The Phantom Menace Officially Turns 20 Today

We've done Episode I retrospectives pretty heavily this month, but we just wanted to drop a note to acknowledge the actual 20th birthday of the film. It was on this date in 1999 that The Phantom Menace was in theaters. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I planned to wait a week before seeing it to let the crowds die down. I didn't even attend the ticket presale event. I swung by the theater later that day. The serpentine ropes to manage the line were still up, but it looked like they had been through a bank run. I approached the box office out of curiosity to see what tickets were still available. Aside from the midnight showing, everything was still for sale. Despite my intentions of waiting, I bought tickets to the 7 PM showing on opening night.

When that day finally came, I was seven years old again fraught with anxiety about getting into The Empire Strikes Back. My viewing companions insisted on eating dinner first, despite my protestations. The result was having to watch the movie with a craned neck from the fifth row. I remember the theater delaying the start of the movie to sell last minute "premium" concessions such as terrible personal pizzas. The audience groaned. The kid who had the thankless duty of barking for the overpriced snacks apologized, but then flipped the switch. He said we were waiting 16 years for this and there was no reason to boo. He was right. We were to get hyped and I did. This would mark the last time in my life that I've had butterflies in my stomach from a movie. This night was absolutely positively magic for me.

Whether or not you or I love the end product does not diminish how special this day was 20 years ago. I am thankful to have experienced it, and I have a suggestion to commemorate it. The soundtrack is on iTunes for $10. I purchased it this morning and have been listening to it on a loop all day. It's every bit as good as it was 20 years ago.

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