Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Continuity mistake: After Qui-Gon is struck by Darth Maul's lightsaber, he drops down, and his lightsaber is lying on the floor. In the shot where Maul turns around to face Obi-Wan, the sabre is not lying in the same place as before (seen from the colours of the floor), and the activation button faces upwards, which it didn't do in the previous shot. In the next shot of Qui-Gon, his lightsaber is now closer to him than in the previous shot.

Continuity mistake: When Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are talking to Jar Jar in the forest, Obi-Wan's hair is wet. But when Jar Jar says, "This way, hurry." Obi-Wan's hair is completely dry. In the next shot, it's wet again. (00:12:15)

Revealing mistake: When Qui-Gon is attacked by Darth Maul for the first time, he escapes by leaping onto his ship which quickly takes off. As they zoom up into space, he discusses the mystery attacker with Obi-Wan. However, the lighting from outside the windows never changes giving the impression that they are static on a set rather than whizzing up into space.

Continuity mistake: Sebulba breaks the stabilizer on Anakin's Pod before the Podrace begins, but in the following shots where he's talking to Anakin, you can see in background that the stabilizer is unbroken. (00:54:55)

Continuity mistake: During the dinner scene, when Anakin says, "I'm the only human who can do it", his wrist is bare. In the next shot, it's covered up by his sleeve, and the cup in front of him has moved closer to the edge of the table. (00:39:45)

Kylantha

Continuity mistake: When the Queen's starship is approaching Naboo after leaving Coruscant, Ric Olié says, "Those are the forward stabilizers." In the next shot, Anakin's head is reaching higher over the back of his seat than it was in the previous shot. (01:33:30)

Kylantha

Revealing mistake: As Darth Maul lands on Tatooine, in the night sky is the Earth's view of constellation Orion. (00:51:15)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It's not that far fetched that somewhere on another planet in another galaxy the night sky can show the same or similar star patterns.

Continuity mistake: In the scene in the podracer hangar after the Podrace, the existence and position of the people and objects keeps changing between shots.

Audio problem: When Obi-Wan rushes through the Force Doors, after Qui-Gon's death, to face Maul, watch and listen carefully. Obi swings his lightsaber three times in rapid succession, Maul blocks all three attacks. The lightsabers appear to contact, there is even the almost subliminal flash from the beams hitting each other, but the sound crew only inserted two contact sound effects, and those two sounds are slightly out of sync with the actual movements.

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace mistake picture

Deliberate mistake: When Obi-Wan is fighting Darth Maul alone, after Obi-Wan cuts Maul's lightsaber in half, they start fighting on a different side of the pit. But after Maul kicks him, a close-up of Obi-Wan shows the wall and smoke of the area that they left. The shot has been reversed as well. The easiest way to see this is to watch his braid, which is on the wrong side. (01:56:55)

Continuity mistake: When Darth Maul is killed and begins to fall, he is holding his lightsaber, but when we see him falling down the pit, no lightsaber is falling through the air. (01:59:15)

Continuity mistake: Right before Darth Maul kicks Obi-Wan off the walkway, there's a wideshot where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are fighting Maul on a straight part of the walkway. In the following shots, all three of them are suddenly standing on a round part of the walkway. (01:50:45)

Continuity mistake: Near the beginning of the film, there's a few shots of the droid army landing on Naboo, with one shot of one of those hover tanks moving out of the landing ship towards the camera. In front of it are three droids in a line who are also walking towards the camera. Unfortunately, the tank is moving much faster and is bearing down on the droids with no sign of stopping - unfortunately the shot changes just before it runs them over. (00:09:55)

Audio problem: When Daultay Dofine says his first line of dialogue which is, "I knew it. They're here to force a settlement.", he speaks with the voice of Rune Haako, the Neimoidian who says, "Have you ever encountered a Jedi knight before, sir?" shortly after. (00:03:35)

Continuity mistake: After Darth Maul falls off the walkway, Qui-Gon jumps down after him, and as they continue the fight, there are several vertical beams behind them. The number of beams and their size change between shots.

Continuity mistake: When the queen is being escorted by some droids after she has been captured, there is a shot of Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon watching the queen from a balcony. The shot shows the queen passing by them. Qui-Gon then takes a few steps and is somehow very far ahead of the queen and the droids. They didn't use the force run because Jar-Jar was right up with them. (00:21:30)

Continuity mistake: In the shot where Qui-Gon introduces himself to Anakin's mother, Jar Jar, Padmé, R2-D2 and Anakin are standing half a metre to the left (your right) of where they were standing in the previous shot. (00:36:50)

Revealing mistake: After the final battle scene when the Jedi council come down to the Naboo city, as they are leaving the spacecraft there is a figure in the background who is obviously supposed to be Mace Windu, but is definitely not Samuel L. Jackson. The man is African-American, bald and dressed in Windu's clothes, but is not him. Perhaps Mr. Jackson was unavailable that day. (02:00:50)

Continuity mistake: When Jar-Jar is helping repair Anakin's podracer, he loses his tool in the motor. When he tries to take it, it is suddenly stuck in the compressor, some centimetres ahead and over.

Dr Wilson

Qui-Gon Jinn: You must have Jedi reflexes if you race pods.
[Jar Jar tries to grab a piece of fruit with his tounge, but Qui-Gon catches it.]
Qui-Gon Jinn: Don't do that again.

More quotes from Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Trivia: This film had the dubious honor as being the highest-grossing film to be nominated for "Razzie" awards, until "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" was released in 2018. It also has the dubious honor as one of a few films to be nominated for both "Razzie" (for directing, screenplay, picture, and acting roles) and Academy Awards (only for technical achievements) at the same year. While it did not win any Oscars, it won only one "Razzie" for "Worst Supporting Actor" (Ahmed Best who provided the voice of Jar-Jar Binks).

megamii

More trivia for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Question: Something I never quite figured out when watching the film was what the shields in the corridor were for? The shields that separate Darth Maul from Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan during the fight. There are dozens of them and all they seem to do is benefit the fight in the film without having any real purpose.

Lummie

Chosen answer: According to "Inside the Worlds of Star Wars: Episode I" by Kristin Lund, they are "laser doors which lock into position in response to potentially lethal power outputs that occur intermittently during plasma activation process" (the fight takes place in a plasma energy processing plant). There are six laser doors in deference to an ancient Naboo legend in which Chaos is held back by six inpentrable gates. As you say though, they're really just a plot device to add dramatic tension to the duel!

Sierra1

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