Podrace Scene

I enjoyed the pod race scene the first few times I watched Episode I, but I usually skip it now.
Was never clear on why it's so hated, though. Hardly the worst 'random chase sequence' in Star Wars.

 

What if we see Pods in TFA at Maz's castle, maybe as decorations, sort of like in Planet Hollywood restaurants and in Hard Rock scares.

 

I agree, not sure he caught up so quickly, but then was unable to pull away at the end. But obviously it was for dramatic effect. I guess you can say losing the piece and having to reroute the power may have slowed his overall speed? I don't know, but it was an absolute blast when I was younger. The arcade game was fun too!

 

Agreed. It's been a while since I've watched it, but as a fan of racing I know how detrimental lost time can be when your opponents are travelling at full speed, regardless of how good your vehicle is.

And, not to sound morbid, but my favorite part of that sequence is when that weird alien guy eats it in the cave. His scream is so weird.

This guy at 7:55. Love it.

 

I've always thought it's a great scene. I know a lot of people complain that it's too long and is unnecessary, but hell, it gives a lot of fast-paced action in the middle of the movie that would've otherwise have been people talking. Like Rift Chasm said, everything about it is great and for me it's such an iconic scene. It's mainly the reason that Episode 1 is my dad's favorite SW movie (no, he isn't insane).

 

Great scene. It is one of my favorite from TPM.

 

I just had one of my crazy, wild theories just now about podracing...since we see a lot of podracing flags and such at Maz Kanata's castle, a way toexplain into canon would be: In TPM, during The Republic's waning days, Pod Racing was a way for pirates and all to make money. Besides Anakin, there were mostly pirates who entered into dangerous bets with the HUTTS. The flags that we see are of the past winners of Podraces with their flags posted up on The Castle sort of like putting your art work and A+ tests on your fridge when we were all much younger. Maz/the head pirate before her would fund the pirates to race, similar to how blackbeard had fleets all over that he would just let his secondary best pirates captain. Of course these "pirates" were either forced into it or did it for reasons such as family, fame, but mainly money...and each of these flags represents their "Symbol" from their homeworld or has a special meaning that we, as an audience, might never know the meaning of.

 

I'm just speculating here, but here we go.

Anakin had the fastest pod out there.

By far.

That's how he was able to catch up after stalling at the starting line. When you're 20% faster than everybody else, you can give them all half a lap and still win.

So why couldn't he just blow by Sebulba after the sabotage? Well, because he was sabotaged. Anakin's repair job got the pod running again, but not at 100%. That's why he zoomed past everyone before the sabotage but had to fight so hard for position after.

 

Maybe it was the force & revenge fro the sabotage was not on his mind, it was his mother's freedom that as for as he was concerned was on the line.

 

Maybe Maz Kanata is pod racer, or was pod racer.

 

Maybe she was the leader of all of the podracers that raced for The Hutts?

 

Everything is posible.
That would be cool connection to TPM.

 

I think that there HAS to be some sort of connection towards The PT in order to close that generational gap.

 

And in the official poster Maz is wearing goggles also, maybe she was really a pod racer years ago. I think we already talked about that in the thread about the flags at her castle.
About the Boontha eve's race, all that was done was to give some emotion at the race. Also: Anakin's pod was faster than the Sebulba (right?), and maybe the FORCE gave it a little help to the young boy.

 

That would be a great connection. New movie of the sequels connected to the first of the prequels, when excitement that Star Wars was back was high as it is now