# Phantom Menace Is The Worst Film Ever Made **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2015, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988 "2015-03-02T05:38:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/121 "2015-03-12T20:43:17Z")
It had enough flash-and-wow in the speeder race, and some of the other business, to keep an audience in their seats. It made money. It certainly wasn’t a zero, because the 1 to 10 scale doesn’t go there, and I can’t agree that it was a 1 or even 2. It’s a nice dull 3 or 4. A 1 is a movie people walk out of, and it doesn’t have a second week in the theaters. For all its faults, [TPM isn’t in IMDB’s bottom 100 movies.](http://www.imdb.com/chart/bottom) The IMDB rating of TPM is 6.6. (I have no idea how well-respected IMDB ratings are. Are they well-regarded as a fairly accurate measure of overall consensus for movie quality, or are they dismissed as absurdly biased?) ETA: I knew a chap who honestly believed that The Karate Kid was the best movie ever made. Tastes are funny that way! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/122 "2015-03-12T20:48:42Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > The IMDB rating of TPM is 6.6. (I have no idea how well-respected IMDB ratings are. Are they well-regarded as a fairly accurate measure of overall consensus for movie quality, or are they dismissed as absurdly biased?) Rotten Tomatoes\* gives it a 58% or a 5.8. So- IMDB= 6.6, RT= 5.8, me= 6. I think this means the film really is “slightly better than average, but not great by any means”. \*_Critics Consensus: Lucas needs to improve on the plot and character development, but there’s plenty of eye candy to behold._ And I agree with that consensus. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/123 "2015-03-12T20:52:06Z")
It had a dumb plot yeah, but it had cool lightsaber battles, I actually liked the podracing scene, even the final space battle looked neat It was a popcorn movie at best…which are all usaully 6’s. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/124 "2015-03-12T20:59:45Z")
> [@The\_Winkler](#): > > I actually like this explanation. Vader’s life support getting fried? You mean they have all that technology and they couldn’t even jury-rig the thing until they could get him a new one? In the middle of an exploding space station? ---
**Author:** ![racepug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@racepug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racepug)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/125 "2015-03-12T21:47:25Z")
> [@The\_Winkler](#): > > I mean for major, big budget films. > > Considering the track record of those involved, the money put into this film, the talent of most of the lead actors, the cultural impact and magic of the first two films (ANH and ESB), and the expectations, I really do think that The Phantom Menace is the worst film ever made. It is easily the worst movie that _I_ have ever seen. > > From the underwhelming opening scroll I knew something was wrong. Tax and trade disputes kicked of the entire saga; sad but true. Aliens with Chinese accents, etc x1000. > > I don’t want to spend anymore time recalling the atrocity but when I saw it in the theater back in 1999, as the closing credits rolled I actually entertained the thought that I had been the victim of a practical joke of some kind and that Lucas would walk into the theatre laughing and announce “okay, now I’ll show you the real movie.” I’m serious about that. I really thought that the crap I had just witnessed was a prank by George Lucas. > > And pretty much all the actors today have distanced themselves from it. Poor Jake Lloyd seems to have PTSD because of Episode 1. > > Lucas is a hack who got lucky. I won’t presume to judge Lucas’ work against all others but I will agree with your sentiment about being disappointed. While I didn’t expect George Lucas to come out afterwards I DO remember being VERY disappointed by the film. Money and time lost that I’ll never get back… ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/126 "2015-03-12T22:06:24Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > ETA: I knew a chap who honestly believed that The Karate Kid was the best movie ever made. Tastes are funny that way! I hope he meant the original, because if he didn’t… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Winkler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@The\_Winkler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Winkler)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/127 "2015-03-13T04:51:25Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > In the middle of an exploding space station? Luke dragged Vader to the stolen shuttle. There must have been some type of life support mechanism or tools aboard. Plus, Luke was no slouch with electronics and mechanics, and should have been able to keep the life support going for a few more minutes. I don’t buy at all that the Emperor shorted out Vader’s life support and killed him with a couple seconds of electric current. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2015, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988/128 "2015-03-13T19:09:59Z")
> [@The\_Winkler](#): > > Luke dragged Vader to the stolen shuttle. There must have been some type of life support mechanism or tools aboard. Plus, Luke was no slouch with electronics and mechanics, and should have been able to keep the life support going for a few more minutes. What makes you think there’d be tools and life support on the shuttle? I mean, there’s the shuttles own life support systems of course, but they’re designed to pressurize and oxygenate a cabin, not run cybernetic implants. And any tools on the shuttle would, likewise, be there for routine repair of a shuttle, not to repair delicate cybernetic implants. Plus, there’s really nothing in the trilogy to suggest that Luke has any particular skills with mechanics or electronics, beyond some basic maintenance work. Certainly nothing in there to suggest he has the _medical_ knowledge to work on a cybernetic implant. Plus, y’know, Vader died before Luke could actually get him on the shuttle, so even if it had a full medical suite and a droid to run it, it wasn’t going to do him any good. > [@](#): > > I don’t buy at all that the Emperor shorted out Vader’s life support and killed him with a couple seconds of electric current. Why not? What’s particularly implausible about it? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/phantom-menace-is-the-worst-film-ever-made/713988.md?page=6)