Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

Submitted by Pat Patel, John Herbert and Steve Offermann

With the big Special Edition release of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, ” Lucasfilm is also delivering some hidden features, which are quite exciting and hard to find if you don’t know where to look.

First of all, as you may have noticed, the first disc features 3 different themes for the menu system, which is randomly selected when you insert the disc in your player. However, you can override the randomizer and select which one you want to see. When the FBI warning appears, press the “2” key on your remote control to activate the Tatooine theme. Press the “Audio” button to activate the Naboo theme and press the “2” button twice to select the Coruscant menu theme.

Also, on the first disc, go to the “Options” menu and type “1138” using your remote control. On some player models you will have to press “10+”, “1” and wait for the pause as the player accepts the input. Then press “3” and wait for the pause. Finally, press “8”. This will take you to some incredible bloopers from the movie, complete with DVD credits. If that doesn’t work either, simply directly access Title 3 on the disc.

Now insert the second disc of the set, and go to the “Deleted Scenes and Documentaries” menu screen. Once there, select “Deleted Scenes Only” and on the page that says “Complete Podrace Grid Sequence,” highlight the “Doc Menu” and then press the “Right” arrow key on your remote control to highlight a small button. Now press “Enter” and you’ll see a video clip on the making of the Podrace sequence.

Now, in the same “Deleted Scenes” menu, browse to the “Extended Podrace Lap 2” page. Once again, highlight “Doc Menu” and press the “Right” arrow key to select the button. This will give you access to a featurette covering the extended podrace sequence and elements that have been removed.

Many of the menus on the disc also contain time-outs. This means, if you wait for a while without doing anything, certain events may happen. In the “TV Spots” menu for example, Darth Sidious will appear saying “We must accelerate our plans!” In the Animatics menu, Watto will appear after some time, asking you to pick something or get out of the store.

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