Again, from the you-wouldn't-know-unless-you-asked department: Why is it that Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and the Trade Federation droids can pass through the Gungan bubbles and force fields, but laser beams can't? It's because those things are made out of a plasma-like material — mined from the ocean floor by the Gungans — that can be penetrated only by moving reallllyslow. ''If you hit it very violently, you don't get in,'' says Coleman. ''Velocity is important.'' Even more convenient, the plasma also acts as a squeegee, which is why the Jedis are able to enter the underwater city wrung-dry after their deep-sea swim.
Lucas encouraged his animators to toss in their own ideas, but he chose which ad-libs would survive. Among them: Watto's stubble (yes, aliens do shave), and a moment where Jabba the Hutt casually kills a pigeon-like creature by flicking it off a balcony ledge. Some in ILM opposed the scene because they thought it was too slapstick, says Coleman. ''But George said, 'No, that's funny, that's true to the character. Let's put it in.'''
And then there's the tragic tale of the colo clawfish. This is the third giant fish that tries to eat the sub that transports Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Jar Jar to the surface of Naboo. Actually, the colo isn't mean or hungry — she's just trying to protect her brood. Blink and you miss them, but they're there, crawling on the walls in the scene where the sub breaks down. Sadly, Mama colo gets eaten by the second fish, the sando aqua monster, thus orphaning her school of slugs. Credit visual effects supervisor Dennis Muren, who wanted to know what all these fish were doing down there, for coming up with that back story.
Menace pays tribute to the sci-fi flicks that have come before it — but you'll have to squint to spot them. Lucas tipped his hat to pal Steven Spielberg by putting a trio of E.T.s (used in that Progressive Auto Insurance Super Bowl commercial) in the Galactic Senate scene. Hidden in Watto's junkyard is a foam replica of a pod from Stanley Kubrick's 2001. Lucas even quotes from his own oeuvre, finding space in one scene for Warwick Davis,who makes an appearance looking much like Willow from the 1988 Lucas-produced film of the same name.
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