The 10 Most Iconic Moments In Star Wars Movie History

4) Duel Of The Fates – The Phantom Menace

Oh, the prequel trilogy! You could have been so good, and instead we got Jar-Jar, dumb plot developments and dialogue about sand. But, hey, you can’t argue that when they were good, the prequels were amazing.

And the best moment from the entire prequel trilogy has to be ‘The Duel of the Fates’ sequence at the end of The Phantom Menace. As we’ve said before, the lightsaber fights of the original trilogy were – though great for the time – pretty static affairs But, with the benefit of modern technology and a bigger ambition, this awesome action scene totally blew all previous duels out of the water.

A three-way battle between two Jedi at their height of their powers and one deadly, acrobatic Sith Lord, the tussle between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Darth Maul is as epic as the fight between good and evil gets. Throw in Maul’s mind-blowing double-edged lightsaber and Qui-Gon’s death, and you have a lot of iconic elements.

And yet, what really lifts it is John Williams’ “Duel of the Fates.” Behind the Imperial March and the Star Wars theme itself, it has to be his third greatest musical contribution to the franchise. In any other franchise, of course, it would be far and away the best.