Star Wars: 8 Stupid Changes In The Phantom Menace Special Edition

7. The Extended Pod Race Opening

Ah, the pod race. A high-tech contest featuring a whole host of colourful faces; Anakin, Sebulba, Ben Quadrinaros (he has quad engines because name equals personality), erm... spindly armed woman... three-eyed fella... was Nein Numb there? OK, they're not as instantly iconic characters as the parallel cantina from the original, but George Lucas tried to get them across to fans. Well, eventually; for the 2001 DVD he massively extended the character introductions at the start of the pod race, not just highlight Anakin and Sebulba (y'know, our main characters in all this), but anyone else even minorly involved later on - from Gran Mawhonic to Oddy Mandrell's super duper pit crew - gets a shout out. Out of all the changes, this is probably the worst; each intro has a lengthy attempt at expanding these characters beyond cool creature design, which usually just means throwing out tech jargon to describe their racer while the CGI model pulls a face. The result is jarring even in this film, especially as the model-shading and green-screening is noticeably ropey.