What I liked:
Overall I liked the story. I thought the pod racing sequence was awesome, as well as the ground battle on Naboo between the Gungan army and the Battle Droid army. I always liked large land battles. The scenes on Tatooine overall were good because it was real terrain being used to film. I also liked Watto and his junkyard.
From a character standpoint, I thought Obi Wan Kenobi and Queen Amidala were the best. I'm not talking Padme, though Natalie Portman did a great job. When she was dressed up and acting like the queen she was pretty tough. Though she was manipulated, when she demanded a vote of no confidence in the Supreme Chancellor, that was bad ass. And Darth Maul was awesome.
What I Didn't Like:
95% of the movie was CGI. The original trilogy was great because of the realistic effects.
The overtly racial stereotypes of the different aliens.
Jar Jar Binks - 21 years later and he hasn't aged like a fine wine. Still horrible.
The prequel trilogy gets a lot of flack - one of the funniest, most logical, and most interesting reviews was Mr. Plinkett Phantom Menace Review.
From the toys, couldn't stand the Battle Droids because, well, they couldn't stand. So flimsy and irritating.
From a toy perspective, I had an interesting experience. I was stationed in Korea with the Army when this movie came out. I don't even recall hearing much about it when I was overseas. I knew it was coming but the internet wasn't what it is today.
My very good friend shipped me the entire line of 3-3/4' figures and the 12 inch figures of Qui-Gonn, Obi Wan, Darth Maul, and Queen's decoy. I still have all of them.
So here are the 3-3/4 figures from The Phantom Menace. I have the Naboo Royal Starship, Naboo Fighter and Anakin's Pod Racer. Did not get any playsets or other vehicles.
I remember being a part of the midnight release of figures at Toys R' Us. That place was a madhouse. People were stepping on each other trying to be the first to get them.
ReplyDeleteOf course, a lot of this was driven by the irrational thinking that they would be worth so much money in twenty years. Moms and dads had visions of sending little Billy and Susie to college, buying a vacation home and retiring comfortably with all the proceeds.
To quote Anakin Skywalker, "Oops."
Ha! The same thing happened with Comics back in the late 80's... people never seem to remember that the reason stuff gets value is that those old toys and comics are scarce because people didn't collect them back then and the ones that survived are rare. New toys and comics will never have the value of golden age comics or the original star wars figures.
DeleteWhat? You mean I can't fund my daughter's Ivy League schooling with these?!?! Ha - Glad I missed that craziness. For any later movies, I simply went when the stores opened in the morning and generally found what I was looking for. But I heard it was crazy for Phantom Menace. Glad I was overseas. :-)
Delete