Marko:
Not to belabor my point, but the reason I said, "You're welcome to your opinion," is that many detractors of Episode I have been incorrectly treating the film as a self-contained, stand-alone movie. Under that assumption the movie isn't that great.
As you pointed out in your second post, the movie seems immature and Obi-Wan was in a secondary role until the very, very end of the movie. As others have pointed out, Anakin showed very little indication of his future dark self, and the Trade Federation's blockade of Naboo seems awfully small-scale for the epic scope of Star Wars.
The Phantom Menace is simply not a great movie on its own.
But if you're going to be consistent, you MUST say the same thing about your sacrosanct film, The Fellowship of the Ring:
The quest was incomplete, as the One Ring wasn't destroyed. Aragorn's story arc was incomplete, as he is clearly destined to claim the throne - and he didn't. Gimli and Legolas were SORELY underdeveloped, and Gollum was shown following the Fellowship and did nothing else afterwards.
You're treating Episode I as a stand-alone movie, and that's why you're coming to the conclusion that it sucks. If you were honest and treated LOTR:FOTR as a stand-alone, it would also really, really suck.
But Episode I works really well in context. Examples:
As others have pointed out, the blockade of Naboo is a really small plot to hang a movie on. Looking at the big picture, we see that the blockade is ultimately the device through which Senator Palpatine becomes Supreme Chancellor (much the way the burning of the Reichstag was used by Hitler to become German Chancellor), his first major step to crowning himself Emperor.
This example also points out the hidden dark nature of Episode that belies the apparent "kids movie". At the end of the movie, everybody's celebrating on Naboo, cheering happily, and we end with a final shot of the main characters. BUT, if you know what's coming, you must recognize that things aren't so bright:
* One of the apparent good guys (Palpatine) will become the dark ruler of the galaxy.
* The sweet little kid (Anakin) will betray everyone he loves.
* The beautiful queen (Padme) will lose her true love and die sad and alone, unable to watch her daughter grow up and unable to even spend time with her son for fear of being caught.
* Most of the noble knights (Mace Windu, Ki-Adi-Mundi, basically everyone but Yoda and Obi-Wan) will be killed in a great and terrible purge.
ALL of this happens because Palpatine became Supreme Chancellor, and this happened will the good guys were reclaiming Naboo. In an apparent happy ending for Episode I, THE BAD GUYS ACTUALLY WON.
As others have pointed out, Anakin didn't show much of a dark side... but he did show a reluctance to leave his mother, and Yoda picked up on his fear for his mother. Fear leads to anger, hate, suffering, and ultimately the Dark Side of the Force, and showing these seeds of fear was enough in the context of showing a three-movie-long descent into darkness. (Also, had Anakin started out as a "troubled youth", his fall would be neither surprising or dramatic; great tragedies - e.g., Othello - require great and good individuals to fall, require a high starting point to contrast with the final low point.)
And your point that Obi-Wan Kenobi does nothing, while true in Episode I, is clearly not true for the rest of this trilogy; the trailors for Episode II alone demonstrate that. Besides, having Qui-Gon find Anakin, then having Obi-Wan train him serves several purposes:
* It allows for the Jedi that finds Anakin to be an almost perfect vessel for the will of the Force, a prophet that put into motion the wheels that would ultimately undo Palpatine (after all, Anakin's fall to the Dark Side allowed him to be the only one close enough to Palpatine to defeat him). From Episodes IV, V, and VI, Obi-Wan is clearly more pragmatic, more "down to earth", and such a role would not have suited the character.
* It allows Obi-Wan to be in conflict over Anakin, in which he first resented Qui-Gon's affection for the boy and then chose to stubbornly honor Qui-Gon's final request to train him.
* It gives Anakin a less firm footing as an individual. Luke didn't succomb to the Dark Side partially because he had a family (Obi-Wan, even after death; Yoda; Leia; and even Vader once Luke accepted him as Anakin). In Episode I, Anakin left his mother to be trained under the fatherly tutorlege of Qui-Gon, but Qui-Gon was unfortunately killed on Naboo. Now, Anakin's family is more or less just Obi-Wan, and Anakin may now be much more succeptible to the Dark Side.
Your other complaints were about Anakin's apparent lack of ability and Jar Jar's hyjinks.
Your complaint is that Anakin "never did anything that would indicate he was 'the chosen one', he did everything by saying 'ups'", and I say that's exactly the point: Anakin is so powerful that he doesn't have to TRY to harness his powers. In the Podrace, he simply acts and does the right thing. And in the Naboo dogfight, he's not entirely cognizant of what the right thing IS, and yet he still destroys the control ship.
Those who are good at something do great things, but must struggle to do them. The great ones make it look easy.
Finally, on the complaint about Jar Jar, yes, he's clumsy and annoying (and nothing like Chewie and Han), but that's the whole point. Though it can never be proven or disproven, I still contend that fans would complain if Episode I was too SIMILAR, instead of too different.
Beyond that, Lucas has now included a role found in most mythologies that was pretty much ignored in the Classic Trilogy: the fool, the jester. (One *can* make the case that Wicket played that role in Episode VI, but it's a stretch.) Like the wizard (Qui-Gon in this trilogy, Obi-Wan in the next), the dark warrior (Vader), the pirate (Han), and the princess (Leia), the jester is an important part of epic myths and should be included.
(As an aside, LOTR:FOTR did a disservice to Pippin, making him far too clumsy - against the characterization established in the original text. I honestly think both Jar Jar and Pippin will improve as characters, but that again requires a more global perspective.)
And, ultimately, Jar Jar proves an important point, one that Gollum demonstrates at the end of the quest: the forces of good use people of all shapes, sizes, and dispositions as means to good ends. Sure, the Chosen One helps even as a kid, but he's the Chosen One. The noble knights and the concerned queen also work to the greater good, but that's what they're all trained to do.
Then you have Jar Jar, a well-meaning but clumsy, childlike "pathetic life form" that reminds the Queen of the Gungan Grand Army, and guides the Queen to the Gungan sacred place. He serves a PIVOTAL role in helping the queen acquire an army to draw the droid army away from the city - and he's pivotal in restoring relations between the Naboo and the Gungans.
Now, your general complaints about Episode I:
It seems to me that lucas was under no pressure and he can alow himself to get excited over sports comentator or some cool new efect (read his interviews), but the plot, the drama, which still holds me pinned to my couch everytime when I watch Empire or New Hope, is lacking. Nowdays he has no Lawrence Kasadan to write a script for him, and movie company doesn't make him rewrite every scene 10 times like 20 yrs ago...
Two obvious things:
1) Lucas wrote A New Hope on his own; Kasden was nowhere near it, and yet it was a great film.
2) Lucas didn't allow for rewrites from the studio or anyone else 20 years ago.
You have little choice but to recognize that, regardless of the results, all six chapters of the Star Wars sagas are, first and foremost, the result of George Lucas' vision, not the input of Kasden or the insipid involvement of studio execs.
LOTR - lucas was inspired by the book and he brought that inspiration to the first trilogy, now the original is out and it made my movie life beautifull again - maybe I'm biased, I'm a bigger fan of Tolkien than of Star wars...
Lucas and Tolkien were also both inspired by the epic myths of the past, and I'd say Jackson was at LEAST as much inspired by Lucas as Lucas was by Tolkien. Honestly compare the music, the fights, and the scene at the Bridge of Kazad-Dum to Star Wars, and you'll see the similarities.
And, yeah, you are clearly biased. You're treating Episode I as a stand-alone, and if you treated Fellowship the same way, you'd come to the same conclusions: both movies suck as stand-alone films.
[This message has been edited by Achtung Bubba (edited 02-06-2002).]
