The Ghost Of The Phantom Menace

Yeah that’s a bit of complicated title, but I promise it will all make sense. First let me start by staying, unequivocally and without reservation, the old Star Wars trilogies were, are and will continue to be better than the Prequel Star Wars trilogies. I don’t want someone to assume that I am an apologist for George Lucas, or that I grew up on the Prequel trilogies and thus hold them in higher regard (we’ll get to that.) That said, I just have to finally admit it – Phantom Menace, or Episode 1, just isn’t all that horrible.

The concept of this has always been bubbling in my mind, I would say things like “Well it SUCKS… BUT…” and then follow it with some sort of reason why I liked podracing, or Darth Maul or even young Anakin. However it wasn’t until seeing the recent Mad Max movie that I really thought about the Phantom Menace and it’s lack of horribleness despite constant derision in the Star Wars fandom.

The new Mad Max: Fury Road movie is the Phantom Menace of the Mad Max franchise, despite the negative connotations that brings with it. The new movie is made decades after the last one, with a new cast, new story lines that are barely related to the first, and with a slick visual look that is similar but much newer than the old movies from the 1970s and 1980s. Both movies opened to big box offices and decent praise, although one could say that Fury Road is fairing better with critics than Phantom Menace, but they also exist in two entirely different universes in that regard; the differences between in 1999 and 2015’s movie critics (both in scope and nature) are enough for it’s own article. Mad Max, the original series, was held in similar regard to Star Wars, the original series, albeit in a much smaller scale. Both sets of movies were treated as theater fluff, popular but not serious films. Star Wars would go on to sell billions and billions of dollars of merchandise, and Mad Max would remain a cult favorite for years.

Still, ask a Max Max from who grew up or just regarded those movies highly all those years ago about the new movie and you’ll likely get a similar response to Star Wars fans discussing the Phantom Menace – and the general theme of that conversation will be that the new film just isn’t as good. This will be regardless of if they’ve seen the movie or not, the fact is you just can’t beat the original. Of course nostalgia is what plays a part here; the old movies remind those that viewed them of the time that they viewed them. For many middle aged men and women that was their teenage years, the time in our lives we usually regard as happiest or at least the most simple. Entire songs, movies and T.V. Shows have been written regarding this phenomenon. There is no escaping it.

So then why is Phantom Menace regarded so poorly still? Surely some people saw it when they were teenagers, if the nostalgia factor is that powerful, wouldn’t it mean that a certain segment would hold this movie in high regard in the same way that most things from the 1990’s are in 2015? The answer is twofold. First you have an age factor to consider. The children of the 1990s who grew up watching Rugrats and Sailor Moon are just now at an age where they have spending power, and are using that money to buy their nostalgia, the same way children of the 1980s spent money last decade on Rubik’s Cubes, and Cabbage Patch Kids, again. It’s just part of growing up. Phantom Menace was released in 1999 however, so while the inevitable resurgence is coming, it’s just not year yet.

However, it won’t be as strong as the earlier ones, and the reason is the second part to the answer; The Internet. Ah yes, the good ol’ blame of everything else has to play a part here. The generation who spent their teenage years in the theaters with Phantom Menace are also the first teenage generation to share everything online, and that certainly aided in it’s backlash – lots of dissenting voices that were easier to hear likely influenced the movie’s shelf life, and while none of it’s seemed to hurt it’s ticket or home video sales, the movie and it’s characters have certainly became the fodder of many message boards.

So where does that leave it now, over 15 years later? As we wait for the new movie later this year it’s hard not to notice the similar frenzy and hype over any piece of information or snippet of footage that we had over Phantom Menace. (Only, Phantom Menace also came with Episode 2 and 3 looming over head, whereas Star Wars has at least 5 movies that have been discussed at some point!)

Phantom Menace did exactly what it set out to do; it told the story of Anakin from the beginning. It stripped the most evil character in the world and told a story from when he was a young child. It wasn’t something that was commonly done in 1999 and it’s hard not to realize it’s influence on later films. Maybe this storyline was not handled the right way, but it’s easy to see where it was headed; yes he was a bad guy but now we know his motivation – much like the Maleficent film from last year.

It also told us more about who Obi Wan Kenobi was as Jedi, and while this might be dismissed as fluff when watched separate, when seen as a whole it actually lends a bit more weight to the discussion they would later have on Dagobah; Yoda realization that Luke is too old and stubborn to train just means more when you know he said the same regarding Anakin, and he was painfully right. If this film is skipped, the way many online suggest watching Star Wars, you miss the pure innocence and talent Anakin had as a child and if your first impression of him is of a whiny teenager in Attack of the Clones you might wonder why the Jedi temple held him in such high regard.

It also described to us the prophecy, still shrouded in mystery, that is referenced in the original trilogy. I think it’s smart that even in the beginning of the story the entire Jedi Order was not sold on the idea of there being a prophecy, but it was Obi Wan’s belief in this child that lead them down this dark path. Of course the debate on whether or not Anakin did bring balance to the force or not is an ongoing one; at the end of Episode 3 there were only two Sith and two Jedi, which technically is balance. It also brought us Darth Maul, a character that, despite being 20 minutes of footage in a single movie, still has people excited. His double sided lightsaber was just as derided as the the “exhaust port” T-style lightsaber that we see Kylo Ren using in the new trailer. Yet now not only has this double lightsaber been accepted by the community, you can buy replicas and design your own versions at Disney Parks.

Another plus, believe it or not. Podracing. Surely the podracing scenes are geared towards younger viewers (more on that in a bit) but they also show Anakin as being expertly skilled as a pilot, something talked about in the Original Trilogy, but not really seen outside of this scene and a scene at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith. I realize this was probably due to the retconned nature of Luke’s father not being written as a Jedi (but rather a victim of Darth Vader) in the original Star Wars, but it does add some needed action and shows Anakin being “special.”

There are surely negatives, Jar Jar Binks is one of them, long drawn out senate scenes are another, racially infused accents, etc.. but there are other smaller positives too. The droid armies are fun to watch, even with all their CGI-ness, and the concept of two rival races that need each other is interesting (even if not well explained.) Still, the movie holds up exceptionally well, has fun and lighthearted moments and lots of sequences that are geared towards a younger generation. While that might be silly and fluff, was probably quite strategic on the makers of the movie. As pointed out earlier here we are, nearly 15 years later and the children who saw and remembered the film are just getting to be the age where they are spending money; and here comes a ton of films for them to spend it on.

That is why Episode 7 has potential to be the biggest movie of our lifetime. Not only will it have Episode 1 like implications; where it’s bringing nostalgia from many childhoods back to the silver screen, it will ALSO serve like a version of MARVEL’s ‘Iron Man’ movie; opening a new series of movies, all interconnected with a big tie in every few years. To put that into perspective, Iron Man grossed 585 million and Phantom Menace pulled in 474 million (both worldwide totals.) If Force Awakens is as good as early trailers indicate, this Perfect Storm of nostalgia and rebirth could pull AVATAR like receipts (somewhere, there’s a bookie that will take that bet I imagine.) When you also consider that we’re dealing with master merchandisers at Disney we’re looking at a possible Billion dollar movie.

So, fellow movie fans, be gently on Episode 1, but get excited for Episode 7 – we’re about to be taken on a film ride that is bound to be amazing, and if we’re lucky, will be as exciting as the Boonta Eve Classic Podrace.

What do you think?