The Phantom Menace At 25

 25 years ago today, The Phantom Menace debuted in theaters all over the US, and the world. It had been 16 years since Return of the Jedi came in theaters, and since I was much older, this release would stick more with me since I could experience everything: new books, comics, action figures, clothes and other promotions. At the time of the release, I was a full time college student, and worked 2 jobs. So how did I manage to not only get time off work, but navigate the most anticipated movie premiere of my life up to that point?! Well, time to take a journey back to 1999, and the poster that is still my favorite from TPM: 

The planning had started for me at the end of April. I knew finals week was the premiere, but it wouldn't be until early May when the schedule was released as to when your finals would be. And it wasn't released on the school website back then, but instead the school paper. But right away, I had a problem. I had already bought a ticket for a 10 AM showing on May 19th, and I had an exam scheduled at the time. Fortunately, the professor liked me (why she did still baffles me, LOL!) but she allowed me to take my exam Monday at 1 PM. One class, American History, I could skip because I had an A and the professor told me it would be a waste of time on the final. That left my 2 toughest subjects: math and statistics to take Monday at 8 and 10:30 along with general business that afternoon. The only exam I did bad in was statistics, got a D in that class, but my A, B & C was good enough to still be in good standing but had to take statistics over again. But, I had a clear path to Wednesday, and my Mon-Fri night shift job gave me off because I had exam week off which was the policy of the company I worked for who makes tasty snack foods, like a certain creme filled cookie that rules the cookie aisle. Step 1 accomplished! 

Now I did see it twice on opening day. I had the 10 AM showing, but my Mom had tickets for a 1 PM showing, so my younger brothers could see it. So largely, my experience that day was seeing it with them, since they were at the exact age the movie was intended for. Needless to say, they were both engulfed into the movie, just like I was when seeing Return of the Jedi, but they were a couple years older than me when I first saw Jedi, but just about my age when we saw the Special Editions together in 1997. My next to youngest brother brother had Yoda's quote to Anakin memorized, and put the same emphasis on the word "suffering". He even said it out loud, much to my annoyance, LOL! My youngest brother loved and still loves Jar Jar Binks to this day, which is why I'll never speak harshly of Jar Jar. While they haven't become big collecting fans, they enjoyed the movie, and would see the next 2, although my next to youngest brother would later see Revenge of the Sith with me opening day. 

To me, the movie holds up very well. A big advantage for George Lucas was he already had the story told years ago. The OT was made up as it went along, but having 3 years between movies helped him get the story right. But the true star wasn't Nick Gillard's incredibly choreographed lightsaber duels, but John Williams incredible score! Since 1999, I've made it a point to buy all Star Wars movie soundtracks, and yes, in the Disney era, his music is the best part of those movies. Duel of the Fates is popular with fans today, and some consider it his best theme over the Imperial March. Personally, both are great tracks and each deserves to be on top. 

The actors in this were a little more well known overall. Back in 1977, only Alec Guiness and Peter Cushing were well known names. Ewan McGregor was well known for making independent movies, but this would launch his career to higher places. Liam Neeson was not well known to me, only for playing Darkman (under-rated movie by the way, check it out!) but would take the role of Qui-Gon and establish himself as a mentor in movies like Batman Begins, and major action movies like Taken. Natalie Portman had become one of the most beautiful actresses in Hollywood, and she's also a box office draw. Sadly, Jake Lloyd had to battle many personal issues in his life, I hope and pray the best for him in life. Ahmed Best also had to deal with tough times. I believe more of the negative stuff was influenced more by media than the fans, as Howard Stern had publicly said on his radio show that TPM wasn't any good. But it was nice to see Mr Best back as Jedi Master Kelleran Beq, aka the Jedi who rescued Grogu from Order 66. And what I didn't know at the time was Keira Knightly playing Padme's decoy. You can see her at the very end of the movie standing by Obi-Wan. When I saw the Pirates of the Caribbean trailer, I thought it was Natalie Portman, but no, it was Keira. While Pirates launched Keira's career, she got it started being in The Phantom Menace. 

It's hard to believe 25 years have passed! But now the Prequel Era joins the OT in it's older age. A lot of new collectors are Prequel fans, and some prefer it over the OT, which is fine. One thing: I had hoped to have my VC Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan and Maul in a duel pose, but house work didn't give me enough time to dig them out, so I settled on the movie posters. But like a fine wine, or a very good whiskey, The Phantom Menace is still fun to watch, and kicks off Star Wars Month as I watch it at least once a year on May 1st, and whenever it's on TV, barring another movie or  (American football, not Soccer to my readers outside the US) football game. It serves as the 1st official Star Wars movie, and does what it intends to do: taking your first steps into a much larger world.