I have just returned from watching Episode 1 in 3D, and I am completely baffled at some of the major plot points, among other things. I watched the midnight premiere back in its original release, and as a kid, I enjoyed it... Of course I enjoyed it, its Star effin Wars. This doesnt mean however that you can have such a stupid plot line up the rest of the saga.

1) The biggest plot hole is the decision for a vote of "No Confidence" in the former Supreme Chancellor. If he was backed by greedy corporations or bureaucrats, then while the hell would Amidala's proposal even get acknowledged, let alone get accepted? That makes absolutely no sense.

2) The whole midichlorian thing to explain the power of the Force.... I dont need to explain this, and if I do, you are on the wrong forum. Its dumb, pointless, and backwards.

3) As technologically advanced as this universe is... Why did no one believe Amidala during her Senate hearing that Naboo was actually invaded?? I guess this galaxy has no form of media whatsoever.

4) The whole Anakin blowing up a Trade Federation control ship is absurd...

5) The lack of an actual main character baffles me too. If anyone knows who the real main character is in Episode 1, please explain this to me.

Other gripes, be it small or big, I guess:

No Han Solo-ish type characters in the prequels. We get to see plenty of bounty hunters, but no daring, charming character.. Although I feel like young Obi-Wan was quite charming throughout, just not the same as Han is.

Do Jedi, or better yet, anyone in the future, not mind the smell of burning flesh? Theres better ways to burn a body..

I am not sure whether every cast member just did their absolute worse, or if the direction Lucas wanted were for cardboard acting... No one displays emotion.. I get the reason behind Jedi, as well as Queen Amidala, but Shmi? Padme? Especially Padme, through this character the Queen can say or show her emotions as she pleases. When C-3P0 shows more emotion than your actors.... Something may be wrong.

On the plus side:

Podracing!

Duel of the Fates!

Qui-Gon Jinn! = Liam Neeson

Natalie Portman!

::End gripes::

Sure i will bite.

First of what those any of that has to do with star wars episode one the phantom manace in 3 demeinal view?

Second we all know about the many mistake's made and while epesoide one if my favorite you dont have to like it.

Third there is no prove the supremme chancelor was corrupt that was just power play from palpitine and even if he was corrupt he just outlived his usefullness to the buracrats there not going risk there neck for a "employ"

fourth: We must move quikly to disable all communications down there aka avoid the republic from noticing what is going on.

Five: the entire point of episode one was to show how ineffecent the republic was.

Six: the main hero's where obi-one kanobi qui-gon-gin padme amadala and anakin skywalker

jarjar r2d2 C3PO captian panaka and smee skywalker(anakins mother) where support.

Seven: episode one is my favorite because it showed the republic befor the wars.

I just got back from seeing the midnight showing! It was great.

The 3-D is good--a little subtle--but good. Nothing is really jumping out at you or anything. They (Lucas and company) have just added depth of field to the movie and overall I thought it was well done. The scenes looked... real I guess would be the best word. Definitely none of the strobing effect seen in previous 2D to 3D conversions. Again, well done!

This is the version from the Blue Ray release. No additional scenes or changes from what i could tell.

Highly recommended to all the fans! I will certainly be seeing it at least one more time before the weekend is done.

My two credits...

Ok, I'm gonna take a stab at this. It's been a long while since I've seen the film, but I beleive I remember this all right,

1) I never got the impression the Chancellor was corrupt or anything, but merely a politition who beleived more in legnthy debate and procedure than quick action, something that that the other senate members merely tolerated. I figured that his popularity had been waning, and that removing him was probably only a matter of time, and something that Palpy wanted to try and speed up.

2) Meh, Lucas wanted some kind of scientific explanation behind the force, whatever, was kinda a dumb decision, but it didn't ruin the force for me like it did some.

3) Yeah, I'm not entirely sure about this one either, though it relates to #1. If images off the TV were showing that your government needed to take action, yet your senate decided to hold a legnthy debate, would you be pissed? Would you maybe call up your representative and ***** and moan until they took action? I kinda beleive this is where Lucas was going with this. I was a Poly-Sci major in college, so to me this actually makes sense, I don't think Lucas wrote this part very well though.

4) Yeah, this was dumb.

5) Qui-Gon is who I would point to, or Obi, though this movie was designed to be more of an ensemble film, so this isn't really an area of concern for me.

Your other gripes:

Yeah, a Han Solo type would have been a welcome addition, but I beleive this was actually Natalie Portman's intended role, at least in Lucas' eyes. Break ground with the female "swashbuckler", though this didn't really work.

Jedi like to burn bodies, whatever floats their boat.

Interestingly enough, this was the best directed film IMO, by far, it just went downhill from there. I'm not sure why this is, wether Lucas was a little less controlling because he had so much stuff going on, since all the day to day production stuff was new to him, or wether having someone of Liam Neeson's caliber on the set day in and day out made him do things differently in order to keep the actors happy, but after watching this film, and comparing it to the last two movies, it really seems like there are two completely different directors at the helm.

Anyway, ramdom responces.

ive just come back from watching it myself

i loved it

why no advertisement for SWTOR??

you no like mo money?

Good to hear that the 3D effects work well. Still, I won't bring myself to watch them again in the cinema.

Thinking back to Phantom Menace, I thought the plot hole for me was:

Why did the Trade Federation blockade Naboo? What did they think they could get out of it? Maybe the name is just leading me astray, but I would expect a Trade Federation to care in some way about trade stuff. SO maybe they want to press Naboo into some kind of contract - but what kind of contract would survive an investigation of the blockade and the assault on the planet?

Someone else said - they did it because Darth Siddious told them to. But why would they follow him in the first place. Now, some of this is a "hindsight" problem. Not every question needs an answer in the first movie, that's why we have a trilogy. But it never really gets answered, and so overall, the first movie seems to lack a sensible plot and a solid motivation for the antagonists.

I have just returned from watching Episode 1 in 3D, and I am completely baffled at some of the major plot points, among other things. I watched the midnight premiere back in its original release, and as a kid, I enjoyed it... Of course I enjoyed it, its Star effin Wars. This doesnt mean however that you can have such a stupid plot line up the rest of the saga.

 

1) The biggest plot hole is the decision for a vote of "No Confidence" in the former Supreme Chancellor. If he was backed by greedy corporations or bureaucrats, then while the hell would Amidala's proposal even get acknowledged, let alone get accepted? That makes absolutely no sense.

 

2) The whole midichlorian thing to explain the power of the Force.... I dont need to explain this, and if I do, you are on the wrong forum. Its dumb, pointless, and backwards.

 

3) As technologically advanced as this universe is... Why did no one believe Amidala during her Senate hearing that Naboo was actually invaded?? I guess this galaxy has no form of media whatsoever.

 

4) The whole Anakin blowing up a Trade Federation control ship is absurd...

 

5) The lack of an actual main character baffles me too. If anyone knows who the real main character is in Episode 1, please explain this to me.

 

Other gripes, be it small or big, I guess:

 

No Han Solo-ish type characters in the prequels. We get to see plenty of bounty hunters, but no daring, charming character.. Although I feel like young Obi-Wan was quite charming throughout, just not the same as Han is.

 

Do Jedi, or better yet, anyone in the future, not mind the smell of burning flesh? Theres better ways to burn a body..

 

I am not sure whether every cast member just did their absolute worse, or if the direction Lucas wanted were for cardboard acting... No one displays emotion.. I get the reason behind Jedi, as well as Queen Amidala, but Shmi? Padme? Especially Padme, through this character the Queen can say or show her emotions as she pleases. When C-3P0 shows more emotion than your actors.... Something may be wrong.

 

On the plus side:

 

Podracing!

 

Duel of the Fates!

 

Qui-Gon Jinn! = Liam Neeson

 

Natalie Portman!

 

::End gripes::

umm have you not seen the phantom menace since you were a kid, despite having fond memories of it?

why are you reviewing it? You know this movie has been reviewed over 500,000 times right?

why make a topic about it in 3D, and then talk about the plot/story. That isn't 3D and thats not what people cared about when clicking on this thread.

1. What made you think Valorum was backed by corporate interests? Palpatine wasn't lying when he said he was mired by baseless accusations of corruption. The corporate representitives in the senate would have wanted to see Valorum gone because he was the Chancellor to oversee the taxation legislation, he was no friend to the mega-corporations at all.

2. If midi-chlorians explained the Force to you perhaps you'd be so kind as to explain the Force to me.

3. Wasn't there a communications blackout?

4. Not really, he's the Chosen One. I'd expect him to be doing pretty amazing things even this early on.

5. I don't see the big problem here.

I completely agree with you on the creamtion of Qui Gon. Never got that. I can't really sit here and defend the acting talent either, except for maybe Shmi. I thought she did a good job of portraying a woman struggling to rein in her emotions for the sake of her son.

Sure i will bite.

 

First of what those any of that has to do with star wars episode one the phantom manace in 3 demeinal view?

 

Second we all know about the many mistake's made and while epesoide one if my favorite you dont have to like it.

 

Third there is no prove the supremme chancelor was corrupt that was just power play from palpitine and even if he was corrupt he just outlived his usefullness to the buracrats there not going risk there neck for a "employ"

 

fourth: We must move quikly to disable all communications down there aka avoid the republic from noticing what is going on.

 

Five: the entire point of episode one was to show how ineffecent the republic was.

 

Six: the main hero's where obi-one kanobi qui-gon-gin padme amadala and anakin skywalker

jarjar r2d2 C3PO captian panaka and smee skywalker(anakins mother) where support.

 

Seven: episode one is my favorite because it showed the republic befor the wars.

It was very hard to decipher your post, but I do have a few rebuttals.

1) The OP had nothing to say about the 3D of the movie, or the quality of it. My own personal view is 9 times out of 10 "post-processing" a movie into 3D does NOT make a very good conversion. I haven't seen the 3D version personally, and I probably won't, considering that I feel Episode 1 is the absolute worst in the whole hextalogy of Star Wars films.

2) There are too many "mistakes" and plot holes in the movie to count. I'm glad that it's your favorite but I have to say you are certainly in the minority.

3) I have no idea what you are talking about or what point you're trying to make with this one, so I'm just going to skip responding to that.

4) With all the technology available there is NO explanation on how they Empire could conceal the invasion for any extended period of time. No matter how fast they "worked to disrupt communication" it can't explain the lack of information available. Factor in the amount of people in the Senate who represent various planets and governments there is no way that Amidala should not have been believed after a period of time.

5) I thought the entire point of Episode 1 was to show Anakin as an "innocent" force capable child, destined as the one to bring "balance" to the Force and who progressed towards a darker path leading into Episode 2.

6) You cannot create a huge list of "protagonists". Having such a large list of "heroes" makes the plot only confusing and does not give the audience a single hero that they can relate to.

7) This isn't a rebuttal, it's an opinion statement by yourself, and is a repetition of your second statement above.

Cheers!

Thank you all for educated responses. I admit naming this thread "3D"mustve led some of you to believe I was talking about how the 3D looked. And in the OP I didnt say one word about it. Well, if you like to read the famous Star Wars introduction and subtitles, the 3D will certainly pop out at you. Other than that I didnt really notice it. It didnt win me over. I dont think this whole move to converting into 3D is a good idea, but eh, Lucas needs to feed his family. For everyone that did enjoy it, I am glad you are getting what you paid for: entertainment. And if you enjoyed it, good for you. /sincerity

Thank you all for your well educated responses.

During Amidala's Senate hearing, The Chancellor seems to be on her side, until Mas Amedda (the blue alien with horns that sticks around for Palpatines terms, and becomes part of the Imperial council after the rise of the Empire) whispers in his ear and then he totally decides pretty much, "Eff you, Amidala." We will settle this another day, and yada yada yada. I think this was actually done to show that he was in fact under bureaucrats power. After this, he also let the Trade Federation Representative speak over her through their objections, which two minutes prior would not. And thats when they asked more or less, for evidence, in which, amazingly, she had none.... Why she didnt show the little hologram of Sio Bibble i do not know..

I didnt post it, but i, too, have always thought why a Trade Federation would profit over a blockade that bans trading... How would that profit a Trade Federation??

Making Qui-Gon a main character is weird because, say what you will, he has so little to do with the saga as a whole.

For the record, I love both Liam Neeson and Jinn, with Jinn being probably my favorite Jedi.

I posted this because its been about ten years since I have watched this film. I was too young when it first came out, and not that I would ever go out of my way to defend these prequels, I always tried to accepting of what Lucas tried doing.. But man when you write a story that makes no sense with weird plot holes, its so hard to defend Star Wars.

I have just returned from watching Episode 1 in 3D, and I am completely baffled at some of the major plot points, among other things. I watched the midnight premiere back in its original release, and as a kid, I enjoyed it... Of course I enjoyed it, its Star effin Wars. This doesnt mean however that you can have such a stupid plot line up the rest of the saga.

 

1) The biggest plot hole is the decision for a vote of "No Confidence" in the former Supreme Chancellor. If he was backed by greedy corporations or bureaucrats, then while the hell would Amidala's proposal even get acknowledged, let alone get accepted? That makes absolutely no sense.

Read the novel Darth Plagueis

 

2) The whole midichlorian thing to explain the power of the Force.... I dont need to explain this, and if I do, you are on the wrong forum. Its dumb, pointless, and backwards.

It doesn't explain the Force, just why a Jedi can access it and others can't, read Darth Plagueis.

 

3) As technologically advanced as this universe is... Why did no one believe Amidala during her Senate hearing that Naboo was actually invaded?? I guess this galaxy has no form of media whatsoever.

Again, read Darth Plagueis, and realize there was a blockafe and communications blackout.

 

4) The whole Anakin blowing up a Trade Federation control ship is absurd...

To each their own, it was ridiculous that they built a massive ship the size of a moon too.

 

5) The lack of an actual main character baffles me too. If anyone knows who the real main character is in Episode 1, please explain this to me.

Doesn't need one. A New Hope didn't have one until 20 minutes in.

 

Other gripes, be it small or big, I guess:

 

No Han Solo-ish type characters in the prequels. We get to see plenty of bounty hunters, but no daring, charming character.. Although I feel like young Obi-Wan was quite charming throughout, just not the same as Han is.

Jar Jar is the Han, except unlike Han, he isn't brave or sly, just what we would be acting like if thrown on a Jedi adventure.

 

Do Jedi, or better yet, anyone in the future, not mind the smell of burning flesh? Theres better ways to burn a body..

Haha, it had to smell horrible in there.

I am not sure whether every cast member just did their absolute worse, or if the direction Lucas wanted were for cardboard acting... No one displays emotion.. I get the reason behind Jedi, as well as Queen Amidala, but Shmi? Padme? Especially Padme, through this character the Queen can say or show her emotions as she pleases. When C-3P0 shows more emotion than your actors.... Something may be wrong.

 

On the plus side:

 

Podracing!

 

Duel of the Fates!

 

Qui-Gon Jinn! = Liam Neeson

 

Natalie Portman!

 

::End gripes::

Answered to the best of my ability.

Answered to the best of my ability.

So read a novel to understand a movie, then?

I will say this now i have watched the phantom menance in 3D i wont be watching any of the others.

Its not a bad attempt at converting a 2D film to 3D and i am sure i think they have redone all the CGI. i would have to compare them side by side but certain things in this film seemed far better.

For instance Jar Jar had a lot more flexibility in his movement (yeah i know they didnt airbrush him out)

The problem is i think they needed to go back to the main cgi Moments of the film and redo them from scratch with the 3D tech. so the starfighter fight at the end felt more in your face. and the large gugan vs droid fight would be a bit better.

But over all you could watch this movie and not actually notice any of the 3d you really do have to look for it.

And thats when they asked more or less, for evidence, in which, amazingly, she had none.... Why she didnt show the little hologram of Sio Bibble i do not know..

not to mention..you know...the testament of the two JEDI KNIGHTS that were with her. I guess a Jedi's word isn't worth anything then?

I can have suspension of disbelief in a movie. lots of stuff in a movie doesn't make sense if you really take a close look. But if the movie can't get you along for the ride, stuff like that just stands out. If you are thinking 'huh? what?' while watching it for the first time, the movie is failing to tell the story well.

I figured the 3D wouldn't change anything...its all added after the fact. I don't even know why they are even bothering, and starting with TPM no less.

If any movies need a 'special edition' release the prequels do. They can't get any worse.

I just saw the midnight 3D release last night as well. Thought, although it was a little blurry in some scenes, the subtle 3D was pretty well done. Anything in space, and the pod race looked *awesome*. I hadn't seen the blu ray but I'm glad they made Yoda fully CG this time. He looked pretty silly as a CGI/puppet hybrid in the original Ep 1.

It baffles me how Lucas can introduce the best two characters in all of the prequel trilogy in Qui-Gon and Darth Maul and kill then both off in the same movie, while allowing a ****-sack like Jar Jar to keep breathing.

So read a novel to understand a movie, then?

It adds to the movies, I followed them fine and I was 13 when RotS came out, but if you have issues following it or with plot holes, read it.

During Amidala's Senate hearing, The Chancellor seems to be on her side, until Mas Amedda (the blue alien with horns that sticks around for Palpatines terms, and becomes part of the Imperial council after the rise of the Empire) whispers in his ear and then he totally decides pretty much, "Eff you, Amidala." We will settle this another day, and yada yada yada. I think this was actually done to show that he was in fact under bureaucrats power. After this, he also let the Trade Federation Representative speak over her through their objections, which two minutes prior would not. And thats when they asked more or less, for evidence, in which, amazingly, she had none.... Why she didnt show the little hologram of Sio Bibble i do not know..

 

I didnt post it, but i, too, have always thought why a Trade Federation would profit over a blockade that bans trading... How would that profit a Trade Federation??

I was never quite sure on this, but I've always leaned toward the opinion that the Sio Bibble hologram was a forgery rather than a false plea for help under threat of violence.

It didn't profit them, and you can see their trepidation at various points throughout the film. I thought it was pretty obvious that they did what they did both because they were terrified of Sidious and they figured it would work out better for them in the end when they would get Amidala to sign the planet's resources, essentially the planet itself, over to them.

Do Jedi, or better yet, anyone in the future, not mind the smell of burning flesh? Theres better ways to burn a body..

Funeral Pyre! Much more dramatic and good for Movies.

Seriously, I genuinely don't understand the hate for the Midichlorian thing, someone please explain whats wrong with it.

Religion vs. Science.

"Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match..."

"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."

Sounds much better than, you got a rare blood disease.

I have just returned from watching Episode 1 in 3D, and I am completely baffled at some of the major plot points, among other things. I watched the midnight premiere back in its original release, and as a kid, I enjoyed it... Of course I enjoyed it, its Star effin Wars. This doesnt mean however that you can have such a stupid plot line up the rest of the saga.

 

1) The biggest plot hole is the decision for a vote of "No Confidence" in the former Supreme Chancellor. If he was backed by greedy corporations or bureaucrats, then while the hell would Amidala's proposal even get acknowledged, let alone get accepted? That makes absolutely no sense.

He wasn't backed by the corporations or bureaucrats. The entire bureaucracy was actually running the show, as there were too many rules and procedures that had to be followed before anything can get done. Much like real life governments in western society today.

2) The whole midichlorian thing to explain the power of the Force.... I dont need to explain this, and if I do, you are on the wrong forum. Its dumb, pointless, and backwards.

Yes, actually, you do need to explain this. Midichlorians have not "demystified" the Force in any way. If anything, they've made the Force even more mysterious. If midichlorians are necessary for life, and the Force creates life, and life creates the Force, then what exactly are midichlorians? And how could life create the Force and the Force create life? Which came first?

3) As technologically advanced as this universe is... Why did no one believe Amidala during her Senate hearing that Naboo was actually invaded?? I guess this galaxy has no form of media whatsoever.

The entire world was under a communications blackout. She had no proof whatsoever, other than the word of two Jedi Knights; two Jedi who, I should point out, weren't supposed to be there in the first place, and thus their testimony could be dismissed by those who were allies of the Trade Federation. Assuming that they would even be allowed to testify, since their "evidence" would have been illegally obtained.

4) The whole Anakin blowing up a Trade Federation control ship is absurd...

Yes, it was. But not much more so than being able to shove a torpedo down a shaft that's two metres wide, a torpedo that seems to defy all of Newton's First Law.

5) The lack of an actual main character baffles me too. If anyone knows who the real main character is in Episode 1, please explain this to me.

Qui-Gon Jinn. Or did you think it was a co-incidence that he was in nearly every single scene in the movie?

Other gripes, be it small or big, I guess:

 

No Han Solo-ish type characters in the prequels. We get to see plenty of bounty hunters, but no daring, charming character.. Although I feel like young Obi-Wan was quite charming throughout, just not the same as Han is.

 

Do Jedi, or better yet, anyone in the future, not mind the smell of burning flesh? Theres better ways to burn a body..

 

I am not sure whether every cast member just did their absolute worse, or if the direction Lucas wanted were for cardboard acting... No one displays emotion.. I get the reason behind Jedi, as well as Queen Amidala, but Shmi? Padme? Especially Padme, through this character the Queen can say or show her emotions as she pleases. When C-3P0 shows more emotion than your actors.... Something may be wrong.

 

On the plus side:

 

Podracing!

 

Duel of the Fates!

 

Qui-Gon Jinn! = Liam Neeson

 

Natalie Portman!

 

::End gripes::

No Han Solo-type character in the movie is just a small gripe, as you said, and one I personally don't see how it would improve the movie in any way. Still, if one had've been added, I wouldn't have complained.

Who knows, maybe they had a small forcefield around the body so that the smell didn't choke everyone. This was something I had thought myself when I first saw Return of the Jedi, but I never did say anything, mostly due to not wanting people to think of me as a morbid lad.

As for the acting...well, the best I can say is the original trilogy didn't have the greatest acting either, and that it was no coincidence that Harrison Ford was the only one who went on to any kind of success immediately after the trilogy had run its course. But even I admit, this is really stretching as any kind of defence. It's obvious that most of the established actors in the prequels were just phoning in their performances.

Well, except for Ian McDiarmid, but he got to have a hell of a lot of fun chewing the scenery, so he doesn't count.