THE PHANTOM MENACE 25th anniversary.

Oh my god, where to even  begin this one?

Well I guess we go back to 1997. The year I first truly became a Star Wars fan, courtesy of the special edition re-releases. But that was just the start of the odyssey.

I'm sure I had some inkling around that time that there were going to be Star Wars prequels. And since I was now a fan, I'm sure I would have been interested no matter what.

But I know the day that the Star Wars prequels became an obsession. It was May 28th 1997, when I was sitting in my high school library, reading the newspaper (as one does) and I saw a tiny little tidbit of news in the entertainment section that said that Natalie Portman had been cast in the Star Wars prequel. I know that I let out a somewhat audible "HOLY SHIT." 

Star Wars? Cool. But Natalie Portman? Man, by 1997 it was all about her. She could have been cast in anything and it would have been a big deal. But I knew that her getting this movie would be massive. 

So from that day, until release day 1999, this movie was front of mind all the time.

The rest of 1997 was all about the rumors and the leaked info. I still have some saved articles talking about all this stuff. Natalie was originally thought to be playing young Leia. The film was shot that summer.

Things were pretty quiet through much of 1998. The hot rumor as summer hit was that the teaser trailer was going to play with the X-Files movie, but that didn't come to pass. 

The first big domino was the release of the title, early in the fall. Count me among the many who did not like the title "The Phantom Menace" when I first heard it. It came off as incredibly cheesy. I got over it though.

Then, around Thanksgiving, it was finally trailer time. Famously the trailer debuted one night before a couple select movies, where people watched the trailer and then left. I'm guessing that the only reason I didn't go to this was that I didn't have my driver's license yet. I tried downloading this in my college comp center to no avail. It was MTV that hooked me up, showing the trailer a couple days later. I taped it, and would wear the tape out watching it over and over.

Boy did they nail it with all these prequel trailers. This teaser was amazing. The music, the couple shots of Natalie that got me giddy. This was the moment that I always cite as the moment where Episode 1 hype really kicked. (Oh yeah, I had a shirt that just said "Episode 1" that I wore constantly).

It was pretty much nonstop TPM hype after that. They put out a 2nd trailer, debuting with the wretched Wing Commander, and that one I did go see. Another great trailer. All the Nat stuff was iconic for me. I had gotten online during all this, and the Natalie message board was my favorite stop. I bought the teaser poster, with the Vader shadow. 

The hype was so all-consuming that I used it to finally motivate me once and for all to get my driver's license. I vowed to get it before the movie came out. And I did, just as the final hype wave got going.

And that brought the merchandising. Oh my lord did I spend a lot of money. I vividly remember it when we got the cases delivered for the figures at Target. We all snuck a peek. 

I didn't go to any midnight toy releases, but on the day I went and bought some figures. I wasn't really ever planning to get into these. Obviously I wanted Natalie figures, but I ended up buying quite a few...and then just didn't stop for the entire prequel era. Toy runs became a regular part of my routine.

I couldn't control myself. I bought the toys. I bought books. I bought some of these little micro machine vehicles. Obviously I snapped up just about anything I could find that had Natalie on it. I had disposable income, but I do cringe years later thinking about how much money I did spend, particularly with this first movie. 

I collected the Pepsi cans, mostly fishing them out of the garbage whenever I saw one. No, I wasn't digging through the garbage, but if I saw one on the top I grabbed it. The hunt lasted all summer long.

These were also the days when the shows like Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood were must watches for all the news. I taped as much as I could. I think I even still have some of it. MTV had Star Wars stuff. It was everywhere. Nowadays a person could seek out as much pre-release content as they want, but here it was just being delivered.

Magazine covers were another huge deal. I blew a lot of money on that stuff too. There was not a single part of media that I couldn't gorge on.

There's a great doc called Starwoids centered around the TPM anticipation, showing some of the people who waited in line for weeks and weeks waiting for the movie. It really captures the vibe of that time. 

The next big event was when tickets went on sale. I didn't rush out to get tickets. I think by that point I knew that I'd be able to see it opening day, and that due to finals week I wouldn't have a chance to do a midnight show. Obviously I wish I had done that anyway. But I did get my tickets early.

I literally just remembered while doing this that I had a daily countdown on my wall to the release. Jesus I was obsessed. There are even 1 or 2 things I won't even consider including here. I gotta retain some semblance of dignity. 

The Natalie talk show appearances started trickling in, which were all huge deals. There was tons of coverage of opening night and day.

The reviews had largely been coming out, and were very mixed. This was still in the days where reviews could make me mad. I was so mad at some of these bad reviews. What are these idiots even talking about? 

May 19th, 1999

The day I had waited almost 2 years for was here. I took my last final (Geography, I think) then it was off to the theater. I don't think there was any line at that point.

I do still vividly remember sitting in my seat before the movie started. By the time the opening crawl was going, I literally could not believe I was finally experiencing this movie. It wasn't real. 

Now, this initial viewing was marred by the damn movie going out of focus for a big stretch in the middle (pod race section). But it didn't matter. I actually knew damn near the whole plot before seeing the movie, based off things I had read in the books and just other spoilers. But it didn't matter.

I LOOOOOOOVED it. 

It was my favorite movie of all time...for a while.

The movie was everything I dreamed it would be. Exciting. Nostalgic. Amazing effects. Great music. Lightsabers. References. NAT! 

Every Natalie moment had me in rapt attention. I didn't know that Keira Knightley played the queen in a few scenes. She was a dead ringer. Natalie was beautiful. She was wonderful. I loved her performance.

Thus began my 1999 Star Wars summer. One viewing would never have been enough of a fix. I went again the next day. And the next. And a couple days later. And then I kind of just never really stopped. I made sure to go see it on Natalie's birthday. I went on the one month anniversary. Eventually I did adjust to seeing non-Star Wars movies (that summer did have some other greats).

The film played and played. For all the talk about how the film was supposedly so disliked, it hung around in theaters all summer and even into the fall. And yeah, I kept going again every couple weeks or so. By the time the film finally exited theaters in the fall, I had seen it SEVENTEEN times. 

Then in December they put it out again for charity and I saw it again (this time in a can't resist Natalie double feature with Anywhere But Here). And then just after the calendar flipped to 2000, one final viewing at a dollar theater. Add in a viewing for the 2012 3d re-release, and now another just this month for the 25th anniversary re-release, and that makes this easily the most watched movie in theaters of my lifetime.

It is so inextricably associated with 1999, and that great summer. It's crazy to think that Lucas wanted to get the prequels done much sooner.

So I spent that whole summer and beyond adoring the film, but the history of the film has a lot of hate. 

The critical bashing was one thing, but it wasn't long after the movie came out til the backlash began. Most of this was garbage. 

It was called a box office disappointment, which was absurd, all because it never threatened to outgross Titanic. Which it had no chance to. But it was a massive smash hit financially. It became the 2nd biggest hit of all time. It stayed in the top 5 for 2 months in summer. It played deep into the fall. It made money on this last re-release. It made almost $2 billion dollars adjusted for inflation. 

And it did all this while supposedly being hated. Now, decades later it has become clear that Star Wars fans are just habitual whiners. They hate everything. But back in 1999 it was new, and spreading hate about a movie online was new, and boy could you not escape it. Guarantee I have never spent more time defending a movie than this. 

People hated Jar Jar. They hated the dialogue. They hated the acting. They wouldn't shut up about the taxation plot. People called it a racist film due to the voices of some of the aliens, and Jar Jar. The hate was so unrelenting that it drove Ahmed Best to near suicide and probably contributed to ruining Jake Lloyd's life. Yet still you can't be online anywhere for long without hearing somebody shit on the prequels.

Now, The Phantom Menace is NOT my favorite film anymore. It got usurped once I saw the full cut of Leon. And it got lapped by episodes 2 and 3. It's not even my favorite film of 1999 anymore.

It's not a flawless film. It does have some wooden acting and poor dialogue. Some of the CGI has not aged great. I could easily do without a couple of the Jar Jar comedy moments. There are a few boring scenes (even in 1999 I used them for pee breaks).

Most of those complaints apply just as much to the original trilogy, mind you, but you'll never get the prequel haters to admit it. 

Phantom Menace is still a fantastic movie, and not just as a nostalgia piece (even though it holds as much of that power as any film could). The pod race and Duel Of The Fates fight are highlights that even the haters admit to loving. Natalie is great, particularly in handmaiden mode. Liam Neeson is fantastic. Jake Lloyd has a couple rough lines of dialogue, but is way better than he is remembered for. Darth Maul is indelible. There is some sharp groundwork already being layed for Anakin's turn. The score is amazing. Jar Jar is fine. He's supposed to be annoying (so was C-3PO btw). 

The hate train never stopped, but time has been very kind to these films. The Phantom Menace helped shape an entire era of my life. I love it. Always will.