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Review:Star Wars:The Phantom Menance
Is it everything the world has hyped it up to be? Of course not. Is it a good movie? Yeah. Are we (the old school Star Wars fanatics) going to be happy? Not all of us... maybe not even most of us. The thing to remember is that in the last 20 years a lot has changed. Standards have risen, and we've read more into a few simple movies than any of its creators ever imagined. 3 movies that were pretty good. Flawed to be sure, but entertaining. And this movie is no different.
The plot loosely follows a pair of Jedi: The Master (Liam Neeson) and The Apprentice (Ewan McGregor) off to save the planet Naboo. There's a sidetrack to Tatooine where a kid (anakin, duh) is discovered. There's There's some daring do, a big battle scene, intergalactic politics, a kick ass bad guy, and a happy ending with a big question mark.
The movie is a fun ride, but it is flawed. Jar Jar Binks is one of the most annoying charachters to grace the silver screen. But does he ruin the movie? Well... no more than Mark Hamil in Star Wars. Remember that movie? Do you remember how annoying he is? Welcome to George Lucas directing. Annoying charachters just happen to be Lucas's dark side. Frankly I wish he would have been edited out, reduced, or at least given a less obnoxious voice. The whole audience seemed to cringe during any major Jar Jar sequence. It was painful.
But most of the other charachters are pretty cool. Obi Wan and Qui Gonn are both cool. The Queen is pretty excellent (and actually quite believable, except when she's holding her blaster) Anakin seems to be taking a lot of criticism, but he does a good job:a few "Yippees!" and cute little boy facial expressions could have been edited out, but as a whole he does a good job. R2D2 and C3PO are in there and pretty cool. Palpatine is dull and predictable, and Darth Maul- while even more predictable, is truly a joy to watch in battle.
Another common criticism is the mysticism overload. Its definitely there- and some of it is really campy. They've come up with a way to "measure" the force in people. Of course Anakin is off the charts. The worst part is the blatant references to the boy as a messianic charachter inserted so loudly that my brain was realing from the impact. But beyond those 2 glaring flaws, there was a lot of expansion of the Jedi myths that most fans will probably enjoy.
Visually the movie is astounding. Very colorful and detailed. The fx are largely quite astounding. The cursed Jar Jar is well animated in many scenes (less so in others). The senate is visually impressive- definitely added a lot to the political part of the film. The space battles are great.
The fighting rules. Watching Maul do battle with a pair of skilled Jedi is just awesome. That alone is worth the price of admission. Obi Wan vs. Darth Vader and Luke vs. Darth Vader is nothing compared to this.
So does Lucas have his masterpiece? No. Does he have a good movie? Yeah. And will he learn and round out his trilogy with a pair of stronger "Jar Jar Free" movies. God I hope so. But who am I kidding, I'll be there even if the second movie is "Jar Jar's Revenge".
Like when JaJa stepped in shit, or got his face farted on.
And The Force? its no longer some metaphysical morality thing, now its a microorganism in the blood. They even have a force-meter. Totally ruined the other 3 movies by coming out with this one
I've seen it twice already and am going to see it for a third time today. Enough said.
Perhaps Lucas has introduced these micro-organisms in Episode 1 only to have them debunked in Episodes 2 & 3 in favor of more spiritual explanation for the force. This seems like the classic science vs. religion debate. Somehow, I think Yoda and the other members of the Jedi council place little belief in meta-chloreans as a total indicator of a Jedi's power.
...after they come out with some crap like that. The force was supposed to be something larger and more incomprehensable than science could define, but this movie screwed that idea with those funkin micro-organisms.
The whole big deal about the first movie (or first three) was that so little information was given that it created a kind of mystery, and all of us Star Wars nerds thought something more clever and complex was going on.
Not so in this one.
What a disappointment.
Tim^2
man *god;
god = new man[INF];
god[777]=tim^2;
"Particles of the Force... oh, spoiler information inside, don't read!"
That doesn't help! If you're going to mention spoiler information, have at least the courtesy to say that IN the header...
did anyone else see the ET like creatures in the senate scene? watch the lower left hand side when the queen calls for a vote of no confidence.
wierd...
I spotted the Queen decoy routine when she asked to come along to the space port. Anybody see it earlier? The queen is a babe. Best part of the movie. Darth Maul second best part.
As for Jar Jar, he seemed to me to be the reason lightsabers were invented. I loved C3PO, and the fact that he was built by Darth Vader and pals around with the R2 unit that brought down the Empire is a hoot. Palpatine was great. The force being little microbes just sucks awful, although I like the idea of it being a red-herring.
Remember that when Vader hunted and wiped out the Jedi much Jedi knowledge was destroyed. I would bet that things will get alot more detailed in the next movies.
The many after-trillogy books also give alot of new Jedi technology that is rediscovered my Luke.
And I think Jake does a good job with Anakin, remeber Anakin is nine years old. You go find me a nine year old kid who isn't annoying after 2+ hours...... he isn't evil yet.
okay, why in the hell did the put the main reactor core in the hangar? that's just asking for trouble. ya know... rogue droid, out of control ship, little punk kid with good luck, etc. saw it on wednesday in biloxi, MS, and the place was only half full. overall though i thought it was a pretty good movie. will probably see it again but not for a week or so.
I agree... I'd bet that the mitochloreans sort of "warp" the fabric of the Force, much in the way that normal matter warps space-time: the more mitochloreans, the more warpage. That would explain why a Jedi (or Sith) can sense "the Force is strong" with someone -- in other words, his/her mitochloreans are warping the Force more than average. This would also explain why training in the use of the Force is necessary -- the mitochlorean-warpage is merely a *potential* that exists in the person, which needs training to develop. Hence people with lower potentials are not barred from using the Force, just that it would take much more training.
Not bad for a theory I just pulled outta thin air.... I've been a consultant too long.
>Mitochondria: Small genetic particles in every cell that govern how it works.
Are you sure you're not thinking of Parasite Eve?
:)
If you can't see Senator Palpatine as Julius Caesar or Anakin as a Christ figure, you're not looking hard enough.
Neither did yoda, if you remember. Yoda just
died, then reappeared later with Obi-Wan.
Lucas is just like Gates, surrounded by idiotic Yes-Men who only care about their cool technology, not the fact that the base of what they are working on is a rotten corpse (the plot and character development of the movie SUCKED!)
It is now up to someone else to make decent, believable Sci-Fi movies with cool characters, good dialog, and decent writing. Lucas must be left behind to rot in this stinking pile of Jar Jar Doo.
> Also, it kind of bothered me that Qui Gonn
> didn't disappear when he was killed by Darth
> Maul like Obi Wan and Yoda did.
Vadar was burned by luke after he died too.
Remember that Obi Wan and Yoda died by choice
so that could be why they disappeared.
>Mitochondria: Small genetic particles in every >cell that govern how it works.
May wanna check yer facts there, buddy. Mitochondria are little "organelles" that are a cell's energy makers. They are the instruments of the cellular respiratory process. Mitochondria contain no genetic material whatsoever. The Nucleus (keeper of ALL the DNA) is the controller.
But, otherwise, you might be right-on. Mitochondia didn't develop in the cell. They were once their own organism who moved into a symbiotic relationship with eukariot (sp? sorry) cells.
They were probably meant to be tied in the movie, but I think Lucas will de-bunk it later.
CAPiehl
"The best revenge is living well"
-Oscar Wilde
Just saw it yesterday, so pardon if I missed
something, but didn't yoda (maybe another
of the jedi council) mention that the cith race
is supposed to be extinct?
There was also a line somewhere (in a conversation b/w the emperor (who was obviously the senator) and the Cith that alluded to something like a longstanding battle b/w the jedi and the Cith. Anyone else get that?, or know what the story is?
We already know that anikin has fear in him which leads to anger then hate then the dark side. He goes to free the slaves in #2 and his mother dies. fear leads to anger leads to hate.... he also gets his digs on with the queen and luke and leia are born in time for three. during three anikin turns to the dark side and we see luke and leia shipped out. three HAS to have a shitty ending.
have a nice day.
Actually mitochondria do contain genetic material. This material is only passed down on the mothers side. It was through the study of mutation rates of mitochondrian DNA that the finding that all humans desended from a single woman (the so called Eve) from Africa about 200,000 - 250,000 years ago.
>Mitochondria contain no genetic material whatsoever.
This is absolutely false. Mitochontria (and chloroplasts) possess their own DNA and reproduce themselves without aid of the host cell. Mitochondrial DNA is an unsheathed ring of nucleotides, much like that of prokaryotic organisms (bacteria). In the early evolution of life, bacteria probably 'infected; other larger cells. The result just so happened to be advantageous instead of detrimental, and a symbiosis was born that continues to this day. Mitochondria, though, can no longer survive on their own, but then, the host cell cannot survive without the mitochondria either. So who controls who? Neither. That's what symbiosis is.
Yes. THX1138 was his best film,
and his first Sci-Fi.
I can't find a place to rent it to me,
and wheres the DVD?
You also hear it in the first trailer just before the podrace scene...
Very cool.
TPM WAS made for kids. But why was it for kids. I guess money was behind it but still Star Wars and Empire were for everybody. Shit I was 4 when I went to see Empire and I didn't need any "Jar-Jar cute and funny" character to want to go out and buy every damn toy I saw. And how come I go to the toy store and there are rows and rows of Jar-Jars and no Darth Mauls. Jar-Jar is in the whole movie. Darth Maul is in it for about ten minutes.
"Spaceballs the Flamethrower! The kids love this one."--Yogurt
as far as seeing wierd things in the background,
at one point during the senate scene, you can see 3 or 4
aliens that look just like E.T. in the lower right corner of the
screen
how much can you build up a relationship between a 8-10 yr. old boy and a 16-ish year old queen.
Not a lot. Outside of a child porn film, that is.
Every movie has flaws just like the first trilogy but they overcome that not due to special effects but because of INTERESTING, LIKABLE CHARACTERS.
Take away the stupid childish crap in this movie that most people don't like and you are still left with the VOID OF LIKABLE REALISTIC SOMEWHAT DEEP CHARACTERS.
The 2nd point is all of COOL DIALOG in the first 3 films. Stuff like "thats no moon
G & M, you got this already...
I just got back from my second viewing of the film and I really have to say that I thought it was incredible. To me, the magestic views of the
planets, the amazing-looking creatures and especially the dark, mysterious beauty of the Star Wars Universe was conveyed in a way that the first 3 movies simply couldn't have done.
I thought that Natalie Portman as the Queen/Padme was played perfectly for
the part, and the greater compassion and emotion that Padme showed was a
great contrast to the monotone seriousness of the Queen. It was almost as
if Padme was the "human" side while the queen was cold and vacant, like
space itself.
Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan I thought were great - Needless to say, their parts
along with Darth Maul the devil were amazing in the last half hour - which
I think was my favorite half-hour of the entire StarWars saga! -.
I thought that JarJar was funny and on second viewing, I actually enjoyed
everything he said (exept "egads!"). The PodRace completely swept me away,
and most importantly, I can say that I really believed the entire movie; I
bought every character as genuine, and sit in awe of Lucas for his
imagination, his vision, and his bravery to show the CGI characters so
close-up. This was a wonderfull movie, and I really feel sorry for the
critics who didn't seem to see the magic and fun of it.
If I had to make any criticism, it would be this: I thought some parts
felt a bit rushed:
-Anakin's leaving his mother and home
-The realization that Padme is truly the Queen
Also, I felt that the Jesus-refrence (Anakin's virgin birth) was a bit too
obviously placed.
Other than that, I can say that I can't wait to see this movie again and
again, and as a film, I thought it had everything and then-some on the
first three. I say "and then some" because by comparision, I really
think that this is clearly the product of a more mature writer - When I first saw Princess Leia running through the corridors of the DeathStar and
Luke and Han going to save her, I thought I'd never see anything like it
that could capture my interest and imagination. Now I have; The Mystery
and beauty and drama of Episode I almost make some of the
first three films look...(how to say this..)... more innocent and
traditional in nature.
I am and will always be a fan of the origional Star Wars. But, Episode I
has really given me something new to love and something that has effected
me just as profoundly as the origionals.
I loved Episode I and can't wait to see it (and it's sequels) again and
agin.
>What has me the most curious is how they manage >to completely forget about these little mickey->chlorines in the next two episodes.
I'll have to check the books to get the exact
spelling but I heard it as "midichlorians".
In the movie they are described as the symbiotic organisms which live in our cells and are the mediators between higher life forms and the "force".
I suspect this came from "mitochondria" and "chloroplasts" which are the energy-producing parts of the cell. It was recently shown that these cellular components were actually once seperate organisms which began to live symbiotically with cells (many millions of years ago). THis idea was once controversial (put forward by Lynn Marguilis) but has now become accepted as likely to be true.
Anyway, it's very easy to explain where they
go in episodes 4,5,6:
All the Jedis get wiped out in 1,2,3, with (presumably) only Yoda and Obi-Wan remaining. Along with them goes the store of "scientific" knowledge about the force, such as the explanation above. By #4 the empire's generals
consider the "force" to be "mystical".
I always liked to think that when Obi Wan and Yoda died, they handed their "experience" or "control" or something to Luke to prepare him for his upcoming battle with his father. I think this could be both supported and debunked by Episode I. We know that Darth has more force-potential than anyone else, so Yoda and Obi-Wan giving theirs to Luke might have been to beef up his power. On the other hand, if the power resides in the Midichlorians (which ISN'T totally explained in the movie) then a handing-over doesn't make sense. Oh, well.
Bleh. No I didn't stay to the bitter end, but it wasn't my choice. You see, the cinema complex decided that Williams' last bars in the song were less important than their desire to clean the rows of seats. Doesn't that seem a bit mean? I wanted to bludgeon that film monkey who did it, but I'm too nice for that, so I left.
Just curious, but does anyone else think this was something the twelve of us left in the theatre should be saying 'How rude' to? (Yes, Jar Jar must needs be killed quickly.) It was like being shortchanged. I guess I'll go again tonight and see how that bloody song really ends.
iad
And semantics seem to be a VERY important thing to Obi-Wan. He also said that Luke's father was killed by Darth Vader, which is accurate, from a certain point of view?
Hey, if Obi Wan was around R2-D2 as a young man, how come he doen't remember him (or vice versa) by the time Episode IV comes around?
Maybe the R2D2 memory gets erased between I and IV, but I would think a Jedi would remember the droid that saved the ship.
Also, both C-3PO and R2D2 should comment on returning to Tatooine in IV (C-3PO was built there after all), unless of course their memory gets erased...
Did anyone notice that during the scene after Jar Jar binks and Qui-gon (and Obi Wan), that Qui-gon's line of sight with Jar Jar looks off (Qui-gon looks too much to the left)? It looked obvious and made it very hard to accept what I was seeing as anything realistic.
Yeah that whole micro-whatever explanation of where the force comes from was rotten...the first thing that jumped into my mind was "Lucas has been watching too much Berman-era Star Trek".
That kind of explanation STINKS of post-Next Gen Star Dreck writing.
>But then couldn't somebody become a Jedi master by getting a blood transfusion?
If the Mito-chloria(whatever) / mitochondria analogy holds up, then a blood transfusion will not help you. Blood cells have no mitochondria in them. They's why they don't live long and need the bone marrow to continually crank out more cells.
It took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Giving alien races and cultures such blatant Earth derivatives is an abdication of creative responsibility. Why not just give all the aliens pointy ears if you are just trying to create a transparent allegory?
Maybe "Darth" is the lesser of the two Sith Lords. You know how they said the Sith Lords always some in Two (no less, no more - Yoda).
Maybe Darth is a designation given to the apprentice?
I heard on the radio that there is a scene in which Anakin's shadow looks like Darth's helmut.
Can anybody confirm this and tell me which scene it is?
By now I saw the movie only one time but a friend
with whom I went saw it for the second time. He
is a 3d-animator and he told me that in a
particular scene (young Anaking inviting Jar Jar
and the Jedis to stay at his place for protection
against the sand storm), the moment they enter
the room Jar Jar is floating a bit above ground.
I have no possibility to see the movie again
until August but I would like to have
confirmation. Thanx
In the books that start after Jedi ends, Luke eventually tries to start a Jedi Academy. His trouble is finding people who are strong in the force. He ends up having to travel the galaxy looking following clues and then detecting people with the Force. He never mentions these particles that are supposed to be in Jedi's.
I wonder if that's an oversight or if there is more (or less) to these particles than we are led to believe in the first movie?
I tend to think of the vanishing part as more of a sacrifice than dying. Obi Wan has time to steel himself, and notes that if Vadar kills him he'll be more powerful. Same deal with Yoda; with the time to prep himself for dying he is able "transistion."
Qui-Gonn gets run through rather unexpectedly, but moreover, he wasn't (we assume) as experienced as the others. The Siths, being evil, have focused their energies on the Dark Side, with its more offensive and destructive nature, have no concept of self sacifice.
If I were really evil, I'd get some vats producing those little force-parasites and then, with a bit of genetic engineering, design a kick-ass army of death with "the force" pouring out of their ears. But no, I guess Lucas' evil people build light-sabre-fodder drones to fight their wars. Come on! To hell with those art-crime rebels, anyway! (I might have more sympathy for them if only they were better actors!) For the average inhabitant of the galaxy, it won't make any difference at all whether they have a "Darth" monarch or some dull-as-hell queen. As I watched the movie, I thought "if these losers died, I wouldn't care." The only sense they have for their existence is that they will eventually befriend Han Solo, and then things will finally get interesting! If you haven't seen this movie yet, don't. But beer with your $$ instead.
I don't know, baby his flash ROM gets wiped out in the future...
After a nasty bout with the CIH virus, perhaps?
MC
The 4yo kid behind me laughed for a whole minute at the "exsqueeze-me" line. That, plus "how wude!" (in there several times, were ripoffs from Full House. That's the only part of the movie that made me want to vomit ;-) But Jar-Jar _definitely_ has kid appeal.
As her own decoy, she couldn't act her way out of a paper bag...
Yep, stayed to the end of the credits. It was worth it. But the part about it that cracked me up was who was listed as the actor that portrayed Jabba the Hutt. [-|
21. A little brat slave boy prefers to build PROTOCOL DROIDS rather than a tough ass-kicker robot like Terminator.
22. Even though a chosen messiah has 'special abilities', his childhood companions will still ridicule him and be skeptical about his chances of accomplishing anything.
23. George Lucas thinks the audience cannot grapple with cheering on an army that's killing other life forms. He uses robots as the enemy so the audience is only cheering the destruction of machinery.
24. Battalions of battle droids have no distributed processing abilities. Must depend on Microsoft NT server which is prone to crashes.
seth@sansa.net
The movie was not geared to a specific age group. You have the whole galactic politics and trade federation crap which was geared towards the older crowd and the Jar Jar Binks and Pod racer crap geared towards the younger crowd. I personally thought that the movie was awesome. The storyline is short but how much can you really fit in a movie that is expected to have two more sequels? I mean, think about it, everyone's been complaining about the storyline but does everyone take into consideration that there will be two more movies after this? As far as the Jar Jar scenes are concerned, I did not think he was annoying, he actually helps lighten up the entire storyline if you know what I am saying.
Not that I'm an expert in Star Wars or anything. But he didn't know he was going to make the other movies? Maybe so, but he definitely had a plan, afterall Star Wars does start with Episode IV, which kinda indicates he had direction.
Its a Star Wars movie, watching it just one time doesn't do it justice. So I'm waiting for a while so I can go back and truly enjoy the movie.
But Ewan McGregor with a lightsaber? I don't know, I really think he is a great actor, but he looks more appropriate with a heroin needle in his arm.
The last thing - everybody needs to realize that the first episode is just getting the series setup. We all know what happens, but how? Thats the fun part, and the first one is just getting everything rolling. Luckily, I don't imagine us seeing Jar Jar anymore.
Okay, I'm writing a lot. My only beef of the movie was that so many things were "accidental". I don't remember things like this happening in episodes 4-6. Okay, now back to your regular programming.
simon
I don't think Jaws was a kids' movie. When I saw Jaws for the first time I got nightmares that night.
The metachloridian thing doesn't really explain the 'Ghost' abilities of the dead Jedi. How can some microbe give you life after death?
Now I haven't seen the film yet and i'm trying very hard to avoid spoilers but the thing that strikes me is that people are taking the film out of context.
Now if you were 10 years old like the time you saw the first (4th) one you'd probably be awed (though perhaps we are all a little immune to whizbang flashes in this day and age). The real appeal of the trilogy to our generation is primarily that is was our childhood but also, and perhaps more importantly it was a story arc.
In isolation, A new hope had a flat bad guy with stupid mask, and irritating characters. ONLY as a trilogy do we see the redemption of Vader, the transition of Luke from wet behind the ears kid to Jedi with the weight of the universe on his back and Solo moving from wise cracking, happy go lucky guy to something deeper. It is the events that unfold around these central characters that determines their development and Lucas needed 3 films to develop these themes.
Now that he is making the prequel trilogy do you really expect him to break the mould? No of course not.
I for one will not take this film in isolation, rather will watch with interest the story of how Anakin, the golden boy falls from grace and in turn redeems himself.
As a film in isolation it is perhaps flat. All of the films in isolation were flat (Can you imagine only seeing Empire or Jedi?) - The franchise relies on, and gains its strength from the repeat custom guaranteed through an episode based structure...
just my 0.02 euros
Persistence is normally a word we reserve for something that persists. His review is complete. A better word would be consistency.
You are neurotic and should seek help.
Being struck by a light saber doesn't normally cause the person to disappear. Didn't Obi-Wan hit two characters (killing one?) in the Mos Eisley cantina? There bodies were lying on the floor afterward. Obi-Wan's disappearance was unusual, I think. Even Vader seemed surprised at it as he poked through Obi_Wan's robe.
The better question is why *did* Obi-Wan disappear?
i liked the movie, she is cute
isaac1@flash.net
One other point about the technology... We don't see the battle droids in episodes 4-6, but maybe that is (partly) because the emporer is strong in the force, as is Vader. Neither would put more trust into the droids to do what people could. Second possibility is they saw how their entire droid army was halted by destroying a single command ship and determined that it was too great a vulnerability.
i whole race of underwater babbling wierdos with no chicks?
did any of you guys notice any females? maybe they are asexual....now that would add to the jar jar character
We might actually get the same answer that was hinted at in referrence to the clone wars: maybe Vader had a mechanically supported midichlorian incubator with him?
;) - you know, the "Years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, a war was fought and an empire destroyed" line? Instead of Dr Evil, we got SB in the command chair, doing the "Expecting someone else?" part. Hilarious! Tell you what, I'd rather work in a company where the president will pull something like that off than under a nasty tie for "the right cause"... but that is an entirely different discussion ;)
Anyway. Biggest laugh I got out of this movie was the Steve Ballmer cameo in the Austin Powers preview we got (yeah, I work for the empire, and I like it
The first time I saw it I think I was overwhelmed by the number of animated alien characters and Jar-Jar's annoying voice. The second time was a ton better and I just saw it again with my sister and it was even better.
You notice alot more when you see it again, there is a group of E.T.'s, like from the movie in the Senate, as well as an apperance by Willow.
I'm not even sure I believe Luke and Leia will be a major part of III. I can imagine the movie ending with Palpatine being declared Emporer and doing nasty things, followed by a cut to the scene of hope as the kids are born (perhaps somewhere in hiding).
what exactly is 'The Phantom Menace'?
4. Sidious is not a Sith. Or were you referring to something else?
You are assuming that the Sith are a race. It could be that they are (now) an order, like the dark reflection of the Jedi.
>>> He then dissolves the Senate, declares himself emperor, reveals himself as a full-on Sith, and, after the death of Sidious (do these guys die?) begins recruitment of another apprentice (Vader).
Except that the Senate was not dissolved (if I remember correctly) until right around the beginning of Episode IV. Vader was already established.
Also, did Yoda actually say "no more, no less"? Or did he just say that there were two, a master and an apprentice. Maybe he was simply indicating that where there is one Sith, there is sure to be another.
The only reason why there weren't more women in this film is because women shouldn't be out acting in the first place. They should be in the kitchen cooking. Women have no place in acting.
Illegal? Possibly... but damn common as well
I personally live in LA, where 99.99999% of all movies are fully played through... straight to the movie rating (that big 'R' 'PG' etc screen) but I've heard horror stories about places like northern California where they trample all over the end of those movies, and just cut 'em. turn on the lights and boot the watcher's butts out into the street...
I think that you have really gone off the deep end in your analysis of this film. If you are going to be this hypercritical, you have to apply the same standard to the previous movies - for example:
Why do we have the supreme Jedi master fighting with a droid over a flashlight with a stick?
How come an unauthorized droid can access a control network on a Deathstar without running into security problems?
How can a couple of photon torpedeos (I thought this was Federation Technology) cause the near instant overload of a reactor system capable of powering a planet busting beam weapon?
How does a bounty hunter get into the presence of the almighty Jabba with a device as dangerous as a thermal detonator?
What does that giant worm in a cave in an asteriod eat and breathe?
Why do we have overly cutsie characters like Ewoks, R2DR and C3PO running around?
Isn't the plot device of Leia turning out to be Luke's sister pretty contorted?
Why do we have the mouth of the plant from 'Little Shop of Horrors' making an appearence in the remade Return of the Jedi?
What keeps the mighty Chewbacka from pulling the arms off of the obviously incompetant Han Solo?
Where does the Trash Compactor monster go during the compaction cycle?
How can storm troopers walk around on the ledge of the Death Star in open space?
Who really believes that you can trip an Imperial Walker with some cable shot out of a speeder?
Why, after being immersed in a swamp for a couple of weeks, is an Xwing completely undamaged?
The fact is that all fiction requires some suspension of disbelief. If you turn that off and become totally literal there is no way that any work of fiction is going to stand up to any serious level of scrutiny. If you want to argue that some of the occurances in Episode 1 destroyed your suspension of disbelief - fine, I won't argue that with you - Jar Jar in battle and the destruction of the destroyer were a bit much. But all that other stuff you cite could be applied to any of the other Star Wars movies just as easily.
Sidious is Palpatine. The reasoning for this is found in a term called lietmotif. It is a musical term that is used in composing. Basically the characters in the musical piece have certain melodies that define them. Such as Yodas theme or the Force theme. The background music that played when Sidious appeared with Darth Maul on Coursiant is the exact same as when the emperor came aboard the second Death Star in Jedi. So going by that fact I have to say that Sidious and the emperor are one and the same.
Well, there is another explanation to why he did not die. Both Obi Wan, and Yoda were extremely old at the time of death. Obi had to be at least 60 and possibly more like 70 or 80 when he died. Yoda is centuries old. You could theorize that they both were using the force to keep them alive and thus were becoming more "force" than flesh. Vader, may have disappeared, or at least his flesh could have, leaving behind the massive construct of metal that was keeping him alive. The fact that Vader most likely *did* vanish is held within the fact that he shows up in ghostly form at the end of the third movie during the party.
Samuel L. Jackson is a great actor, but no actor on earth could make Mace Windu's dialog sound like anything but bad lines from a science-fiction Scooby-Doo. Gee-whiz gang, maybe the dark jedi holds the key to the mystery of the sith!?! PLEASE!
The scene where R2-D2 "saved" the ship was not anything less than RETARDED, OOHH! one of the 3 droids didn't get smoked! So lets take twenty fucking minutes to point gleeming lights at the fact that EPISODE I has the same little trash-bucket as the 4,5, and 6.
The two pilots at the begining of the movie were most likely Lucas's nephews or something. For gods sakes, I have heard high school drama students with more acting skill [these guys sounded like 3rd graders reading from que cards!], thank goodness these two were wasted right away!
Quote from Star Wars: A New Hope PROLOGUE [the book!]:
"Once secure in office he declared himself Emporer, shutting himself away from the populace. Soon he was controled by the very assistance and boot-lickers he had appointed to high office, and the cries of the people for justice did not reach his ears."
Now after reading THE WHOLE prologue, one would believe that Palpatine was [in the beginning, at least] a good guy. However the SWTPM eludes to evidence of the contrary! In the next two movies, we'll see how it flushes out. LETS MAKE A BIG DEAL OF THIS! If they make Palpatine a full-fledged bad-guy it will ruin SW history. Lets not let all the holes and contradictions crop up that infect Star Trek!
If anyone has seen the Lost in Space movie, then you see the WRONG way to have a warm-and-fuzzie charachter [as an afterthought]. However, while I feel Jar Jar was slightly overdone at times, at least he tied into the plot and was well thought out. I feel his charachter gave as much to the movie as it took.
Other than the minor quibble I mentioned [ok, and a few others], OVERALL, I DID LOVE THE MOVIE and am looking forward to nitpicking the next!
So now the force is genetic, biological. No longer a spiritual force that binds all living things.
Thank you for totally destroying the concept of faith in the religion you created, George Lucas. I hope you're happy.
did anyone else notice an animated Dewback walk past one of the old Dewback statues right before the race in the stadium scene? I saw it both times and could've sworn that that was the original lifeless Dewback. Probably done for a statement of now and then technology contrast.
hahahaha good one!
-kidd
Anakin IS NOT Darth Vader. Did you ever once hear any of the other characters call him Darth Vader?
"Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering." In this movie we are only talking about the fear stage. Fear alone does not a Vader make.
Remember, he is later "seduced" by the dark side. Anakin (and please try to remember he is not yet anyone else) is a selfless and thoughtful boy, and should behave accordingly. It is an intentional part of the character that he is so happy despite his captivity.
That's the one that always gets me. But Rob's not the only one who does it by far. I know I've almost done it myself in a Slashdot post at least once (caught it before I posted, maybe I've done it other times and not caught it). It seems to be an easy error for lots of people to make when they're typing. It's easy to catch with a little revision. On the other hand, I can understand that many people may be posting in a rush and only care about getting their message across and not about spelling and grammar. On the other other hand, Rob Malda might be expected to spend just a tiny bit more time on the headline posts.
Agree, Agree, Agree on all counts. Why do all these people nit-pick about shadows not facing the right way or this figure is not looking at the right line of sight. This character is too annoying etc. What the f*$k? You guys actually think you could do better? Yeah right, whatever. I must say as an aspiring director/movie maker, Lucas and sci-fi, go hand in hand. He is very imaginative with his creatures, characters, and sets. Its inspiring you have to agree. You people need to get a life. If you guys say you have one then quit denying it - you don't. I, like most people, say just watch the movie and enjoy it. Geesh.
Sure Episode I wasn't "orgasmic." Which seems it had to be for most of you people to be called a great movie. It was pretty damn good compared to all the other crapy movies I have seen. This, along with The Matrix, has been the best Sci-Fi films to show itself on the big screen for years. MIB was good but it was more of a comedy sci-fi and comedy helped alot for more people to enjoy it. You can argue all you want for other movies but what other pictures create a truly different world that you would like to visit? The characters, scenes, size of sets, colors, animation and special effects are superb in Episode I. At least Lucas gives you the satisfaction of paying $7.00 for something instead of crap like most movies out there.
The plot could be better but it was 5 times better then most movies. Plus, you have to remember that it is Episode I. It is the beginning of the series. You already new about Annikan, the Force, Emperor, etc so nothing was going to be new to the audience as far as plot. So why are you disappointed? The Trilogy was great because really no other movies were like them when they came out. Late 70's and early 80's movies couldn't really match up against them so this made them standout. If you look now, almost anyone can do it but still Lucas puts them to shame with, some may call it, JUST Episode I. Pull yourself away and look at it as though you haven't seen the three before and I think you would agree that it is a damn good movie. You get to visually see the beginnings of the trilogy which is still cool in its own right.
To me, the movie seemed rushed and the characters were more serious and didn't evolve like the trilogy but they also used a lot of humor/smart ass remarks in the first three which helped them alot. That is what helped Harrison Ford become what he is today because of his on screen attitude that people could say,"I want to hang out with Han." Everybody wanted to be Han when they were a kid, right? Because he was cool. I went out of Episode I, thinking I can't wait for the next one because Episode I was like a weekly series and I can't wait to see next week's (3yrs from now) episode. I went out of Stars Wars thinking I wish I could be a Jedi. After Episode I, I want to be one because they used their powers more and it was the good side using it rather than just Darth Vader and punny Luke.
In the end, Episode I is a damn good movie by itself and compared to others out there. Plus, it was 5 times better than Return of The Jedi, which was totally made just for kids and those stupid Ewoks. I would rather hang out with Jar Jar than those f*$king Ewoks.
On a side note:
Empire is still the best because the good guys didn't loose but didn't win. I wish Lucas would let the other 2 become more dark and sinister. So at the end of the movie we can jump and say, "take that you dark motherfu*4@er. Thats what'cha get for f#$%ing with the wrong side of the force!"
I thought jar jar was funny! Ever heard of comic relief?
But I guess he and anything meant to be funny is rather annoying for those who were wanting this to be a serious movie for adults....
Are the Midi-chlorians the generators of the Force, or do they just flourish in its prescence? Maybe Qui-Gon just believed in some new fad theory about the origin of the Force. The members of the council didn't seem very convinced. Maybe that was one of the things Obi-Wan was talking about when he mentioned that Qui-Gon could be on the council if he weren't so contrary. After all, Qui-Gon wasn't exactly right about Anakin (of course, from a 'certain point of view' Anakin is responsible in some ways for Luke, who may or may not be the one who fulfilled the prophecy, so maybe Qui-Gon wasn't exactly wrong either).
... to his brother being killed. Owen Lars was supposed to be his brother, right? Maybe my memory is fuzzy. He doesn't seem to appear in The Phantom Menace though. Maybe he wasn't born yet. Or, maybe Vader killed those stormtroopers horribly and we just didn't see it.
As for Tatooine being a bad hiding place for Luke... Was he hiding? Leia was hidden from him, he says as much. He knew there was a child, he just didn't know that there were twins. Maybe he knew exactly where Luke was, but was leaving him alone, maybe to someday take him under his wing, destroy the emporer, and rule the galaxy as father and son? In any case, can anyone point out anything specific that shows that Vader didn't know about Luke? In the battle with Obi-Wan, while Luke was looking on, Vader was focused heavily on Obi-Wan, and may not have even noticed Luke. In the Death Star trench battle, Vader notes that "the Force is strong with this one", and doesn't recognize his son, but there's no reason to think he'd be familiar with what Luke's presence "feels" like.
Of course, he was a little... broken, and strapped to a Wookie's back at the time. Not to mention that everyone's attention was focused on Han Solo being frozen in carbonite at the time.
Oh, Vader may have gotten a quick glimpse of C3PO in the first movie while everyone is making a break for the Falcon as well.
Hmmm... Back to Empire for a sec, I'm blanking on where R2 was when everyone walked into the banquet room with Vader sitting there. I distinctly remember that R2 was escaping with everyone else later on though. Vader knew R2 as well. Which doesn't mean that he'd acknowledge him, however.
56. James Bond "Thunderball" scuba mouthpieces that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan just happen to have -(Why would
they bring those to a negotiation on a *spaceship*??? Do they carry them around in their utility belts???)
Why not? They're small. Maybe they carry them in case of problems with the atmosphere on a starship, or for
excursions to planets with hostile atmospheres? (Maybe the ones on the Falcon in Empire were older, or had a longer
capacity.)
----------
riddle me this then. Why didn't they use said breathing devices in the room full of poison gas?
... every time he pulled the same exact poses and nuances as he did in the last big movie he was in.
Maybe he was hired for the role because Lucas WANTED him to pull those poses and nuances? Remember, Jake is being directed by Lucas. Should an actor be dissed for performing to the director's satisfaction?
>Scene on Tatooine goes like this:
>- Maul gets on his Space Harley and rides into town looking for evidence of the Queen.
>- You see him moving through the crowds. Most aliens give him a wide berth. One gets in his way. This is JarJar. JJ says something stupid. A
>flash of red light and JarJar's hideously dismembered body is lying in a puddle of steaming green blood.
>- Qui-Gon comes upon the scene shortly after, just seeing the back of Maul's cape disappear into the onlooking crowd. Realizes there is
>trouble, and hastens everyone's return to the ship.
Damn, I hope Lucas hires you to edit the next script. The above scene would have been perfect.
>BTW - Anyone else notice how similar in design the Queen's starship was to the SR-71 Blackbird spyplane?
Oh, yeah. A sweet ship it was.
Don't the Scientologists think that the Body Thetans (as I've heard it, they're supposed to be the disassociated spirits of the members of an alien uprising billions of years ago who were exiled to earth frozen in ethylene glycol, chained to a volcano and blown up with atomic bombs), cling to human minds like parasites and are responsible for all of humanities troubles? The whole point of Scientology or Dianetics, or whatever is supposed to be to exorcise the Thetans, at which point you finally get to use the almost god-like mental powers that all humans have.
Something like that, anyway. Don't forget, this religion (they insist that it's not a religion, which doesn't explain how they got tax-exempt status as a church [the fact that they have lots of lawyers and filed hundreds of lawsuits against the IRS may explain it a little better; that and the threatening phone calls IRS employees involved were getting; oh, and the dissappearing pets and so forth...]), was originated by L. Ron Hubbard, a hack science fiction writer. This was a guy who has been reported to have said a number of times to friends that "I want to start my own religion because that's where the money is".
Anyway, Body Thetans would be the opposite of Midi-Chlorians. Having a high concentration of Body Thetans would make you a vegatable, I guess. Not forgetting of course that the thing that Body Thetans and Midi-Chlorians really have in common is that they're both fictional and not very convincing.
The only Caesar comparison I can think of for Palpatine is that his right hand man had a part in offing him. Palpatine has a lot more Hitler in him, although that's not an exact match either.
LOTS of Carl Orff influence in much of the movie. I'm glad Williams took a bit of a break before doing this film - he's much more original here than he has been in any Lucas film since the original Star Wars.
hitchhiker
Don't forget the scene in Jedi where Han activates Bobba Fett's jet pack by accident, sending him into the pit of Carcoon (sp?). On the other hand, you're right that it's way, way overdone in this movie. Let's see, Jar-Jar destroys three battle droids by dancing around with half a battle droid stuck to him firing its blaster. Then he accidentally opens the gate on the cart with the beach ball sized electromagntic goo weapon ball thingies, destroying at least one robo-tank. Then he disables another droid, possibly the whole tank while hanging from a tanks main gun and ineptly trying to catch another goo-ball weapon. Then there's Anakin and his "maybe it's this button, maybe it's that button, uh-oh, it's stuck on auto-pilot..." silliness. The way he was flying almost completely by accident was ridiculous. It had already been established that he was a good pilot and a prodigy with machines, why didn't he know what a joystick was?! True, he may not have known how to fly in a battle, but he did know how to fly. He was just a little too oblivious to what was going on outside the cockpit, Force or no Force, for it to be very enjoyable for me.
Sigh, fortuitous accidents aren't actually bad, but they were way, way overdone in this movie.
The name of the planet is Coruscant. It might be considered the "bright center of the universe".
I don't really agree with that for several reasons. First and foremost because neither of them really has the characteristic of sex. C3PO has a male sounding voice, but that's just a default setting, C3PO could just as easily sound female. As for R2D2, it's a spunky little astromech droid, no really defining sexual characteristics, just a personality. People usually refer to them both as 'he', but that's also just a default setting (same reason people always refer to my dog as a 'he' even when they already know that she's a she).
Secondly, not only do the droids not have the characteristic of sex, but they don't have any sort of sexuality either. Seriously, how can a droid be either heterosexual or homosexual when it doesn't have sex?
I'm sure that someone will make the argument that you don't have to have homosexual sex to be a homosexual, just as you don't have to have heterosexual sex to be a heterosexual. Nonetheless, when you take either a heterosexual relationship, or a homosexual relationship, and remove sexuality entirely, you're left with just plain friends (hopefully, I do not envy any relationship that ends up with nothing or, even worse, enemies after doing this). And that's what I think R2D2 and C3PO are.
When ROTJ came out, I was very, very excited to see it. Bought my tickets early, ditched school and camped out in line with all the other geeks. I was really pumped going in...too pumped.
I was bitterly disappointed. The first half of the movie was slow. The battle on the sail barge was boring. Boba Fett, where was Boba Fett??? How could he die so quickly? Yoda's quick death seam contrived. OB1's "certain point of view" story sounded like a copout. Chewie's Tarzan yell?! The Ewoks arrrrgh! Where was the seriousness and tension from ESB that I loved. There were so many things wrong about this movie.
And yet, a year later I bought the movie on video to complete my collection. I ended up loving the movie and watched over and over just like ANH and ESB.
So, for those of you who have seen it (I haven't yet) but didn't think it was fantastic, do you think that TPM is a movie that will grow on you if you watch it more than once or twice?
Raymond Fellers
ray_fellers@yahoo.com
I can't recall the scene in photographic detail, but wasn't he pretty much covered by the sheets? Could we even see any of his clothes?
I know that the Star Wars books aren't neccessarily canon, but in some of the books I've read, it's indicated that assassin droids (like IG-88, one of the bounty hunters who goes after Solo in Empire) are illegal. The events of Phantom Menace may well have something to do with this. Also, ultimately, stormtroopers are probably more reliable, easier to program (especially if you're strong in the force, which probably doesn't work on droid minds), and cheaper than battle droids. Not to mention that the Empire's motto seemed to be "rule by fear" and droids seem to be viewed by most people as fairly innocuous. A droid with a blaster may be scary, but is it any scarier than a human with a blaster?
>Read the book. He's a whiney, frustrated teenager who, by the stories end, 'comes
>of age'.
>
Unlike a certain 'Whiney Crusher' who never amounted to
anything....
Vader doesn't know in Jedi that Leia is his daughter until he gets it from Luke's mind. That kind of suggests that Anakin isn't around when the kids are born.
I was shocked by how bad it was.
It was bad in so many ways!
I'm trying to remember, where there any characters in this movie? I could almost hear the rusty wheels turning in the screenwriters mind. This movies seems like a parody of its predecessors.
Think about the conflicts, the motivations and the resolutions of those conflicts!
The federation wants to take over the planet: who cares? we don't know these people. Should we hate the invaders because they sound asian? Because they converse with some guy that shows up in low-res?
They have to fix their shiney Space-SR-71 Blackbird by betting on a rally-race to keep going: I still dont care.
Oh no, double-ended light saber dude is looking for them somewhere in the whole GALAXY? I had no feeling of menace that they were being looked for, did anybody else?
They have to get to the city planet and complain:
I'm not sure how they can be helped, I don't know really what they want. Space NATO to kick some partially-eaten-donut space ship ass? A trade embargo?
Oh no, the jedi guy with the beard got killed: did anybody care? Did it even matter???
I dont care if this is supposed to be the first part of three more movies, he had two hours to develop some sympathy for these characters, or some interesting conflicts, or generate some other kind of interest other than in how it looks.
The emperor's name is Palpatine. It seems fairly obvious that Senator Palpatine becomes emperor Palpatine.
Actually, you are sort of right and sort of wrong. While the mitochondria are inherrited through the egg cell, poritions of genetic information that the mitochondria use to replicate are stored within the nucleaus. Therfore, it is possible that the male sex cell does donate some aspects of the mitchondria. Although I'm not positive about that, its been a while since biology.
x
Put a flashback of _that_ in the next episode.
x
I believe in the force. Is he blasphemously trying to deny its existence as a mystical power?
I will propose that my community apply Midi-Chloridation to the water suppy.
Sidious and Palpatine may be the same!
The hints are there in the plot.
Want more?
The actor who played Sidious goes uncredited(at least from what I saw.)
Pay close attention to Sidous' distinguishing features the next time you see the movie.
Protruding nose and dimpled chin.
Also check out Palpatine's distinguishing features the next time you see the movie.
Protruding nose and dimpled chin.
There is little doubt that, unless they deliberately made up some one to look like Ian McDiarmid, Ian McDiarmid played both Palpatine and Sidious in this movie.
It is just a television-quality cop-out to simply re-tread or slightly scramble earth cultures to create alien ones. Half of a piece of fiction is the environment, including cultures.
Listen up, or the next film I will put in the teletubbies... hmmmm.... good idea.
Anyway, I put that stuff in to appeal to the 4 and under crowd. There is just no other way to hit that market, and I will simply not allow any market to slip away. Just how many plush jar jars did you cry and hold you breath to force your parents to buy anyway?
George Lucas.
Maybe there were no males instead, hmm? How can you tell what sex they were, even if they had sexes (fairly likely, the evolutionary value of sexual reproduction for multi-cellular life-forms is pretty high)? They're not human, they're not even mammals, so why would they have human secondary sexual characteristics like breasts? What else would you have looked for to indicate a female versus a male?
Where you are rewarded for just continually re-packaging the same old reliable, but dull and predictable stuff. I am amazed that they can blow so much money doing it.
Lucas is ultimately responsible. Whining is just a way for a cardboard character to express itself.
George had 16 years to get this film right. This was the best he could do? I would imagine that a good share of the people on this list could do better job in that amount of time. (16 years would allow them the time to not only make the movie, but actually learn the art of scriptwriting and directing)
In light of this, I would suggest that George opensource his script so that others could fix the holes in the plot and add better lines.
Best scene in the film: Sandpeople taking pot shots at the pod racers.
x
Jar Jar is a Jamaican *Rude Boy*.
His original name was supposed to be "Ja Ja", as in Jah Rastafari.
That is why he says "how rude".
The Gungans are so obviously Rastafarians: their long ears (dreadlocks), their unintellagible dialect (Has anyone seen "The Harder the Fall"-they had to subtitle it, and the Jamaicans are speaking English!!)
So Jar Jar is actually a tip to buddah-smokin' hash heads and not kids afterall.
We have to remember that there is a difference between a 'Jedi Knight' and a 'Jedi Master'.
I know that Qui-Gon was not a Jedi Master, but that Yoda (definitely) and Obi-Wan (possibly) were.
Something happens to Obi-Wan too in the next 2 episodes - I have heard that he does something wrong, perhaps having to do with training Vadar, and is then banished to his cave in Tattoine after most of the Jedi's have been killed in the Clone Wars.
great summary, agreed!
You need to go back and read:
h tml
http://slashdot.org/features/99/03/31/0137221.s
and bend over and take your LARTing.
NO!!!
FOR THE LAST TIME MITOCONDRIA ARE SMALL SIMBIOTIC CREATURES THAT LIVE IN OUR CELLS AND ALLOW US TO CARY ON AEROBIC CELLULAR RESPIRATION.
Certain religipons have something very similar to the force; Hinduism is one of them, I believe.
He also stoped blaster shots by streaching his hand out when Han shot at him.
I first saw it ( jaws) when i was 7 and I laughed the whole way through.
>I didn't say anything has to be balanced >in "exact" proportion; Lucas' gender "imbalance" >(and its even in the crowd scenes!), all >politics aside, is completely unrealistic. "A >long time ago, in a galaxy far,far away...with >less than 3% women"??
I understand to some degree the lack of women in the movie, but only around 3%. If you were to look closely you might find it to be a little higher. You might also fail to understand that most of the fighting force in American and the rest of the world is male. We are the one's that either have required military service or at least have to register. (I find you're comments very disrespectful of most males that are or have been in the service.)
The other real problem that I have with your comment is about racial overtones. Here again I do see if to some degree, but in what movie don't you. Hell in the big Titanic there wasn't any real minorities on the ship at all, and what about academy award winner for this year.
Further what I really find upsetting is when those of WASP backgrounds try to justifiy themselves for some of the mistakes their prior generations made. Being someone who has both Asian and Native American, along with Caucasian, background maybe you shouldn't be the one to talk.
Get a bone marrow transplant.
The autistic kid in _Mecury Rising_ or the main character in _searching for Bobby fisher_ wern't anoying.
1. Could there be a scientific explanation for a "virgin birth"?
Yes, its very rare, and the child is *always* a female.
2. What do you think the Sith have been doing all these years after their
"extinction"?
4. Do you really think after a millennium there are only 2 Sith? Would only 2 Sith "reveal themselves" to a veritable army of light Jedi?
Sith alwayse kill each other.
5. If your answer to #2 is "no", how might they replentish their numbers?
6. If the Sith were almost extinguished (presumably by the light Jedi), what would their "revenge"be?
killing the jedi
The master can die of old age
Yea, they die of old age. It just takes much longer.
Me too.
Nope, your theory isn't quite right. Qui-Gon had a funeral, remember? And you could see his body being burned. So did Vader, if I remember correctly.
199th Post!
I agree, I really liked the Queen with the blaster. She appears powerful yet elegant.
>> As for the claims regarding racism, your
>> charming concluding "fuck you" suggests that
>> you're pretty much okay with hate-mongering in
>> general
Whoa.
See that's exactly what I'm talking about: How do you get off saying that I'm okay with hate-mongering in general just because I pointed out you don't have the right to remain unoffened? It doesn't follow; those sorts of sweeping generalizations and the immediate presumption of some deeper "evil" because I dared to disagree with you in a-not-exactly-nice way are tenuious at best, slander at worst.
I will admit, surely, that I have sexist, racist, whateva-ish thoughts but you're a damned liar if you even THINK you haven't. Its simply part of being human and it doesn't make me (or YOU) a bad person: it makes me (US) honest and it makes me (US) normal. I'm not a racist/sexist/whateva-ist at heart and I pattenly refuse to take those kinds of charges.
And you know what, it really doesn't matter the crowd sceans aren't balanced... BECAUSE ITS A MOVIE. You take it for that it is: entertainment. Anyone who thinks that entertainment has to be anything more than it is is a fool. If you want social commentary, you go produce it and label it as such, until then I'm gonna go watch and enjoy ENTERTAINMENT whilst you go worry yourself another ulcer because no South Pacific Islanders of Ukranian Decent were Jedi.
Like the fact that Vader never encountered (full) C3PO in IV,V,VI. Now I just chuckle that if he had we would have seen a weeping, mushy Vader that broke down at the reunion.
He did, in the carbon freezing room.
sounds good here
First, he said he didnt remember "owning" any droids. Nothing about not remembering an Astromech unit.
R2 Units are common, R2D2 was his designation.. There are others R2D4 etc..
Ok, Padme is NOT a clone of the Queen, the makeup is a ruse to help them look the same (they obviously look different in the film). Clones have problems, they go _insane_. The storm Troopers arent clones, they are actual people. :P
Boba Fett wasnt around yet, supposedly he was training to be a Imperial Stormtrooper. The Mandalorian Warrios, from which he got his armor, are the people who wipe out the Jedi, they have an age old problem with the Jedi
As for Darth Maul, it could be that well see a cyborg Darth Maul, or even a clone (hence the clone wars) But I doubt it.
From what I have heard, is that Obi Wan, and Anakin are fighting, and Anakin falls in lava, and Obi Wan leaves him for dead. But we shall see.
Saw the movie four days after the release.
This was a good thing. You whiney slashdotters took the gusto out of the media hype lowering my expectations to something that could just possibly be accomplished by a mere mortal.
Gotta say it: Two thumbs up!
I hate some of the characters, but not nearly as much as I hated the ewoks.
Jar Jar, while having an anoying personality, was a joy to watch. I did not care what he was saying as I watched the facial expressions and that tongue!
The kid was brilliant in some scenes, and so-so/annoying in others. Suprisingly his very worse dialog was in the space battle at the end. (surpising because you would think the GL would have put the most effort into the climax...). His wahooo's were just not enthusiastic enough. For pete's sake, he saved the planet, he saved his skin and that was the best he could do???? Would have been cool to see him wahooing with gusto, oncontrolled....
Overall the movie rocked!!!!
More action per minute than any of the first three.
The race was brilliant!
I just may see the movie a 2nd time......
Bravo George Lucas!
ya, right. fucking loser.
If you stayed to read to the very end.
Here is your reward. . .
Okay. The movie:
Great special effects.
Great costumes.
Needs work on the story.
Needs REAL work on some characters/acting.
Geared more towards kids
Points to notice:
-Most of the actors were gyped out of good acting roles by the lines and direction. Sorry George.
-Most of us were probably kids when we saw the
original three.
-Can't really compare ANH and TPM, since we
should now realize that the prequels are all
ONE story in three parts. Not three stories linked together. It ain't over 'till it's over!
-Of course TPM is geared towards kids.
Remember Lucas is older. He has a family!
With CHILDREN. He even said that his outlook
to making TPM was more light hearted because of it. Not the choice I'd make, but just wait. Darkness will fall upon the Republic. >;->
-Star Wars doesn't suffer as much, but requires some kind of Historical Canon to save any remaining storyline integrity. Anyone care to
remember the disapppointed of Highlander II!!! The ultimate in storyline breaks!! Mentioning the unholy movie even near a Star Wars flick is dangerous.
-According to Dark Horse's comic series
'Tales of the Jedi'
The Sith were actually a race/society based entirely on the Dark Side. There was ONE Dark Lord of the Sith, but apparently there were many other psuedo Jedi. The Sith were essentially in remote exile until a group of hyperspace traders stumbled upon them and led a trail to the Republic. This was all about 4000 years before Luke's time,ANH.
I think Darth Maul revenge factor stemms from
the Sith War about 1000 years pre-Luke,ANH.
The renegade jedi Exar Kun delved into the old dark jedi ways and became seduced by the Dark side via a renegade dark spirit, Freedon Nadd.
His conversion along with Ulic-Qel Droma, a former Republic Jedi, caused and formed a dark alliance which made war on the Republic and the Jedi. The resulting war killed many Jedi, hid many Sith secrets/technology, and supposedly wiped out the Sith.
Albeit coming from Dark Horse, this is not the gospel according Lucas. George may play around with this. Otherwise, the whole 'Tales of the Jedi' series is really good background material. It has alot of juicy Jedi tidbits. Talk about the Jedi at their prime!!
Grim Fandango (a lucasarts creation from a recent game) was in the audience during the pod race. He is clearly visible arouind the middle to upperleft area of the screen after anakin wins the race... he is all white with black face markings... just look of the white rod-shaped figure!
The 2 Jedi/1 Sith fights were amazing. If that was the only thing I saw in the whole movie, it would have been worth my 8.25.
I saw it at 12:01, and then again at 2 pm. I found the movie dragging along at the 2pm showing until it got to the fight.
IMO too much computer animation is a bad thing. digital blubber just doesn't jiggle as naturally as good old foamed latex.
Is there a point to scoring down replies to a -1 comment? Ya know, anyone who sees the reply must, by definition, already be reading at score=-1 (otherwise the whole tree of comments and replies would've been hidden), so scoring down the comment does absolutely nothing to further hide the comment.
One can only conclude that scoring down the comment is nothing more than a feel-good, i-am-god-kneel-before-me, power trip by an anonymous coward moderator (Funny how AC are despised, and yet, all moderators are ACs themselves. Hilarious!).
Oh yeah, and don't forget to score this comment down too. It will not affect anyone who read the parent comment anyway and will suceed only in eating your moderator points (yum). So feed me. I'm starved! And afterward, I'll still be here, and just as visible as before.
Special Effects were pioneered by Lucas, ILM, and company, and they've certainly come a long way since ANH. Heck, they've come a long way since Wizard of Oz and the original Hunchback of Notre Dame.
TPM had some beautiful ships that looked almost real, amazing scenery that set the stage for the movie, etc. But get over it!
Lucas has said in many interviews (warning: paraphrasing ahead) that special effects are a tool to be used, not something to show off. Once you show off the effect, it loses its power. SFX guys who work really hard on these things have an urge to spend more screentime than necessary on displaying them, and its up to the director to limit that; just use the effect(s) as needed.
Case in point: Star Trek I. Ten minutes of laps around the Enterprise make it look like a cardboard cutout, no matter how good a cutout it is. An alternative? Look at ESB. Sure, we all know about the transparent snowspeeders, but since they're off the screen fast enough, you only notice if you freeze frame the video.
TPM overused effects. I couldn't STAND the screentime that was wasted to show off the ships, robots, and force fields that were created. Look at the Naboo fighters taking off: one gets hit by a stray laser blast and takes almost thirty seconds to plummet to the ground. Yay. That advanced the plot.
Yeah, the special effects were great, but when I watch Star Wars, I want to be sucked into Lucas' imagination and experience His world for a few hours. When I see the man behind the curtain pulling levers, even for a few seconds, it completely ruins the experience.
-Chris
Actually, I think that in many ways this WAS INTENTIONALLY a kid's movie. I mean, think about it -- the main reason Lucas is wealthy is that he hooked all the SWFans when they were preteen kids. He hooked 'em with SW, and then had a guaranteed income with Empire & Jedi.
Same thing here -- TPM *is* the opening move of a chess game, becase Lucas is trying to hook a whole new set of preteen kids.
TPM was never aimed at the "SWFan" market. It's aimed at the 6-12yr old market. Hence Jar Jar. Hence Watto, etc. etc.
That doesn't mean it's a bad film. But it is, in Lucas' own words "a Saturday afternoon serial" (um, that's more or less right; I might be adapting his actual quote).
Ok, I don't know if I'll mention spoilers, but if you don't want them go away.
Yes, Jar Jar is annoying, but I think he's roughly equivalent to Darth Maul. WTF, you ask? Well, I was reading a "real" review of the movie, and it talked about how they should have had less time for Jar Jar and more for the charismatic Darth Maul (oh yeah, this was a really negative review). This is what everyone has said. But isn't Darth Maul just Jar Jar for adults? But what reasoning is he charismatic? He has 3 lines and sneers. You are attracted to the mythos and the makeup, not the Maul. So Darth Maul serves the same purpose for you that Jar Jar does for 8-year-olds. He's the "cool!" factor that Jar Jar provides for kids. I'm sure you all think this is nuts, but when you hear little kids talking about how they thought there was too much violence and the light-sabre battle was too scary, it might make sense.
I'll try not to make any spelling mistakes in order to avoid the rage of the spelling police, but I can't promise anything ! :-) :-) to have an educated an enlightened discussion.
I just want to say:
Please stop attacking people's spelling !!!
Rebuke the ideas, say I don't agree, but for
God's sake, GIVE IDEAS. Let's have a discussion !
Many people type in a hurry; sometimes English is
not their first language... Give them a break !
If you point out spelling errors instead of contesting an argument, it will be evident that you don't have the tools/knowledge/brain cells
Of course, this is not an attack against the person who wrote the comment I'm replying to. This is just a something I wanted to say, after seeing this type of attacks too many times.
Damn midichlorian infection gives me cramps every time a planet is destroyed.
x
I'm getting sick of these overamplified action movies that end up screwing up my hearing more than it already is screwed up. I hate leaving a theater with my tinnitus all reactivated at a higher level than normal.
I hope this was only a problem in the theater I saw it in and not a general problem with the movie sound mix itself.
This movie might be more for the audiologists of the future and a menace to the hearing of the kids. Otherwise bring your earplugs and/or leave the kids at home!
jar jar wasn't as annoying the second time i saw it, so he doesn't ruin the movie, just gets in the way. that said, the movie is a LOT better the second time around. noticing the subtle differences in the queen... oh.. it was so well done.
being able to watch the movie, and watch the backgrounds is worth seeing it twice. you can't catch the depth of this movie in one viewing, its just not feasible.
the phantom menace DOES have the magic of the original trilogy, don't expect it to show up on the first viewing.
(Minor spoliers if you haven't read any reviews.)
1. Battle droids in a high tech galactic civilization where FTL travel is common have targeting systems inferior to those on a F-15.
2. Actually, their targeting systems are inferior to a spastic eight year old with a slingshot.
3. After the Jedi Knights have proven they can deflect laser bolts with their light sabers, the battle droids never think to stop firing.
4. Rather than having integral weapons systems, battle droids are cleverly designed to carry weapons that can be picked up and used against them by their opponents.
5. In the Star Wars universe, "Palantine" means "Clinton."
6. A Phantom Menace character's level of annoying goofiness is directly proportional to the number of action figures of said character Lucasfilms hopes to sell to small children.
7. The Planet Naboo has underwater Rastifarians, but not underwater ganja.
8. Darth Maul has a black robe, a black shirt, black pants, red eyes, a red and black face, a red light saber, and horns, but for some reason left his "I'M EVIL!" T-shirt at home.
9. The most futuristic starship in The Republic's fleet is an SR-71 Blackbird covered in chrome.
10. A light saber can evidently cut through anything.
11. If Annakin Skywalker built C3PO, you would think the droid might mention this to Luke Skywalker at some point during the first movie. ("Oh, by the way, your father built me and also happens to be Darth Vader. More tea?")
12. Training for being a Queen's Decoy evidently doesn't include acting lessons.
13. Play-by-play sportscasters are the same no matter what galaxy you're in.
14. Even giant reptilian blobs like to have scantly clad human women in their entourage.
15. Yoda's mustache makes him look like a 300-year old Wilford Brimley
16. If you took out all the scenes with direct equivalents in the first three Star Wars films, The Phantom Menace would be 15 minutes long.
17. Most of those 15 minutes would be plot holes and special effects.
18. All giant starships are required by law to have one point in the ship where a chain reaction can be started by a single laser blast from a member of the Skywalker family.
19. Using The Force allows Jedi Knights to jump as high as Jet Li did as Fong Sai Yuk, but with more justification.
20. Darth Maul's body falls and bounces exactly the way a lightweight dummy would.
- Lawrence Person
maybe it's just me, but it seems like a lot of you are taking this waaay too seriously..
Well, I personally liked the movie quite a bit. I mean, it had its flaws, and we all know what they were, but it was definately Star Wars. I've seen it twice already and am seeing it again tonight, and it, at least for me, has one of the things that made the original trilogy so great: you can watch it over and over again.
I don't know this personally, but my parents said after seeing it that Ewan McGregor does almost a perfect imitation of Alec Guinness. I thought he was my favorite part of the movie. That and the light sabre battle. So kick-ass.
I don't think Anakin IS the chosen one. I believe that Luke is the chosen one. Just because he has off-the-scale powers doesn't mean he is the chosen one. I know this will sound weird, but Urisakadoji anyone? Yeah, it's Anime porn, but the whole point of the first episode is that this guy who is amazingly powerful and who everyone thinks is some "chosen one" is really just the FATHER of the chosen one.
Immaculate conception is NOT the same thing as virgin birth. Mary was immaculately concieved, ie, she was born without original sin. She was not, as far as I know, a virgin birth.
C
> They thought he was trying to devleop a new religion based on the force.
/characters/ to believe in, not everyone else in the world. I wish people would learn to seperate characters in a different world from RL.
Lucas was trying to create a religion, one for his
And as proof that he was trying to create a religion just look back to when Darth Vader was being critisiced for still believing in that old religion by one of the Emporer's head military guys..
`Jag
I've never seen all of Jaws but I've seen the opening, which is just as powerful and defining as the ANH opening with that amazing huge spaceship shot. ;P ack! too strong for me :)
The Jaws opening is pretty sick- in that shot, the mechanism used to yank the actress under the water _broke_ her ankle (ankle? leg?) and her screams were 100% in earnest and not fake at all- they must have thought 'hot damn, is she acting up a storm!'
They used _that_ shot. Even seeing it on a TV showing in passing, I found it seriously hard to sit through. It's just too intense... deeply disturbing, too real (because IT WAS) If that's a defining mood for the whole movie (and apparently it is) then I've no desire to see the whole movie
How about, Obi-Wan does not get _killed_ by Darth: what happens is he provokes Darth into a burst of _fear_ powerful enough to kick Obi-Wan into some mystical realm? He clearly was goading Darth, provoking the fear that keeps him stuck in the Dark Side, and finally as Darth gives in to the fear and paranoia and moves to strike Obi-Wan down, _that_ emotion and action is what sends Obi-Wan off: sort of like Force Judo actually, a pretty cool explanation if you ask me :) ;)
Don't ask me about TPM: I haven't seen it and may not
I disagree. Anakin's part was really well acted, IMHO. He is supposed to act like a kid, since he is a kid. An incredibly intelligent kid in whom the Force is strong, but still a kid nonetheless.
As for being nice, he is supposed to. He is a kind, selfless, generous person, who later becomes seduced to the dark side. In Episode I, he is not Darth Vader, and he is not evil. Obi-Wan mentions this in one of the other movies (Return of the Jedi, IIRC).
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I didn't pick up on the music until it had been playing for a few seconds (kudos to John Williams and the London Symphony Orchestra ... GREAT job of composing and playing the music).
I always thought that that music was called Vader's Theme (weekend after next, I'll probably rent the original trilogy to see where it first appears).
Really? At the theater I went to (AMC Academy 8 in Greenbelt, MD near DC) the cleanup crew not only let me stay, they were excited themselves about the music/breathing :).
I think most of us have already figured that out (especially those that have read the Star Wars books).
In them (most importantly, the RotJ book) the Emperor's name is given as Palpatine.
Guess who's going to be the first Jedi to go when Vader starts wiping them out? (For most action and/or sci-fi flicks, it's the minority character, which kinda pisses me off)
Only thing I can think of (as has been mentioned in Episodes 4-6, as well as the books) are clones.
:).
1. Cloning is asexual.
2. Could have been perfecting cloning equipment, techniques, etc.
3. Maybe the midi-chlorians could be cloned too (doubt it, but it's a theory)
4. Yes, if they had a clone army as back up (Anakin & Obi-Wan fought together in the Clone Wars...remember the line in Ep. 6 (I think after Yoda dies & Luke is talking to Obi-Wan's ghost)
5. Note the line in Ep. 1 when somebosy (Mace?) says "There can be only 2, no more, no less...a master and an apprentice"
6. Turning a light Jedi & having him hunt down and kill the Jedi
7. A clone. In the books, clones of Palpatine keep popping up (even read one were there was a clone of Luke).
8. Who knows? Hopefully, the turning scene (which has been much alluded in Eps. 4-6) will be one of the greatest moments in cinematic history (going into the pit as Anakin Skywalker but coming out Darth Vader).
Just my 0.02 dollars (US)
The movie was worth the price of admission and I'd go see it again. However, I was frankly underwhelmed. It didn't have the bravado or derringdo that the original movie had. The elements of suspense were missing, there was too much comedy, you could predict what happened next, the space and planetary graphics were not up to ESB standards. The JarJar Binks character could have had less comedy and more development (I liked the shielding though). The battle scene between JarJar's people and the droids could have been more realistic and less of a comedy free-for-all. The script needed some major tightening. There is little believable emotion in or between characters. The kid seems to care NOTHING for his mother! Only the interaction between Anakin and Queen Amidala even approached an emotional level (and that was quickly squelched). Even the force was hardly visible in this movie.
Thats the criticism. Now the good stuff! The interaction between the two Jedi was very good. The fight scenes between the Jedi and Darth Maul were terrific! The graphics of the battle droids movement and shields were above and beyond. The development of Senator Palpatine was good but should have been taken much further - he was not menacing enough (I did like the wry smiles though). The Assembly Chamber was a very well done thing but waay too short of a segment. The best character in the movie, in my opinion, was Queen Amidala.
Queen Amidala is why I will go see this movie again!
Mr. Lucas,
Please reawaken the days when you did THX1138 and StarWars1,2,3. Make the evil guys REAL EVIL (Darth Maul was great and he hardly said a word), the good guys should have integrity (the Jedi were great but not deep enough), the emotions should be better represented. Deeply develop the characters.
I laugh at your pitiful rebellion!
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
Posted by FascDot Killed My Previous Use:
...it sounds like Jar Jar is a lot like Poochie form "the worst episode ever" of Itchy & Scratchy.
Posted by OGL:
And I'm going to see it again, hopefully at a theater with a better sound system. I saw it at 12:01, and the crowd was really hyped (some of them having camped out for tickets then waited four hours in line for the best seats). You don't really get that sports-event-like crowd at movies anymore, and it really heightens the experience.
As for the movie itself, I agree pretty much with Rob's review (for some reason we seem to have pretty similar tastes in movies). Jar-Jar was annoying at some parts, but he definitely didn't ruin the movie, in fact he even made me chuckle at some parts. The worst acting award definitely belongs to that little brat Anikan whose self-narration ("The auto-pilot is on!") was driving me nuts. The dialogue in general just seems to point out the obvious ("The entire planet is one big city")...this movie is really able to speak for itself with its visual quality, but Lucas doesn't seem to want to let it do that.
However, the pod racing, the lightsaber duals, and the incredible scenery is worth three times the admission. Really folks I mean it...words cannot describe how incredible the three-way battle was to watch...it's just captivating. Overall I would say this movie follows the plot of episode 4 pretty closely (right down to the grappling hook scene! ugh!), which hopefully means Lucas is trying to introduce the younger generation to the new trilogy before exploding with the next two movies.
I hope so anyway, because there's no way I wouldn't see the next one...there are just too many cool things which are obviously going to take place and a lot of questions left unanswered. Overall: 8 out of 10.
-W.W.
Posted by cherron:
Vader didn't disappear when he died, either. Luke burned his body, as they did with Qui Gonn. I wonder what the dissappearance 'rule' is??
Posted by Dhrama X:
Well, normally it's been called Vader's Theme by John Williams, but many people have also called it the Imperial March since it's been associated w/the Empire so much. Personally, I like it the second way, Vader/Anakin's story hadn't been fully told yet so we can't get a real theme for him. Besides, the Force Theme is also Obi-Wan's theme, so go figure...
Posted by OGL:
...let see...close up of planet...planet's entire surface is covered by cityscape...can we put two and two together?
-W.W.
Posted by The [not so] Little Hacker:
Did you ever think that these people "a long long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" might not be human in the same sense that you and (maybe) I are? Mitochondria are an Earth thing. Midichloreans are something from that "galaxy far, far away."
Posted by The [not so] Little Hacker:
I know exactly why Qui-Gon doesn't disappear. At some previous time, Qui-Gon had been seduced by the dark side. Yoda may have known this. Obi-Wan did not. Obi-Wan was never a dark jedi, nor was Yoda. Anakin had been seduced by the dark side, was overtaken by Vader. He soon destroyed Vader and the Emperor. Presumably, both Anakin and Qui-Gon at some point were seduced by the dark side of the force, and were therefore impure. This impurity meant that their spirits would not set themselves free of the body (by disappearing), but that they would have to be helped by the living to be truly freed (by the living destroying the body on a flaming pyre). It's a very simple pattern if you think about it.
Posted by jilllag:
The "midichlorians" represent a shift from a sort of generic seventies/eighties new-age-iness to the more nineties new-age-iness of "quantum" healing.
Lucas is tailoring the "Force" to a nineties new-age audience.
the Sith are somewhat ambiguous. Some places it sounds like the Sith are a race. Others it sounds like it's a sort of organization (like the Jedi). My personal belief is that at one time there WAS a race called the Sith and that the Dark Jedi adopted the name to themeselves as a way of distinguishing their particular practices.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
What is your Slash Rating?
and he's human as far as I can tell.
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
What is your Slash Rating?
Just for fun my brother & I (who are VERY rabid Star Wars fans) rented THX 1138 to see what it was like. If you like a film with no discernable plot, complete monotone in everything, and no noticeable audio markers, then borrow or rent the movie. It's completely dull. No action, no plot, no NOTHING!!!!! Avoid that movie at ALL costs!!!
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
What is your Slash Rating?
As far as I'm aware, Owen is Obi-Wan's brother...not Anikin's. True, Luke refers to Owen and Beru as Uncle and Aunt, but an orphan who is told that that's his relationship isn't going to have reason to think differently (until daddy comes along and says "Join me and together we will end this destructive conflict..." :) )
Who am I?
Why am here?
Where is the chocolate?
What is your Slash Rating?
|wouldn't it be cool if Senator Palpatine weren't |really Darth Sidius?
... Isn't Darth Sidius none other than the emperor in the later SW movies? Already has the cloak and the evil henchmen.
I was thinking about this
He built C3PO to help his mother, that's why it was left behind.
"Remember, there never were pineapple-almond cookies here."
I haven't seen TPM yet. I will probably wait until most of the hype dies down (a few weeks?) because I am not so excited by it that I have to see it right away.
I was originally very excited until I saw the second trailer. I noticed that it looked like things were getting a little too cutesy, and most of the posts in this forum seem to confirm that.
The opposite would be THX1138, which I rented last weekend and saw for the first time. I would recommend it to anyone who liked the original Star Wars. While it doesn't have very many special effects, it does have alot of the Lucas science fiction feel, although not in the space adventure vein of Star Wars. And it has absolutely no cutesy crap like TPM seems to have.
I love the futuristic-yet-familiar feel of the original Star Wars; THX1138 is kind of like that. I think that Lucas should first write a great story replete with his interesting and believable futuristic visions, make the screen play really solid, then add the special effects afterwards. He should write a screenplay like it was 1977 and then use 1999 special effects to make it look amazing.
It seems like what he did instead was write a screenplay with the full knowledge that he can use (and abuse and overuse) modern special effects rather than concentrating on making a solid and compelling story.
That is once again kind of the opposite of THX1138, where the story was the solid part and the special effects were pretty run-of-the-mill.
Did anyone else notice that the vicroy bore a striking resemblence to the Prime Minster of Canada? Both in accent and appearance. (except :))
for the droopy mouth
The difference between Canada and the USA is that in Canada healthcare is a right and gun ownership is a privilege.
It may only be me, but the explanation of the force had me thinking about O.S. Card's concept of the ansibles from Speaker and Xenocide.
"He can talk
He can talk
He can talk"
"i can SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING"
:)~
"There is no spoon" - Neo, The Matrix
>C3PO tho...him and R2 are a funny, fabulous gay couple.
:) glad someone else sees that :)
exactly!
"There is no spoon" - Neo, The Matrix
>C3PO tho...him and R2 are a funny, fabulous gay couple.
:) glad someone else sees that :) Reminds me of a gay couple I know hehe
exactly!
"There is no spoon" - Neo, The Matrix
Come on . .where did the Latinos go ?
.STILL no MEXICANS !
Actually I thought them Japanese sounding characters reminded me of of the Board of Directors from Abe's Odessey . . . as well as . .
them SCRAB things . . the rolling things . .
but STILL . . no Mexicans . . .
I wouldn't be surprised that the planet is EARTH !
Did you see the Budda statues in the ground of the "sacred land"
anyways .
We need LowRider Fighters ! and Fuzzy Dice !
*PeaceOut*
Actually I think WATTO was RED FOXX
from Sanford and Son . . .
Junk yard . . . no teeth . . old . . . scruffy accent . . it's all there . . .
and he had the MOST personality of all the characters . .
I didn't hate Jar Jar. I dunno that I loved him (although the graphics were impressive), but I didn't hate him.
I dunno if what follows is a spoiler, but if you haven't seen the movie, I recommend hitting ' back' quick and avoid this whole topic.
What I did hate was that The Force is apparently just a bunch of symbiotic critters that live inside your cells. This is HORRIBLE! I didn't WANT to know that; in fact, I don't really believe it. I was perfectly content with a mystic force that pervades the universe and has a Dark and Light side. That was enough.
But now we've got these symbiotic creatures, and so I suppose The Force cannot be where host creatures are not. Or something. Anyway, it just felt too much like Star Trek's constant impulse to explain everything in technobabble. I hated it, and I hope Lucus renigs in a later movie, where we find out that was just something they tell non-Jedi's to throw them off the scent.
--Chouser
--Chouser
"To stay young requires unceasing cultivation of the ability to unlearn old falsehoods." -LL
In Christian mythological tradition, `Immaculate Conception' does NOT refer to some supernatural conception of a Christ figure, it refers to the mother being born `without stain of sin'.
Altavista can give you a bunch of references, the first one that popped up for me was http://totustuus.com/immacula.htm
Okay genius... Here goes:
3P0 doesn't recognize him because he had his memory erased. Remember in EP4:ANH Uncle Owen tells Luke to have R2's memory erased. It is probably like erasing a HD and reloading an OS. So therefore, 3P0 would not have any clue as to who the Skywalkers are. His memory could have been wiped a hundred times. Who knows how many owners he has had.
Anakin/Vader doesn't recognize 3P0 because all of those type of droids look alike. Hell, Anakin might have bought a droid kit (Heath Kit anyone?). The name C3P0 could be like a license. You might have to put in for a license number/name for your droids. You have to license your Dog, your car, your motorcycle, your airplane, your sailboat. None of the other droids in the movies had real names. It might not be common to name a droid. They also don't fool themselves that droids are like people. Remember how they turned off C3P0 in the other movies? You don't do that to a person...
He left C3P0 with his mother. C3P0 might have been in good enough condition to fetch a sum for her to make a little money. Maybe she could even buy her freedom? Or, C3P0 might be in good enough condition (no likely though) to do some help around the house for her...
and that's the way it is...
Large print giveth, and the small print taketh away
I agree, Jar Jar sucks, but the comment about the queen not very convincing was wrong. In fact, the queen is most convincing when she's blasting droids to lead her team to the palace, but maybe that's why I don't have GF's to impress. George should have built up the romance between the queen and Anakin more.
So your basic answer is, if someone doesn't like it, that they need to watch it a couple more times?
Get a life.
Phil Fraering "Humans. Go Fig." - Rita
(currently testing something about signatures here)
Ahh.. Zahn... I'd rather have movies on that then TPM!
A program is a device used to convert data into error messages.
midi-chlorians != mitochondria
Gotta agree 100% with that. Woulda been cool, but folks, humans inherit 100% of our mitochondria from mommy. 0% from daddy. That means Luke could not have inherited his "talent" for the force from his father.
Unfortunately, the way midi-chlorians were described, it sounds like the same mechanism that would prevent mitochondria from passing from father to offspring would also prevent midi-chlorians; sperm-egg unions only pass genetic material from the father to offspring, not extra-nuclear material.
This sort of implies that either Lucas didn't put a lot of hard science into this midi-chlorian idea, or midi-chlorians live inside the cellular nucleus, and pass into the egg at fertilization (some other mechanism must exist for asexual life forms).
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
My guess is that QuiGon didn't fade away because he still had to tell ObiWan his dying request, which was to train Anakin.
Of course, why he couldn't do this posthumously like Ben and Yoda did in 4-6 is beyond me.
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
I think the Siths DO have a concept of self-sacrifice.
The emporor constantly chides Luke to strike him down and take his place at his father's side. I think that no matter how that scenario panned out, only two dark Jedi would have walked out of there. The master, and the apprentice.
Either Luke was gonna kill Darth Vader, and be turned, or Luke was going to kill Palpatine and be turned by Vader, or Palpatine and Vader were going to kill Luke.
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
now THAT'S an interesting theory.
The classic love triangle.
Anakin loves the queen,
queen loves ObiWan,
ObiWan IS a queen. . .
This could be how ObiWan and Anakin's freindship begins to split, and Anakin's journy to the dark side begins. . .
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
no, this would have made Darth Maul a GOOD guy!
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Okay, I'll see your silliness, and raise you nonsense.
Why the hell would the Sith artificially inseminate a slave on some unknown backwater planet with a "super jedi" genetically engineered background, and *not* keep them under some kind of surviellance?
Darth Maul was totally clueless about the boy.
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
where was that? Newport beach?
"The number of suckers born each minute doubles every 18 months."
-jafac's law
These are my friends, See how they glisten. See this one shine, how he smiles in the light.
Umm, Obi-Wan didn't get his ass kicked by Darth Vader. He let Darth Vader kill him. If you didn't pick that up, then you really need to go watch it again.
2. Why didn't the trade federation use storm troopers? It seems to me that droids would be much more difficult to maintain. Epsecially considering that they had thousands of them. And they never really killed anything. They just got their asses kicked. Remember the scene when obi wan is in the hanger and says "I'll take out the droids," and kills a dozen of them with no problem? You'd never see Luke or Han going after a dozen storm troopers. In fact, they ran like hell in Starwars when six or so came at them.
Did you see any Stormtroopers in this movie? No? That's because there aren't any yet. The Emperor started the whole Stormtrooper thing.
If I recall correctly, plenty of Gungans died in the battle with the droids.
Of course you don't see Luke or Han going after a group of Stormtroopers by themselves. First of all, Han isn't a Jedi. Second of all, Luke isn't a real Jedi either. The Jedi in Episode I have been trained since they were very, very young. Remember in the council chamber when Yoda says that Anakin is too old to begin training? He's 9!!! The Jedi in these movies have all the training, they would have sliced through Stormtroopers as easily as they sliced through droids.
3. Anakin's mom is psycho. Would you let your kid fly a pod racer at 600 miles an hour with people shooting at you and other racers trying to knock you into mountain walls? Hell no!
Anakin's mom didn't have a choice. They were slaves remember? They had to do whatever Watto told them. She couldn't have stopped him even if she wanted to (which she did). Besides, some things you do for the greater good. She understood that there was something special about Anakin, and that racing for Qui-Gon was something he HAD to do.
5. Lucas has some very fucked up family values. Just look at the relationships in his starwars movies: Luke and Leah - Brother and sister. Queen Amilda and Anakin - 16 year old and 9 year old. He's a pedophile incest lover.
Luke and Leah didn't know they were brother and sister. Amidala is supposed to be 14. While Anakin may already be in love with her, I'm sure she just sees him as a charming little boy right now.
8. Would I see it again? Definately. Sober? Probably not.
No wonder you missed just about every subtlety there was in the movie. Try watching it sober and actually paying to attention to what's going on. You may find out there's a lot more to it than just a really hot chick.
Incorrect. Yoda took two hours to say,"There is another Skywalker," then slumped back, closed his eyes, and disappeared. There were even a couple of seconds of the blanket falling where he once was.
--
(sourceCode == freeSpeech)
I guess Rob ought to replace the current one with another and then re-post the poll on which was the best movie, in about two weeks or so, that is after a few more of us have seen it.
Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.
- W. Wriston, former Citibank CEO
--- SPOILERS AHEAD ----
While watching the movie again tonight it kind of hit me on how Anakin is the chosen one to bring balance to the force. A few people have said that Anakin isn't actually the chosen one.. and that in fact Luke is.
I disagree... there are two sides to the force.. the light and the dark. As of Episode 1 the light side far out numbers thbe dark. After all we only have 2 Sith lords. (One of which is killed) but we had at least 10 Jedi Nights. I think the whole prophacy will unfold with Anakin turning to the dark side and eliminating the other Jedi Knights.
In Episode 4 there are two sith lords, Darth Vader and the Emperor. And there are two Jedi knights Yoda and Obi Wan. Balance in the force?.
Comments?
-Ex-Nt-User
Precedent: Vader at the end of RotJ.
Might have something to do with willing yourself to die.
--
The Future: Some assembly required; batteries not included.
Yeah, but I got the impression that Jar Jar was about to be exiled/jailed by his own people, when whatshisface the jedi master "rescues" him. So it's not even the species that's that annoying. It that one particular character.
Causation can cause correlation
I liked Episode One. However, in mediating our expectations, we are told that we should remember that Episode One is "only a movie." If it was "only a movie", it would have been great! However, it is "not quite a movie." Things it functions well as:
:) And I still prefer the SW universe to the Star Trek Universe. :)
a) Commercial for action figures
b) Commercial for the upcoming Nintendo pod-racing game
c) VR Star-Tours-type ride at disney land
d) Teaser for Episodes Two and Three
Episode One is all these things, but it's less than a movie. If it had come out in '86, it would have been an interesting addition to the saga. However, after 16 years, I was hoping for a good, self-contained movie, and I couldn't help but think that all I got was "a special-effects extravaganza based on the Star Wars mythology." But perhaps this is just a slow puitch to generate merchandising revenue to finance Episodes Two and Three.
In any case, I am certainly going to see it again.
-Dean
I got a chance to see the press junket in NYC three weeks before it opened in theaters. This is my story:
1. Sat behind Roger Ebert
2. Sat next to the president of ILM. He looked 60 years old and his wife looked 25.
3. I had the best seat in the house. (My friend's dad is vice president of fox.)
4. I was wasted about two hours earlier and slowly coming down.
5. Before the movie starts there is some kind of announcement about not taking video camera recordings on the movie. A few seconds later lights go out and the movie starts. No trailers, just straight to the 20 century fox logo.
My comments on the movie:
1. Jedi's are so cool. There really aren't any cool Jedi's in 4,5 and 6. Yoda isn't exactly that tough and all he does is lift luke's space ship. Big fucking deal. Obi-wan gets his ass kicked really easily by Darth. He's 60+ years old, what do you expect. Epsiode 1 has great jedi and great fight scenes.
2. Why didn't the trade federation use storm troopers? It seems to me that droids would be much more difficult to maintain. Epsecially considering that they had thousands of them. And they never really killed anything. They just got their asses kicked. Remember the scene when obi wan is in the hanger and says "I'll take out the droids," and kills a dozen of them with no problem? You'd never see Luke or Han going after a dozen storm troopers. In fact, they ran like hell in Starwars when six or so came at them.
3. Anakin's mom is psycho. Would you let your kid fly a pod racer at 600 miles an hour with people shooting at you and other racers trying to knock you into mountain walls? Hell no!
4. The queen is hot. I never really thought princess Leah was hot. Maybe that was because I was 4 years old when starwars came out.
5. Lucas has some very fucked up family values. Just look at the relationships in his starwars movies: Luke and Leah - Brother and sister. Queen Amilda and Anakin - 16 year old and 9 year old. He's a pedophile incest lover.
6. Jar Jar - Could someone translate his dialog for me?
7. The popcorn I was eating: Provided for free by Fox but had butter on it. My fingers got real sticky.
8. Would I see it again? Definately. Sober? Probably not.
9. Would I buy it on DVD? Sure, when Lucas releases it to DVD in year 2013.
Thats my story.
Sorry, but I hate all these accusations of "racial overtones" in the movie.
Japanese? Please. Those Trade Federation guys weren't supposed to be spoofing the Japanese. Isn't it obvious? They were supposed to be spoofing William Shatner. Just watch any episode of Star Trek (original series) and you'll see what I mean; the speech patterns (right down to the insipid extraneous pauses) are identical.
Quite frankly, I support that spoof.
I'm going to see Star Wars tonight. It looks good, but I've heard it isn't the best, like as said by Rob. So, let's hope the best and go into the movie with a good mind.
I was there. It was fun. I was a little messed up tough. :)
:)
Me, Octx, Rob & Mandrake... and some drunk kid from linux radio....
Doesn't anybody think it's odd that no mention is made in later movies of Anakin's relation to C3P0 (that of creator)--or did I just miss it altogether?
Also, was it explicitly stated that the presence of high concentrations of miti-chlorians (whatever!) indicated strength in the Force? All I picked up was that it was used as a measure of one's eligibility to be trained as a Jedi...
Please, prove me wrong!
You really really need a copy editor, Taco.
The word is "Menace".
J.
damned vulpine http://sb.drtwister.com/
Yup. And the dark lord with mystic powers who fights with a sword is clearly samurai. Look at his helmet for chrissakes.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
The accents were unmistakably Chinese, and the Queen was (as has been pointed out) clearly dressed as a Tibetan.
This freaks me out to no end. Star Wars terminology was used extensively to characterise the cold war, now it looks like Lucas has chosen the next evil empire for us.
I wouldn't think this was anything but typical American paranoia of powerful non-whites if both America and China weren't being extremely beligerent to each other right now.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
Also, Yoda's clothes disappered with him, but Obi-wan's fell to the floor.
Then again, maybe it has something to do with how many layers you can take with you when you die. Like tighter clothes dissappear, but loose robes and blankets don't. But wasn't Obi-wan's ghost wearing that same robe that Vader wiped his 'KISS'-brand boots on?
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
He had his saber on the 'maim' setting when he was in the cantina.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
this was just lousy writing on lucas' part. if the jedi were indeed an ancient culture as described by the older obi wan kenobi in episode iv then the metachloriants would have been long ignored and discredited. obi wan should have sensed the force in the boy as soon as he hit tattoine. especially the force at the level described. my official review is here for your perusing.
"The lie, Mr. Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths."
--
And Justice for None
We waited all day to be the first in line for the 7PM show, and Simpson just waltzes right in using his celebrity powers. I don't know where he got the idea the rules don't apply to him...
Palpatine as Caeser? I think of him much more as a subtle Hitler-figure (Hitler was chancellor, after all).
--
Aaron Gaudio
"The fool finds ignorance all around him.
"Every man is a mob, a chain gang of idiots." - Jonathan Nolan, Memento Mori
> Lucas is just like Gates, surrounded by idiotic Yes-Men who only care about their cool technology,
Hey, how dare you insinuate that Steve Howe has anything to do with Microsoft!
:-)
~ radiographite: art by john shepard
(I'm trying to keep it spoilerless, but no guarantees.)
Even in my younger days I knew the Trilogy had flaws. I mean, the Death Star gets taken out, along with what must easily be a few hundred million occupants ("heading for that small moon"), after rescuing exactly ONE falsely imprisoned civilian from cell block 2187 (meaning cell blocks 1 - 2186 were full). Nobody bats an eye. Everyone CHEERS. It's never explained how many planets had to be mined dry to come up with enough metal to build that thing.
Luke Skywalker drives us NUTS with his whining, all through SW and Empire. C3PO takes the whining and doubles it through SW and Empire and even Jedi for good measure.
We have to sit and WAIT through most of Star Wars for the action to get underway - watching those two hunks of junk wandering around the desert, listening to Luke whine, watching Luke eat dinner, watching Luke stare at the sunset, etc.
Do we now complain about the lack of character development? Obi-Wan was underdeveloped well up until Jedi where he finally explains his motivations to Luke (until then he's just the generic old guy). Chewbacca was NEVER really developed. Leia's 'princessness' is never explained. Boba Fett has six lines. And there's a million generic characters. Didn't stop me from watching ANH about 70 times. Didn't stop some of you from watching it several HUNDRED times.
Do we now complain about the pace? We watch people wander the desert in ANH, wander the tundra and wander the worm stomach in Empire, and wander the woods in Jedi. Didn't stop us from watching these movies enough times over to put them all in the top 10 grossing films of all time.
Do we complain about Jar Jar? Only if we also complained when Luke Skywalker did the same sorts of things. And Jar Jar actually has some character development - so if you complained about the lack of character development, stop complaining about Jar Jar. He has a REASON to be there - he provides a conversation piece for some of the characters (getting Anakin and Amidala talking), he provides the link to the Gungans, and he provides us with a focus inside the battle later on (nowhere else in the saga do we have a battle shown "third person" without one of the heroes actually in it). And those who say "Jar Jar should die" - yes, it would be nice if we could kill everyone in the world who annoys us.
Do we complain about Darth Maul's lack of screen time? Of course - we complained about Boba Fett's lack of screen time, so George gave us 30 seconds more in the remastered ANH, waving to the audience and saying "HI, I'm Boba Fett". Be careful what you wish for.
Do we complain about a certain, shall we say, "microscopic detail" regarding the Force? Sure, I guess we're entitled to complain about anything that makes the Force, or the Saga itself, anything other than what we've convinced ourselves over two decades that it should be. Timothy Zahn gave us something similar (the ysalamiri, animals that can block the Force) and instead of raising a stink, it raised lively debate about what the Force really is and how it works. I think this new revelation makes a GREAT explanation for why strong sensitivity to a ubiquitous energy field is a rather exclusive inherited trait. And it raises more questions than it answers.
Do we complain about Yoda? Yes, and we have every reason to: he looks like they cast another "actor" for the part, he acts like he stuck his lips into the podracer power beam like Jar Jar did, and he sounds like Frank Oz needs to actually WATCH Empire and remember how to do the voice. And his dialogue is some of George's finest - "more have you to say?" This complaint I grant you - but for all we know, he might "change" in the next two films to become older, his eyes might bug out more, his voice could deepen, and he might get off the painkillers, leaving him more like the Yoda we remember. Conversely, if TPM is the first movie you ever see of the saga, later Yodas won't seem quite right either.
Do we complain about the Nimoudians and how easily they were defeated? Remember what the film is REALLY about - and who was calling the shots in the blockade - they were never SUPPOSED to win. Watch the movie. Think about who stood to gain the most from the arrangement.
Do we complain about the kick-ass Jedi action, the adrenalizing 300mph pod race through the canyons, R2D2 cavorting outside the ship, the exquisite Naboo city, the sea monsters, the jawdropping Coruscant cityscape (I think ILM just took back the award for most ships onscreen), the Senate, the seamless droids-walking-among-the-prisoners effects, or the "red shield" thing in the end battle? No, of course not.
Do we complain about the director and how he composed certain shots? Fault his screenwriting and his ability to coax perfect performances out of actors, if you must - but his skill in actually putting pictures on film has NOT been diluted by the passage of time. It is still very much a George Lucas movie; he uses every square inch of the 2.1:1, he has a sense of motion that few directors have, and he approaches the visual effects as "this is the world, I'm showing you how cool it looks" instead of "these are our cool effects".
Complain about the merchandising, if you must - but if Taco Bell ever offers you a few hundred million for the right to advertise your work on a taco wrapper, you'll have to say no.
I admit: I'm an artist, which makes me a primarily visual creature - which means I can be suckered by a visually entertaining movie that lacks a few points in the plot department. But then, Independence Day didn't impress me, so clearly this film has SOMETHING more to offer.
So just shut up, stop looking for things to hate, and go WATCH THE MOVIE A COUPLE TIMES. You learned to tolerate the flaws in the other three, you'll learn to tolerate most of the flaws in this one, and with any luck, eventually you'll learn to appreciate what this film DOES have. Of course, it'll help when the marketing frenzy dies down, and Jar Jar is no longer smiling at you from every product in Wal-Mart.
Besides, if you don't like how George makes movies, make your own.
~ radiographite: art by john shepard
Just after the droid control ship is destroyed and the droid army shuts down Jar Jar is standing next to a defunct droid. He smacks it and it falls down.
The printing on the droid's back identifies it as droid number 1138. It seems Lucas likes to make that reference.
My peeve on this account: "the will of the force". Before now, the force has been just a power to tap in to, an impersonal feature of the universe like, say, physics. Now it has a "will", implying little things in cells that form some sentient being. Blah.
On another note, Jar-jar must die.
It was implausable. Lucas didn't tell _anyone_ that Vader was Luke's father. (now I've probably just spoilt the series for the one guy out there who decided back in the 70's to wait till they were ALL out, and see them in order...)
During filming the line was "Obi-Wan was your father." So Hamill probably had no idea. Lucas does that kind of thing a lot. David Prowse, who wore the Vader costume (IIRC - no flames), had no clue that his voice was going to get replaced with James Earl Jones' voice. Didn't find out till he saw the premier in Hollywood.
Luke _IS_ whiny though. I never cared for his girly screams in all three movies. (Always evoked by something Vader does too... kill Obi-Wan, plot against Leia...)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Silent Running is also '77, I thought. I remember hearing that Universal sued Fox, claiming that Lucas ripped off Huey and Louie for his droid designs. Personally, I figure there are only so many ways to get a midget in a plastic box.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
I like that (the idea, not Urot, which is pretty nasty)
See, I think that trying to bring balance to the force sounds like a *bad* plan to me. Let's see here... There are two Sith (which we'll assume is synonymous with dark Jedi) at any given time, so says Yoda. This would imply that balancing the force would either increase the number of Sith dramatically or require, gee, I don't know, eliminating all but two or so of the Jedi (a Master an an Apprentice).
Evidently attempts to alter the balance don't work out so well - Obi-Wan takes on Luke as an apprentice and so he has to bite it, keeping the number stable at 2 per side. The Emperor and Vader constantly believe that in order for Luke to join them one of them will have to die (the other one, inevitably).
This does sort of break down in Jedi as the numbers switch from 2/2 to 1/2 to 2/1 to 1, and that's ignoring Leia alltogether. My guess is that ultimately while Luke is chiefly a good Jedi, he embodies some of the dark side (as represented by his hand, clothing, etc.) and is himself balanced. Unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy, there's only one of him.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Hmph. Not all of us earthlings can afford droids you know. I can levitate rocks all day, while standing on my head with a muppet on my butt, but who would let me borrow a droid to levitate? Come on.
(Anyone else think that the astromechs in the escape from Naboo evoked the drones from Silent Running?)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Well... I'm from Florida, and I can't say that there's anything special here.... ;)
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Damn, I even put in a smiley. I understood what you meant, I was just making a joke.
-- This and all my posts are in the public domain. I am a lawyer. I am not your lawyer, and this is not legal advice.
Read the book. He's a whiney, frustrated teenager who, by the stories end, 'comes of age'.
Duh. It's called 'story', like *oh* *my* GOD!
Gag a maggot.
**>>BELCH
C3P0 Rocked. Awesome costume, enhanced by SUPERBLY subtle sound effects, brought to life by good scripting and a supremely talented British actor.
Both C3P0 and R2D2, all cuteness aside, were the FIRST screen robots to be imbued with such depth of character AND convincing architechture, and one without using ANY actual dialog!
They were the first screen robots that weren't all shiny and clean all the time. They got dented and corroded. When they DID shine, you noticed!
The Jawa scene does bug me, though, with R2 going over rocky terrain with his little treads, wheels, whatever. In the book he is much more articulated, but that would have been *much* more expensive to produce at the time.
**>>BELCH
I haven't seen the movie yet, but it seems like JarJar might have been better if he spoke a foreign lanuage (like Greedo) with subtitles. He could be crazy and over the top without resorting to modern day American colloquialisms.
**>>BELCH
I concur with everyone else who doesn't like that cellular lifeform crap. I always preferred the mystical side of the Force, and now George abandons all the Eastern Mysticism for a standard Scientific explanation for the force, and a decidedly Western Messiah story. Who wants to bet that Anakin Skywalker will return in episode 2 as an impatient (and hotter than Hamill-looking) adolescent bent on freeing Tatooine's slaves. My god, could George be any more obvious?
So long, and thanks for all the Phish
The similarities don't exactly end there. Mitochondria are also thought to be symbiotes, but not exactly in the same way. Mitochondria share many properties of a bacterial cell - they have the same linear DNA, and also their same ribosomes. They aren't produced by a newly formed cell; they (and chloroplasts, in plants) divide separately using their own mechanisms during mitosis/meiosis. Thus it is believed that mitochondria evolved as symbiotic bacterial cells living within eukaryotic host cells. I hadn't even considered a mitichlorian-mitochondria connection before reading your post, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. I don't have any clue where Lucas could be going with this, but the similarities are there. Maybe you shouldn't dismiss it so fast.
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
You're missing the point. If Jake Lloyd played a brooding pre-teen sociopath in TPM, then there would be no sense of tragedy in his subsequent seduction by the dark side. His innocence will be shown to gradually give rise to more nefarious person, and I can all but guarantee that this will lead up to a climax in Episode 3 in which he is lost forever to hate, fear, and evil.
Furthermore, it's time you realized that Jar Jar was a Disney character added to attract a Disney audience. All the 9 year olds I know loved him, including my brother with whom I saw the movie. This, I have no doubt, fits into the Lucas plan of milking this cow for all she's worth, as do the restaurant tie-ins and actions figures. The same kids that *love* Jar Jar will feed in a pirahna-like frenzy on Darth Maul action figures, Taco Bell promo cups, and the like. It's insidious, and alienates many of the true fans of the series, but it's almost a guaranteed billion for Lucas and company. Yes, it's pretty hard to miss the annoying qualities in Jar Jar, and to suggest that Lucas actually did is ludicrous. He knew damn well what he was doing, and what seems annoying to us is actually pretty entertaining to younger generations - the same generations that will beg their parents into spending untold millions on the merchandise. Do the Power Rangers ring a bell?
I think there is a world market for maybe five personal web logs.
I've seen the movie once, with my wife. We're both fans of the original series, and both came away with largely the same feelings about TPM -- It contained Lucas' by-now-evident tendency to make some things too obvious (like humor attempts), had some new flaws (neither of us liked the "midichlorians" touch -- as though we needed an explanation as to why we earthlings can't levitate our droids like Luke can) and set new standards in the fx arena (has anyone actually found an fx flaw? The cg stuff, even Jar-Jar, is the best, least hokey material I've yet seen). Loved the jedi fight scenes, Darth Mahl rocked and we were disappointed he was killed off, the pod races were great, battle scenes kicked ass, saw too little of the Huts, etc.
Was it the experience without which life will have been meaningless? Of course not -- it's a movie. Would I have changed a few things if Lucas had asked me? You bet. But despite (or rather, because of) this movie's characteristic flaws, it's a worthy addition to the series. One I plan to see quite a few more times.
Kythe
(Remove "x"'s from
Kythe
I was driving up to the mountains to do some hiking when I heard "Duel of the Fates" on Colorado Public Radio. I decided that I absolutely had to see the movie as soon as possible, so I drove to the theatre, bought a ticket (for a showing two hours later) had lunch and saw it. (At Loveland, I didn't have to wait in any lines or anything - I just had to buy my ticket two hours in advance...).
That scene is by far my favorite of the movie.
--
Mark Fassler
fassler at frii dot com
Palpatine declared himself emporer in the beginning of ANH (shortly after he desolved the senate).
Didn't take long:
www.jarjarsucks.com
-Ed Felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas.
But Yoda's physical body did disappear in RotJ, right after he "died". I can't explain it, but it's something to ponder...
Did anyone _else_ stay to the very bitter end of the movie? To the last bit of the credits? Right where the typical little globe shows before the projector runs out of film? The last three seconds of the audio track?
Did anyone else hear it?
Nice forshadowing there, eh?
Reeses
Anyone else notice that?
Mito-Chloreans: Small symbiotic creatures that live in every cell that determine what you do.
Mitochondria: Small genetic particles in every cell that govern how it works.
Reeses
In the pod race.
Reeses
Saw it 6 times on opening day between 9AM and Midnight.
Saw it twice more with a friend and his kids today.
The part I love the best is the filming of Anakin in the pod race. I keep getting this surreal overlay of Darth Vader in his TIE fighter, prepping to wreak havoc on his enemies.
GOTTA get me a copy of StarWars: Pod Racer
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
"Are you an angel?" "..most beautiful..."
Pretty slick for an ankle-biter!
Remind me to try that on some cute 14 year old royal-type in my next life when I'm some mega-Force-sensitive 9 year-old who was immaculately conceived. =)
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
As I understand it, the Sith Lords originated somehow like this.
There was one of the Jedi order who was experimenting with the effects of anger and hatred in his use of the force.
When he tried to insist to the Jedi Council that his method was viable and compatible with the Jedi Code, they disavowed him. He fled with various followers to found the Lords of Sith. As an organization they are devoted not to preservation, but domination. They also have a grudge against the Jedi for the expulsion of the founder of the Sith.
Unfortunately, since they were devoting themselves to an "evil" cause, they eventually turned upon one another. Among the first to die was the founder of the Sith.
The Jedi merely sat back as the Sith Lords disintegrated as an organization and then mopped up the remainders.
Apparently some of the Sith survived. But, learning from the experience with their founder, the Sith now RARELY operate in groups of more than 2, master and apprentice, due to the frictions that evil people place upon each other.
The Sith are so hard to detect for several reasons. As Yoda implied, the Dark Side is difficult to see unless you're specifically looking for it. Usually the only people SPECIFICALLY looking for the Dark Side are Sith Lords and those in immediate combat with said Sith Lords.
In addition, like Jedi, Sith train to conceal themselves. Similar to the way Luke hid himself from Vader near the end of ROTJ. He couldn't necessarily conceal his thoughts, but he was able to conceal his actual whereabouts.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
I certainly hope #5 will be dark and menacing like ESB. The word on the street is that it will be a love story between anakin and the queen, but it can still be a dark and menacing love story!
spoiler alert
My faves (besides the best light saber duels in the history of mankind, you can see some hong kong action influence here):
And I swear I saw Zera from Planet of the Apes in the stadium scene!
Ok, if you have seen this movie here are my questions which are also my gripes. 1. Trade Federation blockades planet and wants to invade... why? We are never told what the importance of the planet holds to the Trade Federation, nor are we given any insight on who the hell they really are. 2. Liam Nielson's character, what was his name? I didn't catch his name until half way through the movie (i think)? 3. Sith? uhhh.. ok. Darth Maul (sp)? Not much there... 4. JaJa Binks? what the hell did he say? This guy could have had a good "background" character, instead he was pushed to far into frontstage, and you couldn't understand half of what his dialoge was.."meeza thinkza iza wazza.." ..ok. Bottom line fun and entertaining, but plot and character development was non-existant. Am I the only one? Tell me what "yoozaaa thinkzaa".
Awesome!
Noticed that, too. I think, though, it may have been an attempt to hark to the sci-fi B-movies/serials of the 1950s. The wall-sized viewscreen on the Trade Federation ship's bridge (with its concentric circles when nothing is displayed) also reminded me of the 1950s serials.
Christopher A. Bohn
cb
Oooh! What does this button do!?
Definitely not the best, but there are parts that are much, much better than in the past. My biggest gripe is that it felt more like the opening moves of a chess match -- just getting the pieces in place. Nonetheless, a couple things I liked:
- The climatic lightsabre fighting was pure ballet.
- More diverse use of lightsabres -- not just slicing, but also stabbing. Also used similar to an acetylene torch.
The fight (and the FX) is worth the price of admission alone.
Christopher A. Bohn
cb
Oooh! What does this button do!?
...that we have to wait until September to see it, here in Switzerland...;-(
--- GnorpH
Hey, I liked Howard the Duck! Beak me baby!
Jar Jar wasn't as horrible as people say. It's a kids movie with a complicated plot for the adults. We get the intricacies of intergalactic politics and complex lightsaber battles, and the kids get Jar Jar stepping in poo, and COOL lightsaber battles. You can please all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time.
YESSS!!! I knew I was not hallucinating. I saw the movie last friday, and during the scene in the Senate, i was convinced that I saw ET in the lower corner. Thank you for verifying this fact.
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
I noticed that as well. Just that very day my friends and I were discussing the jedi "fade away" syndrome. Obi Wan had his head chopped off in A New Hope thus died immediately so he faded away. Yoda had his number up and died when it was his time but also immediately so he also faded away. You'll notice when Darth Vader/Anakin is dying he is doing so slowly, we never see him fade away because we never really see him die. In Phantom Menace Qui-Gon Jinn gets saber'd through the torso and doesn't die right away. It seemed like lucas cut away right before Qui-Gon actually died. Thus we don't see him fade away. Hell, this is just an excuse I am making for bastardly George and one of his huge glaring mistakes in EP 1. He should have had him fade out after he died!!!!!!!!!!!! the other major mistakes being the devine conception of anakin (Jesus II anyone?) and the whole mito-force thingies (jedi particles in all cells) George is really in "Deep Doo-Doo Now!" I have to say that I liked it much more than most other people on this forum. I liked Jar Jar, but did get tired of poopy jokes and how he ALWAYS got lucky in that battle scene even though he is clumsy as a mule (who now has Qui-Gon Jinn's mustache on his ass; anyone see Leno with Liam Neeson?)
"Thank the maker, this oil bath is going to feel so good!" that is C3PO in A New Hope. Notice that now "the maker" is Anakin (Darth Vader) who is also the father of who he was actually talking to; Luke. (perhaps he was just talking in general to hear his voice as he like to do) there was lots of stuff in this movie that gets no mention in the later (earlier made) movies. Mito-chloridians for one. I hope as well as others have expressed that they get explained away in the 2nd episode... also all the ships in this movie seemed much more advanced than the next generational ships in Ep. 4. maybe it's because it is a revolutionary time and all the ships have to be salvaged, no one has any money or time for developement, etc.... I could go on, but I digress...
okay this may be a dumb question but was that picture of anakin with Vader's shadow ever supposed to be in the movie or did a fan make that picture? I don't remember. What I can't decide about this movie is if George assumed that everyone knew the outcome (from ep 4-6) or if he wanted it to be stand alone. Palpatine should have been a secret had he wanted it to be stand alone. We shouldn't have known that the senator was also that bad guy in the cloak who was the master to Darth Maul. Then that little "subtle" camera shot of Palpatine close to the end would have been soooo cool. IMHO he should have made ep 1 it's own movie. I think he failed at that.
Am I incorrect here in saying that as far as R2 and C3PO were concerned, when they crash landed on Tatooine in A New Hope, they were on a planet they hadnt visited before?
Hmm.
D
--
driph
"Actually, I think that his name was Maw. Also, Maw and Darth Maul looked absolutely nothing alike. Maw didn't have horns and had yellowish skin tones. Maul did have horns and his skin tones were not exactly yellow."
On that note... roommate and I were discussing Maul after seeing the film.. The paint on his face, and even the horns, looked fake....what if it was make up he applied to himself to hide his identity? And with this lil tidbit from the JK game, that sounds even more plausible...
Especially considering, from what I've heard, the actor who played Maul is supposed to be in the next film..
Driph
--
driph
HA! someone oughta moderate this puppy way up. right on.
Duel of fates is is EXCELLENT. in fact, i'm listening to it right now, on repeat. I purposely avoided letting myself hear any of the music before i saw the film, and frankly, i think the impact of the music would have been lessened a great deal had i heard it out of context. (not to mention the horrid amount of spoilers just in the track names alone on that cd, sheesh)
Tis a true pity that the only character in the
movie who was instantly recognizable, in terms of
classic myths (ie Obi-Wan==Merlin,Leia==Damsel in
Distress...) was jar jar drinks (too much) as the
useless sidekick. Oh and whats happens with C3P0?
The kid could have brought him along....
How did Anikin get that cut , the one that Qui-Gon
sneeked a blood sample from?
Also, if Darth Maul is evil (eeee-vil) , why didn't he fight dirty?
Its funny to see the review, which is generally spoiler free, and then reading the posts in the forum, which basically tell you everything you didn't want to know about the movie before you see it. (grin)
Did anybody else find the choral stuff diring the big saber battles to be some of the coolest music that Williams has done yet? Sounds like he'd been listening to a lot of Carl Orff when he wrote this one. =:)
Did anybody see the Austin Powers II trailer attached to Star Wars? I was expecting that movie to suck, but the trailer looks SO FSCKIN FUNNY. I'm there.
I disagree. The graphic did look *pathetic* but the story looked like actual scifi, something I've not seen in the theater for a long time. It wasn't about the destruction of the earth, it was about what happens *after* the destruction of the earth. What the people do, how they cope. THAT's what makes for good scifi in my eyes and I'm really excited to see it.
Not only were E.T.s sighteded in the Republic Senate (as reported in this forum), but it seems that most illustrious and accomplished of species, the indomidable Wookies, are indeed represented in the Senate and were in fact visible in several frames of the Phantom Menace. Needless to say this caused great rejoicing in our theatre.
The Wookies were definetely Wookies, and the E.T.s were ... remarkably similar, but perhaps not 100% identical, to the Extra Terrestrials.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
A Wookie Admirer, Ret.
There's two or three of them, and they look pretty much just like Chewbacca, if I recall they even have bandoliers.
This is of course in the Senate just after Amidala calls for a No-Confidence.
So obviously Kashyyk is part of the Republic. I wonder what pretext Palpatine used to enslave them later. No doubt all will be explained in Episodes II and III, which I hope will feature Wookies prominently.
I also heard that Grim Fandango is in the pod race crowd. And probably a lot of other characters. Can't wait for the DVD version of this one.
Well anyway, in this game, there was a "boss" called, simply, Maul. Anyone remember that? Anyone see any strange similarites to Darth Maul from Episode I?
In the game, Maul was an evil Jedi who happened to only have an upper body (with some kind of cybernetic attachment that allowed him to float. Or maybe it was the Force, I dunno.) Now, compare and contrast this to what happened to Darth Maul at the end of Episode I.
Coincidence? Discuss amongst yourselves.
So they actually cut off the end of the credits? That's a BAD idea.
When you show a movie commercially, you MUST show all of the credits. I believe it's because the people in the credits have a clause in their contracts stating that they must be credited. No show, no credit. No credit, no fulfillment of contractual obligations.
If this is a regular occurrance, it could get them in serious hot water.
Jon
All opinions expressed herein are my own, and not those of my employers, who are appalled.
That is where the movie disappointed me the most, very little character development in comparison to the trilogy. It seemed like Lucas favored the special effects (not that they weren't amazing) to developing the characters. The characters are really what makes a movie enjoyable, especially an epic. And this is where I felt most let down by TPM.
i agree, and IMHO, the gungans sounded kinda stereotypically italian (my friend says they sound ghetto, but i'm not sure, i guess i'll have to go see it again) and another poster mentioned they had an almost rastafarian accent.
2 things, anakin isn't a messiah, more of an antichrist. remember, he WILL bring balance to the force, just not to the advantage of the lightside. and the MidiChlorians or whatever i think are little parasites/symbiotes attracted to individuals who have a good connection to the force. (like the ysalamari in the zahn novels, the worm thingys push away the force, and the vornskr?sp? who hunt using the force)
CONTAINS SPOILERS
:)
I definitely have to agree, it is *so* much better the second time... especially after partying all night (1:15am showing
The amount of detail and love that has been put into all of the scenes can only be appreciated after seeing it again.
I was so surprised, the first time I enjoyed it, but spent alot of time cringing at all of the bad scenes. The second time I actually loved Jar Jar and all the corniness (gotta love the bat-utility belt thang at the end - they all rise up at exactly the same time and pace!).
This is a movie that grows on you, and now that I think of it, so too do A New Hope and Jedi... not so great the first time but they get better everytime you watch em.
So?
Go see it again.
Complexity Happens
There was a rumor on Coming Attractions (Corona) that Spike Jonze might direct one of the movies, although it's probably not going to happen now. But that would have been cool...
...if he thinks this was a good movie. It was a bad movie with some terrific action sequences. Or, as I said before you could look at it as two movies in one: a bad one that lacks adequate character development but in substitute has lots of spastic plot development, followed seamlessly by a wonderful, action-packed second movie chock full o' awesomely cool battle scenes, grand special effects, and thrilling music.
"Not a perfect movie". Indeed, Rob, and Windows NT isn't a wonderful, stable, bug-free operating system. And Jar-jar is orders of magnitude more annoying that Hamil ever dreamed of.
Gimme a break.
--JT
Do we complain about Jar Jar? Only if we also complained when Luke Skywalker did the
same sorts of things.
Not so -- Luke's behavior never generated this kind of a furor. Besides, Luke's whining, like it or not, was an essential part of his character. He whined because the Princess didn't return his affections. He whined because he was asked to take on tasks that he felt were too difficult. He whined because he didn't understand his destiny, and didn't like his parent. Jeeze, these are things I can relate to. I don't like his whining, but I understand it.
I can't say the same for Jar-jar. He's an idiot. A buffoon. He'd be a sympathetic character if he were trying to change himself. That's one of the things that makes a character come alive: we see him struggle with himself, we can relate to something similar in our own life, and then we want him to succeed. Or we fail with him if he fails. This is the essence of good character development. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen much in TPM, and it doesn't happen at all in Jar-Jar. He's happy to just clown along.
Then there's the matter of proportion. Do you really find Luke annoying to the same degree as Jar-jar? I don't. They've taken annoying, overclocked it, given it steroids, turbocharged it, then added an afterburner. Please don't try to equate this with Luke Skywalker; the two are way out of proportion.
And Jar Jar actually has some character development - so if you
complained about the lack of character development, stop complaining about Jar Jar. He
has a REASON to be there - he provides a conversation piece for some of the characters
(getting Anakin and Amidala talking), he provides the link to the Gungans, and he
provides us with a focus inside the battle later on (nowhere else in the saga do we have a
battle shown "third person" without one of the heroes actually in it).
And he could have done all those things without being so damned annoying.
I can understand all these people falling over themselves to defend Episode One. You like Star Wars -- the whole concept, lock, stock and barrel. You like it and you're going to defend it no matter what. But keep things in perspective.
For example: what if Jar-jar were played by a human actor -- say, Jim Carrey in makeup and latex -- instead of being a gee-whiz piece of computer-generated technology. Would you really tolerate that kind of behavior from a human actor? You would not. You'd be lining up, every one of you, to declare that George Lucas had lost his mind. But make him a cute CG alien and you're accept him, to downplay him to merely as annoying as Luke Skywalker.
Hey, I'm glad you liked TPM. I don't have any problem with that. But don't expect me to buy these weak excuses, and don't expect me to accept the comparison to New Hope. No sale.
--JT
SPOILERS!
I think it's amusing that people (including myself) think Empire ruled in large part because of its downbeat ending.
But think about TPM..
It's in a way even more complex than Empire... It has a FALSE happy ending! I mean, its happy ending is entirely superficial. If you really think about what happened in the movie, Anakin's survival, winning the war.. both of those "happy ending" itmes are actually BAD!
And anyone else notice that the end credits music ends differently from the endings in all three other movies?
Mon Mothma was the head of the whole freaking rebellion, and she's female.
Cool strong leader character, too.
If she had only been more developed, she might've been as cool Delenn from B5.
Well, from what I got outta it. The mitochloreans, or whatever they may have been called, are indeed symbiotic creatures.
However, The Force exists everywhere. These little creatures just sorta, channel it I suppose.
In the movie they said that these little buggers just helped the host communicate with The Force. From what I take of it, these little guys just make it easier to learn how to control The Force, thats all. Sure it gives little Anakin an edge, but only if he takes advantage of it. And it doesn't dismiss anyone else with less presence from being ultimately more powerful.
Scientology has this belief about aliens that are attached to you. They're called "BTs" or Body Thetans.
Sounds kinda similar.
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I think Vader did encounter C3PO in Empire, when C3PO's been disassembled and is on Chewbacca's back. While they're carboniting Han.
W
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I could add way more to this list, but it seems to get at a lot of good points.
What a letdown this movie was. Unpolished story, retarded humor, annoying characters, bland dialogue, cheesy cameos, horrible acting, over-reliance on coincidences....where was the magic, the wit, the brilliance, the feeling of "family", of adventure, of danger, of mystery?
America seems to be trying to convince themselves that it was good.
The Emporer was wearing no clothes, and today my heart is broken.
W
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Found this list on Film Threat (www.filmthreat.com)
100 UNFORGIVABLE THINGS ABOUT EPISODE I
*** WARNING: MEGA SPOILERS BELOW! ***
1. The Midi-chlorian explanation
2. The Virgin Shmi and the "Immaculate Conception" of Anakin
3. Concept of Jar Jar Binks - Is this one of Joseph Campbell's archetypes?
4. Bad CG shot of Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan jumping out of ventilation shaft at beginning
5. Weird, feral kids that are Anakin's friends, especially that weird Greedo kid
6. Prominent featuring of Warwick Davis in what appears to be his costume from Willow
7. Two-headed sports announcer with cliché voice (esp. line "That's gotta hurt in any universe")
8. Watto's wings flapping - very distracting from scene
9. Watto's line "you think you some kind of Jedi" - unnecessary cheap joke - pokes fun at Jedi, who should not be the butt of any jokes
10. Battle droids aren't threatening enough
11. The E.T.s in the senate - (Are the delegates from Duckworld there too?)
12. Lion King song at end of parade
13. Jive-dance by Gungans at parade
14. Ending shot is totally lifted from Star Wars
15. Star Trek touches, like beaming Anakin's blood sample on board
16. Weak "Running Man" plot device of having a transmitter implanted in Anakin and his mom so they can't leave Tatooine
17. Nicknaming Anakin "Annie"
18. Introducing the concept of slavery to the Star Wars universe - what are droids for then?
19. The Gungan City and underwater chase, which look like scenes out of "Little Mermaid", totally incongruous with rest of SW universe
20. Gungan Pidgin Language: "Exsqueeze me!" "You in Big Doo-Doo now!"
21. Bizarre dolly shot with Sidious's hologram talking to Viceroy on weird spider droid
22. Having Anakin be the creator of C-3P0 - adds nothing to other films and introduces an unrealistic coincidence - C-3P0 and Vader are NEVER in a scene together
23. Qui-Gon's wussiness - why doesn't he just take the part from Watto? - because they need a speeder race. He also runs away from Darth Maul and cuts a cool fight short
24. Story point of having to get money to pay for hyperdrive part - more fitting in an adventure game. Why doesn't Qui-Gon commandeer the part? What authority does he have? Aren't the Jedi supposed to be guardians of some kind?
25. Anakin's L.L. Bean knapsack
26. Darth Maul getting chopped in half - was it really necessary?
27. Boss Nass's warbling
28. Jar Jar stepping in poo
29. Jar Jar getting farted at by animal
30. Jar Jar B.O. joke
31. Jar Jar's constant moving and morphing (especially his eyes) distracts the eyes from the real
characters
32. Jar Jar accidentally destroying half the battle droid army
33. Gungan bubble shield - this is a device unlike anything we have ever seen in SW.
34. Batman grappling hook sequence in palace
35. Unexciting laser battles in palace
36. Unexciting space battle
37. Anakin's blowing the station up by accident
38. Weak invasion scene - just a couple of tanks rolling into the courtyard
39. Boss Nass' agreeing to help humans just cause they kneel
40. Qui-Gon requesting Jar Jar as a navigator then never even using him to navigate
41. Darth Maul never does anything evil - he just looks cool
42. Fake-looking plastic adobe huts on Tatooine - they looked much more convincing in Star Wars
43. Bad Nimoidian lip-synching
44. "Are you brain-dead?" line uttered by Nimoidian
45. Lack of explanation for the Prophecy of the One Who Will Bring Balance to The Force
46. Dumb-ass ESP test the Jedi give to Anakin
47. Token P.C. female pilot in Naboo fighter
48. Lack of activity for Jedi and Mace Windu - Why don't all the Jedi ever go and kick ass?
49. CG lens flare on Coruscant during sunset
50. Pixilated CG explosion at end when the Battle Droids blow up in the corridor after Anakin hits the core
51. ID4 plot device of having Battle Droids controlled by Space Station
52. Lame-ass foreshadowing, like Ric Olie teaching Anakin to fly fighter
53. Dumb-ass plot device of Anakin's ship being on auto-pilot to suck him into station
54. Confusing plot device of Queen and her double
55. Weird voice they dubbed onto Queen
56. James Bond "Thunderball" scuba mouthpieces that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan just happen to have -(Why would they bring those to a negotiation on a *spaceship*??? Do they carry them around in their utility belts???)
57. Terence Stamp being completely underused in just one mediocre scene
58. Absolutely no background given about Sith Lords - what was the "Mystery of the Sith"?
59. Lack of interaction between Obi-wan and Padme/Amidala and other handmaidens - Is he gay?
60. Convenient location of blanket near Queen (when Anakin tells her he's cold)
61. Lack of epic cliffhangers (a la trash compactor, space slug escape, walking plank of Jabba's skiff)
62. Lame crowd reactions in pod race
63. Centering a major section of the film around the pod race stalls the story
64. Jar Jar getting kicked in the nuts by pit droid
65. Jar Jar's cartoony dive
66. Yoda's defeatist attitude - no good explanation is given about his fears about Anakin. Wouldn't it be more troubling if Anakin wasn't afraid about his mother???
67. It's never made clear whether people were being killed on Naboo
68. Slapstick during Gungan battle undercuts drama of final confrontation with Darth Maul
69. Obvious and contrived maneuvering of Anakin into Naboo fighter
70. Leaving C-3PO on Tatooine
71. "Yipppeeee"- twice
72. Goofy, mistaken identity rescue sequence of the Queen by her double,
73. Pathetic attempt to create cool slang for Tatooine residents - "Wizard", "Slime-o", "Worm-o"
74. Jar Jar gets stuck to a Battle Droid's severed arm and shoots several other droids
75. Jar Jar unleashing cannonballs on enemy army would have been more suitable in a Flintstones episode
76. Serious underuse of Ewan McGregor
77. 2 scenes that are centered around Jar Jar's tongue
78. Illogical explanation that Jedi reflexes are based on their ability to see the future
79. Slapstick sequence of Jar Jar trying to eat a rubber fish
80. Underuse of Darth Maul
81. Concept of "Jedi Trials" for Obi-Wan is dropped by the end of the film
82. Extraneous scene about Watto's "chance cube" - and why can't they just call it a die? Han Solo refers to card-playing in Empire.
83. No reason is given for taking Anakin back to Naboo, into the middle of a war
84. Portrayal of Republic as ineffective and bureaucratic will reduce the significance of its collapse in upcoming films. Isn't this the film where we were supposed to see their civilization at its height?
85. Introduction of Battle Droids appears to be an attempt to reduce the number of deaths shown in the film, yet they are killed in an extremely violent and destructive manner. Also, use of such a device is inconsistent with the notion presented in the other films that droids have humanity.
86. Lack of a protagonist
87. Anakin fixes engine and wins pod race by flicking switches, apparently at random (and without any use of the force)
88. Why does Qui-Gon sense such power in Anakin? What does Anakin ever do to suggest he has powers? Wouldn't a demonstration be in order?
89. Design of all CG characters did not match anything we've seen before in the SW universe (except maybe in the Special Editions). They were totally incongruous.
90. Nimoidians' Charlie Chan dialect
91. No explanation for red force shields at end. It was cool, but confusing and contrived. Were the characters controlling them or did they time-on and time-off like in a video game?
92. Watto's stereotypical Jewish Shylock attitude and accent.
93. Captain Panaka's blandness
94. Lack of camaraderie among characters - they didn't seem like a team
95. No one really interacted with Jar Jar - he was in his own movie
96. Lack of conflict among characters (this was a problem in Jedi as well)
97. Enemy droid fighters are not memorable or interesting
98. Anakin's awful dialogue while blowing up the space station: "Take this... and take that!"
99. Jar jar offers to be Qui Gon's slave
100. Lack of any anti-hero to create character tension. Han Solo did this in IV, Lando did this in V, Vader did it in Jedi. In Episode 1, everyone did EXACTLY what was expected of them. No plot twists or surprises.
- Didisaurus@aol.com
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This is my SIG. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Re: Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine
:-)
I think that one's obvious, especially considering the fact that Darth Vader calls him "master". Always there are two; no more, no less.
Re: Darth Maul
Oh, gimme a break; he was cut in half and dropped down a 1/3 scale model of a bottomless pit. It'd be more realistic for Jar-Jar Binks to become a Jedi Master than for Maul to come back.
Re: Next Apprentice. Good question. Jet Li would be nice.
Re: Anakin's turn to the dark side
Terry Brooks pretty much gives it away in the novel.
Re: Clone Wars
Guess Sidious/Palpatine doesn't trust droid armies.
Maybe he'll clone Maul. There should be a few molecules of his ass DNA on Obi-Wan's boot.
Owen was Anakin's brother-in-law. Beru was his younger sister.
... the people who say "it sucked, but I'll go see it again."
Maybe it's me, but I tend not to watch movies that I don't like more than once.
Jay (=
*** WARNING: MEGA SPOILERS BELOW! ***
The list writers cheated -- there were at least two references to Darth Maul's under-use, and the rest of it was an exercise in nit-picking.
My comments as appropriate -- if I don't mention one, I either agreed or was indifferent.
2. The Virgin Shmi and the "Immaculate Conception" of Anakin
Actually, this doesn't bother me so much as the "child of destiny" thing as a whole.
Why does it need to get pounded into our heads from day one that Anakin is going to be Darth Vader? We KNOW that already, by the force of history (no pun intended). People are complaining that the explorations of the Force in TPM are more scientific, but the notion that the Jedi had a "prophecy" about "a chosen one" -- this is hack sci-fi, Mr. Lucas...
7. Two-headed sports announcer with cliché voice (esp. line "That's gotta hurt in any universe")
That was BAD. No question.
9. Watto's line "you think you some kind of Jedi" - unnecessary cheap joke - pokes fun at Jedi, who should not be the butt of any jokes
Says you. They established that Tatooine is out on the edge of the galaxy, with little to no contact with the Republic (and, by extension, the Jedi). They probably hear stories about Jedi being able to read minds, catch blaster bolts (remember, Han didn't think the Force was any match for "a good blaster at your side") and take them with a grain of salt.
10. Battle droids aren't threatening enough
Well, I wonder if the Trade Federation was supposed to be a huge military power. They probably use the droids to run ships and handle intenral and external security, and their idea of "gearing up for war" was churning out more of them.
Also, they're not threatening enough because they're up against Jedi, who did a lot more with the Force in one movie than I saw Luke use in all three!
16. Weak "Running Man" plot device of having a transmitter implanted in Anakin and his mom so they can't leave Tatooine
Oh yeah, people should just let their slaves around around willy-nilly with no measure of control over them. Would having them in leg irons been better?
17. Nicknaming Anakin "Annie"
Which brings up another gripe about people's gripes with the movie. Why can't Anakin be a nine-year-old kid in this movie? He's not a young Darth Vader, people. Why can't his mom have a pet name for him, why can't he be allowed to say "yippee"? He was an ordinary kid (much like Luke was in A New Hope) until circumstances thrust him into extraordinary situations.
18. Introducing the concept of slavery to the Star Wars universe - what are droids for then?
Um, what do you think Leia was to Jabba in ROTJ? (Or most of his dancers and babes, for that matter?)
19. The Gungan City and underwater chase, which look like scenes out of "Little Mermaid", totally incongruous with rest of SW universe
What rest of the universe? We see an abandoned temple on Yavin's moon, a "wretched hive of scum and villainy" (two of them -- Mos Eisley and Jabba's palace) on Tatooine, a cave on Hoth, a swamp on Dagobah -- that's four planets. We never saw Alderaan, and both Death Stars were totally artificial.
The only thing that comes close to the Gungan city is Cloud City in Empire Strikes Back (especially in the special edition) and Coruscant in the special edition of Jedi (which was almost a preview of TPM).
21. Bizarre dolly shot with Sidious's hologram talking to Viceroy on weird spider droid
Well, the fact that the hologram platform lurched around was annoying, but I liked the fact that the holograms were more in tune with their environment (specifically, the hologram of the Queen's ship in Qui-Gon's hand).
22. Having Anakin be the creator of C-3P0 - adds nothing to other films and introduces an unrealistic coincidence - C-3P0 and Vader are NEVER in a scene together
Not true. C3PO is in the scene where Han gets frozen in The Empire Strikes Back.
And so what? Why does TPM have to be filled with foreshadowing of what is to come? Someone else pointed out that it isn't ever really common knowledge that Vader is Luke's father, so what would C3PO have to say? "Would you like some asthma medicine, Master Anakin"?
23. Qui-Gon's wussiness - why doesn't he just take the part from Watto? - because they need a speeder race.
Or he doesn't want to stir up troubles with the Hutts, who in ROTJ are shown not to be influenced by "Jedi mind tricks". Gotta figure that two Jedi and a ship which doesn't have any weapons might not want to attract attention to themselves. Bodyguards tend to want to prevent fights, not start them...
He also runs away from Darth Maul and cuts a cool fight short
Yeah, better that Darth maul skewers him then so he can't stand up for Anakin in the Jedi Council. And the second fight scene was even better.
24. Story point of having to get money to pay for hyperdrive part - more fitting in an adventure game. Why doesn't Qui-Gon commandeer the part? What authority does he have? Aren't the Jedi supposed to be guardians of some kind?
Yeah, guardians of peace and justice, but he's on a world that doesn't recognize the authority of the Republic. ("Republic credits are no good here", remember?)
25. Anakin's L.L. Bean knapsack
Sorry, I must have missed the L.L.Bean logo. I suppose little kids should have backpacks at all, huh? You know, he's running errands for his mom or Watto, needs to have something to carry parts back with...
26. Darth Maul getting chopped in half - was it really necessary?
This bothered me more beause I wanted to see more development for Maul -- he had like two or three lines in the whole movie!
32. Jar Jar accidentally destroying half the battle droid army
I put that right up there with the Ewok scene in ROTJ, both good and bad.
33. Gungan bubble shield - this is a device unlike anything we have ever seen in SW.
Oh god, we can't show other parts of the galaxy or technology except what was in the original trilogy, can we? I suppose people are pissed because Darth Maul has a two-bladed lightsaber, too.
Besides, what was the force shield generator the AT-ATs destroyed in Empire but a larger one of the Gungans' machine? Methinks it was to prevent the Star Destroyers for simply pummeling them from orbit. (Or as the list writer would have it, "because we needed to have an AT-AT scene.")
37. Anakin's blowing the station up by accident
I just figured is was some stirrings of the Force that caused him to launch the torpedoes. But you're right, it was kinda cheesy. At least Luke had some competence as a pilot -- Anakin in that scene was trying to figure out the controls!
39. Boss Nass' agreeing to help humans just cause they kneel
Well, except for the fact that he didn't like the humans because he thought they thought they were superior, and Amidala showed them otherwise. Besides, it's kinda cool to have a queen bowed to you (not that I've had it done to me)...
40. Qui-Gon requesting Jar Jar as a navigator then never even using him to navigate
I figured he used it as an excuse to keep Jar Jar from being punished, since it was their fault he went back to Gungan city.
41. Darth Maul never does anything evil - he just looks cool
I agree. He needed more screen time (either in this movie or later ones -- I figured Episode II would have had a killer lightsaber battle between Darth Vader and Darth Maul for the right to be Palpatine's apprentice.)
46. Dumb-ass ESP test the Jedi give to Anakin
Should they have put "Several hours later" at the top of the screen? I figured that was only part of it. Besides, Anakin probably can't levitate items or use a lightsaber because he hasn't been trained yet.
47. Token P.C. female pilot in Naboo fighter
Gee, and others are complaining there weren't enough females in the movie. You can't please anyone...
48. Lack of activity for Jedi and Mace Windu - Why don't all the Jedi ever go and kick ass?
Um, because they're the Jedi Council (e.g., the guys in charge) and the Clone Wars haven't happened yet?
52. Lame-ass foreshadowing, like Ric Olie teaching Anakin to fly fighter
I don't remember Ric showing how to fly the fighter. The transport, yeah...
54. Confusing plot device of Queen and her double
Well, considering the early rumors for TPM had Natalie Portman playing "Princess Padme" I figured that rather quick. Besides, I thought it made lots of sense -- more so than having the Queen wearing those gaudy outfits that screamed "SHOOT ME!" I was waiting for the "Queen" to get killed, only to have Padme reveal herself then.
56. James Bond "Thunderball" scuba mouthpieces that Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan just happen to have -(Why would they bring those to a negotiation on a *spaceship*??? Do they carry them around in their utility belts???)
Why not? They're small. Maybe they carry them in case of problems with the atmosphere on a starship, or for excursions to planets with hostile atmospheres? (Maybe the ones on the Falcon in Empire were older, or had a longer capacity.)
57. Terence Stamp being completely underused in just one mediocre scene
I agree. This time the action figure thing worked in reverse -- rather than having the figures coming out afterwards and fleshing the background characters out (did anyone care what the name of the band in the cantina was originally?) it created misleading expectations at to the importance of various characters (like Darth Maul, for one) Did they ever actually say the names of these characters in the movie?
58. Absolutely no background given about Sith Lords - what was the "Mystery of the Sith"?
Sounds like a plot device for Episode Two to me.
59. Lack of interaction between Obi-wan and Padme/Amidala and other handmaidens - Is he gay?
No, nor is he a pedophile. (Amidala is 14-16, remember? I assume the handmaidens are as well).
Hey, do we ever see any Jedi expressing interest in the opposite sex? Does Obi-Wan senior ever leer at Leia's hologram? "Woo, nice cans!"
60. Convenient location of blanket near Queen (when Anakin tells her he's cold)
Jesus, could we nitpick any more? I suppose Luke's lightsaber laying within eyesight in the Wampa's cave (as opposed to when he fell off of the tauntaun) was similarly "convenient".
61. Lack of epic cliffhangers (a la trash compactor, space slug escape, walking plank of Jabba's skiff)
Well, it's kinda hard to have cliffhangers when we know Anakin, Obi-Wan and Amidala are destined to survive Episode One. But the pod race was exciting, and the lightsaber duel at the end was fantastic -- Qui-Gon Jinn's death didn't surprise me, but Darth Maul's did.
63. Centering a major section of the film around the pod race stalls the story
As does following Luke on Tatooine in A New Hope before looking for R2D2, as does watching Luke and Han twiddle their thumbs in stormtrooper outfits on the Death Star. There's the Wampa scene in Empire, most of the Ewok stuff in Jedi...
66. Yoda's defeatist attitude - no good explanation is given about his fears about Anakin. Wouldn't it be more troubling if Anakin wasn't afraid about his mother???
I look at it this way -- Yoda probably does recognize Anakin's inherent strength, and would rather leave his abilities untrained and unfocused rather than run the risk of him being seduced by the dark side (which his fears provide a possibility of happening -- that whole litany about "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering").
Hey, let's bring up something else that bugs me. What, does "a prophecy of a child who brings balance to the Force" mean to you? What is "bringing balance to the Force"? To me, I don't see this prophecy as a positive one (of course, I know what end up happening in 4-6...)
67. It's never made clear whether people were being killed on Naboo
True, though they figure that Sio Bibble's message was either coerced or faked to draw Amidala out of hiding.
68. Slapstick during Gungan battle undercuts drama of final confrontation with Darth Maul
As does the slapstick of the Ewok battle does to the confrontation with Darth Vader, to pick more nits.
72. Goofy, mistaken identity rescue sequence of the Queen by her double
Why is it goofy? They established her double is assigned to keep her alive, through misdirection when and if possible. I think it worked better than they hoped in this case.
76. Serious underuse of Ewan McGregor
Ahem. Episodes Two and Three? He was a "padawan" in this one. I suspect he's being a good student and staying in the background unless necessary.
79. Slapstick sequence of Jar Jar trying to eat a rubber fish
So, I take it Jar Jar Binks isn't the list writer's favorite...
80. Underuse of Darth Maul
No kidding!
81. Concept of "Jedi Trials" for Obi-Wan is dropped by the end of the film
But it sets up the Jedi trials for Anakin -- if they hadn't then people would say "Why does Anakin have to go through trials? Obi-Wan didn't!"
84. Portrayal of Republic as ineffective and bureaucratic will reduce the significance of its collapse in upcoming films. Isn't this the film where we were supposed to see their civilization at its height?
Well, look at it this way; maybe Palpatine and Vader ARE restoring order to the galaxy -- only it's their order? It'd explain why so many systems have gone along with a Republic/Empire that seems so evil. "Mussolini was bad, but he made the trains run on time" and all that...
85. Introduction of Battle Droids appears to be an attempt to reduce the number of deaths shown in the film, yet they are killed in an extremely violent and destructive manner. Also, use of such a device is inconsistent with the notion presented in the other films that droids have humanity.
Yeah, that's why they put restraining bolts on them, the Rebel tech suggests that Luke trade in his R2 unit for a new one, the comedy about C3PO being dismembered, and Jabba's supposed penchant for dismantling protocol droids.
We see R2D2 and C3PO have humanity, but I got the impression it was because they haven't had their memories wiped in a while -- C3PO makes reference to not knowing who "Obi-Wan" is, Obi-Wan doesn't recognize R2 as the droid from TPM (does he ever hear him referred to as "R2D2"?)
86. Lack of a protagonist
I figured it was Qui-Gon Jinn, and his goal was 1) doing his job in regards to Naboo and 2) after finding Anakin, pushing to have him accepted as a student.
87. Anakin fixes engine and wins pod race by flicking switches, apparently at random (and without any use of the force)
Um, I don't think he can do the things Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan can do until he's been trained to. Luke didn't show much facility with the Force until being trained by Yoda (the lightsaber in the Wampa cave being the only exception) except for communing with Obi-Wan and sensing when to fire at the Death Star.
88. Why does Qui-Gon sense such power in Anakin? What does Anakin ever do to suggest he has powers? Wouldn't a demonstration be in order?
What evidence did we see that Luke had powers in A New Hope (aside from Vader's "The Force is strong in this one")? We don't know why Luke is hearing Obi-Wan's voice...
89. Design of all CG characters did not match anything we've seen before in the SW universe (except maybe in the Special Editions). They were totally incongruous.
So it should have been all Hutts, Wookies, Ughnaughts, Gamorreans and Ewoks?
91. No explanation for red force shields at end. It was cool, but confusing and contrived. Were the characters controlling them or did they time-on and time-off like in a video game?
I think they were timed. There was no explanation, but I thought it looked like they were in the central reactor of the palace, so maybe they were meant to allow brief periods of access to the core.
92. Watto's stereotypical Jewish Shylock attitude and accent.
I must not spend much time around Jewish shylocks, because I never interpreted his accent like that.
93. Captain Panaka's blandness
I thought of him as a talking fixture, like the various Admirals and Captains in the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.
94. Lack of camaraderie among characters - they didn't seem like a team
And I suppose Han and Luke bickering and Leia shreiking make them more "team-like" in A New Hope? They had three movies to develop a camaraderie, where these guys have had one.
99. Jar jar offers to be Qui Gon's slave
I didn't think he had a choice. They made reference to a "life debt", which is supposedly why Chewbacca pals around with Han Solo.
100. Lack of any anti-hero to create character tension. Han Solo did this in IV, Lando did this in V, Vader did it in Jedi. In Episode 1, everyone did EXACTLY what was expected of them. No plot twists or surprises.
Well, the trick is, no one knew who the anti-hero was. Palpatine (aka "Darth Sidious" -- why give him another name? I never heard him referred to by name when he was in the cloak) used the Trade Federation / Naboo crisis to get what he really wanted -- the Supreme Chancellor position. I wonder who starts the Clone Wars; the Republic or their enemy?
Jay (=
Instead I think it was a festering piece of Jar Jar poo and Lucas should let others direct and write the next two stories since he obviously doesn't get it anymore.
This has got to be the most egotistical piece of whining I've ever head.
It's his series! If this trilogy has a different tone, then it's possibly because he's refined (and yes, even changed) his opinions on some of the elements of the series.
I think it's more likely that you've built up a huge expectation as to what the series is supposed to be about and are upset because it isn't playing the way you want it. If this movie upset you, then I'll take your tickets for Episodes Two and Three because you probably won't want to see those either.
Remember, this is only one-third of the prequel story. I'd love to see how many of these people will be saying "God, 'The Clone War Strikes Back' doesn't live up to the promise of The Phantom Menace! This sucks compared to episode one!"
Jay (=
And Episodes 7-9 would be which stories???
Are you going to claim the original Zahn series with Adm. Thrawn as the bad guy leading the empire, or any of the other numerous trilogy sets that the authors love to use since it worked so well for lucas, and in general for most serial novel writers.
Just curious on your take of what the "Episodes 7-9" consist of.
ALL HAIL BRAK!!!
First off, my theory is because he wasn't a full jedi master (didn't follow all the rules or whatnot). Darth didn't vanish because he was too mechanized. BTW, Yoda vanished too.
-- d'arcy poirot
2. Plotting, coming up with technology ;-)
4. Look, sith lords are way too evil and competitive for that to happen. Hence 1 master, 1 apprentice. Period.
5. see #4
6. kill Jedi, rule galaxy. duh
7. the senator/chancellor is the younger clone. palpantine uses clones to cheat death (which comes relatively quickly when you're a dark sith master)
-- d'arcy poirot
Palpantine (the man who will be emperor), constantly makes clones of himself, the younger one being human, the older one being a deterioting dark sith master. Sidius will eventually transfer his knowledge and power to the senator/chancellor, and at that point clones will just be used to prolong his life, not make public appearance (nobody voluntarily wants an audience with the emperor).
-- d'arcy poirot
I don't know what Shmi said that gave you that idea. And don't forget that Qui-Gonn specifically mentioned to the Jedi Council (or was it Obi-Wan?) that Anakin may have been fathered by metachlorians.
I'd just like to point out that Anakin is still a little boy in this movie. To most boys of that age - well, me at that age - girls were still icky creatures who could give you cooties. Additionally, I'm guessing the queen is in her late teens - and probably would have a crush on Obi-Wan before an 8 year old boy.
I will agree they could have built the friendship/surrogate mother relationship between the two more.
This is really easy. Both Yoda and Obi-wan died.
Qui-Gon Jinn was killed.
Vader never hit Obi-wan with his saber, and we know this because he poked at Obi-wan's robes as if he didn't know what happened to him.
"It's Brazilian"
Okay, I want to first make clear that the special effects in this film were excellent. Truly, Lucasfilm has made a monumental step in creating artificial worlds on screen. But that's only visual creation. For creating a world in which one finds oneself immersed in an intricate story, such as in Episodes IV, V, and VI, this film is a complete travesty.
If you have not seen Star Wars: Episode I yet, than I will summarize the movie without actually giving anything away. That is because there is nothing new in this movie, except for a story that could be told in a couple of pages in a magazine. Take Independence Day (parts of that ending were such a rip off), the other three episodes (again, parts of that ending were such a rip off), Ben Hur (cool, yet totally unnecessary race scene), some visual images of spy planes (that Nubian cruiser sure looked a little like, oh, maybe, the SR-71 Blackbird?! What happened to originality?!) and benches (which most of the other ships looked like), and then to top it off some derogatory accents (come on, the stupid sidekick had a stereotypical Caribbean-sounding accent, and the naive enemies had stereotypical Asian accents), and you ve got Star Wars: Episode I. I mean, come on, Independence Day was more original than this story, and that's besides thehorrible dialog.
Don't get me wrong; to think I care a lot about quality of acting is wrong. Lucas cannotdirect actors worth anything, as was shown in the "excellent" acting in the original Star Wars. Why was Return of the Jedi the best of the three? I can tell you that one reason is that Lucas wasn't directing it. This movie makes me surprised that Lucas actually wrote any parts of theoriginal three. Were these "prequel" movies actually written before the other three? I can't answer that definitively, except to say that it sure would surprise me. Some of the lines in this one were practically ripped straight out of the other three. And the end scene? One of my friends rightly commented that he expected to see a bunch of creatures (like Ewoks) dancing after the big finale, and he did! Predictable? Yes. Good story? A resounding NO. I would even characterize myself as somewhat of a Star Wars fanatic, but like this movie I cannot. This just plain sucked. I would sure regret quitting my job to see this if I had.
Do NOT, I plead with you, go see the next movie in theaters. WAIT until it is on video, and then also wait until it isn't a new release so it isn't as expensive. If the dialog in this one is any indication of what's to come in the second, there is NO way anyone should put him or herself to the pain of listening to Anakin wooing Amidala in the second prequel, which is a "love story," according to Lucas. This movie was actually worse in everything relative to Independence Day. Big special effects, no plot; almost sounds like Independence Day. At leastID4 was more original.
Maybe it's just that at the time the original SW's were made, it would have been a bad idea to show someone being cut in half and have blood spraying everywhere ^_^
- Paradox
Slashdot. It's Not For Common Sense
Sorry, but Anakin IS Darth Vader, at least in the sense that he is destined to become Darth Vader, and should behave accordingly. Also remember, he is a slave child (typically that implies a life of hardship and harsh discipline) and is a phenomenal prodigy (which is often associated with an unusually mature demeanor).
And, since we're on the subject, how the hell does a slave boy have the time and resources to build a droid either a or pod-racer much less both?
I try to never tear movies apart. I sincerely want to enjoy myself and will try to give the movie every chance to entertain me. But Lucas really blew it with this one. He had all the time, talent, technology, and money to make this movie the best Episode yet. Instead, he gives us a cheesy spoof of his previous films with way too much reliance on CGI. Armaggedon was just bad. This movie actually pissed me off. And I'm not Asian, Jamiacan, or Sicillian/Itallian. Who were the people who worked on this movie? Were they all a bunch of yesmen afraid to question the great George Lucas?
And here's couple you can add to your list:
101. How does a nine year old slave have the resources to build a robot and a pod racer and without his master even knowing about the racer?
102. Jabba in the remastered New Hope is much smaller and more mobile than the Return of the Jedi Jabba. I could buy that because he had a few years to add the pounds. But here, he is as big as ever. What is this, yo-yo dieting?
Ben didn't say that Anakin wasn't Vader but that Vader wasn't Anakin. That is, he said that there was no longer any Anakin Skywalker left in the man called Darth Vader. (Which, as we all know, was wrong anyway.) He never addressed the issue that we are discussing here.
> One thing that I can't overlook, and that
> annoyed the hell out of me is the accents
> of the trade federation. Clearly Japanese in
> nature, they present some racial
Really? They sounded French to me...
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
Ahem, there are female jedi, just not in these movies (yet) In the later novels, leia trains, as does her twin children, and there are dark female jedi.
You are absolutely correct - literally. As a Bay Area resident who knows a few current and former Lucas employees, let me confirm this fact: "The fastest way to find yourself off a Lucas project is to intimate that there might be better ways of doing it." George doesn't WANT people to disagree with him. To work with him, you ARE a yes-man, no doubt about it. He has his vision, and it is your job to bring it to life, not to try and make the vision better. If you suggest it might be better, you'll find yourself in a painful position, or so I am told.
Did you notice that the first movie came out with "Episode IV" written on it? The original plan was to have a total of nine - sort of a trilogy of trilogies. Now it's looking like the last 3 will not happen. I don't know what you would put in the last 3 anyway - it seemed to be pretty much wrapped up in number 6.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
Was it supposed to be known by the viewers that the senator was the other sith lord? I mean, it was painfully obvious to me the second I saw palpatine and heard him talk, but it would have been nice if it had come as a surprise in a later movie.
Also, I watched the movie "Ben Hur" just last night, as it happens, and just got back from TPM. Don't tell me Lucas didn't take the charriot race scene from ben-hur and copy it verbatim, excapt for an added announcer and a futureistic genre. If you don't know the charriot race I am talking about, watch ben-hur and the similarity will stun you. If you have seen it, but it's been a while, see it again and notice how practically every detail has a parallel in phantom menace. The problem is that in ben-hur the charriot race was exciting, because they made the viewer really care about the outcome. Juda's honour was on the line against a jerk that had really screwed him over earlier, not to mention the fortune that depended on the outcome and the pride of the jewish people. In episode 1, the pod race was sort of a necessary means for the jedis to continue their mission and a way to explain how they met Anakin.
One detail I wasn't sure about - was he called "skywalker" because his master hovered in the air wherever he went and had that name, or was that luke's father's surname?
Finally, what is up with this mesiah stuff in sci-fi movies? Every time they referred to "the one" in the Matrix I had to cringe because it just sounded hokey, and this thing about "the one" that would bring balance to the force was no different. Bring balance to the force? I wasn't aware that the force lacked balance, or needed it. I think they just had to have that in there because, after all, finding some kid to train wan't their mission and they needed a reason to bring him to the council. Apparently his great blood count wasn't reason enough. Guess they didn't really need more jedi knights.
Anyhow, good movie but the plot was somewhat butchered.
Vidi, Vici, Veni
it may be the case that you need to be on the council to disappear. do we know for sure that obi-wan does _not_ make the council to refute this?
because qui-gon, vader, and maul certainly were not.
sounds reasonable to me.
I started to like Anakin a lot better when I realized he reminded me of a child I know. My cousin has a son with the same kind of enthusiasm. He sounds a lot like Anakin does when he's trying to impress older children or grown-ups. And the way Anakin acted when he left his mother reminded me a lot of one time when my cousin's boy left to return to his mother after spending the summer with his father. I didn't have problems with Jake Lloyd's acting, because I know real people who act the same way.
As far as the self-narration goes, Luke did the exact same thing (with the same droid, for that matter) during Empire and Jedi, when he travelled to Dagobah. Personally, I enjoyed Anakin's enthusiasm much more than Luke's whining in A New Hope.
By the way, I don't believe that the "one big city" bit would have been at all obvious to someone who didn't already know something about Coruscant from other sources.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
The Jedi fadeout may simply require an act of will and/or preparation. I have always believed that Vader never actually touched Obi-Wan; instead, I think Obi-Wan willed himself out of existence just as Vader struck. Why? Maybe to frustrate and/or confuse Vader (and give Luke a better chance of escape), maybe to give himself the power to help Luke later on, or maybe I'm way off base. At any rate, Yoda and Obi-Wan both had the opportunity to compose themselves for death; Anakin and Qui-Gon were mortally wounded, in pain, and trying valiantly to hang on for a few last words.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
There was one female jedi. In the background during a council scene. I agree with the overall point though...which is worse? A universe where everyone is white like Episode IV? Or one where the trade federation are asian, the merchant is jewish, and the fool/comic relief/infantile character is caribbean?
I think that we will certainly be able to resolve this once we see the Jedi Council slaughtered (inevitable...) and have more evidence. Until then, I've got some more raw data for other people to use.
* Obi-Wan did disappear before Darth Vader was able to kill him.
* Yoda, the other disappearing Jedi, did so as he was passing away.
Both Jedi we've seen go *poof* have done so with a moment to prepare (notice that Darth Vader is winded and gives Ben a break... Qui-gon gets no such courtesy from Darth Maul). They were also both hermits, and able to study the Jedi arts for a long time on their own. I think it's safe to assume that Dark Jedi are not permitted this talent; it seems too much like Nirvana or Assumption to be used by the Dark Side. Lastly, of course, remember that as of Episode I, fading from existence is not an option--perhaps during the Clone Wars the Jedi learn how to die more gracefully to aid the surviving Jedi in combat against the Sith... e.g., "Use the Force, Ben!"
Oh, and how much (ironic) fun is it to watch Anakin and Obi-Wan interact with each other as newly-minted friends, knowing that one will kill the other eventually?
------
some other $.02:
did anyone feel that the Droid Control Ship was eerily similar to the Death Star(s) in its function and demise? Did anyone get a feeling of deja vu from the three-in-one scene of
1) a space battle featuring David vs. Goliath odds,
2) a land battle of Natives vs. The Man, and
3) a lightsaber battle between good and evil Jedi?
How about that Podrace--remind anyone of the (now AWOL) scenes of Luke running Beggar's Canyon back home?
Ahhhh, fugeddaboutit. The lightsaber duels were intense, the character development, while not self-contained, set up a beautiful segue into a pair of potentially kickass movies (possibly The Clone Wars and the Fall of the Republic?) I know Natalie Portman will be given better scripting next time, and Jake Lloyd won't be allowed to play a 15-year-old Anakin. Jar-Jar will stay on Naboo, now that he's a local hero, blood debt or no, and we'll get to see
1) Boba Fett & the Mandalorian Army
2) The enslavement of the Wookiees by the rising Empire
3) Some *awesome* large-scale starfighter battles in the Clone Wars
So go see the first one a few more times, enjoy what you like, and ignore what you don't.
Betcha they re-release before Episode II-- let theatres show 'em back-to-back on the same screen!
I'll shut up now.
Okay, fair warning, this has some 'spoiler' stuff--in fact, it's here as a guide to those who want to go again and again, and are looking for "the little things." None of what I'm posting has any real plot relevance, it's just... pretty cool.
* In the Senate, during the vote of "no confidence," look at the various delegations, and keep your eyes on the lower-left of the screen. One particular species of alien should look strangely out-of-place. Hint: the original over-merchandised alien...
* In the pod races, the man standing near Watto and cheering may look familiar... he has had several major roles under Lucas before. The actor is Warwick Davis, and he played "Willow," as well as another over-merchandised character in Jedi.
* Senator Palpatine's bodyguards have very distinctive helmet shapes that a SW fan should recognize in profile from a mile away.
* Underwater, while being pursued by the eel-like creature, pay careful attention to Qui-Gon's dialogue and gestures. There is a comic moment that went totally over the heads of both audiences I saw the film with.
* Stay through to the very very very end of the end-credit music. It's worth it.
That's all I saw... this time.
Oh, and to folks in the D.C. and Baltimore areas, the Senator in Baltimore is the place to see it. They have a special 1st-generation print (vs. 3rd or 4th at most theatres) on an intense hi-quality Kodak flavor of film, in a mixture of 8 channel SDDS and Dolby Surround EX that blew the 900-seat theatre away.
Slashdotters should have a ball with this one... please, correct me, flame me, make me watch "FOX presents: Jar Jar's Naboo Christmas Special".
But tack on some of your own Jedi wisdom, too.
-Jurph
p.s. did anyone see the female (?) Yoda-esque being?
Should've spent more time enjoying a fun movie than searching for problems/incosistencies. Sure there were some ... but they can all be explained with some imagination and a little fantasy.
I'll be back having fun next week just after pay day.
probably the week after that too.
If I sum everything up, it seems (I'll see the film in months in france :'-( ) the film is a bit short with the story.
You say maybe Lucas will use money to do the next. I think the more money, the less interesting (usally) a film is. Lucas' problem was he *had* not to deceive people (fanatics and non fanatics). Therefore it was hard for him to take risks (even if he wanted).
My bet is next 2 films will not be different, because SW has become a legend, and you cannot let a legend crash, so you take little risk with it.
The world belongs to those who get up early. - I'm far from being the king of Earth then
Midi-chlorians != mitochondria.
Midi-chlorians are something Lucas came up with. The point here is that until TPM, we don't *know* how the force works. Yoda and Obi-wan never explain it fully in the original trilogy. You may ask why they didn't explain it to Luke if they both new. Well, simple, really. Luke was years past the prime age for training a Jedi (luke was nearly 20 or so, Anakin is 9 in TPM and they still say he's too old). Not only that, but he had a mission. No time to spend on trivial things such as how the force works when all he needs to know is how to use it and how to stay away from the Dark Side. And before things slow down enough for Luke to get a real explanation, those who know die (unless Yoda explains during Luke's training between ESB and ROTJ). TPM takes place during a more enlightened age. The Jedi are at the peak of their knowledge. Of course they'll know how the force works. All that is lost by the time ANH comes around.
I think I'm done rambling now.
For the most part I agree with you Rob. However, after having seen the movie 3 times now, going again tonite, as much as I hate to admit it, Jar Jar is actually starting to grow on me. Granted, it's like a fungus, but I've caught myself laughing at him more than once. I do wish he had been toned down a bit, but I'm finding him actually far less annoying than 'Whiney Luke' of A New Hope. At least Jar Jar is an alien race, which theoretically at least COULD be that annoying. Also, the annoyance, in it's own strange way, explains some of the friction between the Gungans and the Naboo. In general I found the CGI to be breathtaking, except for in the great Gungan/Droid battle. During that scene, at many times I felt like I was watching a late 1980's Saturday morning cartoon... Anyway, I'll stop rambling and get back to work now. I obviously didn't have TOO many problems with the movie, as I've already seen it thrice, and going back again (Which won't be the last time either.)
Never ask a geek why, just nod your head and slowly back away. -Rob Malda
Why should Vader take notice of another protocol droid?
Why would C3P0 know that Vader and Anakin are the same?
Of course there's also the fact that C3P0 wasn't even complete when he's left behind on Tatooine! He doesn't have nearly all the mental and physical components installed that we know and see in the original trilogy.
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
I'll want to look into this when I see it tomorrow =)
However I hear that Jar Jar was using a live action stand in... so it seems to me you may be looking too deeply for flaws that don't exist. It would be hard to make a mistake like that if it was intentional...
But I'll look!
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
I'm more likely to believe that midi-chlorians as organisms are attracted to and flourish in the bodies of Force strong and sensitive people; it may even impart some level of ability or skill to the host, thus the symbiosis explanation.
I don't think midi-chlorians themselves are causes for the Force talents, just indicators.
Sort of like me having black hair doesn't indicate I'm Chinese, but that being Chinese means I have black hair.
AS
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Um, I was under the impression that Anakin(and Luke) were talking to R2D2, and not themselves...
So when Anakin is screaming out all these these, it's because R2D2 is telling him one thing, like "Why aren't you in control of the ship?"
and Anakin is saying
"The auto-pilot is on!"
Likewise for Luke...
Perhaps I'm seeing too much, but it makes a lot of sense to me...
AS
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
Plot is another reason why there aren't female Jedi...
For main characters, it's obvious that Obi Wan has to be male. Droids are genderless. Jar Jar is an alien, and while I guess he's male, he could very well be hermaphroditic. Anakin has to be male. Qui Gon is the only one I could hazard as being replaced by a female... But in this case I don't think it's a sexist thing for trying to create a father/son thing between Obi Wan and Qui Gon. You mean bit parts and villians who are female?
Wouldn't that be as big a disservice as not having enough women anyway? What about the fact that Amidala/Padme is such a strong character? To the end?
-AS
-AS
*Pikachu*
riddle me this then. Why didn't they use said breathing devices in the room full of poison gas?
Maybe because its easier to hold your breath while standing still than diving down a couple hundered feet to a submerged city?
its always fun to nitpick the nitpickers.... :)
The comedy in the first half of the movie felt forced and cheezy; i winced every time an attempt at hurmor was made.
:)
As annoying as Jar Jar is, he doesn't hold a candle to C3-PO, who needs to be jibbed. I found myself wishing I was Magento (comic characher who controls magnetism) for three reasons: EMP all those attack droids, grab Darth Maul's blade with my bare hands and yank it away from him, and to kill C3-PO in 1000 different ways. Don't think he's that bad? Go watch ESB.
The super jumps were bad (jumping onto the spaceship's ramp, the catwalk). To quote Elaine, "fake, fake, fake...."
The pod race and the final fight with Darth Maul were easily the best in the movie.
What they did to Darth Maul was a crime. He should have had a larger role in the movie, survived to the next one or had another 2 or 3 (or 4 or 5) fight sceens.
Papaltine/Darth Sidieous is the worst kept secret of the movie- I spotted him the first time I saw the trailer.
Jedi Consol is made up of pricks- if they don't train Anakin, isn't here a risk that a dark Jedi could recruit him?
They should have left out the driods- Obi Wan and Darth Vader would both would have recognized them, especially since Anakin built C3-PO (bs bs bs).
The "oops, I guess I just fired some torpedoes and blew up the station" was more bs. If the computer was giving him targeting info it would have been much more belivable, but it would have been better still if he provided crucial backup (like the Falcon in ANH) to the other fighters.
Natalie Portman is hot.
time for my 2 cents.
are we really so sensitive that we can't accept subtle (so much so that they might be coincidental) allusions to racial archetypes in our movies? they weren't even derogatory.. except for possibly the Trade Federation aliens, but the chinese->tibetan allegory pointed out above is perfectly valid no matter how PC you are. so what if the gungans are like jamacains? so what if watto is like an italian gangster? they're obviously not trying to turn us racist.. it's time this society starts realizing that covering one's eyes is not a cure for racism any more than cutting one's hand off is a cure for a hangnail.
"I liked Goodfellas, but why did they have to make all the gangsters Italian? I thought that was kinda racist.."
pfah.
--neil
That would be here:
i de.html
http://www.brunching.com/features/feature-lukes
I just hope that E.T. has a bigger role in the next one...
At this point, my two favorite theories for why Obi-Wan disappears at death and other Jedi don't are:
1.) Kenobi was sufficiently "holy" or "enlightened" or somesuch by the time of Episode IV, moreso than the other Jedi we've seen die (which doesn't necessarily explain Yoda's death...)
2.) Kenobi had a moment to prepare an unusual departure. There's the scene in Episode IV when Luke et al. are racing across the hanger for the Millenium Falcon, Luke sees the battle between Obi-Wan and Vader, and starts towards it. Obi-Wan sees this, presumably realizes that there's the danger of Luke confronting Vader before he's ready, and decides to sacrifice himself. So's there's that brief moment of Obi-Wan closing his eyes and lifting his saber out of guard position, allowing Vader to cut him through.
So is Obi-Wan just resigning himself to death (or whatever), or does he use that moment to "translate" himself into another state? (I've always wondered whether or not Obi-Wan vanished before Vader's saber cuts through...) In that case, Qui-Gon clearly didn't have time to set up his transition, if indeed he was sufficiently adept or "holy" to have done so; Darth Maul strikes too abruptly. And Yoda, for whatever reason, didn't see the need when he was dying.
What's the point of doing that? Maybe it lets Obi-Wan communicate with Luke more easily after "death", or maybe he just wanted to confuse and disturb Vader.
-- Peter
-- Keysh (Peter Erwin)
In reference to my previous "theories":
D'oh --- forgot that Yoda's body did disappear as or just after he died, as several people have pointed out.
So I'm inclined to say the "disappearing Jedi" trick can only be pulled off (or only happens to) the most enlightened/advanced Jedi. Presumably, Qui-Gon wasn't quite at that stage yet; he didn't seem to be on the Jedi Council, for example. Vader had gone over to the Dark Side, so it doesn't surprise me that he (and Darth Maul and the Emperor) didn't vanish at death --- despite his redemption right at the end, he wasn't anywhere near as "holy" as Obi-Wan and Yoda were at the times of their deaths.
-- Peter
-- Keysh (Peter Erwin)
One theory that I have, though, is that this Medichloridian stuff was around with the Jedi, but as all of the Jedi were wiped out but Yoda and Obi Wan, who were both very spiritual, the scientific side died out as well.
Anyway, it really bothers me that they would cheapen the force so much by using microbes as "communicators with the force." I guess he's not saying that they represent the force, but act as an intermediary. But then couldn't somebody become a Jedi master by getting a blood transfusion? I guess that maybe it's a way of setting up for the clone wars; it would allow for Jedis to clone themselves and easily give the clones their powers.
Also, it kind of bothered me that Qui Gonn didn't disappear when he was killed by Darth Maul like Obi Wan and Yoda did. I guess the explanation could be that he wasn't as close to the force as they were, and it's always neat to see a funeral pyre.
Also, I had a really neat idea- wouldn't it be cool if Senator Palpatine weren't really Darth Sidius? I mean, they kind of shove it down your throat that he is throughout the entire movie, so it'd be a huge plot twist (ala "Luke, I am your father.") if Darth Sidius turned out to be somebody else.
Overall, though, I really liked the movie except that Anakin's luck (or "Fate," if you must) was annoying, Jar Jar was annoying, Medichloridians were annoying, and there weren't enough space battles or mysticism. That and the pod race was too damned long. The movie moved like a bad Sci-Fi novel, with lots of choppy scenes in the beginning, an overly long and somewhat unimportant scene in the middle (it did nothing but establish Anakin's techno-knowhow and Jedi reflexes) and then a bunch of choppy scenes at the end. Worth the money, but Episode II (Braveheart with Jedi) and Episode III (The Empire destroying the Republic) are going to rock a lot if Lucas doesn't wuss out.
-- atomly
That wouldn't necessarily be the case. After crashing on Tatooine in ANH, R2 seemed to know *exactly* where he was going. As for 3PO, his memory may end up being wiped sometime in the next two movies. Luke's Uncle Owen's offhand remark about wiping the droids memories make it seem as if it is a common procedure upon recieving a new droid.
Do this don't do that Can't you redesign.
That Episode IV title didn't show up until it hit video. I was 13 when the first one came out and saw it several times in the theatre. There was no Episode IV or "A New Hope". It went straight from the Star Wars logo to the preamble.
Do this don't do that Can't you redesign.
Also...the licence plate on Harrison Ford's hot rod in American Grafitti is THX-138
Do this don't do that Can't you redesign.
Overall, an excellent synopsis of mitochondria.
... I think that people are jumping to conclusions here. There's no reason to think that mitochondria are in all of the alien races, for example ... there's not really an evolutionary necessity for them to exist (arguably, anyway). In fact, there are organisms on earth that don't have them! So they're not in 'every living thing', as Qui-Gon says.
By the way, it's not just in your opinion that the time to convergence estimate from the mitochondrial DNA research is unreliable. Statistical analysis of the results shows that the actual convergence could be anywhere from 200k to over 800k years ago! Of course, this number is from a paper I read three years ago, but I haven't seen anything better since.
Back on topic, I don't see why all the furor about miti-chloreans (or whatever) and mitochondria
And besides, the whole fsking point of Star Wars is that it doesn't have to make scientific sense! That's why it's "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away", instead of being a future Earth-based society! So why bring your Earth-based preconcieved scientific notions to the film?
darkmagus
was a master, he just wasn't on the Jedi Council...(afaik)
my only complaint with this movie is this: THERE JUST WASN'T ENOUGH. lucas tried to pack too much in the 2+ hours. don't get me wrong i enjoyed it. it was a very good movie (though not perfect) but there just wasn't enough of the things i wanted to see most. not enough space battles, not enough jedi, NOT ENOUGH MAUL (and for those of you who think lucas tossed a perfectly good character, remember next episode starts that trivial bit of technology known as CLONING) and not enough character interaction. it just seemed a bit rushed.
now about other peoples complaints. i didn't find jar jar binks that annoying (no more than threepio was in the first three movies.) and as for everybodies problem with anakin being "the chosen one" with off-the-scale force powers, it makes sense to me (i always wonder how vader and palpatine could've wiped out all the jedi, but now it makes sense...anakin/vader was the ultamite jedi/sith and it took his own offspring to defeat him) also, i thought jake did a fine acting job (give the kid a break) of course, the "stormtroopers can't hit anything" factor became the "battle droids can't hit anything" factor, but who didn't expect that?
the thing i liked most of all about the film was the jedi/sith fight, but there should've been more of it (and how about some lines for maul. i know he's supposed to be this badass sith that talks with his saber, but i expected some words to exchange between him and qwi-gon & obi-won) the space-battle didn't match up to the roj battle of endor, but it was still good (again, there just should've been more of it) so overall, i'd say lucas has given us a very fine film worth seeing more than once.
but that's just my opinion, i could be wrong.
my only complaint with this movie is this...THERE JUST WASN'T ENOUGH. lucas tried to pack too much in the 2+ hours. don't get me wrong i enjoyed it. it was a very good movie (though not perfect) but there just wasn't enough of the things i wanted to see most. not enough space battles, not enough jedi, NOT ENOUGH MAUL (and for those of you who think lucas tossed a perfectly good character, remember next episode starts that trivial bit of technology known as CLONING) and not enough character interaction. it just seemed a bit rushed.
now about other peoples complaints. i didn't find jar jar binks that annoying (no more than threepio was in the first three movies.) and as for everybodies problem with anakin being "the chosen one" with off-the-scale force powers, it makes sense to me (i always wonder how vader and palpatine could've wiped out all the jedi, but now it makes sense...anakin/vader was the ultamite jedi/sith and it took his own offspring to defeat him) also, i thought jake did a fine acting job (give the kid a break) of course, the "stormtroopers can't hit anything" factor became the "battle droids can't hit anything" factor, but who didn't expect that?
the thing i liked most of all about the film was the jedi/sith fight, but there should've been more of it (and how about some lines for maul. i know he's supposed to be this badass sith that talks with his saber, but i expected some words to exchange between him and qwi-gon & obi-won) the space-battle didn't match up to the roj battle of endor, but it was still good (again, there just should've been more of it) so overall, i'd say lucas has given us a very fine film worth seeing more than once.
but that's just my opinion, i could be wrong
-ccure
It's May 25 here in Australia. TPM doesn't open here till June 3 :-( However, I have already read the TPM book and story etc, so I'm familiar with what you (mostly) Americans are talking about, even though I haven't seen most of the visuals yet. IMHO, the disappearing trick is not related to whether you get a magic spirit body or not, as Anakin clearly gets one at the end of ROTJ, even though his body didn't disappear. (You get a magic spirit body when you die in front of Luke :-P ) Anyway, on Channel 10 here in Oz they recently showed a 2 hour documentary/infomercial about TPM where Liam clearly hints the Qui Gon will reappear in Episode 2, obviously in his brank spanking new magic spirit body. So the question of whether you have to 'disappear' at death to get the MSB is moot. It is likely, as speculated by others in this forum, that the _mode_ of death determines if you get to do the vanishing act. If you die peacefully, you get to disappear and get your MSB. If you die violently, no MSB till after they BBQ your remains, or so it seems. (O-B1 Kenobi did prepare himself for death, BTW, as clearly shown in ANH.) Might have something to do with having to purge those force-thingies from your body with fire, therby 'releasing' your spirit. If you prepare for death properly, IMHO you have a chance to 'naturally' release the force-thingies, and as they leave your body they transform it into the MSB. I dunno, maybe Lucas will make a movie about it, and call it "The Umpire Stikes Out", or something.... ;-)
>Oh, and to folks in the D.C. and Baltimore areas, the Senator in Baltimore is the place to see it. They have a special 1st-generation print (vs. 3rd or 4th at most theatres) on an intense hi-quality Kodak flavor of film, in a mixture of 8 channel SDDS and Dolby Surround EX that blew the 900-seat theatre away.
----
All I can say is... YES! Saw the movie there on Friday, and it was GREAT... the print, the sound, everything was great!
Short version: The good parts were outstandingly good, and the bad parts were surprisingly painfully bad. Long version: Follow this link.
-- Kate
First off, I LIKED this movie ... It's not the best movie off all time, not even the best in the past year (possibly not even this summer: enter EYES WIDE SHUT), but it is good. Go on and complain about everything you want, George had a reason for all of it I'm sure ... It's his film ... It's his art ... admire it or move on.
Having said that, my two cents on various complaints and stuff:
Jar Jar: I was pretty indifferent about him, but my wife loved him, I'm sure kids will too.
Mytothingies: I'm going to hold off judgement and see if they are explained any more later. I think we are reading way to much into their role in the force.
C3P0 and R2: I would have left them out myself, but how can you make a (pre)sequel without any of the original "actors" in it. I primarily have a problem with them being on Tatooine (they didn't seem to have been there before in A New Hope).
Darth Maul: He was somewhat cool, but he just couldn't be as strong as Darth Vader will become. If he was, why would Palpatine need Anakin later. Maul is just a first attempt at creating what would become Vader.
Politics: I personally think it's going to be interested in seeing the parallel rise to power of Palpatine and Anakin and you have to play politics to become emporer.
Now what did this movie give me to overwelm any and all of its flaws? Alot, all of it worth repeating:
Special Effects: Awesome, yet not too overpowering. My wife hates "the computer look", but did not even notice it in this movie. They advanced the plot, but did not overtake the movie.
Action: Some of the best I've ever seen. The underwater monster chase, the pod race, the final space battle and the final saber battle were all incredible.
Plot: As a single movie, it may have been a bit lacking, but as part of a larger work it has a lot going for it. I'm really looking forward to see how the relationships (Anakin and Queen Amidala, Anakin and Obi-Wan, Anakin and Palpatine,
Yoda and Obi-Wan, etc.) play out in the next two acts.
All in all, it was worth the 8 bucks, and I'm planning to go see it at least once again.
Oi. In my opinion, he was worse than Herr Binks.
I've been told they tried to fire him. I wish they had succeeded.
>Mace Windu: 3 lines, and none of them involved >the word 'muthafucka'
Anakin: "But Sir-"
Mace Windu: "I don't remember askin' you a GOD DAMN THING!"
First of all, the idea that movie standards are higher now than in 1977 and also we are older now is a good and valid one, it just happens to not be in any way why this movie sucks.
This is why it sucked:
There were no fart jokes in Episodes 4,5,6 no one stepped in poo, and there was NEVER EVER a character you didn't understand but were supposed to. I just have NO idea what Lucas was thinking, Jar Jar Bionics is the biggest abomination in the history of film, Howard the Duck was better - I am not even kidding!!! Every time the guy was on the screen I wanted to scream - this isn't because I am 26 now, it is because I have a brain. I would have thought he sucked if I saw the movie 20 years ago, I wonder who Lucas was aiming the character at 4 year olds? If so why did have a plot that dealt with taxation and trade routes, the plot was for adults while jar Jar for toddlers - it just doesn't make any sense. I liked Watto he was cool as was Sebulba, because they weren't babbling rasta - rabbit-monkey things that fell down or broke something every two seconds. He was just a sad joke really you can't possibly imagine how bad he is.
The movie is not a total waste however, anything dealing with Jedi's is cool. The movie also has what I consider the best scene in the series (the force field light saber scene if you've scene it) - chilling. The pod race is cool - except for the two-headed announcer who speaks like Howard Cossel (!!!!!) - he looked dumb, sounded dumb, says the line "That's got hurt in any universe" !!!!!!!! God why did they do this?
The biggest disappointment in the history of popular cinema oh God the George Lucas mythos is over.
-SheildWolf
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
Uh, yeah nice, criticism ;) YOU DUMB ME smart.
Jar jar reeeeeeeeeeeeeeked. There is nothing that dumb in the original 3, deal with it, go back and see the original three - no poo jokes there, no impossible to understand chicken-monkey-rasta-morons. If you liked it - kewl for you - I wish I did. Instead I think it was a festering piece of Jar Jar poo and Lucas should let others direct and write the next two stories since he obviously doesn't get it anymore.
just = (My)Opinion.toCents();
You hit the nail on the head. This whole has setup Esp 2 and 3 perfectly --- I believe TPM will make even more sense when the next movies come out.
;)
There are certainly enough cliff hangers to have us talking for several years
- Is Darth Sidious and Sen. Palpatine one and the same
- Have we seen the end of Darth Mull?
- Who will be the next apprentence?
- How does Anakin turn to the dark side?
- And don't forget the Clone Wars!
We have just seen the beginning of the downfall of the Rebulic. A very good beginning I think.
matt
When they burnt him, why weren't his beard and hair aflame?
I saw his body thrashing around
I saw his pulse rate going down
I saw him in convulsive throes
I said "I'll have one of those!"
(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River - TISM
When they burnt him, why weren't his beard and hair aflame?
I saw his body thrashing around
I saw his pulserate going down
I saw him in convulsive throes
I said "I'll have one of those!"
(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River - TISM
Tolkein, Gandalf's Sacrifice of Form. 'Nuff said :-)
Why does everything have to be about quotas?
This is the reason I don't usually talk to people; dull logic and opinions.
Lowmag.net
Damn straight. That was starting to get me a little peeved. It was only slightly more annoying than his king and his spazzing out *pbbt*
At least the king was somewhat understandable.
Lowmag.net
If you consider the Rasta part, "Jah Jah" is a propos.
Lowmag.net
102. Jabba in the remastered New Hope is much smaller and more mobile than the Return of the Jedi Jabba. I could buy that because he had a few years to add the pounds. But here, he is as big as ever. What is this, yo-yo dieting?
He didn't seem that big at the races, and nor did is [wife,girlfriend,etc]
Lowmag.net
throw your ideas out the window. Enjoy the movie. Diversity should be praised, not criticised. Those who saw such politics in this movie would appear to have more issues of their own than with the story and its characters.
Better yet, ignore diversity; enjoy the ride. People are people, as DM said..
Lowmag.net
Good ideas; I hadn't considered some of those cloning possibilities.
4. Sidious is not a Sith. Or were you referring to something else?
6. Dark Jedi (including force-trained Sith) tend to kill each other off until only two remain, the master and apprentice. If a third Jedi either persuasion shows up, one or more of the three must die, so that either the master/apprentice relationship is continued or only the light Jedi remains (as in ROTJ).
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
The metal bikini Leia wore in ROTJ didn't -- being metal -- hug the body. Boba Fett stood behind her in the Jabba scenes (where she had to recline, chained up, in front of Jabba...where's that VCR?) and, as Carrie Fisher euphamized in Newsweek, "he could see all the way to Florida."
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
The master/apprentice thing only applies to the dark jedi. There are master/apprentice relationships with the light jedi as well, but not to the exclusivity of all else. Dark jedi will kill off all others until only two remain, a master and an apprentice.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
Okay, here's what I think, if anybody cares.
1) The only Star Wars movie that stands on its own two feet is ANH. The others are fundamentally an extension of that movie, which is a really well-told story. Even ESB, good as it is, needs the movie before and the move after to really be good, to really be explicated.
2) ANH had real urgency to the story -- the Empire was basically invincible and evil, and had almost won. ("We have the readouts of the Death Star; several people died to bring us this information.") There was a real urgency to it -- everything was *almost* lost forever. TPM starts out with everything (basically) happy and nice. The only really bad thing with the action in the movie is that Naboo might be destroyed. Oh no -- Jar-Jar and all his kind are eliminated! Cry me a river. So TPM just didn't have the same urgency that ANH had. However, there was one really dire plot point in the movie: "Oh shit, the Sith are back."
3) The sword fighting was better than in any of the other movies. The classic trilogy had Jedi vs. Jedi swordfighting, which was a lot like samurai fighting. The style done by Darth Maul (and it pisses me off that he died; they better make another one of him in the Clone Wars) was closer to, say, the Kung Fu / Tae Kwon Do / Jeet Kune Do / whatever styles (i.e., it involved kicking). Very very cool.
4) The four-way orgy involving Darth Sidious, Senator Palpatine, Queen Amidala, and Queen Amidala's handmaiden was EXCELLENT! The classic trilogy was really lacking in the hardcode sex department. (Although according to that Newsweek Carrie Fisher interview, Boba Fett "could see all the way to Florida" in the Tatooine scenes of ROTJ.)
I think TPM was consciously made overly light and cheery, because the other two movies will have to be dark and brooding. Vader's story is a fall from grace -- he's got to start out good and pure to have a fall. I'm *really* looking forward to episodes 2 & 3.
"Whatever happened to fair use?"
-- Duff-Man
I try to go in and come out of a movie without looking too critically at it. For me, analyzing everything ruins the fun that watching movies is.
;-)
I don't remember where exactly I heard this suggestion, but it came across like this: "George, in telling this story, seems to jumping from one idea to another; not lasting too long on one thing.. as if becoming disinterested." (radically paraphrased)
This quote has been stuck in my mind for the past couple days. The more I think about the movie,the more I see all the subplots rushed and plentiful.
1. Darth Maul is here one minute, gone the next. He seemed more like the Ensign in a classic StarTrek episode who always wheres a red uniform and dies on the away mission (guarunteed). Maul's face has been shown everywhere. His background, story is no where to be found. Yes, you can look at him as the Bobba Fett of EP1, but come on... Fett will(should) get his story told in EP2.
2. Qui-Gon Jinn is another. He seems like a very intriguing character, but where is his background? Obi-wan states: "You can't disobey the council again.." Again? What was the first time? Yes, this could be explained in EP2 or EP3. Another dispossable character?
3. Jar Jar. People have told me he was annoying. Again, I was looking forward to enjoying the movie and didn't pick up on this. It appears Jar Jar was for the kids to enjoy. I guess.
4. Rush rush rush. I don't think George could have fit more story into this first movie. Yet, I'm left with the impression that much is missing and what was put in was not fleshed out.
5. Political messages/ racial dipictions, etc.. throw your ideas out the window. Enjoy the movie. Diversity should be praised, not criticised. Those who saw such politics in this movie would appear to have more issues of their own than with the story and its characters.
Again, I went in to enjoy the movie. I did just that (with the exception of a few people who had too much to drink). Would I see it again? You bet. Could it have been better? Under the circumstances, maybe not. I think George maybe in some trouble here. He's trying to tell his epic pre-story in 3 episodes. EP1 could have been fleshed out in two movies. Did this 'rushing' take away from the enjoyment? Nope.. I kept my arms and legs inside the ride at all times.
btw- I couldn't resist buying one of those lightsabers.. too cool
take care-
Six
I read an interesting piece on something like this, that the goal is to die in front of Luke, then you come back as an all-powerful ghost...
sounded kind of strange to me, but is relatively consistent.
go look up mitochondria and prepare to be amazed.
Lucas is saying that mitochondria are the source of the force, and amazingly enough, it's a decent answer to the question of symbiosis we do have with them.
I liked this, even though I also felt the lifeforce was a better answer.
http://dir.niehs.nih.gov/dirlmg/mito.html
Help achieve Liberty in your lifetime - join the Free State Project - http://www.freestateproject.org
Because the kid from jerry maguire is playing the young Dark Helmet in the Spaceballs prequel, duh. Don't you read The Onion?
There be spoilers here.
At first I really thought the movie was a mixed bag. I really loathed Jar Jar, I didn't like a number of aspects of the film (accidental destruction of ship at end, power going off underwater not dropping shield canopy, etc).
But, as time goes by, and I talk to more people about the movie and I read more background material about the movie, I find myself liking the movie more and more. I find myself buying toys and posters now that I didn't think I would, and now I really want to see the movie again whereas just after I watched it I had no desire to see it again anytime soon.
So, I come away with this with two observations:
1) This movie requires more research to watch than most.
2) This movie has lead to more interesting conversations than any movie I've seen in years.
BTW - even after my new-found love for TPM, I still think JAR-JAR is a terrible mistake. As someone said in another post elsewhere, we went through three Star Wars movies without a single poo joke (calling someone bantha fodder does not count as far as I'm concerned), and now we have many.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Not quite right, Yoda did disappear. He died in bed, then he disappeared and the sheets fell. Luke looked confused, as usual.
I can't believe anyone would complain about Jar-Jar and celebrate C3PO's return on the same page! Jar-Jar was at least amusing. That whiny droid just drives me nuts!
Read a good book lately?
Read a good book lately?
Loved the movie. =)
My .02
Quux
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
'Course it's always possible that the men carried the offspring to term...
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
They're marching in a straight line down a straight corridor - no turns. The sun is out full-blast, the shadows are very pronounced. Problem is, sometimes they're pointing toward the back. Sometimes they're toward the front. Sometimes they're pointing to the right of the marchers and sometimes they're at a right 45 degree angle to the marchers.
Bleh! Great movie - but sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.
My .02
Quux26
My
Quux26
www.crashspace.net
...the ET delegation from planet Reesespieces.
This "watch out for" has probably been stated elsewhere, but anyway: keep an eye out in the Senate scene, lower left corner, I believe, for a delegation of ET-characters from whatever-planet-they're-from (geeks, help me out here?).
I wasn't told about this until after I had left the theater, so I'm not making any guarantees it's really there. I'll look closely next time. YMMV.
wcb
- "definately" (Is the sideways-eight "infinaty"?)
- "grammer" (TV's Frasier, I suppose)
- "Your" for "you are" (I cringe on behalf of the mothers of the people who write, "Your an idiot")
Idea: While I wouldn't suggest overloadingMutual dependence does not preclude control. Your brain controls your muscles, even though it needs them, and even though it must take their state and needs into account when issuing orders.
If you don't define this as control, you're redefining the word in such a way that it is useless. All masters factor in the needs and limitations of their servants, if that invalidates the idea of control then the word is invalidated for all uses.
Mitochondria are enclosed by their host-cells. As a living being it responds to its environment, which is part of the host-cell. The host-cells have evolved to manipulate the mitochondria to perform on command, whether to reproduce during growth or increase output during exertion.
..."The genetic material within these organelles..."
I did not mean to imply that there is nucleus-independent genetic material in other organelles.
While everybody seems to have the feeling that some race's toes have been stepped on, nobody can pin it down to which one! (and have a significant number agree on it)
Yes, there is some stuff there that could be interpreted as racially-biased, but only if you are looking for something to be offended by. I think this is just a case of someone making a movie and not worrying about how such things will be interpreted.
We are getting spoiled by directors who wonder whether there are enough blacks or asians and whether they are stereotyped, or whether this alien species suggests a certain culture too much or casts one in a bad light, or is afraid to give stupid aliens broken English (or Basic, as the case may be) because it might anyone with a (non-English, non-American) accent.
Honestly, seeking the perfect balance (rather than simply ignoring race) is a racist attitude too. Not the mean, spiteful racism that attacks a group ("those niggers ought to learn their place!"), but the cowardly PC racism that fears irrational reactions from a group ("those african americans are so easily offended, we need to make sure there is an appropriate number in sufficient roles, but not so many that it becomes a 'black film' and loses the large white audience, so many of whom are racist that they won't go see a good movie if there are too many african americans in it").
I mean of course the Virgin Birth idea.
When I heard "He had no father" it sure sounded to me like "He had no father raising him." As she went on I got more of the idea that she didn't have too firm a grasp on the reproductive process, which is entirely believable in a slave. BTW, she _was_ a slave, and probably looked pretty good in her younger days. I wouldn't be surprised if she was (if you'll excuse the expression) passed around at parties...
Did anyone else think that Yoda screwed up his grammar and spoke in a funny up-and-down voice because he had been alone on a swamp planet for 20 odd years?
Geez, this little green dude was talking to monarchs and ambassadors for centuries, you'd think he'd be a little more polished than the hermit we met in Empire!
NT means no text.
NT means "no text!"
"Mitochondria: Small genetic particles in every cell that govern how it works."
That is not a valid description of mitochondria. Mitochondria are analagous to power generators, they produce the ATP which is used for intra-cellular energy transport. I forget some of the details, but I believe they are responsible for aerobic respiration, using oxygen and glucose as fuel to convert the spent ADP to ATP.
They have their own genetic material which is completely seperate from that of their host. They reproduce asexually (and, incidentally, do everything else) in response to chemical cues from the host cell.
Mitochondria do not govern the cell in which they reside, they are governed by it, and work as an organelle within it.
The genetic material within organelles has been a big deal in the press because it has been used to produce a (IMHO unreliable) estimate of the number of generations since "Eve" (a supposed common direct-line female ancestor of all humans). It was suited to this because, due to its seperate genetic material and asexual reproduction, the only changes throughout its otherwise static genome are due to mutation (unlike the nuclear DNA which is sexually mixed, so you have to isolate genes to find all but the most gross mutations).
I thought Princess Leia was to become a Jedi Knight.
Any way isn't having a female jedi knight like having the WNBA?
Do we really need one?
I personally think this is a good movie. Not a great movie, but a good movie. One worth watching, and certainly worth paying to see in the theaters.
But it does have a problem. This problem does not stem from annoying sidekicks, underdeveloped characters or child actors. The problem this movie has is that it was released way too late. Nothing in this world could possibly live up to sixteen years worth of anticipation.
I have no doubt that Episode II will end up being a much better movie than Episode I - not only because it will deal with "cooler" stuff, but because it will only have to live up to 2 1/2 year's worth of anticipation after the "disappointment" of Episode I.
I'll have to agree with this. We've never seen a female Jedi. I can think of no reason, save Lucas' own sexism.
Yep - Timothy Zahn fixes this in his "Heir to the Empire" series by not only realizing Leia as a fully-trained, smart, and strong female Jedi but by also giving us another strong female character in the form of Mara Jade, a Force-trained assassin known as the Emperor's Hand. Groovy stuff. I need to read those books again.
Lucas is not comfortable with people ascribing spiritual weight to a movie gimmick.
"To excuse such an atrocity by blaming U.S. government policies is to deny the basic idea of all morality: that individu
All that can be seen on approach is lots of lights. For all we know the planet is one big suburb or mall parking lot. The verbal cue is necessary.
"To excuse such an atrocity by blaming U.S. government policies is to deny the basic idea of all morality: that individu
Now that a couple days have passed I think I enjoyed the movie more now than initially. The little subtle bits have sunk in.
Like the fact that Vader never encountered (full) C3PO in IV,V,VI. Now I just chuckle that if he had we would have seen a weeping, mushy Vader that broke down at the reunion.
But there are a couple flaws with the storyline now.
If Anakin is a 'fatherless' child, where did his (apparently) older brother Owen come from?
And if the 'Melatolin' (sp?) level in someone's cells determined how much 'force' a person had, why would Vader have most of his body replaced by machine, thus reducing the number of cells and his strength?
I hope these little things get cleared up later on. I know its my own fault that I've become so critical over the years, but loose ends can really throw a movie for me.
Will I see it again. Yes, definately. There was so much to see and experience that it just isn't possible to pick it all up the first time.
The title 'The Phantom Menace' refers to the threat to naboo. This threat is no threat at all, and merely serves as a device to seat Palpatine firmly as chancellor and give him his political power to wield when he decides to make his move against the Republic. Remember the way Darth Sidious just used the Trade Federation?
:/) I think Pal/Sid got more from the attack on Naboo than he planned on, in the death of Qui-Gon.. and we all see the irony in discovery of Anakin while on a mission to free a small planet from Sidious/Palpatine-controlled troops...
:)
The attack on Naboo is a distraction at best.. we need to STOP taking this movie at face value, and realize that its only a SETUP for 2 more movies.. in which ALL THESE questions will be answered (at least they better be...
and on the endless complaints about the brief film-life of Darth Maul... can we say, 'Clone-Wars', boys n girls?
Speaking of the Clone-Wars.. they might have something to do with the decorpsoration... its very possible that its just something that was never necessary for them to do before there was the threat of cloning dead Jedi for the uses of the Sith...
and its VERY naieve to assume there were only the 2 Sith in the universe...
the most dissappointing thing about the movie was far and away the character development... we know more about Jar-Jar than we do Amidala! its sad when selfsufficient movies do a poor job of character devlopment, but when its a movie the main role of which is to setup for 2 more? cmon..
(btw, i assumed Sidious==Palpatine)
*sigh* i feel better now
tchort
Yessir. The only reason I knew about it was from a friend, so I stayed.
One really odd thing though: Was it just me or did anyone else notice "Javva the Hutt," not "Jabba?"
I dunno. I was in the last row and barely caught it before it went off-screen, so it may be just a spawned process of my imagination. Anyone else see it?
-----
-----
Ping? PONG!
The movie was good, but it was too childish
when anikin blew up that space thinger by coincidnce was too much, not even force guided would he have blown that thing up by mistake. Those battle driods should have roasted jar jar
Granted, I've only seen the movie once --so far-- but it seemed to me there was very little
in the way of a story or character development.
That may be by design. I think this movie was just setting up the basics for the major stuff that's yet to come (the fall of the Republic, Anakin's transformation into Darth Vader, etc.)
But the special effects were spectacular and there are enough good moments to compensate for the lack of an actual story and other annoyances. I'll watch it again.
One annoying thing that I haven't seen commented on is Anakin's mother. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, eh?
It's not about quotas, it is about the fact that one of the two genders of humanity was absent from the movie. To go even further all the men and women with the exception of the token black man were all white.
Lucas likes his own race and gender and does feel that it is necessary to give children who are not white males a place to imagine themselves in this movie.
There are a few female Jedi's in the movie but since none of them speak they don't really count anyways. There is one on the council who is shown for apx. 1 sec. And there are two standing on the steps of the Naboo palace during the celebration at the end who the camera pans past and are visible for about 1.5 sec.
I didn't say anything has to be balanced in "exact" proportion; Lucas' gender "imbalance" (and its even in the crowd scenes!), all politics aside, is completely unrealistic. "A long time ago, in a galaxy far,far away...with less than 3% women"??
Further, anyone who makes the naive claim that it's "just a movie" has obviously missed the extent to which these films have influenced the creative consciousness of an entire generation - or did you not notice the hundreds of people lining up for hours and even days to get tickets, or the generation of little boys growing up with Star Wars bedsheets, backpacks, etc.
As for the claims regarding racism, your charming concluding "fuck you" suggests that you're pretty much okay with hate-mongering in general, and therefore aren't worth arguing with.
Actually the Trade Federation is based around the Chinese stereotype. This said, the Jedi are of course the Japanese Samurai figures, and the Naboo are Tibetan figures right down to the handmaidens gowns.
Interesting twist if you think about it that way. The samurai fighting the evil chinese to free the tibetans.
Anyone else notice the complete and total lack of women in the film. Well if you didn't, let me enumerate for you. 6 with speaking parts, less than 15 shown in the entire movie.
Not only are there only 6 that speak, there are only 3 that have more than 5 lives.
Queen Amidala, one of her handmaidens and Shmi Skywalker. The other three that actually speak are one of the pilots of the Jedi's transport ship at the beginning, one of the Naboo fighter pilots and a woman in Mos Esba on Tatooine. Maybe a seventh in one of Anakin's friends, I don't remember for sure bout that.
Frankly, there needs to be a little more equality in the star wars galaxy. Between the racism and the sexism the movie was a travesty.
When one of the gungans turned to jarjar and said that jarjar was in big doodoo (at the beginning when they first went down to the underwater city).
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
At least that's what Lucas has said in interviews. Hamill was the only one to know, though.
"If one is really a superior person, the fact is likely to leak out without too much assistance" -- John Andrew Holmes
my question of the year: why couldn't they find a decent child actor to play Anikin and not use that kid from "Jingle all the way". the kid is cute in a certain sense, but I wanted to puke every time he pulled the same exact poses and nuances as he did in the last big movie he was in.
:P why didnt they just cast that brat from jerry maguire????
:P
with all the gifted young actors, they just HAD to stick with a tried and true "cute kid"
my two cents
A year spent in artificial intelligence is enough to make one believe in God.
especially when he said 'how rude' those 2 or 3 times. He sounded like one of those damn Olsen twins from Full House. I was embarrassed for Lucas...
get nemulator
Obi-Wan let himself be killed by Vader -- remember him just standing there waiting... Qui-Gon on the other hand was pretty much caught off guard. But even then, he was still alive after Obi-Wan killed Darth Maul.... ummm... who knows?
get nemulator
CRITICS LASH OUT AT LUCAS FOR MAKING A MOVIE THAT CHILDREN WILL LOVE
"I Wanted 'Citizen Kane'", Sputters Furious David Ansen
HOLLYWOOD, CA (AP) - Critics have been quick to levy criticism towards George Lucas' latest Star Wars creation -- Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace. Blasting the film for having "too many digital effects" and "too little character development", critics seem to be treating the latest blockbuster as a modern-day Ishtar. Newsweek's David Ansen is among those critics.
"By God," fumed Ansen, "the children loved it. They were clapping and shouting in the aisles, and did not want it to end. To hell with the children, as far as I'm concerned. George Lucas has personally robbed me of a truly emotional film experience, and I for one will never, ever forgive him for it."
Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood magazine Variety echoed the sentiments put forth by Ansen. "I hope George Lucas rots in hell," he said, "for making such an empty movie that less snobby audiences love. Clearly, he is preying on the children's desire for pure fun, and paying no attention to the film critics' demands that The Phantom Menace be at least as good as The Godfather. No reasonable person likes a movie that is just fun to sit back and watch."
Jeff Craig, of Sixty Second Preview, expressed similar views. "Lucas seems to know that children will love this movie. Being the typical egomaniac, he places his desire to entertain America's youth in front of his desire to placate the film critic community. Well, George, let me be the first to say EAT SHIT. You and your digital effects don't impress anybody." Craig then spit on the floor and gave a four-star review to the wonderful Adam Sandler flick The Waterboy.
Lucasfilm is dismissing the negative reviews, saying that the critics are "out of touch with reality." While Lucas runs the very real risk of making millions upon millions of dollars for this movie, he doesn't hesitate to let the public know why he's doing all of this.
"It's for the fans," says Lucas.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground
I realize everyone's been hammering slashdot all morning since it was down or whatever, but still this many comments in so short a time beating even any of the /. posts on the columbine thing.
:)
It just seems a little imbalanced to me.
Personally.. I hate most of the regurgitated nonsense that most call "movies" nowadays.
There, now.. I just gave you an excuse to disregard this and go back to buying those Taco Bell Jar Jar toys from you "connections inside".
By the way, the movie looked slapped together and is overall crap imho.
God Bless,
EL
Listen to your Karma... It's why you are where you are... actually, i was referring to life, not slashdot.
Rational explanation for Anakin's mother not knowing who his father is that came up while a group of us were discussing the movie: she was out drinking and was too drunk to remember who the father is.
-Dexx
Feel the fear and do it anyway.
Dudes,
My take is that midi-chlorians are a Lucasian renaming of mitocondria. As you know, mitochondria are the little cigar shaped organelles in your cells which produce the energy required for cellular function. Mitochondria may have evolved from micro-organismal symbionts living inside cells, as was Jedi Master Schindler's explanation of midi-chlorians. But enough of intergalactic cellular biology. The movie was dreadful! This was a bigger wreck than even Titanic as a movie that completely sacrificed cohesive narrative, dialogue, and acting for special effects. Phantom Menace reminded me less of the previous Star Wars than it did of the bombastic Fifth Excrement (Element). I thought the Chris Tucker character in 5th Element was annoying, but Jar Jar was totally off the scale like Anakin's midi-chlorian levels. In fact, there were too many unnecessary weirdo creatures. I was all like "Those Trade Federation dudes don't have any noses. How do they breath?" And what about those battle droids? How wimpy did they look? They looked like shaven French poodles. Storm Troopers would go totally medieval on their tin asses. I was so disgusted after seeing this movie that I had to replace the lame taste with some good cinema. I rented The Spanish Prisoner. Now that's a good movie!
Hidong
Remember Where's Waldo? Besides all the other reasons to see this movie again and again, I'm gonna sit there and count the times I see Davis.
/.ers' time with. Happy hunting!
1: Intro to Mos Espa. Strolling by hand-in-hand with Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca)
2: Anakin's Rodian friend, who cheers during the pod-race.
3: The guy who helped Jar-Jar off his tropical tauntaun at the end (what was that anyway?)
4: Standing next to the Jedi (women no less) on the stairs at the very end.
And probably countless other roles Lucas thought appropriate to occupy
The Reverend
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
> What they did to Darth Maul was a crime. He
:)
> should have had a larger role in the movie,
> survived to the next one or had another 2 or 3
> (or 4 or 5) fight sceens.
Who's to say he didn't survive? There's a couple of thoeries to back this up. There's the Jedi Knight character that bears a striking theatrical (if not physical) resemblence to Maul, who just happens to float around as a result of his missing lower half. The other theory has to do with the fact that, hey, cloning's the big thing about this trilogy.
> They should have left out the driods- Obi Wan
> and Darth Vader would both would have recognized
> them, especially since Anakin built C3-PO (bs bs
> bs).
There's a lot of discussion about this problem all over this thread. In as much that droids can be formatted, and that Vader never had a well-lit chance to see the droids, I'd say it's ok. And Obi-Wan can be too subtle for his own good.
> Natalie Portman is hot.
Oh, you don't need to reiterate this. After our Countdown to Phantom Menace, we should have a Countdown to Portman's 18th...
The Reverend
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Gee, how could it be Earth? Remember, this took place "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
The Reverend
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The only Jedi that we have seen anything out of the ordinary happen when they die were Yoda, Obi, and the Emperor. Yoda was obviously a very powerful Jedi that had time to prepare to die, as did Obi-One. The Emperor too was a very powerful Sith that exploded in a ball of blue flame and lighting upon death. I would surmise that only very powerful (in the Force) people have deaths that are, how would you say, out of the ordinary. Qui-Gon was not as powerful as the others that disappeared or exploded when they died.
Okay, similarities between midi-whatsits and mitochondria:
they're microscopic organisms that live in cells.
they start with the letter M.
they are, in some way, beneficial to humans.
--End similarities.
Now personally i think the whole midi-whatsits thing was silly, but i agree it's obviously a plot hook and a way of explaining why the kid is 'the one' but doesnt radiate the force across half the galaxy.. but as silly as it may be, the whole mitochondria thing is just stupid.
Going off of what i remember from high-school biology classes and what was said in the movie i think the main and most obviously important difference, the one that just beats you over the head and says 'what the heck are you thinking?' would have to be the fact that Midi-whatsits are at least semi-intelligent. Now they may not be so individually, but they manage to communicate in a useful manner with intelligent species and they took it upon themselves to make anakin's mom (who is obviously not a force-user herself) pregnant. Now if that were a natural function of the things, you'd think it would have happened at least Once before, yet the whole council's rather stunned about it.
Sounds to me more like an evolutionary mutation than a symbiotic relationship anyway.. in a symbiotic relationship both parties get something out of it. Given the description of the midi-thingies is rather short, it doesnt sound like they're getting anything out of it. Rather, given that there are races which have evolved into force-immunity (the little blue flying watto guy) the relationship between life and the force is apparently controlled by biological functions.
Look around, with the exception of the nuclear strong and weak forces, there aren't any forces we know of in the universe that human sense s cant detect.. if the force existed and any race we were in contact with had access to it, we would eventually evolve to be able to do the same (unless there were faster technological solution).
In any case, debating the piddling details of a movie is silly, and i'll stop now.. but i'm really just sick of the whole midi-whatsits == mitochondria thing.
Dreamweaver
"If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" -- MLK, Jr.
I think you all rather missed the point.. if mitochondria contain a genetic pattern that is (as a number of you said) completely unrelated to the rest of the organism, what difference does that make? So far as the human host is concerned (and you're not a host anymore, since if the things were ever independent life-forms they arent anymore) they might as well contain none.
Specifically toward the comment beginning "Fuck No", whether or not mitochondrial dna is passed down from the mother or father doesnt really matter, since the things in question (midi-whatsits) Arent mitochondria. If they were, the amazingly badly phrased line that will ring out through the next X years until something in Episode II tops it, would have been "I heard you talking about Mitochondria. What are Mitochondria anyway?". As for what exactly makes the difference:
Things Midi-whatsits and Mitochondria have in common:
They start with the letter M.
They apparently live within human cells.
They may or may not be or have been symbiotic independent life at some time.
Things that Midi-whatsits and Mitochondria Dont have in common:
Whatever their previous existence, Mitochondria are now benegien little organelles that are about as mystical as an amobea (actually, less so.. amobeas are neat).
Midi-whatsits are apparently at least semi-intelligent (or maybe planning and implementing the birth of a child without need of a father is something all single-celled organisms can do?)
Midi-whatsits have no apparent biological function. (just imagine what would happen if you had ten+ times as many mitochondria pumping away in each cell as you're supposed to)
Mitochondria are specific to Our cellular types. Now this one's speculation, but hell, the whole argument thread is about an imaginary organism, so i think i can get away with it. Assuming that the 'Mitochondria were once independent life' theory is correct, why in the heck would yoda have them? Or wookies, or the thousand+ other races of the star wars universe? They would have evolved their own ways with their own cell-structure and their own organelles. So now, you ask, why do they all have midi-whatsits? Well, one of three reasons spring to mind:
1) If midi-whatsits are, as seemed implied, intelligent, they would have spread into the various populations of other races as they encountered them. I dont read the star wars books, so maybe i'm wrong and everybody always had them.. but i know enough from what i've heard to know that some races are immune to the force which would imply an obvious lack of midi-thingies.
2) Convergent evolution. The force is an aspect of the universe as a whole, like gravity. Only so many possible configurations could be used in apparently carbon-based oxygen-breathing races and after tens of thousands of years of inter-connected life, they would have grown even closer to being the same thing.
3) Like number 1, but rather than one race developing alongside midi-whatsits, the midi-whatsits came first. Way back in the beginning days of the universe these things evolved and, given that they're apparently in tune with the force, spread pretty quickly. Afterall, which would survive in a fight: a regular cell or a single-celled organism that can crush the other cell's..er..feeding orifice?
In any case, belaboring the piddling little details of a movie where the creator probably never even thought of 90% of the questions asked is silly. That's why i never liked literature classes.. too much about symbolism and suchlike that the author probably never even realized was there. Write a story and people will dig all sorts of things out of it. Case in point, i saw a book (a book mind you, published and everything) discussing the likeness of Spock with Jesus.. i mean, come on.
Dreamweaver
"If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" -- MLK, Jr.
This is going off of what a friend of mine has told me (he's one of those SW fans that's like a walking lexicon of all the SW books ever written):
The Sith are an organization (i've no idea about the race part, he never mentioned it) of dark side jedi who practice said dark side in a specific manner as opposed to regular dark side-ers who are just regular jedi that grew too power hungry..rather like the difference between ninjutsu and streetfighting. And the word Darth is an honorary like Lord or Master.
Dreamweaver
"If a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live" -- MLK, Jr.
I think for reasons similar to the reason that Darth Vader was quite surprised and interested when Obi-Wan did. Anakin doesn't disappear either when he dies, and he kills the emperor!
Perhaps the disappearing requires a certain purity and non-compromise. Qui-Gon was a renegade who frequently skirted the code, Anakin, of course, is the tragic hero who falls to the dark side before committing the ultimate good (by killing Sidious). Maybe such flaws are sufficient to keep one out of Jedi heaven.
Nasty mythology if that's the case -- all your survivors get to know if you "made it."
i definitly agree that empire was the best of the original trilogy because of its darkness and not so happy ending.
i heard lucas say on ET that episode II would be a love story (anakin and amidala) and that episode III would be a dark serious film (anakin's transformation into vader).
so, it looks like the best is still yet to come!
as obi-wan tells luke in jedi:
"your father was seduced by the dark side of the force. at that moment he ceased to be anakin skywalker and became darth vader. the good man that your father was was destroyed. so what i said was true, from a certain point of view..."
(i hate to misquote obi-wan, but my copy of the trilogy is so far from my chair right now)
anyhow, if ben says anakin ain't vader, anakin ain't vader!
anakin was not lost forever to hate fear and evil. unless you missed return of the jedi, where he turned back to the good side and killed the emperor.
"you were right about me luke. tell your sister, you were right..."
and then of course we see anakin with yoda and obi-wan (hey george, where was qui-gon in that scene???)
didnt you keep watching jedi after that scene? remember anakin standing with obi-wan and yoda? fuck.
>I wonder who Lucas was aiming the character at 4
>year olds? If so why did have a plot that dealt
>with taxation and trade routes, the plot was for
>adults while jar Jar for toddlers - it just
>doesn't make any sense.
ya, why would he try to make a movie that was enjoyable for kids and adults?
>There were no fart jokes in Episodes 4,5,6 no
>one stepped in poo
so just because there was none of it in IV-VI, why cant it be in I-III? besides, do you think youre too good to laugh at a fart joke? there might just be a few people in the world (maybe even some, dare i say, kids) who would find that funny. (gee, i guess it means we dont have brains, eh?) but oh yeah, i forgot, since lucas didnt make this movie to absolutely satisfy you, it obviously sucks, and his mythos is over.
all you people saying how terrible this movie is make me sick. when the media and everybody else builds this event up like its gonna be the second coming of Christ what do you expect when it turns out to actually be just a movie!?! i guess the problem is one that abides everywhere in our society. people are just never satisfied with anything unless it is 100% tailored to suit just them perferctly.
so quitcherbitchin, get over it, loosen up, and have some fun watching a fun movie.
obi-wan told vader that if vader struck him down that he would become more powerful than vader could possibly imagine. the fact that he had to explain this to vader makes it seem like it might be a new idea? if vader hunted and killed all the jedi, then wouldnt he already know about the disapperaing thing? 'cause he sure did seem surprised too when obi-wan's body wasnt in his robe.
maybe we're just looking into this much much more than mr. lucas ever intended for anyone to do.
just some things to ponder.
Why didn't he disappear when he was killed?
What would you know? Perhaps Rob's mind
really was realing.
Unable to read configuration file '/bigassraid/htdig//conf/14229.conf'
Geocrawler error message.
Folks, keep in mind we didn't find out vader was lukes father until Empire. Its possible C3PO never did find out.
As for technology, I believe in the 40 years(?)
between EP I and EP 4 there's a galactic war, the clone wars, as well as Palpatine overthrowing the republic and becoming Emperor AND Vader killing off all the Jedi, the protectors of the Realm. This leaves open the possibility of widespread conflict between races/star systems going unchecked. War has a way of setting things back after all.
--
Martel
"Hand me my light saber... it's the that says
'Bad Motherfucker' on it." --Mace Windu
You've got to love Palpatines last line(i think)
To anakin: Something along the lines of "Your career bears watching"
:)
I was waiting for this part of the thread...
I'm glad I'm not the only one to spot this out. Though, while watching the movie I was thinking those Trade Federation guys were Chinese. I was waiting for one of them to put his hands in his sleeves and start saying, "Oh, most honoraber emperor. Me rikey very much!" And Jar Jar was not only Jamaican, but it was like some sort of KKK propaganda film. He was like some stereotypical Jamaican slave, "Yes Masta! Cleanin you boots Masta! Please'n don't whip me Masta!" Not to mention him being stupid and clumsy. I cringed during the Jar Jar scenes.
In general I didn't like the use of Earth accents for the aliens. Wattoo (Brooklyn?), the Trade Federation, the pod race announcer (ESPN announcer?).
Once I got past all that (I'm usually not sensitive to racial issues but I thought these instances were pretty glaring) I was able to enjoy the movie. I came out of the theater with a good feeling about it. (Obviously I must see it again, if only to catch that classic Vader breath at the very end. )
Anakin, who will eventually be Darth Vader, shouldn't be yelling Yippee every five minutes. Anakin leaving home wasn't convincing at all; I think his fate as an actor is pretty much sealed. Looking forward to some Life cereal commercials is he, says Yoda.
The point of Anakin acting like a kid can be easily explained. HE'S A KID. He wasn't born Darth Vader. There's no reason to believe he acted any differently than any other kid. You're supposed to be thinking, "This kid's too cute to be Darth Vader!" His acting falls in line with the other films - campy.
Too many kids and disney-esque characters ruined it for me.
Seems like Jedi had plenty of childrens charactors. Jim Hensen wasn't hired for nothing.
Character development: nearly nonexistant. Mace Windu: 3 lines, and none of them involved the word 'muthafucka'. I was shocked. All in all I give it a 7 out of 10. Hope the Clone Wars has no children/ewoks/wacky cg characters in it, or I just may skip it all together.
Lucas never developed his charactors, this is part one of three movies.. This was the forward. Count on Mace Windu to play an important part in the next two episodes. You're rating is high based on your critique. Of course, noone will miss you at the next movie.
Many people are forgetting just how average the first three movies were. About the only things Lucas has going for him are: 1) classic good vs evil plot(lets face it, the evil is just getting warmed up in this one) and 2) special effects. I like the mythology of Star Wars, the charactors are supposed to be average.
On the subject of Mito-chlorians, it doesnt seem to disheartening to me. In one of the book trilogys that is supposed to take place after ROTJ archaelogists in Coruscant find a device that measures the amount of "Force" in a person. Apparently the Empire used it to hunt and find Jedi. Luke then uses it to recuit new Jedis for training.
As to the whole disappearing Jedi thing, I think that the whole "Preparing for onciming death" is a very likely possibility. OB1 and Yoda had a moment to set their souls (or Force?) at ease. Another possible scenario (and correct me if I'm wrong) wasnt Qui-Jon just a knight and not a master? Yoda was a master and I think that by the time Luke meets OB1 in ANH, OB1 mustve achieved the same level.
Just my $.02,
JJ
I blog, they blog, do you
That's a rational explantion, but that wouldn't result in a virgin birth (which is required to fulfill the prophesy) would it? Plus, that would be a pretty lame way to resolve a cliffhanger, dontcha think?
There's a much better explanation... One with more dramatic effect. One which would explain the unusually high metachlorine content. One which would permit Shmi to be a virgin when she gave birth to Anakin. One which fulfills the prophesy *and* has a purely scientific (i.e. non-divine intervention) explanation.
Another question to ponder...
What might slaves be used for besides labor?
This is probably what Lucas intended, but I can't believe how many people are taking the "virgin birth" thing hook-line & sinker. Sure, I was as stunned as everybody else when it first came up, but there really is a rational explanation for it if you think about it a little.
All of this, the "virgin birth" & the introduction of the metachlorian concept are interrelated and a set-up for some bombshells that will be dropped in Ep. 2.
Ask yourself a few questions...
1. Could there be a scientific explanation for a "virgin birth"?
2. What do you think the Sith have been doing all these years after their "extinction"?
3. What might cause an unusual physical characteristic, which is directly related to one's ability to be in tune with the Force, to pop up apparently out of the clear blue?
4. Do you really think after a millennium there are only 2 Sith? Would only 2 Sith "reveal themselves" to a veritable army of light Jedi?
5. If your answer to #2 is "no", how might they replentish their numbers?
6. If the Sith were almost extinguished (presumably by the light Jedi), what would their "revenge" be?
7. How can the Senator & Sidious be the same without being the same?
8. How might parallellism between Ep. 4-6 play out in 1-3?
If you think about these questions for a while, you'll see that Ep. 1 is the perfect setup for a lot of *big* revelations in Eps. 2 & 3.
You know, kind of like a rabbit hunt, with JarJar the rabbit ...
Will in Seattle
I just had to stop laughing long enough to post a lengthy reply. I saw the movie on Tuesday night, after midnight, and I totally agree with all of your points. Anakin, who will eventually be Darth Vader, shouldn't be yelling Yippee every five minutes. Anakin leaving home wasn't convincing at all; I think his fate as an actor is pretty much sealed. Looking forward to some Life cereal commercials is he, says Yoda. Too many kids and disney-esque characters ruined it for me. Jar Jar was beyond annoying, to the point where I wanted to scream just to keep from hearing his retarded gibberish. I gotta give some credit to his voice actor though. It takes amazingly mad skill to sound that close to Roger Rabbit and even pull off Bill Cosby's 'going to the dentist' and 'mushmouth' (fat albert) impressions. Weak. Very weak. Fight scenes: incredible. Spaceships exploding: average. Jet pods: fast, and nice to watch tumble and explode at 300 mph. Character development: nearly nonexistant. Mace Windu: 3 lines, and none of them involved the word 'muthafucka'. I was shocked. All in all I give it a 7 out of 10. Hope the Clone Wars has no children/ewoks/wacky cg characters in it, or I just may skip it all together.
Yoda died in his bed, and was whisked away by the force. Obi-wan voluntarily died to free Luke... and if you watch the scene carefully you'll see he disappears before Darth kills him. And he was never *violent* during that fight.
I think only Jedi who are at peace with the force when they die disappear. I don't think combat or other violence counts as at peace.
-Computers hate being anthropomorphized.
Other things I noticed:
Ok, all kidding aside, I think Lucas lived up to his legacy. The original starwars was not spectacular because of character development or plot. It was, simply put, a well told story. Menace is the same: a well told story.
In my mind, there is a difference between art and entertainment. Entertainment is simple and can be enjoyed by all. Art presses the boundaries, often to the pain of some. Lucas' art is his cinematography and vison... as illustrated in the ground breaking effects required by ANH. That is what the critics loved in ANH. His art, this time, was in the visionary world he created. I mean, how could they possibly do that wonderfull Jedi-Sith fight on the cat walks if it were not for computers? Of course, art also brought us pain in the form of Jar-Jar Binks.
But people love Lucas' stories. Lucas is, above all else, an entertainer. Looking for redeeming qualities in the plot, character development, or other element you learned about in your 9th grade literature class is to miss the true genius of Star Wars. Lucas masterfully told a compelling story about the attack, capture, and liberation of lovely Naboo. All the while he left room for the rest of the series.
As for other comments I've read here:
-Computers hate being anthropomorphized.
The happy ending of three will be that Leia and Luke escape.
Freedom begins when you tell Mrs Grundy to go fly a kite. _R.A.Heinlein
Well, after seeing it, I've decided it is definetly made for children, much more than any of the other star wars were. While it's slightly annoying, it's to be expected, especially with the age of one of the major stars of the movie. Hopefully as Anakin ages in the next 2 movies, the maturity level of the target audience will move along with it. A nice dramatic effect if George can pull it off, and the sort of grand plan he seems to enjoy.
One thing that I can't overlook, and that annoyed the hell out of me is the accents of the trade federation. Clearly Japanese in nature, they present some racial overtones to this movie. Now, I have no asian ancestry, nor am I politically correct in any way, but the representation of these characters was annoying, and the fact that they were evil and stupid to boot is offensive.
But aside from that, the movie rocked. i will see it again in the theater, maybe 3 times. The battles were amazing, Jar Jar was as annoying as everyone says he is, and the fish eats bigger fish sequence was my favorite part.
thats my two pence
-Bravehamster
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
Perhaps Qui-Gonn's death vs. those of Yoda and Obi-Wan has to do with the manner in which they die. Both Yoda and Obi-Wan surrender their bodies to the Force (Obi-Wan disappears before Vader's lightsaber strikes him), while Qui-Gonn is caught by surprise and actually killed by Darth Maul's lightsaber.
On the other hand, Vader/Anakin doesn't disappear either in Return of the Jedi after returning to the Light Side, so maybe it's just a trick Yoda and Obi-Wan know and Qui-Gonn doesn't...
Right...
Its as good as Lucas has produced...I don't know I think until he can really get into a "How the West Was Won" groove there's still going to be the sweet scent of bubble gum around the work.
I liked JJ's (is there any coincidence that he has the same initials as JayJay on Good Times? hmmmm.) peoples....I could have done without Jar's minstrelry. I mean its good that a culture can be "different" and still be functional and well adapted and advanced...
I thought there was a mysticism underload personally, we're no deeper into Jedi Universe view that 15 years ago...I also thought giving so many props to Anakin takes a step back from insulting a big part of the audience (the 5 - 12 yr olds)
I agree that medichloridians are a simple, let downish, answer to a complex, seemingly unanswerable question. However, there are two important thoughts to keep in mind... First is the audience. Lucas, just like you and I, would like to make as much money as possible for doing the least amount of work. Simple answers to complex questions make it possible for a ten year old kid to understand what the hell is going on in the movie. 100,000 ten year old kids paying $6-$8 for a ticket is good money. If you were George, would you sacrifice audience size (cash money) for the sake of keeping all the die hard Star Wars super fans totally happy? Probably not... Second, the refernces to the systematic genocide of the jedi in later novels. The Empire used medichloridian measuring machines to screen every individual on the planets they occupied during the Clone Wars. If you could manipulate the force, they would kill you. Measuring the Force was a part of the story line long before the Phantom Manace was even becoming a reality... We're talking 9-10 years ago. Just check out the sequel trilogy (episodes 7,8 and 9). The Clone Wars and jedi genocide is described in detail throughout these and many of the other Star Wars novels.
Anyways, these movies aren't about 100% stick to the laws of physics and get everything in the plot to fit together 100%! Have some fricking fun! Sit back and enjoy yourself. Many of you called in sick to watch this... How could you let anything that convinced 2.4 million working Americans to skip work be a bad thing?
Being gay myself, I have to say that I don't talk even remotely like Jar Jar (you could at least spell it right, twit)...now, I'll agree with you on C3PO tho...him and R2 are a funny, fabulous gay couple.
Ich suche die Leidenschaft, die keine Leiden schafft.
I found that the biggest problem with this movie, was that Lucas seemed to be out to "prove" something. He seemed to want to prove that he COULD write comedy, and he COULD write touching scenes, and by attempting this, he proved without a shadow of a doubt that he could not. He wanted to prove it so bad, that he tried shoving it down our throats.. The "funny"/"touching" scenes were the least subtle in the movie.. Hell, the light sabre battles were more subtle. George Lucas is an incredible director of action sci/fi films.. And that's it. The sooner he realizes his limitations, the better for all of the fans who waited years for the prequels to come out.
Don't get me wrong, I was entertained by the movie, but there were some really glaring problems with it. Let's just hope the next two movies have no further attempts at comedy or pathos, and instead focus on Lucas' strong point.. Action and the "cool factor".
>Paradigm Shift
Paradigm Shift
Ok, so its pretty much accepted that JarJar was a freeking annoying character. In fact, he wasn't even necessary to the rest of the movie after the Jedi's met the leader of JarJar's race for the first time. Another problem was that Darth Maul wasn't really developed well. We _know_ he's bad, he looks bad, he wears all black, etc etc. But, how about if they had made him do something that would show his evilness?
Scene on Tatooine goes like this:
- Maul gets on his Space Harley and rides into town looking for evidence of the Queen.
- You see him moving through the crowds. Most aliens give him a wide berth. One gets in his way. This is JarJar. JJ says something stupid. A flash of red light and JarJar's hideously dismembered body is lying in a puddle of steaming green blood.
- Qui-Gon comes upon the scene shortly after, just seeing the back of Maul's cape disappear into the onlooking crowd. Realizes there is trouble, and hastens everyone's return to the ship.
So, this would have spared all of us the suffering of JarJar's unnecessary presence in the rest of the film, and serves to make out Darth Maul as a serious Bad Guy.
BTW - Anyone else notice how similar in design the Queen's starship was to the SR-71 Blackbird spyplane?
I was eleven years old when I first saw SW. It changed my mind, it was... it was... ok, for a ten years' old child, I couldn't find words to explain it...
:'-) Ewoks included :-))
When I watch it now, I found it flawed and badly interpreted (Mark Hamil et al), but the whole saga still rocks, and reminds me of the old times...
Have you asked your eleven years old neighbour if he liked The Phantom Menace?
Episode III should have the best ending.
The reason Darth Vader wears his suit is cause he
can't live without it. It keeps him alive. His lungs are crushed and his body is badly injured (no right hand, more metal than man).
This happened to him during lightsaber fight with Obi-wan.
So in episode III Obi-wan and Darth should have the fight to end all fights where darth gets almost killed.
Who besides me thinks it's rather obvious that Darth Sidious is Senator/Chancellor Palpatine? Or is it just an amazing similarity? I will add as evidence that so far as I saw, no one was credited for Darth Sidious or his voice. Furthermore, their appearance is astonishingly alike, and Emperor Palpatine is a Sith Master in ANH. (Or am I just stating the bleeding obvious?)
ufdraco
You are right one my man! you said it! Also it WAS MUCH better the second time...
Alderweis
"I Am A Marxist of the Groucho sort"
Jah Jah really is Annoying but he's also kinda cool to watch after a while ...
...
.. did u see any female in jah jah's kind ?
:)
his screamy little voice is the only gay feature...C3PO was gay but a robot
i mean
a GOOD MOVIE even so
http://mrhide.pinnesota.org