EPISODE ONE TRIVIA
Among the props in the background aboard the ship as the group leaves Tatooine are threeHewlett-Packard Inkjet cartridges.
When Palpatine lands at Naboo at the end of the film, he's with guards dressed in blue. Their costumes are virtually the same as the red Emperor's guards seen in Return of the Jedi.
Sets were built only as high as the tops of the actors' heads and computer graphics filled in the rest. But Liam Neeson was so tall that he cost the set crew an extra $150,000 in construction.
Qui-Gon Jinn
calls the Queen's starship as a Nubian model J-327. "327" was the landing
bay number where the Millenium Falcon landed on the Death Star in Star Wars. It was also
the number of the landing platform in Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back.
Watch out for Darth Maul's eyes - they never blink!
A pod from the Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) can be seen behind Qui-Gon in Watto's junkyard.
Qui-Gon Jinn's communicator is a Sensor Excel Razor for Women.
Manny, the afterworld character from the LucasArts video game "Grim Fandango," appears in the audience cheering the pod race.
When the droid control ship explodes, one large fragment is a model of the Millennium Falcon.
Natalie Portman missed the premiere party in New York because she had to go home to study for her high school final exams.
The pseudonym used by the Queen, "Padme," is the Sanskrit word for "lotus." "Yoda" is also derived from the Sanskrit word for "warrior."
The film contains no acting credit for the character of Darth Sidious.
Star Wars Insider magazine publisher Dan Madsen is seen doing his bit as an extra grabbing the reins of a Kaadu at the celebration scene. He's short and wearing a light green outfit.
In a scene in the Skywalker home Lucas digitally altered Jake Lloyd's eyes to look in a different direction momentarily.
After the film's end credits finish
rolling, the sound effect of Darth Vader's breathing can be heard.
Queen Amidala's throne-room dress took eight weeks to design.
In the final battle Jar Jar knocks over a battle droid with serial number 1138 on his back. Lucas made a film called THX 1138.
During filming Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises as he fougt. It was corrected during filmmaking.
Theatres receiving the first trailer and posters were warned in writing to return them to the distributor on time or risk not receiving further media, and possibly the film itself. This was done to attempt to prevent the "black-market" sale of the incredibly popular trailer.
The fictional "midichlorians" described in the film are analogous to real-life "mitochondria."
The water cascading over the falls in the Naboo capital city was actually salt.
George Lucas reportedly wrote The Phantom Menace in the same binder of yellow ruled paper in which he wrote the original Star Wars and American Graffiti.
During the first week of the first trailer's release, many theatres reported up to 75 per cent of their audiences paying full price for a movie, then walking out after the Episode I trailer was shown.
In 1997 a fierce sandstorm destroyed several of the Tatooine sets in the desert ouside of Tozeur, Tunisia. Filming resumed two days later. Lucas thought this was a good sign as the same thing happened when filming Star Wars in 1976.
Neimoidian senator Lott Dod was named after two real-life US senators, Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) and Christopher Dodd (D-Conneticut)
A group of ET aliens and some wookies can be seen in the Galactic Senate chamber just after Amidala calls for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum.
Natalie Portman voice was digitally
enhanced for distinguishing between Padme and Queen Amidala.
Similar to Shakespeare, the film's final dialogue is a rhyming couplet: "Always two there are, no more, no less: a master and an apprentice." "But which was destroyed? The master or the apprentice?"
The sound of the underwater monsters growling near the beginning of the film was made by the main sound technician's three-year-old daughter. The sound of her crying was recorded and the frequency lowered to obtain the sound heard in the film.
The sound of the flying motorcycles used by the battle droids was created by running an electric razor around a metal salad bowl.
Some details of the Podrace are closely linked to the 1975 Norwegian animation film Flaklypa Grand Prix.
Watch out for the scene in Watto's shop where Jar Jar tries to knock the droid on the nose. Just before he does the droid gives Jar Jar a kick in a rather painful area!
At the start of the film it says two Jedi Knights have been dispatched to solve the dispute. But Obi-Wan doesn't become a Jedi Knight until Yoda gives him the title at the end of the film....
Notice that when Qui-Gon,
Obi-Wan and Jar Jar enter the Gungan's land you don't see any of them actually walk
through the bubble - a fish gets in the way each time. Could be something ILM hasn't quite
mastered yet.
Producer Rick McCallum makes a brief appearance on the right in a floppy wide-brim hat
when Queen Amidala meets Senator Palpatine.
Sofia Coppola makes a cameo
appearance as handmaiden Saché.
The only scene to be shot totally digitally is where Qui-Gon takes a blood test
from Anakin.
Cameo: sound engineer Ben Burt appears to the left of Rick McCallum (with goatee).
The actual lyrics to Duel of the
Fates are: Korah Matah Korah Rahtahmah
Korah Rahtamah Yoodhah Korah, Korah Syahdho Rahtahmah Daanyah
Korah Keelah Daanyah, Nyohah Keelah Korah Rahtahmah, Syadho Keelah Korah Rahtahmah, Korah
Daanyah Korah Rahtahmah, Korah Daanyah Korah Rahtahmah
Nyohah Keelah Korah Rahtahmah, Syadho Keelah Korah Rahtahmah, Korah
Korah Matah Korah Rahtahmah, Korah Daanyah Korah Rahtahmah, Nyohah Keelah Korah Rahtahmah,
Syadho Keelah Korah Rahtahmah, Korah... in case you were interested.