The Phantom Menace: Was it That Bad?

[Scott]

I stand by what I said 9 years ago...TPM was ruined by Jake Lloyd, not that it was his fault but the sheer stupidity of casting some unknown kid as Darth Freaking Vader was dumb beyond dumb.  Couple that with a kid who could not act nor was mentally prepared for what was about to happen him was ultimately tragic.

They should make a movie about Jake Lloyd's life

[Nicklab]

I agree with Nike about c-3po. If he just came along with the jedi at the beginning they wouldn't need that silver droid. They also wouldn't need Jar Jar. A better quality of jokes could have been there.  They could have met the Gungans on land and taken a Bongo to the city. Boss Ness could have been introduced as a minor character that will go with Padme to represent Naboo in the Senate in AOTC. He also should have looked like a Gungan. They could have skipped the entire planet core thing. C-3PO could have went with the gang to meet Watto and translate for them. Qui-Gon should not have died in TPM but instead became the Count Dooku character in AOTC.

I think that C-3PO could have co-existed with TC-14 in those opening scenes on the Trade Federation ship.  Protocol droids are this widely accepted diplomatic tool, and showing them in that capacity with some brief negotiations between the Jedi and Trade Federation could get some of the initial exposition moving along.  And a great way to get C-3PO out of that situation?  An escape pod, which would give you an echo back to ANH.

I think one very big missed opportunity would have been the inclusion of Count Dooku as a member of the Jedi Council during Episode I.  Some measure of dissent among the leading Jedi on the Council about whether or not to intervene on Naboo, as well as on the training of Anakin Skywalker as a Jedi would have set the stage for the rest of the PT in an interesting way.  It could have shown the flaws of the Jedi Order and further expand on the different schools of thought regarding the Living Force and the Cosmic Force, as well as explore the concept of the Jedi as peacekeepers and not as a military force.

[Phrubruh]

Qui-Gon being Count Dooku and falling to the dark side would have been good foreshadowing for Anakin doing the same thing. Both Obi-wan's Master and his Apprentice turns to the dark side. How tragic could that have been for Obi-wan and he was unable to stop it.

[P-Siddy]

Both Obi-wan's [Master] and his Apprentice turns to the dark side. How tragic could that have been for Obi-wan and he was unable to stop it.

Except that I would have had Obi-Wan's master be Yoda as was mentioned in Empire.

[Nicklab]

Then from a story standpoint you lose a few things.

The death of Qui-Gon serves as device for several things:  motivating Obi-Wan to step up and become a fully fledged Jedi Knight.  And Obi-Wan then promises a dying Qui-Gon that he will train Anakin Skywalker in defiance of the Jedi Council.  Plus you would also lose the device of Qui-Gon's spirit surviving in The Force and how that translates to the OT deaths of Obi-Wan and Yoda.

The traitor aspect of Dooku's character is significant.  He illustrated deep divisions in the Jedi Order, even among it's most honored Jedi Masters.  And he also had this noble status on his home planet that made him appropriate as the face of the Seperatist movement.

[P-Siddy]

True.  But the master/apprentice relationship between Ben and Yoda had already been established.  What if Yoda was the defiant one?  Perhaps he feels guilty about something he did.  Obviously not sure what as Yoda is the great teacher and Ben thought he could do better.

[Muftak]

I've been a TPM apologist for years.

I like it the most of the three prequels. To my eye, they just get more and more unfocused as the trilogy goes on. TPM, at least, is the most cohesive film by going after kids in a way the other five films (so far) did not. It was more or less told from a 10-year old's perspective, and is a ten year old's version of a good story. The political stuff doesn't make any sense because politics elude the juvenile mind. When the Clone Wars movie came out I liked it better than AOTC and ROTS for exactly the same reason. They tried too hard and failed. TPM does not strain to be more than a fun kids movie.

JarJar's speech to me was always a fun little bit...I was studying linguistics at the time and appreciated a periphery species speaking a pidgin form of the common language, it rung true for me (at least until JarJar said "Exsqueeze me." Yeah, some of it was rough to take.)

I think what "ruined" the prequels for me was comparing them to the Lord of the Rings trilogy that came out along with the latter two. Star Wars paled in every form of comparison. TPM squeaked out of that comparison a little because it really stood by itself as a kid's film. (And I guess I never warmed up to the Hobbit movies like I could've because I always felt that should have been handled more as a kids movie than trying to out-epic LOTR...but that's a discussion for elsewhere.)

All that being said, I would love a new version of the prequels with all the things mentioned above to tweak the story and tie the overall storyline together better. Or, you know, just to watch this new trilogy and see where the story goes.

[77Skywalker]

I think this one honestly here was awesome.  The Podrace, The Battle of Naboo, The Lightsaber duel, and showing the saga began.

[Matt_Fury]

Hard to believe that this movie was released 20 years ago.

[Nicklab]

I've really been enjoying the behind the scenes content for The Mandalorian.  In a roundtable discussion with Jon Favreau and the other season one directors, Dave Filoni gave his take on the weight of the duel in Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace.  And the way he put it was a wonderfully thought out explanation of the ripple effects this duel would have on the story of Anakin Skywalker from TPM all the way through ROTJ.

Star Wars: Dave Filoni Explains Why Prequel Films Rely on Duel of the Fates
"I think a lot of people diminish [Duel of the Fates] into just this cool lightsaber fight."

[Matt_Fury]

I've been enjoying that behind the scenes series as well.  That speech by Filoni really raised my respect level for him.

[Phrubruh]

Filoni is the only one that understands Star Wars.