# Now This Is Podracing "Now This Is Podracing" is the awkward line Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) delivers during a starfighter escape in 1999's Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Fans spent years dunking on the delivery, and it grew into a long-running image macro that hit peak absurdity when Lloyd's own 2015 arrest turned the quote into a real-world punchline. ## Origin The line comes from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, released May 19, 1999, where a nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker (played by Jake Lloyd) says "Now this is podracing" while dogfighting Trade Federation ships during the Naboo battle sequence[2]. It was written as a callback to Anakin's earlier podrace on Tatooine, but the delivery and the general awkwardness of the moment made it an easy target for prequel-era mockery[3]. The image macro form is traceable to November 1, 2010, when YouTuber Donny Estee uploaded a video pairing an Anakin picture captioned "Now This / Is Podracing" with audio from the Phantom Menace scene[1]. That upload set the split-caption template most later posts followed. - **Platform:** Film (Star Wars: Episode I) / YouTube (image macro spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 1999 ## Overview The joke works on two levels. People use "Now This Is Podracing" as a straight quote caption dropped over any image where something spectacular, chaotic, or completely off-topic is happening[1]. The other layer is meta-mockery of Jake Lloyd's flat, kid-actor line reading, which was folded into wider prequel-hating discourse by the late 2000s[3]. The visual template is loose. Some posts pair Anakin's face with a wildly unrelated scene, and others split the line across two panels in a "Now this is / [something else]" format, as with the r/meirl "shitposting" edit[3]. Polandball comics also adopted the exact title as a recurring genre gag[4]. The format holds up because the base quote is short, absurd on its own, and comes from a scene awkward enough that saying it already implies the joke. ## How to Use Typically the format is either a straight quote caption slapped over an image of something spectacular, chaotic, or completely off-topic, or a two-panel split reading "Now this is / [something else]"[3]. Common convention pairs it with an Anakin face, but the line often stands on its own without an accompanying image. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Now This Is Podracing? It's a catchphrase and image macro built around Anakin Skywalker's line from Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace, used to caption anything absurd, chaotic, or accidentally spectacular[3]. ### Where did Now This Is Podracing come from? The line is from the 1999 film, spoken by Jake Lloyd during a starfighter sequence[2]. The image macro form traces to a November 1, 2010 YouTube upload by Donny Estee that paired the quote with an Anakin picture and audio from the scene[1]. ### What does Now This Is Podracing mean? It's used sarcastically to react to something wildly off-topic or over-the-top, often as a two-panel "Now this is / [something else]" split[3]. It also carries a layer of mockery aimed at Lloyd's flat delivery in the film[1]. ### How do you use Now This Is Podracing? Common convention is to slap the quote over an image of something absurd, or use the split-caption format like the r/meirl "Now this is / shitposting" edit[5]. Polandball comics have also used the exact title as a genre gag[4]. ### Is Now This Is Podracing still popular? It's a classic prequel-meme staple that resurfaces alongside broader Star Wars prequel humor, and got a durable second life after Jake Lloyd's 2015 arrest became a real-world callback to the joke[3]. ## References 1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bLkcCZFKvA]() 2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnE5IU3884A]() 3. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/now-this-is-podracing]() 4. [https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/]() 5. [https://www.reddit.com/r/meirl/]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/now-this-is-podracing Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library