Theed Waterfall's are made of salt

The "water" cascading over the falls in the Naboo capital city was actually salt. This was shown in the Cinefex magazine, and confirmed by other official sources as well.

Hidden Music

There's been much talk about the hidden music of TPM, including the Sith theme when Shmi is around, the rearranging of the celebration theme at the end of TPM with Palpatine's theme, and the Imperial March being played in a scene with Anakin. Interesting possibilities ... Thanks to LieranKell and others for this one.

Nute Gunray's name

Another hidden tidbit in TPM is the origin of Nute Gunray's (Neimoudian senator) name. Almost more like a hidden message: the name Nute Gunray is an obvious reference to the two Republicans Newt (Nute) Gingrich and Ronald Reagan (gun-ray ---> ray-gun). Choosing that name for a bad guy says a lot about Lucas' political opinions! Thanks to Liam Liam for the heads up!

Republic Cruiser inspired by ANH Concept Art

The Republic Cruiser look familiar? It should, as it's design was inspired by early Star Wars concept art by Ralph McQuarrie way back in the 70's. Lucas likes to keep old designs and reuse them in the future, so look for more in Episode II as well.

Skittles, Tennis Rackets and Toilet Seats?

Dene gives us this cool first hand cameo: On a tour round the Episode 1 set at Leavesden I noticed SKITTLES which had been painted black and stuck upside down in a bank of 'machinery' at the entrance to the melting pit. Gavin Bocquet then pointed out a kids TENNIS RAQUET set that had been cut up, again painted black, then glued on. Also in the corridor where Qui Gon is trying to cut through the door, a part of the 'equipment' on the walls include plastic TOILET SEATS. Cool!

Washing the ATT's

This just in from Kahunna over at the Hidden Menace: If you look really hard at this picture, you will see a poor battle droid washing one of the tanks. He must've drawn the shortest straw ... But is you squint even harder, you will see another battle droid supervising him to the right. Maybe this droid got the longest straw. Good stuff - and be sure to visit his page for more hidden items in TPM!

TPM Screens Inspired by Flash Gordon

Readers Brad "Fryguy" Newman and Mark "JediSluggo" Johnson were reviewing the original The Making of Star Wars tape and noticed a probable influence for Episode I. The beginning of the tape shows the inspirations that Lucas had for Star Wars. Among these was a Flash Gordon clip that shows a viewscreen that strongly resembles the screen on the bridge of the Neimoidian ship. See a still below comparing Flash Gordon and a still from TPM. You can see a Quicktime 3 clip (240K) of the Flash Gordon screen wipe here.

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