‘The Phantom Menace’ At 25

In the history of American Cinema, very few movies have been as anticipated as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. With the popularity of the Internet in the 1990s, more and more people began to talk about the possibility of the much-rumored prequel movies. The first time I ever saw a URL was when George Lucas released the digitally remastered VHS boxed set in 1995. It had been printed on an advertisement for the movies.

By 1997, reports were confirmed, the prequels were a go and filming on the first movie was set to begin. However, a lot of stuff was still confidential. That was until it was release that Ewan McGregor would play a young Obi-Won Kenobi. McGregor had already made a name for himself in his breakout role as Mark Renton in Trainspotting and had appeared on an episode of ER. Very quickly, he was becoming a household name. And he was appearing on entertainment magazine covers.

Feature stories were everywhere in the months leading up to the May 19, 1999 release of The Phantom Menace. It was going to be the summer movie blockbuster to beat and it ended up grossing over $1 billion worldwide. There were midnight showings. I should know. I was at one in the Atlanta area. And there were mostly people who are my age now there. Everyone was excited. I even spotted some kid dressed as the villain Darth Maul.

But when the final credits rolled, audiences were mixed. While the action scenes were well made, the story was dull and boring. There was simplicity to the first Star Wars in 1977 now retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. But the plot of Phantom Menace begins with the Trade Federation forming a blockade of the planet Naboo to force the Queen Padme Amidalia (Natalie Portman) into a treaty resolution that will give them more power. They invade the planet and the viceroy Nute Gunray (Silas Carson) installs a martial law.

Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice Obi- Wan were sent as ambassadors to a diplomat meeting with the Trade Federation. However, the viceroy tried to kill them but it didn’t work. They make it out and hitch a ride to Naboo where they meet a Gungan Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) who helps them to get to Amidalia. Gungans are an amphibious species. They make it through a blockade with help from R2-D2 but the ship they’re in needs some repairs, so they take a detour to Tatooine.

On Tatooine, Qui-Gon, Jar Jar, R2 with Amidalia disguised as the queen’s servant goes to Mos Eisley to find parts. However, Qui-Gon discovers his ways of using the Force to change people’s minds doesn’t work with the locals. Ergo, their Republic credits are no good to use. They meet a young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) who is a slave worker for Watto (voice of Andy Secombe), a junk dealer, who helps them out when a sand storm keeps them from making it back to their ship.

The problem with the movie is Lucas has a hard part connecting the scenes. There’s really no way Qui-Gon would be able to get Anakin away from Tatooine without the introduction of midi-chlorians, a microscopic life forms that all species have in the galaxy. It’s silly especially since Anakin’s count doesn’t impress the Jedi Council who don’t want him to be trained as a Jedi. Qui-Gon could’ve taken Anakin just on his abilities to win the pod race at such a young age, but I feel Lucas felt that would require some extra plotting.

Because Lucas is credited as the sole writer, he could’ve benefited for some extra input. The pod race sequence is one of the best parts of the movie despite the silly performance of Fode and Beed (Greg Proops and Scott Capurrro), a two-headed announcer. The Tatooine scenes seem to be a nice throwback to the earlier half of A New Hope as well as the first act of Return of the Jedi.

However, I don’t think audiences were quite prepared for the scenes on Coruscant where the Jedi Council is located along with the Senate of the Republic. All this politics might seem tedious but looking back it’s necessary. I think more people were expecting the Obi-Wan and Anakin to be the main characters but they come off as more supporting characters as Qui-Gon and Padme are the main characters. Also, it’s apparent from the start that Keira Knightly is playing Padme’s decoy.

We’re introduced to Jedi Master Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and Yoda (Frank Oz) and others. (Yoda was a puppet in the 1999 theatrical and home video versions but later redone as a CGI character.) I think Lucas was trying to contrast the primitive world of Tatooine with the advanced world of Coruscant which is one big city, which makes no sense unless they’ve discovered a way to manufacture oxygen.

Even though there was advanced technology and space travel, the original trilogy had a feel that it was really set “A Long Time Ago.” The futuristic feel of Phantom Menace has a sense of things that have been done before, especially since the early 1980s. However, Lucas makes sure to limit the scenes on Coruscant, something he didn’t do in Attack of the Clones.

It’s nice seen Ian McDiarmid reprise his role as Senator Palpatine, who is also the mysterious Sith Lord Darth Sidious helping the Trade Federation. McDiarmid adds a nice sleaziness to his role as he comes off as cross between Nikita Kruschchev and Lady MacBeth as he works to get Finis Valorum (Terrence Stamp) removed as Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic. However, it seems a lot of this should’ve went into further detail. This, I think, what has impressed people about Andor. And the scheming and plotting was also on Game of Thrones.

But audiences in the Y2K era weren’t exactly prepared for the beloved franchise get bogged down too much by politics. However, I think the 2000 Presidential Election got more people involved in politics than they had before. People still forget after all these years, these movies were intended as kids movies. The original trilogy was all rated PG even though there was no PG-13 at the time. But the violence was never a big issue. And here it’s more cartoon violence like what was in the Star Trek movies.

And the movie’s climax is well orchestrated and directed with the Gungans where Jar Jar is a general but mostly used for comic effect during the battle with the droid robots as Padme and the humans go to war against the Trade Federation in the Naboo capital of Theed as well as in space. It harkens back to the great battles of Return of the Jedi as Obi-Won and Qui-Gon face off with Darth Maul (Ray Park but voiced by Peter Serafinowicz) in a lightsaber battle. But as one of my college friends opined, Maul’s only appearance in the movie is for the lightsaber battle. So much was built up of this character too that he barely appears throughout the movie.

The story had to start somewhere and Lucas actually does a good job at showing how the Old Republic would fail gradually over years and Palpatine would rise to power as Emperor. Not everything happens overnight. While the original trilogy takes place over four years, the events from The Phantom Menace to Revenge of the Sith takes place over about a decade and a half as Anakin is first introduced at 9 and then is in his 20s when he becomes Darth Vadar.

People have often noted how the Galactic Empire and the original trilogy was an analogue of Nazi Germany and World War II. And what led to all this was the events that transpired between World War I and WWII. This was the Weimar Republic period in Germany. Add to that other moments in history such as The Roaring 20s and the Great Depression, it was all one perfect storm of world events.

The simplicity of the original trilogy was good vs. evil, the Rebel Alliance vs. the Empire. Here, it’s more complicated and Lucas is showing how the Republic was at odds with the Trade Federation which would lead to the Separatist Factions in Attack of the Clones and the Clone Wars. You have events such as the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of the Austria, the fall of the Russian monarchy and Russian revolution as well as the fall of the Ottoman Empire. All these factions happened from the 1910s to 1930s.

Unfortunately, fandom led to a lot of negative attention as both Best and Lloyd were heavily criticized for their roles. Best has come out and said that he considered suicide because he was so depressed. For what it’s worth, Jar Jar is a very annoying character and a stereotype of negative black people. However the criticism was too much. And Lloyd quit acting in 2001 from bullying at school and harassment by the press. He has since been battling mental health issues such as bipolar depression and hallucinations.

In the 25 years since, Best appeared in a Mandalorian episode as Kelleran Beq, a Jedi who helps Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) escape to safety. Fandom toward the prequel trilogy has grown along with the popularity of the Clone Wars series as a new generation of Star Wars fans discovered the franchise. In my opinion, Attack of the Clones is the weakest of the prequels while Revenge of the Sith is the best. But will time change the viewpoints on the sequel trilogies? Who knows?

I’m no fan of Andor but maybe they might have learned the lesson of the first season. And Solo would’ve worked but it was already tainted by production problems early and criticism over The Last Jedi, which is the best of the sequels in my opinion. This May the 4th, we should all be glad there’s so many movies and TV shows available to watch and discuss.

What do you think? Please comment.