A long time ago in a galaxy
far, far away....
Back in 1977, the phenomenon known as
Star Wars sent shock waves across the film industry realizing the true power of the force it created. It went to have two more sequels,
The Empire Strikes Back and
Return of the Jedi to create the beloved
Star Wars Trilogy telling the tale of Luke on his quest to defeat the Empire alongside the Rebels and battling their dark Sith leader Darth Vader with his Jedi skills. Unfortunately, this series is not starting with that trilogy because, according to creator George Lucas, the proper way to watch this series is to start with the true 'first' film. All the rich history is saved for next week. Sorry, readers, we have to do the prequels.
In 1999, George Lucas and 20th Century Fox released the prequel to the franchise to finally answer the age old question no one frickin' asked "How did Darth Vader come to be?" and thus
The Phantom Menace was born. Rather then waste time and writing space on plot and premise like the past limited blog series (
007 in 23), I rather give some personal thoughts and reflection on these feature then go into full detail. For that, go to Red Letter Media and catch their epic two hour dissection of the prequel trilogy. Without further ado,
The Phantom Menace.
This was the first Star Wars movie I saw on the big screen when it first released and as a kid, I don't remember much of it. The final battle was good in my young eyes and I admired Anakin being a kid. then again, I was a kid. I had seen Star Wars before with
A New Hope's continuous showings on the local KTLA in, you guessed it, Los Angeles. As I grew up and rewatched the film, I still don't have much memory of it. Even watching it for this series, it really is just a forgettable film and nothing really worth mentioning. The plot is boring, the characters are dull and the film lacks any heart to it that made the original trilogy the adventure it was. With this said, it amazes me that people still remember it to the point of saying it killed the franchise. To those people I say, I can agree whole heatedly.
The previous series was based on the classic science fiction serials like
Flash Gordon and focused on the sense of wonder and adventure and bringing characters to life. The prequels are based off the laurels of the original trilogy and have to continue the same ideal, yet fail to impress. The thing harming the first prequel is that it has to live up to the original success and that fact works against the feature. The characters the audience rarely cares about since they do not develop much past the point of "Here they are. Go buy the toys and leave us alone." Yet, it did introduced a character that most would agree left a lasting impression.
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| AKA the baddest motherf***er of the prequels |
Darth Maul is on of the coolest characters of the prequels and he hardly talks, comes in to do his job and take some names along with him. It helps that martial artist Ray Park is a perfect and natural fit for the part. Darth Maul has gone on to live on in comic books and the popular
Clone Wars animated series. Since then, Ray Park has been Snake Eyes in the
GI Joe franchise still taking names. Luckily, Darth Maul moved on to scare the shit out of everyone in
Insidious.
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| Leading to loss of genitalia |
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| Liam Nesson is saying "I don't get paid enough for this" in his head |
Unlike Darth Maul though, Jar Jar Binks left an impression of everyone wanting Qui-Gon to totally stab him the first minute he walked into frame. Jar Jar is a big annoyance and has been declared franchise poison since he entered this world. Hell, new shows related to Star Wars even poke fun at him due to his un-likability.
To be perfectly honest with you all, I really have nothing more to say. Everything has been said about this film and everything has been used up to make fun of this film. In short,
The Phantom Menace is a forgettable addition to the franchise and a dull mess of a film.
Now with that out of the way, we can get this series moving. Next time, the Clone Wars have begun, love conquers Anakin's heart and this series kicked off. Not everything has been said about the rest and luckily for this series,
Attack of the Clones is one film I truly fuckin' hate.
Begun In A Galaxy Far, Far Away Has
NEXT TIME- Episode II: Attack of the Clones
