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12! Due to the sheer volume of spoilers, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff all spoilers are unmarked]]. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
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14[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/starwarsepisodeithephantommenace.jpg]]
15[[caption-width-right:350:[-'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' I have a ''bad feeling'' about this.\
16'''Qui-Gon Jinn:''' I don't sense anything.\
17'''Obi-Wan Kenobi:''' It's not about the mission, Master. It's something... elsewhere. Elusive.-][[note]]Clockwise from top left: Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul, Queen Amidala, Jar Jar Binks, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and C-3PO and R2-D2.[[/note]]]]
18
19[[center:[[AC:Turmoil has engulfed the\
20Galactic Republic. The taxation\
21of trade routes to outlying star\
22systems is in dispute.\
23\
24Hoping to resolve the matter\
25with a blockade of deadly\
26battleships, the greedy Trade\
27Federation has stopped all\
28shipping to the small planet\
29of Naboo.\
30\
31While the congress of the\
32Republic endlessly debates\
33this alarming chain of events,\
34the Supreme Chancellor has\
35secretly dispatched two Jedi\
36Knights, the guardians of\
37peace and justice in the\
38galaxy, to settle the conflict....]]]]
39
40''Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace'', or simply known as ''The Phantom Menace'', is a 1999 SpaceOpera film, the first film of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' prequel trilogy and the earliest-set live-action installment of the ''Star Wars'' canon. It was written and directed by franchise creator Creator/GeorgeLucas, who took the director's chair for the first time since ''Film/ANewHope''. It was released on May 19[[superscript:th]], 1999.
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42Thirty years before [[Film/ANewHope the destruction of the Death Star]], a [[CorruptCorporateExecutive corrupt]] [[MegaCorp corporate conglomerate]] known as the Trade Federation blockades the small, peaceful planet of Naboo in protest of rising taxations. Hoping to resolve things peacefully, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic sends the [[OldMaster Jedi Master]] Qui-Gon Jinn (Creator/LiamNeeson) and his [[TheApprentice apprentice]] Obi-Wan Kenobi (Creator/EwanMcGregor) to serve as negotiators.
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44Under pressure from their [[GreaterScopeVillain ominous backer]], the Trade Federation's ambassadors attack the Jedi and invade Naboo, forcing the Jedi to escape the planet with its young leader, [[TheLeader Queen Amidala]] (Creator/NataliePortman). Hoping to petition the Galactic Senate for aid, they set out on a journey to the Republic's capital -- in the process discovering a young boy named Anakin Skywalker (Creator/JakeLloyd), who is [[TheChosenOne unnaturally strong in the Force]]...
45
46The film also stars Creator/IanMcDiarmid as Senator Palpatine, Pernilla August as Shmi Skywalker, Creator/AnthonyDaniels as C-3PO, Creator/KennyBaker as R2-D2, Creator/FrankOz as Yoda, and Creator/AhmedBest as Jar Jar Binks.
47
48The film is followed chronologically by ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', and ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith''.
49
50----
51!!''As you know, these tropes are perfectly legal:''
52
53[[foldercontrol]]
54
55[[folder:Tropes # to E]]
56* AbsurdlyHighStakesGame: A dice game is used to decide whether Anakin Skywalker or his mother will go free. Qui-Gon Jinn cheats and uses the Force to flip the dice such that Anakin gets to go free. Qui-Gon also wagers the ship the main cast came to Tatooine on, which would leave them stranded with no way to stop the Trade Federation if they lost.
57* AccentsArentHereditary: Anakin Skywalker has an American accent. His mother, Shmi, has a Swedish accent, or whatever the space equivalent is.
58* AccidentalHero: In the climax, Anakin joins up with Bravo Squadron in a Naboo starfighter, then cripples the Droid Control Ship's deflector shields...[[AchievementsInIgnorance by complete accident]]. He only joined the battle after being flown to the ship by the fighter's autopilot, and after crash-landing inside the ship, fired two stray torpedoes at its main reactor while trying to fire on a battalion of Battle Droids.
59* AchievementsInIgnorance:
60** Jar Jar Binks ends up destroying much of the Trade Federation's battle droids during the Battle of Naboo by pure chance and coincidence. Examples include him opening up a crate of ammunition that rolls out and hits the droids, and shooting a bunch of them while trying to get unstuck to a destroyed droid.
61** Despite being forced to learn how to pilot a Naboo fighter pilot [[StealthPun on the fly]], Anakin ends up destroying the Trade Federation ship in space by accidentally firing two torpedos at the main reactor while trying to destroy some battle droids.
62* ActionGirl: Padmé definitely counts, participating in the effort to [[StormingTheCastle storm the palace]] during the film's climax. Her handmaidens ''also'' definitely count, with several of them participating in the battle [[UndyingLoyalty alongside their Queen.]]
63* ActionPrologue: The beginning of the movie has a fight aboard the [[MegaCorp Trade Federation]] battleship after the negotiations never take place.
64* ActuallyADoombot: Padmé does this all the time as Queen of Naboo, disguising herself as one of the Queen's handmaidens while a bodyguard (Sabé) disguises herself as the Queen. And she's ''not'' the first Queen of Naboo to do this. Her head of security Captain Panaka designed the strategy, and it was used by her predecessor (and presumably, her successor).
65* ActuallyIAmHim: Queen Amidala traveled with a host of decoys for security purposes, it seems. What makes her an example of the trope is that she's always disguised as one of her own attendants, as opposed to moving completely behind the scenes. Qui-Gon knows handmaiden Padmé is the queen, and takes every opportunity to rile her up when mentioning how the queen will approve of his choices.
66-->'''Padmé:''' You assume too much.
67* AdvertisedExtra:
68** A costume example rather than a character, but Queen Amidala's iconic red gown and gold hair piece, that were slathered all over the marketing, only appear in three brief scenes at the beginning before vanishing from the film altogether.
69** Darth Maul, whose only scene of significance is his duel with the Jedi at the end. He has only three lines and only briefly appears up to that point. Nonetheless, he was featured all over the film's advertising campaign.
70* AgeGapRomance: Anakin and Padmé have a slight one in the prequel trilogy, with a 5-year age gap between nine-year-old Anakin and 14-year-old Padmé in this movie.
71* AggressiveNegotiations: Qui-Gon assures Obi-Wan that the negotiations with the Trade Federation regarding their blockade will be short because they're cowards. Sure enough, Viceroy Gunray opts to "negotiate" with poison gas and Battle Droids in lieu of setting foot in the room with two Jedi.
72--> '''Obi-Wan:''' You were right about one thing, Master: the negotiations ''were'' short.
73* AirstrikeImpossible: Bravo Squadron's assault on the Battle Droid Control Ship. It quickly becomes clear that they have the deck stacked against them--the ship's deflector shield is too strong for their starfighters to penetrate, and the ship is heavily armed and has an endless supply of Droid Starfighters to launch against the tiny squadron of royal fighters. It takes Anakin's flight into the ship's hangar and sabotage of the ship's reactor to turn the tide.
74* AirVentPassageway: After escaping from two droideka robots inside the Trade Federation ship, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon use a ventilation shaft to move to the area where preparations for the invasion of Naboo are going on.
75* AliensSpeakingEnglish: ZigZagged. Most alien characters speak Basic (the InUniverse equivalent of English), but others, like the Boonta Eve podracers, the Hutts and Wald (a slave Rodian child on Tatooine) are heard conversing in Huttese.
76* AlmostDeadGuy: Qui-Gon lasts long enough to beg Obi-Wan to train Anakin.
77* AllLovingHero: Qui-Gon shows no contempt for any living creature, not even for the ever irritating Jar Jar Binks[[note]]aside from minor annoyance[[/note]], the scummy slave-trader and gambler Watto, or the ruthless Sith Lord Darth Maul.
78* AllThereInTheManual: Exactly what the Trade Federation is and the nature of the original trade dispute are never explained in the movie itself, but the tie-in materials went into greater detail about it. The novelization also explains some plot points in the film--for example, Qui-Gon cheated with Watto's chance cube game because he knew that Watto was playing with a loaded die.
79* AllThereInTheScript: Anakin's mother is only identified as "Shmi Skywalker" in the end credits. Anakin just calls her, "Mom," naturally enough, and no one else ever addresses her by name. It's not until ''Attack of the Clones'' that the name "Shmi" is actually spoken onscreen.
80* AllowedInternalWar: In the {{backstory}} of this film, the Galactic Republic has become so mired in political corruption (plus, they abolished their regular military after the end of the last Sith Wars, leaving the Judicial Forces to basically bring SpacePolice cars to a {{Battlestar}} fight) that {{megacorp}}orations like the Trade Federation and Intergalactic Banking Clan are able to control vast armies of droids and mercenaries, which they wield in CorporateWarfare against planetary governments that displease them. The plot of the film is set off when [[BigBad Senator Sheev "Darth Sidious" Palpatine]] covertly pushes the Trade Federation to escalate this to using its droid army to extort policy changes from the Republic Senate itself, in order to create a political crisis he can exploit to get himself elected Supreme Chancellor.
81* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The movie starts with the Trade Federation invading Naboo and taking over Amidala's palace as well.
82* AlwaysABiggerFish: TropeNamer. Qui-Gon says this as he goes along with Obi-Wan and Jar Jar to travel in a bongo sub through the watery core of Naboo, and are saved from a predator by another bigger predator twice in a row.
83* AmazingTechnicolorWorld: Naboo is the most Earth-like planet in the franchise, with dense forests, wide plains, and wide oceans.
84* {{Ambadassador}}: The Jedi are sent to negotiate with the Trade Federation. They luckily have their lightsabers with them when the Federation prove themselves in no mood for negotiations.
85* {{Anadiplosis}}: When Yoda first meets with young Anakin, he asks Anakin what he is feeling, and has words of wisdom when Anakin feels fear.
86-->'''Yoda:''' Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
87* AndroclesLion: Qui-Gon Jinn saves Jar-Jar Binks (albeit inadvertently) from a Trade Federation battalion, prompting Jar-Jar to offer himself as a servant in a life debt. Later, it is thanks to Jar-Jar that they persuade Jar-Jar's people, the Gungans, to help the people of Naboo fight and defeat the Trade Federation.
88* AndStarring: The main cast roll here ends with "and Creator/FrankOz as Yoda", while the "Co-Starring" category ends "with Creator/TerenceStamp as Chancellor Valorum".
89* AntagonistTitle: One is led to think "The Phantom Menace" refers to Darth Maul's secretive actions when really of course, it refers to the subversive undermining of Senator Sheev Palpatine a.k.a. Darth Sidious. In an interesting case, this appears to be played straight ''and'' subverted at the same time. Due to the ambiguity of the title, it could theoretically be applied to Darth Maul and Darth Sidious (playing the trope straight), ''or'' it could be applied to Anakin (subverting the trope since Anakin is decidedly ''not'' the antagonist of the film). The meaning of the title has only ever been met with ShrugOfGod, leaving it entirely open-ended. This has led some to theorize that Jar Jar Binks was/is meant to be a secret Sith Lord or dark side force user as a plot twist, given he is there from the beginning, but was retconned or cut for one reason or another.
90* {{Arcadia}}: This seems to be the overall theme of the planet Naboo. It is a very peaceful place, and the majority of the planetary surface seems to consist of lovely cities, beautiful meadows full of alien livestock, rivers and waterfalls, and lush wetland areas teeming with diverse wildlife.
91* ArmsAndArmorThemeNaming: Darth Maul is TheBrute, so it's hardly surprising he named himself after a bludgeoning melee weapon. Ironically though, he wields a double-bladed lightsaber that's very complex to wield.
92* ArtEvolution: The visual design of this film and the rest of the prequels is a very sharp contrast to the look of the original trilogy. By necessity the earlier films relied a lot on physical environments, elaborate costumes and matte paintings, while this film ran headfirst into using modern techniques including digital compositing, [[ChromaKey Green Screen]] and [[SerkisFolk CGI creatures]] to craft their environments. This made the city vistas infinitely more complex than anything the original trilogy could have imagined and various things like chrome spaceships and Jar Jar's duck-like head would have been near impossible. This in turn made the environments feel a lot cleaner than the UsedFuture the original films pioneered, though the rest of the prequel films demonstrated this as intentional to show that the Clone Wars marked the end of a golden age before the rise of the Empire lead to more rustic aesthetics.
93* TheArtifact: The design of the Battle Droids was based on an early conceptual design for the Neimoidians, which was scrapped because it was difficult to create. In-universe the droids are made to look like Neimoidian skeletons (since their skulls elongate after death), though this was latter retconned as a rumor spread by the Neimoidians. ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' reveals they're actually based on Geonosian skulls, who actually manufacture the Battle Droids.
94* ArtificialGill: The rebreathers used by Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to swim down to the Gungan city.
95* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: The plot point of Watto refusing to accept Qui-Gon Jinn's offered payment in Republic credits for repair parts. Aside from the obvious solution of Qui-Gon just hiring another ship captain who flies routes into the Republic and would therefore need Republic currency, the currencies of large, stable economies tend to be ''more'' valuable than local currencies in developing and fringe economies (c.f. the dominance of the US dollar in black markets). Though given the demonstrable corruption of the Republic in the film, it's possible that the Republic credit has become [[RidiculousExchangeRates severely devalued]] compared to the currencies favored by Tatooine's Hutt rulers.
96* ArtisticLicenseGeology: Yeah, it's ''Star Wars'', so this is to be expected, but given what we directly see of Naboo's geology, there's no way that the surface could be as verdant, full of life, and most importantly Earth-like as it is. Basically, Naboo is a porous planet with canals filled with water running through the planet's core from one side to the other. The problem is, without a hot, liquid metal core like Earth has, the planet would most likely have no magnetic field, meaning that everything on the surface should be fried by radiation. Furthermore, no hot core means no volcanic activity, which raises the question of how the atmosphere developed.
97* ArtisticLicensePolitics:
98** The federal government of the Republic is shown to be so comically corrupt and ineffective in this film that it frankly defies willing suspension of disbelief that the nation-state hasn't [[BalkanizeMe utterly disintegrated]] already. The setup for the film is approximately equivalent to Microsoft deciding to address the [[https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262533300/the-microsoft-antitrust-cases/ 1990s antitrust cases]] by using a mercenary army to take the entire state of Washington hostage, and the US federal government responding by [[HeadInTheSandManagement idly wondering if maybe it was possibly their problem]] that [[CorporateWarfare a private corporation had engaged in an open act of insurrection]].
99** Queen Amidala goes to the Senate to plead for help for her planet, calls for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum when he appears to delay, then Valorum is removed later and Palpatine voted into his place. All this happens in the span of a day, when the process of removing and replacing a government leader typically takes much longer, spanning months to even years. And given that the Galactic Senate is made up of literally ''thousands'' of representatives, it should take even longer.
100* AsYouKnow: "Our blockade is perfectly legal, and we would be happy to receive ambassadors..."
101* BackgroundHalo: Most of Amidala's outfits.
102* {{Backstory}}: This theatrical film really only exists to set up all the back story for the following six theatrical films.
103* BatDeduction: Governor Sio Bibble declares that "A communications disruption can only mean one thing: Invasion. We've lost all communications!" This ''before'' they have even confirmed that the problem is planetwide, or even that the communications disruption is the result of hostile action. While it ''is'' logical to conclude that the Trade Federation, which is already blockading the planet, would jam Naboo's communications with the rest of the galaxy (and thus their means of calling for help) prior to invading, this is hardly the ''only'' reason for a communications failure.
104* BeneathNotice: Queen Amidala constantly dressed in regal royal attire behind face-concealing makeup. She is always assisted with and surrounded by handmaidens with face obscuring cloaks. One of her key handmaidens in the film is Padmé, who assists Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn while on Tatooine. In truth, Padmé is actually Queen Amidala dressed down and in disguise. No one, except possibly Qui-Gon, even noticed the Queen ever switch places with her handmaidens. Not only do all the handmaidens look alike, but no one pays attention to them because they are always in the background assisting others.
105* BeneathTheEarth: Of the flooded variety. The hidden Gungan city is actually fairly close to the surface. Below, the planet is a strangely porous tangle of caverns inhabited by gigantic fish and {{Kaiju}}[=-style=] monsters. Those living on the paradisiacal surface apparently never even see these things, as they happily build their cities and homes along the shorelines of bodies of water that lead into this monster-filled underworld.
106* BeTheBall: The droidekas introduced in this film curl themselves into a ball and roll into battle before emerging in a tripod stance and deploying their DeflectorShields.
107* BigBadassActionSequence: The space-ground battle of Naboo, interchanging between the Trade Federation's clash against the Gungans; Padme's attack on the palace; the lightsaber fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul; and the attack on the Trade Federation command ship.
108* BigBadDuumvirate: Palpatine is the one behind the Trade Federation's invasion, [[GreaterScopeVillain but doesn't get personally involved]]. The main threats instead are Nute Gunray, the [[BigBadWannabe cowardly leader of the Federation]], and Darth Maul, Palpatine's apprentice who serves as TheHeavy.
109* BigNo: Obi-Wan yells "No!" after witnessing Darth Maul land a killing strike on Qui-Gon.
110* BigShadowLittleCreature: A promotional image shows the shadow of Darth Vader belonging to a young Anakin Skywalker, though of course it's just symbolic imagery foreshadowing his eventual turn to the dark side.
111* BigWhat: Anakin's reaction to Qui-Gon telling him he's been freed.
112* BilingualBonus: While Anakin is piloting his starfighter to join the fight at the Droid Control Ship, Artoo beeps at him. Deciphered into our alphabet, the Aurabesh letters on his console read out as "ANAKIN TURN THE SHIP AROUND AND GO BACK HOMIE RIGHT AWAY" (in block lettering without punctuation, as indicated). If "HOMIE" isn't a typo, then Artoo is apparently being "cutesy" and talking down to Anakin; something not entirely out of character for him.
113* BittersweetEnding: The Trade Federation has been defeated, Naboo regains freedom, but Qui-Gon is dead and Palpatine/Darth Sidious becomes Chancellor.
114* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The Trade Federation flagships have a decidedly unorthodox design scheme for a spaceship, having a shape that can basically be described as a half eaten donut with a donut hole in the middle. ''Attack of the Clones'' revealed that the center sphere is detachable and can function as a spaceship in and of itself, with the outer ring serving as the cargo holds for their droid army and supplies, complete with two parallel hangar bays on the open ends of the ring.
115* BlackmailIsSuchAnUglyWord: The Trade Federation blockades planet Naboo and threatens to invade it. Viceroy Gunray calls it "occupying" and "perfectly legal".
116* BloodSport: The podrace is a three lap hovercraft race around the desert where murder, sabotage, and aggression are all permitted. The racers contend with ''snipers'' at one turn. And don't think that you'll be safe up in the stands, either. It ends up looking like ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' on Steroids.
117* BodyDouble: Queen Amidala has several. Apparently being Queen of Naboo is more dangerous than it looks. And in the reverse of this trope, she pretended to ''be'' one of her body doubles, and does so convincingly enough to fool Qui-Gon.
118* BornIntoSlavery: Anakin Skywalker is a child slave when we first meet him, though it's ambiguous whether he was ''born'' into it or if he and his mother were enslaved when he was a child: he remembers their sale to Gardulla the Hutt, who then lost them to their current owner Watto betting on the podraces, but doesn't speak of anything prior to that.
119* BossRemix: Inverted. A happy, fun bouncy version of the Emperor's theme plays over the parade in the last scene of the film.
120* BoyMeetsGirl: Anakin meets Padmé, who is actually the Queen of Naboo, and his future wife, for the first time.
121* CallForward: Has its own [[CallForward/ThePhantomMenace page]].
122* TheCameo:
123** Creator/WarwickDavis (who played the main Ewok in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'') had a couple of minor (but visible) background roles.
124** Nathan Hamill (Creator/MarkHamill's son) has an uncredited cameo role as a Naboo royal guard.
125* CanonImmigrant: This film canonized "Coruscant" as the name of the galactic capital. The name had been invented by Creator/TimothyZahn for ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy''.
126* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: The Naboo Royal Guard doesn’t believe that the Trade Federation will kill Queen Amidala, as they need her to sign an invasion legalization treaty. Qui-Gon Jinn doesn’t believe as such and convinces Amidala to leave the planet.
127* CapitalOffensive: The movie begins with the Trade Federation invading the planet Naboo. When the droid army arrives in the planet's capital of Theed and captures Queen Amidala, Viceroy Gunray declares "victory". However, the Queen escapes and later returns to lead LaResistance in a Capital Offensive of her own by storming the Royal Palace and capturing Gunray.
128* TheCassandra: Qui-Gon's belief that the Sith have returned and that Anakin is TheChosenOne are initially dismissed by the Jedi Council, but [[CassandraTruth turn out to be true]].
129* CharacterAsHimself: Jabba the Hutt is credited as Himself in the end credits.
130* CharacterCatchphrase: The word "realistic" is one for Palpatine in this film.
131* ChariotRace: Pod racing is more than just a futuristic version of chariot racing: the sequence of the pod race and plot developments during it is straight out of ''Ben-Hur''.
132* ChaseFight: Shortly before departing from Tattooine, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon have a high-speed confrontation against Darth Maul. It gives them the realization that the thought-to-be-extinct Sith are back.
133* CheatersNeverProsper: The ruffian known as Sebulba tries to bump the [[KidHero child protagonist]]'s car as soon as the kid takes second place, only for the kid to attach his car to Sebulba's, build up speeding using Sebulba's car, and then rip apart Sebulba's car in the process of breaking off from it, leaving Sebulba miles from the finish line with a third of his car intact.
134* ChekhovsSkill: Many of the tricks Anakin employs during the podrace become useful later when he's flying a Naboo starfighter:
135** The high speed and tight maneuvering through Beggar's Canyon mirrors the high speed and tight maneuvering in the dogfight above Naboo.
136** Anakin is able to cross through a claustrophobic tunnel in Beggar's Canyon, even as a pod ahead of him explodes. This helps him when he has to fly out of a docking bay that explodes around him in the final battle.
137** Anakin contends with Tusken Raiders sniping his pod, just as he has to do with droid starfighters in the final fight.
138** Anakin is able to stop his pod from spinning out of control, and later gets the engines to start again after they stall mid-flight. He later has to level out his starfighter when he gets hit during the space battle, and restart its engines when they overheat and shut down while he's stranded inside of the main hold of the droid control ship.
139** During the trip back to Naboo, Anakin probes the pilot for information on how the queen's starship works. A few scenes later, he's able to fly one of the royal starfighters after some trial and error.
140* CherubicChoir: At the end of the theatrical film, children sing a major-key version of the Emperor's previously ominous theme. This foreshadows that Chancellor Palpatine's veneer of compassion hides the sinister character that will become the evil Emperor from ''Return of the Jedi''.
141* TheChooserOfTheOne: When he meets Anakin and sees what he's capable of, Qui-Gon is convinced he's found TheChosenOne of Jedi prophecy.
142* ChromaticArrangement: The battle droids of the Trade Federation (seen most prominently in this movie and related materials) loosely follow this pattern; while standard infantry droids are all white, pilot droids display blue accents, security droids red, and command officer droids yellow.
143* CityPlanet: Ric Olié describes Coruscant in this fashion. It is a planet-wide city.
144* CiviliansAreIrrelevant: We're told about the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo, and that "people are dying", but never see any of it.
145* CombatClairvoyance:
146** This is the explanation for the Jedi Knights' superior combat skills and ability to [[ParryingBullets block lasers with their lightsabers]] -- they've got the ability to predict the future in a limited way, so they bring their lightsabers into position to parry a shot ''before'' it's actually fired. This is brought up when Qui-Gon Jinn pegs Anakin as a potential Jedi due to his ability to participate in podracing -- a sport that human reflexes simply aren't fast enough to keep up with. Jedi can also look further into the future, but this generally requires a lot more effort and is less reliable.
147--->'''Yoda:''' Always in motion, the future is.
148** We also see Obi-Wan's horrified reaction to a glimpse into the near-future, a few seconds before Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul. He wasn't actively fighting, but he could see where the fight was going. Sadly, he was physically separated from the fighting by a force field and unable to intervene until it as too late.
149* CombatAndSupport: The Trade Federation has a number of support droids. After the Droid Army routs the Gungans, they can be seen collecting the pieces of fallen battle droids.
150* CombatPragmatist: When separated from Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon manages to hold his own against Darth Maul's lightsaber strikes. So what does Maul do to get the better of him? He butts Qui-Gon in the face with the hilt of his lightsaber to catch him off guard and then impales him through the chest.
151* ComicBookAdaptation: The film received a four-issue comic book miniseries by Dark Horse Comics that adapts the films events very closely, save for [[invoked]][[EarlyDraftTieIn some minor dialogue differences held over from earlier drafts of the script]].
152* ComingInHot: Anakin accidentally crash-lands in the docking bay of the Droid Control Battleship. During his attempts to take off again and escape, he [[AccidentalHero accidentally launches a pair of torpedos into something important which causes the entire ship to go up in flames as Anakin narrowly]] [[OutrunTheFireball outruns the destruction he caused.]]
153* ComingOfAgeStory: For Anakin and Padmé. Anakin Skywalker leaves his home and family to begin his training as a Jedi Knight while Padmé Amidala has to prove herself as a successful leader. Done as a mirror of their children Luke and Leia from the original trilogy.
154* ComplexityAddiction: Heroic example. Qui-Gon's ridiculously complicated plan to get the hyperdrive replacement needed to repair Amidala's ship from Watto. Watto is apparently the only vendor in Mos Espa who has the part they need, but he won't take Qui-Gon's Republic credits because they're worthless on Tatooine, and Watto is immune to the JediMindTrick. So Qui-Gon hatches an elaborate plan involving tricking Watto into gambling the part in an upcoming Pod Race and then entering Watto's nine-year-old slave Anakin into the race and having him win it for him. Even though the movie makes it pretty clear Qui-Gon's Force powers meant he knew Anakin would win, you'd think there might have been an easier (and less dangerous) way. Like finding someone willing to exchange credits for a local currency, or trading their current ship for a less valuable but functional one. Or just book passage on a transport, or [[Film/ANewHope with a smuggler]] or something. Give them all the money he has now (a trader or a smuggler would have use for Republic credits, unlike a planet-bound merchant like Watto), and promise them a reward from the Jedi council when they arrive at Coruscant. Or seeing if the Republic has something similar to Western Union and asking the Council to wire them money in a form cashable in local currency.
155* ConnectedAllAlong: In this installment, Anakin Skywalker proudly points to his robotic creation, C-3PO. This seems rather insignificant, except that the first three ''Star Wars'' theatrical films never indicated that C-3PO had any connection to Anakin, who had grown into an evil dark sider bent on ruling the galaxy.
156* ContrastingSequelSetting: The movie introduces the lush Naboo and the mass metropolis of Coruscant, which are colorul, thriving locations that contrast the less lively settings often seen in the original trilogy.
157* ContrivedCoincidence: The entire Tatooine sequence. To wit, the characters, in need of hyperspace parts, just happen to land near a settlement where the first guy they talk to just happens to be the only person with the right parts for miles, and also just happens to own the probable ChosenOne as a slave, who just happens to be good in a podrace (and just happens to be in the process of building C-3PO), of which there just happens to be one tomorrow. And despite having never even finished a pod race and suffering from sabotage, he happens to win. Also just happening to be there is said ChosenOne's future wife. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Qui-Gon, who wholeheartedly believes all this was [[BecauseDestinySaysSo the will of the Force]].
158* CoolBike: Darth Maul's [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bloodfin_%28speeder%29 Bloodfin speeder bike]]
159* CorporateWarfare: The antagonist faction is the corporate army of the Trade Federation, secretly controlled by [[BigBad Darth Sidious]].
160* CorridorCubbyholeRun: While fighting Darth Maul, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon have to navigate a gauntlet of force fields that periodically turn on and off.
161* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Trade Federation, which is willing to sell itself out to [[TheDarkSide the Sith]] in return for [[OnlyInItForTheMoney profit]].
162* CowboyCop: Qui-Gon is the Jedi version of this. He goes with his gut feelings, rather than established procedure. He bends the rules to see justice done. He's been passed over for promotion by the suits on the Jedi Council for his actions, and he's willing to challenge their authority. Oddly, by the time we reach ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', Luke Skywalker seems more like Qui-Gon (who he's never met) than Kenobi or Yoda (who trained him). Later explained in that Obi-Wan and Yoda received training from Qui-Gon's Force ghost and presumably passed his teachings on to Luke. (More precisely, Obi-Wan and Yoda realized that they were too caught up with Jedi dogma until Qui-Gon brought them back to the spirit of the Force.)
163* CowTools: Several implements hanging on the wall of Anakin and his mother's home on Tatooine are actually NERF scoops spraypainted to resemble alien tools of some kind.
164* CrapsackWorld: Tatooine. For one thing, it's stated in the movie that it's ruled by the Hutts (whom according to Panaka are gangsters) and it's clear from the movie that slavery is considered acceptable there, including the use of ''children'' as slaves. There's also the [[BloodSport podracing]], which people also bet various things (including the fate of slaves) on. Even putting aside the nature of its society, there's also the weather; dangerous sandstorms can come up on short notice, which the Tatooine residents apparently predict through aching bones, and that doesn't give them much time to find shelter. Tatooine is a Crapsack World in other installments too, but it's taken further here than it is in the other ones. Scavenging Jawas and murderous, marauding Tusken Raiders can't be helping real estate values, either.
165* CreatorCameo:
166** Visual effect supervisor John Knoll appears as Rya Kirsch, a pilot who participates in the Battle of Naboo.
167** Supervising sound editor Matthew Wood plays Bib Fortuna and Ody Mandrell at the Boonta Eve Classic.
168** Creator/BenBurtt and Rick [=McCallum=] appear as Naboo dignitaries at the end of the film.
169* CripplingTheCompetition: Champion podracer Sebulba "accidentally" bumps another podracer, messing it up and making it unable to race.
170* DamageControl: After Trade Federation battleships shoot out the shield generators on the royal cruiser, R2-D2 and several other astromechs are called out to fix it. R2 gets it done but all the other droids are blown away in the process.
171* DarkestHour: Qui-Gon dies. The Gungans are defeated. Anakin is stranded inside an enemy ship. Padmé is caught by the federation. [[FourLinesAllWaiting All at the same time.]]
172* DarkReprise:
173** Inverted at the end of the movie, where the celebration music is a '' childrens' choir'' doing a "light" version of the Emperor's exceptionally dark {{Leitmotif}} (far grimmer than, if not as immediately imposing as, the Imperial March), foreshadowing the coming darkness.
174** Anakin's Theme from Episode I repeatedly utilizes six notes from the Imperial March in a soft, light piece.
175* DeadlyDustStorm: One forces Qui-Gon's party to take shelter in Anakin's house on Tatooine.
176* DeadlyGas: The Jedi are trapped by the Trade Federation in a room being filled with nerve gas. Fortunately, one of the Jedi's powers are to hold their breath for a very long time. They're also shown later in the movie to have been carrying [[ArtificialGill breathing apparatuses]] the entire time.
177* DeathByCameo: Visual effects supervisor John Knoll's character, Rya Kirsch, is killed by the droid control ship's blasters towards the end of the film.
178* DeathByOriginStory: The film is an OriginsEpisode for both Anakin and Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon is a significant figure in both of their lives, and is dead by the end of the film.
179* DecapitatedArmy: Happens when the droid control ship is destroyed, causing their droid forces to deactivate on the spot. The Trade Federation [[TaughtByExperience did learn from this one]], as when in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', set ten years later, one of their droid control ships over Geonosis is destroyed by the Republic's new army of clones, [[SoLastSeason nothing happens]]. (The novelization has the droids slaved to that ship deactivate for only a second before onboard processors kick in and they start fighting again.)
180* DecoyLeader: The Queen is stuck in a tough firefight with a group of murderous robots, only for the Queen's BodyDouble to walk through the doorway in the full royal regalia, proudly announce that she's the real queen, and duck into the hallway to the left with the robots in pursuit.
181-->''"After her! This one's a decoy!"''
182* DecoyProtagonist: Qui-Gon gets top billing, takes up a sizable amount of space on the poster, and has the most influence and screentime out of the heroes in the movie, but it's all to set up Anakin and Obi-Wan as the true protagonists of the prequel trilogy.
183* DefeatingTheCheatingOpponent: Qui-Gon has Anakin enter into a podrace in a bet to get a new part for their damaged ship. His main rival on the track is a alien named Sebula who won against him in the last race and smugly rubs it in his face. Anakin suspected sabotage since his pod had a malfunction that cost him but couldn't prove it. Sure enough, Sebula breaks off a vital part on Anakin's pod when no one is looking before their next race so that when the race begins, Anakin's pod initially doesn't start. He manages get the engine going and quickly catches up to the competitors until it's only Sebula and him once more. Despite Sebula trying to ram him off the track, Anakin overcomes him and causes him to crash, allowing Anakin to win.
184* DependingUponTheUndependable: After the native Gungans and the humans of Theed ally themselves to retake Naboo from the Trade Federation, Boss Nass makes Jar Jar Binks a Bombad General, despite being ostracized and driven away from his home for being such a clumsy, clueless klutz. While he seems to take to the role fairly well at first[[labelnote:*]]"Steady... steady!"[[/labelnote]], when the battle is loose he doesn't command the Gungan Army at all, and frequently gets himself into accidents that would be considered disasters were it not for the fact that they conveniently kill droids with no Gungan casualties.
185* DestroyTheVillainsWeapon: During the climax of the movie, Obi-Wan Kenobi slices Darth Maul's double-bladed lightsaber in half, leaving him to continue fighting with the half that's still functioning. DownplayedTrope, as Maul is no less dangerous with just a single blade.
186* DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: Happens when the destruction of the droid control ship causes the entire army of battle droids to shut off, and even fall apart. Anciliary material explains the droids are built on the cheap and don't even have individual processing units, thus can't properly function without the ship feeding them orders.
187* DiagonalCut: When Obi-Wan cuts Darth Maul through the middle with his lightsaber, the Sith falls into a bottomless shaft with his body seemingly intact, and tumbles once or twice before he separates into top and bottom halves on his way down. His all-black clothing probably did something to obscure the wound.
188* DickDastardlyStopsToCheat: Played with in the Podrace; while Podracing is a BloodSport done at breakneck speeds, Sebulba is more than willing to take time to handicap other racers (i.e. smashing Mawhonic's pod into a cliff wall, incinerating Clegg Holdfast's pod with a flamethrower, throwing a piece of junk into Mars Guo's engine to cause it to jam and explode). Unlike most examples, it doesn't particularly slow him down or cost him a lead; until he tries to pull it on Anakin, which, thanks to their pods becoming intertwined when Sebulba tries to ram him, gives Anakin a chance to boost ahead, thus tearing apart Sebulba's engine cables, triggering a humiliating chain-reaction destruction of his racer.
189* DiedInYourArmsTonight: After being mortally wounded by Darth Maul, Qui-Gon lives long enough to die in Obi-Wan's arms.
190* DigitalDestruction: The Blu-ray release suffers ''heavily'' from DVNR, destroying much of the picture and resulting in a more pink-tinged presentation. The 4K release on Creator/DisneyPlus doesn't fix much of these issues, though HDR-enabled displays can remove most of the pink tint.
191* DiscOneFinalBoss: The movie ends with Yoda and Mace Windu wondering whether the Sith that Obi-Wan slew was the BigBad or just a Disc One Final Boss. (The audience, having seen him taking orders from a man he calls "master" earlier in the film, [[ForegoneConclusion knows the answer]]...and those that hadn't probably could've puzzled it out from the "Episode I" aspect.) However, the in-universe possibility they consider is that they had killed the Big Bad, meaning that the former Disc One Final Boss [[DragonAscendant was now the]] ''new'' Big Bad.
192* DisneyVillainDeath: Darth Maul falls down a deep shaft after getting sliced in half by Obi-Wan. Though as ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' would reveal, he actually survived.
193* DisproportionateReward: Jar Jar declares himself the "humble servant" of Qui-Gon for pushing him out of the way of a Trade Federation vehicle. Qui-Gon is less than thrilled.
194* DoABarrelRoll: Anakin tries this during the Battle Droid Control Ship battle. "I'll try spinning, that's a good trick!" Given that he ends up spinning into the control ship hangar, which in turn allowed him to (accidentally) torpedo the main reactor, it probably ''was'' a good trick.
195* DoingInTheWizard: DownplayedTrope. Midichlorians provide a bit of scientific explanation to why some people are more receptive to the Force than others, and why it can be passed down in a family, but they do not explain what the Force is. In fact, when Qui-Gon explains them to Anakin, he specifically states, that the midichlorians only communicate the will of the Force, making it clear that the Force is higher consciousness, and not the midichlorians themselves, nor is it generated by them.
196* DontLookBack: Said word for word, Anakin's mother gives him the strength to leave Tatooine by telling him not to look back at her.
197* DontThinkFeel: Said almost verbatim by Qui-Gon to Anakin before the podrace.
198-->"Concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Use your instincts."
199* DoomedByCanon: No, Qui-Gon. You are not going to train Anakin, since Obi-Wan called Anakin his pupil in ''A New Hope''.
200* DownerBeginning: The greedy Trade Federation is behind a blockade of Naboo, but as few know, there's a far-more sinister motive in the works.
201* DownInTheDumps: Watto's junkyard on Tatooine is pivotal to the plot as it is where Qui-Gon goes to find a replacement part for the disabled starship and this leads him and Padme to meet Anakin, who works there.
202* DramaticIrony: Anyone who has seen the Original Trilogy [[ForegoneConclusion knows what will become of Anakin, Obi-Wan, The Jedi, and the Republic]]. Fans more familiar with the universe will also know the SecretIdentity of the BigBad: Senator Sheev Palpatine.
203* DroneDeployer: The Trade Federation's capital ships, seen in this film, are transports and control hubs for legions of droid soldiers, vehicles and starfighters.
204* DubPronunciationChange: The Italian dub has Palpatine's name pronounced "palpa-tine" instead of "palpa-teen" (which is used in the dub of every other appearance of the character before and after it).
205* DueToTheDead: The Jedi and the Naboo hold a funeral for Qui-Gon after his death, [[VikingFuneral cremating him]] as is traditional for Jedi. In ''[[Literature/StarWarsQueensShadow Queen's Shadow]]'', it's also mentioned that Padmé Amidala lights incense for him every year on the memorial day for those killed during the Trade Federation's invasion.
206* DullSurprise: Since the most prominent characters in the film are monks and composed politicians, much of the dialogue is delivered in a dry, informative monotone.
207* EarlyBirdCameo: Anakin owns a statue that looks like [[Film/TheForceAwakens Maz Kanata]]. ''[[AllThereInTheManual Star Wars: Complete Locations]]'' confirms it is indeed a statue of her.
208* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: See the ''Star Wars'' [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness/StarWars page]].
209* EarlyPersonalitySigns: There are some eerie hints of what's to come for young Anakin Skywalker in this movie, like his near-total inability to accept being permanently separated from his mother, or impulsively refusing to heed Qui-Gon's commands to stay out of danger.
210* EasterEgg: Aliens from [[Film/ETTheExtraterrestrial E.T.'s]] species make a brief, split-second appearance in the Galactic Summit scene.
211* EldritchOceanAbyss: The core of the planet Naboo holds vast subterranean oceans, which are inhabited by titanic dinosaur- and eel-like creatures. Jar Jar believes a trip through the Core would be a SuicideMission, but the main characters survive with only minor incident.
212* ElectiveMonarchy: Naboo's monarchy even has term limits, making it essentially just a presidential republic that calls itself a monarchy. [[AllThereInTheManual Supplementary materials]] state that the planet started as a monarchy and transitioned to a democratic republic without bothering to alter the titles and regalia.
213* EliteMooks: The destroyer droids (droidekas), which aren't humanoid like the regular mooks but spider-like bots equipped with shields. As proof of their effectiveness, they are the only droids to not only survive an encounter with the Jedi, but send ''them running'' in their first appearance.
214* EndingMemorialService: The Jedi hold a funeral for Qui-Gon Jinn at the end of the movie.
215* EnormousEngine: The podracers are little more than a basic cockpit tethered to two or more giant engines.
216* EveryoneMeetsEveryone: A couple of notable introductions are Anakin Skywalker to Obi-Wan Kenobi, and R2-D2 to C-3P0.
217* EvilChancellor: Senator Palpatine may seem to be a helpful adviser to Queen Amidala regarding to the Senate. But in truth, he's been sabotaging their efforts to stop the Trade Federation and then convinces Amidala to issue a vote of no confidence against the Supreme Chancellor. This creates a power vacuum for Palpatine to seize the position himself, which ironically transitions him from this trope to PresidentEvil.
218* ExactWords:
219** "Stay in that cockpit!" from Qui-Gon to Anakin. R2 brings this up when Anakin turns the ship on and they end up in combat, and Anakin refuses to turn around. Nevermind that Anakin accidentally activates the Naboo fighter craft in question, subsequently blasts a few Destroyer droids and ultimately takes out the reactor core of the orbiting Trade Federation control ship...
220** Yoda informs Obi-Wan that, while the Council agrees to give Obi-Wan the rank of Jedi Knight, he does not agree to let Obi-Wan train Anakin as his Padawan. After Obi-Wan adamantly insists to train Anakin, without the Council's approval if necessary, Yoda admits that though he personally still thinks it's dangerous (and rightly so), the Jedi Council as a whole have agreed to let him.
221* ExplosiveInstrumentation: The destruction of the control ship's main reactor by Anakin causes the droid control computer to malfunction and explode. The captain and ship staff are in front of the computer when it explodes, killing them all just as the bridge is incinerated.
222* ExplosiveLeash: Anakin tells us that explosive implants helped keep the slaves from running away.
223* ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems: The invasion of Naboo is sparked by some rather dry and prosaic disputes over interplanetary tariffs and trade. Also, there's a lot of attention focused on how the corrupt and ineffectual bureaucracy of the Republic helped to enable the crisis. The presence of these elements are rather odd given the SpaceOpera nature of the Franchise/StarWars Canon.
224* EyeOnAStalk:
225** The movie introduces the podracer Mawhonic, a member of the Gran, a species of stocky goat-like aliens with [[ExtraEyes three eyes]] on stalks arranged in a pyramidal fashion. Several other members of the species have been seen throughout the [[{{Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse}} expanded universe.]]
226** Gungans, including Jar Jar Binks, have eyes on short stalks.
227[[/folder]]
228
229[[folder:Tropes F to N]]
230* FacelessMasses: In the scale model shots of the pod race, the crowd is played by [[https://imgur.com/gallery/uS600Pj rows of Q-tips with the heads painted various colors.]]
231* FailedState: {{Downplayed}} with the Galactic Republic in the prequel trilogy. It's still marginally functional, but so comically corrupt and inept that, in this movie, the Senate's response to a private corporation attempting to [[CorporateWarfare extort a member state with a military blockade]] is to scratch their collective butts and idly wonder if maybe that's possibly their problem. The Supreme Chancellor (equivalent to a prime minister) is forced to go behind the Senate's back to get the Jedi Order involved, and then -- due to [[BigBad Sheev "Darth Sidious" Palpatine]] exploiting the Republic's failure to provide basic governance in order to overthrow it altogether -- is fired by the Senate for his trouble.
232* FaintInShock: After the Gungans agree to join the fight against the Federation droids invading Naboo, Boss Nass announces to Jar Jar Binks that he's going to make him a general and he'll lead the assault. Jar Jar promptly swoons and faints in shock.
233* FallingIntoTheCockpit: Anakin Skywalker, ironically in a manner of following Qui-Gon's orders:
234--->'''Anakin:''' Qui-Gon told me to [[ExactWords stay in this cockpit]], so that's what I'm gonna do!
235* FalseFlagOperation: To the rest of the galaxy, the entire occupation of Naboo was an attempt by the Trade Federation to pressure the Republic senate into dropping taxation of a series of trade routes that the Federation heavily exploited in the past. In reality, the entire thing is an elaborate plot by Senator Palpatine, a.k.a. Darth Sidious, to discredit the current supreme chancellor so he can take his place.
236* FantasticRacism: The Gungans and the Naboo appear to not like each other very much and live segregated from each other in underwater and aboveground cities, respectively. Later on they form an alliance to end the Trade Federation's occupation of their planet.
237* FictionalHoliday: The film shows that Tatooine has Boonta Eve, which is known for its podraces.
238* FictionalPoliticalParty: Before the Clone Wars, the Republic had two factions in the Senate. The Core Faction was liberal, supportive of trade tariffs, and made mostly of humans. The Rim Faction was conservative, anti-tariff, and made up of non-humans. During the election alluded to in this film, Bail Antilles represented the Core Faction, Ainlee Teem represented the Rim Faction, Palpatine was independent, and Valorum was just fighting for his career; every faction had abandoned him.
239* FictionalSport: Podracing is a sport where contestants race in hovercrafts at breakneck speeds with no restrictions on violence, which becomes a problem when the nine-year-old Anakin has to enter the race to get money for a ride off Tatooine.
240* FieldPromotion: At the end of the film, Obi-Wan Kenobi is promoted from Padawan to Jedi Knight without facing the trials after defeating Darth Maul single-handedly.
241* FiendishFish: Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar run into a series of huge aquatic predators on the oceans of Naboo, including a crab-fish hybrid known as an Opee See Killer, and a cave-dwellling Colo Claw Fish, both of which have MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. However, [[AlwaysABiggerFish they're food]] for the even larger [[KrakenAndLeviathan Sando Aqua Monster]].
242* FighterLaunchingSequence: The Naboo fighter pilots [[ChekhovsGunman who the heroes rescued during their escape from the planet earlier in the film]] make off in their fighters during the film's climax. One of them is shot down on takeoff and crashes in a valley below.
243* FinalBattle: There are ''4'' of them (a 3-way lightsaber duel, a massive ground battle, a big space battle and a smaller ground assault). It's been pointed out that the ''Star Wars'' theatrical films had an increasing number of final battles per movie. At an early screening for execs and higher-ups the editor pointed out that because there was so much going on the audience's mood was being pulled from comedy to drama to excitement to sadness so much that it was losing its power. Lucas realized that he had gone overboard and that he couldn't fix it in the editing because [[FourLinesAllWaiting all four battles are intertwined]], and in the latter two movies he backed down on it significantly.
244* FinalSpeech: Qui-Gon Jinn pleads with Obi-Wan to train Anakin, no matter what the Jedi Council says, as he is certain Anakin is the prophesied Chosen One will bring balance.
245* FireForgedFriends; Rugor Nass and Queen Amidala become this by the end of the film, as fellow political leaders. He was impressed by how she begged for his help and humbled herself while coming up with a sound plan to win back their planet. Meanwhile, Amidala commends him for distracting the Trade Federation Armies with his fellow Gungans, showing courage and bravery. The movie ends with a parade as they declare peace between the two governments.
246* FixingTheGame: Qui-Gon, a religious monk, doesn't hesitate to cheat at dice using [[MindOverMatter the Force]] if it serves the greater good. The film's {{Novelization}} justifies it; Watto was using a weighted die and Qui-Gon knew it. No wonder he didn't mind cheating a cheater.
247* FlashStep: The Jedi do this at the start of the film to escape a fight with Droidekas.
248* FlauntingYourFleets: Happens as the Trade Federation lands on Naboo (combined with droids in a MillionMookMarch).
249* FloatingPlatforms: When Queen Amidala's starship arrives on Coruscant, it docks at a floating landing platform -- [[NoOSHACompliance one with no apparent handrails]].
250* ForceFieldDoor: The two-on-one duel in the finale leads the three combatants into a hallway where force fields turn off and on periodically. This separates the two heroes in the duel, allowing Darth Maul to kill the older hero while the latter's apprentice helplessly watches behind a force field.
251* ForebodingFleeingFlock: The Trade Federation's invasion panics the animals of Naboo, who all race to get away, heedless of the Jedi trying to keep from getting trampled, or the Gungan who just stands there like an idiot.
252* {{Foreshadowing}}:
253** After Mace Windu wonders if it was the Master or the Apprentice who was destroyed, the scene pans towards Palpatine and an ominous musical cue is heard while the funeral theme is playing in the background, hinting that Palpatine is the other Sith.
254** Similarly, when Maul leaves Coruscant, he and Sidious stroll along a private promenade. Later, when Padme and company are settling into Palpatine's apartment, the same promenade can be seen just outside his suite's windows -- further hinting at the Sith Lord's true identity.
255** There's also the first meeting between Palpatine and Anakin; Palpatine pats the young boy on the back, saying that, "-we will be watching your career with great interest."
256** Yoda's warning about the nature of the dark side ("Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate... leads to suffering") actually predicts Anakin's character arc throughout the trilogy. In this theatrical film, he's a scared boy. In ''Attack of the Clones'', he's an angry teenager. In ''The Clone Wars'', he's noble yet deeply flawed war hero. In ''Revenge of the Sith'', he's a hateful young man. As Darth Vader, he's a suffering man.
257** Queen Amidala being revealed as Padme using {{Body Double}}s is hinted at multiple times. When the Jedi rescue the Queen and their entourage, the Queen expresses concern about the danger of leaving the planet before looking at Padme who affirms it as the right course of action. When at Mos Espa Padme tells Qui-Gon that the Queen would not approve of betting their ship on a pod race and he responds the Queen won't have to know about it, which Padme replies "Well, I don't approve." Anakin then visits the Naboo residence on Coruscant hoping to say goodbye to Padme and only finds the Queen, who says she is certain Padme would be grateful he stopped by.
258* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Both the heroes ''and'' the villains provide an example.
259** When Obi-Wan is running into the hallway with shields to rejoin the fight duel with Qui-Gon and Darth Maul, he runs at a normal speed instead of using the [[FlashStep Force-enhanced super speed]] he displayed at the beginning of the movie. Had Obi-Wan used this power, there's a chance that Qui-Gon would have survived the duel.
260** Darth Maul's opponent has fallen thirty feet down a BottomlessPit and is barely holding onto an indent in the pit, giving Darth Maul the perfect opportunity to use his [[MindOverMatter Force powers]] to throw his enemy to his death. Instead, Maul opts for a different strategy, one where he throws harmless sparks at his enemy until the latter gets enough resolve to jump out of the pit, stop to grab his saber, and cut a shocked Maul in half.
261* ForgottenPhlebotinum: DeflectorShields are ubiquitous in ''Star Wars'' generally, but especially notable here in that the Gungans, alone out of all the races we have seen, have refined the technology for battlefield usage. They have portable shield generators that can provide an army with protection from artillery fire, as well as personal tower shields to allow front line troops to withstand blaster fire at close range. This would have been ''hugely'' useful in numerous battles during the Clone Wars, as well as to the Rebels on Hoth in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack''. But these technologies are never seen again.
262* FourLinesAllWaiting: The climax cuts back and forth between the lightsaber duel between Darth Maul and the two Jedi, Jar Jar Binks's clumsy antics with the Battle Droids, the Queen's attempt to retake her palace, and Anakin's accidental space battle where he destroys the Trade Federation blockade through sheer luck. This ends up creating some MoodWhiplash considering all four of these battles have different tones and stakes.
263* FriendsRentControl: Shmi and Anakin live in a clean, multi-room house with robot servants while working as slaves, on a desert planet, run by slug mobs. And what's that area where Anakin was building his podracer? Was that, like, a ''backyard''? Possibly justified by their value to Watto as slaves, since he later refused to sell Shmi to anyone, at any price, unless he was certain she would be treated well by her new owner. Sure enough, the guy who eventually was allowed to buy her didn't waste any time in freeing her and ''marrying'' her.
264* GasChamber: The film features at the beginning the Nemoidan Trade Federation trying to gas the ambassador Jedi.
265* GeoEffects: Darth Maul stands over Obi-Wan, as the latter dangles above a bottomless pit. Maul fails to exploit the terrain, and Obi-Wan leaps over his head and bisects him upon landing.
266* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Both the DVD and Blu-Ray releases made some changes to the film.
267** The puppet Yoda is replaced with a CGI Yoda in the Blu-ray release. Lucas claimed he always intended Yoda to be fully CGI in the film, but early attempts at it were unsatisfactory, forcing them to use the puppet.
268** The DVD and Blu-ray extends the podrace sequence with new footage, while also removing a shot of Watto cheering "Sebulba!" An effects error causing Fode and Beed's hand to pass through their vest was fixed. And right after Jabba the Hutt's introduction before the podrace, a new voice is heard from a spectator when the camera is focused on the crowd.
269** A new air taxi scene is added to the arrival on Coruscant.
270** The Blu-ray alters the Vote of No Confidence scene to remove the "Vote now!" chants from the crowd, leaving a general uproar in its place.
271** Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan's Force speed effect in the opening (when they escape the Droidekas) was redone to look more realistic. A close-up shot of Nute Gunray and Rune Haako watching a viewscreen showing the Jedi escaping was replaced for a wide shot with a new effect for the screen itself.
272* GildedCage: Relatively speaking, Watto gives Shmi and Anakin spacious quarters that are enough to host several people, along with a yard large enough to hold a racing pod. They both know they're slaves, however, and that if they tried to escape then they would be blown up immediately with their transmitter chips.
273* GoThroughMe: Whenever the queen is threatened, Panaka is the first to defend her. When her small squadron encountered Maul, Panaka was the only one who draws his weapon and prepares to fight.
274* GovernmentExploitedCrisis: In the backstory of the film series, after their last defeat, the Sith spent centuries working in secret to manufacture crises and exploit naturally occurring ones to degrade the Galactic Republic. They begin to execute the final stage of the plan in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': Darth Sidious, publicly Senator Sheev Palpatine of Naboo, gets the Trade Federation to take his home planet hostage to extort the Senate, and has enough other senators and bureaucrats in his pocket to stymie any response. He uses this to manipulate the planetary governor, Queen Amidala of Naboo, into calling a vote of no confidence against Chancellor Valorum and get himself voted in. From here he continues to degrade democracy and the rule of law until he's able to trick the Senate into [[EmergencyAuthority voting him absolute power]]. From there it's only a matter of time before he has an opportunity to declare himself Emperor.
275* GracefulInTheirElement: Jar Jar Binks, being an amphibious alien, while a LethalKlutz on land, is a fine swimmer in water.
276* GrapplingHookPistol: The "ascension guns", which seem to be an attachment to the security forces' blaster pistols. The size of the rope, at least, is hand waved by its being "liquid cable". They are used during the assault to retake the Naboo palace by Queen Amidala and her retinue to circumvent the battle droids and reach the upper floor.
277* GroinAttack:
278** When Jar Jar is fighting with the pit droid in Watto's shop, it kicks him in the crotch. Jar Jar doesn't seem to notice.
279** During the climactic battle, Jar Jar gets launched through the air and lands on an AAT's main gun crotch-first. This one he ''does'' notice.
280* GutFeeling: When Anakin leaves his mother behind on Tatooine, she tries to convince him that they will meet again. They do, a film later, but only when she's dying.
281* HalfTheManHeUsedToBe: Darth Maul gets ([[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars non-fatally]]) bisected by Obi-Wan.
282* HammerHilt: Darth Maul wins his duel against Qui-Gon by hitting him in the face with the hilt of his double-bladed lightsaber, stunning him long enough for Maul to impale him.
283* HangingByTheFingers: A young Obi Wan is left hanging over a reactor shaft before using the force to draw Qui-Gonn's lightsaber towards him, somersaulting over Darth Maul then [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe slicing him in half at the waist]], leaving both halves of him to fall down the shaft.
284* HappinessInSlavery: Subverted; while Watto is kinder compared to other slave masters and values the Skywalker boy's skills, Anakin objects to the idea of being a slave. He says that he would want to be a Jedi Knight and free all the slaves on Tatooine. Shmi is calmer and resigned about being trapped with Watto forever, but she gives her blessing for Qui-Gon to free her son when the opportunity arises.
285* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: As Queen Amidala points out, Nute Gunray will have to explain his invasion of her peaceful kingdom to the Galaxy's Senate.
286* TheHeavy: Darth Maul serves as the main physical threat to the heroes, since [[BigBad Darth Sidious]] still has to maintain his VillainWithGoodPublicity status, and [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Nute Gunray]] is a DirtyCoward trying to stay out of harm's way as much as possible. After the heroes escape Naboo, it is Maul who is sent to hunt them down, since they are beyond Gunray's ability to locate. When the heroes return to Naboo, Maul is sent to back up Gunray, and at the film's climax, Maul personally duels the two main Jedi protagonists, preventing them from assisting Queen Amidala in Gunray's capture.
287* HellYesMoment: All the pilots in the climactic space battle cheer when Anakin blows up the main Mother ship.
288* HelpImStuck: Jar Jar gets his hand stuck in Anakin's pod racer.
289* HelplessWindowDeath: A variation; Obi-Wan is temporarily separated from the duel between Qui-Gon and Darth Maul by a series of transparent forcefield doors, leaving him to watch helplessly as Maul runs Qui-Gon through.
290* TheHeroDies: Qui-Gon Jinn is the main character of the film and dies near the end, with eight more Skywalker Saga films to go.
291* HeroicSecondWind: Obi-Wan gets one of these moments in his fight against Darth Maul, coupled with HeroicResolve, after his UnstoppableRage doesn't work too well.
292* HeroismEqualsJobQualification:
293** Jar Jar Binks goes straight from being banished to being a general after helping the Nabooan humans and the Gungans get along. And then soon after the droid threat is gone he becomes a senator.
294** Obi-Wan is promoted from Padawan to Jedi Knight following Darth Maul's demise.
295* HiddenElfVillage: The Gungan city meets all the requirements easily. Hidden apart from the rest of the world (underwater), main character (Jar-Jar) comes from there, and later they return to get the Gungans to fight alongside them in the final battle.
296* HollywoodTactics: The Trade Federation lands its mechanized invasion force in the middle of a swamp, at least a day away from the capital of Naboo, Theed. Theed is surrounded by large open fields - in other words, perfect terrain for an army composed mainly of droids and heavy tanks.
297* HomemadeInventions: Anakin Skywalker built a functioning humanoid robot with full human-like AI, and what must have been a super-sonic racer, all on a son-of-a-slave's budget before his voice broke.
298* HonestJohnsDealership: Watto is similar to the Jawas from ''A New Hope'', except that he stays in one town with a permanent storefront. (A few ExpandedUniverse sources go so far as to say he learned most of the tricks of the Trope from them.)
299* HonorBeforeReason: Despite the Jedi Council's very clear and valid apprehensions towards making Anakin a Jedi, Qui-Gon is as determined as any to see the boy be trained.
300* HopeSpot:
301** Queen Amidala is told she needs to be escorted to Coruscant so the Senate can save her people. It turns out the Senate would rather bicker and assign commissions to investigate the invasion. She's so mad that she decides to return to Naboo to stop the invasion herself.
302** The Knights advise the Naboo guard to not respond to distress signals so they won't be traced. Maul finds them anyway and nearly takes down Qui-Gon as he's leading Anakin to the ship.
303** Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both put up a formidable fight against Maul, even cornering him at once point. He takes advantage of force fields separating the Knights and kills Qui-Gon. Obi-Wan ''barely'' defeats him but doesn't reach his master in time to save him.
304* ICantLookGesture: As Anakin is preparing to start the podrace, Jar Jar says it's going to be nasty and that he's not watching before covering his eyes.
305* IconicSequelSong: "Duel of the Fates" is one of the most signature themes from the films, which didn't appear until this film (which is the fourth overall and first prequel).
306* IdentityImpersonator: The Queen's handmaidens are chosen in part to act as decoys when the need arises. For portions of the movie, Queen Amidala disguises herself as the simple handmaiden Padmé, while another handmaiden (Sabé) wears the white makeup. (Sabé was one of Creator/KeiraKnightley's first roles, playing off her facial similarity to Creator/NataliePortman.)
307* IgnoredExpert: When the pilot of the droid control ship reports the main reactor's destruction, the captain insists nothing could've penetrated the shields and dismisses it. [[TemptingFate Bad idea]].
308* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: The long, gruelling duel with Darth Maul takes its toll on Qui-Gon, allowing Maul to catch him off guard and mortally stab him in the gut.
309* ImportantHaircut: A somewhat downplayed example. At the victory parade on Naboo at the end of the film, Anakin has cut his bowl cut hair short with a braid behind his right ear, signifying him as Obi-Wan's padawan, but it isn’t brought up specifically brought up.
310* ImpededCommunication: The Trade Federation jams the [=HoloNet=] prior to launching a ground invasion of the planet Naboo to prevent them from calling for help or warning anybody that the conflict has escalated. Queen Amidala and her court are in the middle of talking to Senator Palpatine when their connection to his office on Coruscant goes out; royal guard Captain Panaka assumes it's a glitch, but Governor Sio Bibble correctly guesses that the Trade Federation is preparing to attack.
311* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Amidala's wardrobe. Also a plot point, her makeup and clothing was designed specifically to make it impossible to see who was Amidala and who was her decoy. Creator/KeiraKnightley played her decoy, who does somewhat resemble Creator/NataliePortman. [[note]]It worked; when in makeup and costume, Keira's ''mother'' couldn't tell them apart.[[/note]]
312* ImprobablePilotingSkills: Anakin somehow manages to land the remaining section of a breaking-apart capital ship on a landing strip on Coruscant, plus blowing up the Droid Control ship, despite having ''never flown before.''
313* ImStandingRightHere: There's a scene where Obi-Wan is trying to dissuade Qui-Gon from training the young Anakin Skywalker, repeating the Jedi Council's premonition that "the boy is dangerous". It's a shame that they're walking ''right past Anakin'' as he's arguing this.
314* InevitableTournament: The pod-racing. The prize money is needed to advance the plot, since Republic credits are [[YourMoneyIsNoGoodHere no good on Tatooine]].
315* InexplicablyIdenticalIndividuals: Queen Amidala's handmaidens all look identical. This, of course, is intentional, and part of the [[BodyDouble "decoy trick"]], where one of them, Sabé, posed as the Queen while the Queen dressed as one of the handmaidens in her identity as Padmé. (They have similar names too, at least in public; in addition to Sabé, the others were named Eirtaé, Rabé, Saché, Yané, Fé, and Dané); Padmé's name mentioned often make members of the royal court assume that the Queen has ''eight'' handmaidens. This Trope is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in the ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'' comic book ''In Triplicate'' with this exchange:
316-->'''Anakin:''' In fact, I'm pretty sure it's... Amidala's decoys Sabé and Eritaé.\
317'''Eirtaé:''' Actually, I'm Eritaé!\
318'''Sabé:''' [[MindScrew And I'm Sabé!]]
319* InnocuouslyImportantEpisode: The movie at first feels a lot smaller in scope compared to previous films, which deal with a galaxy spanning conflict against TheEmpire while this film is concerned with an invasion of a single planet. But this film involves the discovery of Anakin Skywalker and his induction into the Jedi Order while also showing a political shift in TheRepublic that allows Senator Palpatine to ascend to become Chancellor of the Galactic Senate, both of which are [[ForegoneConclusion known to fans as being Darth Vader and the Emperor]] of the original trilogy. ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'' reveals that the MegaCorp villains of the first film became the financial backer of the Separatist movement, instigating The Clone Wars which was previously a CrypticBackgroundReference.
320* InsertGrenadeHere: Jar-Jar Binks does a variation with one of the {{energy ball}}s the Gungans use. As a result of LethalKlutz antics of his, no so much out of battle awareness.
321* InterestingSituationDuel: The three-way duel in the power station of the palace on Naboo. The two Jedi chase Darth Maul on the catwalks spanning several levels of the building, get momentarily trapped in a LaserHallway, they are separated before they can resume. Obi-Wan is ForcedToWatch as his master fights Maul alone and is killed by him, leaving Obi-Wan to fight Maul alone.
322* IntimidationDemonstration: Darth Maul turns towards Obi-Wan after killing Qui-Gon Jinn and swings his lightsaber around to taunt him.
323* InvincibleIncompetent: Jar Jar Binks almost singlehandedly wins the Battle of Naboo for the Gungans due to his bumbling antics accidentally dealing serious damage to the droid army over and over again. He clearly has no idea what he's doing for the entire battle, but he is somehow alive, unscathed, and victorious in the end despite it.
324* InvisibilityCloak: Darth Maul's ship has a cloaking device.
325* {{Irony}}: Anakin says that "no one can kill a Jedi". He will eventually do this himself.
326* ItsASmallWorldAfterAll: Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi arrive in the Naboo capital city at the same time and place that the Queen and her entourage are being moved by their combat droid guards, allowing the two Jedi to rescue them.
327* ItsPersonalWithTheDragon: Obi-Wan and Maul only fulfill this trope during the last ten minutes of their fight thanks to Maul murdering Obi-Wan's mentor Qui-Gon Jinn.
328* JediMindTrick: Qui-Gon uses this on Boss Nass to save Jar Jar's life and get them a transport to Theed. He later tries, and fails, to do the same on Watto to haggle over a needed starship hyperdrive.
329* KeystoneArmy:
330** Every unit in the droid army malfunctions as soon as the control ship explodes. Explained by later media as the Nemoidians not trusting the droids and wanting a way to disable them if something goes wrong. Later media also show the Separatists learned from this mistake and made the droids more independent.
331** The Gungan army turns and runs as soon as their shield generator is knocked out. Justified, because while the shield was up the only thing that could get through was the Trade Federation's infantry. After the shield is down their heavy firepower could move in.
332* KickTheDog: During the podrace some Tusken Raiders shoot down one of the racers (and try to shoot down Anakin as well), apparently just ForTheEvulz. They even have the audacity to start wildly cheering afterwards.
333* KneeFoldFallOfDefeat: Qui Gon Jinn falls to his knees after he is impaled by Darth Maul.
334* KneelBeforeFrodo: Queen Amidala reveals herself and kneels before Boss Nass to ask for his support. Everyone in her party follows suit. Nass being [[BoisterousBruiser who he is]], he first laughs and then agrees to help her.
335%%* KnightKnaveAndSquire: Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Anakin, respectively.
336* KrakenAndLeviathan: The Naboo ocean seems to be filled with monsters each getting bigger and bigger as you go deeper and considering the fact that the planet is meant to be hollow and full of ocean that gets you some pretty big fish. The biggest -- the Sando Aqua Monsters -- are in a class of their own: their official description puts them at between 160 and 200 meters long, meaning their maximum size is over ''six times'' a blue whale's thirty meters.
337* LampshadeHanging: After pricing out the parts needed Watto straight-out tells Qui-Gon that it would be cheaper and easier to just buy a new ship. This goes completely ignored.
338* TheLastDJ: Obi-Wan believes Qui-Gon would've been on the Jedi Council long ago if not for his tendency to do things his own way rather than by the Jedi Code; needless to say, Qui-Gon doesn't seem to mind.
339* LastNoteNightmare: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cdi_bKjg1U Anakin's Theme]] is sweet, soft, and innocent except in the last part which [[{{Foreshadowing}} we hear the notes of the Imperial March]]. Punctuated when played over the end credits of ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''; after the final fadeout, the last sound in the movie is [[FromNobodyToNightmare Vader's breathing]].
340* LeaveNoSurvivors: Or, as Darth Sidious puts it when giving the Viceroy instructions on what to do with the Gungan army:
341--> '''Sidious:''' Wipe them out. ''All of them.''
342* LegalizedEvil: Much of the film's plot is driven by the Trade Federation desperately trying to keep the Invasion of Naboo a ClosedCircle from the Galactic Republic, as it's very much not legalized and would get them thrashed if word got out. Instead, they're trying to force the Queen to sign a document legalizing the invasion, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat bogging down any retaliation in so much diplomatic red tape]].
343* {{Leitmotif}}: It wouldn't be ''Franchise/StarWars'' otherwise.
344** Anakin's theme [[{{Foreshadowing}} includes chords]] from [[ThemeSongReveal The Imperial March]].
345** When Jabba the Hutt appears at the Mos Espa podracing arena, part of his theme from ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' plays.
346* LetsGetOutOfHere: Played straight by Anakin when he blows up the control ship's reactor core.
347* LetsSplitUpGang: When Padmé's party encounters Darth Maul, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan step forward to battle him so Padmé and the others can continue.
348-->'''Qui-Gon:''' We'll handle this.\
349'''Padmé:''' We'll take the long way.
350* LighterAndSofter: Despite the page quote up top there, children and funny-talking aliens play a large part in the plot. More obviously, the UsedFuture aesthetic of the Original Trilogy was done away with in order to help demonstrate that this is the "more civilized age" that Obi-Wan mentioned in ''Film/ANewHope''.
351* LikeADaughterToMe: Since Padmé is only fourteen years old, Captain Panaka treats her like one of his daughters. He defers to her authority while always staying by her side and protecting her with his life. Panaka was also the one who implemented the decoy bodyguards, when Padmé didn't want to create an army to protect her, so he treats all the handmaidens this way.
352* LimitedAdvancementOpportunities: Obi-wan tells his master Qui-gon Jinn that he would already be on the Jedi High Council if he would just stop arguing with them. Qui-Gon doesn't mind since he prefers following his own interpretation of the will of the Force.
353* LockedOutOfTheFight: The force-field gates that the Jedi fight Darth Maul through serve to separate Obi-Wan from Qui-Gon; Obi-Wan can only watch as Qui-Gon, fighting alone, falls to Darth Maul.
354* LogicBomb: Subverted. Qui-Gon attempts to use one on a small battalion of droids. The head droids appears briefly confused, complete with a "DOES NOT COMPUTE", but after a few seconds it manages to break the loop and (again) tries to put them under arrest. Then it's blasters and sabers time.
355* LoopholeAbuse: Anakin is told by Qui-Gon to stay in the cockpit of a Naboo fighter jet at all costs so that he can keep himself safe. Anakin then promptly uses the jet to destroy some Droidekas attacking Queen Amidala's battle force and subsequently flies into space and participate in the battle against the Trade Federation ship up above. Anakin himself invokes this when R2-D2 tries to tell him to turn around, noting that he's going to stay in the cockpit like Qui-Gon requested.
356* LostHimInACardGame: Anakin and his mother Shmi were slaves whose prior owner, Gardulla the Hutt, lost them betting on podraces to Watto, and Anakin wins his freedom after another podrace. And whether it was Anakin or his mother was decided by a [[CallARabbitASmeerp chance cube]] throw. The Jedi didn't exactly leave it to chance, though. Anakin and his mother were originally owned by a Hutt named Gardulla who won them by ''cheating'' in this game (and Gardulla tended to cheat at sabacc ''a lot''). Watto won them from her by betting on another pod race, and he was known to cheat too; the dice cube he used in that previous example was ''loaded'', according to some sources. (Still, [[EvenEvilHasStandards at least he wasn't as cruel as the Hutts tended to be.]])
357* LukeIMightBeYourFather: Shmi Skywalker insists that there was no biological father she knows of, with Creator/GeorgeLucas later stating that [[MysticalPregnancy Anakin was directly conceived by the Force]].
358* MagicalGesture: The famous "mind control hand wave" gesture is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] and mocked when Qui-Gon tries it on an alien and it [[NoSell fails to work]]. ("What, you think you're some kind of Jedi, waving your hand around like that?")
359* MakeSureHesDead: Even after pumping the meeting room with a load of poison gas, Viceroy Gunray still sends a squad of battle droids to make sure the Jedi are taken care of. Naturally, the droids weren't enough.
360* MalevolentMutilation: [[TheDragon Darth Maul]] has every inch of his skin tattooed in a jagged black and red pattern to present an imposing appearance.
361* MartialPacifist: Qui-Gon is the epitome of this, especially when his mid-battle meditation contrasts against Darth Maul's animalistic, restless pacing and Obi-Wan's poorly-contained anxiety while the three are separated by forcefields.
362* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: In a couple scenes while characters are going about their business on Tatooine, you might catch an inconspicuous floating droid hover past in the background - or catch a listen to their signature sound effect - which have a striking resemblance to those we saw belonging to Darth Maul...
363* MeaningfulFuneral: After being killed by Darth Maul in a lightsaber duel in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', Qui-Gon Jinn is cremated in a funeral ceremony attended by Queen Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chancellor Palpatine, members of the Jedi Council, and various Naboo officials. During the funeral Yoda and Mace Windu discuss the fact there is likely a second Sith Lord active, without realizing that he (Palpatine) only stood a few feet away.
364* MechaMooks: This movie marks the debut of the droids, which are thin, tin humanoid robots which aren't particularly strong iindividually, but can become destructive when grouped.
365* MeditationPowerup: When Qui-Gon fights Maul on Naboo, he uses a break in the fight to meditate. It helps, but not enough to survive.
366* MeleeDisarming: Darth Maul kicks Obi-Wan off a walkway, making him drop his lightsaber briefly. Later in their duel Obi-Wan cuts Maul's lightsaber hilt in half, but since the weapon is double-ended it still has one working blade and Maul keeps fighting. Maul also disarms Obi-Wan again by shoving him into a pit and Obi-Wan drops his lightsaber, which Maul then kicks into the pit.
367* MenActWomenAre: Inverted. Queen Padmé's planet is under attack so she pleads her people's case to Chancellor Valorum and the Galactic Senate, goes home, and leads the charge to take back her planet while Anakin merely follows and then accidentally saves the Gungans.
368* MentorOccupationalHazard: Qui-Gon, as the mentor in the StudentAndMasterTeam against Darth Maul, does not survive the fight.
369* MidairRepair: R2-D2 (with several others, which were all destroyed) fixes Padme Amidala's escape ship midflight while she's trying to run the Naboo blockade.
370* MidBattleTeaBreak: Justified in the final battle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul when the three combatants are temporarily separated by some force fields. [[MeditationPowerup Qui-Gon takes a moment to meditate and compose himself]], [[TranquilFury Maul takes an experimental slash at the field before pacing around and giving Qui-Gon a]] DeathGlare, and Obi-Wan just stands around nervously.
371* MilitariesAreUseless: When the Trade Federation invades Naboo with their robot army in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'', the galactic authorities are completely impotent to stop them until Queen Amidala calls for a Vote of No Confidence in Chanceller Valorum's leadership.
372* MillionMookMarch: Where battle droids are marching in formation on the Trade Federation Control Ship shortly after the movie begins, and later as they march into battle outside the city on the planet near the film's climax.
373* MissionBriefing: Queen Amidala describes the plan for freeing Naboo while [=R2D2=] displays a hologram outlining the palace raid.
374* MoodWhiplash: The transition from Qui-Gon’s funeral to the parade isn’t exactly smooth, to put it mildly.
375* MookHorrorShow: Invoked by the creators with the Trade Federation members hiding from the Jedi which nothing could stop. The DVD commentary specifically states this was an inversion of the typical "humans cowering in fear of the unstoppable alien" dynamic from old horror movies.
376* MoreExpendableThanYou: Between the two slaves Shmi and Anakin, the mother knows she's less valuable than her son is to Watto. So does Watto; he refuses to outright bet on Anakin's freedom with Qui-Gon at the pod race. When Qui-Gon talks with her about giving Anakin a better life, she agrees to it with only mild hesitation. What's more, when Anakin protests having to leave her behind and even wants to use his winnings to buy her, Shmi tells her she's fine with the decision as long as he has a better future.
377* TheMothership: The Federation command ship which Anakin destroys.
378* MotileVehicularComponents: Darth Maul's ship is built around a spherical cockpit, and its control surfaces ''rotate out of the way'' to open the door.
379* MultipleHeadCase: Fode and Beed, the two-headed Troig announcer , though the only clue to the differing personalities is that each head speaks a different language. There are two main languages on Tatooine: Galactic Basic and Huttese. Some people can't understand Basic but do understand Huttese, and vice versa. That particular announcer was chosen because he could easily and fluently speak both at the same time.
380* MySignificanceSenseIsTingling: Obi-Wan senses there's something darker about what's going on, not with the mission itself (which the Nemoidians intend as a single negotiation for a better deal with Naboo), but with something larger (beginning to sense the rising Sith Menace). Likewise, Qui-Gon senses Maul moments before he attacks on Tatooine.
381* MysticalPregnancy: Shmi Skywalker says that Anakin has no father and she doesn't remember having ever slept with a man in the right period to have become pregnant by him, which Qui-Gon assumes to mean that he was conceived by the will of the Force.
382* NamedInTheSequel: The Emperor went unnamed in the original trilogy. Here his [sur]name is revealed to be Palpatine (the first name is Shev, but that's not revealed within the films proper).
383* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: The Sith apprentice is Darth ''Maul''. Guess what he does to his enemies...
384* NavalBlockade: By the Trade Federation around Naboo, which kicks off the action.
385* ANaziByAnyOtherName: The manner in which the Trade Federation marched into Theed mirrored the Nazis march under the Arc de Triomphe. In addition, the Trade Federation, after occupying Naboo, also held the various indigenous peoples (Naboo humans and Gungans) in camps that were implied to be death camps/concentration camps. In addition, it is implied that Palpatine orchestrated the Naboo blockade invasion to gain more power, similar to how Adolf Hitler had some of his army pose as Polish people and attack their own key buildings so he'd have the excuse to invade Poland. It might also reference Hitler invading his native land of Austria, seeing how Palpatine was the senator of the same planet that he orchestrated the Trade Federation's invasion of. [[note]]There's more, [[http://thatonewhojustis.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/palpatine-is-still-hitler/ here]].[[/note]]
386* NearVillainVictory: Moments before Darth Maul's unlikely demise, Obi-Wan Kenobi was dangling from a wall fixture inside a bottomless pit, with Maul about to make a killing stroke.
387* NecessaryDrawback: Qui-Gon Jinn was also a master of Ataru. He met his end when the fight against Darth Maul led him into a confined space which didn't leave much room for maneuverability.
388* NestedOwnership: The young slave Anakin Skywalker builds a servant robot ([=C3PO=]) to help his mother.
389* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon both [[FlashStep dash at super speed]] to escape two Droidekas near the start of the film. What makes this power an example in this case is that it's never used again, not for the rest of the movie and not for the rest of the Prequel Trilogy. To be more specific, Obi-Wan doesn't use the power again even if when it would have been useful to rejoin the fight with Darth Maul after getting thrown so far away.
390* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
391** Aside from the trouble Jar Jar causes in this theatrical film, there is also the time when Qui-Gon made it his dying wish for Obi-Wan to train Anakin. Those familiar enough with the Canon's overall story would know that this didn't exactly work out all that well.
392** Padmé, following Palpatine's recommendation to call for a vote of no confidence, allowing the villain-in-sheep's clothing to become Chancellor.
393** Knowing what led to Anakin [[LoveMakesYouEvil turning to the dark side]], the Jedi not accepting him earlier before Obi-Wan essentially threatened to go against the Order to train him himself also qualifies somewhat.
394** More to the point, the Jedi Council knew that Anakin's mother was still a slave and if they'd just taken half an hour to go and rescue her after the events of the movie, it would have prevented her death and Anakin's first step to the dark side.
395* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Lucas told Creator/TerenceStamp that Chancellor Valorum was like UsefulNotes/BillClinton - "He's a good man, but beleaguered".
396* NonDubbedGrunts: Obi-Wan's BigNO when Qui-Gon gets stabbed is left undubbed in the European French, European Spanish, and Italian dubs of the movie.
397* NoodleIncident: The specific reasons for Jar Jar's exile, besides his obvious clumsiness, are never detailed. We only get to hear the last bit of the story, which apparently involves blowing something up and crashing Boss Nass' heyblibber.
398* NoOSHACompliance:
399** A ''Franchise/StarWars'' staple, which probably reaches its highest point in the area beneath the palace where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan fight Maul - a series of catwalks with no railings over a bottomless pit. Plus a corridor lined with energy fields that seemingly activate and deactivate according to some computer-controlled pattern and lack any apparent means of detecting whether or not there are people in the corridor. It makes [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack Cloud City]] look like a model of industrial safety in comparison!
400** The Trade Federation's ships are little better, judging by how the designers apparently decided that putting the main reactor right next door to the hangar was a good idea.
401* NoPoverty: Naboo. It makes [[Franchise/StarTrek The Federation]] look like the [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar Eastern Bloc]] during the 1980's in comparison!
402* NoSell: Watto is thoroughly unimpressed by Qui-Gon's JediMindTrick.
403-->'''Watto''': "What you think you are, some kind of Jedi, waving your hand around like that? I'm a [[SpaceJews Toydarian]]! Mind tricks don't work on me, only money."
404* NotSoInnocentWhistle: Jar Jar adopts this attitude when he accidentally spits a gorg into Sebulba's soup, angering him. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
405[[/folder]]
406
407[[folder:Tropes O to Z]]
408* ObiWanMoment: Qui-Gon Jinn calmly meditates before his final, brief duel with Darth Maul when their fight is [[MidBattleTeaBreak briefly interrupted]] by the shifting of some laser doors. This is a case where he didn't necessarily know that he'd be dying, but likely considered the possibility.
409* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Palpatine suggests apathetic politicians rule the Republic with Chancellor Valorum as their puppet, and they are the reason that rather than ''doing'' anything about the Naboo situation, the Senate has merely had meetings. This is then put on full display when the Trade Federation Senator objects to Queen Amidala's accusations at the Senate hearing, is backed by the Senator of Malastare, and Valorum is quickly swayed to their side, at which point the Queen reluctantly agrees to Palpatine's suggestion to call a vote of no confidence for Valorum. Of course, what she doesn't realize is that Palpatine is responsible for much of the red tape in the first place, and that this is all part of his evil plan to seize power for himself.
410* AnOfferYouCantRefuse: Yeah... forcing a ruler to sign a document during war and with a gun pointed to her head. It doesn't matter which galaxy you're in, or how far far away it is, that's not binding because it's clearly under duress. (And why do invasions need to be legal?) Mind that Panaka says they wouldn't dare kill the queen until she signs, but Qui-Gon retorts the Trade Federation could hire a pawn that ''would'' sign the document.
411* OfficialPresidentialTransport: The unnamed royal cruiser that Queen Amidala uses to escape [[RunningTheBlockade past the Trade Federation's blockade]], which comes complete with a throne room for her.
412* OffstageVillainy: After the Trade Federation invades Naboo, we keep being told that the people are suffering under the occupation and that the death toll is rising. The thing is, we never actually ''see'' any of the Nabooan citizens suffer, which makes the whole thing look more like GunboatDiplomacy (albeit by a megacorp wilfully manipulated by a Sith lord) than a whole planet being "subjected to slavery and death". Qui-Gon says outright that he thinks it's a lie to draw them out, and we never really get confirmation either way.
413* OffTheShelfFX:
414** Qui-Gon's communicator is [[https://www.moviemistakes.com/picture5903?&mode=picture a re-decoed woman's razor.]]
415** The pod race crowd contains several Micro Machine action figures, with [[Literature/ShadowsOfTheEmpire Prince Xizor]] being clearly visible in a behind-the-scenes photo.
416* OhCrap:
417** The pilot and co-pilot of the Republic cruiser in the docking bay of the Trade Federation Battleship. [[KilledMidSentence They don't even get a chance to finish saying]] OhCrap.
418** The Neimoidians when they seal off the bridge and realize the Jedi are ''still getting through.''
419** Padmé gets a look of [[StunnedSilence wordless panic]] when she learns that Anakin has never even ''finished'' a podrace, let alone won one, right before the Boonta Eve race... and Qui-Gon bet their only chance of escape on him winning it.
420** Ratts Tyrell, the pod racer who realizes far too late that his pod is too big to fly through the Laguna caves.
421** Sebulba, when he realizes that one of his pods's engines is no longer tethered and he's about to crash when Anakin untangles their pods in the final lap of the race.
422** A Gungan captain's reaction to seeing a huge deployment of battle droids walk right through his army's force-field.
423** Panaka and his troops as a whole get one of these moments when they meet Darth Maul.
424** A minor one with Anakin. After he fires the proton torpedoes at the control ship's reactor, he delivers a meek "Oops!" before [[LetsGetOutOfHere speeding out of the ship as fast as he can]].
425* OhMyGods: Jar Jar invokes the gods at one point ("Ye gods! What is mesa sayin'").
426* OhNoNotAgain: "Yousa in big dudu this time!" Also, Obi-Wan's scene with Qui-Gon at the Jedi Temple. ("Do not defy the Council, Master, not again.")
427* OlderThanTheyLook: Originally, Qui-Gon was sixty years old at the time of the film's events, yet Liam Neeson was only in his mid-forties around the time of filming. Perhaps realizing that Neeson looked too young to pass as a sixty-year-old man (even a well-aged one), the Disney canon novel ''Literature/StarWarsMasterAndApprentice'' {{retcon}}ned his age to his late forties in the film.
428* OldMaster: Qui-Gon is the first maverick master seen on-screen (chronologically), at odds with the Jedi Council but respected nonetheless. He trained Obi-Wan and was the person most accountable for introducing Anakin Skywalker to the way of the Jedi, [[GoneHorriblyWrong all things considered]].
429* OminousLatinChanting: "Duel of the Fates" is a frantic piece with Sanskrit chanting that punctuates the film's climatic LaserBlade duel.
430* OneHitKill: Despite how badass and unique Darth Maul is in this film, many forget he is the ''only'' major film antagonist to be taken out ([[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe sliced in half]]) in one slash by Obi-Wan.
431* OnSecondThought:
432** Jar Jar tells Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan about the Gungans' underwater city being a safe place, but when asked to take them there, he responds "On second thought, no. Not really, no." citing that he was banished from the place, and the Bosses would do terrible things to him if he showed his face there again. He changes his mind again after the two Jedi convince him that what the Trade Federation army would do to him would be much worse.
433** After Anakin wins the Boonta Eve, Watto tries to back out of his deal with Qui-Gon to let the boy go, insisting that it wasn't a fair bet and that Qui-Gon somehow knew the outcome beforehand. He quickly clams up when Qui-Gon suggests taking it to the Hutts.
434* OpposingSportsTeam: Sebulba "always wins" the pod-race. His pod is very fast and he uses dirty tactics like tossing wrenches into the other racers' engines.
435* OutOfCharacter: Qui-Gon Jinn notes that, despite the Trade Federation’s demands during their invasion of Naboo, there is no real logic behind it. He also deduces there is something else behind it all.
436* OutOfGenreExperience: The brief StoryArc to have Qui-Gon free Anakin from slavery eschews space opera and political intrigue in favor of a half-hour diversion into a sports film, which is only tangentially connected to what came before.
437* OutrunTheFireball: Anakin flies into the main droid control ship, then fires two proton torpedoes straight into the main reactor. The ship starts to blow up from the inside, and Anakin flies as fast as he can toward the exit with flames shooting all over the place, feeling it necessary to quip "now ''this'' is podracing!" as he does so. There is an additional shot of a squad of battle droids failing at this.
438* OutsideContextProblem: Darth Maul. It's clear that no Jedi has crossed blades with a Sith for a millennium, and Maul's double-bladed saber is the first of its kind shown in the franchise. No wonder he gives two Jedi the fight of their lives.
439* {{Overdrive}}: The podrace. Sometimes Anakin passes other racers with ease, and other times he keeps pace with Sebulba over long straightaways. It also genuinely makes zero sense that he wasn't going as fast as he could to begin with, considering how he started the race in last place due to engine failure and his freedom was on the line. Explained in the spin-off videogame: The engines can't run at full power for very long before they begin to overheat, and once their temperature passes the redline they will ''very'' quickly seize up, catch fire or otherwise fail catastrophically.
440* OverlaidSocieties: On the planet Naboo, the Gungans and the Naboo live in separate but linked societies. In the movie, Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn tried to enlist the help of the Gungans as the Trade Federation's takeover of the Naboo would affect the Gungans eventually. Jar Jar and Queen Amidala get their help for the final battle.
441* PapaWolf: She's not their daughter, but Sio Babble and Panaka react this way whenever the queen is threatened. When Qui-Gon mentions that if the queen stays on Naboo then she'll be killed, Sio Babble says, "They wouldn't dare!" vehemently. Then Panaka logically tries to point out the Trade Federation can't freaking kill the leader of the planet they're invading and stay on good terms with Coruscant; the men only acquiesce when Qui-Gon counters the Trade Federation may elect a pawn in Amidala's place to sign a treaty. Panaka agrees to go off-planet with the queen to protect her, and is ready to draw fire on anyone who dares attack, as Sio Babble tries to reason with the Trade Federation to withdraw.
442* ParadisePlanet: Naboo is portrayed as a paragon of natural beauty and an ideal place to live, especially given the sheer amount of SceneryPorn in both Theed and Otoh Gunga.
443* ParallelConflictSequence: There are four separate events happening during TheClimax, each with its own plot relevance: The Gungans vs the Separatists Droid Army, Anakin helping against the Separatist Blockade, Padmé and her group against some ground forces and Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul.
444* ParanormalGamblingAdvantage: In a bet with Watto, Qui-Gon Jinn uses the Force to make a die roll the result he wants. The game was already rigged in Watto's favor.
445* ParentalSubstitute: Qui-Gon serves as one to Obi-Wan for as long as they've been training together. He also acts as one to Anakin, who grew up (and was actually [[MysticalPregnancy born]]) without a father.
446* PassedOverPromotion: Qui-Gon's [[CowboyCop Cowboy Jedi]] antics prevent him from getting a seat on the Jedi Council.
447* PendulumWar: The battle of Naboo is completely a One Sided Battle. The good guys are getting creamed, and then Anakin blows up the Trade Federation mothership, [[KeystoneArmy disabling all the droid soldiers]], [[InstantWinCondition wiping out the army in one swoop.]]
448* PersonaNonGrata: Jar Jar Binks tells Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan that he was kicked out of Otoh Gunga for his "clumsiness".
449* PimpedOutCape: About every other queen outfit Amidala wore had one.
450* PimpedOutDress: Every one of Amidala's queen outfits.
451* PinballProtagonist: Anakin is obviously a crucial character in the film due to his impossibly high midichlorian count (and thus incredible force wielding potential), but aside from racing and winning the pod race, he has no real control over what's going on around him, due to him being a TagalongKid. He ultimately thwarts the Trade Federations' invasion by blowing up their control ship, but even that was a lucky accident. Obi-Wan, meanwhile, despite having the most screen time of any character is just along for the ride- aside from cleaving droids to death he usually just sits on the sidelines while Qui-Gon drives the plot.
452* PlanetBaron: The rulers of Naboo are elected monarchs who change office every few years (though that only concerns the surface dwellers, the aquatic Gungans have a chief of their own, Boss Nass).
453* {{Planetville}}:
454** All that's needed to conquer Naboo is simply taking the capital city, and "blockading" the whole planet from surrounding space with a handful of ships. A small or medium-sized country on Earth probably couldn't keep fighting once the capital was lost, but large nations typically have military districts that are able to operate independently of the capital. Unless the enemy fleet deployed millions of ships, they couldn't possibly cover all of the sky above Naboo, so the protagonists trying to flee the planet could select to go through an open area to leave the gravity well and jump to hyperspace rather than aiming their ship straight at the enemy fleet to "break through the blockage".
455** Justified at one point. When Darth Maul traces Queen Amidala's ship to Tatooine, he points out that the planet is very sparsely populated, with only three major cities across the entire thing, which simplifies his search greatly. He is then shown dispatching groups of scout droids to each of the cities rather than trying to search them personally.
456* PleasePutSomeClothesOn: This is R2-D2's reaction when he first meets the unfinished C-3PO at the Skywalker residence on Tatooine.
457--->'''C-3PO:''' I beg your pardon? What do you mean "naked"?\
458''[R2 points out what he means]''\
459'''C-3PO:''' My parts are showing!? My goodness, OH!
460* PlotHole: The entire Tatooine storyline exists for little more reason than to justify the addition of Anakin Skywalker to the cast, triggered by [[WorthlessCurrency Watto refusing to accept Republic currency for hyperdrive parts]]. Realistically, intrinsic value or not, the Republic is still by far the biggest power in the Galaxy Far, Far Away at this time, so finding some freighter captain who could get them to Coruscant and would need Republic currency when he got there ought to have been significantly easier and faster than going through all the rigmarole with the podrace. Shmi does get a throwaway line stating that they're very unlikely to find someone in Mos Espa who actually cares about the Republic in any way (and with their ship's engine dead they're not going anywhere fast, not even to another spaceport), though.
461* PlummetPerspective: When Darth Maul kicks Obi-Wan's lightsaber down a long shaft as Obi-Wan is clinging to the edge, the camera follows the lightsaber all the way down, roughly from Obi-Wan's perspective. Later, a similar shot is used for [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe Darth Maul's torso]] as he [[DisneyVillainDeath plummets down the same pit]].
462* PointDefenseless: The space battle at the end of the film shows the guns of the droid control ship are ineffective against the Naboo fighters and, most importantly, can't stop Anakin from ''landing in their hangar''. {{Justified|Trope}} as [[TechnicallyATransport it's actually a giant merchant ship that was originally unarmed (the powerful shields and the sheer size being its best defense against attacks from under-equipped pirates) and has been hastily refitted with some weapons]] before the invasion of Naboo (as a planetary government would have access to better weapons than pirates). They weren't even expecting any resistance, given that Naboo technically has no military at all.
463* PossessionImpliesMastery:
464** Anakin Skywalker assumes that because Qui-Gon Jinn has a lightsaber, he must be a Jedi. When Qui-Gon jokingly retorts that he could have alternatively killed a Jedi and snatched the lightsaber, Anakin claims that no one would ever be able to kill a Jedi.
465** The Jawas are known to be experts in scavenging and re-purposing even derelict junk, turning it into workable technology without having any real understanding of the mechanical processes involved. They don't comprehend how the {{EMP}} discharge from an ion blaster creates a power surge through a droid's circuits. They just figure out that if you attach a restraining bolt to a stripped-down blaster and fire it at a droid, that droid gets paralyzed.
466* PostDefeatExplosionChain: After Anakin puts two proton torpedoes into one of the reactors, the Trade Federation ship explodes at random points all over its hull before splitting in half.
467* PosthumousVillainVictory: ZigZagged by Darth Maul, whose actions cause the entire saga to unfold thanks to killing Qui-Gon Jinn, thus forcing Anakin Skywalker to be trained by the well-meaning, but ultimately flawed Obi-Wan Kenobi. Without Qui-Gon's teachings to help the emotionally troubled boy, Anakin winds up a troubled young man distrusted by the Order who trained him, and easily manipulated by Palpatine into becoming the man who would destroy the Jedi and allow the Sith to have their revenge as Maul was aiming for: Darth Vader.
468* PowerLevels: The film introduces "midichlorian count" for measuring Force potential, which contextualizes how massive Anakin's power is.
469* PraetorianGuard: Two heroic examples:
470** The Senate Guard (aka the Blue Guard) serve as these for the Galactic Senate.
471** The Naboo Palace Guard are said to form the backbone of the Royal Naboo Security Forces and are later seen guarding Padmé when she is a senator in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''.
472* PragmaticHero: Being a Jedi doesn't stop Qui-Gon from manipulating Boss Nass into providing a transport to the capital of Naboo, trying to swindle Watto out of a hyperdrive generator, cheating at gambling to free a slave, or subverting the authority of the Jedi Council to ensure that Anakin is trained as a Jedi.
473* PrecociousCrush: Anakin towards Padme. The feeling isn't reciprocated until near the climax of the following film.
474* PretextForWar: The Trade Federation uses something about taxation and trade negotiations as an excuse to occupy Naboo.
475* PreventTheWar: The theatrical film opens with the two heroes, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, arriving on a space station to negotiate a peace between the spaceship's owner and the planet it orbits. As soon as gas start pumping into the waiting room, the heroes grab their weapons and leave diplomacy behind for the rest of the movie.
476* PrettyInMink: Amidala's red dress is trimmed with brown fur.
477* PreventTheWar: The theatrical film opens with the two heroes, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, arriving on a space station to negotiate a peace between the spaceship's owner and the planet it orbits. As soon as gas starts pumping into the waiting room, the heroes grab their weapons and leave diplomacy behind for the rest of the movie.
478* ProhibitedHeroSavesTheDay: Anakin is told to stay put in the cockpit of a Naboo fighter in order to keep him out of the line of fire and safely away from battle. [[ExactWords Technically he obeys]], but that doesn't stop him taking the fighter into battle, destroying the [[TheMothership Battle Droid control ship]] and preventing the imminent surrender of the good guys on the ground.
479* ProperlyParanoid:
480** The novelization of Amidala's diary reveals that Panaka wanted to create an army to protect Queen Amidala; they compromised over him creating bodyguard doubles like Sabe and having a handful of weapons in the throne room. It turns out he was completely right because when the Trade Federation invades, the Queen is virtually defenseless with only her inner circle and Panaka for protection.
481** The Jedi advise the Naboo guard to not respond to the distress signals because whether or not they are fake, the queen getting captured won't help anyone. It's implied the message ''is'' fake when the governor who was delivering them is revealed to remain defiant towards the Trade Federation.
482* PunnyName: One of the podracer pilots Anakin competes against is named Boles Roor, an obvious play on "Bull's roar".
483* RadioSilence: It's vital that the Queen's shuttle not respond to the distress signals from Naboo to prevent giving away their location. But Darth Maul is somehow able to track them down anyway. The fact that Senator Palpatine is Darth Sidious, and that Maul is himself force-sensitive implies that he found them not by tracking the Queen, but her Jedi escorts.
484* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: Qui-Gon sends a sample of Anakin's blood for a midichlorian count. Obi-Wan remarks that the readings are off the chart, even higher than Yoda's.
485* RealityHasNoSubtitles: Whatever young Anakin says to the Hutts is untranslated.
486* RealNameAsAnAlias: When pretending to be her own handmaiden, Queen Amidala uses her lesser-known non-royal name, Padmé Naberrie.
487* RecruitedFromTheGutter: This is how Anakin Skywalker became a Jedi; the second act is basically devoted to freeing him from slavery so he can be trained as one.
488* ReCut:
489** The DVD release included a few additional moments, mostly ideas they had for the podrace. But a fan made recut of this film inspired a slew of fan made cuts of various films, largely toning down Jar Jar's antics.
490** The Blu-Ray also makes changes - most notably trading a much contested puppet Yoda for a digital one similar to the one seen for the rest of the Prequel Trilogy.
491* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Darth Maul made full-body, red-and-black Sith tattoos popular in the franchise.
492* ReflectingLaser: In the big battle between the Gungans and the droids, you can see the occasional bolt bouncing off the ''ground''.
493* RefugeInAudacity:
494** Qui-Gon Jinn attempts to walk up to several battle droids without any stealth, asks permission to go to Coruscant with several [=POW=]s, and then cuts him down when the droid, after briefly acting confused, realizes that he should arrest him.
495** This is how Padmé makes an alliance with the Gungans; she reveals herself during the negotiations while in her handmaiden guise, and gets on her knees to beg for their help. Her whole retinue follows suit. Rugor Nass previously held contempt for the Naboo humans, since other leaders believed they were better than the Gungans. When he realizes that Padmé made herself vulnerable and blew her cover, complete with bowing to him, he agrees to ally with her to win their freedom.
496** Sabe distracts Nute Gunray from the captured Padmé by appearing in full regalia, firing at him, and declaring, "I'll sign no treaty!" Nute doesn't consider this a distraction at all, instead seeing it as the "real" queen coming to protect her decoy and orders the robots after Sabe.
497* RefusalOfTheCall: Both Padmé and Anakin. The former is initially hesitant to leave her suffering people on Naboo for Coruscant and the latter has trepidation of leaving his enslaved mother behind in order to become a Jedi.
498* RefusedByTheCall: Qui-Gon Jinn finds and brings in Anakin Skywalker when he realizes that he has a majorly high Midichlorian count, meaning he is most likely TheChosenOne. He's brought before the Jedi Council... and is told that he can't be trained - he's too old, thus he has emotions that would ruin it all as it would lead to The Dark Side. He's made a Padawan nonetheless when Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul, as Qui-Gon specifically asked for Anakin to be trained as a last wish.
499* ResignedInDisgrace: When Amidala's pleas for help at the Galactic Senate are met with truculence and protocol, she calls for a vote of No Confidence in Chancellor Valorum. Though not an outright ouster, the Chancellor is left a laughingstock with a fancy chair; as per the nature of successful No Confidence motions, Valorum soon resigns, allowing Senator Palpatine to replace him.
500* TheRestShallPass: When they run into Darth Maul in the palace, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan step forward to fight him while the others continue.
501-->'''Qui-Gon:''' We'll handle this.\
502'''Padmé:''' We'll take the long way.
503* {{Retirony}}: In a variation, towards the end of the film, Qui-Gon Jinn intends to train Anakin Skywalker, believing Obi-Wan Kenobi is ready to graduate to Jedi Knight status. Qui-Gon doesn't make it to the end of the movie, and Obi-Wan ends up being Anakin's trainer instead.
504* ReunionVow: Shmi Skywalker promises her son Anakin that they will meet again before he leaves for Jedi training. They do meet again ten years later in ''Film/AttackOfTheClones''. Unfortunately, it's during Shmi's dying moments.
505* ReverseRelationshipReveal: Queen Amidala is revealed to be a handmaiden decoy; the actual queen had been posing as the handmaiden for much of the film.
506* {{Revision}}: In ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Obi-Wan instructed Luke to search for Yoda, calling him "The Jedi master who instructed me." This film introduces Qui-Gon Jinn as Obi-Wan's master, which caused some fans to believe it to be a {{retcon}}. But further {{worldbuilding}} on the organization of the Jedi Order indicated that all children were trained at the temple until an older Jedi would take them as a padawan, so there is a distinction between an instructor and the master/apprentice relationship. Later works would mention that given his age, nearly all current Jedi consider themselves to be a student to Yoda in some form.
507* RewatchBonus:
508** The only time Padmé actually appears as Queen on Naboo before TheReveal is during her meeting with Senator Palpatine (and a single scene after when she is watching the invasion), her plea before the Galactic Senate, and when Anakin asks her to say goodbye to Padmé for him when he thinks they'll never see each other again. If you carefully watch these scenes again, it's pretty clear the Queen's face is Creator/NataliePortman, not Creator/KeiraKnightley (her BodyDouble's actress). You can also tell something is up when the Queen is in red and gold when the Federation invades, but has changed completely different dark blue costume shortly after when the Federation captures her. The double is also taking cues from Padmé about what to do next; when she mentions the journey to Coruscant will be dangerous, she specifically addresses her "handmaiden", and Padmé's reply, "We are brave, your highness," gives her the go-ahead to agree to accompany the Jedi.
509** Panaka looks annoyed when he instructs the Jedi to take the queen's handmaiden Padmé on Amidala's orders to scout the planet. He's actually worried for the queen's safety, since ''she'' is Padmé and wants to explore the planet to get the parts they need, but will carry out her orders against his wishes.
510** Qui-Gon doesn't seem too surprised to learn that Padmé is actually the queen, hinting that he'd worked it out some time before. It lends some extra hilarity to rewatching their interactions on Tatooine, when it can look like Qui-Gon is gently trolling her when they discuss whether Queen Amidala would approve of what he's doing.
511* RidiculouslyDifficultRoute: Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar Binks have to take a submarine through the planet Naboo's core (which is [[ArtisticLicenseGeology made of water for some reason]]), in order to get to Naboo's capitol in time. While this may not be as dangerous as traveling through a core of molten rock, they still almost get eaten by many giant sea monsters on the way.
512* RightInFrontOfMe: Queen Padmé Amidala ends up talking about herself with Qui-Gon Jinn while she's disguised as her own handmaiden. It's complicated by ambiguity over when Qui-Gon figured out Padmé's the queen; it may be a straight example or he may be messing with her.
513-->'''Padmé:''' The queen will not approve.\
514'''Qui-Gon:''' The queen doesn't need to know.\
515'''Padmé:''' ''[to herself]'' Well ''I'' don't approve.
516* RiteOfPassage: Amidala has to prove her capability as queen and even wears a debutante ball-gown like dress for the parade scene.
517* RoadApples: Jar Jar Binks steps in poop and says "icky-icky goo".
518* RobotAntennae: B1 battle droids have antennae of this type on their backpacks. They're controlled by a large space station in orbit, so they need it to receive signals.
519* RockBeatsLaser: There's a technologically superior army dealing with an inferior group, it's notably averted: although the Gungans did manage to do in some numbers of the Droid Army in the climactic battle[[note]]It helps that the Gungans aren't truly primitive; they just use very ''different'' technology based on a unique form of plasma extracted from Naboo's core. While they have beasts of burden rather than vehicles and catapults rather than laser cannons, they also have [[DeflectorShields laser-reflecting plasma shields]] and those catapults are used to throw [[PlasmaCannon plasma orbs]] that go through tank armor like a hot knife through butter.[[/note]], they overall ''lost'' badly. In fact, literally the only reason they managed to live to tell the day was through sheer dumb luck from Anakin [[KeystoneArmy managing to blow up the Droid Control Ship, causing the droid units to shut down]].
520* RoyalCruiser: The unnamed ship that Queen Amidala uses to escape [[RunningTheBlockade past the Trade Federation's blockade]], which comes complete with a throne room for her.
521* RuleOfSymbolism: The virgin birth of Anakin Skywalker, who according to an ancient prophecy is said to bring balance to the Force. He also likes to build things and lived in the desert. The image of Darth Maul resembles the Christian Devil as well.
522* RunningTheBlockade: The Jedi and the Queen escape Naboo through the Trade Federation blockade aboard the Queen's royal cruiser.
523* SacrificialLion: Qui-Gon's death at Darth Maul's hands shocks the Jedi into realizing the Sith have returned and dark days are on the horizon.
524* SadisticChoice: One for Watto; he can't resist a bet when Qui-Gon gambles for Shmi and Anakin. When Watto tells him the racing pod is only worth one slave, Qui-Gon chooses Anakin. Watto is about to accept this, only to do some mental calculations and realize Anakin is the more valuable of the two. He then tries to throw weighted die to keep the boy out of the bet; Qui-Gon maneuvers the dice so it lands on blue, choosing Anakin. Of course, Watto could have avoided the bet completely and avoided the chase clearly.
525* SameLanguageDub: Darth Maul's voice is dubbed by Peter Serafinowicz (Ray Park's real, fairly higher voice can be heard as Toad in ''Film/XMen1'' -- not scary at all).
526* SceneryPorn: The forests of Naboo and the skyscrapers of Coruscant are absolutely ''beautiful''.
527* SchizoTech: Naboo in general:
528** In all respects the human population has technology on par with what is standard for the Republic. But their (non-industrial) architecture looks straight out of the Italian Renaissance.
529** The Gungans are even more glaring. They live in spectacular underwater cities composed of transparent bubbles, use deflector shield technology even in place of transparent material on the canopies of their submarines, as well as on the battlefield, and their preferred weapons are spheres filled with ionized plasma. But they use dinosaur-like kaadus and fambaas as mounts and beasts of burden and their only means of "firing" their plasma spheres is through the use of slings or by hand!
530** Tatooine also falls under this, for example by showing a semi-broken down landspeeder being pulled by an Eeopie.
531* ScrewTheRulesIMakeThem:
532** When Sidious orders Nute Gunray to land his troops on Naboo, Gunray wonders if that's actually legal. Sidious, who in his civilian identity is an influential politician, snaps that he will ''make'' it legal.
533--->'''Darth Sidious:''' This turn of events is unfortunate, begin landing your troops now.\
534'''Nute Gunray:''' My lord, is that legal?\
535'''Darth Sidious:''' I will make it legal.
536** On hearing that the Jedi Council won't let Anakin become a Padawan, Qui-Gon says that he will take on the boy as his apprentice and that Obi-Wan is ready to face the trials to become a Knight. This is against Jedi protocol.
537* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: Qui-Gon's tendency to do this has brought him at odds with the other Jedi, respected as he is. The most notable example is when he decides to have Anakin trained as a Jedi despite the Council explicitly telling him no, even attempting to train Anakin himself despite already having Obi-Wan as an apprentice and no Master being allowed to have more than one appreciate at a time.
538* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Qui-Gon opts to jump on the Queen's ship and run from the fight on Tatooine rather than stick around and finish it. Justified, as he recognizes Maul as a Sith and needs to report it to the Council as quickly as possible.
539* SeaMonster: There's AlwaysABiggerFish in the Abyss, the watery core of Naboo. First, there's the Opee Sea Killer, a bizarre fish-crab hybrid that catches prey with a long, sticky tongue. Then, there's the larger Colo Claw Fish, a giant sea serpent with clawlike appendages used to capture smaller creatures (including baby Sea Killers, which can however chew out of a Claw Fish's stomach to escape). And finally, there's the Sando Aqua Monster, resembling a cross between an otter and a newt, but ''far bigger'' than the largest whales and the [[RentAZilla biggest predator]] on Naboo, who can and will eat almost anything (including the aforementioned Colo and Opee) that stands in its way.
540* SecretIdentityIdentity: Two prominent Naboo figures, Padmé and Palpatine, have cultivated two identities to deal public and private matters separately. In both cases, the public identity is the mask while the undercover identity is their true self. Padmé's is out of actual need, Palpatine's is... [[GreaterScopeVillain well]]...
541** Queen Amidala is the emotionless, pampered queen who sits within the comfort of her guards and commands with a regal voice. Padmé Naberrie is the sweet, kind handmaiden who befriends the lowly slaves and outcasts and speaks with a natural voice. Notably, Padmé Naberrie is her birth name and Amidala is merely a given name that sticks with her long after her tenure as Queen of Naboo.
542** Sheev Palpatine is the wise, humble senator who has been jaded by political corruption in the Senate, but believes things will get better if a stronger Chancellor is elected. Darth Sidious is the evil, manipulative Sith Lord responsible for the invasion of Naboo and much of corruption within the Republic. Tellingly, Darth Sidious appears first and feels more real than Senator Palpatine.
543* SecretSecretKeeper: Qui-Gon knows handmaiden Padmé is [[QueenIncognito actually Queen Amidala]]; he's unsurprised and gives a knowing look to Obi-Wan when she publicly reveals her identity -- presumably, he keeps the secret for her own protection. [[{{Troll}} He also takes the opportunity to rile her up a bit when she complains about his riskier plans, saying that he's sure the Queen will approve of his decisions]].
544* SeparatedByTheWall: [[StudentAndMasterTeam Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan]] are separated by a ForceFieldDoor which prevents Obi-Wan from saving Qui-Gon from being killed by Darth Maul.
545* SequelEscalation: Played with. The film has lower stakes than ''Film/ANewHope'', its counterpart in the original trilogy. A planet is invaded rather than being outright destroyed, and the climax involves the destruction of the ship that controls the droid army rather than a planet-destroying superweapon. Thus, the trope is inverted if you watch the films in release order, but it's played straight if you watch the series chronologically.
546* ShellGame: One of Padmé's handmaidens, [[IdenticalStranger elected decoy]] Sabé, turns up in [[PimpedOutDress full regalia]], even [[ActionGirl shooting several battle droids]] on the spot, fooling the Trade Federation into thinking she's the queen and leaving Padmé relatively unguarded at a key moment.
547* ShortLivedAerialEscape: During the scene where the Naboo pilots hijack their fighters away from Trade Federation droids that had secured the hangar, a turret outside the hanger manages to hit one shortly after take off, causing it to spiral in.
548* ShoutOut:
549** The podrace is a [[RecycledINSPACE space-age]] ChariotRace, complete with giant engines in place of horses, and the whole sequence is a huge reference to ''Film/BenHur1959''.
550** The podrace scene does also owe a lot to the racing car sequence from ''Film/PinchcliffeGrandPrix'' (a fact that made all Norwegian viewers go "huh", as every Norwegian alive have seen that move at least five times).
551** Some of Jar Jar's antics are taken almost directly from the films of Creator/BusterKeaton.
552** Also as a likely TakeThat, the leader of the Trade Federation is Nute Gunray after former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich as well as a reversal of UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan, to get back at Project Star Wars (and possibly the public media funding cuts that forced a lengthy delay of the radio adaptation of ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi''), and the Neimoidian senator is named Lott Dodd after U.S. Senators Trent Lott and Chris Dodd.
553** The Neimoidians are named after Creator/LeonardNimoy. Even more amusingly, they were called [[Creator/WilliamShatner Shatnerians]] in the earliest drafts of the script.
554** The title itself is a reference to the Universal serial "The Phantom Creeps" and its first episode, "The Menacing Power".
555** One of the ''Discovery's'' EVA pods from ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' can be seen in Watto's junkyard. The reference book ''Star Wars: Complete Locations'' identifies it as "a repair and maintenance pod of unknown origin."
556** One of the members of Captain Panaka's squad is named [[VideoGame/FinalFantasy Cid]]. This was done in response to Square Enix having recurring characters named Biggs and Wedge.
557** The design of the Trade Federation's troop-landing ships are nearly identical to the Torumekian armored corvettes in the Main/{{Manga}} of ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind''.
558* ShowDontTell: Padmé says "My people are suffering," and Sio Bibble says "The death toll is catastrophic," but we don't really ''see'' the impact that the Trade Federation invasion had on Naboo. As all communications are blacked out, that conspicuously clear message must be a fake made by the Trade Federation to induce Amidala to reveal her position and there is actually nothing to ''see''.
559* ShownTheirWork: The Naboo is one of few examples of SpaceJews to also fall under this, between the architecture and the references to Hindu culture and the depiction of Qui-Gon's funeral.
560* SillyReasonForWar: The film starts with a dispute over tariffs that make the Trade Federation upset enough to blockade Naboo as a means of protest. It could possibly have been resolved peacefully (the blockade itself is perfectly legal) had Darth Sidious (a.k.a. Senator Palpatine) not been a TreacherousAdvisor to them who convinced them to take their grievance much further into unethical and immoral actions, which eventually triggered the Clone Wars, [[ThePurge Order 66]], and Palpatine's rise to power.
561* SinisterGeometry: The movie adheres to the Sinister Geometry-coded villains with the Trade Federation's droid army squaring off against the organic Gungans and the elegant, shapely yellow/silver Naboo starfighters. Darth Maul's ''Scimitar'' also looks like a fusion between a TIE Advanced x1 and a Star Destroyer, in contrast to the heroes' [[ShinyLookingSpaceships Royal Starship]].
562* SinkOrSwimFatherhood: The movie ends with Obi-Wan Kenobi taking Anakin Skywalker as his Padawan, despite having been knighted less than two minutes earlier. He does this mostly to honor his own Master's dying wish.
563* SkyscraperCity: Large swaths of the planet Coruscant are encrusted with giant skyscrapers... built on top of older skyscrapers... built on top of even older skyscrapers. It's uncertain if the planet even has actual ground anymore. It's said to host ''one trillion inhabitants''. A few of the skyscrapers are the construction droids that build more skyscrapers.
564* SlaveLiberation: Qui-Gon Jinn secures slave boy Anakin Skywalker's freedom in a podrace so he can be trained as a Jedi.
565* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: One of the ways that Tatooine is marked as an outlaw planet is the fact that slavery is legal there. ''And'' its ''de facto'' rulers are the Hutts, a race of notorious criminal overlords.
566* SlowMotionFall: Qui-Gon Jinn, after Darth Maul finishes him.
567* SmallRoleBigImpact: Darth Maul, technically, only has about 10 minutes of screen time and even fewer lines of dialogue. But the sheer importance of his role can be seen in the posters, as one possible interpretation of "The Phantom Menace" is that it is referring to him (the other options are Palpatine/Sidious and Anakin). After all, he did kill Qui-Gon Jinn, which forced Anakin unto Obi-Wan Kenobi, who was said to train him in the Original Trilogy.
568* SnowyScreenOfDeath: "A communications disruption could mean only one thing: invasion." - Governor Sio Bibble.
569* SpaceIsCold: Mentioned word-for-word by Padmé to Anakin.
570* SpinAttack: Qui-Gon Jinn does one while fighting Darth Maul, and Maul himself does a spectacular and flashy leaping spin move while fighting Obi-Wan.
571* SpinOff: Notable for being the movie with the most spin-off video games of any of the prequels: ''The Phantom Menace'', ''Episode 1 Racer'', ''Super Bombad Racing'', ''Jedi Power Battles'', ''Obi-Wan'', and ''Battle for Naboo''.
572* SpitTake: Jar Jar does this in regards to how much a Gorg[[note]]The amphibian-like animal that Gragra (the merchant) was selling at her booth[[/note]] cost (7 wupiupi). This actually got him into even more trouble as he ended up spitting it into Sebulba's soup, and likewise resulted in Sebulba beating the crap out of Jar Jar in revenge before Anakin broke it up.
573* StandardSciFiArmy: The Droid Army of the Trade Federation is a heavily mechanized force consisting of tanks, armored transports, and speeders for scouting and air support. The Gungan Grand Army utilizes organic cavalry, catapults, and a deflector shield for protection.
574* StepIntoTheBlindingFight: Jedi train The Younglings to fight blind/using only the Force by using the special darkness helmets.
575* TheStinger: The iconic VaderBreath, which recalls what Anakin will become, is played towards the end of the credits.
576* StockSoundEffects: Aside from the more classic lightsaber sounds, good ol' Wilhelm scream and blaster shots, a few, more generic sounds can be distinctly heard in a few scenes, which can be rather glaring in comparison to the other more decent sound effects of the film:
577** When Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Amidala rescue a group of hostages and destroy a few B1 battle droids in order to travel to Tatooine, we're briefly treated to the severed half of a droid which makes a very common electric spark sound. (Heard at the beginning of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWEFv8g3fQo this video]].)
578** When Anakin is showing his podracer to his friends on Tatooine, [[http://www.audiomicro.com/crowd-children-kids-play-sml-grp-laug-pe954803-sound-effects-145725 this]] children laughter sound is heard.
579** When Jar Jar is seen exploring Anakin's house on Tatooine, he briefly hits some pieces of junk and a droid and a [[http://soundeffects.wikia.com/wiki/Sound_Ideas,_CARTOON,_HIT_-_HEAD_HIT_ON_PIPE very familiar cartoon hit can be heard]].
580* TheStoic: No matter the situation, Qui-Gon remains calm and collected.
581* StormingTheCastle: In the climax, the Naboo starfighter fleet attacks The Trade Federation battleship and the rest of the heroes take back Naboo Palace.
582* StrategySchmategy: Jar Jar Binks found himself assigned a generalship in the Gungan military thanks to a political appointment. He proceeds to take out a surprising number of the enemy himself by being a LethalKlutz, and the badly outclassed Gungan army manages to last long enough in their stated purpose--being a distraction--to see the opposing droid army decommissioned.
583* StumblingUponTheLostWizard: Qui-Gonn stumbles upon the Chosen One and son of a virgin mother, Anakin Skywalker, because they randomly decided to look for ship parts in the one neighborhood on the one planet where anyone like Anakin existed.
584* SubtleSuperpowering: After discovering that Anakin is immensely strong in The Force, the Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn attempts to barter with the slaveowner Watto for the enslaved Anakin and his mother. Since what Qui-Gon is offering is only worth one slave and Watto is big into gambling, he rolls a die to determine which slave Qui-Gon will get. Qui-Gon subtly uses [[MindOverMatter Force manipulation]] to make the die land on a side that will get him Anakin. Notably, before this exchange, Qui-Gon attempted a less-subtle JediMindTrick but Watto, being a [[SpaceJews Toydarian]], was [[{{Greed}} too greedy]] to fall for it.
585* SuperFlyReflexes: Qui-Gon Jinn shows off his Jedi reflexes by catching Jar-Jar Binks' ''tongue'' with his fingers, as Jar-Jar tries to steal the Skywalkers' last apple [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projectile_use_by_living_systems#Tethered_projectiles frog-style.]]
586* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: The Trade Federation at the start of the film, relating to the blockade of Naboo.
587-->'''Viceroy''': As you know, our blockade is perfectly legal.
588* {{Tableau}: Much like ''A New Hope'', the movie ends with the main characters standing on a raised platform in front of an audience, during a victory celebration.
589* TakeThat: One of the early ads for the film spoofed the infamous "Size Does Matter" tagline of the 1998 ''Film/{{Godzilla|1998}}'' film with the phrase "Plot Does Matter."
590* TakeUpMySword: Qui-Gon dies before he has a chance to properly train Anakin and tells Obi-Wan to take his place.
591* TalkingIsAFreeAction: This movie is notable because of the ''absence'' of this trope. There is no dialogue whatsoever during the lengthy duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul. This wound up with the opposite problem, as it gets hard to remember why they're fighting to begin with.
592* TechnologyPorn: The movie shows the sequence of the Droid Army being deployed against the Gungan army.
593* TemptingFate: Qui-Gon confidently declaring that "the negotiations [with the Neimoidians] will be short". In this case, "short" means that the Neimoidians blow up their transport and send battle droids to assassinate them.
594--> '''Obi-Wan:''' You were right about one thing, Master. The negotiations ''were'' short.
595* ThatsGottaHurt: A particularly nasty crash during the pod racing prompts Fode to exclaim, "Oh! I don't care what universe you're from, that's gotta hurt!"[[note]]That line was an {{actor allusion}} for the commentator's voice actor, Creator/GregProops, who's known for employing that shtick on ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway.''[[/note]]
596* {{Thememobile}}: Pod racing on Tatooine approaches WackyRacing levels of diversity, as there's little commonality among the podcraft. One outstanding case is Ben Quadinaros, a four-armed alien whose pod is powered by four engines rather than the usual two. Presumably, these engines can be individually controlled, as Ben has four arms: one for each engine. This hardly matters, as at the start of the race, his power couplings fail, sending the four engines careening wildly while Ben sits in his pod immobile.
597* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Near the climax, just as the heroes are ready to flee the scene, a door opens, a cloaked figure appears (Darth Maul), and the first few notes of the "Duel of the Fates" theme [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W57UTi3pHTc are heard]].
598* ThemeSongReveal: Anakin's theme including chords from The Imperial March. A more subtle one is the joyful parade tune played during the film's post-climax celebration. It's [[BigBad Emperor Palpatine's]] theme from ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', in a major key instead of a minor key, with a children's choir backing it.
599* ThermalDissident: Anakin makes it known he feels rather cold while leaving Tatooine on the spaceship, even using a blanket. Padme tells him it is because he is used to living on the desert planet.
600* ThreeStoogesShoutOut: Ody Mandrell's pit droid crew has a brief moment of slapstick reminiscent of Moe, Larry, and Curly.
601* ThisCannotBe: Nute Gunray when Qui-Gon continues to cut through the blast doors despite more coming down to block his way.
602-->'''Rune Haako''': They're still coming through!
603-->'''Nute Gunray''': This is ''impossible''!
604* ThisIsGonnaSuck:
605** When Amidala calls for a no-confidence vote against Valorum, he [[DramaticSitDown collapses into his chair]], fully realizing that his career is over.
606** Captain Tarpals says "Ouch time" when the battle droids unfold and start marching.
607** Qui-Gon can only give an awkward smile before leaving after he tries and fails to Mind Trick Watto into taking Republic credits for the parts he needs, clearly having expected that to work and not having a plan B just yet.
608* ThreeSuccessfulGenerations: Anakin Skywalker has always dreamed of having the freedom to become a Jedi Knight, Obi-Wan Kenobi is obedient to the Jedi council and makes a stable father figure to Anakin, and Qui-Gon Jinn is insistent that Anakin become a Jedi Knight and fulfill his destiny.
609* Title1: The film was widely promoted as ''Star Wars: Episode I''. [[SubvertedTrope However]], it was the fourth film produced in the series. The odd numbering stems from a broad storyline for the series outlined by Creator/GeorgeLucas after the success of 1977's ''Star Wars''. The original movie was retroactively titled ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope]]'', due to Lucas' desire to flesh out the backstory alluded to in the film.
610* ToiletHumour: Mostly courtesy of Jar Jar, and perhaps the first instances of such in ''Star Wars''. Fans were not amused.
611* TonightSomeoneDies: The movie teases a major death in the trailer, showing a shot from Qui-Gon's funeral depicting some of the characters near a blazing fire and Jar-Jar looking uncharacteristically somber.
612* TooDumbToLive: The captain of the droid control ship should have taken that report of the reactor having a problem seriously.
613* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The theatrical trailer spoils a climactic death. Obi-Wan screams "[[BigNo NO]]!" in the trailer, and there's a shot of Qui-Gon in pain during the BigNo.
614* TraitorShot: Done rather subtly. While Mace and Yoda are talking about their discovery that Maul was a Sith and wondering (in view of what they know about the Sith "Rule of Two") whether he was the master or the apprentice, the camera casually pans across all the mourners at Qui-Gon Jinn's funeral, coming to rest only when it reaches the new Chancellor-elect Palpatine.
615* TranquilFury: Padmé never raises her voice, even when you can tell she is seething in rage. Sabe, her bodyguard, ''will'' raise her voice in the heat of battle.
616* TurbineBlender:
617** A Pit Droid is sucked into what looks a lot like a jet engine when one pod comes in for a pit stop, which utterly destroys the engine and puts the pilot out of contention. Not only does the sucked-in pit droid ruin the engine, but it also gets spat out the other end, [[RuleOfFunny with no apparent damage at all]].
618** Sebulba, being the dirty cheater he is, pulls out a hydrospanner or somesuch tool from his pod's glovebox and throws it behind him. It hits the engine of one of his pursuers and is promptly sucked in, tearing the craft apart.
619* {{Understatement}}: Jar-Jar warns Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to not expect a warm welcome from the Gungans. [[LittleDidIKnow Little did he know]] that ''before'' they had to deal with Trade Federation droids in the swamps of Naboo, they also had to deal with, among other things, attempted murder by ship explosion, poison gas, and armies of battle droids and droidekas.
620-->'''Obi-Wan:''' Oh, don't worry, this hasn't been our day for warm welcomes.
621* UnderwaterCity: The Gungans live in a massive city within the oceans of Naboo. This protects them from the land armies the villains send to Naboo, and since the oceans run through Naboo's core, makes the underwater city the first destination for heroes who need to travel across the planet fast.
622* TheUnfettered: A rare heroic example of an unfettered character; when Obi-Wan tries to call Qui-Gon out on his more questionable actions, he simply says, "I will do what I must," without hesitation.
623* UngovernableGalaxy: Lampshaded by Shmi when Padmé realizes how rampant slavery is in Tattooine:
624-->'''Padme:''' I can't believe there is still slavery in the galaxy. The Republic's anti-slavery laws—\
625'''Shmi:''' The Republic doesn't exist out here. We must survive on our own.
626* UnintentionalBackupPlan: Qui-Gon's original plan is for Anakin to be trained as a Jedi and bring balance to the Force. This seems to fail when Anakin falls to the dark side. In ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', however, Anakin does bring balance to the Force by destroying the last of the Sith (including himself).
627* UnlimitedWardrobe: Amidala has a new, elaborate outfit for nearly every scene, despite having fled her home planet after a sudden invasion. This is one of the most famous aspects of the movie. Even subtly lampshaded by Obi-Wan, who says they have nothing to barter with apart from the Queen's wardrobe.
628* UnorthodoxSheathing: While not having an actual sheath, Qui-Gon Jinn ignites his Lightsaber before it's fully left his belt, making it look like he's "drawing" the energy blade. He does the same thing when "sheathing" it.
629* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Qui-Gon's determination to have Anakin trained as a Jedi spells doom for the Jedi Order and decades of conflict for the rest of the galaxy. It's not entirely his fault, though; if he'd lived to train Anakin on his own, it would have been more difficult for Palpatine to subtly manipulate Anakin towards the dark side, as Anakin would have been mentored by the master who was the closest thing to a father he had ever known and also knew what he was doing rather than a grieving and inexperienced Obi-Wan.
630* UsedFuture: Averted on Naboo and Coruscant, showing that this is a different era, the era of the Galactic Republic. Obi-Wan's and Qui-Gon's are also immaculate in this film, quite unlike Obi-Wan's and Yoda's threadbare and tatty robes, showing the Jedi at the height of their power. However, the trope is played straight on Tatooine, representing the darkness eating at the Republic.
631* V8EngineNoises: While a majority of the pod racers sound more akin to piston engines under wide-open throttle, Anakin's pod uses the unedited engine note from a V12 Formula One car, complete with upshifts! And Sebulba's sounds almost like a 2-stroke moped engine idling!
632* VictoryByEndurance: This is how Qui-Gon is beaten by Maul. Even without Kenobi to assist him, they seem more or less evenly matched, as Maul and Qui-Gon knock eachother down once each in the final battle, and Qui-Gon does fine (albeit he quickly tires due to having hiked a long way while Maul took a speeder). However, while both use exhaustive and aggressive fighting styles [[AllThereInTheManual called Ataru and Juyo for Jinn and Maul respectively]] and were very fit individuals, Maul was 22 years old while Qui-Gon was 48 in Canon and [[OldMaster 60 years old]] in Legends. Thus, [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome after an initially even exchange, Qui-Gon runs out of gas much faster than Maul does.]]
633* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption:
634** Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are sent to Naboo for negotiations. The Trade Federation floods the negotiation room with poison gas and sends a half dozen battle droids.
635** Padme Amidala tries to go before the Senate to stop an invasion/genocide taking place on her planet. When they want to put it off for a committee to examine, she votes the Chancellor out of office and returns to take Naboo back by force.
636* WackyRacing: Podracers collide into each other, Tusken Raiders fire at the racers, and the track is filled with obstacles, so Qui-Gon is right when he says that racers need to have Jedi-like reflexes to race.
637* WarComesHome: Played straight with the Naboo and the Gungans who are subject to an invasion by the droid armies of the Trade Federation. Queen Amidala is forced to leave her home planet before leading a battle against the droid armies to [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry liberate her homeworld]] after the Senate fails to act.
638* WatchOutForThatTree: The pod race has a few collisions with rocks.
639* WhamLine: Qui-Gon tries to make sense of why Anakin Skywalker is so powerful at the age of ten, and asks Shmi Skywalker about Anakin's father. She answers, "There was no father."
640* WhamShot: A downplayed variation with Sidious and Maul's sole scene together on Coruscant. Every other shot of Sidious throughout the film is him as a hologram. So, it definitively confirms that the eponymous "phantom menace" is indeed flesh and blood. Lucas even acknowledges this was his intent here on the DVD Commentary.
641* WinYourFreedom: Qui-Gon Jinn makes a bet with Watto that if Anakin wins the podrace, then Watto must give Anakin to Qui-Gon. When Anakin wins, Qui-Gon immediately frees him and takes him to the Jedi Academy.
642* WorthlessCurrency: While on Tatooine, Qui-Gon tries to buy the parts he needs from Watto with Republic credits. Because Tatooine is outside of the Republic and moreover in the ass-end of space, Watto tells him to get him some real money.
643* {{Wuxia}}: While the Original Trilogy is heavily inspired by JidaiGeki samurai films, the Prequel Trilogy takes more inspiration from the wuxia genre.
644* XanatosGambit: By convincing the Trade Federation to blockade Naboo and coerce Queen Amidala to sign a treaty legitimizing the Federation occupation, Palpatine has already won the day and now must keep up appearances with the Trade Federation so they don't rat him out. By having Darth Maul reveal himself, he even removes that potential loose end.
645** Should Queen Amidala sign the treaty, Palpatine can lobby against this action in the Senate for Valorum's removal due to allowing this to take place.
646** Should Queen Amidala escape into exile or be killed, Palpatine has himself a martyr to use for this same lobby.
647** Should the Jedi be killed, the Republic would be forced to acknowledge the under-the-table actions Valorum had taken to try and avert this without taking a stand.
648** With Queen Amidala's successful escape, she fell right into his lap for him to demonstrate the corruption of the Republic firsthand, manipulating her into calling for Valorum's removal, with public support on her side due to their plight.
649* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Watto says this of Anakin after the latter wins the pod race.
650* YouAreAlreadyDead: Darth Maul takes a second to realize he's been cut in half at the end of the climactic fight scene in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when subsequent canon materials reveal that he actually survives through sheer hatred of Obi-Wan, even having a cameo in ''Film/{{Solo}}''.
651* YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: The [[https://i0.wp.com/img.screencaps.us/199/4k-swphantom/full/4k-swphantom-starwarsscreencaps.com-9563.jpg?ssl=1 look]] on Padmé's face when she learns that Anakin has never actually won a podrace, let alone ''finished'' one.
652[[/folder]]
653----
654->''"And you, young Skywalker. We will watch [[Film/AttackOfTheClones your career]] with great interest."''

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