yet he always speaks to Qui Gon in English. Even though Anakin and Watto speak both languages, they usually speak English to Qui Gon. Watto seems to speak OTE to Anakin whenever he doesn't want Qui Gon to understand him. However, in the scene where Qui Gon and Watto bet on the race there is a shot where Watto speaks to Anakin in OTE and the translation is something along the lines of "Better stop your friend's betting or I may end up owning him too." Then Anakin looks to Qui Gon and asks, "What did he mean by that?" Then Qui Gon replies, "I'll tell you later." This would indicate that Qui Gon understood what Watto had just said AND that he understands OTE.

Correction: The OTE language that Watto speaks is consistent with the Star Wars world - English being known as Basic - the common language. It can be assumed that senior jedi and businessmen know a variety of languages, OTE being something common in the Outer Rim like Huttese or whatever (if OTE were Watto's own language, and Qui-Gon were familiar, why is it he did not know Watto's resistance to the Force). So Qui-Gon would be familiar, but not proficient in such a language, while Basic would be the common language denominator.

Corrected entry: When Qui-Gon and Maul are fighting on Tatooine, Qui-Gon's lightsaber hits the handle of Maul's. This would do exactly the same as it does near the end of the movie except that this time Maul is in a position where he would have been chopped.

Correction: Qui-Gon's final swing of his green blade contacts the red blade of Maul's saber itself, several inches past the edge of Maul's saber handle. Qui-Gon never lands a blow on the handle itself.

Corrected entry: Towards the beginning of the movie when the two jedi are confronted by the three destroyers (Droidikars), they see that it's a "stand-off" and run away very quickly just barely being missed by laser blasts. As they run, go frame by frame during this section, and you'll notice that the jedi disappear for several frames although their lightsabers do not. I'm sure this a film flaw. Or do Jedi have the power to disappear at will?

Correction: They don't really disappear. They actually are using Force Speed to escape them. Just watch the shot after they run. You can see them clearly running faster than normal.

Corrected entry: In the opening story text of The Phantom Menace, it refers to Obi-Wan and Qui Gon Jinn as Jedi knights- but Obi-Wan is still a padawan and not yet a Jedi knight.

Correction: He's a Jedi Knight in training and is ready for the trials. Close enough, particularly as the opening text must, by necessity, be brief.

Tailkinker

Correction: And Qui-Gon is a Jedi Master. Like the other correction said, it's for brevity during the opening crawl.

Corrected entry: When Obi-Wan is hanging on to the ledge when he fights Maul, he sees Qui-Gon's lightsaber on the ground next to him. The design of the hilt is the same as Obi-Wan's. No two Jedi have the same hilt design.

Correction: There's no rule stating that Jedi must have a unique design - Jedi build their own lightsabres using whatever design they see fit to use. There's nothing to prevent Obi-Wan from building one similar to his master's sabre.

Tailkinker

Continuity mistake: During the podrace, Anakin is in front of Sebulba and has him on his tail. One view looking towards Anakin you can see Sebulba's pod in the background, but the driver's seat is empty. (01:04:10)

More mistakes in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
More quotes from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Trivia: This film had the dubious honor as being the highest-grossing film to be nominated for "Razzie" awards, until "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" was released in 2018. It also has the dubious honor as one of a few films to be nominated for both "Razzie" (for directing, screenplay, picture, and acting roles) and Academy Awards (only for technical achievements) at the same year. While it did not win any Oscars, it won only one "Razzie" for "Worst Supporting Actor" (Ahmed Best who provided the voice of Jar-Jar Binks).

megamii

More trivia for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Question: Something I never quite figured out when watching the film was what the shields in the corridor were for? The shields that separate Darth Maul from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan during the fight. There are dozens of them and all they seem to do is benefit the fight in the film without having any real purpose.

Lummie

Chosen answer: According to "Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I" by Kristin Lund, they are "laser doors which lock into position in response to potentially lethal power outputs that occur intermittently during plasma activation process" (the fight takes place in a plasma energy processing plant). There are six laser doors in deference to an ancient Naboo legend in which Chaos is held back by six inpentrable gates. As you say though, they're really just a plot device to add dramatic tension to the duel!

Sierra1

More questions & answers from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.