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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

PT PT marketing from 1996-2005

Discussion in 'Prequel Trilogy' started by Seagoat, Aug 2, 2015.

  1. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2013
    So I'm hearing so, so, SO much about the marketing for TFA/the ST in general at this point that it's becoming a bit much. I'm quite honestly a bit tired of trying to keep up with it. However, in the thread about Abrams' stance on SW and all the stuff that's been said (Pegg's opinion, emphasis on practical effects, the lack of the episode in the title, etc) I can't help wondering something -

    For those of you who remember the days when the PT was announced to be on the way (I believe it was announced in 1996, forgive me if it was 1995 instead) was it at all comparable to now? As it is, not counting this forum, I can't go a single day without hearing something SW related on TV, on Twitter, or Facebook, or whatever else, etc.

    The obvious answer at first is of course no, as in the 90s the internet was really a toddler just getting on its feet, but it was well and alive by the early 2000s and some members on this board are even from around then.

    Was there any fan outrage like there is today? Was every single detail nitpicked? Did everyone read deeply into interviews and look for meaning that seemed a stretch?

    Go wild
     
  2. PymParticles

    PymParticles Manager Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Oct 1, 2014
    I think the prequels were announced officially in 1994, and Lucas started working on the script for The Phantom Menace (at that point titled The Beginning) Q4 of that year. I was way too young to remember the media build-up for The Phantom Menace, but I personally don't remember a great deal of media scrutinizing for either Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith. Both were treated by the general media as massive cultural events, and close to release the marketing machine was positively inescapable; this was magical for elementary school me, as it meant Star Wars was everywhere and all over everything. In the weeks leading up to release, it was all over every magazine, and of the ones I read (which were many) I don't recall seeing any blatant negativity. On TV the day of release, the news would feature all the people lined up to see the movie, and again, they all seemed excited.

    As for negativity, I'm sure it was on the geek corners of the net. You can actually still find old AintItCoolNews articles with the talkback sections still intact from that time period. Leading up to The Phantom Menace, overwhelmingly positive. Leading up to Attack of the Clones, a bit half and half. By the time of Revenge of the Sith, the comments were primarily negative.
     
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  3. mes520

    mes520 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 3, 2012
    I don't really remember anything about TPM. I remember the AOTC trailers on TV. I also remember the release of ROTS, talking about how the Saga was complete and it was the last Star Wars movie...then.
     
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  4. Digladio

    Digladio Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2003
    The hype for TPM was waaaaaayyy more intense, although it was mostly from the fans, and not from the actual marketing (which only became somewhat intense in April of 99 with merchandise, etc). Same thing with TFA: the marketing has been very low key so far, but the hype is coming from SW fans and general audience interest in the movie.
     
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  5. Sith Lord 84

    Sith Lord 84 Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    Aug 1, 2015
    I still to this day have not seen anything like how the marketing was like for TPM. It was on the news every single day for almost a year before the movie came out. Whether it was a legitimate story about the making of the film, or news of a new trailer coming out, or just them reporting on the fan frenzy that was going on everywhere with fans camping out. Once the merchandise came out that was another fan frenzy, people were acting crazy when I went to the midnight toy release on May 3. After that marketing displays were literally all over every store for the entire summer and even through some of the fall. I still to this day can't remember seeing that many people in public wearing apparel for a movie as I did with TPM. I saw multiple sold out showings of the movie, some even after it had been playing for a few weeks and fans were still clapping and cheering at the end. I was literally never aware of prequel outrage until the internet got a lot bigger because everyone I talked to in person absolutely loved the movie. Most I talk to today still love the movie. The only place I really see outrage is on the internet. I will never be outraged as I absolutely love the movie just as much as the first time I saw it. Its one of my favorite movies of all-time, and that marketing blitz and all of the merchandise I purchased was still some of the best times I can remember from my life. It was really a great time to be a Star Wars fan.
     
  6. GuardianSoulBlade

    GuardianSoulBlade Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2015
    I distinctly remember articles in TV Guide, TPM was on Pepsi bottles and they had lego sets.
     
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  7. ShaneP

    ShaneP Ex-Mod Officio star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001

    Oh yes, people nitpicked and waited hours to download a teaser trailer for Episode One.
     
  8. GuardianSoulBlade

    GuardianSoulBlade Jedi Knight star 3

    Registered:
    May 26, 2015
    QuickTime trailers took forever,and Apple was king of trailers.
     
  9. ShaneP

    ShaneP Ex-Mod Officio star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    Yes and dialup modems were all the rage.
     
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  10. Cryogenic

    Cryogenic Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2005

    I remember those days!

    I got on the net in 1997. I was 14 at the time.

    Very different world back then.

    What I remember about TPM is there was a fair amount of hype for it. As I recall things, I was a bit too snowed-in with school work, socializing, and video games to invest too much in it (but I was already a SW fan). I was as excited as anyone to see the first trailer, though. I recorded it off television. I might have also downloaded it at a later point. But I definitely remember recording it first from TV from a BBC kids' programme called "Electric Circus". I might still even have the tape somewhere (but due to improper storage, some of my tapes developed tape mold some years ago). I pre-ordered the "Making Of" book which I still have -- about three feet from me this instant! I also had some other bits 'n' pieces in the run-up to the movie. It was rare to get that excited about a single damn film (the other exceptions, if these count, would be "Jurassic Park" in 1993 and "Star Trek: First Contact" in 1996). So, one way or another, before the film arrived, I was a little nerded-out for it. But as I say, I had other commitments at the time, and my memory of the scale of the hype is fogged over.

    I don't recall great gobs of negativity being spat at AOTC or ROTS (there was certainly little to none that in any way sticks in my mind for TPM before its release). I do vaguely recall a creeping cynicism toward the latter prequels, though. I think this was only really evident after ROTS. I mean, there was probably a lull shortly after AOTC came out. Most people first seemed to love it, then I remember noticing some questioning of it in the months after release, with anti-prequel sentiment starting to become a "thing" in 2003 or 2004. I think the trailers for ROTS quelled some of this sentiment for a while, though, and it only really erupted a short time after people had been to see ROTS and decided every other frame in the movie sucked -- especially the even ones. Then there was that darn (hilarious) Chinese bootleg: "Backstroke Of The West". That seemed to settle things, or put the cherry on the top, that ROTS sucked in its native English form, and that there was a kind of post hoc proof that the whole prequel venture had been a mistake, on a par with a bad dream.

    It's none too surprising -- to me -- that there has been more apparent negativity (this seems to be the OP's contention) surrounding TFA/the ST. It's only natural in so many ways. If you want me to fall into the trap that's been laid and blame prequel detraction for generating some of this negativity, from prequel fans who have grown jumpy and impatient after all these years of seeing some of their favourite movies trashed, sure. There's that. There's also the immense growth of the Internet itself. Then there is the slightly more mundane (but no less relevant) fact of George Lucas having sold his company and the entire Star Wars franchise to a big corporation known for pumping out product. And then there is the grubby, opportunistic, filchy little marketing scheme of Disney's: emphasis on "scheme". A scheme which serves to tacitly announce to fans, with their bat-ears tuned to the right frequency, that the prequels are rubbish and that Disney has come to answer their prayers.

    With all the profits Disney no doubt hopes to amass from the sequel trilogy and assorted spin-offs, it probably intends (though this is probably paranoia or too much caffeine talking) to build a time machine and erase the prequels from existence. It will, of course, come to its senses, and realize how lucrative the prequels are to its business aims (it must already know this). But why some prequel fans are feeling edgy and put-out should be obvious. And then, of course, the Internet was made for grousing........ about anything and everything. :p
     
  11. MarcJordan

    MarcJordan Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 17, 2014
    I can't even actually recall most of the hype. I think I was burnt out on Star Wars though because I was already 32 and married with two kids already. Although when I heard about it, I think it was in the local news wherein they happened to show Letterman on TV (Im from South East Asia) My main recollection was the Pod racing through some rocks. That immediately made me think of how much I enjoyed ROTJ (was 14 then) at the chase scene in Endor.

    However, what really piqued by interest was (still on Letterman) there was a scene with Watto hovering inside his shop. Would you believe I was suddenly mesmerized? Boy, so much for being burned out! I was hooked. Till date TPM probably was my favourite PT memory and my affection for GL and my thanks to him to bring back that kid that fell in love with SW again.

    Well about Abrams. I really don't know how I'mgoing to take it. Got a bad feeling about this (pun intended).

    Cheers.

    MJ
     
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  12. lovelikewinter

    lovelikewinter Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    May 28, 2014
    I remember the glut of TPM merch that just sat for months in stores. Things like those creepy Jar Jar tongue pops.
     
  13. Samuel Vimes

    Samuel Vimes Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Sep 4, 2012
    Two comments on the marketing that I can remember.

    1) The teaser trailer for TPM was shown on national TV in Sweden. They even made a whole program just to talk about the trailer and SW in general. That was unheard off. A TV program invented to just talk/show one trailer. However I don't think they did this for AotC or RotS. Possibly because by then people could get trailers online much faster.

    2) The TPM soundtrack listing spoiled Qui-Gon's death. I picked it up in a store some months before I saw the film and didn't like that at all. Whose bright idea was that?

    Lastly, TPM didn't have the big worldwide opening that AotC and RotS had. Sweden didn't get the film until late in the summer. I went to London to see it because there it opened in June. Not the only reason why I went to London but part of it.

    Bye for now.
    Old Stoneface
     
  14. Seagoat

    Seagoat Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jan 25, 2013

    [​IMG]

    I'm sorry you all had to see this
     
  15. Cryogenic

    Cryogenic Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 20, 2005
    I actually had a Jar Jar tongue toy/trinket.

    It was this thing. Arguably even creepier. :p


    [​IMG]
     
  16. G-FETT

    G-FETT Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 10, 2001


    Living in the middle of the English sticks (slow connection at the best of times) and being on Dial-Up I wasn't able to see watch any of the TPM or AOTC trailers on the internet - Fortunately they were usually shown on various programme's on the telly, from which I could record them, but it was a relief to move to Broadband in 2003! [face_laugh]

    I first heard that George was making the PT sometime around 1994 or 1995.

    Re. marketing. The marketing for the The Phantom Menace was crazy. I remember it appearing in newspapers/magazine's all the time. Toys and merchandise were everywhere - Remember walking into WH Smith in Northampton (not a known toy shop by any means) to be confronted by row's and row's of TPM action figures.... Whether I brought any action figures (as a 22 year old man)... I can't say! [face_whistling]

    As already noted, the UK (and Europe) got TPM after the US (I think it went on widespread release on 16th July 1999) and, whilst reviews were somewhat mixed, my perception was generally that it got pretty good reviews here (most of those reviews have since been wiped from the internet... Though I kept a lot of those magazine and newspaper reviews and stored them away somewhere... But I've not looked at them for many years, because with age I've come to the realization that most of this stuff is nonsense and very peripheral to what truly counts - Whether I actually like the movie or not.

    As far as AOTC and ROTS goes, I remember the marketing being MASSIVELY reduced for AOTC... Other than the movie trailers there seemed to be very little "out there" for AOTC. The movie was generally well received on release but as already noted... Started receiving a "backlash" in the months after it came out (and especially it seemed around the DVD release and beyond)

    ROTS had more marketing/merchandise compared to AOTC but didn't reach the heights of TPM

    The odd thing about ROTS is that it was quite poorly reviewed in the UK. Not really sure why, but it seemed to get much better reviews in America compared to here - Where-as TPM was the reverse of that.

    Critics are just 8-}

    What's remarkable is that all three films were released without anybody at LFL feeling the need to denigrate the earlier movies... The PT lived (and for some died) as it's own "thing". The current owners of the franchise would do well to show some grace and humility and follow that example...
     
  17. Digladio

    Digladio Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Jan 7, 2003
    The merchandise, tie-ins, etc, for AotC were very much toned down, but sorry to say, the movie itself was completely overshadowed by LotR, Harry Potter, and Spider-Man, which is why it wasn't top film at the box office that year. It was the big return of two genres that had a lot of pent-up interest: fantasy films (which hadn't really been a thing since the 80s) and super hero films (which had been dormant since the disastrous Batman and Robin).
     
  18. G-FETT

    G-FETT Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 10, 2001

    2002 was also a "World Cup" Summer in Europe, South America, Far East, etc... Yeah, there was a lot of other things/movies going on during that Summer.

    It's interesting though that the PT followed a very similar path to the OT in terms of it's box office, with the middle middle movies of each trilogy doing less well compared to the first and third movies.
     
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  19. lovelikewinter

    lovelikewinter Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    May 28, 2014

    Empire was still the top grossing film of 1980.


    I don't care what arguments you have about the quality of the PT, those Jar Jar candies came straight from the hands of Satan himself.
     
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  20. G-FETT

    G-FETT Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Aug 10, 2001
    Yeah, but the overall box office trajectory of both trilogies was very similar.
     
  21. DarthAhem

    DarthAhem Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    May 6, 2014
    I recall that there was a great deal of excitement for TPM everywhere in pop culture. I mean, it seemed that everyone knew it was coming. I was finishing my second year of law school and had a few weeks of finals before TPM's premier, but we talked about it in school. I vividly remember people talking about it with other students on multiple occasions and there was excitement. Star Wars generated this sort of thing - even amongst casual viewers more than anything I've really ever encountered. It was just a given that people were going to go see it. Obviously not every single person in the world, but I'm trying to convey the sense that even people that didn't like sci-fi or adults who just generally had important things going on in thier lives were talking about it and excited about it. Hell, I was 25 and my parents would bring it up as we remembered the fun we'd had viewing he OT when I was a little kid. Star Wars was iconic.

    As has been pointed out, it was still the age of dial up. I'd sent my first email in 1995 or 1996. So, the net was still relatively new. You did see a lot of coverage on the news, magazines, entertainment shows, etc. There was definitely buzz and people were really excited by the trailer. The stores had Star Wars on all kinds of packaging and so did fast food restaurants in the US. You couldn't miss it.
     
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  22. The_Phantom_Calamari

    The_Phantom_Calamari Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Nov 10, 2011

    Oh my. Even as a Jar Jar fan, I have to ask: Who thought this was a good idea?
     
  23. SW Saga Fan

    SW Saga Fan Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 19, 2015
    I don't remember much about The Phantom Menace marketing in 1999, back then I was around 9 or 10 years old. I wasn't following Star Wars at that time and I wasn't a fan either. For Attack of the Clones not much either. The only thing I remember for AOTC is that I saw once a giant poster of the movie in front of a Costco market when I was entering once with my parents. But I clearly remember my experience for Revenge of the Sith.

    For me at least, the hype and my interest for Star Wars was growing when my uncle gave me as a gift, back in 2004, The Clone Wars video game on the first XBox released after Episode II. Later I remember that the Original Trilogy was released for the first time on DVD on September 2004 and I believe that on that time, the hype for many people was starting to build for the release of Episode III and my interest for Star Wars was growing. One of my friends had the DVD box for the OT and I started to ask him things about Star Wars.

    The first trailer for Revenge of the Sith was released on February or March 2005. I remember having watched it for the first time on TV. Starting May, on TV, more and more people were talking about Star Wars and when the film was released at Cannes, I was following the french televison and I remember that the comments were mostly positive towards Episode III. I remember seeing some footage of people lining up in front of cinemas around France on TV (I was at France back on that time) and on the news, the comments from people and fans after seeing the movie on opening day were positive. I didn't pay much attention to what was happening on the internet since it was still a toddler for me, we still had to use a phone line to connect to the internet at home. But at school, on the library, I could use the internet and from what I've checked on some official news web page, the opinions about the movie were also positive. But on the far corner of the internet and on some unofficial web page or forums, as PymParticles mentionned, things were maybe not that positive. But people, including myself, weren't paying attention to it and internet was still getting on his feet for many, even in 2005.

    Here's a compilation of various TV programmes around the release of Episode III on May 2005. You may get an idea of the marketing for the movie:

     
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  24. JEDI-RISING

    JEDI-RISING Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    Apr 15, 2005
    it was so different then with the lack of online information mid90s, and less entertainment media. i'm not sure when the prequels were officially announced. i do remember getting a magazine in the late summer of 97, that i still have, previewing the prequels, and by that time pricincipal photography was already done on TPM.
     
  25. ShaneP

    ShaneP Ex-Mod Officio star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 26, 2001
    I remember when the SW.com went live online. They had a little land speeder that sped across the screen and the Homepage would then pop up.
    This was around the time of the Special Editions I think. They also had frequent production updates for Episode One. It was a great time to be a fan.
    It is amazing to me that almost as much time has now passed from ROTS release to today as between ROTJ in 83 and the release of TPM in 99.

    I don't recall SW being in the pop culture as much pre Special Editions as after. The Special Editions, combined with the prequels, cemented SW into the pop culture echelons in a profound way in my opinion.

    It's sort of ironic(maybe?) that so many people slag the prequels when their release helped fire all things SW, including the OT, into the cultural stratosphere.

    That's also one reason why i think the appreciation of the prequels will only grow with time. It happened to me.