Podracing

Here comes a new installment in the Star Wars movie canon. We know what you’re thinking: Let’s hope The Force Awakens is more like Episodes IV-VI, rather than I, II, or III. But actually, there were some pretty cool things about the prequels. And we have proof.

Let’s start with podracing. PODRACING. Racing. Against aliens. In a pod. That flies. No wonder it’s so popular that even the kids on Tatooine have the need for speed. The Star Wars universe may have introduced Gungans and Ewoks, but podraces almost–almost–even things out. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

Queen Amidala’s steez

The hats. The ceremonial hair sculpture … things. The pregnancy lingerie. The kabuki-inspired makeup. Need we say more? (Photo credit: Lucasfilm)

The Darth Maul fight scenes

The prequels introduced us to the idea that lightsabers came come in some pretty badass formations. Even better: We got to see a real pro make use of said formations. Darth Maul had a rad double-bladed lightsaber, which amped up each fight scene he was in. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

Samuel L. Jackson and his purple lightsaber

The mere presence of Samuel L. Jackson alone was an awesome part of the prequels. The fact that the actor requested to be in the only person in a galaxy far, far away with a purple lightsaber? Doubly so. (Photo credit: Lucasfilm)

Yoda and his tiny lightsaber

Judge it by its size, do you? Yoda had an appropriately-sized lightsaber and he rocked it. You know you wanted to see this little guy kick some butt, and in the prequels, you got it. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

The execution of Order 66

OK. This scene was kind of a bummer, given that it was Emperor Palpatine ordering Stormtroopers to murder every Jedi. But how cool was it to see Jedi all over the universe on different planets? (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

General Grievous

Forget the name. The name is silly. But what is not silly is a four-armed cyborg with spinning lightsabers. Well, OK. Maybe it’s a little silly. But in a good way! What’s not to love? (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

Anakin and Obi-Wan’s fight on Mustafar

This scene was so cool it made it onto the movie posters. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

Liam Neeson was there

Long before he was enumerating his “very particular set of skills” in Taken, Liam Neeson was Qui-Gon Jinn. Pretty rad in retrospect. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

The Gungans, minus Jar-Jar Binks

Close your eyes. Now imagine a world without Jar-Jar Binks in it. Now think of the Gungans. They live underwater in art-deco bubble domes! They mine energy goo from Naboo’s oceans! They farm stuff! Other than that one deeply embarrassing guy who ruined everything, the Gungans are a stellar addition to the Star Wars universe. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

Mustafar

Think if it as that hot lava game you played as a kid … but on an entire planet. (Photo credit: Lucasfilm)

The visual evolution of the Old Republic becoming the Empire

This one’s tougher to sum up with one photo, but it was really neat to watch the entire galaxy changing from the Old Republic to the Empire. The movies gave the shift its own visual language. We saw it slowly happening in front of our eyes, and it made it more believable that people could let it happen in any universe. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

Kit Fisto

Another cool race that was added in the prequels: The Nautolans. Particularly Jedi General Kit Fisto.

Jango Fett

You can never have too many Fetts. Plus, how incredible was it to find out every single Stormtrooper was a clone of this guy? Imagine how crowded that family reunion is. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)

The invention and early construction of the Death Star

Fortunately for our heroes, no one ever noticed that one minor, teeny-tiny flaw in the plan. (Photo by: Lucasfilm)