Star Wars, Episode I The Phantom Menace

Use the midiclorians!

Well, after making the world wait 16 years for his next installment, George has given us "Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace". As a Star Wars fan I got what I expected - another chance to immerse myself in the Star Wars universe - a film whose sole purpose is essentially escapism. But as a movie fan, and judging it as I would any other movie, I frankly felt mildly disappointed after I left the theater in 1999. I mean,  any movie that's made can always be improved upon but at that time, without knowing anything about Episode 2 & 3,  There were plots & characters that were new to all of us Star Wars fans so it wasn't as easy as 1,2,3 to fully understand the potential of the film as it is today. Anyways, here's what I think it's good and bad from Episode 1:

What is to like about The Phantom Menace:

1) The visuals were stunning - a lot of love and hard work had quite obviously gone into the effects and the people involved in the making, can quite rightly be proud of their work. I mean, it was made in 1999 and if you watch it again in 2013, you don't feel like "oh, what a crappy FX that was" so, well played Lucas, well played.

2) All the performances by the main cast were good. Particularly Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman and Pernilla August deliver great performances making their characters believable &  down to earth. 

3) The Pod Race was exciting and amusing and it somehow reminded you of the race scenes from the original trilogy (ok, there were no race scenes but, there were a lots of speedy chase battles)

4) The final sabre duel was quite fantastic : Darth Maul prowling up and down like a caged tiger was a particularly excellent touch - it added real tension and anticipation to the scene. Besides, he was the first Sith we ever met after Darth Vader & the Emperor.

5) The music as always was magnificent. The Star Wars saga would lose much of its charm and intensity without Williams' scores and that is why, no wonder, Lucas called his longtime partner for the prequel trilogy.

Meet little Anakin Skywalker.

Jar Jar Binks: Everyone's favorite character!

And now the letdowns I had when I left the theaters in 1999:

1) The pacing was too fast in parts! The first half hour of the film just left me cold - you weren't led into the story. You were dumped straight into the action. On paper I'm sure the first half hour looked fantastic but I found myself sitting in the theatre going - 'hey, great special effect shot there!' I wasn't involved in the story and the scenes lacked tension and danger. In addition, there were many new characters around and you were like "Oh, that's young Obi Wan Kenobi and a lot of people I've never seen before" Of course, that impression has changed since we already know quite well the characters of the prequel trilogy now that it's been 8 years since its completion.

2) The film only truly started for me on reaching Tatooine. I finally got a chance to get to know the characters. However, there still was not enough character development in the film as a whole. For example, Obi Wan had nothing to do or say throughout the movie except flash his light sabre around from time-to-time. Who is Obi Wan??? After seeing the film I'm none the wiser. And the final sabre duel (good as it was) would have been infinitely better had the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi Wan been explored past the mere mentor-apprentice motif. The final sabre duel lacked emotional involvement as a consequence. Besides, Darth Maul was quite cool! he deserved more screen time! Didn't Lucas learned anything after what happened with the growing interest fans had around Boba Fett?

hey! I know that guy!

Princess Amidala dresses quite hispter.

3) Why did they make Jar-Jar Binks so incomprehensible?? I found myself becoming annoyed at having to strain to understand his nonsensical utterings! (Having said that, he wasn't as annoying as I'd been led to expect) Why George used easily identifiable racial accents for his alien characters completely puzzled me. Either it shows a lack of imagination or racism, which one's worse? you tell me. However, Jar Jar Binks is a very important character in Episode 1 despite whatever fans think about him. The way  I see him is that he's relevant. Without him the Naboo & the Gungans wouldn't have had any kind of relationship, thus making it impossible to stand a chance fighting the droids invasion. He was the missing link, so don't see him as a useless character because he is not. At least, in Episode 1 he has a say in the plot.

4) What's with the biological exposition on the Force! Was that necessary? The first three films pointed to links between the Force and genetics but I don't need tiresome cold scientific explanations as to the Force's origin, thank you very much! It just ruins the mystique. Now, we know that the force is a countable source of energy thanks to the amount of Midiclorians you have in your blood cells.
 

5) Can we have less of the mindless gaffes that occur in the final battle scenes (You know the ones that save the day!) Its an insult to the audience's intelligence (In a full theatre I swear I didn't see a single soul who looked under sixteen! - has George forgotten about the original fans). In the original trilogy there was none of this cringeful embarrassing material (Ewoks excepted!!)

Darth Maul!

2 Against 1?

Well I think I'll stop there. To summarise : Episode 1 was a good movie that could have been a whole lot better. Perhaps there was too much story to cover in two hours? In which case the plot should have been shortened on the adage that "less is more". I've always thought that episode one was always going to be the lamest of the new films and in a way I could say it was but now that we know the whole Star Wars story it feels more like a justified opening act that would lead Anakin Skywalker to become the guy we know he becomes. Overall, a must watch to get a glimpse of the origin of relevant characters in the Star Wars universe. Watching it as a standalone movie makes no sense and turns it into a random space adventure without a strong plot so, watching Episode 1 means go watch Episode 2 and yes, watch Episode 3.

The Phantom Menace secrets revealed

Star Wars Timeline

Dates in Star Wars are based around the Battle of Yavin (in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope):

• Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) takes place 32 years BBY (Before the Battle of Yavin),
• Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) is 22 BBY,
• Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) is 19 BBY,
• Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977): is 0 BBY,
• Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980) is 3 years ABY (After the Battle of Yavin),
• Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) is 4 ABY.

I have a bad feeling about this Returns!

Obi-Wan has "a bad feeling about this" quite often.

Obi Wan loves the lightsaber's battle sounds

During filming Ewan McGregor made lightsaber noises as he dueled. It was noted and corrected during post production.  

Obi Wan's uncle is Wedge Antilles, what?

Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi, is the nephew of Denis Lawson, who played Rebel pilot Wedge Antilles in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980), and Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).  

Ewan McGregor: Sir Alec Guiness' Padawan.

Ewan McGregor studied many of Alec Guinness' films, including Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), to ensure accuracy in everything from his accent to pacing of his words.

Where are the stormtroopers?

Star Wars fans are truly out of this world!

During the first week of the first trailer's release, many theatres reported up to 75% of their audiences paying full price for a movie, then walking out after the Star Wars: Episode I trailer was shown. 

Darth Vader after credits breathing!

After the film's end credits finish rolling, the sound effect of Darth Vader's breathing can be heard. 

Dance to the Emperor's theme?

The parade music at the end of the film is melodically related to the Emperor's Theme from Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983).  

The original Episode IV plot.

The core-plot of the movie came from George Lucas' first draft of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), which he wrote in 1975.  

Yoda's Puppet.

Tests were conducted to see if Yoda could be realized digitally but it was determined that the technology was not up to scratch. A CG model of Yoda was nevertheless created, but only used in one shot, a long shot incidentally, during the scene on Naboo near the end where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda discuss Anakin's future. 

Episode 1's Cast.

Laser Sword? wasn't it Lightsaber?

The word lightsaber is never used in the film. When Anakin talks to Qui-Gon he calls it a "laser sword".  

Was that Luke's Lightsaber?

The sound effect when Obi-Wan Kenobi's lightsaber is kicked down the reactor shaft towards the end of the movie, is the same sound effect heard when Luke Skywalker throws his lightsaber away in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) when he tells the Emperor that he is a Jedi. 

Bad motherfucker Jedi!

Before 'Samuel L Jackson' expressed his interest in joining the cast, Mace Windu was to be an animatronic character. This alien, was later identified as an 'Anx' and can be seen sitting in Watto's box during the pod race (as Graxol Kelvyyn) as well as during the senate scenes (as Senator Horox Ryyder).  

C3P0.

This is the only Star Wars picture in which Anthony Daniels does not provide the movements of C3P0. Instead they were performed by puppeteer Michael Lynch. In addition, C3P0 was originally only supposed to appear in scenes set in and around the slave quarters. During post production George Lucas decided to optically add the droid to several outside scenes. 

Dark shadow.

Pod Race!

No, that is not Mos Eisley.

Contrary to popular belief, the city where Qui-Gon discovers Anakin is not Mos Eisley, but another city called Mos Espa.  

Jake Lloyd, the bullied Jedi.

Jake Lloyd has said that he retired from acting because of the trauma he experienced after playing Anakin Skywalker. According to Lloyd, other children constantly teased him about the role. For example they would make lightsaber sounds whenever he walked by. Lloyd also said that the situation was made worse because, in his opinion, the film did not meet the fans' expectations. Despite this, Lloyd has reprised the role of Anakin in several video games and has appeared at Star Wars conventions/events. 

Lucas and his deals.

George Lucas made a similar deal as he did in the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977). Both Lucas and Fox Studios agreed that he would forego his salary as a director provided he owns the entire negative of the final cut of the film as well as ancillary rights of all toys and commercial tie-ins. 

the Jedi council.

Lighstaber activation.

In the original trilogy, lightsaber activations and deactivations happened off-screen most of the time to prevent the "jumps" that would occur when the film was stopped to allow the "activated" lightsaber props to be substituted for the deactivated handles. This no longer poses a problem and every activation/deactivation occurs on-screen in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).  

The 327 number importance.

Qui-Gon Jinn identifies the Queen's starship as a Nubian model J-327. "327" was the number of the landing bay where the Millennium Falcon landed on the first Death Star in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) as well as the number of the landing platform in Cloud City in Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). During the introduction of the pod racers, one of the pods is "327". 

Episode 1 on DVD.

The first Star Wars film to be released on DVD (October 2001. Over a year after its release on VHS).  

White Droids.

The Battle Droids were originally supposed to be as white as the Stormtroopers from the original trilogy. During pre production George Lucas decided to change them to beige. 

Was Yoda ever young?

Senate pods.

To fill all the Senate Pods, teams of extras (mostly Lucasfilm employees) were filmed separately. Some of them were shot on digital video. Enough library footage of Senators was gathered to populate the Senate scenes of both Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).  

Multilingual Trade Federation.

In the German language version of the film, the collaborating Trade Federation leaders have a French accent, while in the Italian language version they have heavy Russian accents. They also have Russian accents in the Czech version, except for the Viceroy, who speaks fluent Czech for reasons unknown. 

Who's Padme and Who's the queen Amidala?

At the time of the film's release, the producers ran a disinformation campaign to suggest that Natalie Portman played both Padme and The Queen at all times. In fact, they are not always the same person. For many sections of the film, notably those where The Queen is wearing the black outfit with the huge feather headdress, she is actually a decoy, played by Keira Knightley. The real queen, Portman, is actually disguised as a handmaiden. Various conflicting public statements make it extremely difficult to figure out who is who. Whole websites are devoted to figuring out which actress is playing which handmaiden or The Queen at any given point.  

Obi Wan meets Anakin!

Mace Windu in Episode IV.

George Lucas's very first draft of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) began, "This is the story of Mace Windu, a revered Jedi-bendu of Opuchi who was related to Usby C.J. Thape, a padawan learner of the famed Jedi." Both the character of Mace Windu and the concept of padawan learners make their first appearance in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). 

Wookies in Episode 1.

Two Wookiees can be seen in the Galactic Senate meeting. For the first time in 21 years, Star Wars Wookiees were played by someone other than Peter Mayhew.  

Jedi Slang.

Palpatine's line "There is no civility, there is only politics" is a corruption of part of the Jedi Code which consists of a negative assertion followed by a positive one. For example: "There is no fear, there is only calm. There is no death, there is only the Force." 

Padme takes you to the dark side.

Episode 1 bloopers!

EASTER EGG: If you highlight the THX logo in the Language Selection page on the DVD and press 1138 with the remote you will access a hidden blooper reel.  

After this delicious collection of trivia it is time to move on the trailer section.

The first video is the teaser trailer which was showcased during the Meet Joe Black film screenings:

The second video is the first official trailer fro which people would pay a full ticket just for having the pleasure of saying "I saw it first". it amazes me how those little details were completely torn apart because of the internet:

The third video is the second trailer that was released to promote the film:

And now, as bonus content a few entertaining random videos about Episode 1. The first one is "the honest edition" of the Phantom Menace 3D trailer:

The final video is about a fake review based upon the idea of the Phantom Menace actually being a kick ass film:

What's next? obviously you don't need the force to guess. Episode II, Attack of the Clones coming sooner than later in a galaxy far, far away.