Qui-Gon senses something about the extraordinary boy "with special powers" - "He can see things before they happen...It's a Jedi trait...The Force is unusually strong with him." Shmi reveals he has no father, and couldn't explain how. Qui-Gon isn't there to free slaves, but his gamble, if Anakin won the race, would also free the boy from Watto, but unfortunately not his mother.
Anakin's midi-chlorian blood count is measured "off the chart" at over 20,000 - rivaling even Yoda's high count. That night, on the eve of the race, a strange spaceship lands in the Tatooine desertscape and a lone figure emerges. It is Darth Maul, pondering the location of the Jedi and Queen. He dispatches Probe droids to three different spaceports glowing in the distance.
On Podrace day, the grandstands are filled with spectators from "all corners of the outer rim territories" (according to the two-headed announcer), to watch the most dangerous of all Podraces - the Boonta Eve Race, hosted by Jabba the Hutt. Anakin is nervous, since he has never won (or even finished) a race before.
Even Watto is betting on Anakin's more successful and wily rival racer, Sebulba, who always won by cheating and bullying. As Anakin belts himself in, Qui-Gon speaks: "Remember, concentrate on the moment. Feel, don't think. Use your instincts...May the Force be with you." When the race begins, Anakin's pod stalls, but then soon joins the other roaring pods out on the course.
He completes three circuits (or laps) around a treacherous course of sandstone formations. The action is fierce, and many swerving racers crash, sailing off cliffs, blasted with hot exhaust, or suffering mechanical failures. During the race, Tusken Raiders fire guns at the racers from one of the dune's canyons.
Pods explode or crash into wreckage and the competition is intense between Sebulba and Anakin, racing side-by-side in the last lap and a half. When their steering rods hook together, Sebulba's vehicle digs into the ground and brings him to a halt, as Anakin zooms over the finish line. In addition to winning the race and the money for the starship parts, Anakin also acquires his freedom.
Anakin is told that he is a potential trainee to become a Jedi ("Our meeting was not a coincidence. Nothing happens by accident"), although it would be a difficult and challenging life. His mother bids him goodbye: "My future is here. It is time for you to let go" - she allows him to leave, to make his dreams come true. After packing, he is sad when the time comes to walk away from his mother.
Anakin bravely promises her that he would return to free her too. She advises: "Don't look back." Anakin leaves the spaceport of Mos Espa with Qui-Gon to join the others at the repaired ship, now heading for Coruscant. Suddenly, Sith Darth Maul (whose Probe droids had tracked them down) races up on a speeder bike and attacks Qui-Jon with his lightsaber. As they fight, Anakin alerts the ship to take off.
The ship flies low, allowing Qui-Jon to leap onto its ramp and escape, while dark-robed assailant Darth Maul is left on the desert terrain. Qui-Jon knew the attacker is "well trained in the Jedi arts." Anakin is introduced to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Upon the Royal Starship's arrival at Coruscant (where "the entire planet is one big city"), the Queen is planning to meet with the Supreme Chancellor Valorum.
Along with Naboo's Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), she attends the specially-called session to act upon the Federation's invasion. Beforehand, Palpatine complains that the Senate is composed of only greedy and squabbling delegates "with no interest in the common good." He warns that the Supreme Chancellor has no power with the bureaucrats in charge.
Palpatine recommends a new election (with the Queen's "vote of no-confidence") to choose a stronger leader to control the government, replace Valorum, end corruption, and terminate the conflict. Meanwhile, before a meeting of the Jedi Council in the Jedi Temple, Qui-Gon reports on the mysterious attacker on Tatooine, obviously a master of the Jedi arts and a Sith Lord.
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