Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The 5 best scenes of Episode I

Susan Lulgjuraj

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace premiered 20 years ago today. It had its up and downs, but there were many scenes that stood out. Here are the top five scenes from Episode I.

Can you believe it’s been 20 years since Star Wars: The Phantom Menace hit theaters?

More from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

It’s pretty wild to consider that because so many fan were introduced to Star Wars and the likes of Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala and even Jar Jar Binks, through Episode I.

It was a movie so many Star Wars fans found themselves loving despite what many long-time fans thought of it. As the years have gone, the love for The Phantom Menace has only grown – and with good reason.

The film was filled with heartfelt moments, touching scenes, and the beginning of a backstory of one of the franchise’s favorite characters. Yes, it had its flaws, but fans have grown to love those too.

On the 20th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, we take a look at the top five moments from the film that released on May 19, 1999.

5. The Battle of Naboo

The fight between the Gungans and the battle droids is so ominous at the starts with the war trumpets blaring over the mist and then the battle droids rolling over the hills. The battle droids shoot on the shields, and once they realize it won’t be breached, the deploy others tactics — thousands of battle droids.

All the while we know that war is coming and the beautiful planet of Naboo will be wrecked because of greed.

The trade federation were fighting with machines while the Gungans were fighting with their people. It was an unfair war, but one where the Gungans held their own for longer than expected considering their enemy.

They fought well, but the scene was important because it showed the beginning of the end of the Galactic Republic. It showed just how far greed and revenge would push people.

It was all part of Darth Sidous’ master plan.

The droid scene set up much for the future too of what we saw in The Clone Wars. While the B1 battle droids wound up being a little different in the animated series – and a little funnier – it got its vision from The Phantom Menace.

4. Yoda explains anger

When Anakin is in front of the Jedi council, they see right through the young boy. Without any training up until this point, he’s unable to hide his thoughts and calm his emotions – though he does put in good effort.

When Yoda confronts Anakin and asks if he is scared, Anakin says no, but the council already knows differently. Anakin misses his mother and is afraid to lose her. He doesn’t understand why fear is a bad thing though.

Yoda explains:

"“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”"

In four sentences, Yoda carved out Anakin’s life story. He went from being afraid of a number of things, but especially losing his loved ones like his mother and Padme. That fear of that loss and eventual loss led to anger, which then led to his hate of all things Jedi because they couldn’t save his mother or Padme.

He spent many years suffering after that as Darth Vader and only until he finally had his family and was able to save his son was he able to feel redemption.

Yoda tried to explain how it would all happen, but as a young boy, he couldn’t see that. Instead, it led to the Dark Side.

You could even take quote and apply it to others of the Star Wars universe including Dooku and Kylo Ren. Their path to the Dark Side was laced with the same emotions.

3. The Opening Scene

While it may not seem like it, the opening scene was exactly what Star Wars fans wanted to see when The Phantom Menace premiered 20 years ago.

From the gold crawl to the enchanting Star Wars theme, it had the essence of Star Wars right from the start. Then the mysterious Jedi take off their hoods and there are Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

As if that wasn’t enough, Kenobi says, “I got a bad feeling about this.”

We start Episode I on the right track. Every fan knows those words and was giddy with excitement when McGregor uttered them perfectly.

The scene also works well because it shows the relationship between master and padawan. This wasn’t something fans have gotten to see in the flesh before. In the original trilogy, Yoda served as Luke’s master, but also in a small bout of training.

We never got to see padawans in action and Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor had good chemistry right from the start. That’s what made his death so tough too because we saw his father figure taken away from Obi-Wan far too soon.

The opening scene also set the tone that the movies were going to be different than the original trilogy. Politics played a huge part of the prequels and we see the Jedi were tasked as peacekeepers and doing the work of the chancellor.

There is so much to unpack in this opening scene and George Lucas did such a great job of putting it all in there without making it feel too weighted.

COLOGNE, GERMANY – MAY 20: The costume worn by Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker during the Boonta Eve Podrace is seen during the ‘Star Wars Identities’ Exhibtion Press Preview & VIP Opening at Odysseum on May 20, 2015 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Sascha Steinbach/Getty Images)

2. The Pod Race

Leading up to The Phantom Menace, the pod race got a lot of attention. It was something different than previous Star Wars films. In the original trilogy, the stakes were always so high.

The prequels were allowed to have a little fun and that’s what the pod races were meant to be. They also showcased how this young kid who no one paid attention to was also a pretty good pilot even at such a young age.

It also brought together this huge collection of aliens, giving a glimpse into the life on Tatooine and what the galaxy was actually like.

And for the time, the visual effects were pretty cool too. The sounds effects were fantastic, making you feel as though you were in the seats of the arena as the jet engines shook the theater seats – if you happened to see it in the theaters 20 years ago.

We kind of get a “race” in the original trilogy with the chase on Endor moon, but the pod race was so well done taking us out of the cockpit of ships like the Millennium Falcon and putting us right in the elements.

Star Wars fans get to see the planet, different species, including Tusken Raiders, and Anakin’s adeptness at flying.

It’s a fantastic scene and one well remembered for the last 20 years.

Photo Credit: [Star Wars: The Phantom Menace] Lucasfilm

1. Duel of the Fates

One of the most important moments in the prequels happens with the Duel of the Fates, in which the name also says a lot about it.

Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi take on Darth Maul. It’s a fight that the whole movie was built on, leading to this moment. Maul worked on separating the master and apprentice, and when he finally did, Maul managed to kill Qui-Gon with Obi-Wan looking on.

We hardly knew him.

Despite the obviously horrific loss for Obi-Wan, he nearly met the same fate, but allowed himself not to be consumed by rage and find a way out of the fight.

He willed Qui-Gon’s lightsaber into his hand at the same time he managed to flip out of a shaft, and whip his lightsaber through Darth Maul’s torso. Maul fell to his presumed death, cut in half right at the waist.

This elegant and brutal fight shaped much of the future storyline that shaped the prequels. First, it revealed the Sith were indeed back when the Jedi had thought they were gone for thousands of years. Second, Qui-Gon’s dying wish was for Obi-Wan to take Anakin as an apprentice because he believed him to be The Chosen One.

While Star Wars fans were disappointed to see such a magnificent looking character like Darth Maul taken out too soon, the Duel of the Fates (listen to the music) is the best moment of The Phantom Menace.

What is your favorite scene from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace?

Susan Lulgjuraj

Susan is an award-winning journalist who has covered just about every sport from the high school level all the way to the Super Bowl. She enjoys television, great writing, baseball cards and books. Follow her on Twitter @yanxchick.