Why this battle was so damn weird

The Battle of Naboo is one of the weirdest battles in Star Wars history, we'll discuss all that and more in today's Star Wars lore.
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[@RetroBerner]

It looks like they're fighting on the Windows XP Bliss wallpaper

[@joma-lt2nk]

I love that wallpaper, I have it on my gaming PC

[@Doofing_Cookies]

Probably were, or at least an early version of it

[@enisra_bowman]

woudn't it be funny, if George or some other from Lucas Film was also cruising throug the Sonoma Valley in the mid 90s when the picture was taken and made it from their subconscious

[@jarrodbright5231]

There was a version of the Windows XP wallpaper going around for a while that had the droid and Gungan armies deployed for battle on it. I had it on my computer for a couple of years.

[@Henskelion]

Some of the Naboo shots were probably real photography of central/northern California in the early Springtime, or at least were based on them. That's also where that Windows XP desktop BG photo was taken.

[@williammagoffin9324]

The battle makes sense from the perspective of two military forces that haven't fought a real war in a very long time but have continued to develop new weapon systems and tactics for those weapon systems in the interim.

[@steve6333]

Very true. During the Crimea War, American Civil War, Russo-Japaness War all the way to World War I, technology was developing so rapidly that when WW1 started everyone was caught off guard at the destructive capacity. The lessons were self evident in hindsight, but only to Captains with superpowers knew about it.

[@williammagoffin9324]

@@steve6333 A great example from that era was the machine gun. They were treated as just another form of artillery, both in terms of tactics and how they were designed. In to WW2 you still saw machine guns mounted on the carriage for a cannon so it could be pulled by a horse when wheeled in to a stationary position rather than mounted on a tripod or bipod so it could be disassembled and carried by the infantry. Same goes for mortars, there is a captured WWI German mortar at the cemetery near where I live. its mounted on a wheeled carriage with a tow hitch rather than it having a bipod and base plate like a modern mortar. It was meant to be used by the artillerymen in an artillery company who dragged it behind a horse rather than by the mortarmen who were organic to the infantry company who move and fought alongside the riflemen in modern mobile warfare.

[@erihic7172]

Love how people have all these excuses for the prequels but beginning having a go at the sequels. They give lots of sympathy to the prequels that also have tonnes of plot holes and the sequels are ripped apart iver minuscule details(I admit they do have many plot holes and issues but not many more than the prequels)

[@warbrain1053]

​@@erihic7172because they were made by a single person and they had a system kinda. The sequels kinda went out of the system. Hyperdrives as an example where you can't do that within a gravity well but they did TELEPORT near planet surface many times. Hyperdrives is not teleportation for example.

[@Gamespud94]

@@warbrain1053 also despite all the pacing, dialogue, and other problems with the prequels. They at least had a cohesive overarching narrative, both of how anakin became vader and how the republic became the empire. And there is a lot of good to be said about that narrative. The sequels have nothing cohesive about them at all, each movie is a completely different plot with no real relation between them and it has a lot of the same pacing and dialogue problems as the prequels on top of that. There is very little redeeming of the sequels while people can at least look at the prequels for what they were meant to be.

[@paulsteinhauser434]

To be truthful Padme did say it was to draw away the droid army from Theed. So diversion battles are always common.

[@creed8712]

Qui gon also basically said “y’all are gonna fucking die hard” And thicc ass boss nass was like “It’s cool”

[@LilacSreya]

@@creed8712 Gungans are a “proud warrior race” (like Dothraki) according to Jar Jar, so dying in battle protecting their homeland was honorable to them. I guess.

[@theglitchcounter264]

Or , ya know, dying like lemmings

[@Oblong-Orange]

@@theglitchcounter264 difference?

[@theglitchcounter264]

@@Oblong-Orange efficiency lol

[@jeremy1860]

I actually went back and revisited this film recently, and you know what really stood out to me about the battle specifically? The sound effects. The hover of the tanks coming over the hill, the shots colliding with the Gungan shields, the deployment of the battle droids, the whole thing really did sound great 😊

[@Cpt_JackSparrow]

The droids beginning to march in synch with with the Droid Army March. Fuckin' perfect!

[@jeremy1860]

@@Cpt_JackSparrow Indeed it was 😊

[@LeCharles07]

Yeah, the foley work is always pretty stellar in SW stuff.

[@332ndcompany5]

@@Cpt_JackSparrow yeah it's not just the visuals, or the lore, but also the music that was stellar. The Droid March is on Par with the Imperial march in my opinion.

[@CrimsonAlchemist]

I think I was 9 at the time, i thouught it looked really cool. I watched it many many times when I was a kid on VCD & DVD. But... the Sequels make no sense, not cool, weak story line and don't feel like Star WArrs....

[@trihexilon5]

Don't forget that it was said in Attack of the Clones that Nute Gunray had four trials before the Republic's Supreme Court, only to not face any consequences other than substantial fines.

[@hidude9919]

Yeah the vast level of corruption in the senate was one of the leading factors to so many worlds breaking away from the republic in the clone wars

[@jesuschristlovingyou]

Art imitates reality or whatever.

[@jeffmuller1489]

Yes our government is corrupt from the very top down, and Lucas intended to illustrate this in his movies, but don't forget, there are still good people trying to fight the system, like Bail Organa and Mon Mothma.

[@HolyMith]

Seems about right.

[@jesuschristlovingyou]

@@jeffmuller1489 It's too bad that the likeliest scenario is that in reality, Bail Organa and Mon Mothma were probably gangstalked by the CIA, kidnapped, blackmailed using their own children and subsequently silenced, their deaths deemed a suicide.

[@neves5083]

The fact that the viceroy is still in power after all he has done is quite realistic in my opinion I really like it lmao

[@thimovijfschaft3271]

Yeah I mean Eck said that it doesn't make much sense. But look at how often CEOs of big corporations get away with war crimes themselves. Like responsible for violent military coups installing fascist dictators in previously democratic countries because their leader nationalized some natural resources. Or arming terrorist groups so that the corporation can take control of oil pipelines in the middle east. Star Wars is just more direct and on the nose.

[@thibautverron6590]

Their secret handler just got elected chancellor, it was probably not too difficult for him to pardon them.

[@TiberianusLP]

And its even a point in Ep 2, where even in-universe the people cant believe it.

[@emptank]

"an evil space wizard mind controlled us into doing this" is probably a pretty effective defense when the Jedi themselves can confirm that a Sith Lord was present on Naboo fighting for the Trade Federation. Don't forget that by episode 2 the Trade Federation was anti-sith and supported Count Duku's claims that the republic was under the influence of a Sith Lord. They probably ratted on Sidious during their trial and that with a few generous bribes and Palpatine's secret support allowed them to get off.

[@volbound1700]

It is brought up in Episode II, apparently his lawyers got him out of it

[@SuperFriendBFG]

It's also possible that, in the earlier iteration of the battle droids and their control system, their limited computational capacity meant they were more suited to mass, formation warfare as opposed to more squad based, dynamic warfare you'd start seeing crop up in the Clone Wars series. As for the Gungans,, their entire strategy revolved around their Shields as a linchpin. As such their strategy was suited to their tech and gear.

[@AJadedLizard]

A lot of Gungan tactics and SOPs seem to revolve around fighting duels rather than fighting as a team: individual Gungans can be seen performing quite well when the shields are destroyed, but it doesn't matter because the droids can coordinate and cover each other. If you watch KNIGHTFALL in Episode III, you can see the same thing happen: Knights fight alone, kill a lot of troopers, and eventually get overwhelmed and die because they're fighting alone.

[@SuperFriendBFG]

@@AJadedLizard Yeah, frankly the Battle of Theed follows a very old and tired movie battle scene trope of two large battle lines clashing and then the various scenes following showing mostly individual soldiers dueling. That's just not how armies used to fight. In a real battle, if your battle lines break then you've more than likely already lost the fight. Ah well, apart from that it's a great battle scene. The Shield Generators provide an interesting twist that makes the battle stand somewhat favorably out among the worst offenders.

[@AJadedLizard]

@@SuperFriendBFG The scene of the droids advancing into basically a solid wall of deflected blaster fire is still very striking to this day and a great nonverbal way to show how unflinching the droids are. I do refer to the Battle of Wakanda from Infinity War as Naboo 2.0 though because it's basically a dumber version of this battle; this battle at least has some logical reason to occur the way it does.

[@nakiva69]

​@@AJadedLizard the battle of Wakanda does seem similar once you wrote it 😅 gaint shields, dumb but large amount of enemies and for some reason the good guys don't use guns. And it was also a diversion to buy time for a separate group to save the Day.

[@thebiologist8662]

In the Clone Wars series, you don't see squad tactics in the C.I.S. until the deployment of supertactical droids and the widespread use of standard tactical droids embedded in droid formations. It stands to reason that the average droid can't do much unless directed, and for the organic generals, directing such an army without tactical/supertactical droids it'd be much like playing an RTS videogame. They'd send their troops to attack an objective, and they'd assume standard formation and move out to swarm the objective head-on, just like a videogame. It's basically an army with no officers or NCOs. Once we see tactical/supertactical droids on the battlefield taking the role of officers in the case of supertacticals, and NCOs in the case of tacticals, we also see droids using more varied arms and drone models in combined infantry and mechanized warfare, as we, as actual tactics that do not include rushing head on.

[@andrew4731]

On the Nute Gunray part, in Attack of the Clones Sio Bibble says, "It's outrageous, that after four trials in the Supreme Court, Nute Gunray is still the Viceroy of the Trade Federation." so the Republic "tried" to bring him to justice, they were just terrible at it lol

[@harbingerdawn]

Most likely due to the influence of Sidious.

[@michealdrake3421]

@@harbingerdawn Yeah, when discussing the Republic's failings, people always seem to forget that all of this was orchestrated by Sidious right from the start. When the Republic fails to bring the Trade Federation to justice, it's not because of corruption or incompetence necessarily, it's because Sidious doesn't want them to.

[@EvenBiggerPharma]

Would be an interesting arc to have seen in TCW - like a scene where he's on trial smoozing his way out, Nemiodian style..

[@ImVeryOriginal]

@@michealdrake3421 And how do you think he achieves this? There has to be massive corruption for him to exploit in the first place. He's just one man, not all-powerful.

[@innertuber4049]

​@@EvenBiggerPharmathey at least have him doing shadow operations while others represent the Trade Federation in the Senate

[@grandadmiralzaarin4962]

Kinda sad that Lucas changed the original concept of Binks from a more Chewbacca like figure to the comedy relief. The Gungans were meant to be proud and competent warriors...which didn't really translate well when their main representative was a klutz with jokes that don't land.

[@live22morrow]

They did salvage them a bit in the Clone Wars. Jar Jar is still a fool, but he's somewhat more effective and the rest of the gungans get good moments, including the part where they outmaneuver and capture General Grievous.

[@appo9357]

Jar Jar was just acting incompetent as a cover for being a Sith lord.

[@grandadmiralzaarin4962]

@@live22morrow Not sure that's much of an improvement when the reason they capture Grievous is Grievous himself was turned into a joke in that show. He was getting humiliated pretty much every week. It's more of a mark against Grievous than a mark in favor of the Gungans. Now if they'd taken down Grievous from the Tartokovsky version, THAT would have redeemed them as a warrior race.

[@AJadedLizard]

@@grandadmiralzaarin4962 I don't really think you can look to TCW for improvements to characters; Filoni just isn't a good writer and his best work was dumbing down better stories other people wrote.

[@AJadedLizard]

Jar Jar has a lot of lines in Episode I that still hint to that; the conversation he has with Padme (the one which ultimately convinces her to return to Naboo) is one of the film's better scenes: Jar Jar is actually serious, has an honest conversation with Padme (and treats her as an equal, which helps to combat the internalized racism Padme and a lot of the Naboo exhibit toward the Gungans), and it sets in motion the film's climax. I think Jar Jar could've worked better not as a Chewbacca expy, but as a Han Solo expy: someone who's a bit of a n'er do well and extremely self-interested who is still quite capable of getting the job done when he needs to.

[@Gigas0101]

I always thought the Gungan's plasma balls were some form of ion weapon due to the droids short circuiting. This battle was odd for me because it made me a fan of Gungans, but it took me so long to forgive Jar-Jar for existing. I do hope we get more examples of out there technology and species in Star Wars, and we see more things like Gungans showing up.

[@josesanchezrodriguez1783]

The new Thrawn books feature a Chiss weapon very similar to the Gungan's boombas, they are called plasma spheres and are an Ion based weapon that's pretty damn effective if used right.

[@jare2067]

it’s funny how since i was younger i sympathized with jar jar far more and never even knew people hated him lol

[@ignitetheinferno1858]

I’ve heard this called the most sci-fi battle you could get.

[@secondchance6603]

The way Star Wars is going I highly doubt we'll see much more of it. Pretty much all the main characters (at least the male ones) have been completely destroyed.

[@MilitaryAV]

Jar Jar is Star Wars

[@Opusss]

I loved this battle. The CGI was amazing for the time.

[@stealthystudios4129]

Still holds up pretty well too, at least compared to the recent CGI in movies.

[@Peashooter908]

@@stealthystudios4129 what movies are you watching? TPM cgi did not age well at all

[@SkywalkerWroc]

That shield VFX was shockingly good at the time. There was nothing like it before it, and it still holds extremely way compared to today's movies. It just struck that perfect balance between being both: fragile and tank-proof. Similarly the pod racers... it was such a great, creative design. Say what you want about Lucas, but... my god, that guy had an unparalleled imagination. EP1 had more creative work put into it than all of the Disney Sequels put together.

[@enisra_bowman]

​@@Peashooter908 mostly they see one shacky Stillframe and not the whole thing

[@enisra_bowman]

@@SkywalkerWroc the Podrace is the Canto Bight of the Prequels and dear hypocrits, you should not forget that you all hated the Prequels for their CGI and the Clean Look and that was more advanced that the OT

[@TheGreyTurtleEntertainment]

The blockade being legal is pretty simple when you realize that the Trade Federation is a recognized power in the Senate. The trade federation is basically enforcing an embargo on naboo, such as it seems any sovereign power would have the capacity to do. Probably under some legal cover of "well they aren't paying us cargo dues" or "they're tarrifs are high" something stupid to placate the overworked pencil pushers in the department of statistics.

[@thibautverron6590]

In legends lore, it was iirc because of a breach of contract over a big plasma project planned by the trade federation and Amidala's corrupt predecessor, and cancelled by Amidala.

[@skyden24195]

In the 2020 book, "Queen's Peril" by E. K. Johnston, the legality or better yet, the Trade Federation's "legitimized" blockade and invasion is given a closer detailed explanation. I won't go into details myself as I do not want to misquote anything presented in the book as the details are actually quite expansive. I do recommend the book to anyone interested in such details, as well as much more insight into such things as the political makeup of Naboo as well as Naboo's relationship with nearby allied systems and the Galactic Republic as a whole.

[@LeCharles07]

@@thibautverron6590 😴

[@robertagren9360]

A cargo fell overboard

[@jimmysmith2249]

If you watch the ep.1 battle, you get to see gungans going hand-to-hand with droids and kicking their asses pretty hard.

[@wa-bu3ke]

I want to see a Phantom extended cut so badly I think the movie is perfect and want a longer version of all the events ^~^

[@midnightgod123]

Honestly I think this battle stands out because it's the FIRST time we actually see two more or less equal sides fight a face to face battle. No walkers, no dark Lord's, no overwhelming fire power. We have a space battle and a ground battle and one influences the other. That was very new in regards to the star wars films and really even the SW media and most times, the EU sucked at actually explaining non space non small scale fights

[@StarshadowMelody]

ok yeah we deserved more of this

[@erikseidler793]

Return of the Jedi had space and ground tied together.

[@Freesorin837]

The Gungans could've had much better chances in the ground battle if their infantry had deployed at the inside edge of the shield and engaged the droids in close quarters melee as soon as they entered. The fallen droids would become obstacles for the TF and cover for the Gungans, allowing them to last longer and perhaps even prevail. I also must say I really like the visuals of the battles in this movie. It all looked so real and believable (honestly the explosions were probably practical effects so that's why.) Also when it comes to Gunray not facing charges, let me ask you a question: do you really think Putin is going to hang for what he's done?

[@347Jimmy]

Using the shield as a choke point is a really good idea, great strategic thinking As for the real life comparison, Putin's fate will depend on Russia's- he's probably safe (compare Saddam Hussein, who _did_ hang)

[@SkywalkerWroc]

Gungans would have a much better chance if they wouldn't fight in the open, but rather on marshes - their natural environment. But the battle had to be out in the open in order to lure the trade federation, so... here we are.

[@4mobius280]

@@SkywalkerWroc The gungans would also have done better if they had bothered to deploy their army in a better position (even something as simple as on top of the hill.) and deploying their calvary effectively and sooner. And their artillery.

[@theliato3809]

@@SkywalkerWroc Part of it was the plan to draw the trade federation forces out to fight them. The commanders might have decided against fighting them in the marshes as being too troublesome. But the gungans coming out to fight them in the plains outside theed plays psychologically to the trade Fed thinking they're primitives who can be easily crushed.

[@NewPaulActs17]

regarding irl events- wasn't nute gunray mowed down by vader on mustafar? the safehouse ain't a safehouse, it's a slaughterhouse a la czar nicolas 2?

[@Gungrave442]

Its hard to reconcile the other action scenes with this big battle sequence, but I sort of took the same view in my head that you did. Large scale ground combat was just not really well practiced, so when it game to breaking down the Gungan formation the droids/Trade Federation just didn't have any experience and adopted a pretty linear strategy. Fits in with the technological limitations of the droids at that time. You could even see this battle as the catalyst for the tactical droid development, meant to take the lessons of this and other historic ground combats and adopt them to new battlefield situations to improve the speed and quality of a victory.

[@AJadedLizard]

The Trade Federation also *aren't* soldiers, and don't really have a martial tradition outside of hiring other people to fight for them. Droids are expendable and the Federation would've approached the problem the same way any other group (say, the Soviets), who didn't really care about their personnel would: throw enough bodies on the fire, and it'll eventually go out.

[@4mobius280]

⁠​⁠@@AJadedLizard True. Sort of. The Soviets were a bit more advanced than just throwing bodies at the enemy. And droids, especially simple, cheap ones are, by design, expendable. Nobody cares about a destroyed battle droid because they’re ridiculously easy and cheap to replace. And they don’t complain, don’t suffer PTSD and don’t have any families or friends who miss them.

[@captainfreedom3649]

@@AJadedLizard The Soviets and "muh human wavez", sure. The Soviets produced more tanks than any other country in WW2. Yet this meme about how they threw infantry at machine guns without support still persists. You should better stick to Star Wars...

[@AJadedLizard]

@@captainfreedom3649 I don't know why I'm surprised to run into a Soviet apologist here, but here we are. You probably think they could've won the war single-handedly too.

[@AJadedLizard]

@@4mobius280 That's true to a point, but look at what the Soviets did to their own vets after (and during) the war: most of them ended up in the gulags. They were definitely expendable assets; Stalin was very much the Farquard "Some of you may die but that's a price I'm willing to pay" sort of dictator (to be fair there really isn't any other kind).

[@CaptainJY01]

The old style battle makes sense. If the galaxy’s been at peace for over a 1000 years battle tactics and training will diminish. The style of battle also seems more to demoralize than be combat effective. This is also before they’re upgrade. So it’s definitely weird but it makes sense, long time peace with no huge battles. A huge robot/droid security army vs advance indigenous natives.

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

plus the ruuzhong... ruuzon (Quickly looks up the wookiepedia article i'm on about for spelling) and it's the ruusan reformation strictly prohibited big fleets and heavily gunned warships and freighters until the clone wars said f that we need ships to support our new clone army.

[@patricksleep9787]

It’s exactly how the first few battles of the First World War was fought, they developed new deadly technology weapons but still fought the old open battlefield tactics in line of troops firing at each other, so it makes sense why the Battle of Naboo was fought the way it was, considering the two factions haven’t experienced war in over thousands of years.

[@Aligartornator13]

@@patricksleep9787 The line tactic wasn't used in WWI. The dominant tactic was to storm the enemy army befor the could fully organise themself, encircle them and either destroy them entirely or make them give up. The tactic was to be as agressive as possible because the new, precise guns with magazines gave the attacking force an advantage. But with the more precise artillery, mines and machine guns of the beginning 20th century the defending force got a substantial advantage that lead to the huge losses on the western front and later to the trench warfare.

[@Bigmojojo]

​@@Aligartornator13 exactly they didn't fight like they did during the Napoleonic wars. They did use different tactics and strategies. Germany actually came very close to conquering France in WW1 like they did in WW2. The big difference was that France was able to reinforce their divisions that were falling back much faster in the first WW while in the 2nd anything that they could do wrong, they did.

[@senpainoticeme9675]

​@@Aligartornator13 they did march and deployed in columns though just like during the time of Napoleon. Squad tactics were not yet common at the start of the war.

[@Bluesonofman]

If you watch Episode two's behind the scenes content, they talks about how it's been so long since they had an actual war that they forgot how to wage a modern war. Also the Trade Federation is skirting the anti-armament laws. As such their entire army is made on the cheep, their blasters are prone to failure, that's they their droids are ran by a central control ship, also why they are using droids.

[@benlewis4241]

To be fair cheap army>no army

[@mattsen4297]

I love the naboo fight I wish they had another battle here with the clones though that would look awesome visually

[@kai7050]

There is a water battle with the clones in Star Wars Clone Wars

[@peterisawesomeplease]

So much better than the later clone vs robot fights. There was actual thought put into making this fight interesting and not just pure spectical. Sure its all fantasy but I loved that each side had an interesting advantgae. The droids with better guns but the gunguns with better shields. And then they actually had the two sides try to work around this assymetry. The later battles were just lasers flying everywhere with no clear distinction with what the two sides were doing differently.

[@andrewtimothy1937]

The TF was able to gain such a massive army for the same reason the Death Star wasn’t discovered until Jedah was attacked; secrecy and mobility. The Republic didn’t step in likely because they didn’t want an all out war. I’d assume that’s the same reason they didn’t “hang” the viceroys.

[@rohitpatnaik4831]

EU answers all this- the Republic was ignoring the Rim's security yet the Core worlds depended on Rim resources for their prosperity. So the TF was allowed to expand its military without direct Republic oversight to ensure the security of trade routes from pirates & goons like the Hutts.

[@dimitarkiradjiev5987]

@@rohitpatnaik4831 Yeah, basically, in Legends, the Core wanted its cake and to eat it too - it didn't want to pay for military or security in the Outer Rim, while its economic model depended on the import of cheap resources from said region. This eventually led to corporations, the larger being the Trade Federation conglomerate, needing more and more military assets to guarantee the free flow of resources to the Core due to pirates and warlords rising in the Outer Rim in the power vacuum that happened after the Republic pulled back from it. In fact, the whole reason why the TF blockaded Naboo was related with how the TF paid for a large military that should have been the Republic's in the firs place - after Sith related shenanigans, the Senate passed a taxation reform that removed certain free trade zones, which were established in the first place to help allow the TF to pay for the increasing military that it needed to operate in the Outer Rim.

[@jatzi1526]

The Battle of Naboo is my favorite Prequel battle purely because the droids were treated as serious threats and were intimidating as they should've always been. The scene of the droid army deploying and marching into combat under what I've seen called the Trade Federation March (a short bit of music that's not really part of anything else and isn't credited) is just so good. The Phantom Menace in general is my favorite prequel movie just because it's different. Jar Jar is ungodly annoying and is imo the only real bad part of the movie As for the battle itself it was a distraction! That's important to remember. The Gungans wanted a fight, they wanted as large of an engagement as possible so they formed up and waited. If you want to draw a large army away QUICKLY you dont commit to a guerilla campaign or anything. You could assault a base far from your actual objective requiring a prompt response but the movie doesn't really show the droid army being anywhere other than the capital, which was what they were luring the army away from. A large direct frontal engagement like what we see honestly makes sense to me given the situation presented in the movie. The presence of tanks also means the gungans have to hunker down under their shields as they have no way to directly attack them. So frontal infantry assault

[@TatonkaJack]

yess the droids were threatening. worst droid change was giving them silly sounding voices after this movie

[@Henskelion]

@@TatonkaJack I remember even as a kid I thought that was awful, it totally ruined the movie for me.

[@benlewis4241]

I imagine the trade federation anticipated that the Gungans would prepare traps for the tanks, which was why they had the more situationally aware and expendable infantry lead.

[@AccidentalNinja]

The description of the Gungan military reminds me greatly of the military of ancient Egypt: they were in charge of law enforcement. However being a militia is more like medieval levies.

[@warlordofbritannia]

I’m getting Prussian cantonment system vibes myself

[@muf3211]

I assume palpatine arranged for gunray to be released because he still had a part to play in the clone wars. More importantly how does a space blockade starve a planet, its not a city,....its a planet and naboo seems very fertile too, so how does that work???🤔

[@jameslars7391]

You do have a point that has always been a weird point for me that the trade federation are only there for at most a week before the Jedi are sent to negotiate if it was Tatooine or another desert planet it would make sense that people would start starving but not Naboo.

[@AJadedLizard]

My assumption is that Naboo has *something* it needs in order for its economy to function. It's not a colonial power (hell, it has its own colonies in-system) so it's not that they couldn't refine things on-world. It could genuinely be that the Naboo prefer to import foodstuffs and keep their planet's ecosystem intact (i.e., for the aesthetic) which would explain why the planet looks so green and untouched: it is.

[@westwardstar1686]

​@@AJadedLizardI could be slightly off since its been awhile from the books. But many planets relied on the Trade Federation for goods/services. Such as mid to outer rim areas. IIRC in legends Plageuis was trying to have this binding agreement between King Veruna (Padmes predecessor) and the Federation regarding plasma. Something that would supposebly benefit the Naboo. I read the canon book Queens Peril. Queen Amidala did reach out to other planets in the Chommel sector trying to secure resources/build relationships either prior or during the blackade I forget. But there is waaay more going on politically than what the movie shows us. Its complicated and messy.

[@jarrodbright5231]

So it wouldn't be "starving" the planet directly - i.e. not starving them of all food - but preventing them from having the things they need for their planet's civilization to work. Say you have a very fertile farming region but few or no metal deposits and so no heavy industry. For your farms to work at the level you need them to, you need machinery and fertilizer. You rely on the Trade Federation for these in return for which you sell raw materials (plasma, which the Trade Federation were heavily involved in mining and refining but that's beside the point). The Trade Federation then decides to put an embargo in place and no you can't get the parts or fuel for that machinery and can't get any more fertilizer. To enforce that embargo you deploy a military force to prevent goods coming in and out and secure key transport hubs, but don't launch a full scale invasion to take control of the entire countryside. This is actually very similar to a current real world scenario and scenarios that have played out at various times historically. Yes you can still grow food but if your planet's population has outgrown the planet's ability to provide for them as subsistence farmers then that embargo will quickly cause food shortages. If there are other goods from off-world you rely on for your civilization to function normally, you're SOL there too. Yes the "starving them out" explanation is really simplistic and poorly explained in the movie, but it does have its real world analogue

[@theliato3809]

I think the blockade was screwing up the economy of naboo which then would have a knock on effect for the many industries which help sustain industrial agriculture.

[@chancebrown106]

I always thought the Gungans slowplayed the hell out of their strategy watching the droid army literally unfold lmaoo

[@Carewolf]

That is just a movie necessity, nobody are allowed to act during cool transformation sequences.

[@chancebrown106]

@@Carewolf that part! And also I suppose the defense of staying within the shield no matter what- nothing could get in and they certainly wasn’t going out😎

[@greatbrandini3967]

To be fair, between the AATs and MTTs, the Gungans would've been slaughtered had they tried to react to the droids deploying. Plus, making the army deploy, then have to repack to return to Theed would've further served the Gungans objective of not only drawing the army away, but keeping it held up

[@robertagren9360]

They're african soldiers from another movie who would run up and taunt their enemy and then be gunned down with rifles.

[@razzy4159]

This battle was a highly ballsy and risky plan but probably the best one that this Jedi, Naboo, and Gungan alliance could muster. I like picking apart this battle because it was a battle of desperation, hard fighting, careful planning, and a lot of luck.

[@videocrowsnest5251]

Another weird about the Gungan army and its energy shielding: While the shields were up, it would have made a lot more sense to contest the outer edges of the ring to try and stop droids from walking through, rather than waiting in the middle while they just waded through the energy to start blasting. As clearly the droids do get somewhat slowed down by walking through, it would have made the outer edges into a melee brawl. Something where the Gungans would have actually had a pretty alright fight, using some of their spear type weapons to avoid droid melee. Provided they played it smart, and if the shields kept up, piles of deactivated droids would eventually have also made it really difficult for B1's to walk through to try and breach the shield.

[@benlewis4241]

The problem is their main weapon is thrown grenades- they could if thrown wrong bounce off the shield and land amongst the ranks. We also don't know how many and how effective the shock spears are. Finally at point blank range the handheld shields might be overwhelmed, or shots could end up ricocheting between the handheld shield and the inside main one.

[@pierrelindgren5727]

The Theed military were glorified parade troopers with chromed starships. And the Gungans' Grand Army were a cobbled patchwork of local militias/sheriffs with literal catapults as their heaviest weapon. On Naboo, both sides clearly decided that high walls made for good neighbors - a long, long time ago. With the addition of the Trade Federation we round things out with a group more familiar using their battle droids as a negotiation tactic than anything else.

[@benlewis4241]

I bet you the Gungans had some sort of mega harpoon on water mounts for some of those deep sea monsters as well

[@DarthFrayd]

I grew up watching the original trilogy but the prequels were MY Star Wars, I remember being so excited I didn't sleep the night before going to see The Phantom Menace. Always loved the battle of Naboo so this is cool to see a neat deep look at it.

[@Necromancer4267]

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Ancient Sith and their knowledge, or lack thereof about the Star Forge! Ajunta Pall alludes quite heavily to the treasure of the Ancient Sith from his era to be the Star Forge, but I have yet to see this referenced anywhere else. I don't believe anyone other than the Rakatta, Revan, and Malak had anything to do with the Star Forge, or even had any knowledge whatsoever about its existence, and yet Pall seems to state otherwise and the Star Map is located within Naga Sadow's tomb, which couldn't have been a coincidence. Continuity error? Plot thread left unresolved? #AskEck

[@ThePumpkinHeaded]

And this battle was where battle droids became my favorite infantry, with one of the coolest design tanks in Star Wars history.

[@MrExplosion449]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="433">7:13</a> there is a line about this in AotC - Sio Bibble: “It’s outrageous! After four trials in the Supreme Court, Nute Gunray is still the viceroy of the Trade Federation! I feel the Senate is powerless to resolve this crisis.”

[@Makise3]

I personally love that entire battle including every part of it. It was certainly the best and most enjoyable moment of the film for me with the podrace being my second favorite part of the film.

[@Pigness7]

So gungans just had a minuteman style militia, neat

[@notarealfirstnamenotareall746]

Pause the movie at the start of the battle, mite the TV, play Yakety Sax, fast forward through the battle. Absolute art.

[@cellulanus]

In the past the Gungans were much more warlike, with various cities fighting each other until Boss Gallo united them when he defeated the warlord Boss Rogoe. They still maintained their martial traditions into the modern era, but haven't been tested in full war for generations.

[@siegel947]

The Phantom menace have great visuals for it's era...

[@budnrobots2968]

thank u for staying quality with not much clickbait bs and fire content !!

[@derrickstorm6976]

A bad video to leave this comment on...

[@budnrobots2968]

@@derrickstorm6976 Why he explained why the battle was weird

[@Reaper08]

@@budnrobots2968 He has videos where the thumbnail has nothing to do with the content of the video and the titles are extremely vague.

[@bradleydelay]

Oh my god eck you brought back the corgi outro I love you!

[@willi6036]

For Republic Intervention, intervention on their behalf against the invasion would have been hard because at that time, they really didn’t have any standing army that would have had a good quick response to go help.

[@benlewis4241]

Definitely- the republic navy was tiny too, by the time all the local governments agreed on a task force it'd be too late. Strange y'know, it is almost as if this entire situation was made to show the benefits of a large standing army...

[@bcvetkov8534]

It also didn't help that the trade federation lied about the blockade and lied about the invasion. Which spurred the really slow reaction to aid the people of Naboo itself.

[@SGSaga]

Love your videos!

[@mattparker9726]

Love your emblem! *For the glory of the Empire* !

[@cameronrobinson3933]

You are correct that The Phantom Menace does not get enough love. Personally it is my favorite prequel movie.

[@mrdr1ggy]

nice video! never understood the droid battle fight or where the Jedi's fought Darth Maul until you made this video!

[@Uzarran]

Shout-out to the Gungan campaign from Galactic Battlegrounds. Really awesome, getting to play as and immerse in more of their culture.

[@ausaskar]

And OOM-9's blitzkrieg campaign.

[@kineticdeath]

episode 1 was fun, jar jar was a bit much but who can possibly not give it a big thumbs up for pod racing!

[@DashsChannel]

Now this is podracing!

[@The_CGA]

“You can buy your way out of a little thing line a war crime” Yeah pretty much that’s how it is IRL

[@randomguy2809]

It's annoying how the Gungan technology was basically specialized at taking out large groups and the droids are literally lined up shoulder to shoulder and the Gungans have catapults, but they wait far to long to engage, so they get annihilated. If they used the catapults earlier and fired from within the shield, they would have done better. You even see a big catapult ball roll through a whole line of Droids easily destroying 20 in one motion. If they had done that more, it would have been better because they didn't actually have that many droids.

[@linlenny1392]

One thing to keep in mind is that because they had been at peace for so long maybe neither side had the experience or the know how to conduct a large scale battle.

[@yuzzem64]

Before TCW had them all just acting like more Jar Jars (despite him specifically being an outcast) gungans in the lore had more in common with mandalorians than with binks himself

[@grunt1688]

Phantom menace was one of my favorite star wars movies growing, even to this day I love looking at all the cool practical effects used in the movie.

[@joshj7012]

The battle happened because Lucas wanted a large scale battle on a big field after he saw movies in the 90s like Braveheart. What never made sense to me is why the trade federation didn’t invest more heavily in those droideka droids that have the shields. Both Obi-Wan and Qui Gon peaced out as soon as they encountered them. The plan should’ve been to scrap the regular and super battle droids and just build like 100,000 of those things.

[@davidlewis5189]

Probably because Droidekas cost more..

[@CRZYBOT]

The Phantom Menace was a really good movie despite its backlash, and the droid vs. gungan battle was really good and still is imo. I'd watch it over the sequels anyday.

[@erik7317]

Legit one of the most beautiful films. Episode 1 was so groundbreaking and I’m glad we are starting to appreciate it

[@nathancook8903]

I always understood the Droid tactics and even why the leaders of the trade federation weren't hanged. What always seemed weird to me was that the gungans were both advanced and primitive at the same time. They had a powerful shield and balls that could destroy tanks, but they don't have anything to attack the droids on a more personal level like a gun or even an energy sword like on Halo or something like that.

[@TacticaLLR]

Good vid eck!

[@nickvinsable3798]

🤔 . . . Next topic(s)? How about breaking down the various strategies in Geetsly’s History videos? He already did the history of the Galactic Republic, but is now doing a history on the Sith. Just pick which battles to breakdown & such…

[@Residentevilfan1989]

If you play SW Galatic Battle Grounds most Gungan units are biological, and you can use medics to heal themselves and other units. A unique perk, you couldn't do that with ie The Republic. Star Wars is a, 'go right at them' kind of story.

[@AJadedLizard]

I need to play more of that game. I loved Age of Empires II as a kid and what little I've played of it is fun.

[@minicle426]

Such a shame we haven't had a new RTS game yet.

[@AJadedLizard]

@@minicle426 Yes and no. They took what should've been a slamdunk (Star Wars Battlefield made by the devs who *make* Battlefield) and turned it into a hero shooter. With that same track record, they'd make a new Empire at War game and turn it into a MOBA.

[@sullychow4123]

More on the prequel stuff please. Love to know more about the CIS being able to field such a massive army.

[@MortalMostly]

my fantheory on the gungan statues is literally anything i can make up to give the YT alg some engagement for my boy eckhart

[@benlewis4241]

Did somebody say engagement!?

[@crispy_338]

AATs are so fucking cool

[@lightspeedvictory]

#askeck #AskThreepio Why was Jar Jar put in charge of an army, especially one about to go into battle, when, from the point of view from the audience of Phantom Menace, he had no military training at all? Lore ship Versus video request: Resurgent vs. Starhawk Tie Striker vs. New Republic V-Wing World Devastator vs. Vong Worldship Tie Silencer vs. X-83 Twintail Tie Silencer vs. Tie Defender (legends version) Keldabe vs. ISD II MC90 vs. Nebula class star destroyer Nebula class vs. Pellaeon class Majestic class vs. Bothan Assault Cruiser EAWX: FOTR’s Mandator II portrayal vs. Subjugator Praetor vs. Subjugator EAWX: TR’s Mediator portrayal vs. Resurgent Starhawk vs. Bulwark MK III

[@katherinespezia4609]

Politics. Stuff like that happened all the time throughout human history and still happens in third-world countries.

[@mjwoodroff8446]

They were hoping he'd die a war hero?

[@zebfirehd9102]

@@mjwoodroff8446 I believe this to be the most likely.

[@graveyardshift6691]

Remember that Jar Jar was persona non grata in Boss Nass's eyes. He likely did it as a nasty joke and in the hopes that Jar Jar would finally get killed. Captain Tarpal (the Gungan next to Jar Jar) was likely the competent one meant to ensure someone who actually knew what they were doing was there and actually running the show. Jar Jar's luck and plot chaos field was with him which is why he survived despite his gross incompetence and became a War Hero.

[@benlewis4241]

@@graveyardshift6691 Jar-Jar was also the only one with off-world experience at this point. Also this battle, as a diversion is clearly not going to be a victory, Jar-jar is the fall guy- he sort of deserves it for showing the Naboo the Gunguns secret refuge.

[@fflaguna]

I haven’t seen this dog in so long. Thank you :)

[@murilovsilva]

A quarter of a century after the movie's release, and we can still find new ways to roast it. George really deserves a prize for that.

[@gabrielrangel956]

The US literally does that to Cuba and it's "legal", that's the most believable part of it all

[@redleaderantilles1263]

Thank you!

[@enisra_bowman]

do you mean, *gasp* Star Wars was woke all along? *pretends to be shocked*

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

It's crazy how well TPM holds up compared to AotC, especially in the special effects department. It somehow looks mostly as good as it did 24 years ago.

[@SkywalkerWroc]

AotC could use a proper remaster. But it's crazy to think that it got more physical props and miniatures built than any Star Wars movie before it.

[@braxtoncassidy2238]

Resonance just fits so well with the vibes of the prequels. It’s just beautiful and I can’t explain why.

[@tahuaroa]

You are so right… this movie doesn’t get enough love or attention. such a great movie

[@calebbarnhouse496]

The thing is that if you demand logic then the droids should have been using vulture droids to do straffing runs on them as soon as the shields were down, or continued bombardment until the shield fell

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

the vulture platforms are designed for space combat at the start of naboo because of a refueling issue that quite literally never gets addressed even in the clone wars.

[@calebbarnhouse496]

@@xyreniaofcthrayn1195 yes, but they still preformed straffing runs in the clone wars, and because it's just this one battle, you can just land them when they are low on fuel

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

@@calebbarnhouse496 no you can't not without a lucrehulk or a base very close relatively speaking also vulture droids not the strafing droid your looking for that was a whole other droid type.

[@calebbarnhouse496]

@@xyreniaofcthrayn1195 vultures did straffing runs, they weren't super long range, but they did it, they had vulture droids on the surface

[@kreatuslucina]

Finally, back to lore instead of bitching about Disney nonstop

[@derrickstorm6976]

Because there's always something new to bitch about Disney

[@WSFM_Rex]

Yes do more of these vids !

[@leonwolf4]

The idea that evil super rich are allowed to break the law and walk free is very realistic to be fair.

[@nicktechnubyte1184]

Back when Jar Jar was the worst character in all of Star Wars! Before modern day disney invaded!

[@arinatema6932]

first

[@FatassRat69]

The one thing that always stuck out to me was right after the control ship gets destroyed, there's one of the droids who's head pops off while he's shutting down. Never made sense to me

[@benlewis4241]

Maybe that one had previously been used on a black ops or sensitive mission, and it had a charge to self destruct and fry the brain if it lost signal?

[@oldchandrilan4093]

Every time I see the Naboo battlefield , all I can think is how much it looks like the Windows hill background

[@theliato3809]

Its an interesting battle because its a glimpse into how many battles across the galaxy will go with the clone wars as the Grand army of the republic and droid forces will be facing countless different local forces that have their own tech, martial culture, and doctrines.

[@crusaderkaiser2000]

I think the reason that the Trade Federation, Nute Gunray, and Rune Haako got away with this was because of the corruption, and lack of solid legislation in the Republic. What the prequels were to George was a critique on how Republics can fail, and what to look out for, and in this case it was the Senates inability (or mostly unwillingness) to try to pass any legislation to change the way the Trade Federation operated, or to help protect/save Naboo. Pretty much "bureaucracy in it's natural state" sort of thing.

[@benlewis4241]

Although, ironically it was precisely because they tried to pass legislation to stop this sort of thing that triggered the blockade in the first place

[@dastafford]

Grant me the same confidence of Jar Jar saying, "Steady, steady..."

[@timberwolfe1645]

Love this earlier stuff. Do this stuff!!!

[@TraumatisedTyrone]

Legal blockades are a thing IRL too. See strikes and lock-outs for example. The blockade might have been some sort of legally protected "corporate action"(as opposed to industrial action).

[@whydontyouhandledeez]

I always loved this battle as a kid, it was exactly the kind of science fantasy I expected from Star Wars.

[@alexwest2573]

The AAT scene made me love this battle so much when I was younger

[@toowingless9473]

Low key love this battle because of how much it doesn’t feel like a scifi battle. It feels like what you’d see in the revolutionary war

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

Napoleonic era ground battles and WWII era space battles. And the Gungan are basically employing a militia. And going by how stuff is a bit old school from our perspective, it isn't too weird that the trade federation have an army. Merchant vessels used to be armed. They are basically acting like the east india company or other corporations who had their private colonies.

[@travishillsthedarkangelbun504]

Great video

[@aetherial87]

I've been thinking about how weird the battle is for 24 years, Eck. 😂

[@XDWASDX]

Extended pause? Fine, you've earned your interaction.

[@bigorange2082]

An evil corporation having a massive military all to itself? That’s very realistic. 😂

[@knightingale9833]

It's more like one Napoleonic era army vs one army from the age of antiquity. Shields, slingers, catapults. Aside from the larger 150 meter shields the Romans would have been very familiar with Gungan tactics

[@mr_h831]

Finally, someone recognizing the gungans weren't all idiots. XD

[@lunaris7235]

Interesting video! I always wondered why an aquatic species fought an industrial military in open plains in formation warfare. They could easily engage in guerilla warfare in the swamps, even long before the battle and would have way better chances.

[@benlewis4241]

Guerilla warfare would not have made a very good distraction though, if anything it'd make the Trade federation consolidate into easily defensible areas

[@LivelyGhost42]

Just saw I was not subscribed so I fixed that error. I could’ve sworn I was already subscribed though. I’ve been enjoying your content for years it feels like, I just can’t resist watching whatever you put up! I just have to wonder if my profile subscriptions got reset w/o my personal input….

[@UlookinMe]

Only the OG’s know the fun of mowing them down as as a B1 in the first battlefront game.

[@xyreniaofcthrayn1195]

the blockade perfectly legal, the starving on naboo entirely the naboo government's failure and ironically easily preventable with better leadership and queen amidala's plea to the senate was very much a signature palpatine maneuver in his goal to become emperor of the republic and establish his new empire and making the jedi temple into a less... uptight monastery

[@timhaldane7588]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="467">7:47</a> as a former Corgi owner myself, this had me ROLLING

[@mikearmstrong8483]

All this was way over my head. I ponder simple things like: why are the droid tanks recoiling from firing lasers?

[@SEB9630_pl]

almost everyone: blasters jedi/sith/etc.: glowy sowrds meanwhile gungans: ballz

[@skyden24195]

For some answers to some questions presented in this video, in particular the relationship between Gungans and the Naboo humans, as well as how the blockade was legal and an invasion not, plus what was actually happening on Naboo in the capital city of Theed during the invasion/occupation while Queen Amidala was on her mission to Coruscant with the Jedi, I highly recommend the 2020 book: "Queen's Peril" by E. K. Johnston. The book is a close following of Padme and her security entourage starting from Padme's first day as Queen of Naboo through to the end of the events depicted in "The Phantom Menace." The book also gives more insight to Padme's discussion with Jar-Jar about the Gungan army and why the Naboo and Gungans do not get along because of the Gungan Army, plus what influences Padme's decision to not only ask the Gungans for help but also her decision to reveal herself during the meeting with Boss Nass. It's a very insightful book which will definitely provide a lot of answers to questions posed in this video.

[@VitorCadari]

I just love the battles of the Prequel. I miss that.

[@demonicaxeman7264]

Star Wars is a great fantasy reflection of humanity on Earth. We love strange battles and we have corruption beyond comprehension that often gets overlooked.