The seeds of Episode I were planted more than twenty years ago, when Lucas was writing the story for the original Star Wars. During this process, he created a backstory that took place a generation prior to the events that he was dramatizing. "It was just a little story outline with bits and pieces," Lucas remembers. "But it had a structure that hasn't changed much in all these years."
Of course, at that time it never occurred to him that this backstory could actually be turned into a movie -- until Star Wars became a global phenomenon. "Everybody then started asking, 'How many are you going to make?'" Lucas says. "So I thought I could go back and do the backstories of the original trilogy..."
The characters and worlds Lucas envisioned for the new film could not have been created with traditional effects. But once he saw the digital breakthroughs in 1993's Jurassic Park achieved by Industrial Light & Magic -- a company Lucas created in the 1970s to handle the Star Wars effects -- Lucas knew ILM was up for the formidable challenge of seamlessly blending digital animation with live action in the new Star Wars movie. "Jurassic Park was a real milestone," Lucas recalls. "That, along with the wrapping up of (Lucas' award-winning television series) The Young
One and a half years after this effects breakthrough, Lucas began writing Episode I of his landmark saga. But he faced some formidable challenges. Audiences around the world already knew the end of the saga; now Lucas had to go back and create the beginning. This story would have to be consistent with the three movies (Episodes IV-VI) that preceded it, plus the two that would follow (Episodes II and III). These challenges also pointed to a tremendous opportunity: The creation of an even richer saga. The notion of a continuing, epic story has been a critical one since the inception of Star Wars. "Ultimately, it'll be six films and about twelve hours of one story," Lucas points out. "Throughout the writing and making of Episode I, I always stayed focused on ten years from now, when the new trilogy will be completed. Then people can watch all six films together as they were intended to be seen." Lucas likens the saga's structure and themes to a musical piece. "The Star Wars saga is, in a way, symphonic in nature," he explains. "I have certain musical refrains that I am purposely repeating -- in a different chord, but still repeating."
Episode I's symphonic structure reflects and incorporates other key themes, including the balance between good and evil, discovery, and what Lucas calls "symbiotic relationships." That is, the characters work together and depend on each other to reach their goals -- and to survive. So there are several other key characters and storylines of near equal import, all of which are carefully interwoven and work together to tell the story.
Lucas' fascination with intricate and interweaving plot structures dates back to his innovative work with multiple, concurrent plot lines in American Graffiti, a device now frequently used by filmmakers around the world. In Episode I, Lucas continues to experiment with story structure, enriching the plot to the point that there are five concurrent storylines taking place during the film.
A specific incident within this framework places Palpatine at the center of a conflict between the gigantic, commercial Trade Federation and the small, peaceful planet Naboo. Naboo is threatened by the might of the wealthy corporate powers, which begin to disregard the constraints of the weak galactic government. The young queen of Naboo finds herself faced with difficult decisions. Committed to peace, she must choose whether to sacrifice her ideals when war descends upon her people.
In the course of their adventure, Qui-Gon discovers a young boy, Anakin, who is a slave on the desert planet Tatooine. Qui-Gon senses that Anakin is the individual destined to bring balance to the Force, and makes a fateful decision to train Anakin as a Jedi Knight. At the same time, Anakin begins a friendship with the Queen of Naboo. To bring these stories and characters to life, Lucas decided to return to the director's chair, following a more than twenty-year hiatus that began after he finished helming the original Star Wars. "I thought I was going to probably have to direct Episode I from the start," he says, "because the film involved a lot of experimental ideas." Lucas also figured it would save a lot of time and effort if he just directed it himself. "I wouldn't have to argue with or explain things to the director," he adds with a laugh.
