In the midst of rushing to thwart an intergalactic conspiracy, Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn decides that rather than, say, slicing the slave-owning Watto in half with his lightsaber, the best way to save Anakin Skywalker is to bet on him in a lethal drag race. And it's good thing he does, because the podrace is one of the few exciting parts of The Phantom Menace. After all, it features no discussion of tariffs whatsoever.
Anakin emerges victorious in the cosmic Ben-Hur race, leaving the other pilots, like Sebulba, to live with the grim knowledge that had they not eaten his dusty shit that day, they would have literally prevented multiple genocides.
The Test Run:
This early assembly of the race sequence was comprised of rough effects and test footage. Apparently, even Industrial Light and Magic's process involves creating stuff that looks like a janky '80s TV show. Take the announcer aliens, who originally weren't CGI, but rather two dudes in masks seemingly bought at a Spirit Halloween.
20th Century Fox
And Anakin was played by ... some kid who definitely wasn't Jake Lloyd ...
20th Century FoxThis absolutely cries out for Tom Servo's silhouette at the bottom of the screen.
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