[MOC] Star Wars Episode I - Vignette Series

[Aldar-Beedo]

My LEGO vignettes based on Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace take you on the journey of Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi from Naboo via Tatooine and Coruscant back to Naboo, where they must face the sinister Sith Darth Maul. In 2024, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace celebrated its 25th anniversary, which inspired me to recreate the chronologically first film of the space saga in the form of small vignettes on a 14 x 14 stud base. My MOC series was created (with a few breaks) over the course of the past eighteen months.

01 - "Master, Destroyers!"

Star Wars Episode I begins with Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi being sent for negotiations aboard the Trade Federation blockade ship above the planet Naboo. There, however, they get into an ambush and must fight their way free. While battle droids barely pose a threat to the Jedi, Droidekas are a much greater challenge.

02 – Rescuing Queen Amidala

After the two Jedi escape to Naboo and reach the capital city of Theed by a detour, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi free Queen Amidala, her advisor Sio Bibble, her bodyguards, and her handmaidens from the droid army. Together they manage to escape Naboo aboard Amidala's royal starship.

03 – "This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!"

Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation must report to his mysterious client that Queen Amidala escaped with the help of the two Jedi. Darth Sidious subsequently sends his apprentice, Darth Maul, to track down the group. The entire operation is now developing in a direction that does not please the Viceroy at all.

04 – "Are you an angel?"

When breaking through the blockade around Naboo, Queen Amidala's starship suffers damage to its hyperdrive, preventing a quick escape to the galactic capital Coruscant. After setting course for the remote desert planet Tatooine, the Jedi and Amidala's handmaiden Padmé Naberrie visit a junkyard to get spare parts for their ship. In Watto's workshop, they meet a boy named Anakin Skywalker, who soon shows a special connection to the Force.

05 – Boonta Eve

Republic credits are worthless on Tatooine, so the Jedi must find another way to buy the parts needed for their hyperdrive. Young Anakin offers his help and promises to win the necessary money at the big podrace, the Boonta Eve Classic. But his strongest competitor Sebulba doesn't think much of fairness.

06 – Jedi Council

With their hyperdrive repaired, the group heads to Coruscant, where Qui-Gon Jinn presents young Anakin to the Jedi Council. But the Council is initially skeptical and thoroughly tests the boy.

07 – "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one!"

In political Coruscant, bureaucratic processes paralyze the Senate's ability to make a quick decision regarding the Trade Federation blockade. This prompts Queen Amidala to call for a vote of no confidence against the sitting Chancellor Valorum. Surprisingly, Naboo's Senator, Sheev Palpatine, is one of the candidates for his succession.

08 – Gungan Patrol

Queen Amidala returns to Naboo, where the Gungans have been hiding in the swamps from the Trade Federation. At a meeting with Boss Nass, the leader of the Gungans, Padmé Naberrie reveals herself as the true Queen and wins his trust. The Naboo and the Gungans join forces to liberate their planet together. While the security forces return to Theed with the Queen to find Nute Gunray, the Gungans prepare for battle on the great grass plain. Their plan is to lure the Trade Federation's droid army out of the capital to facilitate the recapture of the palace.

09 – Recapturing the Palace

While the Gungans confront the Trade Federation's droid army, Padmé Amidala and her security forces infiltrate the royal palace of Theed to capture Viceroy Nute Gunray.

10 – Duel of the Fates

In the palace hangar, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi encounter the mysterious Sith who had already attacked the Jedi on Tatooine. Their lightsaber duel leads them into Theed's power generator, which contains numerous platforms, plasma rays, and security gates.

11 – Obi-Wan Defeats Darth Maul

In the lightsaber duel between the Jedi and the Sith, Darth Maul severely wounds Qui-Gon Jinn with his lightsaber before throwing Obi-Wan Kenobi into a shaft. However, the Padawan just manages to hold on to a small ventilation opening. Using the Force, Obi-Wan jumps back up, draws his master's lightsaber to himself, and strikes Darth Maul right through the middle of his body, causing him to fall down the shaft in two halves.

12 – "Always two there are"

After the Battle of Naboo, a ceremony for the deceased Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn takes place in Theed. In addition to numerous Jedi, representatives of Naboo and the Republic are also present. In the background, Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu discuss the implications of recent events and the significance of a Sith's appearance:

"Always two there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice."
"But which was destroyed? The master or the apprentice?"

That brings us to the end of my MOC series for Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. One of the starting points for choosing the scenes was, among other things, the selection of minifigures. All scenes are based on minifigures that I either already owned or that were easy to obtain. So a vignette with the junk dealer Watto quickly fell out of planning, as the minifigure wasn't really worth the asking price on the secondary market to me.

For orientation, I frequently used supplementary material from books alongside film clips, where vehicles and buildings are often shown from a different perspective. Building the total of thirteen models was a lot of fun, and as my first long-term, multi-part building project, I was able to gain many new experiences while building the vignettes.

 

 

[CF Mitch]

Damn, these are amazing!
All the vignettes are perfect recreations of the source material.
My favorite is the second, with the droideka, 'cause it strongly reminds me of the set I bought in '99 (or maybe the year after that  ) and I finally obtained TPM Obi-Wan  

Will you do something similar for the other movies as well?  

Regards,?

[Aldar-Beedo]

1 hour ago, CF Mitch said:

Damn, these are amazing!
All the vignettes are perfect recreations of the source material.
My favorite is the second, with the droideka, 'cause it strongly reminds me of the set I bought in '99 (or maybe the year after that  ) and I finally obtained TPM Obi-Wan  

Will you do something similar for the other movies as well?  

Regards,?

Thanks! :)

Yes, I'm currently planning the vignettes for Episode II and choosing the movie scenes, but it's a bit harder to get all the important minifigures for that movie. :D

[BarfolomewMog]

These are great! You've really captured the key elements of those scenes.

I love how dynamic the minifig positioning is in 'Recapturing the Palace' and 'Darth Maul's Defeat'