7. We're Off To Gungan City (Glug Glug) - The Phantom Menace
Having encountered Jar Jar on Naboo, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi Wan needed a place to hide from the infernal and racially-questionable Trade Federation. Mr Binks opted to take them to his home city, and its location was a dramatic departure from the typical alien landscapes of the franchise. In a first for the series, our heroes had to swim to a striking glass complex below the surface. There they were to meet Jar Jar's leader Boss Nass to ask for his help and bear witness to such legendary dialogue as "You in big doo-doo this time." That said, several things mark this sequence out as a classic. An underwater sequence in a space-bound movie? It was immediately different and intriguing. It was one of those times when everything really came together during the prequels, where the fan in me stopped analyzing and just stopped to admire the craft. This marked the story out as a visual deviation from what we'd seen in the original films. The canvas Lucas was painting on became much broader and more opulent. It's interesting to compare his approach to the one he had with the original trilogy, where the tale mushroomed into a generation-spanning behemoth in his head, but he didn't have the technical know-how to get it out there. Striking moments like this showed he could let his imagination fly.
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
