Was I in any way disappointed? Sure. I thought it lacked some of the pulpy, campy fun of the first trilogy, and I would have liked to have had a little more time to get to know the characters. Lucas tried to stuff a lot into one movie, and a lot of that stuff is a lot more sombre and epic-sized than the story elements in the first trilogy (keeping this in mind, it seems that the campy fun of the originals might feel out of place in the Old Republic).

I much applaud the casting of Natalie Portman in the role of Queen Amidala, for one simple reason: she's a lot prettier than Carrie Fisher ever was. Faerie-tale royals should always be pretty, in my opinion. Carrie Fisher fit the bill as the fresh-faced and spunky Leia in Star Wars: A New Hope, but she aged badly (a cocaine addiction will do that to you) and by Return of the Jedi she had definitely lost that faerie-tale sheen. Natalie Portman may well remain pretty for years, and has thus far shown no signs of beauty-damaging substance abuse.

Ewan MacGregor, who plays a young Obi-wan Kenobi, fits the bill for similar reasons: he's pretty. As a bonus, he does a wonderful job with the accent and speaking patterns of Alec Guiness. Liam Neeson, who ain't no Alec Guiness, still manages to pull off a fine Jedi, installing in the part just enough earnestness and pseudo-Zen to make us believe.

But what about Warwick Davis? Granted, the poor man is typecast as a beeping tin can -- that must be tough, for an actor. But why give him the role of that baby Greedo-thing? It wasn't cute. It had all the awkward proportions and clumsiness of a midget. I guess they're just throwing Warwick a bone (after all, those Willow sequels never materialised (thank goodness!))...

Okeday, now it's time weso talk about Jar-Jar Binks. As far as the allegations of his pidgin dialect harkening back to the days of Blackface go, I think that's crap. (After all, what the fuck was that little muttering thing in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon with Lando in the end of Return of the Jedi?? The "Blackface" critics would have us believe that Lucas owes a big apology to speakers of Bantu languages (whose intonations the thing's exclaimations recall)...similarly, suggestions that Watto is an anti-Semitic figure is pure malarky -- Watto sounds like he's Greek, if anything!) Jar Jar is pretty annoying, this cannot be argued. However, I have found that he is markedly less annoying upon successive viewings of the movie. Also, he becomes easier to understand. Still, in many scenes he simply seems superfluous. Why he was recently featured on the cover of Rolling Stone is beyond me.

I very much enjoyed the introduction of everybody's favourite astromech 'droid, R2-D2. It was exciting, and fun; that little fleet of astromechs was adorable. The introduction of C3-PO was a little forced, I felt...also, it failed altogether to address the issue of when and how exactly C3-PO became gay.

Why was Yoda such a grouch in this movie? A friend of mine has suggested that he was fulfilling the role of Law & Order's District Attourney Adam Shiff in the Episode I storyline. If that is the case, I am eagering anticipating a possible cameo in the next installment by Michael Moriarty as Darth Belly.

I have heard a lot of debate on the subject of Darth Sidious / Senator Palpatine. Many folks seems to feel that the allusion to their being one in the same was painted with strokes too broad -- others seem to have missed the connexion entirely. Myself, I thought it was done just right. That last "now I'm telling you blatantly" shot near the end was just the sort of campy, Space Opera feel that I thought the movie needed more of. I hope we see a lot more of Palpatine in the next installment -- I like his particular brew of evil. As for the quick ("easy") death of Darth Maul? Worry not -- rumours are he'll be back in the next picture...and in greater numbers (cloned so thick you won't be able to swing a cat without getting knocked upside the head with a light-staff).

Speaking of the next episode:

A lot of people have told me they think the choice of Leonardo DiCaprio for Anakin is a real disappointment. Personally, I don't really care. If we could suffer through Mark Hamill, we can suffer through a little Leonardo. Remember this Hamill classic? "The forth runth strong in my family: my father had it, I have it, and...my thithter hath it." Anything is an improvement to that fish-lipped whiner!

In conclusion: though The Phantom Menace may have left me wanting more, I am still fully satisfied with my "1999 Star Wars Experience." The high-point, in my experience, was the moment when I first downloaded the trailer...watching it, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. Nothing can beat that moment, not even the movie itself. My Star Wars 1999 memories are about people coming over to watch the trailer, and ending up in conversation with strangers after overhearing a line quoted from the trailer. Fixed forever in all our minds: "I will not condone a course of action that will lead us to wo."

Do I regret that I am part of a generation whose central mythology is Lucas' distant galaxy? In a way, yes. It would be nice if we were as conversant with Shakespeare, the Illiad, the Divine Comedy, Beowulf and the Bible as were previous generations...our tapestry of archetypes would be that much more rich. In another way, however, an archetype is an archetype so who the fuck cares whether it's the death of Faust or the death of Darth Vader?

So that's my Star Wars page. If I think up anything else to ramble on about, I'll stick it in. I thank you for your attention / je vous remercie pour votre attention.

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