Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace 4K Blu-ray Review & Comments

I rewatched it today. Sure, some of it doesn't quite work, but George Lucas is one hell of an artist and visionary. The trade dispute is an interesting storyline, considering the last four years of political turmoil in the UK, I found it more engaging than I did 20 years ago. The trade dispute is about Palpatine planting the seeds of his eventual rise to power. This is how dictators come to power, sometimes mirroring what occurred in the run-up to 1933 in Germany. Heavy stuff for kids.

Palpatine is playing a game of 3-D chess, holding all the pieces and moving them as political unrest in the galaxy unfolds. He is the ultimate villain of the series.

The Jedi are arrogant and complacent and STUPID. It's their fault for what transpires. They sit in their ivory tower debating, out of touch with what's happening outside. They don't support Qui-Gon to train Anakin. If Anakin was trained by Qui-Gon, he wouldn't have been seduced by Palpatine, who becomes the surrogate father.

Anakin is a slave to Watto, slave to his emotions, then eventually becomes a slave to Palpatine. He tries to save Padme, then kills her, is beaten by Obi-Wan, becomes a cyborg.

Like I said already, it doesn't always work. The exposition is heavy and doesn't have much suspense in those scenes. Padme decoy wasn't a surprise. The audience is far too ahead for this to work. The dialogue is ropey, but I think it's a stylistic choice.
 
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I rewatched it today. Sure, some of it doesn't quite work, but George Lucas is one hell of an artist and visionary. The trade dispute is an interesting storyline, considering the last four years of political turmoil in the UK, I found it more engaging than I did 20 years ago. The trade dispute is about Palpatine planting the seeds of his eventual rise to power. This is how dictators come to power, sometimes mirroring what occurred in the run-up to 1933 in Germany. Heavy stuff for kids.

Palpatine is playing a game of 3-D chess, holding all the pieces and moving them as political unrest in the galaxy unfolds. He is the ultimate villain of the series.

The Jedi are arrogant and complacent and STUPID. It's their fault for what transpires. They sit in their ivory tower debating, out of touch with what's happening outside. They don't support Qui-Gon to train Anakin. If Anakin was trained by Qui-Gon, he wouldn't have been seduced by Palpatine, who becomes the surrogate father.

Anakin is a slave to Watto, slave to his emotions, then eventually becomes a slave to Palpatine. He tries to save Padme, then kills her, is beaten by Obi-Wan, becomes a cyborg.

Like I said already, it doesn't always work. The exposition is heavy and doesn't have much suspense in those scenes. Padme decoy wasn't a surprise. The audience is far too ahead for this to work. The dialogue is ropey, but I think it's a stylistic choice.
Will have to dig out my copy for a re-watch. I agree, the trade dispute was a good premise, & the inactivity of the Jedi was a failing - yes, they are Police, not an Army, but they should have been more active.
 
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I rewatched it today. Sure, some of it doesn't quite work, but George Lucas is one hell of an artist and visionary. The trade dispute is an interesting storyline, considering the last four years of political turmoil in the UK, I found it more engaging than I did 20 years ago. The trade dispute is about Palpatine planting the seeds of his eventual rise to power. This is how dictators come to power, sometimes mirroring what occurred in the run-up to 1933 in Germany. Heavy stuff for kids.

Palpatine is playing a game of 3-D chess, holding all the pieces and moving them as political unrest in the galaxy unfolds. He is the ultimate villain of the series.

The Jedi are arrogant and complacent and STUPID. It's their fault for what transpires. They sit in their ivory tower debating, out of touch with what's happening outside. They don't support Qui-Gon to train Anakin. If Anakin was trained by Qui-Gon, he wouldn't have been seduced by Palpatine, who becomes the surrogate father.

Anakin is a slave to Watto, slave to his emotions, then eventually becomes a slave to Palpatine. He tries to save Padme, then kills her, is beaten by Obi-Wan, becomes a cyborg.

Like I said already, it doesn't always work. The exposition is heavy and doesn't have much suspense in those scenes. Padme decoy wasn't a surprise. The audience is far too ahead for this to work. The dialogue is ropey, but I think it's a stylistic choice.

Damn!! You’ve spoiled it all for me now, where were the spoiler tags? 🤣
 
@Panavision
Damn!! You’ve spoiled it all for me now, where were the spoiler tags? 🤣
There tagged now, well some of it. Even though I see the series a few time there were things in the review I forgot and would have come as a surprise when I watched again.
 
@Panavision

There tagged now, well some of it. Even though I see the series a few time there were things in the review I forgot and would have come as a surprise when I watched again.
Lucky then there was no mention of
Ja Ja Binks
. Who would ever have seen that coming? :D
 
Lucky then there was no mention of
Ja Ja Binks
. Who would ever have seen that coming? :D
Next someone will be telling me that
Anakin is Luke’s father!!!
 
Lucky then there was no mention of
Ja Ja Binks
. Who would ever have seen that coming? :D
Nobody would watch the film at all if they knew that was coming. :laugh:
 
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@Panavision

There tagged now, well some of it. Even though I see the series a few time there were things in the review I forgot and would have come as a surprise when I watched again.

Never thought I'd read that in my lifetime. :D

Apologies, I never thought there was that much interest in the movie's theme, symbolism, motifs.
 
I’m afraid that in my opinion, the ‘Phantom Menace’ is just a bad movie. The story telling is poor, the digital effects look terrible, the character of Darth Maul is never developed and and Jake Lloyd is really annoying. Let’s not mention ‘There’s always a bigger fish’.

And then there’s Jar Jar Binks.

It’s got none of the charm of original movies.


Regards,
James.
 
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Further thoughts on TPM:

Anakin isn't the protagonist of the story. The story begins with Qui-Gon as the protagonist, but he doesn't change and becomes less effective as the story progresses. The story fails to establish a protagonist throughout the second and third acts. It's unclear who changes in the story.

In ESB, Obi-Wan said that Yoda trained, but it's established in TPM that it was Qui-Gon who trained him.

Obi-Wan does nothing in the story until the duel.

There is no actual dramatic plot, it mainly consists of incidents with no unifying through-line to piece it all together.

In Star Wars IV, the story is about mechanised technology versus spiritualism. In the subsequent movies it shifts the thematic line to the importance of fatherhood and the effects on the son, which is then imported into the prequels to some degree. The mechanised tech eroding spiritualism theme is still there, though. In AOTC, the creation of the droid and clone army, but it's unclear how this effects the spiritualism motif. In Star Wars IV, it's in the subplot that joins the thrust of the goal to destroy the Death Star. The force wins.
 
Further thoughts on TPM:

Anakin isn't the protagonist of the story. The story begins with Qui-Gon as the protagonist, but he doesn't change and becomes less effective as the story progresses. The story fails to establish a protagonist throughout the second and third acts. It's unclear who changes in the story.

In ESB, Obi-Wan said that Yoda trained, but it's established in TPM that it was Qui-Gon who trained him.

Obi-Wan does nothing in the story until the duel.

There is no actual dramatic plot, it mainly consists of incidents with no unifying through-line to piece it all together.

In Star Wars IV, the story is about mechanised technology versus spiritualism. In the subsequent movies it shifts the thematic line to the importance of fatherhood and the effects on the son, which is then imported into the prequels to some degree. The mechanised tech eroding spiritualism theme is still there, though. In AOTC, the creation of the droid and clone army, but it's unclear how this effects the spiritualism motif. In Star Wars IV, it's in the subplot that joins the thrust of the goal to destroy the Death Star. The force wins.

In Star Wars IV, the story is about mechanised technology versus spiritualism

Is it? I did 'A' Level film studies quite some time ago, and nobody came up with that conclusion 😲 .
Bad suppressing good. Young man longing to escape his dull life for adventure, and his transition to manhood and ultimately facing his predetermined fate (destiny). There's religious overtones with the 'Force' of course, but don't see an overriding conflict between mechanised technology and spiritualism. There's no rejection of mechanisation from the 'Force' users (Vader, Obiwan etc). Yoda's lack of technology in ESP is because he'd hiding on a swamp planet, and not due to any moral objections.

But we all interpret things differently, so there's no right or wrong answers!

Regards,
James.
 
In Star Wars IV, the story is about mechanised technology versus spiritualism

Is it? I did 'A' Level film studies quite some time ago, and nobody came up with that conclusion 😲 .
Bad suppressing good. Young man longing to escape his dull life for adventure, and his transition to manhood and ultimately facing his predetermined fate (destiny). There's religious overtones with the 'Force' of course, but don't see an overriding conflict between mechanised technology and spiritualism. There's no rejection of mechanisation from the 'Force' users (Vader, Obiwan etc). Yoda's lack of technology in ESP is because he'd hiding on a swamp planet, and not due to any moral objections.

But we all interpret things differently, so there's no right or wrong answers!

Regards,
James.

Only in Star Wars episode IV. The theme changes course in Empire and Jedi, which focuses more on the effects of the father's relationship with the son, but I believe the original theme of Star Wars is what I wrote. It's verbally expressed by Vader when he compares the power of the force to the insignificant Death Star, dismissing the technological monstrosity. He was right, it was insignificant.

It's also visually expressed in the subplot when Luke uses the force to beat the floating sphere on the falcon and then in the Death Star trench run where the subplot melds with the story goal.
 
Further thoughts on TPM:

Anakin isn't the protagonist of the story. The story begins with Qui-Gon as the protagonist, but he doesn't change and becomes less effective as the story progresses. The story fails to establish a protagonist throughout the second and third acts. It's unclear who changes in the story.

In ESB, Obi-Wan said that Yoda trained, but it's established in TPM that it was Qui-Gon who trained him.

Obi-Wan does nothing in the story until the duel.

There is no actual dramatic plot, it mainly consists of incidents with no unifying through-line to piece it all together.

In Star Wars IV, the story is about mechanised technology versus spiritualism. In the subsequent movies it shifts the thematic line to the importance of fatherhood and the effects on the son, which is then imported into the prequels to some degree. The mechanised tech eroding spiritualism theme is still there, though. In AOTC, the creation of the droid and clone army, but it's unclear how this effects the spiritualism motif. In Star Wars IV, it's in the subplot that joins the thrust of the goal to destroy the Death Star. The force wins.

it’s established in TPM Obi-Wan is the Palawan of Qui-Gon, but we do see Yoda training the youngkings. So it follows that Obi-Wan was trained by Yoda. In directing Luke to Yoda, it’s a pertinent detail.
 
Only in Star Wars episode IV. The theme changes course in Empire and Jedi, which focuses more on the effects of the father's relationship with the son, but I believe the original theme of Star Wars is what I wrote. It's verbally expressed by Vader when he compares the power of the force to the insignificant Death Star, dismissing the technological monstrosity. He was right, it was insignificant.

It's also visually expressed in the subplot when Luke uses the force to beat the floating sphere on the falcon and then in the Death Star trench run where the subplot melds with the story goal.
I believe it is all more about faith in a way of life as against spiritulism. Many of the characters might end up believing in the Force, but they don't worship it. And that applies to both sides of the struggle. No, it is the desire of one set of people fighting for a Democratic way of life for everyone, versus another set who believe in an existence where decisions are made by one person who makes himself the Head, & chooses his subordinates himself.
 
I believe it is all more about faith in a way of life as against spiritulism. Many of the characters might end up believing in the Force, but they don't worship it. And that applies to both sides of the struggle. No, it is the desire of one set of people fighting for a Democratic way of life for everyone, versus another set who believe in an existence where decisions are made by one person who makes himself the Head, & chooses his subordinates himself.

But none of that is expressed in Star Wars IV, probably because George didn't think about the future movies in any detail. That idea is certainly prevalent in the prequels, though.

Here's another couple of expressions of the theme in Star Wars IV:

Han chooses not to believe in the force - he's a sceptic; believes in a "blaster" saving the day.

Imperial forces believe in the power of the Death Star. One officer dismisses the old religion and the sorcerer methods.
 
But none of that is expressed in Star Wars IV, probably because George didn't think about the future movies in any detail. That idea is certainly prevalent in the prequels, though.

Here's another couple of expressions of the theme in Star Wars IV:

Han chooses not to believe in the force - he's a sceptic; believes in a "blaster" saving the day.

Imperial forces believe in the power of the Death Star. One officer dismisses the old religion and the sorcerer methods.
I completely understand where you're coming from, but if we look at IV as a standalone, then I think we can pare it down to a straight forward tale of Good vs Evil. After all, although Luke uses the Force to "Guide" the proton torpedo, it is still a piece of technology that does the actual destroying, not the good side of The Force itself.
 
I completely understand where you're coming from, but if we look at IV as a standalone, then I think we can pare it down to a straight forward tale of Good vs Evil.

But you can say that about most films, good versus evil is very broad but not specific.

After all, although Luke uses the Force to "Guide" the proton torpedo, it is still a piece of technology that does the actual destroying, not the good side of The Force itself.

Oh no, we are heading into pedantry here. :D
 

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