Trivia: When Anakin is in the Naboo fighter, look closely at the symbols under the astro droid well. The symbols are the same as the one on the Led Zepplin CD "Zoso," one of the designers' favorite bands.
Trivia: Scattered about Watto's junk shop are a number of references to "Star Wars" (1977) and other sci-fi films -2001: A Space Odyssey's probe, and the head and shoulders of the Terminator's metallic skeleton (it could be the kind of medical droid visible at the end of "The Empire Strikes Back").
Trivia: A scene was made (but not included in the final film) where young Greedo and Anakin get into a fight after the pod race (Greedo accuses Anakin of cheating). Greedo is warned that with that kind of behavior, he could get himself into trouble in the future. And of course, in Episode IV, he's blasted to pieces by Han Solo.
Trivia: When a security officer is shot during the blaster battle in the Naboo hangar, a "Wilhelm scream" can be heard.
Trivia: The water-like screen on the Neimodian spaceship is the same as in a Flash Gordon movie.
Trivia: The ball at the centre of the Trade Federation's droid control ship is a tribute to the Death Star.
Trivia: The vocals during the end celebration (Track 18 on the soundtrack, "Augie's Great Municipal Band") is the same piece of music as the Emperor's haunting theme used in Return of the Jedi, only up-tempo and sung by children. (This has led some people to believe that Palpatine's first name is "Augie" or "Augustus.").
Trivia: After the shots of Darth Maul releasing his probes we see a shot of people walking around. If you listen carefully to the three Jawas which walk from left to right then you will hear one of them say sh*t.
Trivia: At the end, the droid that Jar-Jar pushes over has 4 symbols on its back which look almost exactly like 1138 - yet another reference in George Lucas' films to his first effort.
Trivia: When you see Jar-Jar Binks sleeping in Queen Amidala's spaceship, he looks exactly like Ruby Rhod sleeping after the explosion of Fhloston Paradise in "The Fifth Element" (1997).
Trivia: Anakin's mother, being a slave, has little identity. Interestingly, "Shmi" in Hebrew means "this is my name".
Trivia: With the exception of Battle Droids, this was the only Star Wars movie where nobody loses an arm/hand until the release of Episode VII. The victims are Anakin and the bounty hunter in Episode II, Anakin again in Episode III, Ponda Baba at Mos Eisley in Episode IV, Luke and a Wampa in Episode V, and Vader in Episode VI.
Trivia: Before production had started on The Phantom Menace, Ron Howard, along with Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis, were asked by George Lucas to direct, but all three turned it down. Howard would later direct the Han Solo movie in 2018.
Answer: The entire time Palpatine is bitching to Viceroy Gunray that he needs the Queen to sign the treaty to make the blockade and invasion legal. He didn't send Darth Maul to kill Amidala, he sent him to capture her and to deal with her Jedi escort.
Quantom X ★