# How did you react to Phantom Menace? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 13, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026 "2018-12-13T00:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CastletonSnob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ea924/32.png) [@CastletonSnob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CastletonSnob)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/1 "2018-12-13T00:33:52Z")
Next year, Phantom Menace turns 20 years old, so I thought I’d make this thread. How excited were you when you heard that the Phantom Menace was coming out? Did you camp out in front of the theater? What did you think when you finished watching it in the theater? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/2 "2018-12-13T00:40:38Z")
[Camped out, still have my ticket and pass.](https://i.redd.it/45p22ucscn5z.jpg) Convinced myself I liked it the first time I saw it. When it comes at you new and the hype overwhelms you, you can convince yourself it is good. We cheered and enjoyed the pod race. Loved the duel at the end with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul. Saw faults in it within a couple weeks and realized it was crap not too long after. [Here are my thoughts just over a year ago when I saw it again for the first time in 14 years.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=833251) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/3 "2018-12-13T00:40:56Z")
I thought it was perfectly fine for what it was (a kid’s movie) and didn’t hate it the way a lot of people did. In comparison to A New Hope, Revenge of the Sith, or The Last Jedi it’s mediocre, though. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/4 "2018-12-13T00:46:35Z")
Was very excited to see it, but not enough to camp out. After seeing it I left the theater feeling very disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/5 "2018-12-13T00:50:07Z")
Liked it, still like it. Think it holds up just as well as the original trilogy if treated in the same way. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/6 "2018-12-13T00:55:33Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Camped out, still have my ticket and pass.](https://i.redd.it/45p22ucscn5z.jpg) > > Convinced myself I liked it the first time I saw it. When it comes at you new and the hype overwhelms you, you can convince yourself it is good. We cheered and enjoyed the pod race. Loved the duel at the end with Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul. > > Saw faults in it within a couple weeks and realized it was crap not too long after. > > [Here are my thoughts just over a year ago when I saw it again for the first time in 14 years.](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=833251) From that thread: > [@Chronos](#): > > The prequels benefit tremendously from having read Darths and Droids. It turns out that Jar-Jar really is loveable… if you think of her as an eight-year-old. Wait. Jar-Jar was a _chick_? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/7 "2018-12-13T01:01:45Z")
Excited at the prospect, amused by the teaser poster. Hated every fucking second of the movie. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/8 "2018-12-13T01:01:47Z")
> [@CastletonSnob](#): > > Next year, Phantom Menace turns 20 years old, so I thought I’d make this thread. > > How excited were you when you heard that the Phantom Menace was coming out? Did you camp out in front of the theater? What did you think when you finished watching it in the theater? Not too excited, but glad there was another SW movie coming out. No camping, probably didn’t see it first weekend. My wife and I thought it was flat and lifeless. Yeah, we convinced ourselves when leaving that it was a decent movie, maybe we had seen EPIC SCIFI too many times, but that didn’t last for long… it was just a boring plod. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/9 "2018-12-13T01:05:27Z")
Didn’t camp out, but I did go fairly early. Found it mediocre at best. Biggest flaw: it had a lousy villain. Darth Maul was a mask with nothing behind it. Less personality than a mannequin in a department store window and maybe the least interesting bad guy in the history of film. Second big flaw: any fight with Obi-wan had no suspense. “Who’s going to die? The one that wasn’t in the original!” OTOH, I didn’t object to Jar-Jar and liked the use of his language with non English pronouns. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/10 "2018-12-13T01:11:46Z")
I saw it opening day, 1st daytime performance (10:00am, I think it was). I walked out _extremely_ disappointed with the movie and overtly hating the racist caricature. I never gave George Lucas another dime of my money for anything. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/11 "2018-12-13T01:43:35Z")
I had an overall positive opinion coming out. It helped tremendously that it peaked at the end. Duel of the Fates is still the best piece of music in any Star Wars film, yes better than the Imperial March and the Star Wars theme. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/12 "2018-12-13T01:52:33Z")
Saw it fairly early in it’s run, but didn’t camp out/reserve tickets early. Was sort of ‘meh’ coming out of the movie (IIRC–it has been a few years). Thinking about it now, it was a movie with some great, indeed spectacular, scenes (the underwater scene, the droid/Gungan battle, the podrace) but completely without a really coherent storyline I could get behind, a problem all the prequels suffered from (IMHO again). ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/13 "2018-12-13T02:04:29Z")
didn’t need to camp out just stood in line at the movies near because the theatre that it premiered in wasn’t finished being built (my showing was the grand opening) i loved it and realized that if it had come out first new hope would would be getting the crap for almost being the same movie… and also agreed with who ever said Allen or Kasdan should of directed it oh and Anakin needed a diff actor ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/14 "2018-12-13T02:04:33Z")
I devoured every detail as it was being made. Couldn’t get enough, so excited and energised by its imminent arrival. After watching, I was desperate to try to make the best of it. I failed. It’s a genuinely horrible movie in a genuinely disappointing trilogy. I haven’t watched any of the prequels in the past 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/15 "2018-12-13T02:38:26Z")
Couldn’t resist reading the dribbles of spoilers and rumors that came out in the months leading up to it, and therefore had no enthusiasm whatsoever for it. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/16 "2018-12-13T04:03:32Z")
I was so disappointed with PM that I skipped SW2 & SW3. Then it happened again: I was so annoyed by SW7 that I couldn’t care less about SW8 & SW9. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/17 "2018-12-13T04:32:13Z")
Greatly enjoyed Liam Neeson. And the last lightsaber fight and its music can still make the case for the best ever. It was ROTJ that I felt meh at. “That’s it??” Yug Yug?? Another Death Star? Ewoks?? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/18 "2018-12-13T04:42:37Z")
Saw it, enjoyed it, and I still watch it every now and then. It was an option on a flight I was on earlier this year, so I’ve seen it recently. Now, I often pick classic or lighter newer films to watch on international flights. I’m just not able to focus on Oscar bait type films during flights. I’d never camp out for a film. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/19 "2018-12-13T04:59:37Z")
I enjoyed it. It’s not the greatest movie ever made (by a long shot), but it does have a little heart and it’s not like the overproduced, milquetoast generic flicks made today. Later on, even after everybody and their brother turned hostile to the movie, I was still able to sit down and be entertained. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2018, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026/20 "2018-12-13T05:23:38Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Wait. > > Jar-Jar was a _chick_? No, you’re misunderstanding a bit. [Darths and Droids](http://www.darthsanddroids.net/) is a webcomic that’s been running for years. The creators have used screenshots from all of the SW films to tell the story of an ongoing tabletop RPG campaign in which the players are actually playing out the events of the movies (in a universe in which Star Wars has never existed, and so, they’re just playing a space opera RPG). In the strips, Jar-Jar wasn’t meant to be one of the player characters. As the players are playing through their first adventure (TPM), at one session, one of the players is forced to bring his little sister along. She wants to play, and, being 8, she plays her character as a bright, inquisitive 8-year-old, who has no idea about the rules of the game universe, would. Here’s the strip in which she (and Jar-Jar) first appear: [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0017.html](http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0017.html) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-you-react-to-phantom-menace/826026.md?page=2)