The kid who played Anakin here actually went to the same high school I did. It's not really something I'm proud of, not because I thought his performance was awful(I mean we're talking about a child actor having to work with Lucas's dialogue, and adults can't really make that work half the time) but because he was treated like crap simply because people hated the prequels so much.
When I first watched this movie, I was a child. I was bored to death by the pod race. Jar Jar didn't put a smile on my face. But the last 10 minutes, it was the best time of my life on that day. At the end of the movie, I asked my dad, "Where is Darth Vader?"
hunterkiller1440 I was already older and jaded when I saw it. The pod race just seemed like an obvious attempt to cram a video game in. Just like so many other parts.
what george lucas fails to realize is that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness but instead a sign of strength because you're accepting that you aren't perfect
You can try to do the job yourself, a lot of movies were written that way, but when you had experience in the past with people telling you to set boundaries and cut out certain elements, don't you think it's a better idea to learn from those experiences instead of just doing it anyway because no-one can stop you?
As for Luke and Anakin being "too old" to teach, I think it's like the famous Aristotle quote "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man” - referring to the fact that there's an early developmental period where a person can be "molded" far more effectively. Our temperament and character are basically set by about age 7. Hence Anakin is already "too old" at age 10.
5:35 You could also just leave jarjar to the most remote part of that desert. That way you would have left an open door for a different kind of sequal, in which jarjar finally reaches civilization after decades of trying to get out of that desert, with just a single emotion left in him, blind hatred towards the jedi. I think a great title for a movie like that would be something like: star wars II: the wrath of binks.
Eh, the midi-chlorian thing didn't bother me much. It kind of explains why not everyone in the galaxy is using the Jedi mind trick to get out of paying their tab at the bar, getting a car for free, robbing the bank, etc. Sure, you need training to use the Force, but if the Jedi have been around for millennia and have written thousands of texts and Holocrons, I imagine there is a Star Wars equivalent to Scribd and Google where anyone can get access to these training manuals. If all it took to use the Force was training, I imagine that much more people in the original Star Wars trilogy would know how to use the Force. To me, it's like real life: many people are born with talent, but they still need training to hone and focus their skills to a higher level. It doesn't matter how hard I train, I just don't have the talent or physique to be a NBA player. To me, midi-chlorians are analogous to talent at birth, and the training (a la Luke and Yoda in "Empire") allows that talent to be maximized and used efficiently. Obi-Wan didn't need to test Luke for midi-chlorians because he knew he inherited them from Anakin already.
I always had the impression that a person's connection to the Force was based on faith and discipline rather than genetics plus it appeared that the Force was semi sentient and "choose" people as well. I mean Han never had any force prowess, but that was because he didn't believe in the Force. He separated himself from it therefore he never felt it. Leia was open to the force hence why she and Luke had a mental connection plus they were siblings. To me, sometimes you don't need to explain everything. You don't need to explain how magic works, you don't need to show the Alien, you don't have to unmask that masked villain. Some things are better left unexplained and mysterious.
+Daric Soldar The Midichlorians are not like being born with talent. Lucas got the idea of Midichlorians from mitochondria. The Midichlorians are a conduit to the Force, nothing more. So it was entirely unnecessary to the story to go into an explanation of it. It was simply a plot device to explain why they knew Anakin was the Chosen One. There were other options but Lucas couldn't come up with one so he dreamed up this bunch of crap. It effectively took away from the mystery of the Force and made it about numbers. It also ruined Yoda's impassioned explanation of the Force from ESB. The whole Mididchlorian nonsense was so hated by fans and so unappealing to general audiences that it was never mentioned again in the saga. JJ Abrams detests it so much that he swore off ever discussing Midichlorians in his films.
+ProJatior Well, my friend, you're one of the very few that is OK with it. Do you really feel that we needed a scientific explanation as to why we can use the Force?
We didn't but I understand why George thought it was okay. Not everyone can be a Jedi and they needed to seem like a treat to others for the people to cheer off the idea of the Jedi being killed in the 3rd movie. Having beings that powerful being able to do what they do is a scary idea for the non force sensitive.
What I view as the main problem with all the Prequels is that Lucas had too much control. His choices were never questioned, he took first drafts of scripts and ran with them, and of course the gross overuse of CGI. Just watch the developer stuff. He sits on his ass with coffee as they shoot on a green screen. Part of the success of the first Star Wars was the actors and story. I have nothing against sir Ewan McGregor. Or Hayden Christianson. But they didn't have the charisma of Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford. The lightsaber duels were very well shot, but they couldn't hold the movie up honestly.
Ewan MacGregor is a very good actor, just horribly miscast here. I would even say he is a better actor than Hamill at least in range (compare Trainspotting to this!). Samuel L Jackson at least got to play himself a bit, MacGregor had to pretend to be an Englishman... I think he mainly did this for the money. Portman is also a good actress, somewhat wasted on this trilogy. Hayden Christiansen on the other hand...
The main issue I personally have with Episode One is the lack of Darth Maul. Would love for some special edition with added scenes of Maul, showing him training, scenes of him fighting his way through Naboo soldiers showing him making his way towards the two Jedi leading towards the scene with the door opening towards the hanging with the fight with two Jedi. Perhaps do a few alterations to some scenes too like what they did with the original trilogy.
+II DIRECTx II I also personally liked Maul but they only gave him like 2 minutes, 5 minutes and a 20 minute fight. Same goes to Boba Fett. He is awesome but there wasn't much of him in scenes
DAY-V Entertainment™ Hope Disney makes a prequel movie set before Episode One based on Darth Maul. This could build on his character and even have the later half of the movie running along side Episode One showing his side of the story. Maul deserves his own movie
+II DIRECTx II I agree maul was such a cool character. Would have been better if he killed Qui Gon and managed to escape. Thus obi wan would have to train and develop blah blah and kill him in episode 2
Makes no sense of course, but like many prequels or sequels to things that were not meant to have prequels or sequels, it has to rewrite the storyline to make room for more merchandise. Also, to be honest, you couldn't have the fight scene with Yoda at the time, I think. Even the one against Christopher Lee wasn't perfect, I mean, not Gollum or Hulk level.
To be fair, the taxation of trade routes often is a big issue for conflict. One of the big reasons for the Europeans attempts to explore was for a alternative trade route to Asia and India in particular to get around the silk road and various Muslim powers. Though perhaps it wouldnt exactly be the best way to open up a action film and probably could of been done better.
Okay so. This is probably my favorite star wars movie. And before you stone me alive, I was born in that weird spot, when Star wars was already outside of theatres. And it looked too old for my young self to enjoy properly on VHS. This movie actually was kinda amazing for me. And I don't really understand a lot of your crutches with this movie. The Jedi superspeed - I actually thought it made a perfect sense. I actually think I played Star Wars Jedi outcast before I'v seen this movie. And if anything, I considered it nice shout out to the game. (Which made sense in my young mind). Ship shield - Meh. I don't know much about shield generators of fictional space ships. Who knows, maybe they need to be at outside of the ship. There probably is some kind of Star wars Bible, which has all the answers. Jar Jar - Yeah absolutely horrible character. I hated him as a kid. Anakin genius - I don't know. It made sense to me that there could be a person who is considered briliant by his peers. And the "scientific" explanation behind force seemed really nice. At least there was some kind of explanation instead of the generic force bullshit (Which to me seemed cheap). And the idea, that somebody could have a genetic predispozition to be better than others, again, didn't sound to me as bad. Why do we need to discriminate against people with talent :D. If anthing, it shows how powerfull the Vader was even at young age. Lightsaber fight - I loved the fight, I really did. There seemed nothing wrong with that to me. Again, when the Qui gon Jin kneeled to prepare for the fight between roce fields. Again, seemed like a nice touch to the game, where you can regenerate health by kneeleing in the meditative state. Overal I liked the movie. But I was never a fan of star wars in the first place.
So because I don't like the horrendous acting and poor writing, that suddenly means I'm not a true Star Wars fan? Look I don't hate everything about the prequels, I actually rather enjoy episode 3 quite a lot. But that does not mean I will just blindly love everything and ignore the flaws. By doing that you are not being a fan, you are simply being ignorant. People hate the romance because it fucking sucked. There was no chemistry between Anakin and Padme, and their scenes together just felt awkward. Also Anakin was just written incredibly poorly, throughout most of Episode 2 he just whines and bitches about how he isn't allowed to become a full Jedi. Now like I said, I don't hate everything about the prequels, but being a Star Wars doesn't mean I'm going to ignore the flaws. If you like these films then fine, enjoy them all you want. But don't act like the people who hate the prequels are full of shit, just because they like me hate the awful acting and poor writing.
***** Correction: _Not_ being blinded by branding and sparkly-cat-toy visuals and being able to acknowledge flaws is 'true' devotion. Accepting something _in spite_ of said flaws is the identifying attribute of love.
Gladix Funny thing is, the new explanation of midichlorians (?? spelling) and the old explanation from the original series doesn't necessarily contradict itself. Just like with magnetic or electric fields, every "material" has a constant which defines how "good" the field flows through the material. With this in mind, the midichlorians could be the Star Wars pendant to the relative permittivity.
One thing that had always confused me about the Star Wars prequels - Padme's age. I'd always thought that her relationship with Anakin was kind of weird, seeing as I'd judged her to be at least 17 in The Phantom Menace, making her like 27 in Attack of the Clones, while Anakin was only 19. Then I found out that in The Phantom Menace, Padme is supposed to be 14 years old. Well, she doesn't look like any 14 year old I've ever seen!
I believe Natalie Portman was approximately 16 or 17 when they did Episode I, so your judgment was accurate. How did they expect anyone to believe that she was only 14?
Spar10Leonidas There's also the incredibly confusing fact that, despite being a democratically elected official (at 14....yeah,) she's called a queen, and is treated like a monarch, with fancy dresses, a palace, handmaidens etc.
PassTheMarmalade1957 That was something else that I wanted to mention. What kind of civilization would elect a 14-year old girl to be queen? Seems like Lucas was too damn adamant about Anakin being a pre-teen kid when we meet him and it left a plot hole about the difference in their ages and the only way to explain it was to make her an unbelievably young queen.
Spar10Leonidas There are many civilizations in history that have had kings when they were really young. They don't get elected either, they are born into it.
This was such a great video and I totally agree with you about the whole midiclorean thing or whatever its called. Obi Wan already explained what the force was in a much more decent, Yen Yang type way. It doesn't make sense that the force is based on how you were born or how important your DNA is.
I know this is old as f but the force itself isn’t based on your DNA. The force is the force same as always. The midichlorians only says something about a person’s innate ability or connection to the force. It’s just a way to explain how someone can be “strong with the force” while others aren’t and why some ppl can use the force and others can’t.
I agree that thanking R2D2 and giving it a reward was really stupid. In the movie, these droids were disposable. I don't thank my car or my computer for doing what they are supposed to do.
Personally I'm getting tired of how people say the opening crawl of TPM is boring. No, politics is NOT the most exciting thing in the world but big things tend to have small beginnings. This extends to the senate scenes as it shows how Palpy manipulated Padme into electing him chancellor and his machinations that ultimately turned the Republic into the Empire. For kids it's boring yes but Star Wars has something to appeal to everyone.
I agree with what you said. When I first saw Phantom Menace. Being a child at the time I found it very boring with only the first fifteen minutes, the podrace, and the last hour exciting but now I appreciate the movie a lot more, the movie has really grown on me over the years.
+YS Kim (Shiny Breeder) Agreed. Politics can definitely be interesting - House of Cards is one of my favorite shows - but Phantom Menace has very simple politics presented in a very boring manner. And when it comes to the opening crawl, it's Writing 101 to start your story off at the most exciting moment. That crawl does *not* hook the audience.
I've always tried to view midi-chlorians as an indicator rather than a source; that midi-chlorian count correlates with Force sensitivity rather than causes it.
Read Darth Plaguis, while in the end, most people will act like FanboyFlicks about the movie (Witch I do understand) the Darth PLaguis book make better use of the midi-chlorian by just having be translators of the force. While I would like them not to be around at least James Luceno didn't keep them the way they were
About the bad lip syncing, I just assumed they originally planned to have them speaking an alien language which would be subtitled, kind of like when Anakin talks to Sebulba later, but they decided to change it at the last minute after they had already filmed it and made them speak English so the audience wouldn't have to read subtitles for the more important exposition.
+Dr Shaym According to some behind-the-scenes things I've read, this appears to have been exactly what happened. Lucas also changed the accents of the Neimoidians late in production, after already hiring an actor specifically to do a *different* accent. So they ended up with a white actor being forced to fake a Thai accent he had no idea how to do, resulting in this generically racist Asian voice.
Not true. If you watch the documentary "The Beginning" you'll see that the animatronic face rigs required the actors to speak with "ex-ag-er-ate-ed di-a-logue" in order for the mouth to work correctly.
I think using English rather than an alien language was a vanilla choice for allowing children to understand without asking their parents to explain during the movie. Speaking in English sacrificed a lot of interest and mystique around the aliens. Think of all the amazing alien dialogue with subtitles in the originals, it gave the viewer a real sense of this vast, interesting and complex world. For me that was one of the charms of Star Wars, feeling like you were visiting a galaxy far far away.
Hey Mark, just wanted to say that I recently ran into your channel a few days ago and I can't think of many other people on YT that have made me laugh this hard after a hard day at work/school. Keep doing what you're doing man, love your vids and damn, you of all people deserve so many more subs! Looking forward to your next vid man :)
I think you got it wrong FanboyFlicks. The Midichlorian count is not a measure of how powerful you are, but a measure of the force potential you have. With training you can reach that full power. My favorite duel was The Empire Strikes Back duel too! What many people who watch ESB fail to realize is Vader was holding back and toying with Luke. They say, "Why doesn't Vader just take him out!" So anyways the duel in ESB had emotion and passion in it. While I do like the prequel duels, the Originals felt more like real sword fights in the real world. Thank you for an honest review that just doesn't bash the Prequel Trilogy in an angry way. As flawed as they were I still enjoyed TPM, AOTC, and ROTS.TPM was my personal favorite of the Prequel Trilogy.
The Phantom Menace had at least two things going for it... shooting on location and physical, tangible sets made by human hands. They went back to Tunisia to shoot all the Tattooine scenes and somewhere for Naboo. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith had the least amount of locations and sets of any of the current star wars movies. Most of what happened in episodes II & III were filmed in front of blue/green screens and lazily put generic, cartoony cgi there in post-production. I know shooting on location and sets can be a pain and can get expensive but it just looks better to have physical things in front of a camera to work with. Hell the location shoots of the Lord of the Rings were extremely important and they knew to use cgi sparingly. It worked out better for it in the end.
One complaint I don't get is how people "didn't get" the plot. Seriously? I mean, I get why these movies are so disliked (I don't hate them, btw), but the plot was straight-forward and easy to understand. What confused you people so? Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean you can't understand it. Maybe my brain filled in the blanks? Am I remembering things wrong and forcing them to make sense? I don't want to insult anyone. This is a legit head-scratcher for me.
Breen Machine Thanks for the tip. I actually saw that. I get their complaints, but I still don't think the plot is confusing. Like it or not, that's anyone's opinion, but confusing? I seriously don't get that from the movie. But people's mileage varies. Maybe I was just filling plot holes in my head.
Um....I believe the Jedi said Anakin was too old because at age 10, he had already developed a deep bond with his family members, in this case his mom. Jedi aren't supposed to have personal attachments like that, because the fear of losing them could lead to the dark side. That's why they didn't want to train him, and as it turns out, they were right.
Good video. I especially praise your notion about the lightsaber fights. I always felt like the fights lacked their... how should I say it... soul. Maul had way too little screen time prior to this fight and thus he wasn't established as a real threat or as a character I should feel invested in. He indeed was just some random Sith... and just when he starts becoming something more, they kill him off. It would have been far more exciting and interesting if they had been butting heads more thorough the movie, thus raising their commitment/involvement. Instead, they just throw Maul in there to be the "final boss" and put all their effort in the fancy choreography but that's not enough for it to feel like a compelling showdown. IMO, they should have scrapped goddamn Jar Jar and replaced his screentime with Maul's antics.
A little thing about shield generators in Star Wars: Every shield generator that gets crashed EXCEPT the ones in the federation gunships, the first death star (which didn't seem to have one at all) and the queens ship - as far as I remember - were outside. Hoth? A giant generator-BUILDING almost so hard to miss that it's insulting to the invaders. Republican gunships / imperial gunships / star destroyers? Giant balls right above the ships bridge-area (don't get me to start on THOSE ones). The technical lore in star wars is either "you can't produce stable fields of energy without an emitter attached to them" or not existent. Of course there is no deeper relation between darth maul and qui gon. The jedi believed the sith to be extinct at that point. Pretty naive, don't you think? So darth maul pretty much attacks out of nowhere like the mysterious berserk going hunting dog that he is. He is Mr. "Get your ass to Naboo and kill people before dying like the nobody that you are" and that is just fine as far as storytelling goes, because you have to start somewhere. I always found nothing to be more awkward, then two characters facing each other for the first time in a movie, instantly bringing up past griefs they had with each other out of nowhere. Lukes "friends" who are accompanying him in the first death star battle pretty much came from nowhere. You heard their names once or twice, sure, but the plot hole between being a friend of luke skywalker as mentioned at the beginning and being a pilot at the rebel base on Yavin 4 is a little too big to ignore, I think. I personally prefer Darth Blitzkrieg over a random long-term-foe, thank you very much. Please don't get me wrong, I love the original Star Wars trilogy, but at some point, old-school-elitism just bugs me. Especially when it comes to Star Wars. I grew up with the original trilogy and I love them (before all the "enhancements" happened, even though I like the little extra scenes that were added to the movies). But I also think that the prequels aren't as bad as people tend to say. They are different in many ways, yes, but not BAD. Actually, I really like the prequels for displaying darth vader as the weak and whiny dip shit that he is. Darth tyrannus was WAY cooler then vader, even though both were stupid enough to follow sidious. One out of ambition, one out of weakness.
6:25 Man, this is what I really hate about these prequel stories in movies and video games. Imagine finishing the original star wars trilogy, then having someone tell you, "Well, _Darth_ _Vader_ programmed CP30." It's like my worst pet peeve about prequel stories, when writers have this compulsion to explain the origins in really contrived ways, then graft it onto the original story like a third arm. And now I've got this weird thing going on when I watch the original movies again, because the prequels have redefined all these relationships between the characters. Does Darth Vader _recognize_ CP30 in Cloud City? Why doesn't Obi-Wan recognize RD-D2 in a New Hope? How has everyone forgotten about the Jedi, when only 20 years earlier they were major players in politics? It's like, shit, dude, maybe a stranger or a new character should have programmed CP30 (if he should be in the prequels at all). It changes nothing in the story if they find CP30 on a pile of trash compared to having Annakin build him, because Annakin's genius as a mechanic never comes up again.
My 7th grade history teacher put on the Darth maul vs obi wan fight, to show us how samurais inspired star wars, I thought it was great. That and Angry Birds Star wars got me to watch the movies. He is the greatest history teacher EVER!
Wow, our list of likes and dislikes of this movie are the same! Lol! Though I still love the idea of Jar Jar as THE Sith Lord and wish Lucas had the balls to see that through.
Shield generator outside of the ship - I just always assumed I don't know that much about force field technology to really nitpick the location of the shield generator :D
The main thing I got from this video was that after watching the Phantom Menace all these times I never noticed the super running jedi thing at the beginning...ever...I seriously thought it had been edited on this video as a joke
I saw the original on opening day 1977 and by the time the Return of the Jedi was released I was past my Star Wars phase. In fact, I laughed at how poorly acted the original was. Then the prequels, spin-offs, and sequels came out. Thanks to critics like you, who point out the things a 13-year-old would miss, I realize what a powerful trilogy it was. The scene in Empire where Han and Leia finally admit their love vs. how Aniken and Padme do? Puh-leeze. No contest.
1:53 The best way to start a war or get a country involved in a war without a direct attack is to do exactly what is done in this movie. America did this to Japan in the early 1940's and that is how Japan got involved in World War 2 because America cut off their oil supply (for 2 years) forcing them to either turn against America (Pearl Harbour) or face an economic collapse because of not being able to function without an oil supply. So America is basically like Darth Sidious playing both sides and instigating a war to assume total world I mean galaxy domination!! (singing voice) And I'm proud to be an American!.... where at least I know we run everything!! moohoohahahhaa!!
I genuinely like the Prequels, Maybe Jar Jar binks could have been a less annoying but all and all even he is alright. I liked the delving into the political aspects of the Prequels, actually.
Yea, I never understood why people were so against the political aspect. The story is explaining how things escalated from a time of peace to the rise of the Empire. That is practically the definition of a prequel. I don't like Jar Jar or his people though. They're all way too cartoonish. It's fine to add mildly goofy elements here and there, but the overall tone should have been kept serious. Star Wars always had a serious air to it, on a whole. Jar Jar's race should have been designed to have a ore fierce appearance, have a more serious attitude, and be more competent; oh and less CGI.
I was 21 when it came out. Saw A New Hope and Empire as a baby at the Drive-in and Return of the Jedi in the theatre when I was 8. I'm a huge Star Wars fan too. And I have the same view of the prequels as you.
You should do a video reviewing all your Star Wars merchandise before Rogue One comes out. Don't worry Mark some people do care about what kind of cool Star Wars stuff you got.
The one and only star wars film i saw. I still remember my dad getting me the Velcro light up pod race LA lights kicks. Man, those were my fav. Also show us your star wars collection, Mark!
New Subscriber... Chris Stuckmann gave you a shout out on his channel so I decided to check you out. First video I decided to check out was your Star Wars Phantom Menace review... Good review and good video. I enjoyed how the video was put together with the clips. I am a huge Red Letter Media fan, which I am sure you have seen their Star Wars reviews and channel. Look forward to watching your channel in the future.
So EXCELLENT of a review. Your commentaries comparing the lightsaber duels.. Pricelessly accurate. Big bow. You give me hope for the future. Born 1974.
Great video. You should check out Red Letter Media's 90 min Phantom Menace review they brought up a lot of the same points especially the fast running, and the difference in emotion durning the older fight scenes compared to the dance off in the movie. Awesome Job I always look forward to your videos, keep up the great work.
I saw this movie in Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood when it opened, NOBODY in the theatre reacted to --- ANYTHING. Because there was nothing to react to. I kept waiting for the movie to START...then finally when the pod race started I thought Thank GOD something's happening. When it ended, it went back to boring. Outside the media was interviewing movie goers and every single person interviewed said it was "disappointing", "emotionless", "boring"....in summary it SUCKED. It's an abomination to the original 3 films.
The battles in the OT work better because they have emotion going on behind them. No one over 5 believed Luke would win the fight against Vader, I hope, but it's the whole emotional load behind it, just like the emotion load behind Obi-Wan fighting Vader in Star Wars that got us engaged. They even have close a circle: 1 - Old man fights former apprentice and is too weak to stand up to him and sacrifices himself to save his new apprentice, as he also can't redeem former apprentice 2 - New apprentice fights former apprentice and is defeated, while learning a terrible truth about him 3 - New apprentice fights former apprentice and this time, motivated by things greater than himself, defeats him and also helps redeem him
I don't really get the point of "needing" a connection between the combatants. Darth Maul was obviously a threat to Amidala and the freedom of Naboo. What did you expect Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to do? Say "Oh, I don't care about you and there's no connection between us, so let's settle this by a game of dejarik"?
I don't think good guy vs. bad guy is necessarily a bad thing. Maul was obiously not THE villain, just a henchman. You can't expect a connection between battles for every lightsaber duel.
Creddiam the connection is the most important in a fight it makes the fight more awesome and you begin to roote for one of them. an example: John Mcclane vs Karl in Die Hard these two had a reason to fight because John Mcclane broke Tony's(Karls littlebrother) neck and John Mcclane have to safe the other hostages so you understand both of the characters and you feel them. in this movie it's like: I have a lightsaber and you have a lightsaber LETS FIGHT there is no reason why these two should fight and that makes you care less about them ;)
Kenneth Kroeger Well, Darth Maul attacked Anakin and Qui-Gon before on Tatooine, so they know Maul wasn't up to any good, so when they cross him on Naboo there were two options: fight or run.
let's not forget this movie tried to introduce us to the sith concept. as a kid when I watched it, I felt like obi and qui had to fight this guy because he was labeled a sith, and whatever it was, it was bad. you also don't need straight concepts for duels. this duel worked out full well for me without the characters having some sort of exposition connection.
Jar Jar Binks is my favorite Star Wars character because he was downright goofy. Everything he did in this movie made me grin and almost laugh when i was a boy.
I remember one reviewer saying that Liam Neeson didn't phone in his performance, he put in on a post-it note and taped it to the leg of a carrier pigeon.
The Trade Federation disrupted the communications system of Naboo. That is why the holograms were fuzzy. I agree with you about Anakin building C-3PO though. Why not just have Watto give Shmi a protocol droid to help around the house? And as for Darth Maul's death, he should have lived by walking away from Ob-Wan while he dangles in the pit...
Am I the only one who likes fast, choreographed lightsaber battles? I always thought the original trilogy ones were boring. Mainly obi one and earth vader
Camdenro I watch Star Wars for emotion and characters. I don't watch Star Wars just to look at some flashy dance routine light saber lights that get me bored because I'm not invested in the characters. Thats just my taste
Camdenro Id rather have an enjoyable fun film with great characters and only average action . Instead of a annoying,boring piece of shit film with flashy action.
The first issue with people comparing that first-movie fight is that it is not an action scene until AFTER obi is killed by vader (and all the shooting starts). A light saber being out doesn't mean it's an action sequence, and SW doesn't need ever saber scene to be action.
I thought both styles worked for each of the films. I had no problem with TPM's style and it made sense. The idea being that Jedi in their prime would fight so quickly and "flashy" because they have superior reflexes among other things courtesy of the Force.
I thought the Prequels were pretty bad, but for none of the reasons you listed, Mark. I think the most damage the prequels did was to the lore of the EU. For example, when we hear Obi Wan tell Luke in Star Wars, that Darth Vader helped the Empire to hunt down and destroy the Jedi, it gave us a sense that the Sith were bad, evil and powerful. This idea played well with the books in the EU like "Splinter of the Mind's Eye' (Alan Dean Foster), and later in Empire Strikes Back when Yoda is only found by Luke because Obi Wan's Ghost gives Luke the planet's name. So, why wasn't Darth able to find Yoda? Easy answer. That cave where Luke meets Darth, is filled--as Yoda say with the Dark Side of the Force. How did that happen? Easy. One of the Sith found Yoda, during that search that Darth was leading, and they fought. Yoda killed him in the cave and his evil was so great that it offset the Good in Yoda, in effect cancelling it out to anyone looking for signs of the Force on that planet. This was a great idea until later in the Prequels, Yoda says there are only ever two sith. A master and an apprentice. This fucks up the lore that allowed for the Yoda vs Sith cancel effect so the question again arises, why didn't Darth or the Emperor discover Yoda. Finally, it also queers the idea behind the theory that Jar Jar was actually the BIG BAD SITH and not the Emperor. I like that theory MUCH better, and can you imagine how the Sequels would have been IF it had started out with Jar Jar being the one behind Snoke? Luke having to discover who was the BIG BAD, and then a battle between an unmasked JAR JAR and LUKE the JEDI Skywalker. EPIC.
Your review is really funny, but I just want to point out the lady's face at 2:29 is how I feel everytime I see Phantom Menace footage. Also it's pretty much the best thing ever.
You have no idea the relief that came over me when you mentioned your ex’s favorite character was JarJar. It’s good to know I’m not the only one lol. My gf’s favorite characters are JarJar AND Baby Anakin. I hope that changes once I’ve shown her all the movies in their entirety.
Sound design was on top form again though. Ben Burtt always delivers. Ended up writing a fair chunk of my dissertation on his work. Not to mention that the naboo starfighters are gorgeous.
The idea of midichlorians is the most misinterpreted concept in all of Star Wars. People have built this monumental straw man argument against it, while completely ignoring what the movie actually says. Here is something I wrote for my blog: If you type “midichlorians” into a search engine, you’ll find a long list of blogs attacking the concept. Here is a direct quote, “Arguably the worst scene in all of Star Wars. A great example of failing to understand the material you’re making a prequel to. Some bad writing, George…” Problem is, this is a straw-man fallacy, attacking an idea that was never put forth in the first place. So, let’s break this down: In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda describes the Force by FIRST saying, “Life creates it. Makes it grow.” So, from as far back as 1980, we are given the idea that physical life forms both create and make the Force grow. In Return of the Jedi, Luke says to Leia, “The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it.” In this scene, Luke implies that the Force is more than a spiritual belief system, that there is a genetic component to it. If it were entirely spiritual, with no connection to physical matter, it could not have been “passed on” from generation to generation. In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon tests Anakin’s blood for midichlorians, and sends the data to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan remarks, “the readings are off the chart! Even Master Yoda doesn’t have a count that high.” But now here is the important part: Obi-Wan then asks, “What does that mean?” Qui-Gon says he doesn’t know. He could have said, “it means he is more powerful than any Jedi,” but this is not the case. Why? Because midichlorians DO NOT = the Force. So, what does the movie actually say midichlorians are? Anakin asks Qui-Gon this question directly, “I’ve been wondering, what are midichlorians?” to which he responds, “Midichlorians are a microscopic life form that reside in all living cells, and we are symbiants with them, life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midichlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force.” Now, where in this explanation does he say midichlorians ARE the Force? Nowhere. Where does he say that midichlorians give a Jedi his powers? Nowhere. All he says is, midichlorians give us knowledge of the Force. That’s it. Nothing more. And for this reason, someone on TH-cam wrote, “That little fucking shit ruined the Star Wars trilogy. Fuck him.”
good review mark I just want to add one more thing that's bad about it. spoilers to anyone who hasn't seen the saga alert. in revenge of the sith, Yoda revealed Quigon had become an immortal ghost. but when old ben died his whole body vanished and when Yoda passed away his whole body vanished too. this is because the bodies were changing into ghost materials or whatever ghosts are made off. but when Quigon Jinn died his body was still there and they even had a scene devoted to his cremation. so that means he wasn't immortal. but he was. so we have a contradiction when Anakin died for the second time in return of the Jedi it made sense that his body didn't vanish because it wasn't his body, it was Darth Vader's. Luke didn't cremate the body to honour his father. if that as what he did intend to do, then he would have done it with leia's help because she was Anakin's daughter. what Luke was actually doing was respecting his villain (Darth Vader) and taking dignity in victory.
4:10 two weeks ago I had a similar experience where my ex told me Rise of Skywalker was her favorite film in the series, I'm never dating anyone more than 4 years younger than myself again
George Lucas once said Jar Jar Binks was supposed to be the New Chewbacca. But You know what Chewbacca is strong can handle weapons and he DOESNT TALK.
I disagree about the Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul section of the fight; I could see Obi-Wan wanted to fucking KILL Darth Maul. You really feel light they're hitting each other really hard. There was enough raw emotion in that part than in the entire movie.
I think George wrote in the midiclorians just so Qui Gon could send that blod sample to Obi Wan back in the ship. I think George didnt really think about it in the bigger picture how it come of as. Just as an excuse to bring Anakin along and find out if he was force sensitive enough to give a fuck about him.
I had the sweet Slave I that came our when Shadows the Empire was out and had the trigger on the back for the wings. Dash Rendar Needs his own Movie. I don't care if it's irrelevant now. He's the equivalent of Kurt Russel in Space.
The...midichlorians (was it?) idea wasn't all that bad in my opinion. Not everyone can feel the force & become a jedi/sith even with the deepest devotion, it was kind of a "win the genetic lottery" to begin with, but I agree that this explanation and giving Anakin some ridiculous "amount" of it was no good at all. But the pod-race was awesome. So was the game. I have to give them that. Also, though there were no strong emotional connections between Maul & the Obi / Qui-gon duo, Maul was but an assassin trying to...screw things up. Not a childhood friend turned to the dark side, so not much emotion was needed in my opinion. Anyway the end of the fight was laughable (, cool acrobatics, but seriously? Watching as someone cuts you in half? Why?). And it was kind of sad for me, I really liked Qui-gon's character, both in the movie and out. Visual effects & the creativity (of aliens, ship designs etc.) aside, the story wasn't all that great, but wasn't horrible either. At least that's my opinion.
I thought this movies pre-civil war context was an excellent and appropriate set up to the original films (4, 5, and 6). And the fact that they didn;t delve TOO deeply into it didn't make it boring but rather interesting. Over all I loved the way they showed the jedi's abilities and the the civil turmoil - - the movie was ruined by the kid and his inability to act with any measure of skill (saying EVERYTHING with the same expression . .ugh), and, of course, jar jar. P.S. I believe they show the fuzzy static in the holograms to remind the viewer of the distance the image is being projected from and avoid confusion that the person is actually present (make it clear to younger audiences as well)
The kid who played Anakin here actually went to the same high school I did. It's not really something I'm proud of, not because I thought his performance was awful(I mean we're talking about a child actor having to work with Lucas's dialogue, and adults can't really make that work half the time) but because he was treated like crap simply because people hated the prequels so much.
When I first watched this movie, I was a child. I was bored to death by the pod race. Jar Jar didn't put a smile on my face. But the last 10 minutes, it was the best time of my life on that day. At the end of the movie, I asked my dad, "Where is Darth Vader?"
hunterkiller1440 I was already older and jaded when I saw it. The pod race just seemed like an obvious attempt to cram a video game in. Just like so many other parts.
I hated the pod race.
You weren't very smart as a kid huh?
Did he respond that he was that little asshole kid?
I loved the pod race as a kid, but couldn't get over how careless they where when they nearly got eaten by several sea monsters after another.
Fair point on Darth Maul not doing that much in the film. But, neither did Boba Fett. However, everybody loves these characters. Myself included.
Lol "I liked the podrace"
Best review ever.
Being honest, I would LOVE to have a little series of you reviewing your Star Wars stuff XD
what george lucas fails to realize is that asking for help isn't a sign of weakness but instead a sign of strength because you're accepting that you aren't perfect
You can try to do the job yourself, a lot of movies were written that way, but when you had experience in the past with people telling you to set boundaries and cut out certain elements, don't you think it's a better idea to learn from those experiences instead of just doing it anyway because no-one can stop you?
Those that you ask for help from will usually take over and you end up being the helper. Also changing your vision look what Disney did to it
As for Luke and Anakin being "too old" to teach, I think it's like the famous Aristotle quote "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man” - referring to the fact that there's an early developmental period where a person can be "molded" far more effectively. Our temperament and character are basically set by about age 7. Hence Anakin is already "too old" at age 10.
5:35 You could also just leave jarjar to the most remote part of that desert. That way you would have left an open door for a different kind of sequal, in which jarjar finally reaches civilization after decades of trying to get out of that desert, with just a single emotion left in him, blind hatred towards the jedi. I think a great title for a movie like that would be something like: star wars II: the wrath of binks.
Eh, the midi-chlorian thing didn't bother me much. It kind of explains why not everyone in the galaxy is using the Jedi mind trick to get out of paying their tab at the bar, getting a car for free, robbing the bank, etc. Sure, you need training to use the Force, but if the Jedi have been around for millennia and have written thousands of texts and Holocrons, I imagine there is a Star Wars equivalent to Scribd and Google where anyone can get access to these training manuals. If all it took to use the Force was training, I imagine that much more people in the original Star Wars trilogy would know how to use the Force.
To me, it's like real life: many people are born with talent, but they still need training to hone and focus their skills to a higher level. It doesn't matter how hard I train, I just don't have the talent or physique to be a NBA player. To me, midi-chlorians are analogous to talent at birth, and the training (a la Luke and Yoda in "Empire") allows that talent to be maximized and used efficiently. Obi-Wan didn't need to test Luke for midi-chlorians because he knew he inherited them from Anakin already.
I always had the impression that a person's connection to the Force was based on faith and discipline rather than genetics plus it appeared that the Force was semi sentient and "choose" people as well. I mean Han never had any force prowess, but that was because he didn't believe in the Force. He separated himself from it therefore he never felt it. Leia was open to the force hence why she and Luke had a mental connection plus they were siblings. To me, sometimes you don't need to explain everything. You don't need to explain how magic works, you don't need to show the Alien, you don't have to unmask that masked villain. Some things are better left unexplained and mysterious.
+Daric Soldar The Midichlorians are not like being born with talent. Lucas got the idea of Midichlorians from mitochondria. The Midichlorians are a conduit to the Force, nothing more. So it was entirely unnecessary to the story to go into an explanation of it. It was simply a plot device to explain why they knew Anakin was the Chosen One.
There were other options but Lucas couldn't come up with one so he dreamed up this bunch of crap. It effectively took away from the mystery of the Force and made it about numbers. It also ruined Yoda's impassioned explanation of the Force from ESB.
The whole Mididchlorian nonsense was so hated by fans and so unappealing to general audiences that it was never mentioned again in the saga. JJ Abrams detests it so much that he swore off ever discussing Midichlorians in his films.
+Matt Foley Midichlorians are fine besides the amount or scale part of it and I like Qui Gon's explanation of it.
+ProJatior Well, my friend, you're one of the very few that is OK with it. Do you really feel that we needed a scientific explanation as to why we can use the Force?
We didn't but I understand why George thought it was okay. Not everyone can be a Jedi and they needed to seem like a treat to others for the people to cheer off the idea of the Jedi being killed in the 3rd movie. Having beings that powerful being able to do what they do is a scary idea for the non force sensitive.
What I view as the main problem with all the Prequels is that Lucas had too much control. His choices were never questioned, he took first drafts of scripts and ran with them, and of course the gross overuse of CGI. Just watch the developer stuff. He sits on his ass with coffee as they shoot on a green screen.
Part of the success of the first Star Wars was the actors and story. I have nothing against sir Ewan McGregor. Or Hayden Christianson. But they didn't have the charisma of Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford. The lightsaber duels were very well shot, but they couldn't hold the movie up honestly.
Ewan MacGregor is a very good actor, just horribly miscast here. I would even say he is a better actor than Hamill at least in range (compare Trainspotting to this!). Samuel L Jackson at least got to play himself a bit, MacGregor had to pretend to be an Englishman... I think he mainly did this for the money. Portman is also a good actress, somewhat wasted on this trilogy.
Hayden Christiansen on the other hand...
The main issue I personally have with Episode One is the lack of Darth Maul. Would love for some special edition with added scenes of Maul, showing him training, scenes of him fighting his way through Naboo soldiers showing him making his way towards the two Jedi leading towards the scene with the door opening towards the hanging with the fight with two Jedi. Perhaps do a few alterations to some scenes too like what they did with the original trilogy.
+II DIRECTx II I also personally liked Maul but they only gave him like 2 minutes, 5 minutes and a 20 minute fight. Same goes to Boba Fett. He is awesome but there wasn't much of him in scenes
DAY-V Entertainment™ Hope Disney makes a prequel movie set before Episode One based on Darth Maul. This could build on his character and even have the later half of the movie running along side Episode One showing his side of the story. Maul deserves his own movie
II DIRECTx II I know. Lucas wrote alot about his past but we never got to actually see it. I doubt the movie will happen though ;_;
DAY-V Entertainment™ There was a video game bring developed about, looked really promising but was cancelled, such a shame.
+II DIRECTx II I agree maul was such a cool character. Would have been better if he killed Qui Gon and managed to escape. Thus obi wan would have to train and develop blah blah and kill him in episode 2
Problem nobody else seems to have noticed. Obi Wan stated in Empire that Yoda was his master. So why was Qui Gon in this film at all?
We had to sell one more toy! we had to sell things!
If not for Qui-gon being in the movie, there wouldn't have been a single bit of acting in the film, and it would have lacked its one good actor.
Makes no sense of course, but like many prequels or sequels to things that were not meant to have prequels or sequels, it has to rewrite the storyline to make room for more merchandise. Also, to be honest, you couldn't have the fight scene with Yoda at the time, I think. Even the one against Christopher Lee wasn't perfect, I mean, not Gollum or Hulk level.
To be fair, the taxation of trade routes often is a big issue for conflict. One of the big reasons for the Europeans attempts to explore was for a alternative trade route to Asia and India in particular to get around the silk road and various Muslim powers.
Though perhaps it wouldnt exactly be the best way to open up a action film and probably could of been done better.
It could, but at least George tried (and I think succeeded) making some worldbuilding.
Okay so. This is probably my favorite star wars movie. And before you stone me alive, I was born in that weird spot, when Star wars was already outside of theatres. And it looked too old for my young self to enjoy properly on VHS.
This movie actually was kinda amazing for me. And I don't really understand a lot of your crutches with this movie.
The Jedi superspeed - I actually thought it made a perfect sense. I actually think I played Star Wars Jedi outcast before I'v seen this movie. And if anything, I considered it nice shout out to the game. (Which made sense in my young mind).
Ship shield - Meh. I don't know much about shield generators of fictional space ships. Who knows, maybe they need to be at outside of the ship. There probably is some kind of Star wars Bible, which has all the answers.
Jar Jar - Yeah absolutely horrible character. I hated him as a kid.
Anakin genius - I don't know. It made sense to me that there could be a person who is considered briliant by his peers. And the "scientific" explanation behind force seemed really nice. At least there was some kind of explanation instead of the generic force bullshit (Which to me seemed cheap). And the idea, that somebody could have a genetic predispozition to be better than others, again, didn't sound to me as bad. Why do we need to discriminate against people with talent :D. If anthing, it shows how powerfull the Vader was even at young age.
Lightsaber fight - I loved the fight, I really did. There seemed nothing wrong with that to me. Again, when the Qui gon Jin kneeled to prepare for the fight between roce fields. Again, seemed like a nice touch to the game, where you can regenerate health by kneeleing in the meditative state.
Overal I liked the movie. But I was never a fan of star wars in the first place.
***** Yeah. It honestly have to be explained to me, why the last 4 movies get so much hate.
I agree with you this movie is great and I actually liked it imo
So because I don't like the horrendous acting and poor writing, that suddenly means I'm not a true Star Wars fan? Look I don't hate everything about the prequels, I actually rather enjoy episode 3 quite a lot. But that does not mean I will just blindly love everything and ignore the flaws. By doing that you are not being a fan, you are simply being ignorant. People hate the romance because it fucking sucked. There was no chemistry between Anakin and Padme, and their scenes together just felt awkward. Also Anakin was just written incredibly poorly, throughout most of Episode 2 he just whines and bitches about how he isn't allowed to become a full Jedi. Now like I said, I don't hate everything about the prequels, but being a Star Wars doesn't mean I'm going to ignore the flaws. If you like these films then fine, enjoy them all you want. But don't act like the people who hate the prequels are full of shit, just because they like me hate the awful acting and poor writing.
***** Correction: _Not_ being blinded by branding and sparkly-cat-toy visuals and being able to acknowledge flaws is 'true' devotion. Accepting something _in spite_ of said flaws is the identifying attribute of love.
Gladix Funny thing is, the new explanation of midichlorians (?? spelling) and the old explanation from the original series doesn't necessarily contradict itself. Just like with magnetic or electric fields, every "material" has a constant which defines how "good" the field flows through the material.
With this in mind, the midichlorians could be the Star Wars pendant to the relative permittivity.
One thing that had always confused me about the Star Wars prequels - Padme's age. I'd always thought that her relationship with Anakin was kind of weird, seeing as I'd judged her to be at least 17 in The Phantom Menace, making her like 27 in Attack of the Clones, while Anakin was only 19. Then I found out that in The Phantom Menace, Padme is supposed to be 14 years old. Well, she doesn't look like any 14 year old I've ever seen!
I believe Natalie Portman was approximately 16 or 17 when they did Episode I, so your judgment was accurate. How did they expect anyone to believe that she was only 14?
Spar10Leonidas There's also the incredibly confusing fact that, despite being a democratically elected official (at 14....yeah,) she's called a queen, and is treated like a monarch, with fancy dresses, a palace, handmaidens etc.
PassTheMarmalade1957 That was something else that I wanted to mention. What kind of civilization would elect a 14-year old girl to be queen? Seems like Lucas was too damn adamant about Anakin being a pre-teen kid when we meet him and it left a plot hole about the difference in their ages and the only way to explain it was to make her an unbelievably young queen.
Spar10Leonidas a japanese like loli-loving civilization would.
Spar10Leonidas There are many civilizations in history that have had kings when they were really young. They don't get elected either, they are born into it.
This was such a great video and I totally agree with you about the whole midiclorean thing or whatever its called. Obi Wan already explained what the force was in a much more decent, Yen Yang type way. It doesn't make sense that the force is based on how you were born or how important your DNA is.
I know this is old as f but the force itself isn’t based on your DNA. The force is the force same as always. The midichlorians only says something about a person’s innate ability or connection to the force. It’s just a way to explain how someone can be “strong with the force” while others aren’t and why some ppl can use the force and others can’t.
I agree that thanking R2D2 and giving it a reward was really stupid. In the movie, these droids were disposable. I don't thank my car or my computer for doing what they are supposed to do.
Why would they reward a droid but not reward a wookie?
I thank my computer every morning. What the hell is wrong with you?
WTF? Really? I do. I've had some really emotional talks with my vehicle
The whole thing in Rise of Skywalker with C-3PO and his friends - dude, you're a toaster, get the fuck outta here.
It set a precedent that ultimately led to droids like L3-37 having a whiny sense of entitlement.
Personally I'm getting tired of how people say the opening crawl of TPM is boring. No, politics is NOT the most exciting thing in the world but big things tend to have small beginnings. This extends to the senate scenes as it shows how Palpy manipulated Padme into electing him chancellor and his machinations that ultimately turned the Republic into the Empire.
For kids it's boring yes but Star Wars has something to appeal to everyone.
I agree with what you said. When I first saw Phantom Menace. Being a child at the time I found it very boring with only the first fifteen minutes, the podrace, and the last hour exciting but now I appreciate the movie a lot more, the movie has really grown on me over the years.
Politics CAN be interesting and exciting. Like House of Cards. But Phantom Menace did it in a very boring way.
YS Kim Yeah, very true
+Webshooters1 star wars had goofy jokes for kids so that the adults could enjoy understanding the politics of how palpatine rose to power
+YS Kim (Shiny Breeder) Agreed. Politics can definitely be interesting - House of Cards is one of my favorite shows - but Phantom Menace has very simple politics presented in a very boring manner. And when it comes to the opening crawl, it's Writing 101 to start your story off at the most exciting moment. That crawl does *not* hook the audience.
I've always tried to view midi-chlorians as an indicator rather than a source; that midi-chlorian count correlates with Force sensitivity rather than causes it.
Read Darth Plaguis, while in the end, most people will act like FanboyFlicks about the movie (Witch I do understand) the Darth PLaguis book make better use of the midi-chlorian by just having be translators of the force. While I would like them not to be around at least James Luceno didn't keep them the way they were
Could have done with a re write to make that clear..DOH George!
About the bad lip syncing, I just assumed they originally planned to have them speaking an alien language which would be subtitled, kind of like when Anakin talks to Sebulba later, but they decided to change it at the last minute after they had already filmed it and made them speak English so the audience wouldn't have to read subtitles for the more important exposition.
+Dr Shaym Makes sense to me.
+Dr Shaym According to some behind-the-scenes things I've read, this appears to have been exactly what happened. Lucas also changed the accents of the Neimoidians late in production, after already hiring an actor specifically to do a *different* accent. So they ended up with a white actor being forced to fake a Thai accent he had no idea how to do, resulting in this generically racist Asian voice.
Not true. If you watch the documentary "The Beginning" you'll see that the animatronic face rigs required the actors to speak with "ex-ag-er-ate-ed di-a-logue" in order for the mouth to work correctly.
I think using English rather than an alien language was a vanilla choice for allowing children to understand without asking their parents to explain during the movie. Speaking in English sacrificed a lot of interest and mystique around the aliens. Think of all the amazing alien dialogue with subtitles in the originals, it gave the viewer a real sense of this vast, interesting and complex world. For me that was one of the charms of Star Wars, feeling like you were visiting a galaxy far far away.
His midichlorian count... It's over 9000!
ThePKFactor that is so 5 years ago
@@vadoksam9235 It's an older meme, but it checks out.
"As far as the movies are concerned, Darth Maul dies here."
Solo: Wanna bet?
Am I the only one who liked this movie.
No lol.It's just little boring compared to others.
Galactic Magician I love all the star wars movies
Tony Koslowski Yes
No....there's 5 more adults out there and 31 kids twelve and under that like this movie.
I wish
Hey Mark, just wanted to say that I recently ran into your channel a few days ago and I can't think of many other people on YT that have made me laugh this hard after a hard day at work/school. Keep doing what you're doing man, love your vids and damn, you of all people deserve so many more subs! Looking forward to your next vid man :)
love your vidz!! keep up the good work!!
I think the Maul fight has some parts that stand out. Like him pacing with quiet rage in front of Qui Gon who is meditating. Ying and yang.
I think you got it wrong FanboyFlicks. The Midichlorian count is not a measure of how powerful you are, but a measure of the force potential you have. With training you can reach that full power.
My favorite duel was The Empire Strikes Back duel too! What many people who watch ESB fail to realize is Vader was holding back and toying with Luke. They say, "Why doesn't Vader just take him out!" So anyways the duel in ESB had emotion and passion in it. While I do like the prequel duels, the Originals felt more like real sword fights in the real world. Thank you for an honest review that just doesn't bash the Prequel Trilogy in an angry way. As flawed as they were I still enjoyed TPM, AOTC, and ROTS.TPM was my personal favorite of the Prequel Trilogy.
The Phantom Menace had at least two things going for it... shooting on location and physical, tangible sets made by human hands. They went back to Tunisia to shoot all the Tattooine scenes and somewhere for Naboo. Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith had the least amount of locations and sets of any of the current star wars movies. Most of what happened in episodes II & III were filmed in front of blue/green screens and lazily put generic, cartoony cgi there in post-production. I know shooting on location and sets can be a pain and can get expensive but it just looks better to have physical things in front of a camera to work with. Hell the location shoots of the Lord of the Rings were extremely important and they knew to use cgi sparingly. It worked out better for it in the end.
Great video as always :3!
One complaint I don't get is how people "didn't get" the plot. Seriously? I mean, I get why these movies are so disliked (I don't hate them, btw), but the plot was straight-forward and easy to understand. What confused you people so? Just because you didn't like it, doesn't mean you can't understand it. Maybe my brain filled in the blanks? Am I remembering things wrong and forcing them to make sense? I don't want to insult anyone. This is a legit head-scratcher for me.
if you want to clear things up watch RedLetterMedia's Phantom menace review. it just goes more in depth and i think thats what your lookin for
Breen Machine Thanks for the tip. I actually saw that. I get their complaints, but I still don't think the plot is confusing. Like it or not, that's anyone's opinion, but confusing? I seriously don't get that from the movie. But people's mileage varies. Maybe I was just filling plot holes in my head.
yea, it is partially subjective.
Um....I believe the Jedi said Anakin was too old because at age 10, he had already developed a deep bond with his family members, in this case his mom. Jedi aren't supposed to have personal attachments like that, because the fear of losing them could lead to the dark side. That's why they didn't want to train him, and as it turns out, they were right.
Good video. I especially praise your notion about the lightsaber fights. I always felt like the fights lacked their... how should I say it... soul. Maul had way too little screen time prior to this fight and thus he wasn't established as a real threat or as a character I should feel invested in. He indeed was just some random Sith... and just when he starts becoming something more, they kill him off. It would have been far more exciting and interesting if they had been butting heads more thorough the movie, thus raising their commitment/involvement. Instead, they just throw Maul in there to be the "final boss" and put all their effort in the fancy choreography but that's not enough for it to feel like a compelling showdown. IMO, they should have scrapped goddamn Jar Jar and replaced his screentime with Maul's antics.
A little thing about shield generators in Star Wars: Every shield generator that gets crashed EXCEPT the ones in the federation gunships, the first death star (which didn't seem to have one at all) and the queens ship - as far as I remember - were outside.
Hoth? A giant generator-BUILDING almost so hard to miss that it's insulting to the invaders.
Republican gunships / imperial gunships / star destroyers? Giant balls right above the ships bridge-area (don't get me to start on THOSE ones).
The technical lore in star wars is either "you can't produce stable fields of energy without an emitter attached to them" or not existent.
Of course there is no deeper relation between darth maul and qui gon. The jedi believed the sith to be extinct at that point. Pretty naive, don't you think?
So darth maul pretty much attacks out of nowhere like the mysterious berserk going hunting dog that he is. He is Mr. "Get your ass to Naboo and kill people before dying like the nobody that you are" and that is just fine as far as storytelling goes, because you have to start somewhere.
I always found nothing to be more awkward, then two characters facing each other for the first time in a movie, instantly bringing up past griefs they had with each other out of nowhere.
Lukes "friends" who are accompanying him in the first death star battle pretty much came from nowhere. You heard their names once or twice, sure, but the plot hole between being a friend of luke skywalker as mentioned at the beginning and being a pilot at the rebel base on Yavin 4 is a little too big to ignore, I think.
I personally prefer Darth Blitzkrieg over a random long-term-foe, thank you very much.
Please don't get me wrong, I love the original Star Wars trilogy, but at some point, old-school-elitism just bugs me. Especially when it comes to Star Wars. I grew up with the original trilogy and I love them (before all the "enhancements" happened, even though I like the little extra scenes that were added to the movies). But I also think that the prequels aren't as bad as people tend to say. They are different in many ways, yes, but not BAD.
Actually, I really like the prequels for displaying darth vader as the weak and whiny dip shit that he is. Darth tyrannus was WAY cooler then vader, even though both were stupid enough to follow sidious. One out of ambition, one out of weakness.
The smell of burning flesh is amazing. Have you ever cooked meat?
theconfused Ninbikun and rotting flesh smells sweet..ish
Channel Ninbikun That's the problem. One shouldn't feel 'hungry' at a funeral.
+Channel Ninbikun The smell of burning horses is amazing
Dang it, someone beat me to saying this, by like …..7 years…
🤣👍
6:25 Man, this is what I really hate about these prequel stories in movies and video games. Imagine finishing the original star wars trilogy, then having someone tell you, "Well, _Darth_ _Vader_ programmed CP30." It's like my worst pet peeve about prequel stories, when writers have this compulsion to explain the origins in really contrived ways, then graft it onto the original story like a third arm. And now I've got this weird thing going on when I watch the original movies again, because the prequels have redefined all these relationships between the characters. Does Darth Vader _recognize_ CP30 in Cloud City? Why doesn't Obi-Wan recognize RD-D2 in a New Hope? How has everyone forgotten about the Jedi, when only 20 years earlier they were major players in politics?
It's like, shit, dude, maybe a stranger or a new character should have programmed CP30 (if he should be in the prequels at all). It changes nothing in the story if they find CP30 on a pile of trash compared to having Annakin build him, because Annakin's genius as a mechanic never comes up again.
Darth Darth Binks, that's why he's got so much screen time...
My 7th grade history teacher put on the Darth maul vs obi wan fight, to show us how samurais inspired star wars, I thought it was great. That and Angry Birds Star wars got me to watch the movies. He is the greatest history teacher EVER!
love your reviews keep doing what your doing!!
Are you a fan of RedLetterMedia?
Judging by the HUGE overlap of script solutions, he definitely is.
Wow, our list of likes and dislikes of this movie are the same! Lol! Though I still love the idea of Jar Jar as THE Sith Lord and wish Lucas had the balls to see that through.
Shield generator outside of the ship - I just always assumed I don't know that much about force field technology to really nitpick the location of the shield generator :D
The main thing I got from this video was that after watching the Phantom Menace all these times I never noticed the super running jedi thing at the beginning...ever...I seriously thought it had been edited on this video as a joke
It was altered for the bluray so it stands out more.
This is the first smart pros and cons opinionated video for Part 1 i have ever seen. Good job, very well put together
Love the spongebob music played when talking about Luke's "eternal conflict of good and evil". LOL!
i have never seen the "jedi speed dash" even thought i have seen the move many many times
I saw the original on opening day 1977 and by the time the Return of the Jedi was released I was past my Star Wars phase. In fact, I laughed at how poorly acted the original was.
Then the prequels, spin-offs, and sequels came out. Thanks to critics like you, who point out the things a 13-year-old would miss, I realize what a powerful trilogy it was. The scene in Empire where Han and Leia finally admit their love vs. how Aniken and Padme do? Puh-leeze. No contest.
Get Padme to clean the Droid in order to make her disguise as a mere servant more believable??? Isn't that like totally obvious Mr. Critic?
1:53 The best way to start a war or get a country involved in a war without a direct attack is to do exactly what is done in this movie. America did this to Japan in the early 1940's and that is how Japan got involved in World War 2 because America cut off their oil supply (for 2 years) forcing them to either turn against America (Pearl Harbour) or face an economic collapse because of not being able to function without an oil supply. So America is basically like Darth Sidious playing both sides and instigating a war to assume total world I mean galaxy domination!! (singing voice) And I'm proud to be an American!.... where at least I know we run everything!! moohoohahahhaa!!
If anyone said to me "Jar Jar Binks is my favourite Star Wars character" I would feel obliged to put them out of my misery...
Every so often i come back and rewatch your star wars reviews because they just absolutely kill me 😂😂😂
I genuinely like the Prequels, Maybe Jar Jar binks could have been a less annoying but all and all even he is alright. I liked the delving into the political aspects of the Prequels, actually.
There's the fact that Jar Jar is just an awkward teen
Yea, I never understood why people were so against the political aspect. The story is explaining how things escalated from a time of peace to the rise of the Empire. That is practically the definition of a prequel.
I don't like Jar Jar or his people though. They're all way too cartoonish. It's fine to add mildly goofy elements here and there, but the overall tone should have been kept serious. Star Wars always had a serious air to it, on a whole. Jar Jar's race should have been designed to have a ore fierce appearance, have a more serious attitude, and be more competent; oh and less CGI.
I was 21 when it came out. Saw A New Hope and Empire as a baby at the Drive-in and Return of the Jedi in the theatre when I was 8. I'm a huge Star Wars fan too. And I have the same view of the prequels as you.
You should do a video reviewing all your Star Wars merchandise before Rogue One comes out. Don't worry Mark some people do care about what kind of cool Star Wars stuff you got.
Great reviews. Funny too. Subscribed!
The one and only star wars film i saw. I still remember my dad getting me the Velcro light up pod race LA lights kicks. Man, those were my fav. Also show us your star wars collection, Mark!
New Subscriber... Chris Stuckmann gave you a shout out on his channel so I decided to check you out. First video I decided to check out was your Star Wars Phantom Menace review... Good review and good video. I enjoyed how the video was put together with the clips. I am a huge Red Letter Media fan, which I am sure you have seen their Star Wars reviews and channel. Look forward to watching your channel in the future.
Mesa bombad sith lord!
The reason the hologram is fuzzy is because the trade centre are blocking transmissions so they will be fuzzy.
Jedi speed dash was from the games and was actually more legit than Vader having a relationship with the droids... :D
So EXCELLENT of a review. Your commentaries comparing the lightsaber duels.. Pricelessly accurate. Big bow.
You give me hope for the future. Born 1974.
Um, no it isn’t.
Great video. You should check out Red Letter Media's 90 min Phantom Menace review they brought up a lot of the same points especially the fast running, and the difference in emotion durning the older fight scenes compared to the dance off in the movie. Awesome Job I always look forward to your videos, keep up the great work.
I saw this movie in Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood when it opened, NOBODY in the theatre reacted to --- ANYTHING. Because there was nothing to react to. I kept waiting for the movie to START...then finally when the pod race started I thought Thank GOD something's happening. When it ended, it went back to boring. Outside the media was interviewing movie goers and every single person interviewed said it was "disappointing", "emotionless", "boring"....in summary it SUCKED. It's an abomination to the original 3 films.
The battles in the OT work better because they have emotion going on behind them. No one over 5 believed Luke would win the fight against Vader, I hope, but it's the whole emotional load behind it, just like the emotion load behind Obi-Wan fighting Vader in Star Wars that got us engaged.
They even have close a circle:
1 - Old man fights former apprentice and is too weak to stand up to him and sacrifices himself to save his new apprentice, as he also can't redeem former apprentice
2 - New apprentice fights former apprentice and is defeated, while learning a terrible truth about him
3 - New apprentice fights former apprentice and this time, motivated by things greater than himself, defeats him and also helps redeem him
May the 4th be with you,great review.
lol I have always wandered since I was a kid was the transmissions are so fuzzy. Happy to hear someone else say something about it
Been bingeing on your channel. This comment is for the algorithm.
I don't really get the point of "needing" a connection between the combatants. Darth Maul was obviously a threat to Amidala and the freedom of Naboo. What did you expect Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to do? Say "Oh, I don't care about you and there's no connection between us, so let's settle this by a game of dejarik"?
Usually the villain is like a opposite version of the hero...without that connection it kinda looks just like a good guy vs bad guy
I don't think good guy vs. bad guy is necessarily a bad thing. Maul was obiously not THE villain, just a henchman. You can't expect a connection between battles for every lightsaber duel.
Creddiam the connection is the most important in a fight it makes the fight more awesome and you begin to roote for one of them. an example: John Mcclane vs Karl in Die Hard these two had a reason to fight because John Mcclane broke Tony's(Karls littlebrother) neck and John Mcclane have to safe the other hostages so you understand both of the characters and you feel them. in this movie it's like: I have a lightsaber and you have a lightsaber LETS FIGHT there is no reason why these two should fight and that makes you care less about them ;)
Kenneth Kroeger Well, Darth Maul attacked Anakin and Qui-Gon before on Tatooine, so they know Maul wasn't up to any good, so when they cross him on Naboo there were two options: fight or run.
let's not forget this movie tried to introduce us to the sith concept. as a kid when I watched it, I felt like obi and qui had to fight this guy because he was labeled a sith, and whatever it was, it was bad. you also don't need straight concepts for duels. this duel worked out full well for me without the characters having some sort of exposition connection.
Jar Jar Binks is my favorite Star Wars character because he was downright goofy. Everything he did in this movie made me grin and almost laugh when i was a boy.
You're so spot on. I agree with ya 100%. I hope you're doing others on Ep. II & III.
Um no he isn’t. If you agree with him 100% you must be a sheep.
I remember one reviewer saying that Liam Neeson didn't phone in his performance, he put in on a post-it note and taped it to the leg of a carrier pigeon.
The Trade Federation disrupted the communications system of Naboo. That is why the holograms were fuzzy. I agree with you about Anakin building C-3PO though. Why not just have Watto give Shmi a protocol droid to help around the house? And as for Darth Maul's death, he should have lived by walking away from Ob-Wan while he dangles in the pit...
4:46 the generators not on the outside it just got overloaded
analothor Then why does the pilot say "Shield generator's been hit!"?
Jesse Baker bad dialog
The celebration at the end was straight from Rio de Janeiro Carnival! It was ridiculously comical (in a bad way, of course).
Am I the only one who likes fast, choreographed lightsaber battles? I always thought the original trilogy ones were boring. Mainly obi one and earth vader
+Sauron Merciful you watch star wars for the emotion?
Camdenro I watch Star Wars for emotion and characters. I don't watch Star Wars just to look at some flashy dance routine light saber lights that get me bored because I'm not invested in the characters. Thats just my taste
Camdenro Id rather have an enjoyable fun film with great characters and only average action . Instead of a annoying,boring piece of shit film with flashy action.
The first issue with people comparing that first-movie fight is that it is not an action scene until AFTER obi is killed by vader (and all the shooting starts). A light saber being out doesn't mean it's an action sequence, and SW doesn't need ever saber scene to be action.
I thought both styles worked for each of the films. I had no problem with TPM's style and it made sense. The idea being that Jedi in their prime would fight so quickly and "flashy" because they have superior reflexes among other things courtesy of the Force.
That cup was awesome! Where can I get that
I thought the Prequels were pretty bad, but for none of the reasons you listed, Mark. I think the most damage the prequels did was to the lore of the EU. For example, when we hear Obi Wan tell Luke in Star Wars, that Darth Vader helped the Empire to hunt down and destroy the Jedi, it gave us a sense that the Sith were bad, evil and powerful. This idea played well with the books in the EU like "Splinter of the Mind's Eye' (Alan Dean Foster), and later in Empire Strikes Back when Yoda is only found by Luke because Obi Wan's Ghost gives Luke the planet's name. So, why wasn't Darth able to find Yoda? Easy answer. That cave where Luke meets Darth, is filled--as Yoda say with the Dark Side of the Force. How did that happen? Easy. One of the Sith found Yoda, during that search that Darth was leading, and they fought. Yoda killed him in the cave and his evil was so great that it offset the Good in Yoda, in effect cancelling it out to anyone looking for signs of the Force on that planet. This was a great idea until later in the Prequels, Yoda says there are only ever two sith. A master and an apprentice. This fucks up the lore that allowed for the Yoda vs Sith cancel effect so the question again arises, why didn't Darth or the Emperor discover Yoda. Finally, it also queers the idea behind the theory that Jar Jar was actually the BIG BAD SITH and not the Emperor. I like that theory MUCH better, and can you imagine how the Sequels would have been IF it had started out with Jar Jar being the one behind Snoke? Luke having to discover who was the BIG BAD, and then a battle between an unmasked JAR JAR and LUKE the JEDI Skywalker. EPIC.
I liked it. Qui-Gon is my favorite Jedi.
Same here pimp grimace
Your Star Wars stuff is awesome
Your review is really funny, but I just want to point out the lady's face at 2:29 is how I feel everytime I see Phantom Menace footage. Also it's pretty much the best thing ever.
You have no idea the relief that came over me when you mentioned your ex’s favorite character was JarJar. It’s good to know I’m not the only one lol. My gf’s favorite characters are JarJar AND Baby Anakin. I hope that changes once I’ve shown her all the movies in their entirety.
Sound design was on top form again though. Ben Burtt always delivers. Ended up writing a fair chunk of my dissertation on his work.
Not to mention that the naboo starfighters are gorgeous.
Omg I love that R2D2 mug!
The idea of midichlorians is the most misinterpreted concept in all of Star Wars. People have built this monumental straw man argument against it, while completely ignoring what the movie actually says. Here is something I wrote for my blog:
If you type “midichlorians” into a search engine, you’ll find a long list of blogs attacking the concept. Here is a direct quote, “Arguably the worst scene in all of Star Wars. A great example of failing to understand the material you’re making a prequel to. Some bad writing, George…” Problem is, this is a straw-man fallacy, attacking an idea that was never put forth in the first place. So, let’s break this down:
In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda describes the Force by FIRST saying, “Life creates it. Makes it grow.” So, from as far back as 1980, we are given the idea that physical life forms both create and make the Force grow.
In Return of the Jedi, Luke says to Leia, “The Force is strong in my family. My father has it. I have it. My sister has it.” In this scene, Luke implies that the Force is more than a spiritual belief system, that there is a genetic component to it. If it were entirely spiritual, with no connection to physical matter, it could not have been “passed on” from generation to generation.
In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon tests Anakin’s blood for midichlorians, and sends the data to Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan remarks, “the readings are off the chart! Even Master Yoda doesn’t have a count that high.” But now here is the important part: Obi-Wan then asks, “What does that mean?” Qui-Gon says he doesn’t know. He could have said, “it means he is more powerful than any Jedi,” but this is not the case. Why? Because midichlorians DO NOT = the Force.
So, what does the movie actually say midichlorians are? Anakin asks Qui-Gon this question directly, “I’ve been wondering, what are midichlorians?” to which he responds, “Midichlorians are a microscopic life form that reside in all living cells, and we are symbiants with them, life forms living together for mutual advantage. Without the midichlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Force.”
Now, where in this explanation does he say midichlorians ARE the Force? Nowhere. Where does he say that midichlorians give a Jedi his powers? Nowhere. All he says is, midichlorians give us knowledge of the Force. That’s it. Nothing more. And for this reason, someone on TH-cam wrote, “That little fucking shit ruined the Star Wars trilogy. Fuck him.”
good review mark
I just want to add one more thing that's bad about it. spoilers to anyone who hasn't seen the saga alert.
in revenge of the sith, Yoda revealed Quigon had become an immortal ghost. but when old ben died his whole body vanished and when Yoda passed away his whole body vanished too. this is because the bodies were changing into ghost materials or whatever ghosts are made off.
but when Quigon Jinn died his body was still there and they even had a scene devoted to his cremation. so that means he wasn't immortal. but he was. so we have a contradiction
when Anakin died for the second time in return of the Jedi it made sense that his body didn't vanish because it wasn't his body, it was Darth Vader's. Luke didn't cremate the body to honour his father. if that as what he did intend to do, then he would have done it with leia's help because she was Anakin's daughter. what Luke was actually doing was respecting his villain (Darth Vader) and taking dignity in victory.
4:10 two weeks ago I had a similar experience where my ex told me Rise of Skywalker was her favorite film in the series, I'm never dating anyone more than 4 years younger than myself again
Great review and I agree with all your points
Great Review like always
George Lucas once said Jar Jar Binks was supposed to be the New Chewbacca. But You know what Chewbacca is strong can handle weapons and he DOESNT TALK.
I never noticed that dash at all!
Padme is cleaning the droid because Luke cleans the droid in A New Hope too.
I disagree about the Obi-Wan vs Darth Maul section of the fight; I could see Obi-Wan wanted to fucking KILL Darth Maul. You really feel light they're hitting each other really hard. There was enough raw emotion in that part than in the entire movie.
2:26 I CRACKED UP LAUGHING!!!! FOR 5 MINS HAHAHAHAH
I want that coffee mug!
Still think Obi versus Anakin in Revenge of the Sith is a brilliant emotional moment even though the Tarzan swinging is pretty ridiculous.
I think George wrote in the midiclorians just so Qui Gon could send that blod sample to Obi Wan back in the ship. I think George didnt really think about it in the bigger picture how it come of as. Just as an excuse to bring Anakin along and find out if he was force sensitive enough to give a fuck about him.
I had the sweet Slave I that came our when Shadows the Empire was out and had the trigger on the back for the wings. Dash Rendar Needs his own Movie. I don't care if it's irrelevant now. He's the equivalent of Kurt Russel in Space.
The...midichlorians (was it?) idea wasn't all that bad in my opinion. Not everyone can feel the force & become a jedi/sith even with the deepest devotion, it was kind of a "win the genetic lottery" to begin with, but I agree that this explanation and giving Anakin some ridiculous "amount" of it was no good at all.
But the pod-race was awesome. So was the game. I have to give them that.
Also, though there were no strong emotional connections between Maul & the Obi / Qui-gon duo, Maul was but an assassin trying to...screw things up. Not a childhood friend turned to the dark side, so not much emotion was needed in my opinion. Anyway the end of the fight was laughable (, cool acrobatics, but seriously? Watching as someone cuts you in half? Why?).
And it was kind of sad for me, I really liked Qui-gon's character, both in the movie and out.
Visual effects & the creativity (of aliens, ship designs etc.) aside, the story wasn't all that great, but wasn't horrible either.
At least that's my opinion.
Darth Maul is in SOLO , meaning it's now cannon that he survived.
Great review
I thought this movies pre-civil war context was an excellent and appropriate set up to the original films (4, 5, and 6). And the fact that they didn;t delve TOO deeply into it didn't make it boring but rather interesting. Over all I loved the way they showed the jedi's abilities and the the civil turmoil - - the movie was ruined by the kid and his inability to act with any measure of skill (saying EVERYTHING with the same expression . .ugh), and, of course, jar jar.
P.S.
I believe they show the fuzzy static in the holograms to remind the viewer of the distance the image is being projected from and avoid confusion that the person is actually present (make it clear to younger audiences as well)