10 Star Wars Scenes George Lucas Hated

Taking shots at The Phantom Menace is pretty low-hanging fruit these days, with many quick to forever lambast the clear flaws in that movie and the impact it had on 'ruining their childhoods'.

While there are a handful of bright spots in Episode I, George Lucas himself clearly had some issues with the final moments of the picture. As shown in the excellent The Beginning: Making Star Wars Episode I documentary, a first watch of the initial cut of The Phantom Menace had Lucas questioning whether or not he'd done too much too quickly in the moments after the death of Qui-Gon Jinn.

As pointed out by editor Ben Burtt at the time, Episode I shifts way too frantically from mourning the loss of a hero, to a big escape sequence, to comedy with Jar Jar Binks, to the return of young Anakin Skywalker. It's absolutely fascinating to watch this documentary footage of George Lucas almost wincing his way through this sequence, realising that he may have done f**ked up the grand return of cinema's greatest franchise.

How much of The Phantom Menace's finale was ultimately changed after this, we'll never know for sure. Either way, it was clear that George Lucas wasn't at all happy with what he'd initially put together for the film's final few minutes.