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

[Chuck Mayer]

I get the nostalgia kick for TPM, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that 1999 was possibly the best year for movies in my entire life.

The Mummy
The Matrix (Wachowskis)
The Iron Giant (Bird)
Fight Club (Fincher)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
Galaxy Quest
American Beauty (Mendes)
Toy Story 2
Election (Payne)
Being John Malkovich (Jonze)
THE INSIDER (Mann)
Three Kings
The Sixth Sense
Bowfinger
Magnolia (PT Anderson)
Office Space (Judge)
Sleepy Hollow (Burton)
The Straight Story (Lynch)
Bringing Out The Dead (Scorcese)
South Park: BLU

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I get the nostalgia kick for TPM, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that 1999 was possibly the best year for movies in my entire life.

The Mummy
The Matrix (Wachowskis)
The Iron Giant (Bird)
Fight Club (Fincher)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
Galaxy Quest
American Beauty (Mendes)
Toy Story 2
Election (Payne)
Being John Malkovich (Jonze)
THE INSIDER (Mann)
Three Kings
The Sixth Sense
Bowfinger
Magnolia (PT Anderson)
Office Space (Judge)
Sleepy Hollow (Burton)
The Straight Story (Lynch)
Bringing Out The Dead (Scorcese)
South Park: BLU

Yeah, it was a strong year. Hard to rank years of my lifetime - I'm certainly very fond of 1982 - but 1999 is up there!

 

[Sam Favate]

I get the nostalgia kick for TPM, but I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that 1999 was possibly the best year for movies in my entire life.

The Mummy
The Matrix (Wachowskis)
The Iron Giant (Bird)
Fight Club (Fincher)
Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick)
Galaxy Quest
American Beauty (Mendes)
Toy Story 2
Election (Payne)
Being John Malkovich (Jonze)
THE INSIDER (Mann)
Three Kings
The Sixth Sense
Bowfinger
Magnolia (PT Anderson)
Office Space (Judge)
Sleepy Hollow (Burton)
The Straight Story (Lynch)
Bringing Out The Dead (Scorcese)
South Park: BLU

The Insider should have won Best Picture.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Wandering down memory lane just a bit and the 1999 year in film and the Academy Awards...

Best Picture of the year for me wasn't nominated - Magnolia

Michael Caine was strong in The Cider House Rules, but I would have awarded Best Supporting Actor to Michael Clarke Duncan for The Green Mile. To be fair, that might be due to the passing of time and MCD's performance sticking with me over the intervening years; Caine was good in his role.

One thing I recall about the Academy Awards ceremony in 2000 was when the film that is the subject of this thread Star Wars Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace got skunked in the technical categories by The Matrix. Sort of felt like a changing of the guard moment.

To Chuck's listing of 1999 features I would add The Talented Mr. Ripley, Titus, and Topsy-Turvy. I'm sure there are other selections worthy of being mentioned, but those readily came to mind. The Talented Mr. Ripley is a strong remake of Purple Noon with some excellent performances, Titus is pretty artsy and probably not for everyone, and Topsy-Turvy had a beautiful production design and featured a strong performance from Jim Broadbent.

- Walter.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

My list was by no means full - as already pointed out above With Cider House Rules, or eXistenz, or Talented Mr. Ripley, Stir of Echoes, or even the mediocre Bond film.

1999 did not just have depth, but breadth. The pop culture story of the year was TPM, even if it was ultimately overshadowed by The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Blair Witch, and even (in time) The Mummy (a winning a charming genre adventure). I didn’t list those films to denigrate TPM, a movie I still enjoy. And I enjoyed the build-up, too. Just wanted to highlight what a magnificent year it was.

Agreed about The Insider. Prescient, brilliant, potent.

 

[Tommy R]

Don’t forget The Spy who Shagged Me!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Don’t forget The Spy who Shagged Me!

That one disappointed me. I liked "AP" 1 and 3 a lot but 2 tried too hard.

They made 1 without any expectations and by 3, they'd proven they could have a true hit.

But 2 felt like "oh crap - we're being promoted as a big blockbuster and need to justify the hype!" to me.

Some funny stuff but vastly inferior to the much funnier 1 and 3.

 

[Tommy R]

That one disappointed me. I liked "AP" 1 and 3 a lot but 2 tried too hard.

They made 1 without any expectations and by 3, they'd proven they could have a true hit.

But 2 felt like "oh crap - we're being promoted as a big blockbuster and need to justify the hype!" to me.

Some funny stuff but vastly inferior to the much funnier 1 and 3.

I definitely agree, in retrospect Shagged was the worst. But back in 1999 it was all the rage among my age groups (13, ). My friends and I had MANY more conversations about it than we did The Phantom Menace.

 

[The Drifter]

I'm a big & unapologetic fan of TPM. I clearly remember the hype in the 6+ months before the movie was released, especially the release of the teaser trailer (Fall 1998) & official trailer (Spring 1999). I remember it took at least two (or more?!) hours to download the official trailer on my dial-up Internet ATT - LOL.

It was the first new SW film in 16 years & was highly anticipated by many. When I finally saw the film, it wasn't what I expected - but I never hated or even disliked the film. And, it has definitely grown on me over the years.

It's interesting to hear the extreme vitriol & hatred by fans/critics/the general public that was directed against the film after it's release. This is despite the fact that TPM did huge business @ the box office. I clearly remember seeing this numerous times in the theater that summer in relatively packed theaters. In fact, the movie was so popular that it was re-released in November/December 1999; and, they don't re-release movies that no one is interested in watching/re-watching.

I also remember it took forever for the film to hit home video. It first hit VHS tape in Spring 2000 (almost a year after the theatrical release) & the DVD release first hit in Fall 2001.

 

[SD_Brian]

I also remember it took forever for the film to hit home video. It first hit VHS tape in Spring 2000 (almost a year after the theatrical release) & the DVD release first hit in Fall 2000.

Even longer than that: The DVD release landed in fall 2001, not 2000. The Digital Bits posted their original review of the DVD on 9/11/2001, presumably before other newsworthy events of the day occurred.

EDIT: Though it may have felt like forever, it was way less time than it took for the original trilogy to turn up on home video. 5 years for the original, 4 1/2 years for Empire and almost 3 years for Jedi.

 

[Joe Wong]

Even longer than that: The DVD release landed in fall 2001, not 2000. The Digital Bits posted their original review of the DVD on 9/11/2001, presumably before other newsworthy events of the day occurred.

Yeah, I remember I had just moved to Jersey City from Australia in May 2001, living in a rental apartment, and building my new HT (with SVS subs).

When the TPM DVD came out, I played it in our apartment, and got a knock on the door during the pod race. It was a neighbour, telling us to turn it down!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

I definitely agree, in retrospect Shagged was the worst. But back in 1999 it was all the rage among my age groups (13, ). My friends and I had MANY more conversations about it than we did The Phantom Menace.

Oh, you had a different perspective than I did - I was 32 in 1999!

 

[The Drifter]

Even longer than that: The DVD release landed in fall 2001, not 2000. The Digital Bits posted their original review of the DVD on 9/11/2001, presumably before other newsworthy events of the day occurred.

EDIT: Though it may have felt like forever, it was way less time than it took for the original trilogy to turn up on home video. 5 years for the original, 4 1/2 years for Empire and almost 3 years for Jedi.

I stand corrected - Thanks; I fixed my post. I remember that it took a while for me to see TPM on physical media, since I had gotten rid of my VCR in the '90's (I hated the format, and when it broke I never replaced this). And, I didn't get my first DVD player until 2003.

I'm also old enough to remember the first VHS release for ROTJ. Yes, the wait was painful - especially for a kid who was a huge SW fan. The film was released theatrically in May 1983, and wasn't released to VHS until 2/25/1986.

Star Wars home video releases

This page describes the significant home video releases of official Star Wars films, television shows, and documentaries, excluding releases which did not come directly from Lucasfilm (such as Star Wars Tech or spoof programs like Robot Chicken: Star Wars). In 1977, Ken Films released selected...

starwars.fandom.com

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Even longer than that: The DVD release landed in fall 2001, not 2000. The Digital Bits posted their original review of the DVD on 9/11/2001, presumably before other newsworthy events of the day occurred.

They held a big press event at Skywalker in late August 2001. I got invited and stupidly declined even though I could fly free on American back then!

Regretted it instantly.

I did go to an event out there for "Sith" 4 years later - I wasn't gonna make that mistake twice!

They gave us copies of the DVD at the time, and this was about a month pre-street.

Don't think they embargoed reviews. The event was 10/6/05 and I ran mine 10/10/05.

But if "Phantom Menace" reviews didn't run until 9/11, there must've been an embargo - unless they didn't hand out copies of the DVD at the event like they did in 2005.

I don't remember the date of the "Menace" event but am sure it was late August. I work for a school system, and it was right around the time teachers returned from break.

Fox/Lucas did send me a copy that was reasonably pre-street - can't recall if I got it pre-9/11 or not.

I do recall that the DVD for "Mummy Returns" came to my house on 9/11. It sticks in my mind because I watched it that afternoon.

Felt vaguely blasphemous to do something fun on 9/11, but I needed a break from the horrific news.

 

[TravisR]

In fact, the movie was so popular that it was re-released in November/December 1999; and, they don't re-release movies that no one is interested in watching/re-watching.

They donated the proceeds from that re-release to charity too. Kudos to Lucas and Fox for doing that.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Even longer than that: The DVD release landed in fall 2001, not 2000. The Digital Bits posted their original review of the DVD on 9/11/2001, presumably before other newsworthy events of the day occurred.

EDIT: Though it may have felt like forever, it was way less time than it took for the original trilogy to turn up on home video. 5 years for the original, 4 1/2 years for Empire and almost 3 years for Jedi.

Yeah, but that was a different universe for home video.

Really, "home video" as we understand it didn't exist in 1982 when they released "Star Wars" on VHS.

It had blossomed a fair amount by the VHS releases of the next 2, but it still wasn't anything like the home video landscape of the late 90s/early 00s.

"Batman" 1989 was the one that pioneered a then-short theatrical-to-video window, as it came out a mere 4 months or so after it hit movie screens.

Some movies still took a long time to come to video. IIRC, "Jurassic Park" waited a good 16 months or so.

Now the 6 months between the cinematic debut of "Avatar: WoW" and its Blu-ray release seems like an eternity!

(Can't remember if it debuted on streaming/digital download earlier than that. Probably.)

 

[TravisR]

Felt vaguely blasphemous to do something fun on 9/11, but I needed a break from the horrific news.

I know what you mean. I remember being really excited to read the TPM DVD reviews and the press junket stuff going up that day and trying to 'escape' by reading them but it didn't work.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Some movies still took a long time to come to video. IIRC, "Jurassic Park" waited a good 16 months or so.

I just moved to a house a block away from the school I attended when that VHS came out, and as I was taking my kids to the playground this past weekend, I suddenly had a flashback remembering the eternal wait for my VHS copy to arrive - I had mail ordered the letterbox edition while all the other kids just bought the regular version at the local store so I was a week behind everyone on that one and it was an eternity.

I know what you mean. I remember being really excited to read the TPM DVD reviews and the press junket stuff going up that day and trying to 'escape' by reading them but it didn't work.

I remember that both a Bob Dylan and Ben Folds album came out that day but that the store closed early and I had to wait until the next morning to get them. Instead I comforted myself listening to a used copy of Tom Petty’s Wildflowers I had bought a day earlier for $1. All three of those albums have been mainstays ever since and I’m sure that’s all tangled up in my memory of that day and the fallout from it. I got the Phantom Menace DVD from the same store (Newbury Comics) the day it was released.

 

[SD_Brian]

Yeah, but that was a different universe for home video.

True dat! A VHS copy of any of the OT on their original release would have set you back at least $80, which when adjusted for inflation would translate to $261 for Star Wars, $234 for Empire, and $225 for Jedi. On pan-and-scan VHS. Nowadays we complain when the street date price for UHD is more than $20!

 

[Lord Dalek]

To this day I'll take it over Episode II easily.