Saga Links between Episode I and Episode IX

So today I finally got to watch Episode I again after having seen Episode IX. I'd been able to see all the other films, but only got around to Episode I today.

I'm interested in parallels and points of linkage between the two movies, because each of them stands apart a bit at the beginning and end of the saga.

I'll start off with one interesting surprise. During the scene where Qui-Gon and his group first enter Mos Espa, there are two background characters dressed exactly like Zorii Bliss.

Has anyone else looked for connections or parallels? Ones I thought of before seeing this included Dark Rey's double bladed saber and the specific wound she inflicts on Kylo Ren, which parallels the way Darth Maul impaled Qui-Gon. Incidentally, there is also a scene I'd forgotten about where Darth Maul's saber looks yellow, and he is also on Tatooine.

Another Episode I observation I made not for the first time but with new context is that Anakin had a dream that he would become a Jedi and come back to free all the slaves. This dream never came true as such, but his daughter killed Jabba the Hutt and his son was a Jedi Padawan involved in that process. Could this be an example of how visions don't always come true in exactly the way expected, or is it a case where he would have fulfilled this destiny had his training not been mixed up by various factors? One wonders. But connected to this, the prophecy of the Balance of the Force might also have been misread in a way that fits to Episode IX.

Anakin promises his mother that he will come back to free her. But by the time he ever gets back, in Episode II she has been freed already. Of course we know what happens next. Padme also promises that her caring for Anakin will never change. It's been a while since I saw this movie, so these are things that stood out.

For the context of this thread I would like to avoid discussing whether Episode IX should count or what directors and writers could or should have done differently. I want to treat it as canon (at least provisionally in this discussion) and take it seriously. So I'd like to ask people who want to come here and dismiss the sequel films or trash the writers or characters to please do that somewhere else. Let's explore the official saga and look for ways it can fit together in a most satisfying way.

 

3PO's line about sweets and the alien children at the festival had strong Phantom Menace vibes for me. Like the pallies and ruby bliels in Mos Espa. The little alien girl giving Rey the space rosary was a bit like Anakin's japor snippet to Padme. The chase on the little speeder barges was like a mini podrace, complete with the canyon. Um... Rey hears Darth Maul's Sith chattering music throughout the movie, leading up to her Darth Rey vision. You see 3PO's wirey brains on display again. Sidious doesn't appear as a hologram but he's entirely bathed in blue during his scenes, especially at the end.

All I can think of right now. I think there's more, but I'm tired. Definitely a lot of Episode 1, 3, and 6 in Rise of Skywalker though.

Edit: Oh yeah! When Rey slices the wing off Kylo's TIE fighter, he goes tumbling just like Sebulba. I almost said "Poodoo!" In the theater the first time I saw it. Not exactly Episode I related, but the Sith lair on Exegol is shaped kinda like the Jawa sandcrawler and is filled with hooded figures that never show their face. Do with that what you will.

 

TPM: Padme foils Sidious's plan.

TROS: Leia foils Sidious's plan.

After each setback, Sidious explains to an underling how he has to alter his plan.

 

Qui-Gon being one of the Jedi who speaks to Rey is a pretty big one

Ah, this is brilliant! I just have to add on to this

Some interpret his surprise at Padme's decision to return to Naboo as him faking it, and there is room to see it that way, but I like to see that as him being genuinely surprised that she chose to return. Simply put, it's the trope of "evil cannot comprehend good"

Except, in this case, Palpatine defies that because that IS exactly what allowed him to comprehend the "weakness" of compassion. He would later use that knowledge at the battle of Endor, but imo, it shows up even more poignantly for the battle of Exegol. It's exactly that knowledge he uses to draw Rey, and subsequently the whole Resistance, to him, and use them as his main bargaining chip to give Rey no choice but to perform the ritual

If I weren't a bit sleepy at the moment, I could go on more, but I just love the battle of Exegol. In some ways, it takes notes from Palpatine's ROTJ plan, but I honestly see it as more of an expansion on what he learns from the PT

 

I think audiences might differ about whether Rey was ever really going to perform the ritual or was only faking the whole time, but on my third viewing yesterday I did see "yes, she's going along with it for real (until she senses Ben's presence)" as a very legitimate interpretation. I'm not calling it the right interpretation, but there is definitely room to see it that way. It is what I thought was happening the first time I saw the film. One of the things about TROS that I really liked was that I was at least a little bit scared of what Rey might do. That made the movie much more exciting to me, since that's the most interesting aspect of central Jedi characters--the challenge to resist the dark side pull.

Everyone so far has added really good observations! I think I noticed the podrace parallel when I first saw it but I forgot to list that. There is some really cool stuff here and I hope people will notice and add more parallels.

Here is an interesting thought. Ben/Kylo is wounded ala Qui-Gon, by Rey in her darkest real moments (she being the new Darth Maul, and potentially Palpatine's last apprentice) but is Ben Solo post redemption also like Qui-Gon in another way? I suggest he is--just as Qui-gon was the first to become an ascended Jedi spirit who can return, Ben Solo is (seemingly?) the first Jedi to physically bring someone back from the dead. So both of them transcend death in a new way, and both sacrifice their lives.

 

TPM: Qui-Gon sensed a vergence in the force.

TROS: Sidious sensed a dyad in the force.