ST I don't remember Phantom Menace being as big as Force Awakens

Which is another difference between TFA and the PT. TFA is incredibly rewatchable.

 

No doubt. The music is amazing, the moments and the build-up to them are amazing. I've seen it 6 times already. It's fun because I can take non-Star Wars fans who are friends of mine and they enjoy it

 

I would also add that TFA will be forever remembered, because *something* very important happened on it.

 

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The hype surrounding TPM prior to its release was absolutely huge - bigger than TFA, I'd say - but many fans were so disappointed by the film itself that the hype died down quite quickly. Whilst some haven't been so keen on TFA, there's no escaping the fact that most fans and critics seem to have embraced the film and so the momentum hasn't died down yet. I think TFA and other Star Wars projects benefit immeasurably more now from the internet marketing, promotion and, well, people like us talking about them, reading articles, seeking out the latest rumours. Sure, we had internet in 1999 when TPM was released, but it was so painfully slow compared to now. When the first trailer for TPM was released online, it took me four hours - on dial-up internet - to download it.

 

_ _ _ _

I'd agree with you there. I remember that the first two Star Wars action figures I got as a kid were Vader and Obi Wan. It was hinted in ANH that these two characters had some past history and I can remember playing with them, playing-out some previous meeting between the two without knowing what their history really was. None of us did back then.

 

Fun personal fact. I went to see TPM 10 times ( I really wanted to like it) my TFA viewing likely topped at 7th viewing last week

 

I think I saw TPM 19 times in theaters......20 if you count 3D.

Saw TFA 4 times and don't plan on going again.

The internet wasn't as big back then and Disney has bigger marketing reach so I say TFA had more hype but relative to their time it was about the same.

 

Let me put it this way, I didn't go see any of the prequel trilogy *seven* times in the first month of release. Twice, max.

 

There was more hype for TPM if I remember correctly (was only 9 years old). Since TFA wasn't a train wreck of a movie though the post release hype has been way better.

 

TPM had the most massive amount of hype I have ever seen around a Star Wars film. There were promotions everywhere from Taco Bell to 7-11. It was hailed as the second coming by many fans....then it was released.

While the movie did OK at the box office fan reception was extremely mixed. I think most of was were in shock at the time. I knew something was off once the opening crawl hit the screen... then we meet the dullest characters ever engage in trade negotiations...how exciting... then there was Jar Jar.

 

Even though I was only 9 I knew something was off as well. Not necessarily right at the title crawl, but just watching the entire movie. I still enjoyed it somewhat being so young, but it absolutely didn't effect me the way the originals did.

 

People are downplaying the prequel trilogy hype. Star Was STAYED relevant from the beginning of the Phantom Menace announcement up until Lucasfilm was sold. Forums like these exist because of the prequel trilogy. Prequel trilogy characters were always a popular Halloween costume. Star Wars was always on. The prequels brought a depth of universe, character, and filmmaking techniques that even up to today, is often overlooked.

 

MODified: Goodbye.

 

It's interesting that what is known about the rough draft of TPM seems to be much better than what we got...

 

Hmmm, never seen that script.

 

This is not the topic. Bans are happening.

 

This is not the topic. Bans are happening.

 

This is not the topic. Bans are happening.

 

Some deep and insightful information about it were on Mike Kaminsky's now defunct secret history of star wars website and in his book with the same title.

 

Your assertion is one I commonly read from fans of the PT. It is categorically incorrect. There was most definitely a mixed reaction just prior to and immediately following TPM's release. The boards back then were full of angry messages to irate fans. For the last twenty-five pages of this thread, people have laid out the general sequence of events. Maybe you should start from the beginning before commenting again. Some of us had hoped AotC was going to redeem TPM and Lucas, but alas it failed.

For the purposes of this post, I'll give you a quick rundown of my experience in the two years leading up to the release of TPM and the year after, because I remember the hype leading up to release pretty vividly. I remember downloading the first SE trailer with a 14k modem, coming home from high school every day to follow production and rumors on Ain't It Cool News and The Star Wars Site at Texas A&M (which later changed its name to TheForce.net), the news that Lucas was often completing scenes in a single take, the title reveal (which almost no one liked), taping the Episode 1 trailer on Entertainment tonight and watching it in my English class the following day (my teacher was another mega fan), the MTV video for Duel of the Fates, Siskel's dying wish to Ebert about taking his kids to see The Phantom Menace, buying tickets a week early, reactions leaked from early screenings (these were demoralizing), reviews saying the movie was mediocre to terrible (and yes, a few people, like Roger Ebert liked it), opening day, the euphoria slowly fading with every bad line delivery, the excitement fading after multiple viewings, fans going nuts on the message boards, and finally papers started publishing articles on what went wrong.

Early reactions from fan sites, like this one, were lukewarm while others, like AICN, were downright vitriolic (that's where the phrase "raped my childhood" came from). On TFN, I believe the reviews were split 50/50 and I think they posted both positive and negative reviews the point-counterpoint style seen in the editorial sections of newspapers at the time. I remember visiting my high school English teacher a year after I had graduated and him saying, most eloquently, about TPM, "It feels like I paid $100 for a $5 whore." Everyone had hoped that George was only a bit rusty after being out of the director's chair for so long. The whole process repeated itself for AotC. After that came out we all started to realize that TPM wasn't a fluke and that George had lost the magic. Some began to question whether he ever had it at all. The more we found out about the production of the OT, from people other than George, the more we came to understand why those films were so different. By the time RotS came out we were just relieved it was better than the first two.

 

I'd definitely say that the hype for TPM was bigger.

Why, you may ask?

Well for one thing it had been 16 years since the last Star Wars movie compared to 10 with TFA. People were much more anxious to see another Star Wars.

Second, TPM was coming off the heels of one of the most beloved trilogies of all time, whereas TFA was coming after a trilogy that is largely considered a disappointment.

Third, with TPM, 99.9% of people were hyped as hell for it, everybody was expecting the best and very optimistic. With TFA, there were several groups that had already decided that they were not going to like it regardless of quality, from prequel fans who were bitter and spiteful about their favorite trilogy's reception and wanted to get back at those who criticized it, to Manosphere types who thought that the film was pushing some kind of racial/feminist/progressive agenda, to just anti-Disney people in general.

While the hype for TFA was still extremely big, those factors made it a little less so than TPM.

 

Heck, the book for TPM was better than the movie.
Anakin saving the sand person in TPM, only to have him slaughter the entire camp by AotC...

On topic: yes, the hype to TPM was enormous, with a bunch of tie-in products, from Pepsi cans to Subway glasses.

 

When you make a mod uses a "7" font size, you know you messed up and better back out.