I was excited to see TPM but not so much to go the first week. Nonetheless, my expectations were not met and I only saw it in the theater once and only bits a pieces of it on TV ever since. I agree that Annakin should have been older in TPM. If he was already a teenager, it would have given him a history to have developed the faults and issues that led to the dark side. And would have been a nice link to Yodas, “Too old to start the training” comment in TESB. It would also have made Annakin and Obi Wan contemporaries and increased their brotherly relationship. And made it not weird for him to hit on Natalie Portman later.
I felt like I had sat through an hour-plus Toy/Merchandise commercial, made with all the finesse of it’s cheesy, 1980s TV counterpart (but, admittedly, with better special effects).
I didn’t think it was weird to hit on Nat. I try and suspend my disbelief as far as alien ages and cultures go.
I think a huge failing was overall in making Anakin likable. This was a failing in TNG with Wesley too. Let them be likable adults or rougish Han Solo types FFS. Don’t make them whiny kids!! We can see peoples flaws from a mature POV.
Its just bad direction. Even that sand line can work with the right direction. Make it a joke.
We should really like Anakin before his fall. And make his fall tragic, not like turning a light switch. Shit, make him half machine before he even falls. Make it due to him sacrificing so much for the Jedi before they basically betray him with their rigid dogma. Let Padme live long enough for Leias lines to make sense.
I watched the Death Star attack last night. Love it. So 70’s. It’s dark (lit-wise), character actors who look like real human beings, not models. The getting pilots loaded and X-wings taxied scene takes forever by todays standards!!
There’s no dialogue in the control room save for what we hear over the speakers. That’s remarkable.
We saw Star Wars the day after we got engaged, so when TPM came out, my wife got us tickets for our anniversary. (Not opening day or anything.)
So we were reasonably excited. And came out of the theater saying, that sucked.
Good, but not great. Fun, but hardly inspiring.
points to his screen name and avatar
Yes, I was hugely excited for TPM, having been a massive Star Wars geek since 1977, when my cousin and I pleaded with my aunt to take us to a showing of “this really cool movie we heard about.”
On my first viewing of TPM (on opening night, of course), I was still excited, though there were definitely aspects of it that I didn’t enjoy very much (e.g., Jar-Jar, Anakin being a pre-teen, the potty humor, revisionist history on things like C-3PO’s origin, the flat dialogue, etc.)
But, I rationalized it, at the time, as being Lucas having always wanted to make movies that would appeal to kids, and now actually having kids, he was more overt in making a kid-oriented film. And, I acknowledged that I was, undoubtedly, viewing the original films through rose-colored glasses.
I watched the film several more times, and while there are some excellent scenes (like the three-way lightsaber duel), the weaknesses of the film became more evident to me. I went into Attack of the Clones hoping, “maybe this one will be better!” Not so much. I then went into Revenge of the Sith with a vague hope that it’d wrap things up adequately, and even with that lowered expectation, the film still didn’t really deliver.
There’s a piece on YouTube called “How Star Wars Was Saved in the Editing” where they talk precisely about things like that. You’ll never look at Lucas as a director the same way again.*
*Though I do wish we could have seen at least a *little *of the part in the beginning where he introduced Biggs. 
32-year-old me could not possibly love it as much as 10-year-old me loved the original. But I did not hate it as much as a lot of people did. At the time, I jumped on the I-hate-Jar-Jar-Binks bandwagon along with everybody else. In retrospect, I don’t hate him (though he is still annoying).
When Queen Amidala addressed the Senate, I thought, “Her faux-Brit accent is even worse than Princess Leia’s.”
Ewan MacGregor did an awesome Alec Guinness impression.
I winced at the midi-chlorians. Dude, when you mix science-fiction and fantasy genres, just wave your hands and move on. Don’t stop to explain it. The explanation is too mechanical for the fantasy fans, and too mystical for the science fiction fans. You just annoy everybody.
The pod-race was a little too long, but it had entertaining moments. I enjoyed the lightsaber fights.
Between Jar-Jar’s fighting on the planet, and Anakin’s fighting in space, the big battle was a little deus ex machina for my taste. If I had been 10 years old, I probably would have loved it. (One key to the prequel trilogy: each movie is aimed at an audience the same age as Anakin in that particular movie. Pretend you are a kid when you watch Episode 1; pretend you are in high school when you watch Episode 2; pretend you are in college when you watch Episode 3.)
Absolutely, I am misattributing my loathing… it is young Anakin that drove me batty, not necessarily the poor actor (who I understand was quite destroyed by the negative reactions to his stint as Anakin).
In the end, the prequels taught me (well, ALL of us, I should hope) that George Lucas has no business being involved with Star Wars any longer.
Spent about 4 hours in line for it with a few other friends who were also SW fanatics. I left very disappointed, rationalizing it as better than it truly was based on a few good moments, but overall with a serious leak in my fandom bubble.
Went on our local opening night, really excited, as a teen. Partly because I was a pretty big fan of the originals, partly really because I was going with my big brother and his friends, and that was the first time he’d let his kid sister tag along on a day out. Was crushingly disappointed by the film, though the rest of the day was pretty cool.
Some utterly Star Wars obsessed friends were also there, and we all tried to think of something nice to say about it, but none of us really managed it.
I’ve not rewatched it, even when I saw episodes II-V over two long haul flights, I couldn’t bring myself to see it again.
I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard of it and I almost mentioned it cause i wanted to say how Carrie Fischer gets a bad rap and maybe George Lucas can “write this shit but you can’t say it” but Harrison Ford makes it work.
Then I remembered once seeing a deleted scene where even Harrison Ford couldn’t make the dialogue work, so yes it was definitely saved in the edit.
When I lived in China, there was a nostalgia movement filled with people who began to pine for the days of Mao. They were putting on little shows of how life was like in the late 50’s and early 60’s in poorer China and holding little ceremonies toasting Mao. He was terrible, everyone knows it, but they had fond memories of their youth and he was intertwined with it.
I always think of that when I hear people who were young talk positively of Phantom Menace. I do get how little kids could love it. Jar Jar would make my son roll on the floor laughing.
Isn’t that true of any movie though? Good editing is an integral part of any good movie, TV show or book, just like the inker in comic books is.
To some extent, yes, I suppose it is often true. But I think we’re talking about an extreme case here. I suggest you watch the piece and draw your own conclusions.
Just watched it. So the no dialogue in the control room wasn’t 'a cool, odd 70’s choice"…but required cause they built the scene in post-production. That’s funny.
I don’t think it’s that extreme. What makes this interesting is the scrutiny Star Wars has had over the decades. It’s a fascinating insight into the editing process, not so much in how Star Wars ended up good. It was a culmination of fortunate accidents and luck, mixed with some canny crew decisions. In some ways Star Wars a success despite George Lucas more than because of him.
I paid $500 to attend a charity advance screening in San Francisco with George himself in attendance. Given that it was for charity, it’s hard to say that the $500 was a waste, but that certainly put me in the mindset of being forgiving…
And I convinced myself I liked it at first. Since then I’ve become more aware of its faults. But it does have some worthy parts, most of which have been mentioned in this thread.
I think it’s by a good margin the weakest of all the SW movies, and the most skippable.
Super pumped. Stoked big time.
I’m not THAT lonely.
I was very disappointed.