The Weekly Planet - Star Wars: The Phantom Menace - Caravan Of Garbage

Episode Date: April 21, 2022

The Star Wars Prequels have enjoyed a huge resurgence in popularity in recent years, with the kids who grew up with then becoming adults and a brand new generation discovering them. This week we take a look at Episode I The Phantom Menace, George Lucas' return to both writing and directing. Following the adventures of Qui-Gon Jinn, Queen Amidala, Jar Jar Binks and sort of Obi-Wan Kenobi they tackle taxation in the form of the Trade Federation along with Darth's Sidious and Maul. It's a mixed bag no doubt but not without it's redeeming qualities. Thanks for listening to our Caravan Of Garbage review!SUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNVideo Edition ► https://youtu.be/RRpF56sS3zwHelp support the show and get early episodes ► https://bigsandwich.co/Patreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies The Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Welcome back, everybody, to another episode of Caravan of Garbage, where, yes, we've finally come around. Well, maybe not come around. In terms of we're finally covering the Star Wars prequels. We watched those movies. Well, we've started with this one at the very least,

and we'll see how it goes. See how it goes, yeah. James, we watched every Twilight movie. We're not going to stop midway through the prequel Star Wars trilogy. That's a bad boy. How dare us for even contemplating that after what we've done. You know what we've done. Yeah, you all know. Leave a like if you could.

I guess I've got a question and a statement. I'm ready. First of all, it's all been said, etc. and so forth. Will you hear anything new here? I don't know. I've tried to grab some talking points that maybe people haven't heard of before. Some classic hits as well. James, let me tell you this. Did you know that the original working title for star wars was blue harvest

did you know that we're not talking about blue harvest mason oh i'm gonna go and watch a movie real quick then but look i'll say this i've come and i think a lot of people have like a long way on the prequels like i don't hate them as much as i used to but i'm certainly not one of those people that have come right around on them and I'm now like, oh my God, I get it now. It's beautiful and real. There has been a real resurgence, I think, in terms of the critical opinion of this.

Now, the last time we watched this movie, we did a commentary on it. We did. But I don't think that was a fair evaluation of the movie because we've done a lot of commentaries and as we've learned, if you actually sit down and focus and watch the movie you stop commenting so we find it's best to skim the movie a little bit so the last time i really sat down and watched this movie properly before right now

was when it came out in cinemas okay yeah uh and in watching it now i i came away with two sort of major observations about this movie uh that I wouldn't have had then. And the number one thing is like it is genuinely it was then and it is now like a staggering achievement in terms of like technical innovation. Absolutely. And like big budget production. Like obviously, you know, and we'll get into this, but obviously, you know, just the idea of actors on set and their movements are being uh you know recorded and and rotoscoped and etc they're wearing these rigs and then they're converted into fully computer generated characters yeah there's actors working against completely computer generated backgrounds and like even beyond that just just the idea and you you often

see it in the in the making of just the idea of all these artists and animators and production crew who had to put together hundreds, if not thousands, of background characters and alien races and droids and spaceships and pod races and weapons and props and costumes and like these beautiful environments. Like all this, the idea of of like we have to take the star wars universe and bring it back to what it was before it was this dirty horrible universe and just all these ideas and they had to do like all this stuff and like hundreds of variations of all of that sort of stuff like it's like it's like ben-hur like this oh absolutely the sheer uh scale of the whole thing and the idea that it came out at all is amazing and the second note i have is i hate this movie i didn't like it at the time when it came out i was mystified by the five star review in the newspaper because we had newspapers at the time and i'm like i don't like this and i

don't know why really but having re-watched it i definitively it. And you're allowed to like it if you're out there. Once again, I know there's been a big resurgence in this thing and people are like, oh, I watched it as a kid and I liked it and, you know, it's a big part of my childhood. And it's like the original trilogy for a lot of people and I actually think it's quite... You're allowed to have your opinion about this bad movie. You're allowed to like this bad movie.

See, here's the thing. It's so... But, oh oh my God, the fact that it's completely computer generated and we're in this era where nobody has worked with that before. Nobody, none of these actors have worked against nothing before. Well, that's true, yeah. And everybody's talking like they're a block of wood.

Yeah, and everybody's recorded on different days. Like a lot of the time they'll edit, like they'll have two takes of the same shot and then splice them together because George Lucas is obviously micromanaging a lot of the time they'll edit like they'll have two takes of the same shot and then splice them together because george lucas is obviously micromanaging a lot of this at the same time though this in terms of the prequels and not so much the newer ones this does a lot of old school stuff like there is a lot of model making and there is a lot of actual set and costume design you know what i mean and all of these things kind of fall away in the following prequels. Yes, they sure do, yeah.

But I think there's some, as you mentioned, like some beautiful design work and sets and, you know, there's real explosions and they visit real locations and, you know, they're modelling the palace inside and then it's like this incredibly detailed miniature on the outside and, you know, the starships and the starfighters and everything'sfighters and everything so shiny and sleek yeah and i think it's amazing and they had to literally go okay what is the

aesthetic of an entire planet yeah like what let's multiple planets yeah like every time they did one they had to go okay what well let's base this on maybe like an earth-like culture but now we have to do a new version of the entire the entire world like in in every palace and every street and the city and what everybody wears and all that sort of stuff. And I think that's amazing. Okay, I'm going to try and turn you around on this. All right, good luck. Maybe you'll...

Good luck turning me around. Look, this is not new stuff, but the opening crawl, the call to action and adventure of this movie, it's like, look out, there's taxation. Look out. Okay, let's talk about that because... Trade routes, there's a blockade. Okay, for one, I just want to get into a little bit of the background of this, just a fraction of it. Okay, so George Lucas decided to both write and direct this on his own. He hadn't directed since the first Star Wars movie. He also had other people involved in all of those movies,

you know, less so with these ones. He actually asked Lawrence Kasdan to come back and help with the writing. Who helped write Empire Strikes Back. Exactly. And he's also worked on some of the newer ones as well. He wanted to get Spielberg to direct at one point. Ron Howard was asked, but he turned it down

because he's like, I don't think this is a task that I'm up for yet. Clint Howard said he was interested. And obviously the making of this movie itself, that behind the scenes documentary, fascinating. It's way more interesting than this movie itself. Like that is just, it just gives a whole lot of insight into the thought process behind this.

But here's the thing, right? George Lucas has talked about how this is designed to work silently. This is designed to work outside of the dialogue. That's why it appeals so much to international audiences as well, because you could just really lock in and watch this and go, this fight seems pretty good. That pod looks pretty fast, isn't it? Let me tell you that. And that is in a similar vein to the much later and much celebrated Mad Max Fury Road, which apparently was designed to always be in motion and you could understand it with the sound off.

And you know what? Tell you what, if you'd told me about that yesterday, I would have watched it with the sound off and I would have had a better experience, quite frankly. I'm just stuck on the dialogue. I can't. Well, yeah, the dialogue was very much a second thought. And in addition to that, performances and also the relationships

and the charisma between the cast, none of that mattered as much as it did in the original ones. Like they cast that core trio based off their chemistry. And here they just went, you, you, you, and yeah, you'll do. You know what I mean? And it shows. Can you do an Obi-Wan Kenobi impression? Oh, you can? Natalie and yeah, you'll do. You know what I mean? And it shows. Can you do an Obi-Wan Kenobi impression? Oh, you can?

Natalie Portman, you're in. Okay. I also want to talk about, you alluded to it, the politics of it. And, you know, I know people talk about how, you know, Star Wars is like, you know, there's too much politics in it now. And I think what people mean to say is, like, there's too much politics that i don't necessarily like star wars has always at its core being political these ones it's very much at the forefront what they meant usually was uh i was too young to notice the politics in the early ones yeah absolutely and i think if you look at this through the lens of like a corrupt and ineffectual governmental system i think that's fascinating and there's some really obvious

parallels which i which i'd love to talk about first of all ineffectual governmental system. I think that's fascinating. And there's some really obvious parallels, which I'd love to talk about. First of all, ineffectual leaders creating international senatorial gridlock, right? Oh, yes. Intentional thing George Lucas did, right? James, you are turning me around on this. This is incredibly boring.

And ineffectual and distant police force, you know, who protected those in power and people out in the outer rim and lower socioeconomic areas are just killing each other in the dirt. You know what I mean? And when finally one of those police officers finally goes and he meets those people and he's like, wow, I didn't realise this at the time. He's like, I'm going to take one of you.

The good one. Not your mum though. Yeah, exactly. She can stay in the dirt. Yeah. Also corporate interests Ruining democracy Also

Newt Gunray Is Newt Gingrich Like that That is true Lot Dodd Who's his His mate You know

You know the guys They're doing the voices I'm not gonna do The voice But you know They're doing the voices He's an amalgamation Of two former senators

Trent Lott And Chris Dodd Chancellor Valorum Is based on Bill Clinton. And I love this quote from George Lucas. He called Clinton a good man, but he's beleaguered. Like, that's wrong. I understand what you're going for, but he's not a good man.

He's awful and should be in prison. Okay, but that character was excellent on the jismophone. You know? Sure. Just laying down a jismophone solo. Oh, my God. Yeah, so I think all of that is... Remember when Clinton played the saxophone?

I remember, I remember. And I think a lot of that has, you know, we've seen senatorial gridlock. We've seen what happens when corporate interests take precedent over what people actually want. This movie predicted the future. Well, I think it's just always been the way it is. Oh, my God, you're right.

That's how it is. There's a pod race it sure is i've written this pod race is an absolute chore to watch again maybe it's better in silence well see i think i've always thought that it was too long but going back now i appreciate it a lot more i genuinely think that it is an amazing sequence the sound design is amazing like each ship has its own like particular ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk, you know, as it goes past. Do you know what I mean? The collisions are great. A real jangling keys moment for you, James.

Yeah, absolutely. Ka-chunk, ka-chunk, ka-chunk. James here, ka-chunk, ka-chunk. That's great. I love it. Yeah. The sense of speed is really good. When a pod racer crashes to the ground, explodes.

Yeah. Like I'm like, I'm very impressed by the debris. Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, I was. Like a lot of very impressed by the debris. Yeah, absolutely. Honestly, I was. Like, a lot of that stuff is, you know, well, it's a mix. It's real and it's CGI. They did a lot of it for real, which I think shows.

Look, I think maybe I've been praising this for too long because there's a lot of things that I don't like about this. For one, the character of Qui-Gon Jinn, right? First of all, you do the pod race. Why don't you do it? You could just stop everybody from racing with your mind. You could slam them into walls. You could do that whole thing at 20 miles per hour. You know what?

As a kid. Get Obi-Wan to do it. He's like, I don't fly. You do fly. We've seen you do it. As a kid, this I think was one of those movies where I watched it and it was unsatisfying to me narratively and I didn't know why. But over the years,

I haven't learned anything about filmmaking, but I have watched a lot of screen rant pitch meetings, and I'll tell you what, the reason this movie to me is narratively unsatisfying is because so many things happen in it because they need the movie to keep going. You know, there's a scene where Qui-Gon Jinn, as you mentioned,

he's very happy to Jedi mind trick Wingsy Snouto, what's that guy's name? Watto. Into accepting worthless galactic credits and then potentially ruining his business. Yeah. But he draws the line at just stealing the bit he needs? Yeah, exactly. Or sell your ship and get a different ship. Or

get the bus. Which they do. Like we've seen that in the prequels. They put Anakin and Padme on what is essentially a space greyhound bus in the next movie you know what i mean yeah you don't need this particular thing do you remember in the first star wars original star wars blue harvest they're just like here's 10 grand take us to this place that's right you know like i i do not get it like the whole tatooine sequence and it is fascinating to see this side of tatooine and fleshing it out more

like i do enjoy all that world building and they're slaves for some reason, I guess. But it's just, like, I don't understand. Watto's a slave owner. Exactly. Kill him and take Anakin and his mum. Yeah, I completely agree. But that's the thing.

Watto needs to not be able to accept galactic credits so he can have a pod race later. And Anakin needs to be separated from his mother so he can have a pod race later and anakin needs to be separated from his mother so he can fall to the dark side and she can get killed later and he can he can be sad and mad about it let's talk about anakin okay okay i feel really bad for jay cloyd i'm going to start off with that none of this was his fault yeah he has had a very difficult life as a result of this movie he was more recently diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was horribly bullied at school. No good.

And none of that is his fault. It was George Lucas' decision. And I'm not saying George Lucas is responsible for what happened to him. Like that's not what I'm saying. Bring on the bullies. I've hired an assortment of bullies. But what I mean is like. He decided to cast him young.

Because. The main reason was because. It's more impactful when you separate a child from his mother. Than like a dude who's 20. And is like I'm just gonna go. You know. Like it's more impactful when you separate a child from his mother than like a dude who's 20 and it's like i'm just gonna go you know like it's different and that's why they decided to do it also and we've talked about this before if you watch the behind the scenes he's not the best one in the audition there's a documentary on youtube called in a galaxy far far away i was almost anakin skywalker it's about the guy who nearly got it. Yeah, wow.

And just like his life as a result of nearly being in Star Wars. Still an actor? I don't think he is, no, but he's fine. Yeah, makes a lot of sense, actually, yeah. So he seems to be doing really well. I feel bad and I worry about the kid who's just been cast as young Luke Skywalker in Obi-Wan. I'm like, they better look after that kid i think people have learned yeah i'd hope so you know have you seen the internet ever yeah but

you know i think people are a bit more sensitive to yeah you know child actors and bullying and the effect that these things can have on people and we'll talk about jar jar in a minute but one of the things i do like about the character of anakin skywalker is like any child that you'll ever meet they're just fascinated about this one thing and they can't let it go like everything's just like this is like pod racing did you know i'm a pod racer i built a pod racer i'm flying this ship into another ship this is like pod racing it's not like pod racing stop talking about pod racing this is war boy so i enjoy i enjoy that aspect of it. I also liked how he was like, I had a dream I came back to Tatooine and I freed all the slaves.

Except you didn't. That didn't happen. Also, we know that because in Return of the Jedi, Jabba the Hutt still has slaves. Oh, that's true. Also, the Princess Leia bikini is in this movie. There's somebody standing next to him wearing it, which means that person probably got eaten by a rancor

and then they hosed it off. How many people did it go through, you know what I mean, before it got to Princess Leia? So, you know, do you want to talk about Jar Jar though? Like, yeah, sure. See, look, I get that he's annoying, right? But I would also say that if you take everybody who's in Star Wars, probably about 50% of them are annoying to some degree, you know what I mean? And your 50% might be different than another person's 50%, right?

I do think, though, when you mention this up top, he is an absolutely remarkable special effect, including, like, the performance capture, including the way that he interacts with scenes. You never really question that he's not real, and I don't think Armored Best or the team behind this, they don't get any of the credit. You know they do more so now but you know it's always like oh golem look what golem did and golem's amazing i'm not here to say that golem is not amazing mason i'm not here to do that i mean your tone suggests otherwise but all right but really he's also

suffered as a result of being in these movies like he, he's come to terms with it now, but he's a pioneer. He really is. Yeah. It's pretty annoying, though. I've written here, all these CGI creatures are cinematic marvels, but I hate them. And I hate them to this day. And you know what I think is an element that he's annoying to me in particular? It's that you can't...

He sounds like the Olsen twins. The Howood thing. I mean, all of it. Well, actually, it was Stephanie Tanner who did the Howood from Full House, but that's his catchphrase. Yeah. But I think you never quite catch what he's saying. You have to think about it, and that's annoying.

Sure. Like Yoda spoke a certain way, but you never had to be like, excuse me, what? You know what I mean? Like he said actual words where he was like, flippity-dippity, bloop bab and i'm yeah i'm like what what maybe that's because a lot of his his backstory is quite grim and uh and if he spoke like a normal man you couldn't put that on a t-shirt i just like i was banished from my underwater city because i stank what was the deal i actually figured it out

so uh boss nass banished jar jar for crashing his personal hay blibber submarine. There it is. It's actually in the movie, but I couldn't. I didn't catch it. So a t-shirt with Jar Jar's face and then it says, I was banished for vehicular manslaughter. You know, he's been banished again for ruining the Senate as well. Absolutely.

Fair enough. Should have killed him. Ewan McGregor's wig. You know the reshoots in this movie, don't you? Yes. Because Ewan McGregor looks completely different. He's talked about that recently, and also how he was annoyed because he always knew that wig looked stupid,

and then the first poster he ever saw out and about when he's driving around in Hollywood, he's wearing that, and he's like, oh, no. You know what's fascinating about the hair in Star Wars, and Obi-Wan's character specifically? That hairstyle with the rat tail would be more appropriate to his character in Trainspotting, I think. You're right, yeah.

Just like, yeah, that's fine. Yeah, that's enough. Here's the thing about the character of Obi-Wan. Go on. First of all, he's hardly in it. And I'll tell you why, though. He was supposed to do everything that Qui-Gon did. Qui-Gon wasn't supposed to show up until they hit Coruscant.

Ah. Which makes so much sense. Which is why they split up. Yeah. Yeah. So all the things that Qui-Gon does, I feel like all that character development, all that meeting of Anakin, the pod racing, this and that,

is like when I first met your father, he was a great pilot or whatever. I don't understand why they didn't give it to him. Is it because Liam Neeson was more of the known actor at the time, like he'd done Schindler's List? Is that what happened here? Yeah, we needed a real Schindler's List vibe for this children's movie. Yeah. Look, I've got some opinions on Qui-Gon Jinn, mate,

so I'm going to do it right now. I've got a list of things he did right and then a list of things that he did not do right. And then we add them up at the end and we determine whether or not he goes in the Qui-Gon bin. Very good. All right. Okay, things did get right.

That was a bigger fish. He was right. That's true. Also, that happens twice. Like, I forgot that that bigger fish thing literally happens twice. Do you think that's a cool running gag, or do you think they should have cut one? Cut one.

Mm-hmm. When they have the transmission to Tatooine and they're like, you must contact us, we're all dying. Obi-Wan says, that's a trap, right? And Qui-Gon says, yes, either way, we're running out of time. Correct. Move it along. Yeah, yeah.

He's right about Darth Maul being a Sith. You know, that's a pretty good guess. They're like, who's this creature? I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's a man. What's this thing? It's a man.'s sort of a man it's got horns you can get those put in though yeah yeah yeah yeah uh and the last thing is he's you know he was right about the prophecy in anakin that's true technically i'll give i'll give that i mean it's still horrible this guy's important in a way i think okay here's all the things he gets wrong.

He's a terrible Jedi. Agreed. His fate is uncertain, Anakin. He's not dangerous. He obviously is. He turns out, we all know what happens. Didn't you see the poster where the shadow's on the wall and it's Darth Vader? Exactly.

A bit of a clue there, eh, Qui-Gon Jinn? Yeah. At the very start of the movie, Obi-Wan says to Qui-Gon, I have a bad feeling about this. And Qui-Gon Jinn? Yeah. At the very start of the movie, Obi-Wan says to Qui-Gon, I have a bad feeling about this. And Qui-Gon says, I don't sense anything. Wow. Great.

Good work. You didn't sense any of those battle droids or the poison gas? Nah. Should have put poison in the tea if you ask me. Close the doors. Leave him in there

for like a year. Yeah, right. Do not open that door. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ever. You know what I mean? Yeah, let him die of old age. Jettison that bit into space.

He says, the Trade Federation are cowards. Negotiations will be short. Now, I know Obi-Wan's like, you're right. The negotiations were short. But even Qui-Gon mentions later himself. He's like, yeah, the negotiations never took place. Exactly. They weren't short.

They never happened. You're an idiot. Maybe they should have sent actual negotiators and not people who are renowned as dangerous warriors with laser swords. Maybe. Just a thought. I don't know. It's his idea to split up when they're on the big donut and go down to the surface separately,

even though logistically that makes no sense. They could end up anywhere on the planet. I mean, maybe he figured out that these ships are going to land near each other, but even if that's the case, they still have to go through the centre of the planet to get where they need to be. Ridiculous. Look at a map. It was his idea

to go to Tatooine. Terrible. Just go anywhere else. Horrible. There's a horrible little boy there. Don't deal with any of that. Don't risk it. I don't care how many midichlorians he has. This bit isn't so much wrong as it is irrelevant. He says,

it's not a good idea to take this handmaiden into town. Doesn't matter. Doesn't mean anything ultimately. She just stands around and goes, I hate this.

I hate everything you're doing. You know what? Genuinely, one of my favourite parts of this movie was when fake Queen Amidala makes real Queen Amidala clean up a real grubby droid.

Just really get all the dirt and mud and just banter feces out of this droid. Really scrub it. Do you think she does? Do you think it's just a passive aggressive thing? It's a fun game they play probably. He tries to steal from Watto which is fine but then attempts nothing else.

When Anakin asks him what are we going to do about Darth Maul he says we should be patient. No you should turn that ship around and you should go and kill him. With a big laser gun maybe. Exactly and there's two Jedi with you. And the last thing. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+. Will you rise with the sun to help change mental health care forever? Join the Sunrise Challenge

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That's sunrisechallenge.ca. ...written here is, I mean, there's so many things, though, is Liam Neeson was too tall, and it cost $150,000 to extend the sets. They could have used that money to purchase, I don't know, that fucking hyperdrive or whatever. I don't know, it's ridiculous. The villains. Trade Federation. Sure. just i don't know that fucking hyperdrive or whatever i don't know it's ridiculous um the villains trade federation sure how were you on battle droids i think initially i remember thinking

at the time oh battle droids that's pretty cool and then those rolly droids come in with the force fields i'm like those are pretty cool what else more of that for two hours i guess yeah no it's it's yeah and i understand because you know you don you know, you don't want them tearing shreds off human bad guys or whatever, just beheading a bunch of human men. But it loses its sparkle very quickly, doesn't it? Yeah, no, I think so. But one thing I do like about them is you get to see kind of the Jedi, like, move in their prime.

But also, like, none of the Jedi, I think, and this speaks to also the larger narrative in the prequels, that the Jedi are no good. Like they've clearly not been training properly because they can beat like, they're essentially like broomsticks with guns, right? And they can't shoot for shit. They don't know what they're doing. They bicker amongst themselves.

They trip over. But then the second that something rolls up with a shield they're just like oh no and they just like they run you know what i mean like they're not ready for any of this but i like seeing jedi just just carve these things up like it's a stupid thing to build and i think it's intentional you know what i mean to be like this is your army really like this is the thing that you chose i think the idea that the jedi they're they're no good like it takes two of them to kill one apprentice sith and one of them doesn't make it through it that's true you know what i mean like they're not ready for any of this if only if only obi-wan had some sort of powerful dash move that could have gotten him through that video game

style yeah continually switching on and off force field wall. If only there was some sort of, if only I exhibited some sort of powerful super speed dash move earlier in the movie. No, you only get one in your life. Oh, man. Makes sense, actually. Yeah, okay.

Somebody put that on Wikipedia. That solved a lot of problems, I think. I think, though. They should have said it in the movie. You want to do the once in a lifetime dash, young Padawan? Sure do. Pshaw. I the once in a lifetime dash, young Padawan? Sure do. Pshaw. I love all the lightsaber stuff, like Nick Gillard who choreographed this.

I think seeing this balletic version of fighting, it's really cool. And we hadn't seen anything like it. And I know at times it does look very choreographed. But at the time, astounding. I think even now. And there's little moments where like, there's one of the moments, the moment where they first saved the queen on Naboo. Like, they drop down and Qui-Gon, like, cuts through one

and then he spins his lightsaber around and, like, hooks it on his belt. And I'm like, that's fucking cool. And Obi-Wan does his jumpy double kick. He does his jumpy double kick. Oh, my God. Exactly. They should add that into the special edition of Episode 4. Just have Alec Guinness do a double jumpy kick.

And even, you know, when they go up against Darth Maul, incredible villain, like incredible design, voice of Peter Serafenowicz, Ray Park is obviously doing the body work. Sure, yeah. Which some would say is the most important part. But the idea of having a double bladed lightsaber, which means you can fight multiple Jedi at once.

Did they spoil that in the trailer or were you all surprised? In one of the trailers, yeah. I think that's really terrific. And, you know, that whole sequence at the end, the Duel of the Fates, just terrific.

And there's really cool little moments where, for example, there's a moment where Qui-Gon just lands a punch on him. Sure. And I think that's great.

You know? Just like, you can do that in a fight, can't you? Right in his nuts. I can't remember where he hit him, but... In the face. Well, that's great. You know? Just like, you can do that in a fight, can't you? Right in his nuts. I can't remember where he hit him, but... In the face. Well, that's where that race keeps their nuts. Yeah.

Yeah, but look, I want to get back to the Jedi Council. Okay. What an awful pack of nerds. Yeah, I know. Sure, yeah, yeah. It's just terrible. And they bring this boy, they're like, okay, show us the kid.

Just show us the kid, right? And then they're like, what's this? It's a ship. What's this? It's another thing, whatever. And they're like, okay, show us the kid. Just show us the kid, right? And then they're like, what's this? It's a ship. What's this? It's another thing, whatever. And they're like, oh, you're afraid, are you? Oh, you're cold, are you? He's like, yeah, I live on a sand planet.

I live with my mum and you took me here. Oh, you live with your mum, did you? Haven't moved out, eh? Mummy's boy lives with his mum, eh? And then they're just like, nah, kick rocks, mate. Like, you're not in. Bizarre. Yeah.

And obviously, you know, the point there is obviously they're a decaying institution, despite their beautiful Jedi chambers and et cetera. It's like, well, they've gone wrong and they need this big, you know, they need the destruction of the Jedi to really change their ways and whatever. But it's like, maybe just give them a little apartment, keep an eye on them or something, you know, they need the destruction of the Jedi to really, to change their ways and whatever. But it's like, maybe just give him a little apartment, keep an eye on him or something, you know? If you were just nice to him, he wouldn't have killed you all. And you know what?

I'm glad he did. Quite frankly, I'm glad. And I think it's really funny where before Qui-Gon finds out that Anakin is not to be trained, Obi-Wan's like, this is bad news. What are you doing? And Qui-Gon's like, mind your business. You've got a lot to learn. And the next scene, he's like, oh, you don't want to train this kid?

Yeah, I'll train him. And Obi-Wan's like, what? And then he's like, oh, yeah, he's ready for the trials, I reckon. Previous scene, he's like, you need to get it together. And as soon as he gets a new apprentice, he's like, nah, you're out. I got this new guy, I reckon. Yeah. You'll be fine.

We'll fight your numbers. Fight your numbers in the trials. Fine. You don't have to do a reverse park. It's fine. You'll be fine. We'll fight your numbers. Fight your numbers in the trial. It's fine. You don't have to do a reverse park. It's fine. We'll skip that. I think. That's the toughest part.

We'll just skip it. I've seen you do it. It's fine. I think if the council liked Qui-Gon, for one, they would have let him train Anakin. Yeah. And two, they would have sent more than two Jedi to go to Naboo to deal with the war that was happening. I think they're just like, we hate this guy.

Can we get him killed? Do you know about fake Windu in this? No, but it sounds great. I'm aware of the character of Mace Windu. Yes, that's right. So at the very end, they all go to Naboo for a big celebration. They hold up a big orb or whatever. And all the Jedi file out of the ship. And that's right. So at the very end, they all go to Naboo for a big celebration. They hold up a big orb or whatever.

Nice, nice. And all the Jedi like file out of the ship, right? And that's cool. And there's a guy there who's dressed like Mace Windu and he has a shaved head like Mace Windu, but it's just some guy. Interesting. Like I don't know whether they forgot to digitally replace him. They clearly couldn't get Sam Jackson back.

So there's just this character. And I'd love to know if like, I probably should have looked into this, whether he's got his own Wikipedia. I mean, Gene's guy does. Exactly. So this guy got it, right? Is he like-

There is no way, there is no way on earth that somebody hasn't filled in the backstory of that guy. And if they haven't, they need to. Imagine there being any character, main or supporting, or just a background extra. Or mentioned. who hasn't

had their own backstory filled in by now i agree that'd be amazing if he's the only one just quickly like i feel like we neglect this every time we do one of these go on the sound in this is amazing the john williams score is like it's just always excellent ben burt's back for the sound design and he did a bunch of other stuff on this. And just, like, things like the clickety-clack of the droids, you know what I mean, as they're strutting around. I mean, Jewel of the Fates, just, it's all just really terrific, right? The end battle, okay?

Sure, I'm listening. And there's that famous sequence in the documentary where George Lucas is like, I think I've gone too far, et cetera, and so forth. But what they've actually done here and i think this is fascinating it's too much right and there's a reason you're talking uh all the gungans and all the everybody ever versus the droid the droid army and so forth yeah so it's it's that it's the gungan battle uh it's the space battle yeah it's the throne room arrest of Newt Gunray or whatever battle.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And there's Darth Maul, right? And the reason this happened, I think, is because in episode four, there was one battle at the end. It's a space battle. In episode five, there's two battles. Luke is fighting Darth Vader. They're running around Cloud City. Episode six, it's three battles, whatever happens in that movie.

So they've gone, let's do four battles. Let's do four battles. And it's too many battles i agree get rid of some of those or combine like the the gungans and the new gunray thing together sure have them come to the outside of the city and they're just like we're for a battle and all the droids run out and they're like nah and they leave and you don't need to do the battle you don't need to do any of the jar jar running around stuff gungans and gunray together at last that's what I would have said. I've just thought of something. Go on.

Gungan style. Is that anything? Has anybody ever thought of that? Yes. Without looking it up, yes. Absolutely. No, there's a fun video. Oh, nice.

Okay, great. If you've ever seen it. I haven't seen it, but I believe you. It's really good. It's not what you think it is. You should look it up. It's really funny. Wow.

Okay, so. Is it a porno thing? It's not a porno. I mean, there would be one, but that's not the one I'm talking about. Okay, so I want to talk specifically about Jewel of the Fates. And recently Dave Filoni, who does, has done a lot of work with George Lucas, you know, individually and on the Clone Wars animated series and all the way up to all the modern day stuff.

He's talked about the point of Jewel of the Fates, why it's called Jewel of the Fates. Are you familiar with this theory? So basically. But I love when the chorus kicks in. They're like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. That's a good bit. Yeah, it's a good bit. That's a good bit. In fact, I think the whole thing's a series of good bits put together.

Yeah, I know music theory. So that whole sequence, I feel like I've been too excited in this. I need to bring it down. You don't feel what you're feeling. Okay. And I'm just going to give you a stern look. This has just been me giving him a stern look. Well, that's these movies, isn't it?

Just stern looks all around. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's stern looks and posh voices. And I know it's meant to be like a beautiful gilded age and everything was fine and perfect back then. Everything's been shined. But everybody's weird and British and posh. They don't have to be.

Nah. What's this accent, Natalie Portman? Yeah. I don't like it. You need a guy. People have said this. But you need Han Solo to just go, what's this? What's that?

Who are you? I hate this. But I wonder if they just. Obviously, we're not talking about the real Han Solo. He was too busy just being a regular Han or whatever. True. But you do need a guy. You need a guy who's like, bro, are you seeing this, bro?

It's crazy, bro. I hate this. Right? I'm tired. God. Stop being so posh and weird. What are you saying to me right now? But I wonder if they had put in a Han Solo-esque character,

people would have been like, okay, it's been done, man. And you've got to nail it. Also, not everybody they get to do a Han Solo guy is going to have Harrison Ford's charisma. And you'd be like, God, this guy's annoying. Who would they have gotten? Brendan Fraser. I would have liked that a lot.

I mean, for that 99, you're kidding me? They wouldn't have got him, though. No. Just, I don't know. Paulie Shaw, probably. Shaw. Why not? Okay, so anyway, Jewel of the Fates.

That whole sequence is about the fight for Anakin's soul, right? Because Obi-Wan Kenobi openly hates Anakin. When he first hears about him, he's like, what have you found? Who is this? A replacement for me? The coolest Potter one there is? Look at my little rat's tail. Exactly.

And he's like, you know, he's going to kill us all, right? Like, you know, he's going to murder us all. Also, the kid standing right there. Like, he's literally right there when he's saying that. He's like, he's not right. You know he's not right. Why have you done this? This kid sucks.

Yeah. This kid right here, this kid sucks. You know you suck. Hey, kid, you know you scum. But with Qui-Gon losing that battle, that means that Anakin doesn't have somebody looking out for him. That's true. Obi-Wan only trains him because he has to.

Sure. Because he's like, all right, I'm not. Oh, God. You know, he's not ready for it. He's doing it out of pure obligation. They don't like each other. We see that in the next movie. That's true. You know what he's not ready for it. He's doing it out of pure obligation. They don't like each other. We see that in the next movie. That's true.

You know what I mean? They're both resentful because their father figure, the same guy, is an idiot and got himself stabbed. Right? So that adds a whole other dimension to that battle. That battle and that result kicks everything off. Man. You know?

If both of them had have died anakin probably wouldn't have been trained and nothing would have happened you know what i mean that specific outcome ruined everything man yeah anyway uh here's a segment of the show called what's this about just where i'm like what's this about oh like a thing you saw in the movie like what's this about all right maybe i can fill in maybe i can solve this drama for you. Please. How do blockades work? Because you can move in three dimensions in space. How do you blockade an entire planet? And I also say that because, like, they have to run it to get out.

But to get back in, they just do it. They're just like, we made it. We made it to the forest and we're hiding in a forest. Good question. Yeah. Maybe there's a lot more paperwork than you think. But it's ultimately not worth it. You know what I mean? Yeah. You might be right. I've got to requis. But it's ultimately not worth it. You know what I mean?

Yeah. You might be right. I've got to requisition one of those blockade runner ships. Oh, God. Oh, my God. And if I bring it in a day late, I'll lose my deposit. Exactly, yeah. I brought it in five minutes. You charge for an extra day?

Are you kidding me? God, not even worth it. Second thing, it's the poison gas. I talked about that. Let's put that in the gas i talked about that let's put that in the bin all right let's put that in the um we did it for the qui-gon bin sure thank you yeah but qui-gon gin is he's in we didn't we didn't establish that but he's in the bin yeah he has to be and this is also blockade uh related put a shield around the shield generator why can you shoot that i don't know man do you know what i mean yeah no i know I know. That's the eternal question of cinema, isn't it? Yeah.

Just be like, the shields are down. We need to boost the shields. Not like hit specifically the shield generator. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, but maybe if you put a shield around the shield generator, it can't produce a shield. Maybe that's, you know what I mean? Yeah, I guess.

That's stupid though, isn't it? Wow. Are you saying that something in Star Wars is stupid? I'm saying most of it's stupid. Wow. Anyway, are you ready for the Phantom't it? Wow. Are you saying that something in Star Wars is stupid? I'm saying most of it's stupid in every movie. Wow, wow, wow, wow. Anyway, are you ready for the Phantom Men trivia? Yes.

Or is it green trivia? It's still green trivia, yeah. We decided last week it's green trivia. Okay, terrific. Good, good. The green of a beautiful lightsaber. Yeah, exactly. I also just quickly want to point out, look, we haven't covered everything.

No, I think we have. I'm pretty confident in saying we've covered everything. But I know some people want to hear specific things. They want to be like, you know, everyone, he didn't have the high ground in this one. He cut up Darth Maul. You know, Yoda, he's a gross little puppy. He looks weird in this one.

And they CGI'd him. They fixed it. They fixed it later or whatever. Keira Knightley's in the movie. Yeah, why not? Are we in Green Trivia yet? No, no, this is just like... Oh, this is a precursor to green trivia.

Okay, right. Like, we're not going to cover everything. Here's some things. I'm confident we're going to cover everything. For example, did you know that Yoda looked like a real freaky weird puppet and they fixed it? Did you know that? I've heard that, yeah.

Darth Maul, he didn't die when Obi-Wan sliced him in two while falling down the pit. Are you going to do the voice the whole time? Are we in green trivia yet? This is not green trivia! Oh, okay, right. This is a precursor to green trivia. All right, fine, God.

Darth Maul grabbed a maintenance hatch and swung it to a disposal tube. The Qui-Gon bin, I guess. The landing knocked him out and the later the garbage collection droids dumped him into a trash bin which was shipped off-world to a refuge dump and Maul existed there for 12 years.

Is that where he got the robot legs? Yeah, and then he got the spider legs? Yeah, and then he was rescued by his brother, Savage, oppressed. Oh. Is he the same? Is he a different colour, though? Yeah, he's yellow.

I've seen a picture of that guy. Yeah, because he's gel-less, I guess. Yeah, nice. Yeah, cool. Nice. Okay. I like that. A real Sub-Zero Scorpion kind of vibe.

Isn't it just? Yeah, yeah. There's some ETs in the Senate. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's fun, I guess. Also, there's a Maz Kanata looking like statue in Anakin's room. Oh. I don't know what that's about.

So there's a little Greedo running around. Have you seen him? I did say little Greedo. It's a Rodian. It's not Greedo. There is a deleted scene with Greedo where he gets in a fist fight with little Anakin. And he's still his little Greedo.

Yeah, and then they're like, don't fight people, Greedo. You'll get shot. Nice. It's literally the same. Yeah, yeah. If only he'd lived that, he would have lived in real life.

I agree. There it is. According to Jake Lloyd, there's a six-hour cut of this film that was screened for several people before the film was released. The verdict, too long! No, they said mind-bogglingly good. Wow, these days it would have been a six-episode bloody Disney Plus show.

You're not wrong. I would love to see that, genuinely. I don't think you would. Nope, I wouldn't. It's true. I hear something you might like, though. I'd love to see a scene in the editor's room where he's given six hours of this,

whoever it is. I don't know if it's, and he's just like, oh, what? Yeah. Shave off how much? My God. But it'll ruin the,

oh yeah, I guess it doesn't matter. Yeah. Here's two bits of trivia for Mason. Are we in trivia? We're in green trivia. We're still in green trivia. This is all green trivia.

Okay, this is green trivia now. Designer Tricia Bigger and her team created 1,000 costumes for this movie. I bet. Makes sense, yeah. Inspired by various cultures. Yeah. Second bit of trivia. It's more of a personal opinion, just for you.

I think Watto's butt is filled with helium. Those wings are not supporting whatever he is. Physiologically, it's like a bee. I think he's a balloon. He's a little balloon man? He's a balloon. Yeah, he's a he is. Physiologically, it's like a bee. I think he's a balloon. He's a little balloon man? He's a balloon. Yeah, he's a balloon man. Right, so it's a balloon in his butt that makes him float,

but I guess the wings are for movement. For movement, yeah, yeah. Exactly. Sure, sure, sure. It's like the turtle blimp. Did you ever see the turtle blimp as a kid? I saw the turtle blimp. The turtle blimp.

Is there a turtle blimp? I've seen a turtle blimp or two in my time. James, let me tell you this. I had the turtle blimp. I know you had the turtle blimp. I don't understand why you've never let me see it. See it. I don't know where you this. I know you had the turtle blimp. I don't understand why you've never let me say it. I don't know where it is. I want it. It's in a

dump. I bet. It's in a dump with bloody Darth Maul and his bloody brother. You seem a little, you seem real Darth Maul's brother jealous about me having the turtle blimp. I am. Michael Jackson campaigned for the role of Jar Jar Binks. Armored Best has talked about like meeting him backstage at a concert, and George Lucas decided against

casting him because his star status would compromise the film. Absolutely. That's a very good decision. Warwick Davis. He's in this for like, he's one of Jabba's mates. Well, he's in it a few times. There's a scene where Yoda is walking. I think it's where he's coming off the ship.

That's Warwick Davis in the Yoda costume. There's also a CGI Yoda later. They're testing it for the later movies. But also his character that's near Jabba or whatever, that character Weasel also appears in Solo. So he becomes a resistance fighter later on. Oh, my goodness. That's fun.

I don't know whether this is true, but it's fascinating. One of the first casting rumors for the Star Wars prequel came from a science fiction magazine called Starblazer. In the summer of 1985, an issue came out that said that Sybil Danning was to possibly portray the sexy witch that seduces Anakin to the dark side. In 2012, Danning confirmed on her Facebook page that the rumour was indeed true.

And I think the idea of putting an evil, sexy witch, this also coincides with around the time that both Spielberg and Lucas got divorced. Oh no. From each other? Yeah, from, no, they've always been great friends. And they made Temple of Doom just a mean movie as a result of that.

So I wonder whether that has anything to do with that. I don't know. That's just me putting things together. It's probably not true. Joseph Fiennes was a finalist for the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Is he related to Ralph Fiennes? Yes, they might be brothers. Terrific.

And one of them's in Enemy at the Gates and Shakespeare in Love. It's that guy. Nice. Yeah. Anyways, George Lucas's daughter reportedly expressed her dislike for him, which cost him the role.

Ouch. That stings, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Just a kid's like, nah. You're out. Sorry, mate. This guy's yuck. Ouch. That stings, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Just the kid's like, nah, you're out. Sorry, mate. This guy's yuck. Yeah. Anyways, the budget of this movie, it was initially supposed to be

$50 million, and they were going to shoot all three back-to-back, starting in 1997, then 1999 and 2001. It obviously blew out. This ended up costing $115 million, but it made $924 million just in 1999. That's a lot.

I agree. Especially in 1999 dollars. Yeah, but like, I think there was some disappointment. How many CD singles could he have bought for that? Oh, so many. Oh yeah, the Qui-Gon, his death was spoiled in the thing. There's a thing we haven't talked about. Oh, it was spoiled in the soundtrack?

Yeah, that's right. Qui-Gon gets stabbed, whatever it's called. Yeah. I think it was a little bit disappointing to some because they were thinking like Titanic numbers. Do you know what I mean? Oh, I see. The previous biggest movie to Titanic I think was still Star Wars

or was definitely still up there. And so it's like, well, Star Wars will take it back. But I think initially it did very well and then kind of word of mouth and people were like, I don't know. The guy in you saw it 10 times opening weekend. I don't understand how that man is just, what's, what is he doing?

I don't know. What's his, what is his brain? Let me see it. It's not right. We just got a nail at it. It's all I'm saying. Yeah.

But then it was re-released in 3d in 2012 and it made another 102 million. So there you go. Good. It's definitely made its money back and in 2012 and it made another $102 million. So there you go. Good for them. It's definitely made its money back and in merch and the like. Speaking of... Oh, in like Jar Jar Lollipops. Exactly.

Speaking of, I'm actually working on a video, or it's out now, I don't know. It's a lot of research, on the marketing campaign for this movie. Oh, interesting. Wow. Like it's, it is next level. Wow. And as a piece of a stunt video, you said you're going to,

you're going to unearth one of those Jar Jar lollipops and French kisses. I am. I am doing something similar for the video. Oh no. Not to spoil it. My goodness. Anyways, this has been the Phantom Menace

and this is really long. Yeah. Hell yeah. I don't know. Ben, I'm sorry. Lawrence, I'm so sorry. Yeah. And as a couple of George Lucas is here, you cannot take anything else.

Just kidding. Please trim it. Yeah, absolutely. We do Caravan of Garbage here every week. Obviously, we are coming back to do Attack of the Clones next week. Speaking of, if you do want to see that early, you can actually head over to bigsandwich.co. They always go up early there. There's also movie commentaries.

We've done every Star Wars movie as mentioned. We've also got bonus podcasts and our podcast, The Weekly Planet, where we talk movies and comics and

TV shows, comes out there a day early on Sunday as opposed to Monday. This is podcasting. This is podcasting. Thank you very much. I'm at MrSundayMovies

on Twitter. I'm at Wikipedia Brand on Twitter. Give us your opinions on this movie. Let me tell you, I haven't changed my mind. I know that. I think one of the first things you said was, I hate this. I did and I still do, at wikipediabran on twitter give us your opinions on this movie and let me tell you haven't changed my mind

I know that I think that one of the first things you said was I hate this I did and I still do but I'm fascinated by the production of it I think that

if folks if you haven't tracked down do you think that the documentary's on Disney Plus that's on YouTube oh terrific alright track those down and you'll

you'll have a great time have a great time anyways thanks everybody grabbed that gem you guys we'll see you next week. Goodbye. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies

on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.