Ten years ago today, Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace premiered in theaters, and with it, my life as a geek came full circle. I can remember that day…waiting all day on line, bonding with other folks for whom Star Wars was their pop-cultural touchstone, suffering the shattering disappointment that came with actually WATCHING Episode I. Because, let’s face it, that movie blew…unlike those first trailers, which I recall first watching in the office, a dozen people giddily huddled around a computer monitor to get their first glimpse of the first new Star Wars in almost 20 years. And, lo, it was awesome:
Of course, nothing could live up to that hype — created by both the movie studio and my own head. But still, it didn’t have to be so…pedantic. (Patton Oswalt kinda had it right in his NSFW rant about the prequels.) So, here’s to you, George Lucas. Thanks for an eye-opening 10 years, during which it became less and less possible to recapture my childhood. Egads, I’ve had to resort to writing comic books.
What was your biggest pop-culture disappointment?
The Matrix Sequels
I like the Star Wars prequels. Episode I was definitely the weakest of the three, but it had to all start somewhere. And you knew from the start that there would be no Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, or Carrie Fischer. The next two movies were actually pretty good, but alas, only about five minutes of actual “Darth Vader.” Anywho, biggest pop culture disappointment would have to be Jordin Sparks winning American Idol. She is a no talent hack. Taylor Hicks, at least had a fun personality. Sparks needs to lay off the cheeseburgers and stop singing that style of music.
This movie did not suck nearly as bad as I remembered it in the theater. I think we all suffered from too high expectations for the time. Keep in mind we are all twenty years older than when we first saw Episode IV. However I am still furious that Lucas blighted the entire Star Wars universe with Jar Jar Binks!
Wow, I can’t stand the people who overreacted to this movie. I can recall it getting mostly positive reviews from critics at the time. Then something strange happened and everyone just turned on it- now, of course, it’s one of those movies that’s “cool to hate.”
People are acting like it’s the worst movie ever made. Which is far from the case. Sure it may not be as good as the older stuff, but there’s plenty of cool stuff to like here (Liam Neeson’s Jedi, Darth Maul and the dual-saber, that MUSIC!) and it got a new generation interested in Star Wars.
IF you want to talk about disappointments, how about the franchise-killing Batman & Robin? Or the franchise-wannabe Van Helsing?
My biggest pop-culture disappointment occurred only just in May of last year, with something called ‘Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’- The refrigerator. The swinging vines. The glass football. The CG groundhog. Completely tainted the Indy legacy. A great example of a franchise that should have been left alone
I liked Phantom Menace when I first saw it in theatres – the excitement and hype was enough to carry me through. Subsequent viewings, however? Ooof. Each prequel had about 5 excellent minutes and that was it. Definitely a huge pop-culture disappointment.
I understand how you feel. I was so excited to see a NEW Star Wars. And then…well, we all know what happened. I saw a quote from George Lucas at the time, where he said “I made the movie for 10 year olds”. Well, now that I have 2 young Star Wars obsessed boys who prefer the new movies to the old ones, I guess Lucas was right. The new ones are not for me.
I actually hated the second Star Wars prequel more than Phanom Menace. I figured George Lucas would’ve heard the complaints and made adjustments. But then we ended up in a gladiator arena. When Padme’s shirt ripped to bear her midriff, that was it for me.
I didn’t mind the movie at all (even the kid). I did see that Lucas tried and tried and tried to make Jar Jar Binks the new C3PO, complete with one-liners. It misfired completely. I think that’s what did it and drove most fans away. Its what did it for me. But I never really “got” what/who the Phantom Menace was. Went over my head.
Well it’s unfortunate but movie franchises just don’t grow up with the audiance. I saw episiode 1 with my 10 year old nephew and he watched it the way I watched the first star wars movies. I never watched any more after that until my own boys became obsessed with everything star wars. Now I’ve watched them all except episode 3 because of the PG-13 rating. Lucas is right, these movies are for 10 year olds. Unfortunately we need to move on or else watch it through their eyes…
Batman and Robin. OMG, what a steaming hot pile of mess that was! Terrible, TERRIBLE movie. Batman Forever was terrible too, but a good terrible, you could still kind of enjoy it, but Batman and Robin was just plain BAD. So disappointed. Thank the heavens that a few years later Batman fanboys and fangirls around the world were vindicated with Batman Begins and then the supernova that is The Dark Knight. But regardless, I still get chills of dread when I think of sitting in that movie theater (at a midnight showing mind you) and witnessing what I thought was the death of my fandom, right before my eyes. Yes, that is most definitely the single most disappointing pop-culture moment for me.
bj, WORD! Although for me, it was mostly just Matrix:Revolutions. I’m still pissed that the epic story came down to a freaking draw.
I agree with Rob Grizzly. We should be grateful that George Lucas brought it back PERIOD. He could have just sat on the original trilogy, released them on video for the upteenth time, and said “You want new Star Wars? Tough luck.” It wasn’t perfect, but it was better than it could have been.
We should be thankful that he still cares. I’m watching it again this weekend.
I have to say it was the “Twilight” movie. I thought the books were low quality but at least entertaining, but that movie was just lousy. And I had been excited about it!
Phantom Menace is the best movie EVER.
I just pretend that the first prequel only contains the cool lightsaber battle. Great action, awesome music! Even though it makes no sense. I can picture this scene at Comic-Con with a fan and George Lucas:
“Why are they so awesome with lightsabers now, but get worse in the future?”
“Oh cause all the Jedi’s died off and there are no training and blah blah.”
“Wait what? Shouldn’t Darth Vader and Obi Wan still be awesome in the future? You don’t just forget that stuff do you? I mean, I know there’s going to be lack of movement for Darth in the suit and Obi Wan is old, but they’re f***ing Jedi’s!”
“Ummmm….”