Matthew Wood's cameo

As many reported, recently Dateline has a short segment on the sound of Episode I. One of the things they revealed was that Bib Fortuna in Episode I was played by Matthew Wood, Ben Burtt's "apprentice". You can see him clearly in the movie and here in the snapshot, it's not really a matter of finding him, just finding out who played him.

Doung Chiang's cameo

John also mentioned the "starting light people" which could either be the flag bearers or the people above the starting light. Either way, they are John Knoll and Doug Chiang, amongst other ILMers.

Changing Screen

When Shmi is holding the viewer to watch the race, it has handles and is being held portrait style. When we get a close up of the viewer she is holding, there are no handles and it is landscaped. Someone must have missed that one.

Aurra Sings quick shot

The infamous cameo of Aurra Sing, bounty hunter in Episode I was based on the character only to originally appear in SW2. Apparently, Aurra Sing was added to the pod race sequence very late in post production of the film, almost at the last minute. Rumor has it that he was planning on having her in Episode II but wanted us to have a glimpse of her now. Everyone is pretty excited about her, and it's possible she's a fairly major character. Very cool cameo pointing to the next installment.

Spanish Pod Racers

Unico reminds us of our post on the Spanish Pod Racers as well. A great shot in 'The Phantom Menace' was the Pit Droid getting sucked into Ody Mandrell's engine. Here's a little story after the second time I was watched the film. I paid attention to Ody just to quote him for fun and I was surprised to find out he was speaking Spanish. I clearly heard him saying, "Que pasa!" and "Vamanos!" which means, "What's happened?" and "Let go!" I have three friends who also understand Spanish and we all laughed when we heard it again. There's more Spanish in the film as well. Funny stuff to catch!

See no evil, Speak no evil, Hear no evil

After the pit droid goes throught Ody Mandrell's engine, it cuts to Ody, and he says something, and shakes his head. Well, look at the other pit droids. They are doing the equivalent of "See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil." Since they don't have any mouths, one shakes his head. Thanks to Meredith for that one.

Bith Band from ANH in Pod Race Crowd

The Bith band that figured so prominently in Star Wars: A New Hope returns to the Pod Race sequence in The Phantom Menace. It's a quick cameo, but hopefully this snapshot from the Official Site will help you see them a bit more clearly.

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