10 Most Underrated Scenes In Star Wars

6. Intro To Darth Maul

Ahsoka Shadow Warrior Purrgil
Lucasfilm

While The Phantom Menace has some missteps, no wrongs were more egregious than the death of Darth Maul, gone too early from a prequel trilogy that never managed to come up with a better villain as a replacement.

A snarling, tattooed, horned devil of a Sith warrior, cloaked in Samurai-like duds and wielding a double-edged blade, Darth Maul was quite possibly the single greatest creation of the prequel trilogy. So, it makes every Maul moment worth cherishing, but while his outstanding final duel with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon gets much (deserved) attention, less spoken of is his introduction to the main characters in the deserts of Tatooine. 

First you see Maul arrogantly swagger to his Bloodfin speeder, then pursue and leap off said speeder brandishing a lightsaber in pursuit of Qui-Gon and team. The scene, though brief, works so well because the spooky character design and fearsome physical performance by Ray Park make it seem like there's a legitimate threat for the Jedi.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.