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I have a problem with something somebody said in AOTC forum. They thought TPM did'nt need the pod-racing scene or did'nt need it so long. This struck me as positively absurd and I wanted to see who else thought this. I mean the whole scene was the heart of the movie it showed why Anakin was freed;showed how Qui-Gonn was able to get the parts he needed; Why Shmi was left behind and how Anakin was already strong in the force. But all this is just the plot requirements what I really want to say was that it was the most actualized moment in the whole film. I thought it made Anakin a more endearing, courageous character showed what he was made of. It reminded me of the Death Star trench battle in NH it gave me that joy I remember from the OT, it redeemed all the bad acting and boring plot that was apparent throughout the rest of the movie. It made up for some of the dissapointments and showed Lucas still has it on his best days. Without TPM would be so much less and I hope most feel the same way. Otherwise I wonder what everything's coming to

NOT a half an hour worth!

I kind of agree with SilentMike. I was thrilled by the pod-race, it was for me absolutely a right thing to happen in the movie, fun, action-packed, not very original, but great fun!

I agree with Mah. I thought it was amazing.

its one of the worst part of the movie in my opinion. The duel of fates was awesome though.

Podrace was better scene than duel of the fates give me a break.

I thought the Duel was MUCH better.

Heart of the movie is over stating it, but there is a place for such set pieces in SW movies.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that the pod-race was better than the duel of fates, the duel was the best part. but I like the podrace and the word I would use for it is that it was 'appropriate'.

everyone his opinion (and opinions can be wrong, right Ush? )
Anyway, it's not THAT bad, it's just too long, and serves for ILM bragging

The podrace was fun. The duel would have been better if all that other crap wasn't going on at the same time.

Yeah, I think we have a post somewhere where we were talking about how I would have been nice if they hadn't jumped around so much.

I wonder, can't someone edit it that DOTF is one big long part?

Well I'm big into lightsabre duels, so I naturally preferred the DOTF over the podrace. The race was the fun part for the kiddies. The best part of that was the Tuskens shooting at the pods on the back stretch.

Ha! With one shot you can destroy a pod; with one shot against a Jedi, you get killed

I think most of us likes the DOTF better than the pod-race (except SilentMike).

I preffered DOTF but the Pod Race was great.

then we agree on everything in the DOTF vs. podrace discussion.

nope, Pods = bad, DOTF = great

Well me and Mah agree!

same low IQ, so no problem for you two

I don't understand.

I thought sausages were rather intelligent.

not the weenies

I liked Duel of the fates I just didn't think it was as tense or had more excitement than the podrace in a way I liked the lightsaber battle in Empire better which duel seemed kinda of derived from with the catwalks and bottomless pits and such

The only thing better than Duel of the Fates was the duel between father & son in ESB. It was awesome how they had Anakin use the force to throw things at Luke.

Vader, not Anakin

He is more machine now, twisted and evil

The Original Trilogy sabre duels had far more emotion in; a lot of good feeling. Which was a good thing.

The TPM duel lacked that. But made up for it in a hundred other ways. Looked bloody marvellous as well, of course.

But yes, I think most people are agreed on all this. Sorry, queeq...

mike, i think i may be the guy who was bashing the podrace sequence, which is why you started the thread. let me explain myself. good filmmaking says that anything that interferes with the flow of the movie needs to be cut. ANYTHING. Rick Mccallum and George Lucas say so themselves when talking about the deleted scenes on the DVD.

As I watch the podrace, im amazed by the special effects, it is the only time in the entire movie where anakin is in the spotlight and really gets some solo screentime. But as i watched that scene, I had to struggle to remember WHY i was watching it....

After a bit, i remembered...
-oh yeah, they're stuck on Tatooine.
-Because the hyperdrive on their ship is broken.
-Because they cant use republic credits, Anakin is racing and if they win, they get the parts the need.
-Oh, yeah, if they win, Anakin also gets to be free.
-Why is that a big deal?
-Oh, yeah, hes the chosen one. Whats that?
-Hes the one that must bring balance to the force and qui-gon wants him trained.
-But why are they on Tatooine in the first place?
-Oh yeah, Naboo is undersiege from the Trade federation and they had to escape on a mission to corouscant.
-Why is the trade federation attacking Naboo?
-Oh yeah, Palpatine is trying to rise to power.

Thats awfully convoluted, but thats exactly my point. There are important events going on and the podrace is so freaking long, that it detracts from the plot. It removes the audience from the important events that are going on and completely removes the sense of urgency there should be.

That why the pod race sequence sucks. GL knows that its bad filmmaking, but he kept it in the movie anyways? Why, because for a long time, hes wanted to do a Ben-hur type chariot race and he wants it in the movie so bad, he'll sidetract from the movie's plot, and cut away important things like the character development and humor that were in the Original Trilogy, to make more time for the podrace. IT is the centerpiece of the movie. Not the characters, not the important galactic events going on. All it shows us is that Anakin is a good pilot.

as to Ush's comment about the emotion in the lighsaber duels, i agree with that, but its also my favorite part of the duel in TPM. It shows how things are in the old republic. In the OT, there was emotion and talking during the duels because the characters knew eachother and had a relationship. The BEST thing about the two duels in TPM is that they dont even talk to eachother! They dont say one word to eachother! Obiwan and Quigon are just like, "this is a sith. hes bad. were going to kick his ass." Its just that simple. Its beautiful simplicity in my mind, and I actually think it is GL's best idea in TPM

Well I agree about the conversation part. It's not like qui gon or obi wan could have said "hey now, who the heck are you?" before the duel started. Conversation would have killed the intensity of that duel, but was a necessary part of the others between ben and vader and then luke and vader.

Oh, I agree. But a lot of people prefer the emotinal feel of the OT duels, and I can at least see where they are coming rrom. Queeq is one such person.

And while your point about breaking the flow of the fi;m has a absis, bigsef, I still can't really agree. I never really found it a problem, and as I say, there IS a place for set pieces like that in a film like Star Wars.

i actually agree with youre statement wholeheartedly, ush. I think a 20 minute podrace sequence could very well have a great place in the star wars movie, if TPM had been structured differently. what i mean by t hat is this. the pod race is about anakin. the rest of the movie is not. the rest of the movie is about the appearance of the sith, and the political manuverings of palpatine. anakin is almost an insignifigant player in the movie. which makes the pod race nothing more than a side-show. i think the pod race could have been a great development in the unfolding of the TPM story, if it had been more ABOUT anakin. I dont want to hear any arguments about it being the first movie and Lucas having to set up so much to explain the later movies. The prequel trilogy is supposed to be ABOUT anakin skywalker. not political manuverings.

Lucas could have easily set up everything he needed to for TPM and introduced anakin to us much earlier in the movie. Far too much time is spent on Naboo. While those are some of the more interesting parts of the movie, they dont have to do with anakin. everything that happens before they characters meet anakin is designed to set up anakins discovery by the jedi. in ANH, luke was introduced to us far more quickly, and do you know what, it worked alot better. So if that had been done, i think the Pod Race sequence would have been far more effective and actually been a dramatic event in the story.

Naboo will have a bigger role in EpII I thought

Gosh, I hope not. Just a small role, I think.

While I don't 100% agree with bigsef, the basic idea that TPM was too cramped and the early Naboo scenes took up far too much valuable time, I agree with.

i hope GL does something no director has ever done and do some SERIOUS editing to the "definative edition" of TPM. I know its a long shot, but the story itself is a good one. if it could just be fleshed out more...

yeah, less pods

Less pods? Just more dueling

I still think the pod race was great compared to the rest of the movie which wasn't so great. Bigsef is right although the movie should have focused more on Anakin it was probably Lucas's decision to start out when he was ten that screwed up everything. Otherwise there would have been more character development with Anakin. I really didn't care to see gungans or nubians in distress, trade disputes, Jar Jar as a "comic" character.
All that stuff bored the hell out of me I wanted to see more sith, more jedi the cool stuff. I'm sure Lucas did the best he could but next time he should stop following every so called good "idea", and stick to the real story.

It'd be cool if Podracers had shields and heavy artillery; rocket launchers, laser cannons, flamethrowers, and ion cannons. That would be awesome.
Duel of the Fates is a cool section of the movie, and I prefer it over the Podrace Sequence, but the Pods and the Duel are my favorite parts out of the movie. Although the space war with the N-1 Starfighters and the Droid Control Ship could have been better. I like the OT space battles. More detail in my opinion.

on the DVD you can see that Sebulba has something resambling a flame thrower