Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first installment in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August, and Frank Oz. The film is set 32 years before the original film, and follows Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi as they protect Queen Amidala in hopes of securing
Star Wars Episode I: Racer from the film were also reused. The podracers were recreated using specifications from the film, and the Tatooine environment was also sourced from the film. Several of the game's other locales had never appeared in a "Star Wars" game prior. The varied environments, Tosti said, were "to add more depth to the gameplay." During an IGN interview with LucasArts' Tom Byron at E3 1999 the question of online play was brought up. Byron was unsure, citing problems "mostly because of latency issues." Some multiplayer code from "" was utilized for "Episode I: Racer". Ultimately internet play was not included. The