How did you react to Phantom Menace?

[VG_Addict]

The Phantom Menace turns 20 in a couple of months, 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?

[steeze]

I was camping when it came out. Not in front of the theater though lol. My parents, sister, uncle family were in some campground in Maine. When we had originally driven through town we saw one of those small little local theaters with the advertisement in the front. My pops stopped and bought tickets for the midnight premiere then we went to the campgrounds. Then like the next day, we drove through the woods in the middle of the night. The drive stands out because that was the first time I ever saw a Coyote at night. The thing ran across the dirt road and we almost hit it.

I thought the movie was amazing but I was also kind of young so mostly anything impressed me. That was like one of my last really cool family vacations with my Uncle before 9/11 so it's filled with some really nice memories. Weird how you remember things like that so vividly.

[mushroom]

I was like 9 when it came out and didn't really care about Star Wars so I didn't have any really strong opinions. I only saw it because my parents wanted to see it and took me.

However I tried to watch it again with some friends recently in Rifftrax form and even then we agreed the movie is just too boring. Like, aggressively dull. Couldn't finish it, and that's saying something considering how much B-movie dreck we've sat through.

[Valigarmander]

I was 8 when it came out. I was a big Star Wars fan, and I enjoyed TPM at the time. My dad fell asleep in the theater, though.

Right now I'd put it about equal with Revenge of the Sith. RotS is a better movie overall, but TPM is more "fun" to watch. (Attack of the Clones just sucks.)

[DarkZero]

i was like 5 when it came out and barely knew what a star war was. most of what i knew about it was from the star wars episode i monopoly i got for christmas and watching one of my friends play the pod racer game on n64. so my impression was a bunch of people in robes drive around the desert and thats the movie

actually i have never even seen the movie so idk why im posting

[X-3]

I was a kid so I ate it up. I think I was really into Star Wars at the time too.

[steeze]

The pod racer game was top shelf. Don't care what anyone says.

[CaptHayfever]

I was 13 when that movie came out. We were on vacation visiting my uncle in Dallas & watched in a fancy theater down there. It was pretty fun. Some parts of it still are pretty fun (particularly the opening, the podrace, & the Maul fights), but the connective tissue is just so dull. I do remember finding Portman's/Knightly's dialogue delivery really flat. The Padme reveal was not even the tiniest bit surprising, & I expected somebody as savvy as Qui-Gon to have figured it out immediately & just played along so he could get moving.

And remember, "I'm-a Luigi, number one!"

[Marilink]

I wanted to be Anakin Skywalker when I grew up

I clearly did not entirely understand what was going on

[Red]

Loved it at the time, especially the pod racing part. I'd consider it an ok movie now.

[steeze]

The Sith are the good guys.

[ScottyMcGee]

I was 9 and I loved it because I was 9 and didn't know any better and grew up watching my Star Wars VHS tapes, which I think is what Lucas really intended anyway. We had yet to grow up to be four-eyed neckbeards who ranted on YouTube channels and Twitter feeds. My favorite part was actually the duel with Darth Maul at the end. I remember watching it a second time but for some reason my mom and I were late for that viewing. We entered around the time Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were talking to Boss Nass. Regardless, we enjoyed it again and I remember her saying that upon second viewing she understood it more. I also associate this memory with KFC for some reason. We may have gone out for KFC afterwards.

[MeowMan]

if i saw it when it first came out, i was too young to process it, but i grew up liking the prequels more than the original trilogy until i rewatched all of them as an adult and the originals are really just objectively better movies in every way

[I REALLY HATE POKEMON!]

Like most of my memories, it's hazy. I was 12 apparently. I didn't really like Star Wars before TPM but it was a good enough movie to keep my interest. The underwater part kinda stood out to me because the effects were good, but it didn't necessarily make me a big fan. I only really like the prequels, even then the third one's the only one I think was an objectively good film rather than just decent or above average.

I remember my mom not liking that it was a prequel, I'm pretty sure she doesn't like prequels in general. I feel like I remember my dad thinking it sucked.

I cherish what remains of that memory like I do virtually all of the ones I have of my father, so I have strong sentimental attachment to the film. It helps that it's not total garbage too. It sure has been a very long time...

[Calamity Panfan]

i was five when it came out so i loved it

[Apiary Tazy]

Phantom Menace was my first real exposure to Star Wars as a franchise, which is probably why I don't care that much for it.

It was okay. As a kid, I liked Jar Jar Binks the most about it because I loved weird non-human things and most of the annoying s**t that came out of him mouth didn't actually get to my thick skull.

Never watched Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith... or The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi.

[Booyakasha]

I was hyped at the time. It was new Star Wars, and I wasn't real discerning. Sometimes a thing will just cast a spell on you temporarily, yeah. (I recall an era when I thought 'Star Trek Voyager' was the cat's meow.) There's no accounting for tastes, especially when you're a dumdum kid.

TPM holds up a lot better than AotC and especially RotS, for my money. Further back you are from the real movies, the more freedom there is to squirm around and introduce new things. As you get closer and closer to ANH, you start to run out of leeway. Story starts to become a foregone conclusion.

If I'd made RotS, I'd have had Anakin kill Obi-Wan during the Mustaphar fight, just to stir the pot. Leave the rest of the saga as it is-----------just make that one completely asinine change, in service of making things a little interesting. Throw the audience a curveball, why not. At least then you'd have people walking out of the theatre going "...wait, what the hell?!?" instead of "bwah hah hah 'noooooooo' what a tit".

[ScottyMcGee]

If I'd made RotS, I'd have had Anakin kill Obi-Wan during the Mustaphar fight, just to stir the pot. Leave the rest of the saga as it is-----------just make that one completely asinine change, in service of making things a little interesting. Throw the audience a curveball, why not. At least then you'd have people walking out of the theatre going "...wait, what the hell?!?" instead of "bwah hah hah 'noooooooo' what a tit".

There's that crazy fan theory that Obi-Wan was a clone and his name meant like "Obi 1" in a series of clones. The "old Ben" in ANH doesn't remember R2-D2 because he's literally another clone. Something like that.

[Booyakasha]

We know old Ben's a different guy, because he responds to the name 'Obi-Wan', whereas Mace Winderp consistently refers to Ewan MacGregor's character as 'Obuh-Wan'. It makes total sense.

[ScottyMcGee]

I think one of the prequels biggest mistakes was not taking place in Alderaan. Instead of Naboo, it should have been Alderaan. That way we build more emotion to a planet that we know is going to be blown to space dust. In fact, sometimes in my head I just replace the word "Naboo" with "Alderaan" whenever I watch the prequels and I'm good to go.