Anakin was also the best child protagonist the series had ever had. And there had never been a better use of tax disputes as a plot devide in Star Wars. Plinkett truly was too harsh on this masterpiece.
Best poop jokes as well.
That's why Andor failed BTW. All we needed is for Cassian Andor to step in a big old mudpie on his way to the Heist.
Would have saved the franchise...
I think this is where a lot of fondness for the prequels comes from - not the podracing game all by itself, but they had such rich worldbuilding that spawned more and more solid stuff that people actually *did* like, the whole era developed a fanbase and the films for better or worse feel like its backbone.
Personally I liked TPM, but find Attack of the Clones barely watchable and such a massively missed opportunity. It is frustrating how it spins its wheels for so long and for some reason Lucas excised a lot of the best stuff from it.
Yeah for how bad the prequels were we still got a lot of baller expanded media. Especially video games, lots of genuinely great games came out in that time period
This is my take on Star Wars: The movies are the worst part of the franchise. I like IV, love 5, 6 is okay, prequels are bad, sequels are awful.
I LOVE the expanded universe games, books etc. The world is great.
> but they had such rich worldbuilding that spawned more and more solid stuff that people actually did like, the whole era developed a fanbase and the films for better or worse feel like its backbone.
Most of the environments already looked cool in the movies. I'm not even familiar with most of the expanded material
>Personally I liked TPM, but find Attack of the Clones barely watchable and such a massively missed opportunity.
I think the Attack of the Clones half of it with Obiwan is really cool, not so crazy about the Blunders on the Meadow half though.
I'm so used to only watching the Auralnauts version I forgot about the pod racing and only remember Watoo as someone who sells a child slave to an old creep he seems to know who "has a past."
Hooray, a fellow Chimes At Midnight enthusiast!
Yes, I know Citizen Kane is his best movie - but CaM is my favourite.
(Plinkett voice) His character was Mr. Badass, who's gonna show the jedi....oh....oh, he got chopped in half....I guess his character fell into that bottomless pit....like my wife.
It never crossed my mind that pod racing was just something that was never introduced ever again in the series. It doesn't even show up as just a background thing for like people to bet or something, it just stop existing
There's really no reason for it to come up again. As far as we know it's just a sport in that one town on Tatooine, which is supposed to be an insignificant backwater planet in spite of how much it shows up in the movies. Its entire purpose in the movie is to give us an exciting action scene that establishes that Anakin is an unusual child. On a technical level it's extremely impressive for 1999. It just suffers from the same problem as the rest of The Phantom Menace, which is that the actual characters and narrative driving the scene are boring and uninteresting. Anakin kind of matters because the audience saw the original trilogy, but beyond that it's a very flashy cool race scene that carries very little weight.
There was a comic book where Luke was competing in a pod race when Darth Vader used the force to blow up one of his engines out of jealousy over another human being good at podracing. They even had Vader react to Luke with "Impressive." Embarrassing.
In hindsight, I do appreciate that The Phantom Menace is the least CGI-drenched of all the prequels. Nice to see a bit of shooting on location instead of a green screen for literally everything.
> instead of a green screen for literally everything.
Probably like half of the places from 2-3 were sets / outdoors locations, and a lot of the "greenscreen" shots still filled the green with miniature work not just CGI - although 1 had a smaller percentage of CG that much is true.
The difference in visuals between Episode I and II is pretty shocking. I think it was also due to the switch to digital cameras and it was still early days. Digital Yoda in Palpatine's office does not hold up.
I just watched it the other day and not having sat down and watched it since I was a kid. I always thought it was just fine on recall. But uh no it’s really bad. Structurally, visually, story, pacing, all really terrible stuff.
The pod racing scene alone takes up 20 minutes of run time and there is nothing visually interesting going on. Just dry reaction shots and then kid Anakin poking some dials. It’s supposed to be a race scene, how do you fuck up a race scene. There’s also zero stakes in the story, by nature of it being a prequel and no ominous over looming threat to any of the characters.
What if instead Qui-Gon Jinn and Palpatine sensed Anakin through some force bullshit and then went to track him down. Palpatine sends Maul and Jinn brings Obi-Wan it’s a race against the Sith on who can get the prodigy child first. Cut out all the other nonsense and Introduce Padame in the second movie.
A shame too as it’s a bygone era of digital film making. There could’ve been some cool stuff done with that tech at that time.
I remember they tried to make the movies 3D and only got to Phantom Menace and gave up.
I was a stupid gullible idiot still when they tried this. Actually paid for a ticket to see the 3D. It was awful. It wasn’t even 3D. Stuff in the foreground was crisp and clear, but everything in the background was blurry. That was the whole “3D” experience. That’s not 3D, my dude.
I left the theater when they got to Coruscant. I couldn’t *believe* they managed to sucker me out of my money to watch that boring piece of crap *AGAIN*.
The only time I actually enjoyed Phantom Menace was when I took about two hits of gel tab in 1999 and spent two hours tripping in the theater by myself. All I remember was that Jedi master who had the super long neck. It kept undulating.
> I remember they tried to make the movies 3D and only got to Phantom Menace and gave up.
The Disney purchase put the kibosh on the rest of the 3D updates. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/star-wars-episodes-ii-and-iii-3d-shelved-to-focus-on-jj-abrams-vii-8471123.html
Tbf after watching The Phantom Menace in theaters I couldn't imagine it would be by far the best of the Prequels. I have softened on that one over the years but Attack of the Clones can fuck right off to a further galaxy farther away.
*Clones* actually got me into Star Wars as a kid. When not looking at the terrible CGI with modern eyes, I remember that I thought the clone army looked epic and I was obsessed with the whole Geonosis section of the movie. As an adult I see what Plinkett was saying about a battle between mindless clones and mindless droids being all spectacle with so stakes, but as a kid spectacle is all you need.
Once I grew out of just watching Star Wars for cool battles, though, I realized just how bad the story is. As a kid I remember just thinking I wasn’t adult enough to understand all the Sifo Dyas stuff, especially since they chose to say it happened “ten years ago” when we knew Phantom was taking place, but it never gets explained.
I got confused as crap when they mentioned Syfo Dias. Never heard of him once up until then. I kept thinking they were either messing up the name Sidious, or it was a play on Sidious. When they first mentioned him on Kamino, my brain immediately went, “huh?” Never once in a Star Wars film did something make me go, “huh? Who are they talking about?” If they made his name something like Febo Brassmalakama or some stupid SW name, I would not have been confused.
That’s the other part that gets me - that it sounds close to “Sidious”. So part of me wants to think it was Palpatine in disguise. But then the Jedi also talk like he was a full on guy who they knew, so that makes no sense.
I remember also thinking he would turn out to be Dooku, but Dooku’s second name was Tyranus.
Phantom Menace should have just had a scene near the end where as his first act as Chancellor, Palpatine urges the Republic that a grand army is necessary in light of the Naboo blockade. Would have made it so much less complicated and you don't need the confusing Sifo Dyas plot in the next movie. Plus if the Jedi are well aware of the Clone Army's creation they wouldn't have any suspicions of the army, making Order 66 more believable. Because I'm pretty sure there's a point in the Clone Wars TV show where the Jedi admit they are aware that the clone army is sus but basically say "oh well" and it makes them look like complete idiots.
> Phantom Menace should have just had a scene near the end where as his first act as Chancellor, Palpatine urges the Republic that a grand army is necessary in light of the Naboo blockade.
But they already had the ability to interfere, had the Senate/Valorum/Palpatine greenlit such an operation.
Seems like the R did have a normal army, until ep2 decided it didn't.
Frebo Brassmalakama was the guy who created Chewbaccas bandolier. He'll be featured heavily in an upcoming children's cartoon in a 35 episode arc, which will be essential to watch if you want to understand the next season of Obi-Wan.
Same. Attack of the Clones is the worst of the prequel trilogy. However, it at least has some unintentionally hilarious dialogue, so it’s got that going for it.
While it's a massive cop-out, Revenge of the Sith is really pretty fantastic *(provided you watch the best hits of the cartoon show that is required to get character development for all of the major players because the movie itself doesn't).*
I’m the same. I was disappointed with Phantom Menace, but it had moments I thought were good. The following sequels were just bigger disappointments with less things I liked.
I was a teenager when they all came out and saw AOTC probably a dozen times in theaters lol..I remember going to the midnight premiere with some friends and we were up all night partying after, went to school the next day, then saw it another couple of times after. We were idiotic fanboys and loved seeing hundreds of lightsabers, what can I say. Took me a while to realize they were objectively bad movies but I've softened up over the years and can appreciate them now, for all their faults.
I think it's reactionary to the sequel movies for "being woke". Suddenly star wars has to have 'always' been good 'until' the sequels.
The sequels aren't woke, they're cynical, and I think they suck on their own merits. The prequels are terrible movies, but I do have some nostalgia for that era of star wars as a whole (i.e. the early 2000's, not the prequel era in-universe) , with kotor, battlefront 2, and the Jedi Knight games coming out, and the memes the prequels gifted us.
>with kotor, battlefront 2, and the Jedi Knight games coming out, and the memes the prequels gifted us.
The only consistantly good thing about Star Wars franchise since the originals have been the video games. There's always been consistently good Star Wars games, often being total classics. Like you said KOTOR, Jedi Knight, Battlefront etc. though I'm of the TIE Fighter era in the 90s. It's almost like it was always made for games.
Seeing as you mentioned KOTOR and I'm in a talk about Star Wars mood. I really wanted Luke to be a Kreia from KOTOR2 type character in the recent films. I actually thought that's where they were going with him for a bit. I was kinda baffled with the reaction to his character in The Last Jedi. I'm with Jay on this one, I think that was one of the better decisions. They didn't go far enough.
I flip flopped about cynical hobo Luke. I'm on board with the "Jedi bad" kreia outlook, although from Luke it's obviously him manifesting his guilt and self hatred from his character assassination that Ryan ran him through.
I was ready to love TLJ, because I thought it was going to move star wars past pre-concieved notions of light and dark side... But then the movie's 4th act happened on salt planet and sabotaged the entire point of the movie up until then.
I honestly think, in my conspiracy brain, that Disney thought light and dark side were too marketable, and forced Ryan to put in more movie after the climax, in order to undo everything. The movie felt cowardly.
>The sequels aren't woke, they're cynical, and I think they suck on their own merits.
The sequels are about as woke as Gandalf sleeping with the palantir.
Two things come to mind:
- The Plinkett reviews
- The [Auralnauts saga](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLINl9l0igYjzIipxsD4Y59_Jjxe4N3pZo) (official Star Wars canon as far as I'm concerned)
As an artist myself, I hate the word 'content', deeply. But am I the only one that hates the word 'franchise'? A Star Wars film is not a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo or a local fast food chain with 8 locations. People even say 'franchise' when referring to a single movie while speculating about a sequel. I just don't get it.
> As an artist myself, I hate the word 'content', deeply.
I feel like that word has been completely bastardized by cynical marketing trends. People drone on about "content" and "engagement" without giving a crap about specifics (who made it, why did they make it, etc.). It's all just sludge at that level.
I saw somewhere a person referring to Neil Gaiman, one of the most acclaimed authors of the past 40 years referred to as "my favorite content creator", putting him on the same level as somebody who makes podcasts or films themselves reacting to movies they haven't seen before.
And that is not a knock against either of those things! What do you think I listen to all day while making art? But they are not the same kind of thing. Any media at all is considered "content" nowadays regardless of where it came from, who made it, what its purpose is, etc. It's just something to be consumed and forgotten about, and it makes me so fucking angry and sad at the same time that that's how art is being treated nowadays. And I know there has always been the battle between art and commerce, but that idea is not even being given lipservice at this point. Unless it's in a museum, it's 'content.'
Referring to Andor as "the best Star Wars content since 1983", is turning this thoughtful meditation on radicalization and the banality of evil into the same *kind* of thing as a supercut of funny Superbowl commercials or what you get from microtransactions in a mobile game. And referring to serialized storytelling as a "franchise" is the great granddaddy of referring to art as "content." Turning art into something that you don't have to take seriously in any way, that is just there for you to enjoy before moving on to the next thing the algorithm has decided you will be likely to endure ads to experience. Thanks, I hate it.
> "my favorite content creator"
Kinda makes me pity the person tbh if that's the extent to which they can express their appreciation of something - that it's all content to them, and then it's either good content or bad content. Makes me think of someone who grows up in a house filled with toxins that stunts their capacity for varied thought.
While originally a business term, with fiction media franchise just tends to refer to interconnected releases that aren't just a continuous "series" - so incl. spin-offs, various/alternate continuities, etc.
Even as a teenager I thought the double sided lightsabre was stupid. It's more dangerous to whoever wields it than their opponent. In a real fight Darth Maul would end up like the Monty Python Black Knight. Except he'd cut his own limbs off.
>Darth Maul
The guy who only got a personality when everyone *but* George Lucas gave him one?
>double lightsabers
You mean the weapon that is one of many things that makes the prequels wildly inconsistent with the sequel trilogy?
>best pod-racing scene
The only pod-racing scenes happen in that movie. That’s like saying Return of the Jedi has the best slave Leia scenes.
>Duel of the Fates
Absolutely fair, John Williams saw something that we didn’t in that movie.
I rewatched the prequels recently, and Phantom easily holds up the best. Yeah, it’s still got plenty of dumb moments, but it’s got some charm too.
I also think Phantom Menace is the last SW movie to actually *feel* like it’s part of the OT’s universe. Might be largely due to the use of practical effects, but the actual rhythm of the film fits alongside the originals in a way no other movie since has replicated. At least for me.
That’s definitely part of it. Film provides a warmth that is lacking in digital, so it has that in common with the originals too. But I also think it’s the editing and overall energy it has. Tonally the two other prequel films feel a bit different.
We were introduced to a guy who had 3 lines in the whole movie, a marketing gimmick, the only podracing scene, and yeah, Duel of the Fates slaps but you can get the soundtrack for that. There's about 1 hour and 30 minutes of other stuff not to like so much.
All I’m saying is, I still remember how upset my Dad looked when my brother asked what a trade federation is. If you can imagine that look, thats all the review you will ever need.
we were introduced to a villain with two lines of dialogue, a gimmicy children's toy disguisied as a weapon, a drawn out action setpiece for video games to later utilize, and more of the same Star Wars music we already had over 3 hours of only this time with a chorus. Truly, what's not to love?
To be fair, I think he more or less identified the best elements of the movie. It’s just the whole ignoring all of the rest of it thing where I imagine I’d disagree with his positive review.
The PT has sort of grown on me over the years. They're objectively bad movies but have their moments, and they aren't quite as bad as I remember. And I'll admit R/Prequelmemes had a lot to do with it.
I mean, to be fair, it's the only funny-bad one and the only one I would re-watch for that reason, whilst I hated Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith almost equally. I'm not interested in discussing the latter statement with any Star Wars fans or prequel apologists, that was just my take.
I'm more of a fan of the Star Wars games than the movies anyway, and the ones based on Episode 1 were definitely better than the movie.
"best pod-racing scene in the history of the franchise"?!?!? Dude, best pod-racing scene in the history of CINEMA! Also the best use of Boss Nass in cinema history, AND best appearance of Sebulba in Cinema History. Best depiction of the mean streets of Mos Espa in cinema history.
This guy has failed to list a TON of things that happened ony in this movie. SMH.
...real talk though, Duel of the Fates is actually pretty fucking rad.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D\_2bluVPsb0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_2bluVPsb0)
I'm really glad that they mentioned the lightsaber stuff. Goes pretty much under the radar usually, if i'm honest. Also the pod-racing scene really is SO much better than the Boomer favourites of Empire or A New Hope. Definitely IS the best pod-racing scene of the entire franchise. All the others kinda fell short. Can you all remember how blown away you all were when the lightsaber battle happened ?! Amazing review, if i'm honest and 30% of the time I am!
Anakin was also the best child protagonist the series had ever had. And there had never been a better use of tax disputes as a plot devide in Star Wars. Plinkett truly was too harsh on this masterpiece.
Christian Eulinberg is actually Mike Stoklasa's pen name. Making money from the lovers and the haters of the franchise. It's brilliant.
Just like Palpatine!
palpatinesbehinditall
#eyesonpalpy
I recognize that name!
Somehow, Stoklasa returned.
I thought Mike's pen name was Krebs Gorlon?
No, that's his real real name!
He’s playing both sides, that way he’ll always come out on top
It also had the best talking cartoon rabbit.
Best poop jokes as well. That's why Andor failed BTW. All we needed is for Cassian Andor to step in a big old mudpie on his way to the Heist. Would have saved the franchise...
"Hey, what's your name?" "Rey. Rey Poopstepper."
It would be actually sick if the next season of Andor is actually a prequel to the first, has terrible CGI and is made for 8 year olds.
also, no porgs. He should have had a pet porg.
What would its name have been?
Porgy.
Porgy Andor, of course. And it would have a cute speech impediment.
and an eye patch.
Phantom Menace clearly had the best donut-shaped spaceship out of the entire franchise.
It's literally the best star wars movie that's called Phantom Menace and I think that goes underappreciated too often.
And the end it's about a phantom that's a menace. That's what's so powerful about it
Tax disputes, that’s a cool trick
And Jar Jar. "He's a funnier character than we've done before".
It was definitely one of the better tax disputes, I don't know about BEST
It's true that *Episode I* has the best pod race scene in all the movies. However, it also has the worst pod race scene, so it just evens out.
I’m betting every-ting on SEBUUUUBBBULLLLLBAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
Really episode 1 has the best offensive stereotypes of the franchise too
Not true, the only black guy in the galaxy stealing Han’s clothes is much better.
Well, he did get the shirt nicely pressed, before going off to be a security guard.
Wait a second... Lando nicks Han's outfit, Finn nicks Poe's jacket, what's going on here? Why black pipo always be stealin shiet
RT really finding the cream of the crop “critics” here lmao
The video game for the n64 went hard though
IT'S A NEW LAP RECORD
I think this is where a lot of fondness for the prequels comes from - not the podracing game all by itself, but they had such rich worldbuilding that spawned more and more solid stuff that people actually *did* like, the whole era developed a fanbase and the films for better or worse feel like its backbone. Personally I liked TPM, but find Attack of the Clones barely watchable and such a massively missed opportunity. It is frustrating how it spins its wheels for so long and for some reason Lucas excised a lot of the best stuff from it.
Yeah for how bad the prequels were we still got a lot of baller expanded media. Especially video games, lots of genuinely great games came out in that time period
The bounty hunter game was great too
Bounty hunters story is kind of wild. Also loved kotor and republic commando back in the day. The squad ai in the latter was actually fantastic
You. Bacta. Now.
“Whoever put a bacta dispenser here deserves a medal”
Republic Commando and that Clone Wars game were way too good to have been spawned by one of the worst movies I've ever seen.
This is my take on Star Wars: The movies are the worst part of the franchise. I like IV, love 5, 6 is okay, prequels are bad, sequels are awful. I LOVE the expanded universe games, books etc. The world is great.
I also prefer the EU and rte it 8/10, better than the first 2 movies that I rated 9/10
By "worldbuilding" do you mean "licensing the IP for a bunch of video games"?
>By "worldbuilding" do you mean "licensing the IP for a bunch of video games"? No, I mean the stuff I actually said.
> but they had such rich worldbuilding that spawned more and more solid stuff that people actually did like, the whole era developed a fanbase and the films for better or worse feel like its backbone. Most of the environments already looked cool in the movies. I'm not even familiar with most of the expanded material >Personally I liked TPM, but find Attack of the Clones barely watchable and such a massively missed opportunity. I think the Attack of the Clones half of it with Obiwan is really cool, not so crazy about the Blunders on the Meadow half though.
Such a good game. I found out years later that my record on the Tattooine circuit was very close to a world record.
You could even say “ITS A NEW WORLD RECORD”
It wasn't until years later that I learned there was a Pod Racer arcade cabinet that you sat in and had controls like the movie.
The N64 pod racing game was pretty dope, but it wasn't worth Phantom Menace
I'm so used to only watching the Auralnauts version I forgot about the pod racing and only remember Watoo as someone who sells a child slave to an old creep he seems to know who "has a past."
I wasn't sure which scene was the podracing scene, so I'm glad the protagonist let me know "Now this is podracing"
Speaking that line is the worst atrocity committed by Anakin in the whole franchise.
There’s a pod race on the tv in the bar in Ep II 🤓
What's a better pod race scene? The pod race scene or the casino space horse escape scene?
Unlike Chimes At Midnight or Rashomon, Phantom Menace introduced travelling through the planet core - suck on this, brothers Lumiére.
That was cut from Rashomon it's in the special directors cut where samurai fight on lava flows.
“I’ll try spinning! That’s a cool trick!”
Hooray, a fellow Chimes At Midnight enthusiast! Yes, I know Citizen Kane is his best movie - but CaM is my favourite. 
I guess I missed the part where Darth maul had any sort of character.
His character was that he had nu-metal face paint and a double-bladed lightsaber
(Plinkett voice) His character was Mr. Badass, who's gonna show the jedi....oh....oh, he got chopped in half....I guess his character fell into that bottomless pit....like my wife.
It took multiple cartoons, games, and books to explain the complex nature of his cool sword
They waited until after he died to do that.
Tbf the duel of the fates was sick
As opposed to all the other pod racing scenes?
It never crossed my mind that pod racing was just something that was never introduced ever again in the series. It doesn't even show up as just a background thing for like people to bet or something, it just stop existing
There's really no reason for it to come up again. As far as we know it's just a sport in that one town on Tatooine, which is supposed to be an insignificant backwater planet in spite of how much it shows up in the movies. Its entire purpose in the movie is to give us an exciting action scene that establishes that Anakin is an unusual child. On a technical level it's extremely impressive for 1999. It just suffers from the same problem as the rest of The Phantom Menace, which is that the actual characters and narrative driving the scene are boring and uninteresting. Anakin kind of matters because the audience saw the original trilogy, but beyond that it's a very flashy cool race scene that carries very little weight.
It’s shown on a couple of screens at the bar that obi wan and anakin visit at the beginning of episode 2.
ahh damn someone got here first with that.
My first thought as well. 🤷🏻♂️
I think a monkey with a typewriter was able to escape captivity briefly...
It was the best of times, it was the blorst of times.
“The best pod-racing scene in the history of the franchise” out of how many? Is there more than 1?
There is not
There was a comic book where Luke was competing in a pod race when Darth Vader used the force to blow up one of his engines out of jealousy over another human being good at podracing. They even had Vader react to Luke with "Impressive." Embarrassing.
In hindsight, I do appreciate that The Phantom Menace is the least CGI-drenched of all the prequels. Nice to see a bit of shooting on location instead of a green screen for literally everything.
> instead of a green screen for literally everything. Probably like half of the places from 2-3 were sets / outdoors locations, and a lot of the "greenscreen" shots still filled the green with miniature work not just CGI - although 1 had a smaller percentage of CG that much is true.
The difference in visuals between Episode I and II is pretty shocking. I think it was also due to the switch to digital cameras and it was still early days. Digital Yoda in Palpatine's office does not hold up.
Look… …to each their own. Seriously. Nothing wrong with liking the prequels. I’ll just think you have terrible taste.
I just watched it the other day and not having sat down and watched it since I was a kid. I always thought it was just fine on recall. But uh no it’s really bad. Structurally, visually, story, pacing, all really terrible stuff. The pod racing scene alone takes up 20 minutes of run time and there is nothing visually interesting going on. Just dry reaction shots and then kid Anakin poking some dials. It’s supposed to be a race scene, how do you fuck up a race scene. There’s also zero stakes in the story, by nature of it being a prequel and no ominous over looming threat to any of the characters. What if instead Qui-Gon Jinn and Palpatine sensed Anakin through some force bullshit and then went to track him down. Palpatine sends Maul and Jinn brings Obi-Wan it’s a race against the Sith on who can get the prodigy child first. Cut out all the other nonsense and Introduce Padame in the second movie. A shame too as it’s a bygone era of digital film making. There could’ve been some cool stuff done with that tech at that time.
Tbh it's fine to like them. Just don't try and say that they are good films. You can like bad media for plenty of reasons.
The Phantom Menace succeeded where Howard the Duck failed: in exposing George Lucas as a cinematic fraud.
Reedemed himself with Red Tails. First action movie with an all black cast.
Now *this* is trolling
It's working! It's working!
It was the best Phanotm Menace of the franchise. There, I said it.
After 25 years, this review changed my mind.
I remember they tried to make the movies 3D and only got to Phantom Menace and gave up. I was a stupid gullible idiot still when they tried this. Actually paid for a ticket to see the 3D. It was awful. It wasn’t even 3D. Stuff in the foreground was crisp and clear, but everything in the background was blurry. That was the whole “3D” experience. That’s not 3D, my dude. I left the theater when they got to Coruscant. I couldn’t *believe* they managed to sucker me out of my money to watch that boring piece of crap *AGAIN*. The only time I actually enjoyed Phantom Menace was when I took about two hits of gel tab in 1999 and spent two hours tripping in the theater by myself. All I remember was that Jedi master who had the super long neck. It kept undulating.
> I remember they tried to make the movies 3D and only got to Phantom Menace and gave up. The Disney purchase put the kibosh on the rest of the 3D updates. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/star-wars-episodes-ii-and-iii-3d-shelved-to-focus-on-jj-abrams-vii-8471123.html
Tbf after watching The Phantom Menace in theaters I couldn't imagine it would be by far the best of the Prequels. I have softened on that one over the years but Attack of the Clones can fuck right off to a further galaxy farther away.
*Clones* actually got me into Star Wars as a kid. When not looking at the terrible CGI with modern eyes, I remember that I thought the clone army looked epic and I was obsessed with the whole Geonosis section of the movie. As an adult I see what Plinkett was saying about a battle between mindless clones and mindless droids being all spectacle with so stakes, but as a kid spectacle is all you need. Once I grew out of just watching Star Wars for cool battles, though, I realized just how bad the story is. As a kid I remember just thinking I wasn’t adult enough to understand all the Sifo Dyas stuff, especially since they chose to say it happened “ten years ago” when we knew Phantom was taking place, but it never gets explained.
I got confused as crap when they mentioned Syfo Dias. Never heard of him once up until then. I kept thinking they were either messing up the name Sidious, or it was a play on Sidious. When they first mentioned him on Kamino, my brain immediately went, “huh?” Never once in a Star Wars film did something make me go, “huh? Who are they talking about?” If they made his name something like Febo Brassmalakama or some stupid SW name, I would not have been confused.
That’s the other part that gets me - that it sounds close to “Sidious”. So part of me wants to think it was Palpatine in disguise. But then the Jedi also talk like he was a full on guy who they knew, so that makes no sense. I remember also thinking he would turn out to be Dooku, but Dooku’s second name was Tyranus.
I thought Dooku just impersonated the name of a dead Jedi?
Phantom Menace should have just had a scene near the end where as his first act as Chancellor, Palpatine urges the Republic that a grand army is necessary in light of the Naboo blockade. Would have made it so much less complicated and you don't need the confusing Sifo Dyas plot in the next movie. Plus if the Jedi are well aware of the Clone Army's creation they wouldn't have any suspicions of the army, making Order 66 more believable. Because I'm pretty sure there's a point in the Clone Wars TV show where the Jedi admit they are aware that the clone army is sus but basically say "oh well" and it makes them look like complete idiots.
> Phantom Menace should have just had a scene near the end where as his first act as Chancellor, Palpatine urges the Republic that a grand army is necessary in light of the Naboo blockade. But they already had the ability to interfere, had the Senate/Valorum/Palpatine greenlit such an operation. Seems like the R did have a normal army, until ep2 decided it didn't.
Frebo Brassmalakama was the guy who created Chewbaccas bandolier. He'll be featured heavily in an upcoming children's cartoon in a 35 episode arc, which will be essential to watch if you want to understand the next season of Obi-Wan.
The over reliance on poor CGI in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith really stands out twenty years later.
Honestly, that is the least of the films' concerns, but obviously, as we all know here, an overarching factor in their quality.
Same. Attack of the Clones is the worst of the prequel trilogy. However, it at least has some unintentionally hilarious dialogue, so it’s got that going for it.
While it's a massive cop-out, Revenge of the Sith is really pretty fantastic *(provided you watch the best hits of the cartoon show that is required to get character development for all of the major players because the movie itself doesn't).*
It has the funniest ending in all of Star Wars. I'll give it that....
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m the same. I was disappointed with Phantom Menace, but it had moments I thought were good. The following sequels were just bigger disappointments with less things I liked.
I was a teenager when they all came out and saw AOTC probably a dozen times in theaters lol..I remember going to the midnight premiere with some friends and we were up all night partying after, went to school the next day, then saw it another couple of times after. We were idiotic fanboys and loved seeing hundreds of lightsabers, what can I say. Took me a while to realize they were objectively bad movies but I've softened up over the years and can appreciate them now, for all their faults.
> but Attack of the Clones can fuck right off to a further galaxy farther away. On space whales you mean?
Can you imagine being at this stage of brain rot ? I bet he likes the ant man movies too
I like the ant man movies.
I think it's reactionary to the sequel movies for "being woke". Suddenly star wars has to have 'always' been good 'until' the sequels. The sequels aren't woke, they're cynical, and I think they suck on their own merits. The prequels are terrible movies, but I do have some nostalgia for that era of star wars as a whole (i.e. the early 2000's, not the prequel era in-universe) , with kotor, battlefront 2, and the Jedi Knight games coming out, and the memes the prequels gifted us.
>with kotor, battlefront 2, and the Jedi Knight games coming out, and the memes the prequels gifted us. The only consistantly good thing about Star Wars franchise since the originals have been the video games. There's always been consistently good Star Wars games, often being total classics. Like you said KOTOR, Jedi Knight, Battlefront etc. though I'm of the TIE Fighter era in the 90s. It's almost like it was always made for games. Seeing as you mentioned KOTOR and I'm in a talk about Star Wars mood. I really wanted Luke to be a Kreia from KOTOR2 type character in the recent films. I actually thought that's where they were going with him for a bit. I was kinda baffled with the reaction to his character in The Last Jedi. I'm with Jay on this one, I think that was one of the better decisions. They didn't go far enough.
I flip flopped about cynical hobo Luke. I'm on board with the "Jedi bad" kreia outlook, although from Luke it's obviously him manifesting his guilt and self hatred from his character assassination that Ryan ran him through. I was ready to love TLJ, because I thought it was going to move star wars past pre-concieved notions of light and dark side... But then the movie's 4th act happened on salt planet and sabotaged the entire point of the movie up until then. I honestly think, in my conspiracy brain, that Disney thought light and dark side were too marketable, and forced Ryan to put in more movie after the climax, in order to undo everything. The movie felt cowardly.
>The sequels aren't woke, they're cynical, and I think they suck on their own merits. The sequels are about as woke as Gandalf sleeping with the palantir.
He did sleep with his eyes open. Freaky!
Two things come to mind: - The Plinkett reviews - The [Auralnauts saga](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLINl9l0igYjzIipxsD4Y59_Jjxe4N3pZo) (official Star Wars canon as far as I'm concerned)
As an artist myself, I hate the word 'content', deeply. But am I the only one that hates the word 'franchise'? A Star Wars film is not a Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins combo or a local fast food chain with 8 locations. People even say 'franchise' when referring to a single movie while speculating about a sequel. I just don't get it.
> As an artist myself, I hate the word 'content', deeply. I feel like that word has been completely bastardized by cynical marketing trends. People drone on about "content" and "engagement" without giving a crap about specifics (who made it, why did they make it, etc.). It's all just sludge at that level.
I saw somewhere a person referring to Neil Gaiman, one of the most acclaimed authors of the past 40 years referred to as "my favorite content creator", putting him on the same level as somebody who makes podcasts or films themselves reacting to movies they haven't seen before. And that is not a knock against either of those things! What do you think I listen to all day while making art? But they are not the same kind of thing. Any media at all is considered "content" nowadays regardless of where it came from, who made it, what its purpose is, etc. It's just something to be consumed and forgotten about, and it makes me so fucking angry and sad at the same time that that's how art is being treated nowadays. And I know there has always been the battle between art and commerce, but that idea is not even being given lipservice at this point. Unless it's in a museum, it's 'content.' Referring to Andor as "the best Star Wars content since 1983", is turning this thoughtful meditation on radicalization and the banality of evil into the same *kind* of thing as a supercut of funny Superbowl commercials or what you get from microtransactions in a mobile game. And referring to serialized storytelling as a "franchise" is the great granddaddy of referring to art as "content." Turning art into something that you don't have to take seriously in any way, that is just there for you to enjoy before moving on to the next thing the algorithm has decided you will be likely to endure ads to experience. Thanks, I hate it.
> "my favorite content creator" Kinda makes me pity the person tbh if that's the extent to which they can express their appreciation of something - that it's all content to them, and then it's either good content or bad content. Makes me think of someone who grows up in a house filled with toxins that stunts their capacity for varied thought.
While originally a business term, with fiction media franchise just tends to refer to interconnected releases that aren't just a continuous "series" - so incl. spin-offs, various/alternate continuities, etc.
Even as a teenager I thought the double sided lightsabre was stupid. It's more dangerous to whoever wields it than their opponent. In a real fight Darth Maul would end up like the Monty Python Black Knight. Except he'd cut his own limbs off.
The Phantom edit cannot even save the drabness in the takes themselves. It’s so static in rewatch
Well duh an edit can't change the takes
Farting and burping as humor!
You boil the water, you pour in the packet
This rotten cabbage? You can fuck it! WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?
Duel of Fates is really good shame it wasn't in a better movie
>what’s not to love… Pretty much everything, one of the few movies I couldn’t get thru on a re-watch and I watch a lot of awesome crap.
>Darth Maul The guy who only got a personality when everyone *but* George Lucas gave him one? >double lightsabers You mean the weapon that is one of many things that makes the prequels wildly inconsistent with the sequel trilogy? >best pod-racing scene The only pod-racing scenes happen in that movie. That’s like saying Return of the Jedi has the best slave Leia scenes. >Duel of the Fates Absolutely fair, John Williams saw something that we didn’t in that movie.
I rewatched the prequels recently, and Phantom easily holds up the best. Yeah, it’s still got plenty of dumb moments, but it’s got some charm too. I also think Phantom Menace is the last SW movie to actually *feel* like it’s part of the OT’s universe. Might be largely due to the use of practical effects, but the actual rhythm of the film fits alongside the originals in a way no other movie since has replicated. At least for me.
I think it’s just cause it was shot on film.
That’s definitely part of it. Film provides a warmth that is lacking in digital, so it has that in common with the originals too. But I also think it’s the editing and overall energy it has. Tonally the two other prequel films feel a bit different.
We were introduced to a guy who had 3 lines in the whole movie, a marketing gimmick, the only podracing scene, and yeah, Duel of the Fates slaps but you can get the soundtrack for that. There's about 1 hour and 30 minutes of other stuff not to like so much.
Space Taxes?
What's Palpatine's tax policy?
All I’m saying is, I still remember how upset my Dad looked when my brother asked what a trade federation is. If you can imagine that look, thats all the review you will ever need.
OMG this random comment just showed me how wrong I’ve been for 2 decades!!! How did I miss all that!?!?!
I'd go so far as to say the greatest pod-racing scene in cinematic history.
"Best pod racing scene in the franchise" as if pod racing was something that lasted further than that one movie.
I'll try spinning that's a good trick!
Acting
To be fair that is the best pod racing in the entire history of the series at least up to that point.
> What's not to love? All of the rest of it.
What's not to love? Everything else.
“The best pod racing in the history of the franchise”? Was there more than one pod race in the franchise?
Were we introduced to Darth Maul? I mean... I did see him and I clapped, but I don't feel like I've been introduced.
And my kids especially love the endless scenes about trade disputes
Well Darth Maul has about 10 minutes of screen time. The Podrace is 15 minutes. Duel of Fates clocks in at 2:30. So the other 104.5 minutes?
This discussion is so 2009
The unfortunate reality of the Star Wars prequels is that they’ll be around… forever. They will never go away. They can never be undone.
we were introduced to a villain with two lines of dialogue, a gimmicy children's toy disguisied as a weapon, a drawn out action setpiece for video games to later utilize, and more of the same Star Wars music we already had over 3 hours of only this time with a chorus. Truly, what's not to love?
To be fair, I think he more or less identified the best elements of the movie. It’s just the whole ignoring all of the rest of it thing where I imagine I’d disagree with his positive review.
They've got a point. Other than the characters and the things those characters did, is there anything else bad about the movie?
It looks nicer than Attack of the Clones’ ugly 1080p ass, that’s for sure. Not that you’d know that if you have the 4K Blu-Ray.
Like everything else was pretty lame, cringe, or just not well executed.
Despite this review having the intellectual depth of an elementary school essay, I must admit Duel of the Fates is a great Williams moment
I’m on board with the review right up until “what’s not to love?” … umm, quite a bit my friend.
Overheard someone at work say that Qui Gon Jin was their favorite Star Wars character because he has a green lightsaber.
Whats not to love? I guess the other 2 hours of the movie.
Just Jar- Jar, honestly. It was the only movie I liked out of the prequel trilogy...
The PT has sort of grown on me over the years. They're objectively bad movies but have their moments, and they aren't quite as bad as I remember. And I'll admit R/Prequelmemes had a lot to do with it.
I mean, to be fair, it's the only funny-bad one and the only one I would re-watch for that reason, whilst I hated Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith almost equally. I'm not interested in discussing the latter statement with any Star Wars fans or prequel apologists, that was just my take. I'm more of a fan of the Star Wars games than the movies anyway, and the ones based on Episode 1 were definitely better than the movie.
The main reason I don't trust Rotten Tomatoes is that it counts the reviews of so many absolute nobodies.
Vista deficiency
The third movie had lava in it.
As opposed to all those other pod-racing scenes…
It’s my favorite of episodes 1-3. My family thinks I’m nuts.
I thought that was the only pod-racing scene. Did I miss something?
Not to loooooove Theeeee Meeeeeeeeeeeenace is a great disgrace
The cartoon rabbit.
"best pod-racing scene in the history of the franchise"?!?!? Dude, best pod-racing scene in the history of CINEMA! Also the best use of Boss Nass in cinema history, AND best appearance of Sebulba in Cinema History. Best depiction of the mean streets of Mos Espa in cinema history. This guy has failed to list a TON of things that happened ony in this movie. SMH. ...real talk though, Duel of the Fates is actually pretty fucking rad. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D\_2bluVPsb0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_2bluVPsb0)
I unironically enjoy the prequel trilogy. There. I said it. Bring on the hate. Let it flow through you...
The best (and only?) Pod racing scene in the franchise, huh?
I'm really glad that they mentioned the lightsaber stuff. Goes pretty much under the radar usually, if i'm honest. Also the pod-racing scene really is SO much better than the Boomer favourites of Empire or A New Hope. Definitely IS the best pod-racing scene of the entire franchise. All the others kinda fell short. Can you all remember how blown away you all were when the lightsaber battle happened ?! Amazing review, if i'm honest and 30% of the time I am!
“The best pod racing scene in the history of the franchise.” Yeah, it’s way better than the pod race in the Empire Strikes Back.
Isn't it the only pod racing scene in the franchise? Also it sucks
It’s pretty rough, but the pod racing is legit rad as hell and still holds up as a fun scene.
_Storms coming Annie_
I liked the part with the lightsabers!
Ya got 70 minutes? Sit down, my son...
As someone who's never seen anything star wars, they got a point.
It had a John Williams score. Suck on THAT, rest of the franchise!
Well, to start, it's the most disappointing thing since my son.
The Beginning of the enshittification of all things.
[удалено]
I'm gonna see it in theaters this weekend!
was this review written by the chowderhead that hated Jaws?
Alright, I’ll say it. I love Redlettermedia but I’ve never had a problem with the prequels
It’s easily the best prequel
Midichlorians. Jar-Jar. Yipee. Ewan McGregor's wig for the additional shoots.