Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) (1 Viewer)

[Osato]

Great thread. Hard to believe it has been 15 years!

I saw the film several times in 1999 and I also caught the 3D reissue too.

I was so excited to see a new SW film on the big screen again. Its still my favorite of the prequels as well.

 

[mattCR]

TPM was a film I had really mixed feelings about. But I enjoyed AOTC far more than most, I thought it was a film that had a few problems but in general worked for me. The first half was not perfect, but once you get past the beginning it really takes off.

If I were ranking the SW universe, it would tend to go:

1. ESB
2. ANH
3. ROTS
4. ATOC
5. ROTJ
6. TPM

 

[TravisR]

But I enjoyed AOTC far more than most, I thought it was a film that had a few problems but in general worked for me. The first half was not perfect, but once you get past the beginning it really takes off.

That's basically my take on it too. I'm always surprised by the people who say that Attack Of The Clones is worse than The Phantom Menace because it seems to me that the second half of AOTC has enough action and is entertaining enough that I would think that even the most vocal critic of the prequels would think that AOTC is easily the more enjoyable of the two.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think Phantom Menace is the weakest of the prequels, and that Return Of The Jedi is the weakest of the originals.

I really like "Attack Of The Clones" - I liked the Obi-wan mystery subplot in the first half, and the battle that takes up most of the second half was out of this world insane, especially when I first saw it. My friends and I couldn't get enough, pretty sure we saw it three or four days in a row from when it opened.

 

[Wayne_j]

I remember seeing TPM at midnight in a THX certified theater

My list:

1. ESB
2. ANH
3. RotS
4. RotJ
5. AotC
6. TPM

 

[Walter Kittel]

I always felt like the prequels got progressively better; as if Lucas had finally gotten his Star Wars mojo back. By the time Revenge of the Sith had rolled around I was really enjoying the franchise again. My ranking:

1. ESB
2. ANH
3. RotS / RotJ (tie)
4. AotC
5. TPM

- Walter.

 

[Joseph Bolus]

I actually enjoy all the Star Wars films, but when we view the franchise these days we pretty much view it in this order:A New HopeEmpire Strikes BackAttack of the Clones (Flashback)Clone Wars: Season 1 Eps 2,3, and 4Clone Wars: Season 3 Eps 15, 16, and 17 (Qui-Gon as a "Force Ghost"; Anakin's fate foretold)Clone Wars: Season 6 Eps 1,2,3,4 (background on Order 66)Revenge of the SithReturn of the JediSo ... We don't get around to viewing TPM all that often. I still think it's a fun movie, and the Pod Race and the Jedi battle at the end is worth the price of admission. The movie marked the first time we got to see Jedi in their prime battling a Sith apprentice. But at this point it works better as an isolated "Lost Tale" of the Star Wars universe than as an integral part of the franchise.

 

[TravisR]

^ Glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks Star Wars is better than The Empire Strikes Back.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

I think TPM is better than it gets credit for, though probably ranks last out of the 6 for me.The Clone Wars cartoon has been the most viewed Star Wars element out of this whole thing for me. I love it, love it, love it. And the battles are often epic!

 

[SilverWook]

By 2000, laserdisc was as dead as disco. I assume the only reason there was a Japanese LD was because the format was still hanging on over there.

There were still a few titles released domestically in 2000. (Pioneer kept a DVD/LD combo player in their product line for years past that.) And my local home theater showroom sold every copy of TPM they got in. The rumor making the rounds was Lucasfilm nixed the U.S. release, not Fox.

And it's not like there was a TPM DVD out there you could buy. It was hilarious seeing what people on Ebay were paying for a TPM Video CD at the time.

 

[davidmatychuk]

The Japanese "Phantom Menace" laserdisc is the last new laserdisc I ever bought. And the format might have been dead when I did so, but I showed people that movie on laserdisc several times, which was several times more than anybody subsequently wanted to watch that movie on DVD or Blu-Ray, or Video CD for that matter (I have that too).

 

[TravisR]

It was hilarious seeing what people on Ebay were paying for a TPM Video CD at the time.

Oh man, I remember looking at that Video CD on eBay but I never bought it. It must have been July or August 1999 when my computer savvy buddy downloaded a bootleg of TPM via a dial-up modem (it took more than a day to get the whole movie) and then he duped me a copy onto a VHS tape.

 

[Ejanss]

There were still a few titles released domestically in 2000. (Pioneer kept a DVD/LD combo player in their product line for years past that.) And my local home theater showroom sold every copy of TPM they got in. The rumor making the rounds was Lucasfilm nixed the U.S. release, not Fox.

And it's not like there was a TPM DVD out there you could buy. It was hilarious seeing what people on Ebay were paying for a TPM Video CD at the time.

Oh, I remember that: Every Lucas fan who wanted the DVD and couldn't get one had their own theory of why he wasn't letting Fox put one out!
Y'see, he wasn't spending six months trying to finish the CGI on the uncompleted deleted scenes, he was really holding off on the DVD because he was EVIL! And he HATED HIS FANS! And it was all a plot to try and sink DVD, because everyone knew he had been supporting DiVX from the beginning! But watch, he'd probably wait, and make us buy it as part of a whole big overpromoted set later, just to squeeze more dollars out of his loyal fans who'd supported him this far! That was why he was releasing the bare-bones VHS and VCD in other countries, but there had to be a reason he was deliberately holding out on us!

(Aren't we glad we don't act so silly or throw such foot-stomping fan-tantrums today, just because a studio delays a disk without telling us?)

 

[Bryan^H]

I never hated Jar Jar. I do hate the Gungan battle in the film though.

I loved The Phantom Menace when I saw it in a midnight feature so many years ago. My problem with the prequels has nothing to do with the content of the films themselves(which are fine). It one simple thing I cannot overlook. They take the mystery, and allure of Darth Vader away from me. They simplify one of the most mysterious villains in cinematic history. I knew going into the prequels it would be Darth Vader's back story, but I'm a Star Wars nut so what am I gonna do skip them? No way.

 

[Mikael Soderholm]

I actually enjoy all the Star Wars films, but when we view the franchise these days we pretty much view it in this order:A New HopeEmpire Strikes BackAttack of the Clones (Flashback)Clone Wars: Season 1 Eps 2,3, and 4Clone Wars: Season 3 Eps 15, 16, and 17 (Qui-Gon as a "Force Ghost"; Anakin's fate foretold)Clone Wars: Season 6 Eps 1,2,3,4 (background on Order 66)Revenge of the SithReturn of the JediSo ... We don't get around to viewing TPM all that often. I still think it's a fun movie, and the Pod Race and the Jedi battle at the end is worth the price of admission. The movie marked the first time we got to see Jedi in their prime battling a Sith apprentice. But at this point it works better as an isolated "Lost Tale" of the Star Wars universe than as an integral part of the franchise.

So, basically Machete order, with some extra clone wars http://www.nomachetejuggling.com/2011/11/11/the-star-wars-saga-suggested-viewing-order/#toc-watching-episode-i
Makes sense to me.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

My order:
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi

With a dessert of the Clone Wars micro-series by Genndy Tartakovsky as a stories told by Force Ghost Obi Wan to Luke when he asks about his father.

 

[Brett_B]

My ranking of the movies are as follows:

1. A New Hope
2. Empire Strikes Back
3. Return of the Jedi
4. The Phantom Menace
5. Revenge of the Sith
6. Attack of the Clones

When the prequels originally came out. I hated The Phantom Menace, and was hoping the next installments would be better. I enjoyed Attack of the Clones when I saw it the first time, but still felt that something was missing which had me hyped for the final movie. After reading early reviews I could not wait for Revenge of the Sith, and again enjoyed it more than Attack of the Clones.

After the movies were released to video (DVD), and multiple viewing,s I had realized that out of all the prequel movies The Phantom Menace was the only one I could actually sit through the whole duration. What really bothered me about the other two was the "love story", and the wooden dialogue delivery by Hayden Christensen during those scenes. So, when I do watch the final two installments I will skip over all the scenes between Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen. I will take Jake Lloyd and Jar Jar Binks any day of the week over the love scenes.

Even though there was more "action" in the last two movies, I couldn't get past all of the CGI. Everything seemed to be too polished when compared to the original trilogy. I seem to remember a comment made by Lucas in regards to first Star Wars saying that he wanted the Star Wars universe to look "used" where one would think that these space vehicles actually existed. I did not get that feeling once while watching the prequels.

 

[FoxyMulder]

What really bothered me about the other two was the "love story", and the wooden dialogue delivery by Hayden Christensen during those scenes.

I always felt that George Lucas was going for a 1940's type feel to the dialogue, in the way it was filmed and the whole love story aspect, i personally liked those parts of the movie and John Williams love theme score, it had an old style feel to it, the actors did their best with what they had to work with and for me Attack Of The Clones is the best of the prequels.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

^ Glad to see that I'm not the only one who thinks Star Wars is better than The Empire Strikes Back.

He was just stating the order in which he watches them. But *I* agree with you!

 

[Greg.K]

I also agree that Star Wars (I still don't refer to it as ANH) is my favorite. Empire is great and a close second, but is limited being the middle movie. The battle of Yavin was all around the tensest part of any the films, and I think it had the most satisfying conclusion.Regarding TPM, my biggest problem is the slow pacing, especially at the beginning. Take for instance the interminable underwater journey sequence from the Gungan city. That would have been covered by a 5 second interstitial scene in the original films.