In both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, a group of three heroes descends into an underworld and runs afoul of a group of three monsters. In both cases, one of the monsters ends up helping the heroes, allowing them to escape the other two and ascend out of the underworld.
In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Jar-Jar Binks encounter three sea monsters while traveling through the planet core of Naboo in a Gungan sub. Two of the monsters residing in the watery depths try to eat the submarine, but they are both eaten themselves by a larger monster, prompting Qui-Gon to remark, "There's always a bigger fish." Having escaped the monsters, the heroes emerge from the water into the sunlit city of Theed.
In Attack of the Clones, Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala descend into the caves of Geonosis to try and rescue Obi-Wan Kenobi. The rescue attempt is unsuccessful and all three heroes end up as prisoners in the Geonosian arena. Three monsters try to eat the heroes as part of a gladiatorial execution, but Anakin manages to tame and ride the rhinoceros-like Reek, using it to kill the cat-like Nexu that is attacking Padmé. The three heroes end up riding the Reek together, just as the three heroes in The Phantom Menace rode together in the Gungan sub, and they are soon lifted out of the arena by the Jedi and the Clone Army.
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Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Jar-Jar Binks / Obi-Wan Kenobi / Padmé Amidala / Qui-Gon Jinn
Films: Episode I: The Phantom Menace / Episode II: Attack of the Clones
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Concepts: ascent and descent / monsters / underworld
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Do you think this carries over into RotS in any way? Now that you point it out it seems weird it would be missing from just one of the prequels.