The Star Wars prequels have long been treated as a punchline, the three red-headed stepchildren of the galaxy far, far away. If you’re one of the folks who loves to crap all over The Phantom Menace because it has a cutesy Kid Darth Vader, it invests a ton of time into the intricacies of galactic trade routes, and co-stars the immortal Jar Jar Binks, you should check out the video below.

It’s an excerpt from the new Disney+ series Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian, and features producer/director/writer Dave Filoni explaining at length why The Phantom Menace contains one of the most important Jedi in the entire franchise: Qui-Gon Jinn. The one part of The Phantom Menace everyone loves is the final duel between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul. But Filoni explains why that scene is more than just a cool lightsaber fight. It reveals exactly what Qui-Gon is fighting for, and why his death is so important to to Anakin Skywalker and his inevitable transformation into Darth Vader.

Watch the video below.

That’s extremely well-said. Granted, it would be nice if it was well-said by The Phantom Menace itself, and didn’t require one of Lucasfilm’s foremost voices to essentially argue on its behalf — say, if Qui-Gon himself had some dialogue that really brought this point home. But it is there if you look for it. And it does make the movie a lot more interesting.

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