The enormous canvas of Star Wars means we’re always learning new things about the Jedi. Embodied by just a few characters in the original trilogy, we’ve now met dozens of lightsaber-wielding heroes over the last 50 years. But there’s one amazing Jedi skill we’ve somehow only seen once.
George Lucas introduced Star Wars fans to the idea of “Force-speed” in The Phantom Menace. We see two of the main Star Wars characters from the movie, Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, zoom away from a battle against the Droidekas sent by the dastardly Star Wars villains of the Trade Federation to take them out.
It’s a bit of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment that, to be honest, feels a little like an attempt to escape from a narrative corner by playing a Jedi mind trick on the audience. “Jedi have always been able to run away like Sonic the Hedgehog… Watch the Star Wars movies in order again and they do it all the time…”
The moment has become a bit of a cult Easter egg for Star Wars fans in the two decades since Lucas brought his new movies to cinemas. As every new person discovers the ludicrous Force-speed effect, the cult grows. And now you can join it too by skipping to around 2:44 in this video.
Silly, isn’t it? We can see why the best movies in the Star Wars world have avoided showing Force-speed again. It looks absurd and feels like a very cheap way to get Jedi out of a sticky situation.
In fact, it would’ve been a nifty little trick later in the same movie when Obi-Wan was racing to catch up to Qui-Gon and Darth Maul. If Kenobi had utilized “Force-speed”, Qui-Gon might never have died and we could have kept the gravitas of Liam Neeson in the Star Wars cast. Maybe Kenobi was just tired.
We have, however, seen Force-speed as an ability for Star Wars heroes in videogames like Knights of the Old Republic and some of the best animated series from the galaxy far, far away, including The Clone Wars. So it’s gone, but not forgotten, like so many of the more ridiculous Lucas details.
For more impressive hidden details from the world of the Force, find out about the absurdly powerful Jedi ability that’s now canon again and learn how Mace Windu’s strongest power is actually a Sith one. We’ve also got everything you need to know about the new Star Wars movies and Star Wars series.
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