THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: POD RACE PREPARATIONS!

It's all hands on deck as Anakin and his new friends ready his secretly built pod racer for the Boonta Eve event. As we also meet Anakin's close friend Kitster (played by Dhruv Chanchani) for the first time, the rest of Anakin's disinterested young friends (including Warwick Davis's Rodian named Wald) show little faith in his abilities to get the Pod off the ground or win the race.

Whilst Artoo proves a great help, and Qui-Gon provides a working power source for the pod, luckless Jar Jar keeps getting himself confused and in trouble on the technical side of things!

Watch out, Jar Jar!

Ahmed Best gets a break between shots.

"One hundred and fifty four degrees! (Working in location temperature) In a plastic rubber-latex-foam, long-johns-on-acid suit. I was attached to what they call a cool suit, but it was intense cold, and then it was intense heat, so I kept my costume on and stayed hot-it was easier for me to do that mentally. People were passing out left and right."

Ahmed Best - Premiere magazine - May 1999

Filming sequences on location with the full pod prop built in the UK.

Anakin gets ready for the pod testing.

The sequence proved to be a very busy period of filming in Tunisia, with quite a large cast of young and veteran actors at hand near the prop pod racing vehicle. The exterior of Anakin and Shmi's slave dwelling, where Shmi and Qui-Gon confer on the unique Anakin, was a set built on location within the Sahara Desert.

Lucas confers with the cast during a break in filming.

"It was unbearably hot. You had to watch yourself and drink a lot of Gatorade. But George (Lucas) never changed his costume at all. From England to Tunisia he wore the same jeans and checked shirt and baseball cap. So, I thought, I'm not going to complain if he's dressed in jeans."

Liam Neeson - Premiere magazine - May 1999

The prop Threepio puppet and Artoo shell stand next to each other.

'Help, I think I'm melting!'

Kenny Baker braves the heat to put the life and soul of Artoo back on screen.

With Qui-Gon's quiet musings here of a vergence in the Force, possibly linked to the prophecy of balance, a prior deleted dialogue sequence between Shmi and Qui-Gon Jinn (when he and his party were first introduced by Anakin) would hint early about the boy's abilities:

Shmi: I'm sorry if I was abrupt. I'll never get used to Anakin's surprises.

Qui-Gon: He's a very special boy.

SHMI loosks at him as if he's discovered a secret.

Shmi: Yes, I know.

In an early script, Qui-Gon would warn her about Anakin's uncertain future as a Jedi: "But it's too late for him now, he's too old." A line referencing a similar thought made by Master Yoda towards Luke Skywalker on Dagobah, in The Empire Strikes Back.

Qui-Gon discovers the mysterious truth about Anakin's conception.

"Pernilla (August) and I had a few giggles once we had to say it. When it came to my close-up, I wanted to do a double-take - "A virgin?"

Liam Neeson - Star Wars Insider magazine - 1999