8 things you didn't know about the Star Wars prequels

Even though the Star Wars prequel trilogy came out so long ago and we’ve watched them countless times, there are still plenty of details in and surrounding those films that many will have missed. After all, it’s a densely packed trilogy of films where a great deal happens, and the act of film-making changed radically.

The Star Wars universe is known for its interconnected stories, its cast of many characters, and the awesome scale of its overarching narrative. There are bound to be some cool stories and little tidbits scattered throughout. With that in mind, let’s travel to a galaxy far, far away, and delve into the Star Wars prequels to see what we missed along the way.

An Ode to Spielberg

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

With a real ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ moment in Episode I: The Phantom Menace, you’ll see that E.T. appears in the galactic senate, or at least three members of their race do. This is, of course, a nod to George Lucas’ long-time friend Steven Spielberg who directed the film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. This provides an interesting thought - seeing as E.T. made it to Earth, does this mean that the galactic senate knows of Earth and its primitive species of humans?

Get General Grievous a lozenge

General Grievous

This is a little-known fact from behind the scenes; when shooting Star Wars around the time voice work was being recorded for General Grievous, George Lucas had a nasty case of bronchitis, giving him a horrible cough. Knowing that Greivous would also have a cough, the crew used some of Lucas’ coughs and warped the sound slightly. So, when he coughs, that’s George Lucas, otherwise it’s Matthew Wood.

After 2001

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

When Qui-Gon is walking through the junkyard in The Phantom Menace, he passes by a lot of old rubbish from across the galaxy, one would assume. Tucked away to the side of the frame you might just spy a relic from another film, a distant planet too. If you watch closely you’ll see an EVA pod from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. You might think, “Oh, that’s a coincidence.” However, it is the actual prop from the film made 30 years before. In 2001, two of the pods were lost during the mission. Is this a lost pod?

The Lucas children

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

George Lucas has put several of his children into his films. Jett Lucas appeared as a youngling Jedi in Episode II: Attack of the Clones wandering through the Jedi archives. However, he also turned up wielding a blue lightsaber and battling with troopers. Lucas’ daughter, Katie, appeared in all three of the prequels with one of her appearances being next to Jabba during the pod race, sporting spiked red hair. Lastly, Katie Lucas was cast as one of Anakin’s childhood friends who says, “You’ve been working on that thing for years,” about the pod racer.

Finding Han Solo

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi

In Attack of the Clones, there’s a moment where Obi-Wan is trying to avoid detection while on the way to Geonosis and he hides in an asteroid field. Alongside him are Jango Fett and his son Boba Fett. This act is a call forward to when Han Solo attempts to hide from Boba Fett, now grown and a bounty hunter, in an asteroid field himself. Of course, Fett knows this is a tactic and easily tracks down Han Solo.

A future star

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

It’s easily overlooked that a future Hollywood star appeared in The Phantom Menace, Keira Knightley. She was dolled up to look like Queen Amidala, and even she forgets she was in Star Wars as seen in one interview where Knightley had to confirm who she actually played. Keira Knightley wasn’t even a teenager when she got the part in Star Wars where she played one of Amidala’s stand-ins. Apparently, the make-up was so good even Knightley’s mum couldn’t tell them apart.

A bad feeling

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones

While the sentence ‘May the force be with you’ has become the catchphrase of the entire Star Wars universe, there’s another that is said often. So often that it has appeared in every Star Wars film to date. It has been spoken by Luke, Leia, C3PO, Anakin, and Rey, with each of them saying a variation of ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’ But it’s not quite sharp enough to be considered a catchphrase.

An important second director

Star Wars: Episode III - The Revenge of the Sith

Many films have secondary directors usually directing other units or pick-up shots. Revenge of the Sith had a very important director step in for George Lucas to shoot a monumental scene. It was actually Spielberg who directed the iconic final lightsaber battle between Obi-Wan and Anakin on Mustafar. It’s said that this was because Spielberg wanted to test out some new technology and Lucas allowed him to do it via that scene in the film.