Star Wars - Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace (DVD 2004)

Like young Anakin's future the success of The Phantom Menace is clouded !!!!!

Having run an eBay community group for Star Wars for many months the subject of the Star Wars Episode 1 has often come up .....

Is Jar Jar Binks the most despised SW character ever ?????? Possibly yes !!!!!!
What on Earth happened in the design department during the creation of 'Yoda' ?????
Jake Lloyd ?????
The whole podrace to get parts for a spaceship to introduce threepio to link to tatooine plot tangent !!!!!!!!!!
The voices of the battle droids !!!!!!!!!
Midichlorians ??????????????
YOU GET THE IDEA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But then there are the many positive aspects of the film ...... Maul, Qui Gon Jinn, the Duel of the Fates, the battles, the locations ...... !!!!!!

For childhood fans of the Original Trilogy, the years of waiting had possibly led to too much expectation ...... but on the flipside, didn't Lucas owe these fans something much better ????????

As one friend of mine said recently , as long as it's Star Wars I would have been happy with anything !!!!!!!!!

The film isn't a failure but in trying to set up the storyline for Episodes 2 and 3 it often over explains ........ Maul's screen time is criminally reduced when the podrace just goes on and on !!!!! And although Lucas delivers SFX and the movie industry is in his debt ...... is there too much over reliance on CGI ?????

Other "artistic" aspects of the film are worryingly obvious ... the Yoda puppet from 1980's Empire Strikes Back is more lifelike than the Yoda that appears 1999's Episode 1 ... but in Episode 2 the CGI delivers a new improved Yoda ?????

Overall, Episode 1 serves as a vehicle to introduce the key players, the plot, the politics, the locations and the galaxy in which the Old Republic spoken about by Old Ben in 1977 still exist !!!

...... we all knew how the story ends and our frustrations about how the saga actually begins must be balanced by the fact that during Episode 2 and 3 the sense of Star Wars returns !!!!!!!

Episode 1 can't be ignored but in an online poll I ran, and others I have seen ... The Phantom Menace always comes bottom !!!!!!!

and this was the film that countless 30 plus year old's (like myself) had waited years for ..... the teaser trailers, the posters, the hype .... in 1983 (after seeing Return Of The Jedi) I knew that one day Episodes 1,2 and 3 would be made ..... Episode 1 simply failed to live up to the standard of the Original Trilogy
!!!!!

Thankfully , the prequels improved ......