There was a post on Reddit a few weeks back. Apparently these are still around in random small town malls.

That moment at the end when the movie started....

Ever since the day I saw that movie I have tried to put into words that feeling when "a long time ago in a galaxy far far away" came up on the screen followed by the score and I don't even know how to really describe it.

It was a cross somewhere between surreal, pure joy, and this feeling like somehow my childhood was coming back to life against all odds. Amazing that's a movie can do that to you.

Proud Dad moment...

My 5 year old daughter and I have now watched Episodes 4 and 5 together. I was actually kind of dreading it because she is such a Disney Princess girl. But her Hobby horse is now a TaunTaun, she begs me to do Yoda impressions, and she is super excited to have a big secret to keep from her little sister (Vader is Luke's dad). She didn't believe the reveal and said something like "wait, what's going on here? Is this real?"


We are watching Ep1 TPM next... she's about to fall in love with podraces, Obiwan, and (please god no) JarJar...

Oh well, I can already see her laughing at all of JarJars idiocy.

But I am so happy she's becoming a Star Wars girl,

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Proud Dad moment...

My 5 year old daughter and I have now watched Episodes 4 and 5 together. I was actually kind of dreading it because she is such a Disney Princess girl. But her Hobby horse is now a TaunTaun, she begs me to do Yoda impressions, and she is super excited to have a big secret to keep from her little sister (Vader is Luke's dad). She didn't believe the reveal and said something like "wait, what's going on here? Is this real?"


We are watching Ep1 TPM next... she's about to fall in love with podraces, Obiwan, and (please god no) JarJar...

Oh well, I can already see her laughing at all of JarJars idiocy.

But I am so happy she's becoming a Star Wars girl,

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My daughter is 4, and we had a similar "wha......?" moment. She actually didn't catch it during Empire, but then DID catch it during Jedi when Yoda was talking to Luke. I was like, how in the world did you not notice when Vader yelled it, but you did pull it out of this quiet intimate conversation??

Anyways, I tricked her into liking Star Wars by telling her all about Princess Leia before ever watching the movie, bc she too loves Disney princesses. Worked like a charm!

Kids are so dumb.

Oldie but a goodie. Time for a Episode One Jedi party!

Love the idea of this rewatch project. Rewatched it over the past couple of days. Not a whole lot to add that hasn't been said a hundred times about this movie. It ranks 9th on my list (ahead of Attack of the Clones), it's not a good movie in my opinion, but it has several moments where it almost becomes one.


What I like:

John Williams is his usual self. Duel of the Fates is an all time great piece of music made even greater because it plays over one of the all time greatest lightsaber fights. The moment Maul emits his double blade man.

Side note: I know that they are on opposite sides, but if in Episode IX we get a similar moment with Rey (don't show her using a double blade in any promotional material), I think it would be incredible. Maybe in a final fight with Kylo or the Knights of Ren or something. I'd lose it.

Pod racing sequence is fun.

I like sequences where we get to see the Jedi actually be Jedi (escaping the Trade Federation ship and escaping Naboo, fight scene with Maul, etc.)


What I don't like:

The things I don't like about the movie are the same as everyone else. The dialogue is bad and the acting is worse in some places. The plot isn't impossible to follow, but I think it's way more complicated than it needs to be. Killing off Maul completely (at least for the Prequels) was a dumb move. Midichlorians was a stupid addition to Star Wars Lore, as is the Virgin Birth of Anakin. Jar Jar is unneccessary in every sense of the word. The time spent on Coruscant is terribly slow and boring in my opinion.


What I'd Change:

I think if I could change Episode I in just one way, I'd make Anakin a teen as many others have suggested. Yes, the Jedi Counsel says he's too old at 9, so what. They can tell him the same thing at 16 or 17, and Qui-Gon can still get his way. This fixes a lot of problems on its own, but there are dozens of other little things I think you could tweak and keep the story mostly the same. Change it from kid Anakin accidentally winning the space battle to teen Anakin knowingly taking a ship in order to prove himself. Allow Maul to survive his encounter with Obi-Wan, setting up a Sith Villain we can root against in the next film. I think the concept of a "Trade Federation" is much more complicated than it needs to be as a villain, and would look for something simpler.

I'd also add that allowing Anakin to be found as a teenager could dramatically shift the narrative in II and III. Instead of the 10 year time skip, we could have Attack of the Clones be all about Anakin actually learning and bonding with Obi-Wan, instead of the two being separated very early on so he can play the romantic bodyguard and Obi-Wan can play Sherlock Holmes in space. I get that his and Padme's relationship also needed to be built up, but man I really think that's something the prequels could have explored more (I know the animated series probably delves into that, but I still count it a miss on the movie's part). Us getting to see their relationship build in II would make the gut punch that comes in III all that more effective. I think the only narrative value to making Anakin a child is that you get to show how "in tune with the force" he was at such a young age and also the ability to play on the fear of a child losing his mother. I'm not sure that these reasons outweigh the bad.


Favorite Tracks:

• Duel of the Fates (duh)
• Qui-Gon's Noble End
• The Droid Invasion and the Appearance of Darth Maul

It's a really good soundtrack. Anakin's Theme, the music from the Podracing sequences, Panaka and the Queen's Protectors, and of course Augie's Great Municipal Band are all really good tracks too. The Prequels deservedly catch a lot of heat, but John Williams brings it for each and every one of these movies.


Side Note:

I loved the video game version of Phantom Menace, which we played on my buddy's PlayStation. I'm pretty sure he had a Game Shark which gave us infinite health and all the weapons. We'd run around on Tatooine killing random NPCs with a lightsaber and jumping on rooftops, it was like Star Wars Grand Theft Auto. I don't even know if we ever beat the game.

I'm sorry. That was a lot of words, more than I intended, but I'm really excited about this rewatch. I think I only watched the OT back before TFA came out, so this should be fun.

PDWT_12 said:

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Qui-Gon's Noble End

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The ultimate spoiler of all spoilers.

Glad I didn't care about soundtracks back then.

Also forgot to mention, one of my favorite Weird Al songs came along thanks to this movie.

RPM said:

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John Williams was wool gathering when he scored TPM or just lazy. It's a totally awesome soundtrack but it was a rehash of Raiders of the Lost Ark score.

If you listen to the music during the truck scene when indy is driving with the Ark through the jungle (oasis?) there are definitely strong similarities between some of the music theme for the droid invasion/trade Federation.

This is really no surprise since the Indy lovey Dovey theme with Marian is way similar to the Leia mushy theme from ESB and RotJ. I'm sure there are other similarities too but I've never tuned into the Raiders music quite so close.

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boo this man