This is MJ. Welcome to my fully operational Star Wars podcast. I'm going to be talking about Star Wars Episode 1, The Phantom Menace, in this episode, as I embark upon a journey towards the debut of the Ahsoka series, and hopefully my coverage of the Ahsoka series.
If it's awful by Episode 1 and 2, which are debuting on the same day, I guess I'll drop it. I don't think it's going to be awful, so I don't anticipate that happening, but if it does, well that'll be a really interesting way to have to keep the show going with some sort of pivot.
So anyway, which I have ideas. I got plenty of ideas for what to do. I don't want to talk about that.
But what I do want to talk about right now is, like I said, Phantom Menace Episode 1, the first Star Wars movie you should watch, because it's Episode 1. That makes the most sense.
So I tried to unlearn what I have learned all my years as a Star Wars fan and just enjoy this movie for its own sake.
And I'm going to start off with something a little bit negative, which is, I'm not really a race car. I'm not really a car guy, race car guy, car chase guy.
And the pod race is almost like a car chase in a movie. And I don't really dig it. I heard way back in the day that it was very much inspired by Ben Hur.
I watched Ben Hur, I don't know, five years ago, six years ago maybe, could have been a little bit longer ago than that. And I actually had to find the chariot race very exciting.
And I thought, oh, okay, I see George Lucas having grown up as a kid in Modesto, watched Ben Hur at the drive-in or whatever, and was enamored by this.
And he thought, I got to do this someday. And then he got the opportunity with Phantom Menace and I can't blame him for doing it.
But it just, it kind of dragged on. It didn't really keep my attention too well. I was in a holding pattern, so I didn't leave or go anywhere.
I didn't skip it. But I did think about skipping it. I thought, I'm watching this streaming. I could just skip this bad boy. No problem.
Chick-chock, you know, zips up Zach. No issue. But I stuck with it. And I mean, it is good. It is good. It's just, it's too long. I think it's too much.
And I believe the currently available version on the streaming platforms is the too long version, which is the director's cut, which, you know, I want Lucas to have his say and have final word.
But, you know, sometimes I quibble with some of his choices and giving us the extended version of that was bad.
There's a redeeming quality to it, though, which I will get to later. But I think he could have been truncated in order to do only what it needed to do,
which is what I think happened in the original theatrical release. But so my main issue with the movie is that Pod Race is just too darn long.
And I'm not sure what else it almost like kind of it makes the movie feel like it slows down and stops in the middle of it.
I like everything else around it. And I mean, really, that's my biggest gripe. That's my biggest issue with the movie is the Pod Race.
It's just it's too much. And I've said that enough. I've said that too much now.
So I don't want to give you the eight more minute complaining about a version. So I'm going to stop and pivot to the things that I like.
I like that this is basically in a weird way, Amidala or Padme's movie.
And you get the introduction in the crawl talking about how the taxation of the taxation and blockade of her planet has been done by this trade federation group.
And there's your villains because taxation is theft and taxation is death.
And she is trying to declare or assert her sovereignty. And it's all being mired by the progress of that attempt or bid or whatever effort is being mired by the Senate and the fact that she's blockaded on her planet and can't get off very easily.
So the Trade Federation is doing something evil. They're trying to come in and at the point of a gun force an arrangement or a treaty, whatever, with Naboo, which is super wrong.
It'd be like going over to your neighbor and pointing a gun in their face and telling them they have to buy gas from you or buy whatever you do in your business.
They have to only shop at your store or whatever and pay you money based off that. That's not OK.
So, you know, a lot of people complain about the complicated nature of the politics, but it's basically that simple.
They're trying to coerce her into doing a business arrangement that she doesn't want to.
And then when she doesn't, they threaten to put her people in camps and then start assassinating or murdering all of them, which I think we've found out through history that when people try to put people in camps and then kill them one by one or, you know, collectively, that's a no-no.
So, yeah, pretty clearly they are super evil, super bad guys.
And we learn along the way that they're being controlled by this or influenced by this Sith who has his own Sith apprentice.
And we know that he's the apprentice Darth Maul.
And we get to see how he's manipulating things and influencing things in the background and that his focus or his efforts are being exerted on Naboo and on the young queen, Amidala.
And it's interesting because we basically get like this movie is the quest for Amidala to save her planet from tyranny and oppression and from the threat of these Trade Federation guys.
And along the way, she picks up an R2 unit as a companion, two Jedi Knights as companions.
She's got her trusty, you know, royal bodyguard dude Typho, I believe is his name.
And that's Panaka. Typho is the next guy.
Anyway, and then, you know, this farm or not this farm boy, this slave boy from Tatooine and Jar Jar as well.
And it's really interesting because the first half of the movie sets up her collecting all of these allies.
And then you have this respite on Coruscant where they're all able to regroup and like their fates are kind of altered or spun in different directions.
And things aren't going quite the way they want them to.
Not the way our heroes want them to.
And then she decides she's going to book it and go back to Naboo with the Gungan ally, with the Jedi as protectors, with her security captain, security detail captain guy, you know, Panaka, and with the slave boy.
Why exactly is Anakin going with them?
I guess Anakin's going because Qui-Gon is going and Obi-Wan is going with him because it's their mission.
But he's taken receipt of Anakin and is taking care of him now.
He's basically his ward. And that's kind of interesting that through this confluence of events all these allies that Padme picks up go back with her to Naboo.
And they're all essential, absolutely essential in getting the planet freed from the Trade Federation and in pulling out this victory, this very unexpected victory.
And I guess pretty cool. It's pretty interesting.
The whole thing with this Kagamushu shadow warrior, which that's what that means, decoy is interesting.
I find it interesting for two reasons.
One, A New Hope is very much inspired by or takes a lot of things from The Hidden Fortress.
I watched a little bit of The Hidden Fortress and I was shocked.
I did not watch the whole movie, but I watched about a half a quarter of it.
I was flabbergasted by how much that thing, at least visually, is Star Wars A New Hope. It was shocking.
And I haven't watched Kagamushu, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some semblance of that.
Or if history wouldn't rhyme. I would be shocked if history didn't rhyme.
And watching that I would say, oh, this is very much just the Phantom Menace.
The Phantom Menace is very much taking shot for shot some things from Kagamushu.
But anyway, it's about decoy for Japanese, somebody, noble of some sort, I believe.
And that's what's going on with Padme and her handmaidens, or Amidala and her handmaidens, one of which is Padme.
Padme is the True Queen.
And then we've got, they don't say in the movie, but I know from all the other Star Wars stuff that I've enjoyed,
that it's a Corde is, no, it's not Corde, Sanae is her primary, she's played by Keir Knightley.
She's the primary decoy.
I can mostly tell now when it's, you know, who is who, even if I'm not seeing Padme in her handmaiden garb.
But it is shocking how much those two women look alike and how much they, like that voice, that Amidala voice that they do,
conceals the identity and that they're both able to, you know, pitch up or down or whatever to it.
And that's really cool. Like, I really think it's fabulous.
And I don't know if this is an apocryphal story, I believe it's actually 100% true that either one of their mothers was on set
and she couldn't tell that her daughter wasn't in the role that she thought she was supposed to be in.
She thought she was Amidala and she wasn't, which is wild. So that's pretty cool.
I think it's really neat.
It's interesting that there's not like more said about that.
It's funny how much the movie is like showing that stuff with the decoy and how that's part of, I guess, not Alderaan.
What is this one? Naboo. It's part of Naboo.
And it's not talked about. It's not really, I mean, other than the fact that she admits it at one point, it's astonishing.
However, going back to the movie, you could see little clues.
And I don't know if Qui-Gon knew or not. That's up for debate. That's up to debate for me.
But yeah, I don't know. It's just very interesting and it's very, I don't know, like compelling.
And it's super cool how she and her decoy, you know, in the assault on the palace to retake the palace,
they, like the audience now knows that there's a decoy involved here, but the Trade Federation people don't.
And they assume for whatever reason, I guess because they've seen Amidala, she looks enough like the Queen, right, when she doesn't have her makeup on.
That she looks enough like her that they think they've captured her at one point.
And then the decoy comes along dressed in the, you know, royal garb and they think, oh, no, this is a decoy. That's the real one.
So, I mean, it's not like these tactics are unknown in history.
And people talk about like, oh, this president has a decoy, that president has a decoy, or like Saddam Hussein had a bunch of decoys and stuff.
And again, this is a 20, 23, July, 20, 23, so I'm bringing up Saddam Hussein.
Anyway, and you know, it's a known thing in the world.
It's just, it's surprising. Like, you know, I never saw it coming when I originally watched the movie.
And yeah, it's super interesting and super compelling.
And stuff like that makes it feel like it's definitely Padme's movie or Amidala's movie, whatever.
But there is a surprising amount of focus on the Jedi. Like, we start off with the Jedi infiltrating or, you know, going under the Trade Federation ship and trying to talk to them.
But then they're going to get poisoned or whatever.
Like, it starts off kind of from their perspective, but they're going there for the sake of Amidala.
And we see her pretty quickly. And, you know, however, she does carry the action forward.
You know, they go to rescue the queen, not the princess this time, the queen.
And because of what happened with the ship, it diverts their efforts. But, you know, the handmaiden Padme and Amidala, you know, by, well, I mean, she is Amidala,
goes along the journey with them on Tatooine to figure out how to get them off the planet, how to get their ship fixed.
And it, you know, spirals off into all this stuff. But you, it's, I don't know, it's always better because it's like Padme and Amidala are separate characters at some point in the movie.
And then at one point, and then, you know, when the reveal happens in the Gungan holy place, then we realized that they were the same character the whole time.
And it, I don't know, it just, it makes it really cool and really neat.
And then, I don't know, I almost become like more invested in her character and what she's doing because I realize like these are the lengths of this queen is willing to go to, to protect her planet.
And it's obvious that, you know, everything Amidala was saying, whether it was Keira Knightley or the other lady, you know, performing as Amidala at that time, like those were coordinated efforts.
Those were things that both, you know, that queen, the royal we of the queen agreed to do or agreed were the best course of action in that time.
And there's even like a subtle instance where she, Keira Knightley kind of turns to the handmaidens, but specifically Padme, into something like, it'll be dangerous.
And she says, we're brave, your highness, which I assume now in retrospect, that's like a code that they'd worked out.
Like, don't worry about it. We'll go ahead and forward, we'll go ahead and go forward with this plan.
You know, we trust you and like, hey, I'm the real queen and you're deferring to me.
And I'm telling you, I want us to go forward with this course of action, even though it's risky, because we're prepared for this.
And I don't know, it's weird. And it's, you know, living in 2023 America, it's oddly like, I don't know, progressive for its time or like post, I don't know, post feminism or post, I don't know what.
But like, you have a queen with her handmaidens who are these, you know, from all outward appearances, sissy women in, you know, weird fancy clothes.
They're a team of warriors and operatives and like, you know, spies and, you know, they're handling weapons in the palace siege.
And they're basically like these cool secret class of warriors, not secret class necessarily, but like a secret set of warriors.
And like, not only are they handmaidens, but they're also, you know, fighters and stuff.
And like, that's super cool. It's a super neat idea.
And it's like a weird thing to come out of this, you know, presumably, you know, semi matriarchal society that is Naboo, who has this elected queen, which I guess you don't really know about that stuff until you read the books.
But that's definitely, you know, what's going on and the seeds of it are there. And that's pretty interesting and pretty compelling stuff.
The Jedi are amazing. I love them fighting the droidekas. I love them using their super speed.
It's super cool that they have this gadgets like the breath thing for under the water.
And I mean, like they have all this weird gear on like they have the force and they use it, but they also have these cool gadgets that they use, which is pretty fun.
It's disappointing that there's a wide I know it was a deleted scene.
I don't know if I ever got restored to this version or not, but like they usually like grappling hooks, which is super cool.
They use them when they surface in the bongo, whatever it's called, in order to get to the palace and feed. And like that's super cool.
So, yeah, I don't know as much as it's, you know, neat that there are these mystical warriors who have all these powers.
I also like seeing them using gadgets and it seems kind of out of place, but it's also, you know, very serial ish, which makes sense because, you know, Lucas is pulling from those old serials.
And it's just cool. So anyway, I definitely love Qui-Gon. I love his defiance to the council or how he defies the council and how he claims it's because of this higher moral stance of like following the living force and listening to the force as opposed to trying to make the force do what you want.
And, you know, there's not a lot of context on Jedi and force stuff if, you know, if you're looking at this for the first time.
But it's interesting to know that there are people with differences opinions and how to use this, you know, force thing. And that's neat.
I like the fact that Anakin has this like really interesting, you know, morality to him. Speaking of, you know, Lucas making these for these movies for 12 year olds.
And it's about learning. It's about indoctrinating or inculcating this moral code or this moral thinking into children, particularly the 12 year old boys among us.
And Anakin saying that his mother, Shmi, has told him that the problem with this galaxy is that basically people don't help each other.
And because of his growing up as a slave, he's had nothing. And he's so open and warm and loving and generous and willing to risk his life doing pod racing to help save these people who he barely knows.
And just his selflessness in that situation is really cool. And then, you know, I mentioned the pod race being over over done.
But like where his, you know, engines get messed with and he resets power to them and does all this fancy stuff.
There's a little bit of a parallel in the visual light, like the whole thing of him doing the pod racing it being dangerous and him risking himself to save everybody.
That comes back and that's echoed later on in the movie when he's stuck in the Naboo, the Anno-1 Starfighter, that awesome yellow and chromed out ship.
And he like certain just like the way the goggles are worn on him, the control, I don't know, control yoke or the control handles are similar.
Oh, actually, they're not that similar. They're a little different. Never mind. That part doesn't work.
But like, you know, he's been proven to be a pilot. It's not just, oh, you know, we've never seen this kid touch a ship.
And then next thing we know, he's piloting. We got to see him do well at pod racing, but also fail and have issues and and have a bunch of problems while he was doing it while he was doing the race.
And then we got to see him think quickly and overcome those problems.
And then, you know, he has R2 restart the fighter when he's inside of the droid control ship.
And some of the visual languages repeated where he's like toggling controls and pressing buttons and switches and things like that.
That was like a really cool echo of what had happened earlier.
And yeah, well, I are to is the one who gets a ship up and running again.
It's Anakin's piloting and it's Anakin's action and Ford momentum and drive to, you know, stay in the fight because R2 is like, hey, we should pull out.
And he says, no, Master Qui Gon said, stay in the cockpit. That's what I'm doing.
And I love how it's a little hint at Anakin's character, that he's going to take you literally and he's going to do what you said to do.
But he's also going to do what he wants to do. And that's a really interesting character.
It's a really dynamic character. And it's fun that he, you know, he started up the ship that he had to stay in for safety in order to fight off those droid because when the Jedi went to fight Maul and, you know,
he's saving saving Padme, who he definitely had some affection for and appreciation for as a person.
But then that continues and goes to its logical conclusion of him destroying the droids and basically saving the planet of Naboo.
You know, while the Gungans were putting themselves at risk doing this feint attack.
I love it's like this cool three pronged attack to like and like this, you know, this girl Amidala Padme, whatever, like she came up with that plan.
That's really neat to think that she or she and her handmaidens or she and her handmaidens and the security guy like all came up with this cool plan to utilize the Gungans to draw out the Trade Federation forces
and then, you know, attack the palace to seize new gunray in order to help bring them to justice and, you know, make sure that nothing like this ever happens to Naboo again.
And meanwhile, they're using the diversion to go and destroy the ships up in atmosphere like that's just it's super cool.
And I love that spreading out of the battle and the cutting back and forth was really good.
Very exciting. And yeah, just I thoroughly enjoyed this movie and it was super cool.
The midichlorian thing is an issue if you watch this movie first.
And I don't want to get into a debate about that, so I'm not going to.
But yeah, it's really neat.
And I like how if you're only watching this movie, the good guys win.
But you can see little shadows of machinations of stuff going on.
And like obviously there's Velasquez, Qui-Gon dies.
But then there's the mystery. The Jedi don't know Yoda and Mace Windu were talking about this was the master apprentice that got killed.
But we know it was just the apprentice or not.
It was the apprentice of the master is still out there.
And, you know, the audience knows that there's still this Sith threat, which the Jedi thought wasn't a problem for them anymore.
But the Sith have returned. It's the return of the Sith that could be the alternate name for the Phantom Menace, which essentially the same thing, right?
And now we know that there's more potential for conflict.
We know that there's this Darth Sidious out there who's stirring up trouble, who's manipulating things.
And that's really neat.
But at the same time, we have this victory of the heroes.
We have the promise of Anakin becoming a Jedi.
Obi-Wan is burdened or bound by this oath that he made to his dying master Qui-Gon Jinn.
And, you know, there's something going on here and we're not 100 percent sure what it is.
But it's cool because it keeps like it makes a nice launching point for this universe.
And, you know, I don't know. I mean, obviously, I do know what the next movie is going to be and what it's going to be about.
But thinking about this as like the first in a series, it's really cool because it does a really good job of setting up things.
It introduces you to some of what the Jedi are.
It shows you that they have these great enemies from long ago who they thought were extinct, who are back now, the Sith.
It shows you that there is, you know, political corruption and manipulation and machinations going on
and that there's this, you know, really interesting, you know, Queen character who saved her planet with the help of the Jedi,
you know, in the midst of the corruption of the Republic.
And I know it just that's like, you know, there's a corrupt Republic.
There's these cool mystical warriors who won't fight a war for you, but will help you, you know, will help protect you and things like that, according to them.
And they have this great enemy who's coming up to, you know, kick up dust and cause more trouble in the galaxy.
And that's like a really cool start to a series.
And, you know, you would expect things to go a certain way in the next movie in the series.
But, you know, you might be surprised how they actually go. And anyway, that being said, you know, not talking about what happens in the next movie just yet.
It is really cool how it all sets up and primes you, the audience, for the next movie or the next series.
And, yeah, I just think it really does a good job.
It does its job very well. And I'm super satisfied with it.
So I say that both as a longtime Star Wars fan and as just somebody who likes the movies and thinks they're good and competent.
I have this naive thinking as I came into it.
And I just thought after the movie finished, I thought that's a good movie.
I really like it. The Podre's thing kind of drags. But other than that, like it's a really good movie and I really enjoy it.
And I'm so glad I watched that and I'm excited to watch the next one.
So let me know your thoughts on the Phantom Menace, whether you're thinking about it, you know, your generic thoughts on it.
Or if you're going to be like me, pretend you watch it for the first time, what your thoughts are on it.
And, you know, what do you think about it as the first movie in a series, etc., etc.
Let me know. You can leave notes or you can leave comments on the blog, follow the show notes and see where all you can talk to me about this movie.
Until next time, folks, this is MJX signing out. Take care.
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