TPM definitely ages like a fine wine......

I am one of those fans who didn't love TPM the first time around. Nor the second, third or fourth. I found myself fast forwarding my VHS and DVD to the duel of the fates whenever i was tempted to view the first installment of the SW trilogy.
But now I find myself wanting to watch the whole thing after all these years. I think it is probably because of AOTC. After viewing AOTC and seeing what a different (and inferior, in my opinion) movie it was, I began to appreciate the bright colors and light-heartedness of TPM. Or perhaps it was just me being nostalgic (I was 15 when TPM came out). Does anyone feel the same way? That maybe TPM will become a better film with time? Because, I myself am beginning to like it very much.

SO?

 

I realize I'm liking it more each time I see it. Although I didn't hate it to begin with. So does this mean in three years AOTC will finally grow on you?

Nostalgia.

 

hmm i dont know. I had no problem with the acting in TPM, but I hated the whole thing between Hayden and Natalie. If Lucas edits all that out, then yes!

TPM felt more special though...

idk

 

I didn't need time to appreciate Episode I at the beginning. I love it and with each repeated viewing I grow to appreciate it more. The same goes for the other episodes.

 

Episode I is the same as it always has been. The cool elements are cool, the few nice moments remain so, and the awful remains awful. If anything, it's gotten more boring over the years, as any subpar film watched repeatedly will.

 

For me, Episode 2 was light years ahead of TPM and my favorite of the saga, however it also improved TPM by helping it fit into the larger picture. So now I do love TPM.

 

So you needed a subsequent movie to make TPM a good movie?

That says something, right there.

 

I am actually hate most of TPM.

The loose thread of real story is all I like.

 

So you needed a subsequent movie to make TPM a good movie?

That says something, right there.

I don't think it's necessarily TPM's fault that it's restricted to be a set up film. The reason AOTC made it better for me is that I was unable to grasp TPM and how it fit within the context of the SW universe. We all went into TPM knowing the end to the larger story. The problem is that TPM is only 1/6 of the story and 1/3 of it hadn't even been completed yet. Watching ANH, ESB, and ROTJ is different because you're watching the story unfold without knowing the final destination. I do think TPM was weak in more points than any other SW movie, but I feel TPM benefitted from AOTC which gave it more of a connection to the SW I grew up on.

 

"So you needed a subsequent movie to make TPM a good movie?"

Is it a bad thing when the second chapter to a book compliments the first chapter? I don't think so. Remember, each movie is part of the Saga, and isn't necessarily made to make perfect sense as a standalone film.

 

Now that the bells and whistles of TPM aren't so shiny or loud, I think TPM has become the least watchable of the Star Wars saga.

I loved it when the pod race was new and different (kinda) when the special effects were something special. Now I'm used to CGI I have to say that duel of the fates is the only reason I watch any of that film now. Even the pod race is boring after repeated viewings.

 

I don't drink, so perhaps that's why The Phantom Menace's charm is lost on me.

 

Actually, I'm starting to realize that there are many movies out there that are worse than TPM. It doesn't really make TPM any better, but nowadays I would say that "It could have gotten worse, Sidious could have been some pathetic villain like Kingpin who cried like a baby when Daredevil kicked his knees."

 

well I thought TPM started badly...then it tailed off in the middle...& the less said about the end the better...but apart from that, EXCELLENT!

 

Even though I thouroughly enjoyed TPM on opening night, it keeps getting better every time I see it. There are so many things going on in the background that you just don't notice in one viewing.

Not only has my appreciation for TPM grown, but further viewings of TPM has also improved how much I enjoy the classic trilogy.

Everything has more weight to it now.

 

I have revered TPM since first seeing it at the opening midnight show in my hometown. Simply brilliant.



Good show old man.

 

I loved TPM at the time, but when AOTC came out I decided to watch it again for the first time in about 18 months. It was strange, but it felt like part of the OT films rather than a new film. I had become so familiar with the scenes and the performances and the music and so on that it fit right in with the OT.

At the moment, AOTC still has that 'freshness' for me, but I know that in about 6-12 months time I'll be so familiar with it that it'll fit in with the rest, too.

One of the main things with the OT is that the whole story over the 3 parts has been known for two decades now. Many SW fans weren't even alive when they originally came out. With the PT, we're experiencing and predicting the events of the PT story as they come out. The OT has been viewed as one part for so long and is judged by those standards, so I don't think we'll get the full effect of the PT until a couple years after Ep3 comes out, when we know the whole PT story and how it links in to the OT.

 

Though I was a little taken aback on opening night (too much to take in) I realised just how good The Phantom Menace was on second viewing.

Since then I've watched the film dozens of times on DVD... it gets better and better! New nuances unfold with every viewing.

But even though I loved it (one of my favourite Lucas movies) I still felt, in a way, that it didn't have the something that made the originals.


When AOTC came out I was similarly taken aback on opening night and similarly it took my second viewing to truly appreciate it.

I've similarly watched it dozens of times since on DVD and even though I love it I sometimes get the feeling that it's not got that something that The Phantom Menace had!!

With time to sink in The Phantom Menace has become seamlessly integrated with the OT, as far as I'm concerned.

The same cycle will repeat itself with Episode III I'm sure.



In reality (despite what simpletons may say) all Star Wars films are of almost identical standards in terms of filmmaking. I think when you look back on these films in a few years time you should see that too.

 

I agree Slayyyyyyyy, to me TPM ages like wine, while AOTC ages like Milk.

 

I agree with what Damon D said. I watched TPM for the first time in a while a few days ago and it felt like I was watching the OT.

And AOTC has made any little problems I had with TPM, dissapear. I even like Shmi and Mace now and I didn't like them in TPM at first.

 

Is it a bad thing when the second chapter to a book compliments the first chapter? I don't think so.

I don't think The Phantom Menace that we're discussing here is the NOVELIZATION, either, so your point is moot. Moot as can be, in fact. The mootest point that ever mooted at this messageboard.


Remember, each movie is part of the Saga, and isn't necessarily made to make perfect sense as a standalone film.

Even if this point had ANYTHING to do with what's wrong with The Phantom Menace, I would dismiss it, because there are so many comparable works of cinema (first chapters of sagas that KNOWINGLY are made as first chapters) that are so much better than TPM. But this isn't what's wrong with TPM, anyway. What's wrong with TPM has everything to do with bad acting, bad screenwriting, and bad filmmaking in general, and next to nothing to do with "first chapter syndrome."

 

I like TPM now as much as I did in May of 99, which is to say, a lot

 

There is nothing wrong with TPM that isn't also wrong with the classic trilogy.

To me, the good far outweights the bad.

 

Having recently watched Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace for the 91st time, I can say that I disagree completely with the assessment made in the topic's title.
TPM does definitely not age like a fine wine, it's just a matter of getting used to the smell of the sewer.

 

When I saw TPM in 1999 I enjoyed it very much. But I wasn't going crazy over it and would have lumped at the end of the saga. But the more I watch it, and just sit and soak up the nostalgic SW goodness the more I like it. Now years after I think TPM is one of the best SW movies and I watch it more than any other (except AotC).

I think in 5 years from now TPM & AotC will be seen as nostalgic because they do feel like SW, and I'm glad. It will most likely take Ep. 3 some time to be respected as I'm sure the bashers are thinking up even now what they won't like.