Breaking Traditions in Star Wars - Part II (The Prequel Trilogy)

After exploring the exclusions the Original Trilogy in PART I, we continue with our listing of "stuff that happens on every film except this one". Today, we will cover the Prequels.

I should warn you that I decided against including elements from the more technical side of things such as 

But, before discussing each individual film, lets take a look a this:

No Hyperspace jump:

The Prequels collective omit one of the most iconic visual elements in the franchise. Not once in the three films does a Hyperspace jump take place from within the cockpit.

While we do see many a starship jumping from the outside, we never witness that famous sight of the stars becoming elongated before entering a dimension of swirling blue light, as we do in every other film and even TV shows.

 

No YT-1300 freighters:

If you’re not a very big fan, you might not recognize that name, which is the model of ships such as the Millenium Falcon.

The Falcon itself appears in all Episodes of the Original and Sequel Trilogies, it’s also present on Revenge of the Sith, tiny and featuring similar blue markings as those it gets under Lando’s ownership (but with no escape pod between the mandibles).

And while none of them have been yet confirmed to be the Falcon, a trio of YT-1300 freighters do appear in Attack of the Clones, in Naboo’s spaceport (pictured above).

That leaves Episode I as the only Saga film with no ship of this make, along with Rogue One.

 

No Clone/Stormtroopers:

Since the plot that originated them is only starting by the time this film takes place, The Phantom Menace is the only piece of Star Wars audiovisual media that doesn’t feature one of the franchises’ staples: the Stormtroopers or their direct precursors the Clone Troopers.

Though the skeletal Trade Federation battle droids are their equivalent here, there’s no real in-universe connection between them and the human troopers that later would serve the Republic, the Empire and then the First Order.

Similarly, this is the only piece of audiovisual media that doesn’t include a Star Destroyer of any kind. Both absences make sense since this is…

The only Star Wars film without an actual war:

Although sharing a designation with the rest of the series, The Phantom Menace is the only feature film that doesn’t take place during one of the titular Star Wars that shape the whole series: The Clone Wars, The Galactic Civil War and the First Order-Resistance War (they really need to come with a better name for this one).

Although this first episode centers around the Battle of Naboo, and that’s the conflict that ignites everything that happens after, as far as the Galaxy at large knows, this is an isolated local conflict that doesn’t constitute an authentic war.

 

Tilt up:

It’s another famous part of every Saga film: after the opening crawl ends, the camera tilts down in space to reveal a planet or a starship.

This also happens in Attack of the Clones, of course, but with just one difference. Instead of going downwards, the camera tilts up to show Coruscant. It’s a relatively minor change, but one that sets this film apart from the rest.

No Wookiees:

Attack of the Clones stands as the only film in the Skywalker Saga that doesn’t feature any wookiees. While Chewbacca himself doesn’t appear on The Phantom Menace either, that film does include a couple of walking carpets: Senator Yarua and his aide, roaring Kashyyyk’s vote of no-confidence towards Valorum. They're small but they're there, which isn't the case in Episode II.

While the rest of the main Saga does contain Chewie and a few members of this noble race, Rogue One is the only other film without any wookiees.

No End Credits Suite:

To date, there’s a tradition that no film, either Saga or Anthology has dared to break: they all end with the same piece of music, that classic arrangement which mixes both the Main Titles Theme and the Rebel Fanfare. After that bit ends, roughly around the time the cast is being presented, each film features a suite of some of the main themes used on it.

The only exception is Attack of the Clones, which instead features a long iteration of a single theme, "Across the Stars" (the brilliant love theme) from the moment the fanfare stops and right until the very end.

If you’re curious, here’s a list of the pieces that follow the Credits intro on the other films:

A New Hope: A longer Main Titles/Rebel fanfare intro than the other films; Princess Leia’s Theme; back to the Main Title/Rebel Fanfare finale (without the apotheotic percussion popularized later on).

The Empire Strikes Back: Yoda’s Theme; The Imperial March; "Han Solo and the Princess"; Main Title/Rebel Fanfare finale (featuring the closing percussion for the first time).

Return of the Jed: "Parade of the Ewoks"; "Luke and Leia"; Main Title/Rebel Fanfare finale.

The Phantom Menace: "Duel of the Fates"; Anakin’s Theme; and Vader’s breathing.

Revenge of the Sith: Princess Leia’s Theme; "Battle of the Heroes"; Main Title/Rebel Fanfare finale.

The Force Awakens: Rey’s Theme; "Scherzo for X-Wings"; Kylo Ren’s Theme; "Follow Me"/Poe’s Theme; March of the Resistance; Rey’s Theme mixed with the Force Theme; Rebel Fanfare finale, still mixed with Rey’s Theme; a tear jerking rendition of the Main Titles' opening notes.

The Last Jedi: Rose’s Theme; Princess Leia’s Theme (Carrie Fisher tribute, making it the only theme to appear on every trilogy’s credits); "The Resistance is Reborn"; "The Battle of Crait"; a gentle rendition of Rey’s Theme.

The Rise of Skywalker: "The Rise of Skywalker"; Sith Eternal Theme; The Imperial March; Rey’s Theme; "The Rise of Skywalker" again; Main Title Theme (the only time it’s heard in its crawl variation during any credits); The Rebel Fanfare; Main Title/Rebel Fanfare finale.

Rogue One: Jyn Erso & Hope Suite; The Imperial Suite; Guardians of the Whills Suite; Main Title/Rebel Fanfare finale.

Solo: Han Solo’s Suite; Qi’Ra’s Theme; "Break Out"; "Corellia Chase"; "Flying with Chewie".

 

No creature altercation:

A very traditional part of Star Wars are its alien monsters and at least one sequence where the characters get in trouble with them. The Phantom Menace has the three giantsea creatures and Attack of the Clones has the Arena clash.

A New Hope has Luke struggling with the Dianoga and The Empire Strikes Back sets him against the Wampa. The Falcon also confronts Minocks and the Exogorth. And there’s the Rancor and the Sarlacc in Return of the Jedi.

The Rathtars fill the role in The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker has another space worm almost eating the Falcon. Then there’s the Vexis viper, though the confrontation with it is quickly cut short by Rey’s kindness.

It’s debatable if there’s something that counts on The Last Jedi, where its many critters are friendly. I suppose Luke does kill a giant fish, and the Fathiers kind of attack people, but I would say that this one joins Episode III as an exception.

What’s undeniable is that there’s no such a thing in Revenge of the Sith. This is because there was supposed to be one and it was cut from the final film: Obi-Wan needed to hide from an aquatic being on Utapau (the Nos Monster).

Outside of the Saga, there’s also plenty of creature-related skirmishes in the other films and all TV shows. The Mandalorian is particularly keeping this tradition very much alive.

No alien subtitles:

I’m listing this one under Episode III, but actually there’s one exception on each trilogy.

Revenge of the Sith, The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi are the only films (including the Anthology) where no alien language of any kind is even briefly subtitled.

Click below to read PART III