SPOLIER ALERT! SPOLIER ALERT! SPOLIER ALERT!
Release Date: May 1999
Actually, it's May 1999.
Thanks for the correction, Bwebber.
I dislike the title "The Phantom Menace." It sounds too much like a horror film. It would not surprise me if George Lucas changes the title before it is released. Note: "Return of the Jedi" was originally "Revenge of the Jedi."
I saw a preview for this last night. I was like "HOLY *BLEEP*" It looks sweet!!!!!!!! I can't wait till May.
I read in the paper that Fox was doing "special sneak previews" of the trailer. The TRAILER!? And people stayed all day in theaters to see it! Talk about your fan base..... (note: I mean no offense at all to people who did this. We all have to do weird things once in a while to stay sane and this is a good one to pick. Stay enthusiastic! Reject the rampant cynicism of our times! :-)
Just wondering why this particular board is up. You know how long this will be when the movie finally does come out? Just hope the moderator has at least some sense in removing the pre-movie comments, or at least make a new board.
R.E.---- The Phantom Menace ----
"And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for you snoopy Jedi and your little kid too!"-- Darth Maul
One wonders if Tim Conway will make a special apperance.
P.S. If the movie is half as good as the trailer then Lucas has accoplish ten times what he set out for.
In the trailer (which I saw on ET) this guy is holding a two bladed lightsaber. Someone
with the Tech Manual: Is this possible in the SW universe?
Corey... You have a right to your own opinion. But notice YOUR'RE posting a comment
before the movie?
The Friday the trailer was released, I went to go see "Enemy of the State." While in line, there was a group of four guys asking the ticket seller which movies had the SW preview attached to it. The seller had a list on hand (I guess they got lots of requests for this).
The group bought tickets to the same movie I went to and sat three rows ahead of me. When the Fox logo appeared, they squirmed and finally clapped when the Lucasfilm logo appeared. The preview came and went, and then so did the group.
I have no idea if they left the cineplex or if they went to another theater to catch the preview again or to watch adifferent movie. But it struck me as very odd that someone would pay $7.50 to see a one minute movie trailer that I saw on TV the night before for free.
Did anyone else notice that Yoda looked absolutely realistic and lifelike... in "The Empire Strikes Back?"
He looked unusually rubbery in that preview. But everything else looked great. I love that twin-blade lightsaber!!!
Does anyone else find it odd that the very same film company which joked "Plot does matter" releases a trailer which reveals zero of the plot. It was definitely cool, however, if kind of facile.
It seems like everyone in the past generation has really weird names, while many people in the original trilogy have awfully normal names - Luke, Owen, Han, Ben, and so on. Here's a possibility. When the Empire took over, it forced everyone to assume really normal names. That would explain definitely why Obi-Wan became Ben!
Nice theory, except I wouldn't call Beru, Wedge, Biggs, Lando, Mon (is that her first name, or her title?) and Bail "normal" names.
As for Obi-Wan, I once heard a theory that he may have been a clone of the original Kenobi, whose designation was OB-1.
I normally don't like noting nits before I see a film but I'll make an exception here. In "Star Wars: A New Hope", Ben tells Luke that his father had a reputation as a fighter pilot before meeting him. Does it look to anyone like this kid (who looks like a six year old) has a reputation as a fighter pilot. I know in the commerical we see him flying but 2-1 odds that will occur at the end of the film after meeting Ben, not before
I have the Star Wars Weapons and Technology Guide and it has a double-bladed lightsaber in it. It was first developed by the Dark Jedi Exar Kun who is also mentioned in the Dark Horse Star Wars comic books and Kevin Anderson's Jedi Academy Trilogy. It uses two crystals instead of one.
Oh really. Hey, maybe Exar Kun is one of the bad (sorry, I didn't mean to be
judgemental, especially after hearing Sharon Stone's speech) DARK Jedi in the movie
K.N.D., not bloody likely. Exar Kun lived about 4000 years before the events in Star Wars. He didn't actually die though. According to the Jedi Academy Trilogy (if you consider the novels canonical) his spirit was trapped in one of the temples on Yavin.
Right, yeah. I read some of one of those books waay back when, and i remembered
him. Maybe I should've said 'dark Jedi ghosts' instead. BTW, sorry about the Sharon
Stone thing, but I was really ticked off at her U.N. address.
I was watching the SW:I trailer on-line, and did I see Samuel L. Jackson in the trailer?
yep. I think that he plays an "evil Jedi Knight."
With him, I think the number of black men in the Star Wars franchise has just doubled!
Yep, and once again we have a accent problem...the guy he's talking to has a very
marked English accent, and I believe that Jackson has a American accent. (course, I'm
American, so it'ssometimes hard to tell.) Shouldn't they all either have one accent, or
hundreds of different ones? BTW, I downloaded mine off CNN, and it took ages and it
showed up in a teeny little bok. Did you have the same problem?
"teeny little box", I meant. BTW, I had a weird dream last night and I was wondwer
ing if, just possibly, it had some truth in it: It turns out that Obi-wan Kenobi is Ben
Kenobi's (twin?) brother. Whaddya think?
Yes, I think that Samuel L. Jackson would only be the third black guy in SW, tho only other two I can think of would be Lando, and that unlucky X-wing pilot. ("She's gonna blow!"). Pehaps Darth Vader slew all the Jedi, and then turned his sights on the Equal Opportunity establishments.
I've downloaded the trailer and I've found a nit. At one point an alien 'bumps' his head into some sort of electrical current. He appears lightly shocked, but if that current is as powerful as it looks he should've acted like Luke when hit by the Emperor. And why is this current there? It seems to be the sort of thing that should have a protective field around it.
Well, the Empire does seem to discriminate against women and aliens... Daala was the
only female Admiral, wasn't she?
Kn: But only cause she was bouncing Tarkin.
BTW- There was at least one black man as one of the Cloud City guards in ESB. But maybe Lando is an equal opportunity employer.
Haven't seen the trailer yet. But just a note for the summary guy: I think Anakin is spelled like this.:)
Is this movie really when Anakin is 5? That's what my sis says..
TWO BLADED LIGHTSABER?! I GOTTA SEE THAT! Was it red or blue?
Do you guys think thatEps 7; 8; and 9 will be about the kids of the people in 3;4; and 5?
Thanks for the correction, asinclare.
Spockanina - Maybe this alien is more resistant to electricity than humans.
Asinclaire, I would guess more like 9. As for the double-bladed lightsaber, it was red.
BTW, that was me who misspelt my name 'Kn'...I'm going to start going by Nyla, my
middle name, so be warned!
2nd BTW: Upon due reflection, I don't like the name of this either
Gordon -- thanks. Just saw the preview, went to see ST:I.
You guys are right. If the movie is half as good as the trailer it'll be tops!
I just noticed one nit while watching the EPISODE 1 teaser in the theater today. Now, I'm not a STAR WARS fan, but I'm getting there the more I understand the story and characters and the whole idea of STAR WARS -- back to the nit! In the teaser, where those two guys jump accross the ravine(??) towards the guy with the double bladed light saber; watch the guy with the double bladed saber's left (I think) hand closely -- it looks to me like it briefly wraps around or touches the lit section of the ligh-saber, isn't that dangerous? Shouldn't his hand have been seared, or cut off? Can anyone verify this?
It strikes me that learning to use a double bladed lightsaber might be more dangerous than being attacked by someone weilding one.
Just think, one little boo-boo and you lose an arm. That was a short career.
There isn't gonna be a 7, 8, or 9. I don't like it, but that's what Lucas said. Also, Samuel L Jackson Is a good guy jedi that sits with Yoda and some others on the jedi council. Also, the energy thing that the ailien (His name is Jar Jar)
Is the front of his landspeeder, wich he is about to race through begar's Canyon. If you like this trivia stuff, Check out the CD ROM, Star Wars: Behind the Magic.
Has anyone seen Jake Lloyd's interview on ET January 20? Only nine and already predicting that SWTPM "gonna wipe Titanic off the boards." Not that that takes all that much predicting, does it? Oh, well, as they say, "From the mouths of babes."
Jake Lloyd is self aware and cocky enough to be the perfect spokesman for this prequel. How could he be more wise and cute?
I hope this movie blows every record away. Heck, my fiancee wants to see it. She didn't even know who Darth Vader was until she saw A New Hope : Special Edition last year.
Something has piqued her interest, and I'm sure she's not alone.
I think Jake's kinda justified in what he said, cuz it's probably true, or else the film will come waaayy close to beating Titanic. I certainly don't doubt it will beat Titanic, and I'm sure the other two films will too, though I almost think they might not do quite as well, but I could certainly be wrong and hope I am.
Also, since it will be so big it'll be a good idea to wait a month or two or three to see it cuz it'll be so hard to get in the first several weeks.
A few things:
1) No, Samuel L. Jackson ISN'T a Dark Jedi. He's supposedly the head of the Jedi Council (named Mace Windu).
2) Why did someone actually ask if Maul's two-bladed saber is possible? Why wouldn't it be?
3) Does Yoda actually look older in the trailer than in "Empire," or is it just me? (in my Dad's words "Yoda was BORN OLD!"
4) To those people out there who make huge lines at movie theatres to only see the "Phantom" trailer and plan on doing the smae thing for the actual film: GET A LIFE, WILL YOU PEOPLE?
5) Anyone out there know anything about a DJ called Darth Sidious? I've read he's supposed to be hidden and dressed in an Emperor-esque cloak, but other than that, I don't know anything about this guy!
Maul's two blades sabre is possible, but is kinda silly as a weapon. It's like having a gun that can shoot forward and backwards. The chances of getting hit by "friendly fire" are very high.
If a two bladed saber wasn't possible, it is now, its in the movie!
See my 'practicing' comment and Charles' 'friendly fire' comment for some thoughts on why cool looking weapons don't translate into good weapons all the time.
You people are forgetting that Jedis use the Force when they fight. That's how come they can do things with their lightsabers that ordinary yutzes couldn't dream of doing, like deflecting blaster bolts. So the use of a double bladed lightsaber is probably not that hazardous to the Jedi wielder.
Good news! (Depending on how you look at it) Our favorite Has-his-own-gravity-don't-touch-me-with-salt-super-slug...Jabba! He's gonna be in here, somewhere. (I hope the victim of a spooked ronto, or prequel death star!)
I've seen that the movie may be 'PG-13' -- this has not been confirmed, though. Kid's movie, ehh?
I really doubt that it'll be rated PG-13. George Lucas doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'd make Star Wars that violent.
The origional SW had to add scenees to make it up to PG. I doubt Ep. I will be PG-13, but you never know about Hollywood.
Ccabe--
I doubt it'll be PG-13, but I agree with the 'you never know about Hollywood' remark.
Hollywood has changed a lot over the years since the 70's, so it could be very possible, considering the majority of movies this decade have more emphasis to a PG-13 or R rating and movies may be moving "higher" up on the scale of rating (NC-17, for example) as we have seen them get more involved into violence and sex and mature adult matters.
Anonymous-
Frankly, the day a Star Wars film gets an R or NC-17 rating will be the day that H*** Freezes Over.
I wasn't implying that a Star Wars film would get an R or NC-17 rating. I was using movies with so called "higher" ratings as examples of Hollywood's leaning towards such levels. If Star Wars were to go "higher" on the ratings scale, it would probably be a PG-13 film.
I agree with you Jedi-In-Training...
Thank you.
May the Force be with you.
I saw the 2nd Trailer for "Phanton Menace" on TV. Very impressive.
Han Thielman: I agree. I saw it on "Extra" and was blown away. If the rest of the movie is as good as the trailer, it will easily pass Titanic as the No. 1 movie of all time.
One thing I noticed is that the first trailer focused on young Anakin Skywalker, while the second trailer focused on the Queen.
Lucasfilm is only going to send two or three copies of TPM to each theater playing the movie, because George Lucas wants long lines when it comes out. Now, does this sound really ridiculous or what? I've been waiting a year for this movie to come out and now they're telling me I have to wait in line for hours to see it! As if its not enough -- there's already going to be long lines no matter how many copies you give to each theater. Now I'm worried I might not get a chance to see the movie when it comes out. Thanks A LOT, George...
Yes, Mad, I don't doubt there'd be long lines, even if multiplexes all over the country played only that one movie. We have a 10plex here, with another 7 or 8plex going in, both Cinemark. Of course they have much smaller theaters and the seats don't slope downward as much as I'd like, cuz with my luck I'd get a really tall person sit right in front of me! That happened when I went to see Star Trek VI.
We have a single theater where the first three films were shown, so I hope if this one's shown there that I can get my favorite seat, even if I have to go several hours early, but then I just might wait awhile to see it. Titanic still had long lines around the block months after it came out and I expect SWTPM to at least match and probably beat that.
BTW, I really loved the new trailer and was blown away by it. I taped it on CNN minutes before going to work. I even invited two coworkers to come see it after work, and they loved it too. One of them was amongst the one or two in the country who hadn't seen the first one, if you can believe that.
Went to see Wing Commander Saturday night (despite the criticism of the movie, I will stand up and say that I saw it in the theater). I didn't even know that there was another SW trailer out yet! We walked into the theater just a little late and missed the first trailer, but that didn't mean anything because the second was for Star Wars! Woo-Hoooo! I loved it!
This movie is 100% critic-proof, and I think that's great! It's wonderful to see a movie come out that will be invincible, even in the unlikely event that every armchair critic fuddy-duddy will hate it. (I don't care for film critics that much - or the service they provide)
Changing the subject ...
How many hairstyles does that princess have, anyhow?
Just some preemptive nits. So this 9 year old Ankikan and this queen whose looks about 20 may or may not only be wearing makeup somehow in the furture have two human lookings kids. Finally I think that is the "President of the Senate" wearing the long black robes. He has been around for a long time and we do know that he has been conspireing to destroy the jedi. (Thawn to Pellon about Jouuros C'Boath). their is no reason why he wouldn't try again. Palatline may be a sort of Cataline an elective offical cospireing while keeping his seat.
anti-premtive nits-Anikin and the Queen are only 11 years appart. In 10 years, they will be 19 and 30ish, and in would be quite possible for them to have kids. My parents were 43 and 29 when I was born, and I am a fairly normal looking kid. Despite a 14 year age diffrence between my parents.
What, the Queen is Luke and Leia's mother! I didn't know that. COOL!
How could the Queen have been elected?
As near as I can tell from the two trailers, there are two characters - the queen and a young female Jedi(?) who questions Liam Neeson's judgement in the first trailer - both played by Natalie Portman. Are we sure that the queen is Luke & Leia's mother, or just that Natalie Portman plays the mother? It could be character #2 who hooks up with Anakin. We won't know until the second movie, I'll bet.
They are the same character. The queen poses as a commoner when she gets bored.
Lucas is doing the same tactic he did for the original film.
Take two big, established stars:
(Peter Cushing and Alec Guinness)
(Liam Neeson and Samuel L. Jackson)
And mix them with a lot of rising and unknown stars.
By the way, after seeing "Schindler's List", I am incapable of thinking of Liam Neeson as anything but Oskar Schindler.
Well, now you'll have to think of him as Oskar Schindler with a light sabre.
And Natalie Portman and Ewan McGregor are much more established than Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were, that's for certain.
Murray, just think--"This lightsaber. Darth Maul would have bought this lightsaber. Ten people for this lightsaber. My landspeeder. Twenty people for that."
Also, Portman and McGregor ARE much more established. The biggest star out of the young group was Harrison Ford, and that was just for a few minutes in American Graffiti.
How old is Natalie Portman? I have the 2nd full-length trailer on tape and I've watched it about every day since I recorded it. My review of the trailer: Amazing, just incredible, I hope the movie is just as good. I absolutely cannot wait for it to come out. I wish Lucas would've picked a date where I wouldn't have school that same week. I'd like to celebrate my summer freedom by seeing the movie when school ends. Oh well, I'm still seeing it on the first day -- no matter what's going on. Incredible FX, those battle droids are astonishing!
Mike C - Ford also had under his belt a prominent supporting role in the Best Picture nominee "The Conversation"
According to Imdb, Natalie Portman was born June 9, 1981 and is 17 years old.
Pardon for being ignorant, but who's Samuel Jackson?
YOu don't know who Samuel L Jackson is? He was in Pulp fiction, A time to Kill and lots of other movies. He's a great actor.
An Anonymous poster asked how could the Queen be elected? Good question. 1. She could have been elected from the nobility as in medivial Poland. 2. she could have ran for an elected office while queen. also she has about 8 different hairstyles in the second trailer.
Perhaps (1) it's a blooper! (2) The Queen is so naive that she actually believes she is elected (3) On this planet, they elect a leader, but call them "Your royal majesty", instead of "Mr. President" (4) She was elected the queen in a coup against the old queen.
I looked over the board and didn't notice if anyone had mentioned this:
In the first trailer, there's a short clip where Liam's charachter introduces Obi-Wan as we see Ewan's face. It appears that R2 is in this scene. That makes it very strange that Obi-Wan wouldn't know R2 when he meets Luke and the droids in ANH.
No, what he said was, " I don't remember ever owning a droid." Therefore, he still could have known R2 without having been his owner.
My brother was telling me about when he went to see "The Matrix" with some friends and they showed the preview. He said that throught the rest of the previews, him and his friends were saying," They should show the Star Wars preview again." :-)
For Fred and Matthew Patterson: The R2 designation only indicates a type of droid. Therefore, the R2 in the Menace scene was not necessarily R2-D2. R2-D2 was owned by Wedge Antilles before the scene on the Corellian Corvette at the beginning of ANH (Red Squadron), according to C-3PO.
No, he said Captain Antilles. Wedge is a commander. And before that, he was most likely a flight officer or lieutenant, since he was shown serving in a squadron, but not commanding it.
As I understand it, Lucas' vision was for the first three movies to follow the adventures of the two droids, so that should indeed be R2-D2 himself.
His idea was to tell this grand story of political intrigue, action and adventure with R2-D2 and C-3PO as the constant characters. They would be the "vehicle" by which the story would be told and would tie all the movies together.
They were to appear in all nine movies. The only characters to have that honor.
Since it appears at this time only six films or episodes will be made, the characters of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi should be in every episode.
Does anyone on this board think that the older Jedi(I can't remember his name) shown in the trailers will survive Episode One?
["Always two there are--a master and an apprentice."]
Oh, you mean Qui-Gon Jinn. I don't think he will, and here's why.
In the second trailer, we see Ben in a sabre fight with Maul, and the shot near the end with him screaming "No!!!!" seems to be in the same backgroundas the fight. My theory is that Maul will kill Jinn, which will enrage the then-apprentice Ben and lead to the fight.
Make sense?
For those of you who want spoilers (I didn't partake, myself), go to www.darkhorizons.com and find the preview/review of The Phantom Menace novelization, which has a blow-by-blow plot summary.
My reasons for thinking he won't survive were sparked by that shot, and also by the knowledge that it is Obi-wan who will teach Anakin the ways of the Force, while it is obvious from the first trailer that it is Qui-Gon Jinn who finds Anakin.
[thanks for the name]
I can't wait until Episode One arrives in the theaters!
Also, note that in the first trailer, Obi-Wan warns Qui-Gon Jinn of the potential danger posed by young Anakin. It makes me doubt that Obi-Wan and Anakin were really close friends.
Anyone read the comic strip Foxtrot last Sunday. Had some interesting rumors concerning this movie.
Yeah - not one of them plausible.
I've read a very elaborate content description. Sounds like ILM had really to cancel most other works fot TPM. The Titanic will sink for the second time.
Come again?
i think he means that the movie Titanic will sink to second place in the most money a movie has gotten. I hope so. Titanic didn't deserve to beat Star Wars in the first place.
"Deserves", what a ridiculous concept! As if money-making is ever "deserved". This is no matter of quality - if it was, "Citizen Kane" would have raked in 5 billion dollars.
Ok, I think I got an actual nit. In ANH Ben says Anakin was already a skilled pilot (or some such)when they first met. But from what the trailers have indicated Anakin is a boy, a mere child, who leaves Tatooine for the first time when they meet. Maybe they don't meet in TPM but how can a child who's just left his farm be a skilled pilot?
You never know...
Possible explanations:
1. Mabey Anakin had a lot of practice on the farm. According to my new poster he runs in a major race on Boota Eve. Apparently, this is the local equivelant of the Indy 500, which is not the kind of race you get up one moring and enter and win.
2. Mabey Ben's memory is starting to slip in his old age.
3. Mabey Ben was lying. We know part of the story isn't true, mabey the part about Anakin's racing ability is inaccurate.
Nothing personal, Charles, but *maybe* you can learn how to spell so that we don't get distracted from your argument.
Sorry about my misspellings. My spell-checker was asleep.
Luke was a crack pilot who had never been off his farm--why shouldn't Anakin be?
[though of course Anakin is a *slave*....]
Luke was significantly older. Luke had been "flying" his landspeeder. Luke had been friends with Biggs who was an experienced pilot. We don't know Luke was "a crack pilot."
Check out the latest Phantom Menace rumors here.
In Episode 1, Qui-Gon Jinn dies. This is the event which causes Anakin to go to the dark side. Also, Darth Sidious and Senator Palpatine are the same person.
Ever consider that WE DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW!!!!!!!!!!???????!!!!!!!!!???????
Then why are you reading the "Phantom Menace" board?
Because this is not intended to be a spoiler board, even this close to the movie's release. After May 19, I'll read anything and everything here, because the movie's out and I might as well have the knowledge some way or another. But until then, I think we all have a right to be surprised.
well werent you surprised when you read the post?
also, darth maul dies, too, =) And Anakin Skywalker later becomes Darth Vader, sorry to spoil it, lol
Well, that wraps it up for the pre-movie board. In a few minutes, the luxurious and spaceius post-movie bord will be open.