Hello everyone! 🙂
Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!
For my birthday last Wednesday, I went to see a re-release of ‘Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace’ at Showcase Cinema in Nantgarw. It’s amazing to think that it’s been 25 years since the release of that movie in 1999 and it’s amazing it’s been able to get a limited re-release at cinemas. 🙂
There’s no denying that ‘The Phantom Menace’ has been rather maligned over the years concerning its reputation as the first of the ‘Star Wars’ prequel film trilogy by writer/director George Lucas. It’s a film that’s been made fun of and is criticised regarding the development of its story and characters.
But then, we’ve had more ‘Star Wars’ films and shows made over the years since then. Some consider the sequel trilogy to be soulless than the prequel trilogy, and there’s no denying whilst some Disney+ shows are great, they do tend to depend on familiar themes and aspects in the ‘Star Wars’ franchise.
So, the question then becomes, is ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’ still a despised entry in the film series compared to its predecessors and successors? Well, it depends on how you look at it. I personally have a soft spot for ‘The Phantom Menace’ and can still gain some enjoyment in seeing it.
Watching it on the big screen has given me a chance to appreciate ‘The Phantom Menace’ in a different way. It must have been pretty exciting to see a film like ‘The Phantom Menace’ on the big screen with all its action set-pieces, including the pod race and the lightsaber duel at the film’s end.
Also, seeing the film again has given me a chance to reflect on what could have done differently, particularly in the set-up of characters revolving around Anakin Skywalker’s journey to becoming Darth Vader. The main problem with the film is it’s more plot-focused rather than character-focused.
It would have been very interesting to start the film from Anakin’s point-of-view when he’s living on Tatooine before we get to Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi meeting up with the Trade Federation. Also, the set-up of the romance between Anakin and Padmé could have been handled very differently.
For one thing, Padmé doesn’t need to be the Queen of Naboo in the film. She could simply be one of the Queen’s handmaidens and the Queen could have simply been played by Keira Knightley. I appreciate the bodyguard aspect of Padmé protecting herself as Queen by adopting a different alias.
But in terms of how it develops the romance between her and Anakin in future instalments of the prequel trilogy, it makes it more complicated than it needs to be. The development of Anakin’s parentage and it’s implied he had no father is something that didn’t need to be included in the film.
The usage of Jar Jar Binks as a comic relief character is also jarring, especially when he could have been a useful ally in Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s plight to protect the Queen of Naboo from the Trade Federation. Him overcoming his clumsiness and being less annoying could’ve made his character better.
I know I’m identifying a lot of flaws in the film, but ‘The Phantom Menace’ is a film that could have been potentially good if more focus was put into the characters as well as the story and the word-building. The film on its own is an impressive spectacle, particularly in how it makes use of its CGI. 🙂
I can’t deny ‘The Phantom Menace’ requires a lot of improvement, but I enjoyed revisiting it on the big screen recently. It holds a special place in my heart, and it was captivating to check out considering I’ve seen it plenty of times on DVD and on Disney+, and I’m glad I’ve seen on the big screen at last.
Once the film finished, there was a preview for the upcoming ‘Star Wars’ series on Disney+ called ‘The Acolyte’, which I enjoyed seeing. I’ve still got the ‘Andor’ series to check out on Disney+, which I hope to do soon. 😀
Thanks for reading!
Bye for now!
Tim 🙂
Bradley's Basement 
Of all the Star Wars fans who had their shares of disappointments for A Phantom Menace, I was certainly one of them. Even if Natalie Portman as Queen Amidala is still a fond memory. I was quite outraged to learn about how Jake Lloyd (as child Anakin) and Ahmed Best (Jar Jar Binks) were so cruelly chastised by fans to the point where Ahmed became suicidally depressed. For personal reasons that really broke my heart. As a lesson on how recapturing the magic of an original sci-fi classic for a later incarnation could sometimes not work as well as anticipated, the Star Wars universe has often faced this problem. But it’s occasionally still worth taking chances on as Rogue One, some specific TV continuations, and the award winning short film by SaberComp called Premonition have undeniably proven. Thank you, Tim, for your review. https://youtu.be/K52fEK1XZNo
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on ‘The Phantom Menace’. For me, as a film, there is merit to be found as well as areas of improvement. I certainly feel Natalie Portman is a highlight in the prequel films and I don’t blame Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best for their performances in ‘The Phantom Menace’ as they did their best with the material and direction they were given. I would like to rewrite the script and improve some of the dialogue to establish what could have been better and how the prequel trilogy could have gone in a different direction. Thanks for sharing the ‘Star Wars: Premonition’ film with me. I enjoyed checking it out.
Tim 🙂
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You’re very welcome, Tim. What impressed me most about Premonition was how a short Star Wars film can be appealing to fans even without the big scope that we’d expect from a feature length Star Wars film. That’s a wonderful affirmation of how special the fan film sci-fi universe can be. With all the fan film projects, I’ve seen in this century for Star Wars, Star Trek, Twilight Zone and certainly for Dr. Who, I’m always happy to mention them. In 2015, there was a Dr. Who spinoff fan film series called The Soldier Stories. It only lasted two episodes (still available thankfully on YouTube) because of some legal trouble with the official powers or so I heard. I really enjoyed it and I’d like to read your reviews on it sometime as well as your review on Star Wars: Premonition.
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about fan films. Usually, I don’t review fan film projects as I tend to focus on official productions in ‘Doctor Who’, ‘Star Wars’, ‘Star Trek’ and such. I did review a fan film version of ‘Mission to the Unknown’ once. Hopefully, I’ll get to review ‘Beseiged’ and the 2012 ‘Power of the Daleks’ some day.
Many thanks and Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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Here’s another award winning Star Wars film worth checking out. It’s called Star Wars Origins and it was rated epic masterpiece by Mark Hamill himself. https://youtu.be/SVSox0qApO4?si=NU5Go-DYsFmJ-bd6
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Hi scifimike,
Thanks for sharing the YouTube link. Interesting mix of ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’. Very pleased Mark Hamill rated the film highly.
Best wishes,
Tim 🙂
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You’re welcome. It’s indeed another example of how fan films may succeed where official franchises may not.
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Hi scifimike,
Yes, it’s interesting to see that trend where certain audiences seem to enjoy the fan productions more than the official productions. I feel like that about ‘Star Trek Continues’, preferring that over the recent ‘Star Trek’ TV shows and movies we’ve recieved.
Many thanks,
Tim 🙂
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