Lucasfilm announced Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace would be re-released in theaters on May 3. Twenty-five years after its debut, fans can celebrate the prequel trilogy’s first movie.
The Star Wars franchise’s impact on popular culture can’t be overstated. To this day, fans eagerly consume more content. With Disney now at the helm, Star Wars continues in many different movies and TV shows.
However, the franchise’s first chronological movie met very polarizing opinions back in 1999. Diehard fans expressed disappointment. Fans and antis alike harassed the actors.
Admittedly, the quality doesn’t match that of the original trilogy. Still, The Phantom Menace still has an important role in Star Wars and how prequels tell their stories.
What Is The Phantom Menace?
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Episode I starts us off in the years before A New Hope. Despite, of course, A New Hope being the first film in the franchise, it shifted to the fourth chronologically.
The Trade Federation attempts to secede from the Republic. These separatists create a blockade around the peaceful planet of Naboo. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jin and a young Obi-Wan Kenobi go to speak to the Trade Federation, only to be attacked within mere moments of their arrival.
Thus begins a civil war with the Jedi now drawn into the crossfire.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan set out to Naboo to rescue Queen Padmé Amidala, who sends them to negotiate with the Trade Viceroy. However, they land on Tatooine for repairs, where they encounter Anakin Skywalker
A slave boy somehow strong with the Force might not be an obvious hero. However, Qui-Gon believes Anakin to be the Chosen One to bring balance to the Force and decides to take him to train to be a Jedi.
Meanwhile, a senator named Palpatine starts pulling the strings of the Republic. He takes an interest in Anakin and Queen Amidala, knowing they may prove useful for his plots.
Throughout the movie, Anakin proves to be an excellent pilot and an amazing problem solver. Yet the Jedi Council worries that this boy would easily be corrupt to the Dark Side. Regardless of this, Qui-Gon continues to train him.
Eventually, Amidala heads back to Naboo to take back her planet. This results in an all-scale battle that even involves the Gungan tribe. Qui-Gon dies at the hands of the assassin, Darth Maul, and Obi-Wan takes Anakin on as his apprentice.
The Phantom Menace’s New Jedi Tricks
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The film’s introductory scroll confuses some. Thankfully, however, The Phantom Menace does not wait long to dive into action. Lightsaber action abounds with all new enemies in battle droids, starfighters, and the intimidating Darth Maul.
The use of CGI and improved animation makes the movie much more fluid than the Original Trilogy. For 1999, it was ahead of its time.
The designers cooked with their designs for the ships, space stations, aliens, and outfits. For world-building fans, this new advanced world tantalizes and excites. Compared to the Original Trilogy where everything is drab, dreary, and industrial, this prequels shows the galaxy at its high point.
When it came down to moments of action, George Lucas treats fans to full-scale battles with large armies and starfighters flying around in intense dogfights. Set pieces keep the audience on the edge of their seats. Battle droids slot into the roles of Stormtroopers and seem more a threat. The sheer number of robots deployed and sent off into battle chills every fan.
The Phantom Menace And Darth Vader’s Origins
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When Darth Vader marches onscreen in A New Hope, his aura intimidates fans. He leads a powerful army and rains fear across the galaxy. However, Obi-Wan mentions that before, he was just Anakin Skywalker whom he trained to be a Jedi. Of course, The Phantom Menace gives us a glimpse of what Anakin was like before his transformation.
A slave boy stuck on Tattooine before Qui-Gon Jin discovers him reminds fans of Luke, if Luke were in even more dire straits. Anakin’s ability to pilot just about any sort of spacecraft makes him amazing. He shows off his starfighter skills as he fights in a battle and blows up a giant battleship. Like father, like son indeed, as it’s much like how his son, Luke, destroys the Death Star with his piloting skills.
Many fans thought this a ripoff of A New Hope. However, it actually comments on one of the main ideas of the Original Trilogy: that Luke could very well become just like his father. Fans only see a glimpse of Anakin’s humanity in the Original Films. The prequels show us what could have been, making him all the more tragic.
We then later see in the future movies and The Clone Wars TV series how Anakin falls from great military leader to the dark lord of the Sith. Thanks to this, Vader seems more human than monster, all thanks to The Phantom Menace.
The Phantom Menace: A Letdown?
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The Phantom Menace hit box offices in 1999, aiming to revitalize Star Wars in the blood of the new generation. It was a huge success at the box office. Yet when people talk about The Phantom Menace, many fans often point out the negatives before uttering the positives.
The movie had amazing choreography, a great musical score that harkens back to the Original Trilogy’s music, and the aforementioned great visual effects that pushed the limits of CGI. However, fans criticized the movie’s pacing, with the plot being just bizarre.
Rather than delving into characters, many felt like background decoration. Even classic characters like R2-D2, Master Yoda, and C-3PO appear just to appear, without much context. Jar-Jar Binks was considered the worst character in the roster and became a complete laughing stock for the entire Star Wars franchise.
One of the more controversial changes was the introduction of midi-chlorians. Before, it was said that Jedi had a spiritual connection to the Force. Yet when Qui-Gon measures Anakin’s midi-chlorians, the retcon crumples all this. It suggests that all Jedi need to have a connection with the Force is some virus. By quantifying the spiritual aspect, Star Wars felt less fantasy space opera and more over-explained textbook.
The main consensus for The Phantom Menace was that it had style over substance. The film relies on the visual spectacle of Star Wars, and the story comes second to all of that.
Messy, But Valuable
[Image via LucasFilm Ltd]
The biggest flaw of The Phantom Menace was that it tried to meet expectations it couldn’t compare to. Many fans wanted to feel like they were watching the Original Trilogy again. Alas, time travel isn’t possible.
Over the years, fans have taken a step back and looked at the movie for what it offered the series.
The original Star Wars film was released almost like it was part of a cliffhanger serial, presumably on purpose by George Lucas. He left a lot of questions unanswered that we all wanted to know. Who was Darth Vader? How did Obi-Wan know about him? Why is Luke Skywalker involved in any of this and what does Vader want with him?
The Phantom Menace walked so that Star Wars could run. This was at a time when people wanted more Star Wars and wanted to see how much more could be done with it. Not just in films, but in books, video games, comics, and even TV shows were starting to pop out, all after The Phantom Menace came out.
It expanded onto the universe and showed us we didn’t have to restrict ourselves to just one trilogy. There could be side stories, sequels, prequels, and even moments that happened during key moments. Those who aren’t fans of The Phantom Menace‘s lore are free to ignore in favor of the other aspects of the story they love.
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