I was excited because we saw this on the first day it was out. We went in the afternoon, not even thinking of seeing it because we figured it was sold out, and we got tickets and the theater was half empty. It was a huge letdown.
Didn’t htey have to go back and digitally enhance the kid? The trailer made the film look so promising too. I still watch it and hope that maybe it wasn’t the real thing that we saw in the theater.
The reason Phantom Menace was weak story-wise was because its reason for being was to introduce Anakin/Darth Vader and set him up for the other movies.
Anakin meets princess … check.
Anakin is a proven space pilot … check.
Anakin is one with the Force … check.
Lucas was too busy doing the checklist to bother to give Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan anything interesting to do (or even any personalities). Princess Amidala at least had the “Princess and the Pauper” schtick going.
And Jar-Jar was in the movie because (a) Lucas needed an appealing character for the little kids, and (b) C3PO was unavailable for the entire movie. There’s always a comic element in the Star Wars movies, usually provided by the two droids, but TPM was short one protocol droid. Hence Jar-Jar. I didn’t mind him, personally, though I think the accent was a bit much.
Now, midichloreans, that was a stupid idea…
I find that I really don’t like Star Wars at all. I can’t watch more than a little bit of any of them. They were good the first time, but there’s no “replay value”.
I realized this when I bought TPM on DVD. I remembered liking the movie in the theater, but watching it on DVD I couldn’t get past the first scene.
Oh well. I’ll probably not see Episode II when it comes out, until long after the hype is over.
Maybe I’m depressed, I just don’t enjoy watching movies like I used to.
i thought of something, that could be an add-on to Yondan’s plotset, and jovan’s observation;
perhaps, after Maul is cloned back into life, he turns to, for some reason, the side of good. through anakin’s unreasoning hatred of maul, anakin is leveraged onto the side of evil, into maul’s old place. ooh! it’s even more plot-tastic that way!
and an idea; maybe, Naboo and Alderaan are one and the same. say, the planet was renamed after some total gungan genocide, and the planet needed to get out of the gungan albatross.
[sub] that’ll make the jar-jar haters happy![/sub]
Good to wish for, but no. See this site.
Ha ha! Saepiroth’s
attempt at plottery is
predictably weak.
Stick to your haiku
pedantics, leave the writing
to the REAL pro’s, eh? 
::Bruce Lee yowls and hand-waving ensues::
[ hijack ]
I object to the comparison of Lucas’s garbage with the Muppets! The Muppets are clever, funny, subtle even.
All of you stop!! 
[ /hijack ]
and Boss Nass was played by Brian Blessed, who must feel like he’s living up to his stage name in having the good fortune to have been unrecognizable so that not many people will associate him with this tripe.
In The Phantom Menace, you’ll recall that Palpatine tells Amidala that he’s been nominated for Chancellor. He mentions other candidates, including “Bail Organa from Alderaan.” Sorry, no dice on this one.
ok, ok. i guess i was wrong about the planets. it was something to hope for…
and yondan…
OK! OK! EVERYONE KNOWS YOU WON THE HAIKU DUEL! GREAT! GOOD FOR YOU! HOORAY! I SUCK AT HAIKUS NOW! I KNOW!
and ok, my writing [sup]really[/sup] sucks… i never said otherwise. in fact, if you want you can print it out and use it as toilet paper. i wouldn’t mind. it’d probably improve it to a degree.
but if I were friends with you in Real Life i’d probably try to hit you with a brick.
all in friendly jest of course.
yeah.
of course.
OW!
::Yondan rubs head, looks around in puzzlement. Sees virtual brick on ground, unties note wrapped around it. “Happy Holidays, with love from Saepiroth”
Aww, isn’t that sweet? And in calligraphy, too!::
oh, that’s not calligraphy; that’s my actual handwriting. it’s so abysmally bad, you think it’s incredibly fancy stuff made with pens and real INK, even.
no, i made that friendly, loving note by driving an iron nail into my finger and using the bloodstream to write in.
happy holidays, and remember to brush off the flies; they like rotting blood.
[sub]uh oh… this is starting to look gangrenous…[/sub]