Gianakin_
SW Prequels Defender
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The only consequence of Qui-Gon's death, on the other hand, is that Obi-Wan was sad and Anakin because his padawan. But since we never really got to see Qui-Gon teach Anakin anything (besides give him some words of wisdom... about midichlorines), the impact of Anakin losing him as a teacher isn't felt. We as an audience are sad because we like Qui-Gon as a character, but the world continues to function perfectly without him as if nothing happened. Again, compare to this to Rachel where everything changed.
Now, I'm not saying that Qui-Gon's death should have had some galaxy changing ramifications, but it should have been a bigger deal. This was the first Jedi killed by a Sith in a long, long time, yet it's not handled as such. Still, I love Neeson as Qui-Gon, and I'm glad he's in the movie. I just wish his character had been given something more important to do than die, and that his death actually had some lasting impact which was reflected upon in the sequels.
I'm gonna get flamed for mentioning Lucas and subtle in the same sentence, but I think he wrote Qui Gon's importance to the galaxy in a very subtle way.
Anakin's fall is the result of many wrongs. One of the first and most important ones was Qui Gon's death. The latter wasn't just spounting words of wisdom, he was a father figure to Anakin, a mentor who gave him not only advice (a couple of times, since he died right afterwards), but also warmth and love at the most crucial time, when he left his mother.
His death meant that Anakin would no longer get any of that. And that was the beginning of the fall, really. Anakin was dangerous under the wrong Master. And Obi was the wrong Master for Anakin. He wasn't prepared to teach, he agreed with the Council that Anakin was a tricky situation and he didn't really want to mentor the kid. At the end of TPM, we see him decide to take him as his Padawan more out of some sense of loyalty to his Master and his last wish and that is confirmed by their relationship in AotC. Anakin was emotionally secluded between TPM and AotC. By then, his childhood innocence had been gone and his search for love became his downfall, as it had been twisted and transformed into selfishness, attachment and hunger for control, traits completely wrong for a Jedi.
So, I think that Qui-Gon's demeanor and personality (combined with Liam's superb acting) more than his actions helped a great deal move the PT forward. I'd argue that his role in TPM was as "useless" as Obi's role in ANH. He, too, helped as a character more than his actions did.
