George Lucas said that even when Anakin was Darth Vader he was still the chosen one.

Also, Qui-Gon 100% could not free Anakin’s mom. 1. The Republic/Jedi have zero jurisdiction here. 2. He couldn’t use the force on Watto to force him to do it as it did not work on him, as shown. 3. They could not take on the Hutts by themselves if he just took her, as they would have been overwhelmed. And 4. Even if they COULD take her by force, Watto would’ve just blown her up in front of Anakin, which would’ve been much more traumatic. On a side note, though, Jedi typically take children (with permission) from the parents at a very early age, so that they don’t form an attachment to them, which can lead to the Darkside. This is the reason they say Anakin is too old.

Palpatine? The Emperor?? The guy loves democracy, he loves the Republic

@14:55 Darth Maul and Qui-Gon are both perfect reflections of the Jedi and the Sith, with Qui-Gon kneeling down, meditating, and being all serene, and Maul pacing back and forth like a caged animal barely containing his rage. I love it.

"Please give this child a proper caregiver" is the best way to put the entire prequel trilogy in its place in one sentence.

Meg's face when she saw Darth Maul's saber for the first time...priceless. How, we all felt when we first saw it back in 1999.

Qui Gon did know Padme was the queen on Tatooine, it's implied in the scene where he tells her "the 'queen' accepts my decision, you should too..."

Fun fact: the celebration song at the end is exactly the same theme for the Emperor in episode 6, just altered. It's foreshadowing that he is the one pulling the strings all the time and what happens next.

8:59--Remember in Episode IV: Han and Luke stole armor from two stormtroopers they killed to sneak off the Falcon. Could not have done that if the stormtroopers were robots. The stormtroopers are people in armor, though the Empire treats them as if they were as disposable as robots, so...

Duel of the Fates has a big meaning. It’s the fate of Anakin’s soul. And everything that will happen to him. And who will ultimately train him.

To answer a few of your questions: those are tribal tattoos on Maul that are from his heritage on Dathomir. Also, Skywalker is just his inherited last name, his mom's name was Shmi Skywalker. And yes while it would have been better odds if more Jedi could have gone with them to help on Naboo, too many Jedi may have caused political issues. The Trade Federation is part of the Republic and if the Jedi start to "war" with them then the Trade Federation would obviously say that they are taking sides when they are only supposed to help keep the peace. If the Jedi only send Qui-Gon and Obi-wan then they can limit their involvement and just say they are there to keep the Queen safe for peace talks or whatever.

It could've come out either way in terms of his training, but Anakin Skywalker is definitely the chosen one, as you saw in the originals he killed the emperor and died from his own wounds bringing balance after getting rid of the Jedi and the Sith

At some point, we need to visit a certain animated show to get the full tragedy of a certain villain. His story is probably the most heartbreaking of the entire franchise. In my opinion.

One thing I don’t see folks mentioning that I could probably talk about without spoiling anything is how Naboo’s monarchy works. It’s kinda interesting because unlike most monarchies in our world with a few exceptions, they have an electoral monarchy. It’s not tied to any particular bloodline, though Naboo does have a little clique of prominent noble houses that often hold the office. You’re spot on in your guesstimation of Padme’s age, she’s fourteen. The Naboo tend to elect young women to the office, their values have a very progressive bent and they also value a sorta “innocence of youth” or whatever you’d want to call that. Even so, Padme is very young for the office, but as you’ve seen and will see going forward, she’s a bit of a political firebrand and her people love and respect her.

For the record, that's not facepaint on MAul, that's his actual skin.

During the force field scene when Qui Gon is meditating, and Darth Maul is pacing with eye contact, that shows the difference in a Jedi Master, and a Sith. The Jedi focus on piece, and being an ally of the Force itself. The Sith focus on their passion, and raw emotion for their power, and they seek to bend the Force to their own will. The fact that Qui Gon can meditate in the heat of battle also shows the difference in a Jedi master, and an padawan learner. Obi Wan Kenobi is watching the two of them intently with so much worry while his master is demonstrating the traits of a true Jedi master. Qui Gon is completely uninhibited from any fear of dying. Obi Wans darker emotions in that moment does allow him to defeat Darth Maul in the end, and earned the rank of Jedi Knight in the process, but he doesn't give in to those emotions completely. Qui Gons death is what took Obi Wan from a young learner into a complete and wise Jedi Knight that would eventually become a proven Jedi Master with a lot of the qualities of his master.

Yes. Anakin is the chosen one, not Luke. The hair cut as you said is a tradition among the jedi, it's one way to say ''i am a padawan'', of course not all padawans have it coz a lot of them are, well aliens. Padme is not ''royal blood'' as we know, the kings/queens of Naboo are elected democraticly. She was a Senator of the Republic (representing Naboo) prior to being monarch. Her name is Padme Naberrie, the Amidala is the name she used when she was doing his campaign to be elected as Queen. Loved the reaction as always.

Just for context the padawan braid is standard for all jedi padawans to have. Once they become a jedi knight then they can change their hair to whatever they want😅

star wars episode 1is honestly so good & better than what people gave it credit for back when it came out

Getting this on my birthday sure is a welcome surprise… thank you Meg!

Maul’s a Zabrak the face marking are part of his race. The fight against Maul was perhaps the most important battle of this era. For even though Obi-Wan slew Maul the true hope for the galaxy was lost when Qui-Gon fell.

YES! I'm so excited for Episode I *Star Wars: The Phantom Menace* is top-notch! 😁

Many thanks to Meg's charisma and Caleb's editing! 🌑

Duel of the Fates is musical perfection and John Williams is a god.

Debut of two iconic actresses in this movie - Natalie Portman (Padme) and Keira Knightley (Padme's decoy who is famous for Pirates of the Carribean) ❤🥰

Anakin is the chosen one. He switched to the dark side, but when Luke turned him back, it was Vader who killed the Emperor and restored balance to the force. It was always Anakin.

Naboo is an elected monarchy, like the Vatican, the historic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Malaysia (technically). Maul's lightsaber is called a saber-staff. Ewan MacGregor and Ray Park were going so fast in the final duel that the footage was slightly slowed down to be believable.

A TWIN SABER!!!!!!! Some great reactions and great commentary Can't wait for the next one!

I once watched a roundtable with some cinema figures and heard Dave Filoni talk about the significance of "Duel of the Fates". The very name itself revolves around Anakin and his future. That fight was the catalyst to the path he would take in adult life. If Qui-Gon had lived to train the boy, he would have been the father figure he needed and would have been able to properly steer him from the Dark Side. On the flip side, his death left a father-figure hole in Anakin's life and had massive ramifications for the whole galaxy. But this was necessary in order for Darth Vader to exist at all. That's why, as Filoni said, "Qui-Gon has to die." Edit: I did some digging and I discovered the roundtable where he discusses it. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/arxlYJyQxL7agJs.html

You trying to figure out if Obi-wan or Qui-gon "moaned" during the fight with Darth Maul made me almost spit out my drink to laugh lmao.

“Jedi are the worst parents” you have no idea just how correct that statement is 😂😂😂

This was a really great Star Wars movie and as always I really enjoyed your reactions and may the awesome force be with you Meg Thanks. 🎵🎶🎼🎤🎸🎸🎹🥁🎼🎶🎵

natalie portman and kiera nightly looked so siimilar even their own mom's had trouble telling them apart when watching the movie

"[Anakin] has a ponytail and a braid! Obi-wan! No. Why? Holy ****. Why did Obi-wan do that?" Multi-generational trauma.

Interesting thing I realized is that the Trade Federation is based off the Dutch and British East India Companies who infamously invaded India, which Naboo has a lot of references to like the name Padme, the Gungans (Gunga is a Hindu term for the Ganges river), and some of the Buddhist-esque statues in the forests.

Believe it it or not that's not the last we've seen of Maul. Like Boba Fett before him, he proved so visually interesting they brought him back in the unofficial expanded universe that was going on at the time before later on making it official in Clone Wars.

I love how she says ”Qwee John” lol

There is a great book trilogy that details Padme growing up, including being selected as queen and tons of background on how she works with her handmaidens.

I love how the Jedi council sends qui-gon and obi-wan after the first sith encountered in a millennia with ZERO back up.

The hairstyle is the Padawan braid. Species without hair get beads that hang down in a similar fashion. WHich means Obi being a Jedi no long needs to wear it :3

In most action films, they undercrank the camera so it captures at a slower frame rate. They do this do that action shots are sped up to look more intense. Ewan Mcgregor and Ray Park were fighting so fast that they had to overcrank the camera and slow it down so people could see what they were doing.

omg the intro. so amazing ^_^

The Council not wanting to train him is like you not wanting to give a gun to a person you don't trust. Without training, Anakin would still be a normal kid, free to live his life as he wants.

“He will bring balance to the force”… Anakin ‘brought’ Luke into the world

Knocked it out of the park with the editing here 😆👍

episode 1 of star wars s honestly still one of my favorite star wars movies

Verey few people caught that Obi Wan dipped into the dark side to defeat Maul.

I love that the Duel of Fates (the song from the duel with Maul) refers specifically to Anakin's fate, and by extension the fate of the whole Galaxy. Had Qui-gon survived, that fate of the galaxy would have been different, because he was the mentor Anakin needed, and Obi-wan was not, but with Qui-gon's death, Anakin's fate (up to episode VI) was sealed.

Qui Gon is the most disrespected and underrated Jedi imo. Saw a lot of things that the Jedi council didn’t.

I'm glad to see how quickly you recognize many of the flaws of this. (Though i hasten to add, this is my favorite of the prequels.) Nonetheless, we were 16 years waiting for this, and for all its disappointment, at the time it was difficult to be so hard on it. 16 years of no saga films made us just relieved to have something.

caleb done it again, Meg serves it up

Yes, Jedi Padawans traditionally wear their hair in that style. I really, really _strongly_ recommend that between Episode 2 and 3, you watch the Genndy Tartakovsky animated The Clone Wars. That's where it takes place, and it's a very short series, but at the end of it, you get to see the ceremony that graduates a Jedi from Padawan to Knight. After that, watch Episode 3, and then you can dive into Clone Wars, the later series that is much longer. Also very good, but hard to recommend in between two movies. The Genndy Tartakovsky series is maybe just over an hour all together.

Thanks for the great reaction Meg! A lot of things took a lot of stuff from Star Wars but Star Wars took a lot of stuff from a lot of things. Lucas borrowed liberally from Dune, Foundation, Star Trek, Lensmen, Flash Gordon, Tommy Tomorrow, The Hidden Fortress, Jack Kirby and a wide variety of other sources.

George Lucas and Dave Filoni the two people that have done the most for Star Wars have both said and I quote “if qui gon jinn lived Anakin would not have fallen to the dark side and would never become Darth Vader.” That’s why the song is called dual of the fates the battle is deciding Anakins fate.

That look Anakin gave Padme at the end...

Fun Fact: in the final fight, the editing team had to slow down the fight becuse they were going so fast.

I love this recap and the recap music.

The people who make marvel movies are huge Star Wars fans. They reference it in multiple movies.

11:10 she reacted like how we all did as whether kid OR adult 🤣❤️

Quite-Gone Jin

The chosen one was Anakin, he overthrew the emperor in ep 6 and restored peace & balance to the force

yes! pt 2, its here

I mentioned this on stream the other day, but Dave Filoni, the current Chief Creative Officer of Lucasfilm, has mention his interpretation of the fight between Qui Gon and Darth Maul. The song that plays in that moment is called Duel of the Fates, Filoni has said that he interprets that duel as the fight over anakin's own fate (and the galaxy's): “What’s at stake here is really how Anakin is going to turn out. Because Qui-Gon is different from the rest of the Jedi… He’s the father Anakin needs.” Also, i know you probably know this by now hahaha but i just really like to talk about star wars, so: The main role of a Jedi as an organization are peacekeepers, so more mediators rather than a private army, so sending a group of Jedi to fight in the liberation of a planet would have been seen as taking sides when they strive to be as neutral as possible. (although we all know how dangers that mentality can be). The braid is a jedi tradition, yes. All padawans have it through their apprenticeship and, at least in old canon, when they were knighted their master would cut it with their lightsaber. The ponytail is not so much a requirement like the braid, but all padawans tend to have shorter/out of the way hair so the braid stands out.

13:45 once again Caleb's edits send me over the moon with happiness LOL I'm laugh crying

@19:21 I understand why you would think that Luke is the Chosen One, but Anakin was the one who destroyed the Sith. Luke struggled with seeing his father within himself, but it was Vader seeing his son within himself, when his son chose to lay down his weapon and die rather than turn to the dark side, that Vader realized he was capable of destroying the Emperor. By chosing his son and his own destruction over the power of the dark side, he was turned back to the light and Anakin Skywalker returned. It was Anakin, who through his love for his son, allowed to let go of the dark side and destroy the Sith. Anakin was the Chosen One and was able to bring balance to the Force because he was able to find the light side of the Force while also feeling love and attachment, a lesson he passed on to his son.

So glad you are watching in and appreciate the release order!

24:00 the reason Leia Skywalker reminisces about her mom being kind and sad, we’re for two reasons, 1) this wasn’t her real mom, and 2) she was adopted to hide her from her father!!! this is why in episode IV - V - VI the name she goes by is Princess Leia organa.

So yes, you're right, the ponytail, the braid of hair, is a tradition. Padawans wear one until they officially become a Jedi Knight, when they shed it. And if your species does not have hair, you wear silka beads that you take off when your training is done. If you're expelled from the Order, it gets ripped off

13:45 The Jonathan Frakes clips you edited in had me in stitches

Loving your reactions to Star Wars so far, but girl, you got a big storm comin' lmao.

Pleeeeease watch The Clone Wars after the next movie. It will give you a ton of backstory on every character and it depends the movies. Revenge of the Soth is better having watched it!!!!

Don't worry, a lot of the star wars fandom don't consider episodes 7-9 canon either, despite disney's insistence lol.

21:35 the ponytail rant was legendary! 😅

I never felt any hate toward this movie. I've always loved it!

Do they give Oscars for KZfaq editing?

You’re amazing Meg. You rock and high five 🖐️

17:05 If you want more story on Padme's decoy, her name is Sabé and she appears as a major character in quite a few of the Darth Vader comics, they are a good read!

SPOILER! Jar Jar is not clumsy he is secretly a Dark Force User, n that’s how he always eliminates everyone on his way to accomplish the thing he wants. U would find that out if u see the animated series n the nobles.

Luke isn’t the chosen one because in the end anakin kills the emperor and brings balance to the force.

Oh man, I love the Fact or Fiction edits. Always gets me. lol

To be fair, Jedi are written that way, so its on Lucas. Still, Jedi aren't exactly training to be cub scouts. They kinda need to get dirty, quickly.

To this day, Ray Park (Darth Maul) remains the ONLY actor to ever kill Liam Neeson on camera.

Cor-Gon, Squee-Con, Qwee-Gon. So many names he has.

I think in part the story of the explosive in the heads of the slave is a metaphor for our fears and how we keep ourselves imprisoned in terms of how we participate in our own imprisonment through our fears. We give ourselves excuses not to be free. Thats perhaps something they just tell all the slaves and is accepted as "true" until its tested.

Anakin IS the Chosen One. He just took an unneeded detour by becoming Darth Vader, but did kill The Emperor thus fullfilling the prophecy. Luke is kind of a catalyst for Vader to once more become Anakin and fullfill his role and bring balance by destroying the Sith. There is a lot of debate wether Anakin becoming a Sith was part of the prophecy or not. I have always been in the George Lucas camp of it being a unintended detour wich was not planned as the dark side does not follow the will of the force.

The prequels are teaching her how to be a mom through negative psychology.

19:51 - No you actually have it backwards... Luke is the just part of the prophecy by being the only one capable of bringing Anakin back from the dark side and Anakin brought balance by killing the emperor (Anakin Skywalker is and will always be the Chosen one)

Natalie Portman was 15-16 during filming (she is born in June), while Keira Knightley, who plays her decoy, was 12. However, Portman dubbed all of Knightley's lines, so she was deliberately trying to sound a little different, and judging from this reaction, she succeeded. And as people have already said here, the mothers of Portman and Knightley had difficulty distinguishing them on set when in full makeup.

Keep in mind during the release of the 1977 Star Wars Alec Guiness ( Elder Obi-Wan ) was around 60 years old and probably didn't receive much training before the fight scene with Vader who was portrayed by a body builder ( David Prowse) and voiced by (James Earl Jones). I'm not sure how much training Prowse had with wielding a sword like object. The next two films in the original trilogy we have Vader and Luke battle it out and to my knowledge Mark Hamill (Luke) received more training to make the fight scenes more dynamic in the last two movies. In this movie you have the scary looking Darth Maul portrayed by professional Stuntman/Martial artist Ray Park which moves the light saber duels into a whole new level as well as making Darth Maul one of the most popular characters in the franchise. The Vader character has been portrayed by multiple people in the costume over the decades since the original trilogy.

The thing with the Jedi, is they got over-reliant on the Force. With the ability to glimpse the future, and having it always "guide" them just by listening to it intuitively. The result is that they became piss-poor planners. They just went in and WINGED it, and the overwhelming majority of the time, it worked. This is also why the Sith being able to cloud the senses was so devastating to them.

Hi Meg hope you are having an great and awesome day ❤

Great reaction, I'm sure you will enjoy the rest of this saga, and again Caleb, nice work with the edits, I Lol'd 😆. (p.s. there's a little more mention of Mary but some imagine that Joseph perhaps passed away).

WILL you wear wigs, Qui John?!?

"They need 2 Jedis for one Darth Maul!" Yep! The Jedi were trained in their role as diplomats, and high-end galactic police (pretty much), and the majority of fighting was with hostiles who are armed with blasters and the like, but the Sith trained with a focus to duel and kill Jedi. That makes them lethal in particular to them, minus the few standout Jedi who were known for their prowess in saber dueling. Darth Maul is amazing, what a villain. Not deep in this film, no exploring of his motivation, aside from being pure in his hate for the Jedi, and wanting the Sith to return to power. For no exploration into who he is in this film, and can be essentially broken down to "head thug," he's an amazing and intriguing character.

"The boy will bring balance to the force" combined with "Only two there are, a master and an apprentice" is one of my favorite movie subversions.

Really looking forward to your reaction to II and III !!!

i envision a future where e-sports determine the winners of wars

Anakin brought complete balance. He destroyed the Jedi, and then destroyed the sith. He spent roughly half of his life on the light side (first as a child then as a Jedi), and then half as a sith (he died at 45 and fell sometime around age 22-23). The jedi simply assumed that they were the side of balance, and not a bloated church of zealots who forgot to practice their own dogma. They spent so much time in peace and prosperity that they grew detached and cold. This is what set Qui-Gon apart. He understood the need for balance, and that serving the greater good was more important than whether you use only light or dark. He had tried to teach Obi-Wan the same thing, but Obi-Wan didn't understand as much as he should have. That is what was lost in this movie. Anakin lost the chance to be taught balance, so fate sought balance the hard way.

Naboo's monarchy is not hereditary. It's electoral. Padmé was elected to the throne and her parents are still very much alive.

Qui John wins babysitter of the year award