It's May 19th, 1999...

[Mistral]

I worked for Taco Bell in AZ and my store won the sales promotion for the cups(remember the head cups?) and the Saturday before the general release my best friend in the company and I went to a special showing sponsored by Pepsi. DJ Jonathan Brandmeir hosted, with Anthony Daniels making an appearance. They raffled off a robotic, life-sized R2D2(I didn't win) and a Star Wars Coleman 30 gal. cooler(I won!) When the lights went down 25 Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and KFC managers from all over the Southwest went beserk. It was some of the most fun I ever had at a theater(except for Linda when I was 15 !) The movie dazzled(despite Jar-Jar) and we all left babbling about our favorite scenes. Heck of a day.

 

[RandyS]

I was 29 and still had hair. I saw it with my brother and my mom. Now my mom's been dead for six years and I haven't seen my brother in the same amount of time.

Time flies.

 

[Garth Rockett]

I was in graduate school at the time (in fact, I got permission to show up for my Accounting Theory final an hour late the week before so I could make sure I got tickets). On first viewing I thought the movie was good. I didn't hate Jar Jar, and he eventually grew on me during my seven viewings that summer to the point of being tolerable.

While the story wasn't as great as I hoped, the movie still delivered two of the coolest things I had seen on a movie screen: the podrace and the lightsaber duel. I'd call it my least favorite of the six Star Wars films, but it's not bad and certainly doesn't deserve a lot of the venom directed at it, IMO.

 

[Mr Light]

The NIGHT BEFORE the movie came out there was this stupid television special about it and they revealed Qui-Gon dies at the end!!! They said this is a spoiler mute your TV if you don't want to know but I didn't bother but man do I wish I did. Why would they reveal the major character death at the freakin' end of the movie!!!

 

[auntiehill]

I was 29, and got off work early the day came out. I drove over, got in line, and got one of the last tickets available. I had to sit right up front.

I was all by myself, with my soda and popcorn, and was so excited to see it.

When I left the theater, I was somewhat underwhelmed. There was no uplifting excitement or thrill like the original three films. And while I loved both McGregor and Neeson, I found the film a bit dull, and the endless pod-race to be rather annoying.

I didn't care about the kid, because, well, he grows up to be Vader. There really wasn't much of a sense of suspense, either, because I knew how the "big picture" would eventually play out.

 

[Admiral_Young]

This is going to sound embarrassing and totally nerdy but my best friend and I left our prom around nine thirty to go see the final showing at the theater. It was opening weekend and we hadn't seen it yet, we didn't have dates for prom so we felt like loosers anyways so we thought WTF lets go anyways and it was freaking cool! We got the stares from people thinking we were looser nerds as we walked out of the cab and into the theatre but we didn't give a shit. We were going to see Star Wars for the first time in our generation (well second since I had seen Star Wars: A New Hope Special Edition two years prior) and it was worth the stares. I loved the movie, being a big political buff even back at 19 I still enjoyed the movie but also recognized how...different the movie was from the original series, right down to the cinematography. I ended up seeing I think four times in theaters and it remains to this day the most times I've ever seen a movie while still in it's release.

 

[MPH]

Never a fan of SW in general and only seen this film a few years after it was released and it was crap then like its crap now along with the other lame sequels.

 

[Holdfast]

Was spoiler free, and had a great time.

Yeah, same here.

I still really like Phantom Menace to this day. Of course, few would disagree that there's too much silly Jar-Jar, but even he's much more interesting that the Anakin-Padme "love" scenes from AOTC, for instance. TPM is a very watchable movie, and I still like watching it. In fact, I might just pop the DVD in tonight.

 

[Alex1939]

After all this time I just want to know one thing... who was responsible for Jar Jar??

I mean, when they originally came up with the concept and were trying it... where was someone to step up and say "Hey you know, this is pretty stupid."

I guess Lucas must've loved the idea, and everyone was afraid to say something critical about it.

 

[Samurai8472]

I still have my ticket stub.

I remember waiting in line while a guy in boba fett gear walked past me.

It was 9th grade and I had been on merchandise blitz.

I bought the novelization with Obi Wan Cover on the front. I bought the obi wan figure and STAP Battle Droid. I bought the soundtrack too.

I got my teacher to play the soundtrack. Some girl didn't like it

"What is this crap?"

 

[Garth Rockett]

The NIGHT BEFORE the movie came out there was this stupid television special about it and they revealed Qui-Gon dies at the end!!! They said this is a spoiler mute your TV if you don't want to know but I didn't bother but man do I wish I did. Why would they reveal the major character death at the freakin' end of the movie!!!

That's nothing. The track listing accompanying the film soundtrack, which was released a couple of weeks before the movie, also gave it away. Unfortunately, they didn't put a spoiler warning on CD case. Unsuspecting folks (like me) had it spoiled for them just by browsing in the CD store.

 

[Samurai8472]

The NIGHT BEFORE the movie came out there was this stupid television special about it and they revealed Qui-Gon dies at the end!!! They said this is a spoiler mute your TV if you don't want to know but I didn't bother but man do I wish I did. Why would they reveal the major character death at the freakin' end of the movie!!!

That's nothing. The track listing accompanying the film soundtrack, which was released a couple of weeks before the movie, also gave it away. Unfortunately, they didn't put a spoiler warning on CD case. Unsuspecting folks (like me) had it spoiled for them just by browsing in the CD store.

and if you watched the quicktime trailer slowly you noticed

Qui Gon and Obi Wan fighting Darth Maul

Obi Wan fighting Darth maul with the body of Qui Gon on the floor.

 

[Hyperspace05]

I saw it at a midnight screening. Very excited.

Half-way though the film my excitement died down. Leaving the film I realized it wasn't very good at all. Jar-Jar's appearance was the first clue.

Yet I still saw it two more times ... I guess I just had to make sure I disliked it. I know it sounds odd.

 

[Worf2DS9]

I still have my ticket stub.

I have my ticket stub too. In fact, I've kept all my ticket stubs since Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981. It's just one of the weird things I do. Anyway, for TPM it was an afternoon matinee and cost me $5.00 back in ol' 1999.

 

[Trekker4747]

I went to a midnight showing of it, using a ticket I bought hours before -just to sort of prove a "point" against thiose who waited in line for days to get a ticket.

"Lucasfilm" came on the screen and the audience cheered.

"A long time ago..." came on the screen and the audience roared.

"STAR WARS" came on the screen and the audience... came.

"Taxation" came on the screen and my eyes glazed over.

Two hours later I, and I suspect the majority of the other 200 people in the theater with me, wondered what all the hype was about.

Jesus, that movie was a giant abortion.

 

[The Lensman]

For the most part, it was like Trekker4747 described.
Jar Jar by himself wasn't so bad, it was Jar Jar screwing up scenes that would've been awesome, like the big battle. It should've been more serious and it would've rocked....it ended up goofy and under cutting the moment for me.

But worse than Jar Jar, the crappy acting of the kid.....it was those goddamn robots.
The one's that talked to each other and kept saying "Roger, Roger". I mean, what was the fucking joke there? Were they just repeating? Was one named Roger..what? It was so utterly retarded.

Then to make matters worse, these morons make up one side of the Clone Wars....a previously hinted at, awesome sounding war that got turned into a joke. Clones vs. Robot's and who gives a shit how many die as they're all just expendable cannon fodder. What a major let down.

 

[Trekker4747]

Yeah Jar-Jar wasn't too bad. Even if his accent was a bit over the top and he was using words borrowed from Wayne Campbell ("Exsqueeze me" really, Lucas?) he wasn't... horrible. Boss Nagin or whatever weird chin blubbering was an... "intresting" choice.

But Jar Jar got bad when he became slap-sticky antic filled.

And cripes. That kid was horrible. Did we really need to see a Anikan as a goofy kid? And isn't a bit creepy that Padme later shags someone she met when THEY WERE A CHILD!

Pedophilia... of the FUTU... er, PAST!!!

The Pod-Race scene was awesome. Probably the best thing in the whole movie.

Too many "yipees!!!"

And Anikan accidentally flies a Noobian fighter out of a hanger, into space, into a enemy ship and BLOWS IT UP?!?!?!?!? What. The. Fuck?!?

Seriously. Lucas really though that was a good idea? He really thought people would be into it and on the edge of their seats like the trench-run in Ep.4?

Really?

Seriously?

Lucas was way off his meds or surrounded by far too many Yes Men fellatiating him.

The "Battle of the Fates" between Obi-Won, Qui-gon and Darth Maul was pretty good. Even if Darth Maul was a wasted bad guy.

"I'm Darth Maul. Fear me because I LOOK EVIL!!"

You know unlike when Darth Vader who when we first meet him not only did he look bad-ass and evil (without having horns or devil makeup or fanged teeth) but he kills a guy whose only crime was letting Vader down!!!

Darth Vader was the embodiment of Evil.

Darth Maul simply "looked evil" and was a mild annoyance.

God. The more I think about it the more that movie stinks more than dog-diarrhea. You know, dog diarrhea? When you get it on your shoe and you try and clean it off and that stench pireces every pore in your nose and it smells like some released some shit-vomit in a garbage dumpster in a maynoaise factory in the middle of July after an entire row of pallets fell over?

Fuck you. Lucas.

And I'm not even a big Star Wars fan and I still think Lucas is a hacky bastard who completely fucked up his OWN FRANCHISE! By making it too damn simple, kiddie and masturbatory.

How ANYONE can watch Episode 1 and Episode IV next to one another and think that it's fair to have either one share the same wall of a DVD collection let alone exsist in the same franchise is beyond me. You might as well canonize Howard the Duck if you're going to accept that piece of shit prequel.

And this goes double for Episode II.

Almost as much for Episode III which was meerly a mild improvement. Sort of like the above mentioned dog shit/mayonaise factory scenario only in December rather than July.

 

[Klaus]

I was there opening night... has it really been only ten years since the beginning of the long disillusionment and drear of the PT? It seems longer, like some horrible memory from a previous life... I saw TPM twice but only to see the podrace again on the big screen. The video game was ten times as much fun as the movie.

I try to just pretend they don't exist, in a fingers-in-the-ears-humming-loudly kind of way. There's not much else to do.

Thanks to the PT, my instinctive reaction to any new SW is to change the channel, and that really depresses the frak out of me.

 

[LutherSloan]

Yeah Jar-Jar wasn't too bad. Even if his accent was a bit over the top and he was using words borrowed from Wayne Campbell ("Exsqueeze me" really, Lucas?) he wasn't... horrible. Boss Nagin or whatever weird chin blubbering was an... "intresting" choice.

But Jar Jar got bad when he became slap-sticky antic filled.

And cripes. That kid was horrible. Did we really need to see a Anikan as a goofy kid? And isn't a bit creepy that Padme later shags someone she met when THEY WERE A CHILD!

Pedophilia... of the FUTU... er, PAST!!!

The Pod-Race scene was awesome. Probably the best thing in the whole movie.

Too many "yipees!!!"

And Anikan accidentally flies a Noobian fighter out of a hanger, into space, into a enemy ship and BLOWS IT UP?!?!?!?!? What. The. Fuck?!?

Seriously. Lucas really though that was a good idea? He really thought people would be into it and on the edge of their seats like the trench-run in Ep1?

Really?

Seriously?

Lucas was way off his meds or surrounded by far too many Yes Men fellatiating him.

The "Battle of the Fates" between Obi-Won, Qui-gon and Darth Maul was pretty good. Even if Darth Maul was wasted bad guy.

"I'm Darth Maul. Fear me because I LOOK EVIL!!"

You know unlike when Darth Vader when we first meet him not only did he look bad-ass and evil (without having horns or devil makeup or fanged teeth) but he kills a guy who's only crime was letting Vader down!!!

Darth Vader was the emodiment of Evil.

Darth Maul simply "looked evil" and was a mild annoyance.

God. The more I think about it the more that movie stinks more than dog-diarrhea. You know, dog diarrhea? When you get it on your shoe and you try and clean it off and that stench pireces every pore in your nose and it smells like some released some shit-vomit in a garbage dumpster in a maynoaise factory in the middle of July after an entire row of pallets fell over?

Fuck you. Lucas.

And I'm not even a big Star Wars fan and I still think Lucas is a hacky bastard who completely fucked up his OWN FRANCHISE! By making it too damn simple, kiddie and masturbatory.

How ANYONE can watch Episode 1 and Episode IV next to one another and think that it's fair to have either one share the same wall of a DVD collection let alone exsist in the same franchise is beyond me. You might as well canonize Howard the Duck if you're going to accept that piece of shit prequel.

And this goes double for Episode II.

Almost as much for Episode III which was meerly a mild improvement. Sort of like the above mentioned dog shit/mayonaise factory scenario only in December rather than July.

I'll basically second this, except Jar-Jar was even more annoying to me.

Another problem was that everyone knew immediately that Senator Palpatine was going to become the Emperor as well.

It was also really hard to care about the majority of the new characters, especially since the majority of them are never seen much again in the rest of the prequel trilogy.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Bad movie, and I wasted my time. Thought about walking out early.