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Star Wars : The Phantom Menacecontains a CGI blunder during Anakin ’s pod race . Marking the dawning of George Lucas ' prequel trilogy , The Phantom Menacewas wide criticized upon discharge . After a dispute between the Trade Federation ( puppeteered by Palpatine ) andQueen Amidala of Naboo , the Jedi are forced to intervene in matter and soon uncover an subtle cabal at the heart of the political tie . An attack on the Queen ’s ship force the walkaway to land on Tatooine , where Qui - Gon Jinn first hear a young Anakin Skywalker . To buy the part need to exit , as well as earn his own exemption , Anakin takes part in a life-threatening , thrilling fuel pod raceway and narrowly ticktack the gambler ’s favorite , Sebulba .
Despite the general aura of disdain surroundingThe Phantom Menace , the film ’s seedpod race is often praised and held up as a shining model of good nineties CGI . Such a thrilling spectacle would ’ve been near - unimaginable to shoot in live - action at law , but the engineering science useable to Lucas while shoot theStar Warsprequelsmade a once outlandish high-pitched - fastness wash across the desert possible . alas , pod racing was far from the only digital component inThe Phantom Menace ; everything from scene and airplane propeller to characters and backdrops was add together in post output . In the years since , The Phantom Menacehas been accused of being fanatic with its digital elements , but the pod backwash remains shut from that conversation .
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Despite being the centerpiece ofThe Phantom Menace , the fuel pod slipstream does take an error that might be difficult to espy in real time , but is impossible to un - see once it ’s been pointed out . In the race ’s closing chronological succession , Anakin Skywalkerhas fought his way to the front of the mob but the treacherous Sebulba is hot on his tail . A front - facing shot shows Jake Lloyd ’s Anakin being tenaciously pursued , but while Sebulba ’s pod racer is visible behind him , Sebulba himself is nowhere to be seen . The pod race driver in this shot is completely empty , leaving only the racer ’s head restraint to pursue Anakin . Fortunately , Sebulba is animize back into his behind shortly after . This mistake is explicate inThe Phantom Menace ’s DVD comment , where John Knoll ( special effects supervisor ) points out the gaffe and claims , " I figured we could get aside with it . "
broadly speaking , The Phantom Menacedoes get away with its phantom Sebulba - the deletion is almost unacceptable to see at normal speed , and the headrest camouflages well enough so as to not appear majorly dissimilar to an out - of - focus Sebulba . Knoll may not have anticipated that one day , the internet would be capable to ceaselessly analyze and analyze each single skeleton of theStar Warsfranchise . It ’s also reasonably ironic that in a motion-picture show predominantly filmed using CGI to provideGeorge Lucaswith more creative command , there are still several errors that are entirely the demerit of CGI .
Lucas ' love of digital technology is no secret , and the director has a repute as a meddler dating all the way back to his original 1977Star Warseffort . From Greedo shoot Han to Hayden Christensen ’s Force ghostwriter , Lucas is infamous for needlessly altering scenes with extra CGI and tracking down a completely unaffected edit of the original trilogy has become slippery than find an cilium on a Wookiee . EvenThe Phantom Menacehas been altered , extending the podrace and scintillant shot , and tally in a CGI Yoda to replace the original puppet . peculiarly , the shot with Anakin being chased by a sentient fuel pod racer stay entire , with Sebulba still miss from the cockpit . This highlight how George Lucas ' motivations for tweaking theStar Warsmoviesare more about ameliorate and update than removing imperfectness .
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