Qui-Gon Jinn: You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods.
[Jar Jar tries to grab a piece of fruit with his tounge, but Qui-Gon catches it.]
Qui-Gon Jinn: Don't do that again.
Jar Jar Binks: Oh moi moi, I love you!
Qui-Gon Jinn: You almost got us killed! Are you brainless?
Jar Jar Binks: I speak.
Qui-Gon Jinn: The ability to speak doesn't make you intelligent. Now get out of here!
Darth Maul: At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge.
Qui-Gon Jinn: Remember: Your focus determines your reality.
Yoda: Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.
Padme: Are you sure about this? Trusting our fate to a boy we hardly know? The Queen would not approve.
Qui-Gon Jinn: The Queen doesn't need to know.
Padme: Well I don't approve.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: I have a bad feeling about this.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: You were right about one thing master, the negotiations were short.
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 ★