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Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace had just finished. I was in the cinema, sitting there, gob-smacked. At that point, the only word I could think of to describe Episode 1 was, “Wow.”
In my opinion, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, is not just the best Star Wars movie, it’s one of the best movies ever.
I’d always been a fan of Star Wars, ever since I saw A New Hope, and I was looking forward to watching Episode 1, and seeing how it compared to the other three classics. Well, I wasn’t to be disappointed. Episode 1 far exceeded my expectations, and I was amazed at how good this movie was. I know many people will disagree with me, but I just can’t see why! I have this movie on video, and I’ve watched it a total of 15 times. That alone shows just how I feel about The Phantom Menace.
There are many, many reasons why I love this movie so much, and I’m going to explain them to you.
Let’s start with the backbone of any movie, the plot.
The Galactic Republic ruled much of the galaxy, and it was a time of peace. The galaxy was watched over by the Jedi Knights and Masters, and they rulers were the members of the Galactic Senate. The Galactic Senate is a government, where thousands of delegates, representing every planet in the galaxy, met regurlarly in the Senate Chambers on the central world of Coruscant. There they wrote the laws of the Republic and settled the disputes that sometimes arose between planets.
One problem that the Galactic Senate came across was the argument over the taxing trade routes. The Trade Federation (an organization of merchants so powerful that they had a representative in the Galactic Senate, just as if they were a planet,) wanted more control in the outlying star systems, and the outlying planets objected. After many meetings in the Senate, and lots of arguing between the Federation and the outlying planets, the Trade Federation lost patience, and took drastic action. They chose the small, beautiful planet of Naboo, and blockaded it, surrounding it with battleships so that no spaceships could land or take off from the planet. They had hoped that the 14-year-old Queen Of Naboo, Queen Amidala, would quickly agree to their demands. But the young Queen refused to give in.
Tension in the Senate grew worse and worse, and they decided to send 2 Jedi Ambassadors to deal with the situation, worried that the Federation’s actions might lead to open warfare. The Jedis that are sent are Qui-Gon-Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan-Kenobi.
As you can guess, the ‘talks’ did not work out, and it did lead to open warfare, with the Jedis in the middle of it. The Jedis side with Queen Amidala and Naboo, and the story goes on from there. I won’t tell you any more, as it will completely ruin one of the best plots I’ve ever seen in any movie!
You will meet lots of new characters in Episode 1. One of these is Qui-Gon-Jinn. He is an experienced Jedi, and he has accomplished so much that he will soon be a part of the Jedi Council (a group of 12 Jedi masters, who tell the Jedi what to do on their missions.) Q ui-Gon is very quiet and thoughtful, and has an extremely strong way with the Force. Liam Neeson does an excellent job playing Qui-Gon, and George Lucas made an excellent decision in him.
Queen Amidala is another new character. She is Queen Of Naboo, and at 14 she is very young for the job. But Amidala is very strong (and occasionally stubborn,) and she is willing to do anything for her people and her planet. She is accompanied everywhere by her maids, and one of them is Padme. Padme will play an important role in the movie later on. Amidala is portrayed brilliantly by the lovely Natalie Portman, and she has an excellent career in fron of her, judging by this performance.
The comedy of the movie has to be the floppy-eared, water-loving alien, Jar-Jar-Binks. The 2 Jedi meet Jar-Jar on their travels, and he stars throughout the movie. Many people thought Jar-Jar was annoying, but I am not one of them, as you can tell by the title!! I thought he was quite funny sometimes, with his stupid antics and his strange ‘accent’. But remember everyone, Jar-Jar was directed towards the kids, so he’s not going to be wonderfully funny for everyone.
You will also get to meet characters such as Senator Palpatine, who is Naboo’s representative in the Galactic Senate. Palpatine may seem like a nice character who is trying to help Amidala, but you will find out as the movie progresses, that he may not be who he claims to be. Also, I believe he is someone else in this movie as well, and I also think he’s been in the other 3 movies. I won’t tell you who I think he is, but I’ll let you guess.
Of course, there are some characters you will recognise from the previous 3 movies, but they are a lot younger. Obi-Wan-Kenobi is one of them. He is the apprentice of Qui-Gon-Jinn, and is very head-strong, and doesn’t always think before he acts. He is very different from his master, but has learnt everything from him. Obi-Wan is very brave and courageous, and is excellent with his Lightsabre. As you will already know, Obi-wan played a big part in Epside 4: A New Hope, as the man who introduced Luke Skywalker to the Force. Obi-Wan is played by Ewan McGregor, who also does an excellent job.
There is also the sweet, kind boy Anakin Skwalker, who the Jedis meet on Tattoine. Anakin is the slave of Watto the junk dealer, and lives with his mother in a tiny little house. He is VERY strong with the Force, and he is the only human who can drive a Pod-Racer (I’ll tell you more about Pod-Racing later.)
As you can guess, Anakin is the main villian from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. Anakin Skywalker is also, Darth Vader. How a sweet little boy (although he can be very annoying,) like Anakin can turn into someone like Darth Vader, I do not know, but I expect we’ll find out in the next 2 Episodes. Jake Lloyd is Anakin Skywalker, and although he can be annoying, he does a good job. Although, I think George Lucas could’ve chosen someone a little better for the part.
So, you may be wondering who the villains are in this movie. Well, there are many, including the Trade Federation Battle and Destroyer Droids, the leaders of the Trade Federation (although these guys aren’t very scary, and aren’t really villains, just…annoying aliens who are against the Jedis,) and the ultimate villians: the 2 Sith Lords, Darth Maul and Darth Sidious.
Darth Sidious is a strange character, quiet and sinister. He tells Darth Maul what to do. Darth Maul is covered in red and black face paint, and has horns on the top of his head. He is drenched in the Dark Side, and has amazing skill with his double-sided red Lightsabre. Maul is one of the best characters in this movie, but he only says about 10 words, and doesn’t get enough on-screen time.
There are many more characters such as Captain Panaka, Mace Windu and the historic Yoda you will meet during this movie. Unfortunately, you don’t get to see Yoda and Mace much, but they are supposed to have a big part in Episode 2.
The special effects were ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!! All the explosions, battles, vehicles, and lasers were awesome, and it’s really the icing on the cake. The Phantom Menace surely has the best special effects in any movie ever, and I can see people having a very difficult time trying to beat it!!
So, overall this movie is spectacular. It combines everything a great movie needs, and mulitplies it by 10. This is why I think Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, is one of the greatest movies, EVER.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
In my opinion, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, is not just the best Star Wars movie, it’s one of the best movies ever.
I’d always been a fan of Star Wars, ever since I saw A New Hope, and I was looking forward to watching Episode 1, and seeing how it compared to the other three classics. Well, I wasn’t to be disappointed. Episode 1 far exceeded my expectations, and I was amazed at how good this movie was. I know many people will disagree with me, but I just can’t see why! I have this movie on video, and I’ve watched it a total of 15 times. That alone shows just how I feel about The Phantom Menace.
There are many, many reasons why I love this movie so much, and I’m going to explain them to you.
Let’s start with the backbone of any movie, the plot.
The Galactic Republic ruled much of the galaxy, and it was a time of peace. The galaxy was watched over by the Jedi Knights and Masters, and they rulers were the members of the Galactic Senate. The Galactic Senate is a government, where thousands of delegates, representing every planet in the galaxy, met regurlarly in the Senate Chambers on the central world of Coruscant. There they wrote the laws of the Republic and settled the disputes that sometimes arose between planets.
One problem that the Galactic Senate came across was the argument over the taxing trade routes. The Trade Federation (an organization of merchants so powerful that they had a representative in the Galactic Senate, just as if they were a planet,) wanted more control in the outlying star systems, and the outlying planets objected. After many meetings in the Senate, and lots of arguing between the Federation and the outlying planets, the Trade Federation lost patience, and took drastic action. They chose the small, beautiful planet of Naboo, and blockaded it, surrounding it with battleships so that no spaceships could land or take off from the planet. They had hoped that the 14-year-old Queen Of Naboo, Queen Amidala, would quickly agree to their demands. But the young Queen refused to give in.
Tension in the Senate grew worse and worse, and they decided to send 2 Jedi Ambassadors to deal with the situation, worried that the Federation’s actions might lead to open warfare. The Jedis that are sent are Qui-Gon-Jinn and his apprentice, Obi-Wan-Kenobi.
As you can guess, the ‘talks’ did not work out, and it did lead to open warfare, with the Jedis in the middle of it. The Jedis side with Queen Amidala and Naboo, and the story goes on from there. I won’t tell you any more, as it will completely ruin one of the best plots I’ve ever seen in any movie!
You will meet lots of new characters in Episode 1. One of these is Qui-Gon-Jinn. He is an experienced Jedi, and he has accomplished so much that he will soon be a part of the Jedi Council (a group of 12 Jedi masters, who tell the Jedi what to do on their missions.) Q ui-Gon is very quiet and thoughtful, and has an extremely strong way with the Force. Liam Neeson does an excellent job playing Qui-Gon, and George Lucas made an excellent decision in him.
Queen Amidala is another new character. She is Queen Of Naboo, and at 14 she is very young for the job. But Amidala is very strong (and occasionally stubborn,) and she is willing to do anything for her people and her planet. She is accompanied everywhere by her maids, and one of them is Padme. Padme will play an important role in the movie later on. Amidala is portrayed brilliantly by the lovely Natalie Portman, and she has an excellent career in fron of her, judging by this performance.
The comedy of the movie has to be the floppy-eared, water-loving alien, Jar-Jar-Binks. The 2 Jedi meet Jar-Jar on their travels, and he stars throughout the movie. Many people thought Jar-Jar was annoying, but I am not one of them, as you can tell by the title!! I thought he was quite funny sometimes, with his stupid antics and his strange ‘accent’. But remember everyone, Jar-Jar was directed towards the kids, so he’s not going to be wonderfully funny for everyone.
You will also get to meet characters such as Senator Palpatine, who is Naboo’s representative in the Galactic Senate. Palpatine may seem like a nice character who is trying to help Amidala, but you will find out as the movie progresses, that he may not be who he claims to be. Also, I believe he is someone else in this movie as well, and I also think he’s been in the other 3 movies. I won’t tell you who I think he is, but I’ll let you guess.
Of course, there are some characters you will recognise from the previous 3 movies, but they are a lot younger. Obi-Wan-Kenobi is one of them. He is the apprentice of Qui-Gon-Jinn, and is very head-strong, and doesn’t always think before he acts. He is very different from his master, but has learnt everything from him. Obi-Wan is very brave and courageous, and is excellent with his Lightsabre. As you will already know, Obi-wan played a big part in Epside 4: A New Hope, as the man who introduced Luke Skywalker to the Force. Obi-Wan is played by Ewan McGregor, who also does an excellent job.
There is also the sweet, kind boy Anakin Skwalker, who the Jedis meet on Tattoine. Anakin is the slave of Watto the junk dealer, and lives with his mother in a tiny little house. He is VERY strong with the Force, and he is the only human who can drive a Pod-Racer (I’ll tell you more about Pod-Racing later.)
As you can guess, Anakin is the main villian from A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. Anakin Skywalker is also, Darth Vader. How a sweet little boy (although he can be very annoying,) like Anakin can turn into someone like Darth Vader, I do not know, but I expect we’ll find out in the next 2 Episodes. Jake Lloyd is Anakin Skywalker, and although he can be annoying, he does a good job. Although, I think George Lucas could’ve chosen someone a little better for the part.
So, you may be wondering who the villains are in this movie. Well, there are many, including the Trade Federation Battle and Destroyer Droids, the leaders of the Trade Federation (although these guys aren’t very scary, and aren’t really villains, just…annoying aliens who are against the Jedis,) and the ultimate villians: the 2 Sith Lords, Darth Maul and Darth Sidious.
Darth Sidious is a strange character, quiet and sinister. He tells Darth Maul what to do. Darth Maul is covered in red and black face paint, and has horns on the top of his head. He is drenched in the Dark Side, and has amazing skill with his double-sided red Lightsabre. Maul is one of the best characters in this movie, but he only says about 10 words, and doesn’t get enough on-screen time.
There are many more characters such as Captain Panaka, Mace Windu and the historic Yoda you will meet during this movie. Unfortunately, you don’t get to see Yoda and Mace much, but they are supposed to have a big part in Episode 2.
The special effects were ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!! All the explosions, battles, vehicles, and lasers were awesome, and it’s really the icing on the cake. The Phantom Menace surely has the best special effects in any movie ever, and I can see people having a very difficult time trying to beat it!!
So, overall this movie is spectacular. It combines everything a great movie needs, and mulitplies it by 10. This is why I think Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, is one of the greatest movies, EVER.
Thanks for reading, Ant.
Page:
GRIX WROTE AN ARTICLE A WHILE BACK TITLED
Why I may possibly murder George Lucas
,…heres what Grix wrote
START QUOTE
This has nothing to do with Filmaday, god no...
Anywho, Star Wars has made George Lucas too much money, and by letting it go to his head, (Merchendise), and just doing things for the money, (Episode one) and just being very irritating over the past years, (The Ewok Adventure)...
Anyway, George Lucas turned around not all that long ago to a question about Star Wars on DVD, and replied to the likes of: "It's just a fad."
Of course this upset a lot of people, us included, and made George think about what he said. Of course, it didn't take him long to realise he needed more money, and decided to re-release the Star Wars Trilogy again, with an added two seconds of Episode 2.
Humm...
Thankfully, after he released those crappy games, and made enough money off them as well, he finally agreed to produce them AFTER all the films were finished. Like Episode two, which George took half a year to film all the real sequences, and will now take about two years to finish all the computer generated effects...
And just to cap it all off, he fired Kenny Baker, the man who IS R2-D2. Thankfully the fans threatened George with big sticks, and Kenny was rehired.
The Star Wars DVD's have HUGE potential though, I KNOW that George has loads of missing scenes and alternative scripts to the films lying around. This could be the most money George could ever make, and still refuses to do anything solid yet.
Lastly, did you know that Han was supposed to die in the last film? Changed it for audience appriciation... and more money.
Your comments are greatly appricated...
END QUOTE
In reply I (NEW JIMMY) wrote…
START QUOTE
Star Wars Episode One - What a dissapointment, arrggghh urrrgghh it was so bad, Lucas Obviously lost the plot completely lets hope they get spielberg back, please!
The trailers were so good, but the film so bad, The only DVD I would buy related to this movie would be titled:
Star Wars Episode One- Trailer Edition
The film itself was dire!
I mean Anakin....were was the little evil streak after all he becomes Darth Vader????,
Darth Maul --- were we supposed to be scared, hes not evil, hes efficient, if he was evil after he killed Quin gon whatshisface he would have used the Dark side of the force to slam him against the wall (while he was losing consiousness) then chuck him down the pit thing in the middle, all while smiling at Obi one to taunt him.
Wish List for Episode 2:
The Ja Ja binks gets killed in the opening scene along with his entire species.
Anakin gets Cloned to become the Bounty Hunter
The love scene of course (Queen Whatherface mmmmmmm!)
Later the Bounty Hunter has a showdown with nice guy Anakin, after of course killing half the people in the galaxy for fun (including the queen)...in the battle Anakin knocks off The Bounty Hunters mask sees his own face (i.e the clone), then runs away, starting his slow but sure psychopathic tendencies and other mental traumas that turn him to the Dark side, forcing him to become the evil master that is Darth vader
Any other suggestions???
END QUOTE
Basically this sums up why I hate this film, because simply even with so many loyal fans (probably sending him bucket loads of quality ideas) and 20 years to write a script all Lucas could come up with was a glorified toy comercial.
Its sad to think Ant that you cant actually admit how bad the film actually is, obviously you were a true fan of the original trilogy but are unable to see the truth, the reality of what starwars has become.
Why I may possibly murder George Lucas
,…heres what Grix wrote
START QUOTE
This has nothing to do with Filmaday, god no...
Anywho, Star Wars has made George Lucas too much money, and by letting it go to his head, (Merchendise), and just doing things for the money, (Episode one) and just being very irritating over the past years, (The Ewok Adventure)...
Anyway, George Lucas turned around not all that long ago to a question about Star Wars on DVD, and replied to the likes of: "It's just a fad."
Of course this upset a lot of people, us included, and made George think about what he said. Of course, it didn't take him long to realise he needed more money, and decided to re-release the Star Wars Trilogy again, with an added two seconds of Episode 2.
Humm...
Thankfully, after he released those crappy games, and made enough money off them as well, he finally agreed to produce them AFTER all the films were finished. Like Episode two, which George took half a year to film all the real sequences, and will now take about two years to finish all the computer generated effects...
And just to cap it all off, he fired Kenny Baker, the man who IS R2-D2. Thankfully the fans threatened George with big sticks, and Kenny was rehired.
The Star Wars DVD's have HUGE potential though, I KNOW that George has loads of missing scenes and alternative scripts to the films lying around. This could be the most money George could ever make, and still refuses to do anything solid yet.
Lastly, did you know that Han was supposed to die in the last film? Changed it for audience appriciation... and more money.
Your comments are greatly appricated...
END QUOTE
In reply I (NEW JIMMY) wrote…
START QUOTE
Star Wars Episode One - What a dissapointment, arrggghh urrrgghh it was so bad, Lucas Obviously lost the plot completely lets hope they get spielberg back, please!
The trailers were so good, but the film so bad, The only DVD I would buy related to this movie would be titled:
Star Wars Episode One- Trailer Edition
The film itself was dire!
I mean Anakin....were was the little evil streak after all he becomes Darth Vader????,
Darth Maul --- were we supposed to be scared, hes not evil, hes efficient, if he was evil after he killed Quin gon whatshisface he would have used the Dark side of the force to slam him against the wall (while he was losing consiousness) then chuck him down the pit thing in the middle, all while smiling at Obi one to taunt him.
Wish List for Episode 2:
The Ja Ja binks gets killed in the opening scene along with his entire species.
Anakin gets Cloned to become the Bounty Hunter
The love scene of course (Queen Whatherface mmmmmmm!)
Later the Bounty Hunter has a showdown with nice guy Anakin, after of course killing half the people in the galaxy for fun (including the queen)...in the battle Anakin knocks off The Bounty Hunters mask sees his own face (i.e the clone), then runs away, starting his slow but sure psychopathic tendencies and other mental traumas that turn him to the Dark side, forcing him to become the evil master that is Darth vader
Any other suggestions???
END QUOTE
Basically this sums up why I hate this film, because simply even with so many loyal fans (probably sending him bucket loads of quality ideas) and 20 years to write a script all Lucas could come up with was a glorified toy comercial.
Its sad to think Ant that you cant actually admit how bad the film actually is, obviously you were a true fan of the original trilogy but are unable to see the truth, the reality of what starwars has become.
Here's my review of Episode 1 POPPED to the TOP for New Jimmy to read.
Just goes to show that everyone has different tastes, like the person who chooses filmaday having a different taste to all of us for instance......
;-)
;-)
I thought this was better than that Cruel Intentions one.
Oh well, don't matter.
Oh well, don't matter.
Didn't think it was worthy of a Filmaday win, Ali????
Oh well.
Oh well.
I've actually read the synopsis's for Episode 2 & 3, but this was from way back when Lucas wrote the original 6 films at the beginning and there are lots of changes. Details and names have changed, ie. Amidala is called Arcadia but generally, on the whole, they sounded good, a bit more action packed than Episode 1.
Episode 1 is a film that I see as merely a starting point for better things to come.
The fact that this all starts from a petty trade dispute is not the point, it's the way that Palpatine made it happen, and then turned the situation to his benefit, putting him in a position of greater power.
JarJar was mildly annoying, but I could live with him.
I though the scenes where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are taking on all of the droids thingies at the beginning was excellent. And the destroyer droids, they were great too.
The way that R2 was introduced to the story was fantastic.
Anakin wasn't played by the best actor they could have found. He seemed to spit out his words too much. The idea that his birth was something of a miracle was also something that seemed a little daft.
The podracing scene, however, was excellent.
I thought it was daft to kill of Darth Maul. I guess the way of todays movies will mean they bring in a new bad guy for them to defeat in each one.
Killing off Qui-Gon works well in order to push Obi-Wan into the position he is in at the end of Episode 1.
There's certainly much to look forward to in Episode 2, i hoping to see Mace Windu wielding a light saber. According to the peeps in the know he is second only to Master Yoda in terms of light saber skill.
Hopefully we'll see something of the 'clone wars' as mentioned in Episode 4, though that might be Episode 3. Suely Episodes 2 & 3 have to be somewhat bleaker in order to reach the position that we see at the start of A New Hope.
The fact that this all starts from a petty trade dispute is not the point, it's the way that Palpatine made it happen, and then turned the situation to his benefit, putting him in a position of greater power.
JarJar was mildly annoying, but I could live with him.
I though the scenes where Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon are taking on all of the droids thingies at the beginning was excellent. And the destroyer droids, they were great too.
The way that R2 was introduced to the story was fantastic.
Anakin wasn't played by the best actor they could have found. He seemed to spit out his words too much. The idea that his birth was something of a miracle was also something that seemed a little daft.
The podracing scene, however, was excellent.
I thought it was daft to kill of Darth Maul. I guess the way of todays movies will mean they bring in a new bad guy for them to defeat in each one.
Killing off Qui-Gon works well in order to push Obi-Wan into the position he is in at the end of Episode 1.
There's certainly much to look forward to in Episode 2, i hoping to see Mace Windu wielding a light saber. According to the peeps in the know he is second only to Master Yoda in terms of light saber skill.
Hopefully we'll see something of the 'clone wars' as mentioned in Episode 4, though that might be Episode 3. Suely Episodes 2 & 3 have to be somewhat bleaker in order to reach the position that we see at the start of A New Hope.
Thanks for your comments guys!!
It took me a pretty long time!
It took me a pretty long time!
Page: