CJ’s Episode I Memories

Posted by Dustin on 05/16/19 at 12:30 PM Category: Star Wars Misc

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In the mid 90’s Star Wars was very important to me. I was 3 years old when Return of the Jedi hit theaters, so my experience of the Original Trilogy in real time was limited. It would be reasonable to assume that after 1983 Star Wars would start to fade from the cultural zeitgeist of elementary school, but that didn’t really happen. Into the 90’s there was just enough of a constant hum of Star Wars in the background - movies on TV, old action figures, hand-me-down T-shirts - to keep it in our minds. I never gave it up. It still made me happy. It was still "my thing" among my peer group. Maybe because I had so many old Kenner toys, or it took me longer to grow out of the X-Wing Luke Underoos. The point is, I didn't need media support to keep things going.

They sell these in adult sizes now because nothing can be left alone anymore.

Then things started to open up. Books were being published. And they were actually good! Video games were coming out that went beyond replaying the movie as Luke. And, of course, there were toys on the shelves again. And from deep within the halls of Skywalker Ranch, whispers were emerging that there were going to be more Star Wars movies. Star Wars had returned from its long slumber to reclaim its place atop my personal fandom. Take that, Quantum Leap!

There wasn’t much that could excite me more than the news that this thing was actually happening. I began regularly watching Entertainment Tonight hoping for some scrap of news. Liam Neeson, that guy from Schindler’s List, was being cast as a Jedi mentor. Surely, they meant Obi-Wan. Afterall, this movie was about Obi-Wan training Anakin, right? Anakin was going to be played by a kid from an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Oh. That’s… interesting. There was going to be a completely computer-generated character. Um… I trust George Lucas implicitly.

I had this poster in my dorm room. No matter what you thought about the final movie, this poster was fantastic

OK, maybe not all the news was promising. In these early days of the internet, confusing plot details were leaking out. Intentional misinformation campaigns were revealing “spoilers” that were just the inner thoughts of delusional fans. It was getting daunting being a fan. Part of me wanted to pull away, but part of me wanted to be engaged and plugged in to something that had seemed impossible a few years earlier. The first trailer hit. I overlooked the warts and saw some amazing visuals. I pushed aside my misgivings about Jar Jar and bought into the excitement. I was ready to love this movie like I loved the originals.

By the time opening day came, I was nervous. While published reviews were generally positive, some pretty severe criticisms were floating out there as well. On opening day sometime late in the morning (I had no intention of camping out and going at midnight like a freak), I sat in the theater not knowing what to expect. I had pieced together the overall plotline and events, but the devil would be in the details. I already “solved” the Amidala/Padmé mystery, but I wasn’t clear on if the Palpatine/Palpatine mystery was even supposed to be a surprise.

When the Lucasfilm logo appeared, followed shortly by the familiar musical cues and opening crawl, I was flooded with emotion. I had put so much thought and energy into this, and now it was finally happening. I was watching a new Star Wars movie. These were stories and characters that I had grown up with, and now I felt like I was coming home. And then the movie started. And then the Neimodians started talking. I felt sick to my stomach. What the heck was this crap? Brain dead? Did a Star Wars character just ask someone if he was brain dead? This is not what I had been waiting for all these years. This was not my Star Wars. I quickly went from elation to a feeling of dread and embarrassment.

There was nothing redeemable about these characters. Except their hats. Their hat game was on point.

By the end of the film, I felt a lot more positive. The Jedi duel was phenomenal. Once things got going, the plot was fine. The performances of the main characters were mostly good. Jar Jar was annoying, but he didn’t get in the way. The table was being set for what would come. I was OK. I told people I liked it, and that was not a lie. I resisted the temptation to see it again in theaters. I was afraid my opinion would change. Over the next couple of years, I had hopes that TPM would be the low water mark and things would get better when it wasn’t about children anymore. But that’s a story for another day.