Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 3D

[radiator]

The Senator for Naboo Gardens and Waterpark is secretly the Dark Lord of the Sith, who has orchestrated the blockade through his spineless ineffective allies.  By engineering this crisis specifically around his own homeworld, he both undermines Chancellor Zod of the Republic and positions himself to be elected in his place.  At the same time, he demonstrates the ineffectiveness of the Republic to manage its tax affairs, let alone deal with invasions of one of its member by another, giving momentum to a secessionist movement and eventually a civil war that he will use to set up the Jedi and reshape the Republic into his new Empire.

No offence, but I think pretty much anyone could pick that much up from watching the film. My problem with it is that the specifics of Palpatine's plan make no sense at all. There's no context for any of the events, no reason given to care about it all. And the characters are painted in such broad strokes that their personalities are 'good guy' and 'bad guy' with little in between - it's impossible to tell what their actual motivations are - it's all just a load of stuff happening in sequence rather than a coherent, driving narrative.

The 'plot', such as it is, is pretty comprehensively picked apart in the much-referenced Plinkett reviews. Why does Palpatine order the deaths of Obi Wan and Qui Gon? Why do the Jedi accept to train Anakin? What the hell is all that confusing nonsense about Qui Gon and Watto's deal? Who is the main character of the film? Why do characters frequently do completely illogical things?

That sort of thing is why people call the film 'confusing' - not because they can't grasp the basics of the story.

[TordelBack]

No offence, but I think pretty much anyone could pick that much up from watching the film.

Well aye, I wasn't suggesting any deep personal insight denied to the masses, I was answering the specific question of "why would you blockade a coach-tour destination?". 

All the stuff you mention, all of which is true, is part of what obscures and confuses what's (as space fantasy adventures go) a pretty interesting basic story. 

However, where I take issue with the Red Letter Media reviews, extremely clever though they are, is that many of their criticisms could be applied to ANY action film.  Raiders of the Lost Ark, one of the most enjoyable films ever made, makes no sense, and the heroes achieve absolutely nothing, when examined with the same sort of precise dissection applied by RLM*.  However, it doesn't matter in RotLA, because we care about the characters, we now their motivations, and we know who the bad guys are, so the adventure carries us past dodgy questions of location, logic and physics. 

The problem with TPM is exactly what you state - it never spends any of its running time getting us to care, because it spends too much time lurching about illogically and inconsistently, obscuring what has the potential to be a good story. In short, in trades on the expectation that SW fandom will automatically care, will buy the reference books and the comic tie-ins, and fill in the gaps for themselves, because that's what SW fandom has always dome.  For example, as to the coach-tour blockade question, I would argue that you'd have to know Palpatine and Sidious are one and the same for it to make sense, information not really contained in the film itself, beyond one lingering camera shot at the end.  Lucas just assumes you will know, or go off and find out, because everyone loves Star Wars.

But I'm repeating myself for the n^th time. 


* The RLM are videos designed as comedies, extracting the most laughs possible from lameness, and they're very funny - but they're not realistic reviews. 

[Michaelvk]

I dunno.. Somehow after 25 years that's the best he could come up with? It all just seemed a bit hashed together really.. As is to make sure that it made it's screen time he left every other page out of the script.

[radiator]

I think it's more of a case of someone dashing off a script in one draft with no editorial control.

[TordelBack]

No arguments there.

[HdE]

I don't often take this stance on entertainment, but...

Is it just me, or does the advertising schtick here seem a bit overblown? 'Experience it for the frst time in 3D'... as if any of these movies were mind-blowing tip-top Star Wars experiences in the first place?

Lucas needs to STOP with this continual tinkering and endless regurgitation of the movies. It's turned a once-was-fun franchise into something quite boring and missable, to be blunt.

Don't get me wrong, I LIKE those 3 movies. But there's no doubt in my mind that the magic and excitement from the original trilogy just isn't there. These aren't movie events that are worthy of the sort of fanfare that seems present in those header texts.

You do know the advertising "fanfare" is designed to make people want to see the film?

What would you recommend?

"See this so-so film that most people thought was one of the worst Star Wars films ever made - IN 3D!"

Yes, I fully acknowledge that (I'm not daft, you know!)

My point is, that tag line seems to suggest that there's something particularly special about these movies, and... well, I just don't get that. These movies didn't even have the magic and air of excitement about them that the earlier trilogy did. At least, certainly not in my neck of the woods.

And like I said, I enjoy these movies. I think they get progressively better with each instalment. But rather than continually making alterations to stuff he's already done, I'd have more respect for Lucas if he would maybe make some other movies. From scratch.

[vzzbux]

As has been said before the kids enjoy it and it still will put bums on the seats.
No matter how lame people think it is they will introduce their kids to it through this medium which is something Lucas knows and had tapped into.
The Star Wars brand has been cleverly sold for decades and will continue to do so. Love it or loath it Lucas wins.





V

[TordelBack]

The Star Wars brand has been cleverly sold for decades and will continue to do so. Love it or loath it Lucas wins.

This.

Of course there are innumerable ways new Star Wars could have been way better handled from this ageing nerd's point of view, but the bottom line is that I'm making a Clone Trooper base for my son's Christmas present, 30 years after I first saw Empire Strikes back, and almost 10 years after I first saw a Clone Trooper, which was itself 4 years before he was born.  Next year we'll be seeing our first cinema Star Wars together.  That's a result for Lucas and for me.

[Roger Godpleton]

Why don't you marry him if he's so great?

[Michaelvk]

..and almost 10 years after I first saw a Clone Trooper..

Bloody nora! Has it been THAT long already??

No wonder I groan getting up off the sofa...

[JOE SOAP]

Why don't you marry him if he's so great?

His wife wouldn't put up with the extra chinnage in bed.

[A.Cow]

That's no excuse for bad storytelling in the prequels just cos it's for ten year olds. Don't they deserve better?

Are you suggesting that the dialogue in any of the original Star Wars trilogy was "better"?  That there was dramatic depth in a fairy tale about heroes rescuing a princess, or teddy bears saving the universe whilst worshipping a camp golden robot?

Star Wars was fluff with great special effects, but it was immensely enjoyable fluff -- and we loved it because we were kids.

When our parents took us to see Star Wars they didn't exactly get much out of it -- you don't see many people over 50 (now) still raving about it the same way as our generation does.  To them it was just a kids' film that didn't really offer much for adults.  Sound familiar?

[I, Cosh]

I've seen Phantom Menace half a dozen times and I've no idea who Chancellor Zod is. Unless it's Charles Dance.

And it was my dad who wanted to see Star Wars. I was too young (4/5) to have been aware of it.

[Roger Godpleton]

Wait, are you 38?

[I, Cosh]

Wait, are you 38?

Yes. How does that affect our relationship?