George Lucas mentions the
important role of Qui-Gon Jinn
(actor Liam Neeson) from The
Phantom Menace:

"As the very loyal legions of
Star Wars fans already know,
the Star Wars story formula
requires for the first episode
of each Star Wars movie trilogy
to feature a seasoned and
venerable Jedi Master, who
introduces the young hero to
the ways of the Force. Most
importantly, the plot formula
demands that this ancient Jedi
Master can't survive the first
episode.

Obi-Wan Kenobi served this role
in A New Hope so I created the
character of Qui-Gon Jinn for
this purpose in The Phantom Menace.
I think one of my biggest regrets
from the old Star Wars films is
having Obi-Wan in a light saber
duel. This causes a continuity
problem because Qui-Gon is quick
and agile whereas Obi-Wan can
hardly move in A New Hope.

If digital computer animation
had existed in the 1970's, then
Obi-Wan could have been extremely
dynamic similar to Count Dooku
from Attack of the Clones.

Christopher Lee was over eighty
years old, but this didn't impact
the quality of his light saber
duels because we could digitally
place Dooku's face on a young
stunt double. There was no way
to do that 30 years ago so
unfortunately Sir Alec Guinness
had to do his own sword fighting
with the light saber.

Qui-Gon is what I originally
envisioned Obi-Wan from A New Hope
to be like. Liam Neeson was mobile
and fast enough that he could do his
own fighting.

In hindsight, I probably should
have cast a younger actor for
Obi-Wan in A New Hope, but at
the time I was filming A New Hope
I had no idea what I would
eventually be doing with the
Star Wars prequels.

In fact, the production of A New
Hope was such an intense nightmare
that I promised myself I would
never direct again if I survived
making the first Star Wars.

Of course, I changed my mind
once the special effects
technology evolved to a point
where I could more accurately
capture my vision. Without near
photo realistic computer animation,
the Star Wars prequel trilogy
could have never happened."
(Source: George Lucas, the
mastermind film maker behind
the creation of Star Wars
and Indiana Jones.)

Above is an image pix pic of Qui-Gon Jinn