10 Cringiest Moments In The Star Wars Prequels

9. Anakin's Pilot Catchphrases

Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker in Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace
Disney

As with most actors in the prequel trilogy, Jake Lloyd didn't exactly have the greatest dialogue to work with, which is one of the reasons why young Anakin Skywalker mostly comes off as annoying.

Some of the worst of this dialogue can be heard towards the end of The Phantom Menace, when the future Vader uses an N-1 starfighter to destroy the Trade Federation's droid-controlling ship. "I'll try spinning, that's a good trick", and "Now this is podracing", he exclaims, with a level of cringe so pronounced that it almost physically hurts.

It's bad enough that that second line makes no sense whatsoever (Anakin, mate, you had a proper podracing experience earlier in the film, so what are you even saying?!) but even worse, these scenes of Anakin in the cockpit are intercut with that incredible duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, and Darth Maul, which only makes them feel even more irritating.

In this post: 
Star Wars
 
First Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!