VDD Preamble:
I have a long and sordid history with Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace. As a college student during the semester of 1998-99, I too was caught up in the internet hype about George Lucas' new Star Wars movies. I'd seen all of the Special Edition versions of the Original Trilogy and no doubt had them on VHS. Even if some parts were stupid (like the re-inserted Jabba the Hutt sequence in A New Hope), my enthusiasm was unbridled for The Phantom Menace.
Having an ethernet connection on a college campus meant unfettered access to every drop of information available about Star Wars, and I'm sure I had spy photos and leaked ADR .wav files and all of that junk. All of the rumors and script reviews... etc.
Then the movie came out in May of 1999, and I saw it four times. Yes, FOUR times. I also worked at a movie theatre that summer, so on breaks I'd sneak in and watch parts of the movie (usually the lightsaber duel) without having to pay to see it again.
But here's the thing. Even after the midnight show, where I had the buzz from seeing a NEW Star Wars movie for the first time since I was four (when I saw Return of the Jedi), something seemed... off. The movie was okay, but not great. Then it went from okay to not that great, and finally to "why am I watching this again?" When The Phantom Menace came out on VHS, there'd been enough time away from the film to forget the disappointing parts (which were numerous), and to pretend something awesome happened that I was just forgetting about.
Of course, there wasn't. There was an extended Pod Race scene and an extended "landing on Coruscant" sequence that were, well, not good. In fact, the more I thought about The Phantom Menace, the less I could understand what was good about it at all. Was it just that the concept of a Star Wars movie I hadn't grown up with was powerful enough to keep me coming back?
Now I find the movie an unendurable bore. My disdain for The Phantom Menace carried over to Attack of the Clones, which is several different ways just as bad (or worse), and were alleviated slightly by the less-awful Revenge of the Sith. Now Star Wars isn't as much fun as it used to be. Not even the Original Trilogy, which was retconned in 2004 to link up to the Prequels.
That being said, I'm not going to go into hyperbole. George Lucas didn't touch me in the wrong place or whatever you characterize his actions as; he just made two shitty movies and one marginally watchable film from 1999 to 2005.
What this has to do with Bad Movie exploration week: Well, some time last winter(?), a series of seven YouTube videos appeared from someone calling himself Mr. Plinkett that broke down The Phantom Menace on a plot-point-by-plot-point basis, and what he (rather hilariously) conveys in a logical manner is just how much worse the film is than you thought. It's simple, little, things that he demonstrates just don't make any sense that really move The Phantom Menace from disappointing to "my god, this is a terrible movie!"
Because Mr. Plinkett did such a great job with The Phantom Menace (and also Attack of the Clones and the forthcoming Revenge of the Sith), I'm devoting today's Video Daily Double exclusively to his work, in the hope you'll spend 70 minutes of your time being more entertained than you'd ever expect The Phantom Menace was capable of.
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For today's Video Daily Double, I've decided to include two of my favorite segments from Mr. Plinkett's dissection of the first Star Wars Prequel. Feel free to click on either one of these to see the rest (along with Attack of the Clones or any of the Star Trek: TNG movies). Both clips deal with the Trade Federation and Naboo parts of the film. Enjoy:
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