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).
Trivia: Liam Neeson was so eager to be in the film, he didn't bother reading the script. Ironically, he reportedly disliked working on the film once principal photography began.
Trivia: After the disappointment many fans had with the Phantom Menace, a copy of the film appeared on the internet titled The Phantom edit and was found to have had around 20 minutes of footage edited from the film by a person calling themselves the phantom editor. The new film proved to be very popular amongst many fans. Most of the footage that was deleted was primarily the unpopular Jar Jar Binks character, with his presence in the new edit kept to a minimum. Some believed the phantom editor was director Kevin Smith, who is a huge fan of Star Wars. After the popularity of the new edit, another edit was found nicknamed "The East Coast version" with its largest change being Jar Jar Binks' and the Gungans' speech, which was changed to scrambled alien dialogue with made up English subtitles for when they spoke.
Trivia: During the scene in the senate, after the shot of a Senator calling for order, we see pods with aliens in them. Towards the lower left you can see a pod full of E.T's. There's also a pod full of Wookies making their traditional noises, played for the first time in 20 years by someone other than Peter Mayhew. (01:25:30)
Trivia: George Lucas' daughters, Katie and Amanda Lucas, are both in this film. Katie (under the pseudonym Emma Green) plays Amee, the oldest girl in the group of children who show up when Anakin is working on his pod. Amanda, under the pseudonym Tyger, plays the voice of Tey How, a member of the viceroy's crew. She also appears as the red-haired woman in Jabba the Hutt's box before the podrace begins.
Trivia: In the ending credits, the credits for Greg Proops and Scott Capurro are reversed. Proops plays Beed Annodue, the English-speaking Podrace announcer, and Capurro plays Fode Annodue, the Huttese-speaking announcer.
Trivia: During the Pod race, you get a brief shot of a very short man standing next to Watto. This is Warwick Davis, who played the main Ewok (the one who finds Leia) in Jedi, and also played the main character in Willow. He also plays Wald - the young Rodian who looks like a little Greedo.
Trivia: Peter "Chewbacca" Mayhew can be seen in some of the Mos Espa street scenes.
Trivia: Liam Neeson did the majority of his own stunts. The only major stunts done by a double were the two lightsaber duels with Darth Maul.
Trivia: Qui-Gon Jinn calls Queen Amidala's spaceship a Nubian model J-327. 327 was the number of the landing pad where the Millennium Falcon landed on the first Death Star in episode IV and on the Cloud City in episode V. Supposedly this number also appears in "American Graffiti" (1974), a film George Lucas directed.
Trivia: On the long shot of the homes on Tatooine, after Anakin has his arm patched up by Qui-Gon Jinn and his blood tested for a midichlorian count, you can see a shadow on Anakin's house in the shape of a side view of Darth Vader's helmet.
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 ★