Star Wars Saturdays: Why "The Phantom Menace" Is Good, Actually

May the Fourth Be With You for Episode I's 25th Anniversary

Because of the laws of bad puns, today - May the Fourth - is ‘Star Wars’ day. This weekend also marks the 25th anniversary of EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE, the divisive first installment in George Lucas’ sequel trilogy (also now re-released in theaters nationwide). So starting today and continuing for nine Saturdays, we’re going to go through the entire STAR WARS saga in episodic order, a series that will include a number of pieces that have never appeared online before taken from my book 200 Reviews, available now in Paperback or on Kindle (which you should really consider buying, because it’s an awesome collection!). Let’s start today with the birthday film itself, and share some thoughts on why the much-derided PHANTOM MENACE is actually pretty good. Enjoy…

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace

1999, Dir. George Lucas

Composite of an excerpt published September 18^th, 2011 and notes written May 29^th, 2022

Despite the wildly overheated vitriol that has long fueled its infamous reputation, The Phantom Menace is a good movie, and at times a great one. It is not perfect, but then, few films are. And instead of talking about those imperfections – which have been dissected and exaggerated to death over the past 20-plus years – I want to discuss everything I love about the film, because at its best, The Phantom Menace is a monumental feat of world-building that expands not only the internal diegetic world of Star Wars, but actively redefines what Star Wars is, was, and could be.

In particular, I love every last moment with Qui-Gon Jinn or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Their relationship is fully formed and three-dimensional from moment one, giving us a powerful idea of what life was like for Jedi at the height of the order. Qui-Gon, the calm, efficient, and brilliant master, who seems to have a solution for every problem and is endlessly competent; Obi-Wan, his headstrong but wise and loyal Padawan who is clearly on his way towards becoming a great Jedi master himself. Separately, both are the best of the best, but together, they form something else entirely, something that transcends a master/student relationship. Their trust in each other is portrayed so subtly that it seems telepathic, as though the two have been through so much, and believe in one another so implicitly, that they need not communicate verbally to get the job done. I love the understated nature of this relationship; the subtlety gets us invested in the characters, and once Darth Maul arrives in the final act, we see the full culmination of this partnership in what is easily the greatest lightsaber duel in the Star Wars saga; during the battle, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan’s effortless harmony is a wonder to behold, and this, more than anything else, illustrates the might and gracefulness of the Jedi order at its best.