The Phantom Menace - The Most Frequently Asked Questions ANSWERED

After nearly ten years of running this channel, I have seen the same questions over and over again. Today I'm answering over FORTY of the most frequently asked questions I've seen about Star Wars Episode One, The Phantom Menace!

0:00 Introduction
0:19 What was the blockade of Naboo for?
1:12 What do battle droid colors mean?
1:49 Why did Naboo elect young queens?
2:32 Why was Jar Jar banished?
3:08 Why do the Gungans dislike the Naboo?
3:35 What is Naboo's core made of?
4:01 Was Padme's name a secret?
4:40 Why did the handmaidens have similar names?
5:28 Are there angels in Star Wars?
6:01 Why was Quinlan Vos on Tatooine?
6:41 Does Anakin have a statue of Maz Kanata?
7:23 Did Anakin build C-3PO from scratch?
8:13 Was Sio Bibble's message a trick?
8:47 What was a normal midi-chlorian count?
9:30 Was Anakin really the only human that could podrace?
10:34 What did Boonta Eve celebrate?
11:22 Who started saying wizard?
11:57 Why did Sebulba hate Anakin?
12:38 Why did Ben Quadinaros's pod explode?
13:19 Why was Aurra Sing at the podrace?
14:01 Who got second in the podrace?
14:58 What happened to Kitster?
15:46 What is the Trade Federation?
16:44 Is E.T. in the senate?
17:40 What happened to Chancellor Valorum?
18:15 Why was Anakin too old to train?
19:17 What were the Jedi Trials?
20:08 What happened to the blockade?
21:00 Who knew Padme was the queen?
21:38 What was the purpose of the laser gates?
22:21 Why didn't Obi-Wan use Force speed?
23:23 How did Maul survive being cut in half?
24:19 What happened to Maul's ship?
24:56 Why couldn't Qui-Gon be saved?
25:30 Why didn't Qui-Gon disappear?
26:05 What happened to the lightsabers of fallen Jedi?
26:50 What happened to the Padawans of fallen masters?
27:34 What happened to Captain Panaka?
28:16 What happened to the handmaidens?
29:17 Why was Qui-Gon cremated on Naboo?
29:52 How did Yoda know about the Rule of Two?
30:53 Was Jar Jar a secret Sith Lord?

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[KingBrachion]

"Jar Jar blew up an oven."

Is THAT what "boom the gasser" meant?!

[trevorhensley]

I know I shouldn't be, but I am impressed with the nuances of Sheev's plan. Talk about the long game!

[mitwhitgaming]

When I was a kid, the Phantom Menace was my favorite Star Wars movie.
As I grew up, that changed, but now it has come full circle again. It's a story that stands well on its own yet still has details that are relevant to the rest of the Original Saga.

Also, about the blockade over Naboo, Qui-gon said in the novelization of TPM, "you don't need a blockade when you control the ports."
And in Plaugeis, Gunray protested pulling so many ships away from their normal commerce operations. So, I imagine he was keen to disperse the fleet ASAP.

[impatienstheshmuck]

Panaka being radicalized by the events of Phantom Menace and manipulated by fellow Naboo Palpatine into being a Moff who dies a villain is pretty sad. It's an object lesson in war and occupation causing those who suffered through it to ultimately become as bad as their oppressors.

[mattypenta]

I'm still impatiently waiting for Quinlan Vos to become the major player in Star Wars media that rumors from 20 years ago implied he was destined for. I remember when the rumor was he was supposed to be one of the main characters of that live action show in the late 00s that never got off the ground (him and a young Boba).

[muticere]

Blown away by the C-3PO revelation of how old that idea was, but it’s not super strange for Anakin to build a droid based on a droid type that already exists. He’s only really going to have access to what he can find, so a template that is already around is logically all he can make. I do however think it would have made just slightly more sense for R2-D2 to have been the droid he built, while C-3PO should have already been serving Amadala on Naboo. Just my personal headcanon of what would have made more sense, especially given how unique and intelligent Artoo becomes.

[pillowlava]

In the novelization of Phantom Menace, when the group returns to Naboo, one of the characters asks why there is only one droid control ship left. I can't remember who replies, but I think it's the pilot, who says, "No need to blockade the port if you control it." or something to that effect. So that fits with your idea.

[darthwick]

I've been loving all the recent Phantom Menace stuff in the fandom recently. Watching all of this and TPM in theaters has reinvigorated my love for the movie

[TheMimiSard]

On the backstory of C-3PO being something George knew way back when, Star Wars has been pretty great at recycling old concepts and making them canon, a little contextualised. A few things I recall - Starkiller was Luke's original name before someone said it was a bit too menacing. It became Galen Marek's Sith name and the name of a planet destroyer base. The original script of Star Wars was "The Journal of the Whills", and teh Whills came back in Chirrut and Baze's monk Order, and the training Qui-Gon persued to become a Force Ghost. Ashla and Bogan were early script names for the Light Side and Dark Side of the Force. It has come back as names some culture use as such, and Ashla was the name of the the Togruta child in Yoda's Initiate class in AotC, and came back as a cover name used by Ahsoka. Early concept art for Chewbacca got turned into the Lasat race, the two biggest names of which are Garazeb Orelios of _Rebels_ and Jaro Tapal, Cal Kestis' Jedi Master, before Order 66. Also on concept art, early art while trying to work out the enemy of TPM, Darth Maul, got recycled and made into Maul's mother, Mother Talzin. In fact Maul's homeworld is a reuse of a Legends world, Dathomir, and even as recent as _Tales of the Empire_ has signs of using concepts from that, with the Mountain Clan Morgan found shelter with reminding me of Teneniel Djo's clan in _The Courtship of Princess Leia_ .
Even Palpatine using clones to come back to life recalls the Dark Empire comics, and Thrawn was notable a popular canonised Legends character.

So I am kinda not surprised George brought back an old idea about C-3PO's origin and tweaked it so the kid who rebuilt him is Anakin.

[RecoveryHacker]

I am completely blown away by how little I knew about the background characters in TPM. Great job Alex!

[jeanniefromtahini]

Wow! This was so comprehensive that it answered questions I didn't know I had!

[RyanHaney]

I have explained to people that Obi-Wan would have fallen into the hole or splatted on the wall when asked why he didn't speed through those red force field gates.

[Renanbso]

When do the Jedi learn about the actual Rule of Two then? Yoda definitely knows about the "capital" rule when he meets Bane's spirit later in TCW, but I can't remember it being referenced outside of that moment and TPM

[PlatinumHaro]

This was my first star wars in the theater. It was my favorite SW movie for a long time. Hard to believe its 25 years old now

[myriadmediamusings]

Heck yes let's get this rolling with the TPM FAQ!

I was one of those that watched it in 99. Though I watched the OT on VHS and ANH special edition in theaters, it was so awesome to get a new Star Wars experience on the big screen.

Its a damn shame of all the negative reception and controversy that would hound this movie for the next decades, but thankfully it has (mostly) died down. Looking back on TPM especially after seeing the 25th anniversary screening, yeah its a lot more dragging then I thought, but thats the cynical inner movie critic. The inner fan who loves the universe and characters really appreciates all the new worlds and newcomers and new elements.

[hunterkiller]

The novels were so much more than the movie. Highly recommend reading the books.

[RandomPerson-bvww]

I’m surprised not many people have asked what r2d2 was doing before the phantom menace

[warrendietzel]

Plagueis died the night before Palpatine became chancellor. That means he was alive until almost the 3rd act of Phantom Menace. There's a great scene in the book of him watching Anakin arrive on Coruscant, probing him with the force and realizing that he was the key to everything.

[warrendietzel]

In the Expanded Universe Kitster stays on Tatooine, and Leia meets him in the EU novel Tatooine Ghost.

[straybard_art]

That maz katana statue retcon is awesome