Episode I curiosities.

[Coyote]

Re-watched Phantom Menace, and went along quietly, enjoying the movie and the coffee-vodka mix in my glass, when we hit the part where Qui-Gon Jinn enters Anakin in the podrace. Wattoo asks how he intends to pay the entry fee with Republic dactariis, and Qui-Gon pulls out a pocket holo of the Queen's royal yacht.
"MY ship will cover the entry fee," he says.

Anakin is impressed by the ship; Wattoo earlier seemed impressed by the description of a "J-Type Nubian" and when Qui-Gon offered it up to cover the entry fee he offers no argument, recognizing that it is valuable.

So if the Queen's yacht is obviously valuable, why didn't they just sell it, buy a local junker and, get to Coruscant? The trained Royal technicians with them can certainly hold a jalopy together for the one jump they need to Coruscant, then the Queen just signs for a new ship on the Royal expense account.
Or, alternately, they just sell the ship and buy tickets for all of them on the next ship out. They really only need two tickets-- Qui-Gon and the Queen-- and the rest of the money puts Obi-Wan and the crew up in a decent (for Tatooine) inn for the few days needed until the Queen comes back to pick them all up.

And again, when the Queen, her guards and retainers, and the Jedi are running from the hangar bay, and Darth Maul shows up, there's what, forty of them? Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

I also notice that the Queen's handmaidens join in the commando assault with their little chrome pistols. As near as I can tell, they are part of the assault group all the way through. Now I'm thinking "these are some hard-core ladies" and I guess they'd have to be if their primary duty is to protect the Queen, but I realized that while droids and male soldiers are dropping, the girls seem to have character shields. It got me to thinking, and I can't recall ever seeing a female get smoked in Star Wars (unless it was part of the plot, ie, Zam Wessell).

Do the handmaidens (and other background females) in Star Wars survive because they gotta be tough in a hard Galaxy, or is Lucas possibly squeamish about portraying violent female death?

[Ritterin Sophia]

Let me give you an analogy, say Air Force One were forced to land because of engine trouble in a Third World Shithole and can't contact anyone to loan him money, they find a guy who has a couple CF6-80C2B1 turbofans, but doesn't accept USD, would you suggest they sell Air Force One, which undoubtably has some stuff that the government would want to keep on the down low?

[Mange]

[...] is Lucas possibly squeamish about portraying violent female death?

What do you call the death of Aayla Secura then?

[Coyote]

Aayala's death was indeed pretty brutal, and again I'd say that was part of the overall plot. But yeah, I'd forgotten that.

[Isolder74]

Perhaps the Droids were purposely not shooting at the ladies to avoid the possibility of killing the Queen whom they need alive at all costs?

[Isolder74]

There were trying to keep a low profile. They may not have wanted to sell the ship for the chance that it could be traced back to the Queen. It appears that while the value of the ship may have been enough to equal the entry fee for the race that doesn't make it, without a working hyperdrive, valuable enough to buy a new ship large enough to get all of them to Coruscant.

[Darth Tanner]

I'd imagine that any ship going to Coruscant would have to produce a passenger manifest to Coruscant traffic control beforehand. That would produce an excellent method of ensuring a trade federation battle cruiser would be waiting for them before they arrive.

I suppose they could use the force to trick their way on but that assumes that the system does not revolve around droids and computer passes.

which undoubtably has some stuff that the government would want to keep on the down low?

They could simply remove or delete any sensitive data in the computer bank. The Naboo don't even have a standing army, their unlikely to go to the lengths the Americans do to keep their 'chief' at the centre of the decision making process.

I always just wondered why Qui Gon didn't use the force to make someone else buy the parts they needed with their own money in exchange for republican credits. Surely one of the other repair shops would have a weak minded salesmen.

[Alien-Carrot]

Watto specifically say no one else has parts for a j-type nubian.

But then, watto is a slimeball, so he could have been lying.

[Darth Tanner]

Watto specifically say no one else has parts for a j-type nubian.

No, I mean get one of the other repair shops to buy the parts from Watto with their money and pay them with your republican credits.

But then, watto is a slimeball, so he could have been lying.

I always assumed Qui gon could read his mind, just not control it. If Watto was impervious to the force Qui gon should have felt his lack of presence while he was talking to him.

Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

I just put this down to Jedi arrogance. Although it would be fun to see Maul dodging 40 blaster bolts at once.

[(name here)]

And again, when the Queen, her guards and retainers, and the Jedi are running from the hangar bay, and Darth Maul shows up, there's what, forty of them? Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

It takes more than forty troops to down a jedi, there were around 50 in the hanger earlier, and qui-gon and obi-wan took them out without trouble.

It got me to thinking, and I can't recall ever seeing a female get smoked in Star Wars (unless it was part of the plot, ie, Zam Wessell).

Some were probably smoked in the ATOC arena, and Aayala was shot, then fell under a log, and had several rounds of ammunition emptied into her, as if to assure us she was dead.

[Aratech]

Funny enough, from the snippets I've been able to catch of Shadow Hunter, Maul can dodge automatic blaster fire, as well as 'point blank rockets.'

[SCRawl]

And again, when the Queen, her guards and retainers, and the Jedi are running from the hangar bay, and Darth Maul shows up, there's what, forty of them? Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

It takes more than forty troops to down a jedi, there were around 50 in the hanger earlier, and qui-gon and obi-wan took them out without trouble.

First of all, that was 50 vs. 2, which are better odds than 40 vs. 1. And the 50 were battle droids, which are pretty much pushovers. The situations are not analogous.

A problem with trying to kill Maul with blasters: he would have taken a few of his attackers down with him. I'd imagine that he could have deflected a few of those shots back, and might possibly have killed Padme. One could argue that those on the side of the Jedi might have just had her shuffled away while the men took their shots at Darth Maul, although things were happening fast enough that I can excuse them for not hitting upon the optimal strategy in that moment. Besides, Maul was a pretty mobile fellow; it isn't as though he'd have to stand still and get shot at by 40 guys with blasters.

[The Spartan]

But then, watto is a slimeball, so he could have been lying.

Except he wasn't. They checked other dealers and got nothing.

[Bounty]

would you suggest they sell Air Force One, which undoubtably has some stuff that the government would want to keep on the down low?

Except there's zero indication that the yacht is even remotely analogous to AF1 apart from it carrying the head of state. There's no mention in the ICS of any modifications to the standard yacht design apart from the chrome coating. It's fast and pretty, but that's about it.

It appears that while the value of the ship may have been enough to equal the entry fee for the race that doesn't make it, without a working hyperdrive, valuable enough to buy a new ship large enough to get all of them to Coruscant.

That just doesn't fly. Watto can get the ship hyperdrive-enabled in minutes and the yacht is hyped up in the ICS as being an extremely expensive and high-quality ship, even with a busted engine.

Not that it even matters; they could have pawned it off to Watto against whatever form of currency he would have liked. But that would have stalled the plot and Lucas needed to get the podrace in...

[Isolder74]

would you suggest they sell Air Force One, which undoubtably has some stuff that the government would want to keep on the down low?

Except there's zero indication that the yacht is even remotely analogous to AF1 apart from it carrying the head of state. There's no mention in the ICS of any modifications to the standard yacht design apart from the chrome coating. It's fast and pretty, but that's about it.

It appears that while the value of the ship may have been enough to equal the entry fee for the race that doesn't make it, without a working hyperdrive, valuable enough to buy a new ship large enough to get all of them to Coruscant.

That just doesn't fly. Watto can get the ship hyperdrive-enabled in minutes and the yacht is hyped up in the ICS as being an extremely expensive and high-quality ship, even with a busted engine.

Not that it even matters; they could have pawned it off to Watto against whatever form of currency he would have liked. But that would have stalled the plot and Lucas needed to get the podrace in...

That only flies if Watto has a working ship in posession, which he doesn't, to exchange for their ship. They would then have to fly their distintive ship into town, something they endevored to avoid, to sell it to him then have to find someone in town to sell them a ship for whatever Watto paid them for their xessel. Watto having the parts to fix up the ship right away have no bearing on how much money a ship with no hyperdrive would get them. Watto is sure not to pay them full undamaged value of the ship.

Then there is one more problem, getting rid of the ship means finding a place for everyone to stay until they find said new ship. That means needing more money!

[Darth Wong]

So if the Queen's yacht is obviously valuable, why didn't they just sell it, buy a local junker and, get to Coruscant?

Because hyperspace travel in a "local junker" might be the end of the Queen? Qui-Gon uses the Force; he foresaw that Anakin would win the race, hence it was not much of a gamble as far as he was concerned. His way, he gets a fully functional high-quality ship. The other way, he gets to try and buy a "local junker" and hope it actually holds together all the way to Coruscant instead of breaking up in hyperspace and scattering their atoms across the galaxy.

The trained Royal technicians with them can certainly hold a jalopy together for the one jump they need to Coruscant, then the Queen just signs for a new ship on the Royal expense account.

So if someone is a trained technician, he gains magical powers now? Suppose you gave modern aircraft mechanics a beat-up piece of shit airplane with no documented service history and nothing but some basic hand tools. Would they be able to certify that it's safe to fly, never mind actually ensuring this for a transAtlantic flight?

Or, alternately, they just sell the ship and buy tickets for all of them on the next ship out.

They're on Tatooine. There doesn't appear to be a major spaceport; just hardscrabble landing bays for criminals and people who don't want to be found by the central government.

And again, when the Queen, her guards and retainers, and the Jedi are running from the hangar bay, and Darth Maul shows up, there's what, forty of them? Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

How do you know Darth Maul can't block that volume of fire? The Jedi lasted a surprisingly long time in the arena on Geonosis despite a far greater volume of fire and the shroud of the Dark Side weakening their Force abilities.

[PeZook]

It's quite possible that nobody had a ship for sale.

It's the asshole of the galaxy. People come there to get lost, and if they have ships, they will keep them to themselves, just in case.There's obviously starports and people selling parts, but it doesn't mean anybody will sell a ship.

[Ted C]

And again, when the Queen, her guards and retainers, and the Jedi are running from the hangar bay, and Darth Maul shows up, there's what, forty of them? Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

In this situation , Maul has the advantage of not having to decide whether the person he's attacking is a friend or an enemy: everyone's a target for him.

The queen's guards can't fire into a lightsabre melee between Darth Maul and two friendly Jedi without risking hitting the Jedi (who will be busy defending themselves against Maul's attacks).

Just opening fire on Maul with blasters isn't a good idea, either. Like the Jedi, he can rebound blaster shots back at his opponents. At his skill level, shooting blasters at him would probably take out a bunch of the queen's guards without even scorching Maul himself.

[ANGELUS]

Do the handmaidens (and other background females) in Star Wars survive because they gotta be tough in a hard Galaxy, or is Lucas possibly squeamish about portraying violent female death?

Corde died when Senator Amidala's ship blew up at the beggining of AOTC. She was Amidala's decoy.

Not to mention Shmi diying later on that same movie right after Anakin found her.

(edited to add Shmi's bit).

[Howedar]

It's quite possible that nobody had a ship for sale.

It's the asshole of the galaxy. People come there to get lost, and if they have ships, they will keep them to themselves, just in case.There's obviously starports and people selling parts, but it doesn't mean anybody will sell a ship.

Well, Luke did comment that they could "almost buy [a] ship" for seventeen thousand on Tatooine. Presumably he wouldn't make such a comment if it really weren't possible to find a ship there.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

Well, the question would be, who would want a ship that had its hyperdrive disabled. Not to mention, they didn't accept Republic credits...

[SCRawl]

Well, the question would be, who would want a ship that had its hyperdrive disabled.

Anyone who had currency to trade with Watto for his replacement unit.

Not to mention, they didn't accept Republic credits...

And we care about that...why? The exchange of credits wasn't an issue in this scenario -- it was an exchange of a mostly working ship for one that was fully functional.

DW's point is a valid one, though; when over a barrel, as our heroes were, and stuck on a nearly barren rock, the likelihood that they could successfully bargain for a desirable hyperdrive-capable ship seems very small. Oh, they could probably pick up a junker that the owner probably wouldn't even want to board, much less fly through interstellar space in, but reliable transportation would be a tough bargain to make.

Besides: this is Star Wars, not "Let's Make a Deal".

[Civil War Man]

And again, when the Queen, her guards and retainers, and the Jedi are running from the hangar bay, and Darth Maul shows up, there's what, forty of them? Even Darth Maul can't block that volume of firepower plus two Jedi. He'd go down like a sack of potatoes.

How do you know Darth Maul can't block that volume of fire? The Jedi lasted a surprisingly long time in the arena on Geonosis despite a far greater volume of fire and the shroud of the Dark Side weakening their Force abilities.

And even assuming he can't block that volume of fire, that's not something they would know. Jedi have reached such mythic proportions that even kids on backwater planets have heard of them, and quite a few people (including some of the Jedi) buy into the idea that they are invincible. The guards wouldn't have heard of the Sith. They just would have thought "That guy has a lightsaber. That means I won't be able to kill him with my blaster. I'll leave this to the other guys with lightsabers."

[DogsOfWar]

No, I mean get one of the other repair shops to buy the parts from Watto with their money and pay them with your republican credits.

That's what I thought when I first saw the movie: "Just go to one of the 'larger' dealers and use the Force to trade your credits for local money!"

But that would be too easy, make too much sense, and eliminate all the other movies by removing Anakin from the picture

[Isolder74]

No, I mean get one of the other repair shops to buy the parts from Watto with their money and pay them with your republican credits.

That's what I thought when I first saw the movie: "Just go to one of the 'larger' dealers and use the Force to trade your credits for local money!"

But that would be too easy, make too much sense, and eliminate all the other movies by removing Anakin from the picture

Well a larger dealer could have connections with the Hutts or with other off world groups which might possibly be able to connect them back to Naboo and then the Trade Federation might find out where they are. Better to try a local nobody then to risk the word getting out.