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

6. "Be Safe"

Shimi Skywalker isn't shown as the best mother in The Phantom Menace; she allows her nine-year-old son to risk his life in a sport he's repeatedly had near-death experiences in because some old guy he brought home said it might be a good. She doesn't even have the decency to have a kind word with Ani before the race. So it's a good thing that in amongst all the shoddy CGI Lucas chose to add in a scene of her wishing her son luck, telling him to "be safe". Or it would be if it wasn't a failed take - Pernilla August is bland and Jake Lloyd is more stilted than usual - poorly integrated into the movie with the music and general background sound dropping. The scene was clearly cut the first time because it just didn't work - it sticks out and, if this is indeed the best take, the actors really weren't trying - but there's nothing to justify it being re-added. So why use it? Well, as with most of this pod race sequence, any additions seem to have been done simply because they'd been originally removed so late in the day that all the special effects were finished. That's it; less effort, less expenditure.