Star Wars Episode I - why I love it

"What a joke"
"Ten years of waiting and THIS is what pays off? Lucas is the devil"
"Jar jar binks is literally the WORST fictional character of the century."
"Science fiction is dead. Next you'll tell me vampires have sparkly skin and floofy hair styles"
"George Lucas has raped my childhood"


*sigh* this is but a few of the many insults mud slinged at this old movie from my childhood. I remember how excited I was to see this movie. I'm sure many of you had heard it. It's a lil title known as:

STAR WARS: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

I was six years old at the time. A year before I had finally got to watch the original movies on tape that my dad bought for me the year before. Obviously I loved Star Wars. But I remember distinctly the day when new toys rolled in months early for the new Star Wars movie and I was excited. We were moving and the very first movie we went to see at the new theater just built was going to be Star Wars 1. My dad took me and my lil baby brother to it and I watched it and I loved it. Personally I knew it still had the spirit of Star Wars in its scenes. The new vivid planets, the spacecraft and space battles, the sounds and the visuals, the wise Jedi in their heyday, the sinister sith striking from the shadows and of course the plucky unique characters brought together to face a conflict that would lead to the final climatic battle in space, in the battlefields, in the palace and of course the Jedi vs Sith battle to the death.

Apparently I wasn't aware that everybody else hated the movie. Like I mean HATED this movie. Like they commented how "this ruined sci fi movies for me. Nothing else can be lower than this!" (Oh I dunno. Give or take a few years they woulda seen worse...*Fant4stic*)

But the funny thing is when I eventually DID find out later why they hated the movie, I'll be honest I KIIINDA got it buuuuut it didn't change the fact I enjoyed it. I've tried to pinpoint WHY I enjoyed and saw the good in it while everyone else saw bad. I think I got a few points down.

1. It wasn't a rehash of Original Star Wars. Now many could argue it should've been like the originals, I however say it CANT be a rehash. If it's a rehash THEN I woulda had problems. But Lucas knew that it can't be a simple "good vs evil" scenario like the days of the meek Rebels sticking it to the behemoth Empire. This is the time BEFORE that. This is when actions weren't seen as black and white. The Trade Federations actions might be douchey in execution, but it's not exactly "illegal". Lucas wanted to show that before the days of the Empire being the big problem to many, people had problems with how exploitive the old republic was and how the little people got stepped on while the big wigs had it better (gee that doesn't sound familiar at all). So that's why this installment had to be different in every way, but have only a few similarities. It was the balance that people overlook.

2. "The force lost its mysticism by being revealed that it's Midichloreons all along!" No. No they're not. If you pay attention they NEVER refer to the Force as Midichloreons. It was a completely separate beast entirely. Even my young 6 year old mind knew that Midichloreons and the force were separate. The reason why they make a big deal of Anakin having "a higher count than master Yoda" in the movie is that Anakin was born completely dependent on a separate entity twisting the force unto a young mother to have carried Anakin without the assistance of a donor or whatnot. Qui Gon clearly explains they live in all cells. If that's the case shouldn't EVERYONE have a lightsaber and lift xwings outta swamps now? Lucas has always knew that Midichloreons were involved in Star Wars. They're merely a BYPRODUCT of the force. It is NOT a reverse situation where the force is CREATED by bacteria. Honestly it baffles me that if a six year old can understand that they're separate, why couldn't everyone else? I dunno I guess they were just bored of the politics talk and wanted space lasers to happen by now and just woke up from their small naps during Qui Gons talk.

3. Jar Jar is obnoxious! Aaaaannnd what's that make Threepio? Tolerable now? Or the constant Wookie growlings of Chewbacca? Honestly Jar Jar is harmless. I can understand people groaning at his antics if he was CONSTANTLY in all the scenes, but he's not. He's not causing a ruckus during slow somber moments, many scenes that have him usually keep him reserved and pulled back so he's not flailing around like an idiot and it's supposed to be his trait to show that while many see as weakness and causing him to be banished, it has come into play to help during the battle on naboo where one moment he's causing a battle droid's torso to shoot off friendly fire at the other droid's, the next he's causing blue boomer balls to take down TANKS. TANKS!! my point being, at least Jar Jar contributes...unlike a certain duo of orange and green. (Seriously did they contribute ANYTHING in that second transformer movie? )

4. That kid actor Jake Lloyd was SOOOO god awful! Really? Picking on kid actors now? You know what he was doing? Oh I dunno ACTING LIKE A KID. I'm not gonna go into this this should be clear as day. I've known PLENTY of kids at that age acting like that even when I was growing up.

Now with all of those out of the way I'll tell you why I always kept coming back to THIS movie out of all the prequels. There's a theme in it many people fail to notice. It's all summer by this one word: "Underdog"

Think about it. We have a Jedi master who has challenged his order many times with his outside of the box thinking, teaching a young apprentice who feels his master is holding back from showing true potential to be on the council by constantly making odd choices. We have a gungan who's an outsider to his own tribe when all he wants is to do good by everyone he encounters, we have a young queen who has constantly hid behind decoys and only wants peace when clearly things aren't easy to get to that point and we of course have a young prodigy who is stuck in slavery with only his mother being his guide.

This movie brings them all together and has them accomplish something many people think them foolish to do or pull off: relinquish a planet under captivity all on their own along with a loyal group of planet inhabitants.   And that's why I love it. It shows that even a small group can outthink, and out maneuver great hazards and overwhelming odds, and while there may be great sacrifice involved, if you are committed to do what you set out to do, you can accomplish great things.

In many ways I feel that also make the movie itself a huge underdog. If you think about it, even though many people disliked the movie, it still left an impact. It spawned out many great funny parodies, it spawned out an epic soundtrack, it brought the idea of extreme lightsaber dueling that people make choreography contests out of (most famous being the Ryan vs Dorkman fanfilms) and it still garnered fans who enjoyed the quirkiness of it.

In the end, I can understand not every film is gonna hit bullseye with everybody, but that doesn't mean it doesn't leave an impact to ANYBODYS life. The movie was pretty much the beginning of my own childhood with Star Wars. I grew up with it and it grew with me. And I wouldn't change a thing about it. And with the brand new Star Wars movies coming in the horizon, I hope it becomes the beginning of someone else's childhood.