It's May 19th, 1999...

[Cmndr J Crichton]

You sit in a darkened theater as the words A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.. appear on the big screen for the first time in 16 years. What were everyone's initial reactions to Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace? I know the movie has become somewhat infamous in the last 10 years :0, but does anyone fondly remember this movie? I loved the times, Star Wars in 3 different resturaunts, collecting the Pepsi Cans! (Yes I have all 24) I've probably watched the movie a couple of hundred times since it's release (watching it now in honor if this anniversary). What set this move apart was the ad campaign. As if it needed it, they multiplied the ads we saw fo the Special Edition x100m, and everywhere you looked, Episode I was there.



The comercials:

Pepsi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3rrWa3D8r0&feature=related

The Trifecta of Pizza Hutt, KFC, and Taco Bell
(Defeat the Darkside)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvZB5e5jqL0&feature=related - Beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzCpXBYmnx0 - Look What I found!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiZD...C489FD1F&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=16 - Toys


And if this comercial didn't get you excited about the movie, and promotion, nothing would. I still get goosebumps watching this ad:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w2q4oTV3CE - Let's Do this!

The Games:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaFaHaV4cHU&feature=related - The Phantom Menace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR-yizq33Ds - Episode I Racer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcsce-XiJ7M - Gungan Frontier


It's been a great 10 years, and 3 films of Star Wars. Hopefully, Mr. Lucas will eventually get around to making Episode VII-XI, even if they're animated. It's probably the only way we'll see the original characters again. I'm shocked a thread hasn't been made about this! Especially with the release of Fanboys on DVD today.

Finally I'll leave you with what got us all excited in the first place:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVFjIai0kHw - Teaser Trailer

May the Force be with you.

 

[Aragorn]

23? It was 16 between Jedi and Phantom.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

I didn't want to go. I wanted to avoid the crowds, however my ex had run out and bought tickets, so I was committed. The crowd was electric. They were all truly excited in a way I hadn't see movie goers since I was a child. The theme started and people cheered. Then the opening crawl came up and I thought I was reading the plot to an extra boring episode of TNG. By the time the green animatronic guys with the "me so solly" voices sneaked attacked Pearl Harbor, I mean Naboo, I knew I was watching a lame kids movie. I swear, I tried to like it.

 

[JacksonArcher]

My friend had updated his Facebook status today celebrating the 10th anniversary of Episode I and it brought back a whirlwind of memories. I distinctly remember the time. I was pretty young, still in grade school, and I was enormously anticipating the arrival of the film. I remember my birthday was just around that time, so my mother got a limousine and picked me up at my school asking for Yoda (much to the dismay of the teachers and adults!) and took ten of my friends to see the movie on opening day. It was absolutely incredible.

I was really young back then, but I think I saw the film a record ten times in the theaters during the summer of 1999. I convinced absolutely anyone I could to go see the film with me. Hell, my mom took me to Toys R Us on the midnight the toys were released, and when we arrived thirty minutes early, the line was almost a mile long. I think my mom paid the dudes standing at the front a few hundred bucks to get us to the beginning of the line. I remember the people at the back just looking at us, jaw agape, when we came out only seconds later.

I had the posters, the soda cans, almost every piece of memorabilia you could find, I had it. I still have those Taco Bell cups. I had the games (I played Episode I Racer for hours and hours...). I got really frustrated playing The Phantom Menace on the PlayStation. I collected all of them, even the Jedi dueling one.

Basically, I was a spoiled little Star Wars kid during that summer.

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

23? It was 16 between Jedi and Phantom.

Whoops! I can't believe I made that mistake! It was indeed 16 years. I typed without thinking at that moment!

 

[Cmndr J Crichton]

I remember going back just to look for all the easter eggs hidden in the movie, Like E.T. in the senate chamber!

 

[Nardpuncher]

I had a great time waiting outside the Grant Park mall in Winnipeg Manitoba. It was about 24 degrees Celcius and sunny.

I still like Episode One. I saw it age 25 and didn't have any high hopes or anything. I was excited for Star Wars to be back and just sat back and enjoyed it. Sure the two Jedi in the movie were a little dry and jar Jar was annoying, it was never as bad as people keep making it out to be as time goes by.
It's like people are afraid to enjoy it because someone else on the internet will laugh at them.

 

[clint g]

Christ, its been 10 years already? Time flies lol. I was in my first year of Junior High when it came out. Twas a fun time in my life....the movie still sucked though

 

[FreezeC77]

Honestly I don't know what was the biggest let-down, finding out Santa Claus wasn't real when I was a kid or just how completely hyped up I was for Phantom Menace and then getting what we got.

 

[Daneel]

I was just shy of my 16th birthday, and I went with several of my school chums (and my parents, for some reason) to see TPM on opening day. I remember one of my friends even painting his face like Darth Maul, heh.

I really wanted to love it... but I just couldn't. Jar Jar annoyed the shit out of me, the Neimoidians just made me , and I couldn't deny that it was too stiff as a whole, lacking the sense of fun that made the original films so enjoyable.

When it was all over, I said something like, "Well, that was alright", probably being more generous in my words than in my actual thoughts. To this day, I view it as a disappointment -- I don't hate it... I wouldn't even say I really dislike it. There are some things about the movie that I do admire, but overall I'd have to say it just really missed the mark. And all the hype that led up to the release probably didn't help matters.

I remember collecting those Pepsi cans too -- not sure if I still have them. I know my parents were telling me for years to get rid of them... I think I may have finally given in. Ah well, I'm sure they weren't exactly the rarest of collectibles anyway.

 

[Skywalker]

I saw the damn movie five times. I had just started seriously getting into Star Wars a couple years before (thanks to the SEs), and I was only fifteen when TPM came out, so I was still fairly obsessed.

Has it really been ten years? Wow.

 

[Australis]

We all went. Lucas made a zillion. No point bitching about it now.

We won't do that with a Trek movie!

Oh wait...

 

[Gaith]

You sit in a darkened theater as the words A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.. appear on the big screen for the first time in 16 years.

No, there were the OT SE releases... and they were better.

 

[RoJoHen]

You sit in a darkened theater as the words A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.. appear on the big screen for the first time in 16 years.

No, there were the OT SE releases... and they were better.

Absolutely.


I didn't see TPM until it was just about out of the theater. There were maybe 4 people in the theater in addition to us. I thought it was a good movie. Then again, I was in 8th grade.

Now, I think it's crap.

 

[captcalhoun]

i loved it, because i didn't fall for the hype and think OMFGDISWILLBEDEBESTESTMOVIEEVA!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!1!!!!!111111ONEONEONEONE

so i was pretty happy with what i got. including some fucking Kick-ass Jedi

 

[zakkrusz]

Well I crammed into a car that day with 4 of friends from high school and we waited a couple hours outside the theater for it to open and saw the early show in the rain wearing our Star Wars shirts. We all loved it.

 

[God Magnus]

I credit TPM as the movie that taught me not to buy into the hype of a movie purely based on a great marketing campaign. I had spent months going bonkers over everything from the toys to the magazines and interviews etc. I think my friends and I were at a fever pitch by the time we sat down in the theater.

About two hours later, we walked out all sort of thinking "Huh...well...the Jedi fights were really nice right?" I mean, Jar Jar just made us all die a little inside, and to this day the line "Are you an angel?" grates on my nerves like no one's business. I admired the movie for its technical proficiency and representing Jedis in their prime as warriors, but that's all I got out of it.

 

[T'Baio]

My friend took me opening day as an early birthday present. I loved it then, I love it now. It's a great, deep, thought provoking story with some fun for the kids and action and adventure for everyone. There's a few annoying things, but even Empire has a gay whiny robot.

 

[Mr Light]

For the first couple years after TPM came out I thought it was the greatest SW movie just for the amazing production values and eye candy, but now it just feels slow and impersonal and hollow. Still love it though!

 

[DarkHelmet]

I loved it then, I love it now.

Ditto. Was spoiler free, and had a great time.