why did a lot of people think this was a bad movie?

i think its far from it. its not the best starwars movie but hey i still loved it

The movie itself is what it is and can't be changed by anyone but George Lucas. It's up to your own little preferrences whether what was offered in the phantom menace was enjoyable. There's so much in it for everybody, even your dogs if they are the type that like sniffing poop.

The movie is not bad pure-dag-nasty Plan 9 from outer space bad, it's just a star wars movie... a fantasy/sci-fi space opera filled with stunning visuals and exciting action sequences. the People you speak of who regard it as bad would be?

If the answer to that is the general popular culture, then that's great... the popular culture should dertermine how everyone views a work of art.... <---sarcasm.

My own icky personal feelings about this whole flick aside, it stands forever as groundbreaking work in visual effects which I still admire to this day, and should be viewed as such. But I have no say in how the world thinks, though I would say many wish GL had a mind control device so he could make the popular opinion of star wars films whatever he wants it to be. Lol... that's impossible. What is possible is thinking for yourself about what's good or bad in your mind about an artists work.

We must remember that the star wars movie that made gazillions of dollars and started a new age in cinema history was roughly 25% of GL's complete vision. Think about it.

EDIT: Three edits... must need sleep...

I think many people hated it because they wanted Star Wars to launch right into a duplicate of the first three movies right away. I don't think people realized that George was planning on creating and arch which connects the new movies with the old. I think people just wanted more of the same rather than new stuff which would go with the old.

People were used to seeing stormtrooperd and tie fighters. The new ships were, well new! Everything was knew and different from what we saw in the OT. Battle droids were something new. It was very odd seeing new things so people found fault with it.

I think a lot of the audience had simply grown up and become cynical. It wasn't the movie they grew up with and they simply didn't want to accept TPM on it's own merits.

There are things I don't care for in TPM, but overall I still enjoy it very much.

Lucas putting in fart jokes and silly goofyiness(is this a word) from Jar Jar.

I remember when I first saw ep1, I was about nine and couldn't believe my ears when I heard about people not liking the film. At the time I thought it was the best film ever made. I guess its impression on me was similar to someone who saw the original Star Wars back in '77 when they were young.
Anyways,back on topic.Nowadays, I don't think its the best star wars, but its certainly not crap.Really, it is quite a good film and I think that the reason that most fans didn't like it was because it was a bit too different to the originals.

When I watch TPM the only scene that makes me feel like it's a Star wars movie is the Qui GOn Funeral Pyre.

I dunno but personally I liked it better when there where no prequels and you had to create the rest of the story with your own imagination, like Luke and Leia's mother, Anakin Skywalker and the Order of Jedi Knights. I always pictured them sort of like the Knights of the Round table. A group of wise old Gandalf-like men who were the keepers of peace and order in the old republic. I also always pictured Anakin as Peter O Toole also. As Laurence of Arabia was another of my favourite childhood movies.

Too me TPM just doesn't hold that mystique and ere that ANH had. In the original films the Force is explained as a mystical energy. It's a religion. In TPM it's explained away as science. That was one of the things that turned me off the film too.

I also think it was a bad idea to have a child character in the movie. Children just aren't interesting characters.

The film is slightly schizophrenic. GL claims that this is a kids movie- yet its fisrt plot device is a problem with tax... zzzzzzzzZZZZZ

What a great way to start an action adventure a trade dispute!!!!

Some of the delivery of lines was poor- some very bad acting- 'I was wondering what are midiclorians'.

I like the Phantom Menace but for me there is a better film there waiting for some editing.

I can't believe this film was voted Worst Sequel Ever on E!.com. It beat the likes of Batman & Robin, Speed 2: Cruise Control and Jaws: The Revenge.

What were people thinking? It wasn't that bad.

Wow, I never knew that. It's really thought of as a bad, pure-dag-nasty plan 9 from outer space, flick? Wowzers... but my friends at school only kicked me in the sack a few times for buying tickets to TPM. They kicked me in the sack for more than a week for buying tickets to Spider-man. This is strange.

hahahahahahahaha Thank You. I have'nt laughed like that in some time. hahahahahahahaha

I was okay with not seeing Stormtroopers and tie fights and all the other stuff from the OT. I was looking forward to seeing the story of Anakin becoming Darth Vader. There lies the problem. The story was hollow, plots lines sucked, the acting and dialogue was horrendous. Plus to add insult to injury, Uncle George created Jar Jar Stinks. The movie went downhill pretty quick from the "Exsqueeze me" part. Also, Jake Lloyd was horrible as young Anakin.

The only cool part was when Jinn & Kenobi were crossing lightsabers with Maul. Maul should have had a bigger role.

CRH

Hey deeysew,

I see that you mentioned Dag Nasty. They were one of my favorite bands back in the day. I refer to them as the best post hardcore/punk bands ever; The pioneers of emo.

CRH

The absence of a Goliath figure, lack of a main character and a lack of a strong central plot are some of the reasons why numerous people didn't think Episode One was on par with the rest of the previous Star Wars film.

I think alot of people thought it was a bad movie for 3 reasons.

1. They were expecting way too much in the movie. This movie is a setup for all other Star Wars movies. Unfortunately the main character is 10 years old, so it is limited in that way. At the time of TPM, I didn't like that Lucas started with Anakin at 10, I wish he started at 18 years old, so he get into some serious action. But now after all 3 prequels are almost out, it makes for a better story that you started from the beginning.

2. They were expecting the original trilogy. These trilogies both have different tones. The Luke Skywalker trilogy is very specific: good vs. bad, Vader vs. Luke, Leia, and Han Solo. It could be funny because they were 3 kids trying to take down an empire. You always had someone to root for and someone to hate, and thats why we loved it so much. The prequels are more of a broad story about a fall of a republic and jedi's. Unfortunately Jedis are serious people so they won't be as funny. Look how serious Luke became by Return of the Jedi. There are alot of grey area's in the prequels. Who do we root for Anakin, he becomes bad. Palpatine, who is the Supreme Chancellor, he becomes the emperor. Yoda or Obiwan, you can say they slightly contributed to Anakin going to the dark side, by not realizing the flaws in the jedi order.

3. Jar Jar Binks, Lucas really miscalculated him alot. I like TPM, but everytime he talks it drives me crazy! And he has way too much screen time in the first hour. It is a shame because, he was the first CGI character, and that is a triumph, but they didn't develop him, and he became very annoying.

TPM had the potential to be such a good movie. Quite simply, it did not even remotely live up to this potential.

There was too much focus on the wrong things. Half of the movie could have been left out and it wouldn't have made a difference. It was drawn out and there were many critical elements missing to make it a good SW film.

I love AOTC. I think it's awesome. Likewise, I believe ROTS will be incredible. TPM had some good points, but unfortunately, they are easily overshadowed by Jar Jar, lagging storylines, and a much too young Anakin Skywalker.

1) The story sucked.
2) The acting is poor.
3) Darth Maul should have lived.
4) The movie was the biggest letdown in history.
5) George cannot direct. Why not use Speilberg??
6) Jar Jar should be shot and cooked. It did not happen.
7) Leave the Force alone. Midichoreans my @ss!!!
8) Trade federation aliens are not asian!!!
9) Anakins Mother is a bad actor.
10)Jedi councel are a bunch of stiffs.

The movie got what it deserved................a bad review by most of the critics.

Now with all that said I still like the movie a little. I will watch it as well as AOTC before I see the ROTS.

For one, parts of the story were developed in the wrong way. The midicholrean stuff was a bit of a mistake - the force was, up until that time, some sort of weird, mystical energy that couldn't really be explained. Now, there's a direct reason for it. I didn't think that was needed.

Maul should have had a much larger part. I would have been much more interested in Maul's backstory than a lot of the stuff that made into the film. As it is, he became little more than a nasty dude with a lightsabre, and I think the character deserved much more.

Jar Jar.... I think he was the single largest problem of the entire film. I think GL was trying to recreate the comic relief that C-3P0 and R2-D2 had in the first trilogy. Problem was, both the comic reliefs back then had big talents that none of the rest of the good guys had. At any point you could justify why they were being carried along. However, I found myself constantly wondering 'why on earth are they carrying that idiot with them?' I was surprised as well that GL rehashed the whole life debt thing for the gungans. That should have stayed as a Wookie only thing.

This may be more down to personal tastes, but I can't stand it when 9-year-old anakin jumps in a fighter and saves the world. The battle itself, while it looked spectacular, had little substance to it.

i just recently heard that many people at the time just wanted to see Darth Vader becoming a Sith at the beginning and then showing him killing all the jedi in every movie. then GL said NO

Let's remember to discuss the films not the fans.

The only problem with the movie was Jar Jar, unfortunately. If Lucas had cut him out and placed a less stupid character...heck, how about a Wookie? Lucas was on crack. That's what the non-SW fans think about Jar Jar. So when they think of TPM, they think TPM=BAD.
Jar Jar spells doom, though I still like the movie....

they hated it because everyone was lovey dovy , the characters had no differences , padme looks like crap ,and everyones blond , not that i have nothing over blonds its just that -blond ship , blond boy , blond master , blond apprentice , and other boring stuff........the fight at then end didnt mean anything !
the guy doesnt even talk and its not like that face paint is the embodiment of evil . The politics should have been interesting , but its boring and just a tool to extend the movie time .

Well, apparently you do have something against anything 'blond' as the blond(?) ship, blond boy, blond master and blond apprentice were the only blonds in the movie. Padme was not blond, Shmi was not blond, neither were the other handmaidens and Panaka was definitely not blond!

As far as Maul goes, yes his face paint alone didn't constitute the embodiment of evil, but his facial expressions certainly did!

A bigger problem than Jar-Jar, although I've come to not mind him, is the start of the film. Expectations were high so I doubt people were expecting the story to start off with a trade dispute.

At first, this was off-putting but it makes tremendous sense when put in context. The first film was to introduce to the audience the Republic/galaxy and what the Jedi do in it. It IS the first episode. Commonly, Jedi are sent as negotiators, mediators and, like in TPM, ambassadors of the Republic to solve interstellar problems.

The audience is shown this, seemingly boring, mission of Qui-Gon's and Obi-Wan's, but it quickly becomes something more. At first it's monetary, then political (duh-get used to the reality), then becomes something ominous when this "Darth Sidious" appears and tells the Trade Federation to kill the Jedi and the action ensues. Why? How? Are many questions that are raised by the audience as to the purpose of this whole "trade" dispute. Turns out it's not routine at all.

In effect, what was originally thought to be a "routine" mission for the Jedi kicks off the remergence of the Sith, the discovery of the Chosen One, a galactic civil war, a rebellion against the Republic turned Empire, the fulfillment of the Chosen One's destiny and balance regained with the Force in EPs II-VI. All from a normal beginning.

How Lucas introduces EP I makes thematic sense and also shows the stability (governmentally and spiritiually i.e. the Force) that the Rebels in EP IV-VI are fighting to regain and rejuvinate.


Ciou-See the Sig