How Star Wars fans felt about “The Phantom Menace” after seeing it for the first time

I realise that they did that, but I wish they hadn’t. Like with Boba Fett, I’d rather not have zombie characters coming back once the writers see what they lost.

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Not quite as embarrassing as anyone out there who might’ve been praising “Insurrection” or (shudder) “Nemesis.”

I’ve heard that quote before, but I’ve always thought of it as him defending his decision to make Episode I what it was, since it really was very little like A New Hope at all.

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I’m perfectly willing to admit that I slept in the street for two days for tickets. I remember coming out of the midnight show thinking that I obviously was just tired and that it was great. So I got some rest and then went back at 8PM with another group of friends and literally haven’t seen it since. Not even when some friends bought me the DVD as a thanks for getting them tickets, it’s still wrapped.

The second one I had hopes for, no Jar Jar, Lucas had listened. And it turned into a giant senate borefest. The third I literally said a month after it opened “well, might as well get it over with.”

This time I’ve been avoiding all spoilers as much as possible. I desperately want to marvel, to wonder, to want to explore that universe but I also don’t want to get my hopes up by any means. I want the story to hold up on its own and not let marketing do the work of lazy storytelling.

I’m optimistic but not to the point of missing any sleep for this movie.

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Are you including the two-headed announcer who provided oh-so hilarious color commentary throughout that scene?

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It would have been easier to take that scene seriously if they’d gotten these guys to do it:

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I actually fell asleep for about a half hour while watching that one. I still don’t feel that I missed anything of great importance.

I expect what this movie will provide will be a perfectly safe sci-fi action/adventure film that hits all the right fan buttons. (And probably doesn’t deviate too far from “Save the Cat!” territory in terms of plot structure.)

I simply can’t see Disney being one to take any chances with a potential cash cow of this magnitude, for better or for worse.

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I’m excited about the next one… From the guy who gave us arguably the best episode of television of all time.

It’s not like the PotC films have been utter dreck since the first one, eh?


Weirdly, there are fan edits of all of the prequels (cutting out the racist caricatures, Jar Jar and as much as possible of Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen in a bid to salvage them) up on YT. I am amazed Disney’s lawyers haven’t removed them.

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I wouldn’t know; I didn’t like the first one to begin with.

I’m sure if I were asked what I thought about The Phantom Menace after I left the theater, I would have told you I loved it. Though, I did walk out really irritated with Jar Jar. The pod racer scene was rough, but it is way rougher on repeated views. It really hurts the re-watch-ability of the film. But, at the time, I loved how the film expanded the universe, showed us Palpatine before he became Emperor, and gave us a glimpse of what Jedi were about.

Now, I find the whole Jake Lloyd thing, the general plot and over-all bad writing to be painful. Which sucks, because with some deft changes, the movie could have been really good.

Nice topic!

My concern with the movie began days before the release when Jake Lloyd was interviewed on the Late Show. Maybe his innocence, his naivety, or a lack of charisma… I really dont know why, but I was immediately disappointed before Jake could even finish his walk across the stage. Surely that’s not fair to dislike a child so easily?

After watching the movie, I focused on the things I liked: Darth Maul, Ewan’s Obi Wan, and deflecting blasters, then I downplayed some things I didnt like for example the pod race scene felt 60 minutes too long, and then I straight up ignored major problems like the stereotyping.

I also remember one of my early excuses for the movie’s failings was that a lot of movies now had robots and aliens and space ships and star wars would never again be able to captivate a new audience, it was now just another movie title in the genre it created.

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Fair enough.

I dunno. I want to enjoy the new ones, but I pretty much don’t like anything JJ Abrams has ever done, and you can make a trailer of the prequels that make them look good, so I’m not especially confident.

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Which is that?

I was sort of keen to see it, but came away just confused. I thought I was not clever enough, or inside enough, to enjoy it.

I did think Natalie Portman was pretty though, so I enjoyed that.

Half of which was Greg Proops, I think?

We all know which bit @japhroaig liked best.

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That’s seriously what lost me. Politics doesn’t belong in that kind of story beyond “oh, the senate - the people in charge of us all - said that we have to XYZ” - and the characters either do, or don’t do, XYZ.

But no. We had to see the senate in action. We had to experience it. We were to be educated in the deep politics of prior times. To understand how it is in that universe.

It was all really not far, far away at all. It was like the boring bits of the news.

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Yes it was. Probably the only good bit to that mess of a film.

I honestly didn’t hate Jar Jar as much I just couldn’t take how it was obvious Lucas had no clue with what to do for a plot. I so wanted scream out loud HIM RIGHT NEXT TO YOU HE IS THE SITH! at the end. I mean they can sense Anakin being all Jedi material from a mile off but standing right next to the Sith Lord himself and nothing. Lame.

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There’s a retcon for that. Of course. But you probably won’t like it.

Basically, he’s so powerful in the dark side, he can use a force ability to suppress his presence in the force. As if that makes sense.

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