BEHIND THE SCENES: INSIDE THE POD RACE HANGAR!

Despite the rise of CGI with the new Star Wars Prequel filmmaking universe, may critics and fans still need to be reminded that Episode One regardless had many partial and practical sets/props built for its storytelling at Leavesden Studios during 1997, like this impressive Pod Hangar bay.  

BEHIND THE SCENES: PREPPING THE PODS!

The 1997 Tunisian location may have been hit by violent storms and winds the night before filming, but the nature-damaged pod racing vehicles specially built in the UK for EPISODE I's epic Boonta Eve Pod Race sequence would be repaired quickly, with their diversity and distinctive visual appearances showcased anew before the cameras... 

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: POD COMBATANTS!

It's the closing moments of the Boonta Eve Classic. Despite earlier sabotage caused by Sebulba, Anakin is now neck and neck with his Dug rival as the finishing line rapidly approaches for their pods, in this tense sequence from EPISODE I spectacularly rendered by ILM's ultra-talented artists, backed up with John Williams' heightened score.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: THE NEED FOR SPEED!

Proving himself as the only human on Tatooine adept at Pod race piloting, Anakin Skywalker deservedly takes the lead in the Boonta Eve competition, but that no-good-cheating 'slimo' rival of his in Sebulba is never too far behind, in this great art for an EPISODE I storybook of a few years back.

'I came up with idea of pod racing, which is in the vein of chariot racing. Instead of horses I used jet engines. It's the kind of thing I would liked to have done when I was racing cars. I think that's what it all comes down to in the end- to have two engines and be able to control them at 500 miles an hour.'

George Lucas - BBC interview (1998)

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: SEBULBA'S CHALLENGE!

Sebubla is the undisputed king of the Boonta Eve pod racing championships on Tatooine, and nothing will stop him from winning this latest event, whatever it takes, and especially not even that pesky human competition in child and rival Anakin Skywalker. Another great composite image from ILM.

"We thought of him (Sebulba) as the greatest racer who ever lived. By understanding his identity and his backstory, we were better able to design his physical behaviour and his overall attitude."

Rob Coleman - The Making of EPISODE I book - 1999

Promo poster for the Star Wars Racer game from Lucasarts.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: IN THE MIDST OF MAYHEM!

Anakin Skywalker is gaining ground and overtaking his many other skilled rivals, but that crafty Sebulba continues his reign as a cheating no-good slimo, using underhand tactics anew to destroy his fellow racers and plunge them into distracted mayhem!

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: THE PERILS OF THE BOONTA EVE CIRCUIT

Surely one of the most intriguing environments of raw beauty, complex land masses and savage danger seen in the Star Wars Prequels is Tatooine's Mos Espa outlands course depicted in the Boonta Eve Classic pod race, presented here in an excellent aerial artwork layout piece that originally appeared in one of the excellent early visual guides to EPISODE I.

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: AND THEY'RE AWAY!

Kicked off in a unique way by Jabba the Hutt, the Pod Racers are launched and into the picturesque yet deadly first circuit, though with the exception of a pod-stalled Anakin Skywalker. Thankfully, such trouble isn't to last long and the boy is soon adroitly catching up on lost time.

A striking all-CGI image, and the start to an epic, memorable sequence of EPISODE I.

https://www.starwars.com/video/episode-i-featurette-podracing

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: FILMING THE POD RACE ASSEMBLAGE

A freak on location storm may have temporarily damaged the colourful and diverse pod racers shipped over from the UK, but the specially built props were quickly back up and running for filming in the desert of Tunisia, in material shot by George Lucas, whilst his old friend Roger Christian (formerly an Oscar winning set director on A New Hope, later a film director in his own right) came out to head the film's second unit material.

Roger Christian handles the camera.

A duo of aliens add to the background technicians.

Danny Wagner on location rehearsal as the pod racer Mawhonic.

Mawhonic as ready for filming.

The various pods as assembled prior to filming.

Lucas watches as Anakin's all-important Pod is put into position

The flag attenders parade in front of the Pods. Note that the puppet Threepio was added to the group in post production.

Wald (Warwick Davis) and the numerous background pod race aliens gather for a posed image.

Wald, Kitster and Artoo prepare to watch Anakin in competition.

https://www.starwars.com/news/start-your-engines-star-wars-podracing-drivers-part-1

HAPPY UK TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY TO 'EPISODE ONE'!

The saga begins today, twenty years ago, for expectant UK fans...

"When I made The Phantom Menace, I knew that I was basically not going down the commercial route that everyone expected. I knew that I was doing it with a nine-year old kid, and everybody said, 'You can't do that. It's got to have Jedi fighting and all this kind of thing everybody wants to see.' I knew I was doing it without the cast from the other films, and everyone was saying, 'You've got to work Harrison Ford into it somehow.' I said, 'It's a Prequel. How can I do that?' And if I'd been doing it in Hollywood they would have done all their market research and said, 'This is the kind of movie you've got to make.' I'm more interested in the story than in whether or not the the film is a commercial success. That made everybody in marketing very nervous, but they did the best (they could.) Since we have to finance the advertising of our films, they do their best to get the tie-ins and do all kinds of things to make sure the film doesn't fail."

George Lucas - BBC News Online interview - 1999

Key plot points selling the film in the US TV campaign of May 1999.

"The fans expectations had gotten way high and they wanted a film that was going to change their lives and be the Second Coming. You know I can't do that. It's just a movie. And I can't say, now I gotta market it to a whole different audience. I tell the story. I knew if I'd made Anakin a fifteen year old instead of nine, then it would have been more marketable. But that isn't the story. It is important that he be young, that he be at an age where leaving his mother is more of a drama than it would have been at fifteen. So you just have to do what's right for the movie, not what's right for the market."

"I'm very sorry they don't like it. They should go back and see The Matrix or something."

George Lucas - Empire Magazine - September 1999

A pre-release group publicity image outtake.

US TV TRAILER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jg8LcsGbd2E

"I love the fact that kids can go and see it. It's the first film I've made that kids could or would want to see."

Ewan McGregor - Heat magazine - 1999

"It (the film) has an unembarrassed idealism that I liked. It's not ashamed of idealism. Ewan is so cute; he's a total heartthrob. It's also very beautiful, with all the costumes and images. And I play a strong female character. I'm the one everyone works for and takes orders from. I'm in control!"

Natalie Portman - Online interview - 1999

"It's a rollicking great story told very inventively and creatively. I also think that these Star Wars films offer a return to old fashioned values and the ethics of loyalty and truth, integrity and humility. People may not intellectually grasp that but they intuitively feel that they need to see these types of stories that make a complex world easier to comprehend."

Liam Neeson - Empire magazine - August 1999

THE 'PHANTOM' AT TWENTY: LUCAS RETURNS!

George Lucas goes through the Pod Racing models with his ILM team.

He'd said previously that he would never direct another film after the horrors and battle fatigue of shooting the original Star Wars in 1976. But the lure of telling the story of how a good person goes bad in former Jedi Anakin Skywalker's life, and to be able to use incredible new pioneering CGI effects previously used to such great distinction with Jurassic Park, ultimately proved too irresistible to George Lucas, soon rightly and fan expectantly taking back full cinematic creative control of the upcoming saga (despite teasing other fine directorial friends in Ron Howard, Saul Zaentz, and Francis Ford Coppola that he wouldn't) to launch a new artistic direction for his Prequel Trilogy, that would primarily capture the enthusiasm of new generations of dedicated young audiences from 1999 onwards.

CLASSIC ART: EVIL INCARNATE!

The three distinctive, now modern icons, of STAR WARS Prequel villainy- the brutal Sith assassin Darth Maul, cooly dangerous bounty hunter/clone army patent Jango Fett, and the sadist cyborg General Grievous, come together for this great composition piece- beneath them, some of the most memorable scenes from those still under-appreciated films.

BEHIND THE SCENES: WHEN POD RACERS GATHER!

Twenty-one years on from his original adventure in an adventure making the first STAR WARS in Tunisia, George Lucas and his new Prequel production team return to that country to film critical sequences for EPISODE I set once more on Tatooine: notably the exciting and much loved Pod Race.

CLASSIC IMAGE: INTO THE AIR!

The stakes have never been higher for young Anakin Skywalker, instinctively making a bold move to get in front of his arch rival Sebulba, during the superb and exhilirating original version of the Boonta Eve Pod Race, from EPISODE I.

Podrace Lap One - Animatics & Live Action Tests - The Phantom Menace - YouTube

BEHIND THE SCENES: TIME FOR A LAUGH!

They may be filming a scene of high tension at the Mos Espa Pod Race, but there's still room for humour, as Pernilla August goofs up during a scene, much to the enjoyment of co-stars Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman, during this Tunisia filmed scene from EPISODE I.

CLASSIC IMAGE: ZOOOOMMMM!

One of the iconic Pod racers -likely Mars Guo- zips through the Tatooine Boonta Eve Classic hurdle canyons, in a classic need for speed moment from EPISODE I.

CLASSIC IMAGE: PRE-RACE FIX-UP!

A big and challenging day looms ahead for young Anakin Skywalker as he and his friends make some last minutes fixes to his recently built pod racer-a scene filmed in Tunisia for EPISODE I.

CLASSIC ART: POD RACER THRILLS!

John Alvin's adrenaline French STAR WARS FAN CLUB art for the equally on-screen adrenaline pod race from EPISODE I- still one of the all-time great sequences handled by ILM ever to be seen in a blockbuster movie. Looking forward to seeing what the company and J.J. Abrams will be doing to try and top such premiere league STAR WARS action/adventure sequences with EPISODE VII onwards...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GEORGE LUCAS!

To the man who gave us Jedi and Sith, Empire and Rebellion, and whose dreams made real of universes far away and long ago have enriched our lives- all STAR WARS fans worldwide (and beyond) salute you and send their heartiest birthday greetings!