Spoilers

happy 2022 star wars day, may the forth be with you or revenge of the fifth, or this is the may… which everyone you are, i hope youve had a fab day. So i though you know what ive not watched Phantom in years, so lets do this. I always forget this one if im honest. It has a couple of oh wow moments but not to many.

This is actually my first memory as a child watching star wars, watching The Phantom Menace. It was my great uncles 70th birthday party & we were all staying at a big conference centre & while all the adults were reminiscing we were allowed to go play hide & seek in the grounds & do whatever, but one room had The Phantom Menace on which i stumbled upon & was like whats this & it was put on a loop. So when it started again i sat down aged about 10 & started watching it, so much so that someone came to find me & i was like im watching this what is it. That spring i watched all the originals on tv & was like ooooh wow. So this moment is part of the reason im a big nerd.

This is better than people gave it credit for. I mean i get that there are some bits that arent the best part of star wars, i really do we will get to that, but over all this actually had a really hard job to do, where to start from & how to show the Jedi’s & introduce young Ani. It has a lot to deal with & now looking back it years later it does it well.

Okay im going to moan first of all, lets get it out the race. I cant stand the Pod Race. I get it & t was showing off the technology at the time & yes there are so many easter eggs in it, but the actual race until the very end of it when the other guy crashes, isnt good. It takes up nearly 20mins of the film. & at no point, even as a kid who didnt know anything about star wars, was i ever concerned that kids wasnt going to win or make it through. It just feel meh. & every time i watch it i go no watch it with a clear mind girl maybe this time it will work. But from the moment the dice are tricked to him saying take the kid, it just feels like a waste of time.

I dont hate Jar Jar, but he is irritating, but as a little kid, he was clumsy like me & him being a friend & nice did actually pay off & bring unity to that part of the galaxy. So please dont hate on him, just say hes little bit of a twat, but we can all be that sometime. Hes meant to represent the new excited people to star wars, which was me.

When Darth Maul gets out that double ended lightsabre, to this day, i still get goosebumps like i did the first time i saw it. I think it was that moment that made me stop & watch it as a kid, being like woo what is that. & that fight between the three of them is so good. Its so intense & the steaks are so high & its so well choreographed & well done & the score is insane ( i mean star wars scores always are, thats a given its Williams) but it just so works & is a pleasure to watch.

I also adore how its edited with the rest of the people & whats going on in the final show down. From Padme trying to get into the throne room, to the attack on the space station & then also the ground battle on Naboo. It all works so well. It feels organic & is edited really well.

Was it really a shock when it was revelled that Padme was the queen. I get the decoy but up until that point it was clearly Portman in the other outfit too. Even as a child i was like hang on thats the same actress as Padme. I mean it does drop hints through it, but it was weird. I obviously learnt how to spot stuff from an early age watching movies.

R2D2 & C3PO being in it but not being united yet & being introduced was good. As a kid with not much prior star wars knowledge before first watching it, i knew what an R2D2 was, so that was sweet & like aww. Now as an adult you go ohhh it was always his droid.

Do you think your jedi mind tricks will work? I love that its so cool such a no fuck you moment to it. Making a mockery of what you know should be able to work & prove that he has a strong mind & cant be turned.

Meeting the Jedi council is cool. Its very cool & seeing how they live their lives. Especially as in the original films the Jedi are all but gone. Its interesting to see how this is the start of the downfall & how this leads to the destruction of it all. If only they knew.

McGregor is the perfect Obi-Wan for these film. He is made to look so young & hopeful in this & learning his way. His journey from the start of the film still learning to end up being Anis ward & allowed to train him is so good from being all yes master to being the boss we know he ends up being. What a portrayal which does just grow with the prequels & now the Obi-Wan series.

If i list all the easter eggs & nods in this film we will be here for 1000 years, because there are so many.

Could there be prequels to the prequels (yes i know there are) but its like well where did the trad federation come from. Why were they moody? why was it all about taxes… so many things to look at but we will get that soon ( i know this now much further forward in time) but the exposition about what gives someone the force & makes them a Jedi is very clever. Also explaining it to a kid too, means its explained at its most basic simple form.

Ani doesnt like sand because it reminds him of home… ahhhhhhhhhh NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO JOKE ABOUT THAT AGAIN BECAUSE IT GIVES HIM PTSD FROM BEING A SLAVE!!! Im not wrong am i.

The big fish is weird, but i get the point that theres always something else to be on the look out for.

Now as a kid i didnt understand why we kept looking at Ian McDiarmid in a weird way, it was only afterwards when i was shown the original 3 films i was like ahhhhhhhhh hes evil, he is the sith lord, but i can see why all the adults smirked watching that bit & i didnt get it.

I love the senate council, but after spending so long trying to escape Naboo to be safe & not be in a war, to then go no im going to go home & be bait was a bit weird. I mean it works, but why not then send the decoy back & you stay safe where you are princess. If your decoy is that good a decoy, send them. Idiot.

I still like this film, it is the weakest of the prequels, but much like Die Another Day was the first Bond film i saw in the cinema, this was the film that got me into Star Wars, so when i hate on it & moan about it, i do it out of love because it was my original. Without it im pretty sure i wouldnt be the Sci-Fi nerd i am now & im proud to be that. Yes its got issues, but there are so many oh wow moments that shoot the bad bits down in flames.

May the forth be with you.