9 Hidden Facts You Didn't Know About Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Still regarded by many as the strongest of George Lucas' Star Wars prequels, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace was a long-awaited return to the galaxy far, far away that needed to do a lot of heavy lifting.

Within this Star Wars tale, many a seed needed to be planted that would eventually grow into the galaxy-changing events that were Order 66, the fall of Anakin Skywalker and the Galactic Republic, and the rise of the Emperor and his Empire. 

Brand new characters and alien cultures also had to be introduced, along with a number of fascinating new worlds and pieces of technology that would both separate the new trilogy from the original movies and still make it feel like it belonged in the franchise.

It was a tall order, then, but one that they mostly managed to somehow pull off, and the movie has only really received the love all that hard work deserved over the last decade or so.

If you needed a reminder of just how much glorious detail was painstakingly packed into this first prequel, then just look at all of the following wonderful hidden facts many still haven't caught over 25 years since the film premiered. 

Not only did Episode I - The Phantom Menace see the arrival of the iconic B1 Battle Droid, it also brought with it a ton of other interesting new droid faces - including the hapless DUM-series pit droids.

These silly little scamps could be seen helping out during the Boonta Eve Classic, with one of them even learning the hard way what happens when you walk in front of a gigantic pod racer intake. And it was after that awkward moment when the VFX team snuck in a rather fun little detail.

If you look closely at three of the record-setting droids who formed part of Ody Mandrell's pit team who were stood next to the devastated racer after his machine was broken by that foolish sucked up helper, you'll spot them doing something quite familiar.

One can be seen looking away and shaking their head. Another is covering where a person's mouth typically would be. And the last has their hands over where someone's ears would usually go. In other words, they seem to be doing the droid version of the famous Three Wise Monkey's proverb, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil."

If they didn't see, hear, or speak about this pod-wrecking mess, maybe they could all just pretend it never happened.

If only.