Question: Does 1138 appear at all in this movie? I don't remember seeing it.
Question: What was the original plan of the Trade Federation and Darth Sidious? I saw TPM six times in the theaters and a few times at home and I still don't know why they were blockading Naboo. What was with the treaty that they wanted Amidala to sign? If their plan had worked and she signed this treaty that gave them control over the planet what good would that do?
Chosen answer: You have to bear in mind that the Trade Federation and Darth Sidious probably have very different views of what the plan actually is. From the point of view of the Trade Federation, they're probably under the impression that the aim is to get the treaty signed, with the likely effect of bringing Naboo into the Trade Federation. This would allow them to exploit the natural resources of the place, and benefit from any trade carried out from that planet. Sidious, on the other hand, doesn't care in the slightest about the Trade Federation - he has carefully manipulated the situation to get Amidala to call for the vote that will remove Chancellor Valorum from office and force the election of a new chancellor, allowing Palpatine (who either is Sidious or is some sort of clone under his control) to advance to the leadership of the Senate. That's pretty much the sum total of his plan, which, as we see, is a complete success.
Question: When asked if she would allow a group from the senate to go to Naboo and investigate her claims, Amidala says "no" and asks for a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Valorum. Why? Unless I interpreted this incorrectly they were offering to go and look into the situation. Why not say, "great, let's go" and they would have seen what was happening? Also, what would have been an acceptable course of action for her? This didn't make any sense to me.
Chosen answer: She was sick and tired of no action being taken. She wanted them to do something about it now, not send people out there to investigate, that would take too much time. This is coupled with the notion that Palpatine was somewhat brainwashing her into believing that Valorum was a poor/incompetent leader, and that following Palpatine's cause/actions was the best way for help.
Question: Why would the impostor queen still be pretending while everyone was on the royal ship? Who is the queen hiding from when the only people around are her security force and two Jedi? What is gained by keeping the Jedi in the dark?
Answer: Nothing. But nothing was lost, either. Captain Panaka was probably in charge of the deception, and he makes it clear that he is not the most trusting of people, even of Jedi. They probably just thought, if no one knew, then no one could accidentally tell anyone else (it's harder to act that you don't know something than it is to actually not know something).
Question: I heard Keira Knightly was in this film, does anybody know who she played?
Chosen answer: She played Sabe, the queen's handmaiden and double.
Question: Why do Anakin and Qui-gon have to cover up the fact that it's Anakin's pod they want him to race? Anakin says, "You could make them think it's yours" (or something like that), and Qui-gon later says that he acquired the pod in a game of chance. Why the deception? What does Watto care, who built the pod?
Chosen answer: As a slave, Anakin is not allowed any possessions of his own. Anything the Skywalkers have, ultimately belongs to Watto, so if Watto discovered Anakin had a pod, he would claim it for himself and maybe have someone else race it. The Jedi, of course, needed Anakin to race, since he was the best pod pilot around (and to test his Jedi capablities).
Question: Obi-wan ordered the people on the ship to "send no reply" when the cries for help were being received from Naboo ("It sounds like bait, to establish a connection trace," he explained). That being the case, how did Darth Maul know they were on Tattoine? Darth Sidious even asked him, "Are you sure your trace is correct?" or something like that.
Chosen answer: As a Sith, Maul has methods of tracking that would not be available to non-Force users. When Obi-wan ordered them not to reply, they're not aware of any possible Sith involvement - his precautions would be secure against technological means of determining location, but not against a Sith Lord.
Answer: It is stated in the novel that they did send a brief response. I see no reason why they could not have defied Obi-Wan's advice and done the same off screen in the movie.
Question: Why does the Jedi council decide against training Anakin? One thing is that Yoda senses much fear in him, and that he is past the standard age for training, but with his power level you would think it wiser NOT to have him running around like a loose cannon, developing his powers in all sorts of directions, not to mention the risk of him being recruited by Dark Jedi.
Chosen answer: Yoda and others on the council probably used Jedi farseeing (a power mentioned in the novel sequels which have been said to be part of the universe continuity by Lucas) and learned it to be a bad idea. It is also possible that Anakin's bringing "balance to the Force" is by becoming Vader and bringing down the old corrupt Republic and (indirectly) replacing it with a new Jedi order and a new Republic. They told Obi Wan they wouldn't train Anakin knowing that that is what was necessary to begin bringing back balance.
Question: Is it true that Peter Serafinowicz voiced Darth Maul because Ray Park's voice was too squeaky?
Answer: Ray Park's film work has mostly been as a stunt double and not as a speaking actor. Peter Serafinowicz has extensive experience as both an actor and doing voice-over work. He was better able to vocalize the Darth Maul character. It's fairly common in films (particularly sci-fi and fantasy) for minor character's voices to be dubbed over by other actors. Many movie scenes are filmed without sound and the dialogue and sound effects are added in post-production. Many actors dub over their own voices for better sound quality.
Question: What did Palpatine mean when he said to Anakin, "We will watch your career with great interest"?
Answer: I believe the line was meant as foreshadowing so fans would get it if they have watched the original trilogy they can make the connection from Anakin to Vader so they are aware of his fate. It also shows that Palpatine had his eye on Anakin for a long time to eventually recruit him as his apprentice.
Question: Is it true that Peter Serafinowicz, who voiced Darth Maul, is furious with George Lucas?
Answer: Serafinowicz apparently hated working on "Phantom Menace" because it paid poorly, he was given limited direction, and he felt Jar Jar Binks was a racist caricature upon watching the film on release.
Also, Serafinowicz was annoyed that he wasn't invited to the film's premiere and had to pay for his own tickets and travel expenses.
Question: Had Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan been able to both survive and defeat Maul, would this mean Sidious would not be able to manipulate Anakin anymore? Or would the Sith Lord have simply tried a different plan, besides emotional manipulation, to try to trick an Anakin trained under Qui-Gon into the dark side?
Answer: I don't think his plans would change. Qui-Gon is just another Jedi Master training Anakin, nothing much different because Obi-Wan was trained by him as well, after all. Plus, Qui-Gon much more believes Anakin is the chosen one, so he would probably allow Anakin a lot more than Obi-Wan would, including his relationships with Palpatine and Padme, which both are more important for Anakin's switch to the dark side.
I (not who submitted the question) wonder if Palpatine actually wanted Darth Maul to be killed by Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, or both. It seems like he mostly trained Maul to fight. Maul seemed to know little about the plotting, scheming, and political dealings. Dooku was capable in those areas, and was skilled at fighting. He was probably more useful while Palpatine waited to turn Anakin.
Not sure about that. I think he genuinely thought Darth Maul was properly trained to defeat Jedi. I don't think Palpatine planned ahead in terms of apprentices, except Anakin. But Darth Maul was before he knew Anakin. I don't think Sith are easy to find either, so Palpatine needed Maul for a lot of things more than just kill Jedi. It is too convenient however that every apprentice he had served his plans perfectly. Because I don't see Maul lead the separatists.
I was under the impression that Palpatine knew about Anakin ever since Shmi was chosen to be Anakin's mother. I might be wrong. This is an interesting discussion, though - I appreciate your response. Some think that Maul had limited use of the Force and was more of a trained assassin. But, if that were true, why call him a Sith apprentice? As you say, it's hard to imagine him being a Separatist leader.
I do not have any knowledge regarding any books written or other sources that might be considered canon, as have been mentioned in other comments here recently. My knowledge is purely the movies. As per the movies, Palpatine only learned of Anakin after the Battle of Naboo.
Question: According to Captain Panaka and Qui-Gon, if the Hutts discover Queen Amidala on Tattooine, it will be just like landing on a planet controlled by the Federation. Why would they care about her? What would they do?
So the Federation was probably offering a bounty/reward for her capture?
Question: Is Palpatine's identity a spoiler? The Episode IV-VI movies never mention the Emperor's name. In Episodes I-III, we can guess that Darth Sidious will be the emperor, but what about Chancellor Palpatine? If the audience didn't know that he was Sidious, the impact of the reveal would be far different than if they did.
Answer: This can vary from viewer to viewer. Before "The Phantom Menace" came out, I already knew Emperor Palpatine's name because I had the Kenner action figure of him, plus I knew the same actor was playing both characters. Someone else who may not be an astute viewer might not have known, though I find it hard to believe they wouldn't put all the pieces together by the time "Revenge of the Sith" came out.
Question: After R2-D2 helps fix the escaping ship, Queen Amidala thanks the droid in front of Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and her handmaidens, but Amidala's decoy refers to her handmaiden as Padme. Why doesn't she refer to her as Sabe? Doesn't everyone know that Queen Amidala's first name is Padme?
Answer: Padme was impersonating a handmaid, using her real name. Sabe was playing her role of Queen Amidala. This was unknown to Qui-Gon.
But the point is that using the queen's real name seems like it's giving the game away a bit.
Answer: At the end of the film, after Anakin destroys the control ship and all the wardroids shut down, it can be seen written on the back of one of the droids that were guarding Jar-Jar and Captain Tarpals.
Tailkinker ★