With Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (TFA) due to hit theaters in (gasp!) two weeks, my wife has withstood constant barrages from me regarding plot theories for the upcoming sequel and how it will tie into the six existing films as well as other Disney-approved "canon" like the Clone Wars and Rebels TV series, the new books, and the comics. I only include quotes around the word canon to honor the countless books and stories we saw prior to Disney's acquisition of Star Wars in 2012 that have now been scrapped due to the impossibility of incorporating them into future Star Wars projects. I know it hurts that we may not see Admiral Thrawn, Dash Rendar, or Palpatine's clone on the silver screen, but I find it to be a worthwhile tradeoff for a Star Wars universe that will, over time, be a much more connected and unified world. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
I love Star Wars. Like, a lot. Like many fans, I've spent the past three years salivating over every sliver of news about TFA and the projects that will follow in its wake. Loving Star Wars is an emotional experience if you really, truly care about that galaxy far, far away. For me, that means facing and accepting the prequels for what they are despite the litany of gags and missteps you'll see me revisit if you read this entire six part retrospective. Be that as it may, my series on the six saga films is an attempt to channel my Star Wars fever into an acceptable medium instead of offering unsolicited speculation to my lovely and patient wife about how Darth Plagueis might make an appearance in TFA. I also intend to connect the dots as much as possible between these six films while making reference to Clone Wars and Rebels. So yes, there will be complete SPOILERS for the six main films as well as minor spoilers from the TV shows, so read carefully!
Whenever I meet somebody who has never seen a Star Wars film, I always recommend watching the original trilogy (OT) first. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (or "Star Wars") should always be the launch pad for newcomers to the franchise, no matter their age. It truly sets the tone of what makes Star Wars so great: practical effects, cheeky dialogue, relatable heroes, a tremendous villain, jaw-dropping space battles, you name it. Once a new fan has finished Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, they typically want to see the prequels to learn more about the galaxy. While the prequels are still a tough pill to swallow for most, they're much more enjoyable if they're not your first Star Wars experience. In fact, if you tell someone to watch Episode I: The Phantom Menace first, you've likely doomed that person's potential enjoyment of a franchise that's about to become bigger than ever. Additionally, I think the only way to overcome the blood-boiling inclusion of Jar Jar Binks is to have those original three films under your belt as a reminder of what Star Wars is at its best.
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| Meesa Unnecessary! |
When I first saw Menace, I was twelve years old and about ten thousand times more forgiving. While I did find Jar Jar unpleasant, I was more caught up in the pod race, the Jedi and the looming threat of Darth Maul. I saw Menace in theaters at least three times and I genuinely enjoyed it. But in the case of this movie, time doesn't heal all wounds, it reopens and infects them. In the sixteen years since Menace's release, I've begrudgingly thrown my DVD or blu-ray of the film in only to see how poorly CGI holds up after a decade or more. There are exceptions like The Lord of the Rings trilogy, but Menace, like most of the special edition scenes of IV-VI, has aged like so many pounds of liverwurst left out in the Florida sun. The OT's original scenes, by comparison, hold up remarkably well after more than thirty years.
What worked in Episode I?
It made Star Wars BIGGER. New planets, more Jedi, a name for what Darth Vader, Darth Maul and the Emperor really are: Sith. I can't complain about most of the casting, either. Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman are all talented actors but even they struggled to lift the wooden dialogue out of paralysis. I had no problem with most of the CGI used in the space battle scenes, either. The static backdrop of outer space allowed the animators to focus on vibrant looking ships and planets.
LIGHTSABERS, BRO. Damn, did this film up the lightsaber game for Star Wars. Whether George Lucas intended or not, the buildup for the warmup battle between Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul was palpable and raised the tension for the climactic duel towards the end. The introduction of "Duel of Fates" by John Williams underscores the millennia-long battle between the Jedi and Sith. And even though Darth Maul's double-ended lightsaber was spoiled in the trailers, its reveal in the context of the film is also cool as hell. It's a shame, however, that Maul is the only character in the existing movies to brandish a weapon like that.
SIDIOUS. Long before the prequels, I had an obsession with Darth Vader's boss, the Emperor. After two films in the OT of Vader scaring the bejesus out of our heroes and the audience, Return of the Jedi introduced us (in person, not a hologram) to the guy who scares Vader. Up until then we're wondering, who is this Emperor? Is he just a whiny politician like those mooks at the Death Star meeting in A New Hope? Why does Vader take orders from him? Then, within minutes of the opening crawl of Episode I, we see a hologram of Darth Sidious, a character we immediately recognize as the Emperor, not least of all because the incomparable Ian McDiarmid reprised the role for the prequels and his voice is unmistakable. Some fans like to roll their eyes at the idea of attempting to shroud Sidious's identity since we as fans also know the name Palpatine and can easily discern that Senator Palpatine, played by McDiarmid, is Sidious's alter ego. This is another instance when I'll give George Lucas his due. He introduces holograms of both Sidious and Palpatine in the beginning of Menace to get fans in on the secret that the characters within the story won't figure out until Episode III. It's similar to the journey Lucas wanted us to take with Anakin Skywalker, but this is more interesting to me because an argument could be made that the prequels are really the Emperor's story as he is the actual puppet master who dupes everybody, including Anakin. But more on that later...
DARTH MAUL. Duh. Almost every Star Wars fan adores Darth Maul. How could you not? He basically looks like Satan with a lightsaber and fella, that had me sold on Episode I long before it hit theaters. The realization that "Darth" was a title opened up so many avenues for the mythology of the Sith to become a subgenre of Star Wars in its own right. And it has. Although no longer official canon, I can't praise Darth Plagueis by James Luceno nearly enough. Without spoiling too much, I will say that the book deepens Palpatine's motivations for setting the Clone Wars in motion and restoring the Sith Empire. If Star Wars fans never get to see some form of Darth Plagueis on the screen, be it in TFA or an anthology film, it would be a crime worthy of a Sarlacc execution. The biggest mistake Lucas made with Darth Maul wasn't just killing him in the final battle, it was dangling Maul like a carrot in front of the audience between the two dozen or so Jar Jar fart humor scenes just to keep us clinging to hope.
CORUSCANT. This planet is actually a layover from Shadows of the Empire, another excellent book set between IV and V that's no longer canon. Menace, however, brought Coruscant into radiant existence as the home to the Galactic Senate and the Jedi Council. This is a planet I do hope to see more of in future films, although I'd prefer to see it with more real sets and practical effects, reserving CGI for the wide shots. The idea of Coruscant as the Galactic capital is significant and is likely to play some kind of role in TFA, even if it's offscreen. Whether Coruscant was reclaimed by the new Republic after the fall of the Empire in VI or has been left to fester with criminals and Imperial outcasts remains to be seen, but I don't see how Abrams could ignore it completely. Plus, I'd just really love to see a dilapidated ruin of the Senate Rotunda, similar to the shots we've seen of Rey in TFA trailers wandering through a fallen Imperial Destroyer:
QUI-GON and OBI-WAN. I'll be the first to admit that aside from the final duel, this isn't Obi-Wan's best outing. His dialogue is stilted and his demeanor is overly cavalier considering the fact that he and his master have inadvertently discovered the "Chosen One" in Anakin Skywalker while uncovering the resurgence of their most significant historic foe, the Sith. Still, Neeson and McGregor play well off one another, and Neeson does a decent job of selling Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon is established as a bit of a rogue, usurping the Council's wishes to distance Anakin from the Jedi. He follows his gut and despite his wisdom, he comes off as reckless to others, even Obi-Wan. His death had an impact on the audience and Obi-Wan, but I feel like Lucas really blew it by dishing out instant gratification when Maul "dies" by being cut in half at the end of his duel with Kenobi. Theirs is a rivalry that should have lived on through Episode II at the very least.
***Side note***
The Clone Wars caved in to fans' demands and brought Darth Maul back into the universe. If you're a Star Wars fan and haven't watched that series, you must. It's not only done well, it adds so much more depth to all three prequel films. Set between Episodes II and III, the series takes the characters, settings and events from the prequels and hands them off to enthusiastic, talented writers who make the material better. The return of Maul opens up several exciting doors, not least of all a possible appearance in Disney and Lucasfilm's planned Kenobi anthology film set between III and IV. I'd love to see McGregor come back as a grayer Kenobi and make his final stand against Maul in a duel to the death. Maybe Maul has caught wind of Luke Skywalker living on Tatooine and Obi-Wan intervenes to protect the boy. The possibilities are endless!
Rematch, please!
POD RACING. I'm not saying this scene is above reproach, but it does deliver genuine thrills and showcases some of the best sound design in the entire series. My biggest gripe with the sequence is the stupid arena where it takes place. The two-headed announcer and his quips are almost as maddening as Jar Jar. Almost. The in between shots of Shmi, Jar Jar, Qui-Gon and Padme watching the race on their galactic iPad also do nothing to serve the story. But during the nearly ten minute sequence, I almost forget how much 10 year-old Anakin sucks and, dare I say it, start rooting for him. Then the race is over and the audience is reminded that Anakin can speak. It was nice while it lasted.
This brings me to my biggest gripes with The Phantom Menace. To list them all would be an exercise in misery, and I've already outlined a good many in my "positive" section. In my mind, there are two major issues with Episode I aside from Lucas's inability to write compelling dialogue: Young Anakin Skywalker and Jar Jar Binks. True, there's no shortage of garbage moments peppered throughout the film, but the improvement of Anakin's character development and the complete absence of Jar Jar would have done a lot to salvage a script that had a promising skeleton of a story. But alas, George Lucas wasn't entertaining much input during the 1997-2005 production cycle of the prequels.
Let's start with Anakin. Played by Jake Lloyd from 1996's Jingle All the Way, this character was thankless nearly from the start. Many fans dog pile on Lloyd's portrayal, but there's no denying his dialogue is trash from start to finish:
Thanks for the clarification.
Lucas's choice to make him a child instead of a teenager is strange to begin with, especially since Natalie Portman's Padme Amidala character seems SO much older. Given that Anakin and Padme are destined to marry, this relationship gives off the vibe of a boy growing up to score with his babysitter which seems like a fantasy that resonates more with George Lucas than his intended audience. If I were in Padme's shoes, I would have told that kid to scram right away. He's shrill and overly confident, and our merry band of heroes seems to merely tolerate him.
I'm not arguing that a child can't be a compelling protagonist. Daniel Radcliffe's Harry Potter was easy to root for not only because Radcliffe actually has some acting chops, but his story is an exciting one with beats that make sense. Menace's version of Anakin, however, is a muddled rendition of Luke's story arc from the OT. I have no problem with echoing story lines, but the idea of Qui-Gon stumbling upon some brat with a bowl cut who's "The One" makes little sense to me. Luke wasn't "The One." Luke was a guy who had to take action after his home was destroyed.
Had Anakin been 17 or 18 at the beginning of Menace like Luke was in New Hope, that would make more thematic sense while lending credence to Anakin's plight. Let's say Anakin first runs into Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan in a cantina. Anakin is rebellious by nature which is why he's grabbing a pint of Jawa Juice after a long afternoon of drag racing his pod in Beggar's Canyon. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are asking around for parts to get their ship back in the air when some local bounty hunters start some shit. The Jedi don't want to draw attention by using the Force or their lightsabers, so they engage their enemies with old fashioned fisticuffs. Anakin, loose after a couple of drinks, is no friend of these bounty hunters, so he joins in on the fight. He's somewhat capable of using the Force already, but he's uneducated in knowing how to channel it. His anger gets the best of him, and he kills one of the bounty hunters in the fight by Force pushing him across the cantina, breaking his neck. The other bounty hunter runs off to tell his boss, Jabba the Hutt, that the local Skywalker kid offed one of Jabba's best hired assassins. This starts a local conflict that culminates in the Jedi and Anakin nearly escaping Tatooine with his mother in tow only for Darth Maul, looking for the Jedi, to show up and kill her just as the ship is taking off. Anakin watches in rage and despair from the ship as Maul stands over his mother's corpse in the sand. Bam, we suddenly care about Anakin and his origin effectively echoes Luke's.
But that's not what happened. My version of Anakin's origin is just one half-cocked piece of fan fiction that pales in comparison to what someone as talented as Abrams would have done with Episode I and yet I'm confident that most fans would find my fantasy far preferable to what we got. Because Anakin's entry into the story is so underwhelming, the audience can't help but mentally shuffle him into the periphery in favor of focusing on the Jedi and Sith as they are the most engaging aspects of this first prequel film. One has to consciously remind oneself that THIS IS ANAKIN SKYWALKER AND HE BECOMES DARTH VADER. This is why at times Menace feels like a mandatory history assignment as told through the monotone voice of a writer who cares more about laying out the literal events that happened instead of focusing on what drove the people who perpetrated those events. I wish I could say Anakin got better in Episodes II and III as the character aged, but most people know how that worked out. The Clone Wars series is the only established canon thus far that deepens Anakin's story through good writing and a convincing voice actor who runs circles around Hayden Christensen's live action performance in the prequels. More on HC in subsequent entries...
No, Anakin. It isn't.
While Anakin's squandered entry into the series is uniquely disappointing, Jar Jar Binks will always be the greatest slight Episode I made against its fans. To say this character is annoying would be an understatement of galactic proportions. I'd argue that not only is Jar Jar the singular black hole of suckitude in Menace, he's the most embarrassing and disheartening character in the entire saga. I hate Jar Jar so much that I have to actively remind myself that the man who played him, Ahmed Best, is a nice character actor who, no pun intended, truly did his best. I really feel bad for that guy. Thankfully for him, most people don't recognize him since Jar Jar is all CGI, but he knows almost nobody on the planet likes the character he played in Star Wars, one of the biggest movie franchises in history. That just has to hurt.
George Lucas has always staunchly defended Jar Jar as comic relief for younger viewers, but I call hooey on that. C-3PO and R2-D2, if used properly, would have done plenty to cut tension between battles and more serious scenes. True, Lucas's decision to have Anakin build C-3PO was another nauseating plot choice, but it was even worse given that Lucas utterly emasculates 3PO by having the droid appear "naked" during his short stint in the film.
There is no God.
Another reason I call BS on the comic relief excuse is that Jar Jar takes up a disproportionate amount of screen time that could have been better used on, say, more scenes with Maul and Sidious for starters. The one scene the Sith lords have together that isn't a hologram lasts for about twenty seconds, but it's one of the most important pieces of plot the film has to offer:
Why didn't we get more of this?
By the end of the film, Jar Jar isn't just beating a dead horse, he's criminally overstaying his welcome onscreen. The climactic kickass lightsaber duel is mitigated by hideous CGI battle scenes of Jar Jar unwittingly defeating battle droids that look less threatening than fiberglass classroom skeletons. At the beginning of Menace, it's nearly impossible for the audience to overlook how easily Qui-Gon could have left Jar Jar on Naboo. Sure, Anakin was also a questionable pain in the ass to bring along, but at least he was a character that the story required. Jar Jar shows up literally out of nowhere and after proving himself to be an unwavering idiot and liability, Qui-Gon decides to bring him back to Coruscant. What was Qui-Gon's plan? Train Jar Jar as a Jedi? Help him find a reasonable one bedroom apartment near the Galactic Capital? I just don't get it. If Qui-Gon's only goal was to prevent Jar Jar from being executed by his own people, it could have been achieved through various methods that wouldn't have required a conspicuous and obnoxious Gungan to tag along on what was supposed to be a clandestine Jedi mission.
Obi-Wan momentarily considers murder.
If only Neeson could have used his "particular set of skills" from Taken on this Jar Jar jabroni. Better yet, I'd love to see a short fan film that depicts how Rick Grimes of The Walking Dead would deal with Jar Jar as a herd of the undead approach them. After the first "Exsqueeze me!" Rick would shank Jar Jar right in the base of his skull and the world would be a safer, more sensible place.
The Phantom Menace is more sour than sweet, much like the film that followed in its wake, Attack of the Clones, which I'll delve into in my next entry. However, there are a handful of flickering moments that do succeed on a cinematic level, including one of my favorite shots of the saga:
Hail, Satan.
What gives me hope is what I've seen done with Menace's plot in the expanded universe of Star Wars. The Plagueis novel, although not canon, sets the stage for the Sith to execute their thousand-year revenge. The Clone Wars series also runs with the best parts of this story. Bringing Darth Maul back and using his feelings of betrayal toward his former master, Sidious, to motivate him into jeopardizing the greater Sith Lord's plans to overthrow the Republic leads to an amazing story arc, as does Maul's obsession with killing Obi-Wan Kenobi. That's the trick. Put stock into your audience's emotional intelligence by exploring what motivates the characters, and the story becomes organic. That was the success of the Original Trilogy and from what I've seen teased of The Force Awakens, I'm getting the sense that the Force is strong with J.J. Abrams as well as the wizards at Disney who have changed the game with their handling of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Anthology films are the next unprecedented chapter for the Star Wars Universe. It's no surprise that Disney is seeking to capitalize on their investment by making as many Star Wars movies as possible which jitters some of the fan base. In a world with seven Fast and the Furious movies, many of which are solid action films, why should we be so worried that Lucasfilm, under the new leadership of Kathleen Kennedy and Disney CEO Bob Iger, can't be trusted to source the right directing talent for these projects? So far they've assembled an incredible and diverse lineup of directors and writers for the upcoming films, just like Disney's done with all of their Marvel movies. Even the weakest Marvel entries like Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 are still very watchable movies, and both are better than fringe superhero outings like Amazing Spider-Man 2 or 2015's Fantastic Four.
What did you think of Fantastic Four, Cap?
To be clear, saga films are the episodic entries in the Star Wars story like Episodes I-VI and now the upcoming VII-IX. Anthology films are the cinematic equivalent of spinoffs, free to explore any era of Star Wars in perpetuity. Talk about possibilities. As demonstrated by the interconnectivity of The Clone Wars and Rebels shows to the events in both existing film trilogies, I'm confident and excited that the next several years will usher in a new era of Star Wars that will weave the prequels into a greater context that diminishes their tarnish on the franchise. As a fan, I can say that The Phantom Menace is by far my least favorite Star Wars film, but because of my fandom I can't help but focus on what it did right. Call me naive, but I'll bet that if my wish of a Kenobi/Maul grudge match becomes an onscreen reality, fans will rejoice at having experienced their rivalry for the first time in 1999. That's just one of what I hope will be many payoffs from George Lucas and his prequel sideshow. For better or worse, The Phantom Menace has left a tremendous impact on the series so we must place our hope in the future and trust that Abrams and his colleagues have learned what not to do.
Until next time...
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