PT The Phantom Menace 20th Anniversary Thread

I was born in 1997, so I was only a year old when it was in theaters. However, somewhere between the release of TPM and before AOTC, roughly 2000/2001, my brother bought the VHS tape of the film.

TPM was my introduction to SW, and I was always fascinated by it. I remember being in awe of the Podrace, the Senate chamber, and the lightsaber duel. As a young 3/4 year old, I really connected to 9 year old Anakin as a character too.

We still have some merchandise, thanks to my brother being of the right age at the time. I found the 1999 Obi-Wan action figure recently. We also had the Gungan bathtoy submarine, a model kit of a Battle Droid on the STAP speeder, and Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon's lightsabers. My brother and I used to play the Podrace game for the Nintendo 64 too.

While TPM didn't make me a SW fan, it was my introduction to the world and it has grown with me as one of the best SW films. I rank it at number 3 (though recently rewatching AOTC may knock it down to 4 ). That said, it's a really great movie and I am happy it's getting a better reception these days.

 

I was 13 when The Phantom Menace was released in the summer of 1999. We didn't have a home computer so I still remember how excited I was every day to get to school so I could use the computer lab just to see if anything new was announced. How delighted I was when the official site started using those character themed borders with images and quotes from the film on the site. How I'd go shopping with my parents anytime they went because there was a possibility they'd stop somewhere where I could check out the toy section and see if anything had come in. And of course I collected all of the TPM themed Pepsi cans. It's the most excited I've ever been for a film in my entire life. Yes, TFA was super exciting but it's different now that I'm older. Nothing can really replicate that feeling of being young and having something truly capture your imagination.

We didn't get advanced tickets but I begged my parents relentlessly for weeks to take me to see it. When the day finally arrived they made it clear in no uncertain terms that they weren't taking me on opening day. I'd have to wait until the weekend. So I went to school that day completely bummed and had to listen to my stupid friends gloat about their plans to see it right after school. I was miserable until my dad suddenly showed up and signed me out. He insisted I had a dentist's appointment but I knew what he was up to because he had the biggest grin on his face as he said it. He's never been a good liar. As we pulled into the theater parking lot he made me promise I wouldn't tell my mom that we went to see it because we still had plans to see it that weekend. Needless to say the film blew my mind away and it has remained one of my absolute favorites.

And I never have told my mom we went to see it early.

Happy 20th Anniversary Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace!

 

I remeber when the trailer aired on CBS and almost all of the film was shrouded in mystery. I remember I recieved my Star Wars Insider with Darth Maul’s face close up.

 

Happy 20th birthday to one of my 15 all-time favorite movies.

 

The first time I saw The Phantom Menace was a showing on UKTV Gold, a channel I knew primarily for endless Doctor Who classic series reruns in the mid 2000s. It was the second SW movie I saw after ROTJ (I can tell you, that's possibly the most confusing first start you can get in this series ).

I don't remember much from that initial viewing (besides a few frames from the Naboo battle and build-up), but my prime memory is being very confused about the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan relationship. It took me until the scene immediately after the Tatooine duel with Maul, in which Qui-Gon introduced Obi-Wan to Anakin to realise that the bearded mentor figure wasn't Kenobi after all, and that I'd mistaken the Padawan dude for Anakin. Confusing, I know

Then I caught AOTC on the same tv channel, which added further confusion when I assumed the bearded mentor guy from TPM must be this 'Sifo-Dyas' everyone's talking about

It was around 2015 that I began to really love Star Wars, and the PT in particular. At Uni I would binge watch the trilogy over and over again, and with time TPM grew to be my favourite of all the SW films. The score in particular is phenomenal, with dozens of fantastic action tracks, and a very unique 'style' for the other pieces (I find it hard to describe music) that sets it apart.

 

Wasn’t it so mysterious? We had no idea he was a Son of Dathomir or much of anything save his appearance.

I remeber how the Cult of Maul grew, I wanted his action figure, I had these trading cards that were horizontally long with him on them, later I got the official trading card game, there was red set (Tatooine), Blue set (Courscant), and Green set (Naboo).

 

I was 25, active duty Marine Corps, stationed at Quantico. None of us really had our own computers at the time so most of the information we were getting was from television and magazine articles. I grew up watching the old VHS tapes we had of the OT and I couldn't believe we were getting more Star Wars!! I had waited so long and stayed away from comics and books, anything that I thought might mess up how I saw George's version of the story. I remember being worried that my section's duty rotation was going to fall on opening night but luckily we were in the clear and I didn't need to worry about spoilers. There was a huge buzz of excitement and just going to the theater to buy advance tickets was absolute joy. We went in groups up to the theater behind Potomac Mills mall in Dale City to get tickets, and in groups to see the film since only a few of us had POVs.

I loved it! I remember being in awe over all of it but Duel of the Fates and Darth Maul were my favorite parts of the film. My daughter was only a year and a half old so the relationship between little Ani and Shmi was emotional for me as a first time mother. It built up so much anticipation for AOTC and I went all in collecting merchandise in between the two films. There was nothing like seeing the green Lucasfilm logo, hearing the opening notes, seeing the words "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away"...hit the screen.

I feel blessed to have not had the time or hardware required to be online during this time that kept me blissfully ignorant of the backlash.

Hard to believe it's been 20 years. What an anniversary!

 

I remeber I pre-ordered TPM on VHS at Toys-R-Us and unlike movies today, which come out two to five months after it was in theaters, I had to wait a full year.

 

I remember the build up to TPM very well indeed.

The first official photo I saw was in an issue of SW magazine UK, and was of Anakin sitting at the table in his homestead on Tatooine. Was also the first time I knew Anakin was going to be a kid. The issue also had an interview with Ian Mcdiarmid in it and was he on the cover as Senator Palpatine (though obviously didn't realise when I brought it)

the next issue had Darth Maul on the front, Our first main look at the villain and I was hyped


this was it.

 

Here is the first good glimpse I got at TPM and Darth Maul:


For me, and I know this is blasphemy to some, Darth Maul was my Darth Vader. I grew up on the Prequels, seeing them in theaters, and so Maul became my Sith Lord (Apprentice, yes I know he didn’t make it to Lord in Prequel Canon). My friends and ai when we had TPM on home video woukd rewind Darh Maul being cut in half by Obi-Wan so that his body came back together and would be alive in our canon. Littlr did we dream one day the Son of Darthomir would return in TCW.

I remeber I had to pay tons of credits and open countless packs to finally get the rare card of Maul:


I remeber it was a pack I bought at Toys-R-Us, and when I held it, my heart sunk, at last Maul “had revealed” himself to my collection.

 

I still remember the first time I saw TPM. It had a brief reign as my favorite movie (until a couple of nights later).

 

TPM had longevity for me and my friends. We were occupied with Podracers, Lightsabers, Cult of Maul, and Gungans.

Does anyone remember Star Wars TPM for PC and PS1?


It was very difficult, Destroyer Droids could kill you in a flash. You had to save frequently because of glitches and bugs.

My favorite TPM game next to Naboo Starfighter was SW: Podracer (N64):

 

That was actually the first video game I ever played! I could never get past the first level though

 

Farthest I got was Naboo. But the Droidkas kill me evertime when I try to escort the Queen.

 

HOLY **** THAT GAME WAS THE ****

Hard af, but frigging awesome. As a kid, I got stuck on the podrace level for literal years because I couldn't figure out that stupid frigging block in front of that house was pushable

I also had fun cheesing Maul by conserving secondary weapons throughout the game. If you got yourself in the right position, you could just shoot him before triggering his AI to fight and he'd let you kill him lol

 

Don’t you just love when a glitch or bug in the game benefits you!? Instead of getting stuck in a wall or the freezing, you get to pown Darth Maul.

 

I remember seeing the poster for it in the lobby at the movie theater and just imagining what the movie will be like. I remember going to see the TPM multiple times and really loving it. Yes some things felt different but looking back on it that was what made it stand out. I loved Qui Gon and Obi Wan’s opening scene slicing through the droids then seeing the droidekas roll up firing. The action scenes really carried the movie and I loved watching Palpatine twist everyone’s minds. I loved Liam Neeson as Qui Gon Jinn I wished he made it to AOTC. The final lightsaber duel was really jaw dropping and one of the best moments in the entire saga. The build up to this movie was amazing and TPM is the PT film that I have the most nostalgia for. 20 years goes by so fast doesn’t it?

 

When I left the theatre I loved it, I didn't love it as much as the OT. I felt the same about the other Prequels. There has yet to be a bad SW film.

 

The Phantom Menace was my introduction to Star Wars and I loved it. The story, the characters, the soundtrack and probably most of all just how big the universe is. It really captured my imagination like no other movie I had watched before that point.

My first viewing of the film was actually a tape recording of when the film was on tv one time. I remember thinking that the tape had somehow skipped some of the film, because of how fast Qui-Gon's first fight with Darth Maul was and rewinded it twice before realising it was actually meant to be that quick.

Also for a long time I associated the Trade Federation/Droids theme as being the villains theme instead of The Imperial March. Don't know if anyone else did but that music was stuck in my head for a long time.

 

The OT is king for me, but I really enjoyed TPM. Jar Jar took me years to warm up to, but I like him now. Really wanted more Darth Maul. A fun movie and very nostalgic for me these days.