The Phantom Train Wreck – Behind the Scenes of ‘Star Wars: Episode I’
This behind the scenes documentary covering Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is informative… in an unintended way.
Episode 1 is a polarizing movie. It let down a generation of fans that looked forward to seeing their first Star Wars movie in a theater. It has a problem with racial stereotypes with its aliens, including the horrendous Jar-Jar Binks (this is not Ahmed Best’s fault). They find Anakin on Tattooine, but getting to that point was written poorly and it was dull.
It’s not all bad, though. It opened the universe up from the limited Original Trilogy, taking us back into a pre Empire galaxy. We got an on screen look at Coruscant after years of reading about in the EU. The action scenes (when taken separately) are awesome. That includes the pod racing scene that stands out from the blah of the Tatooine scenes that surround it. It also has one of the most epic lightsaber fights in the franchise.
via Lucasfilm
Making of The Phantom Menace
The official Star Wars Youtube channel released a making of doc that was part of the Episode I special edition DVD release. It covers the entire making of the movie – from pre-production to release.
It’s obvious that everyone went into the project aiming to make a great movie, but it all unraveled – as seen on the expressions that show up on the faces of the production and creative teams – starting as early as story boarding. It’s an inside look at how a potentially compelling film became one of the most reviled parts of the Star Wars franchise.
“The biggest trap people fall into in these movies, they go too far.” – George Lucas
Yes, George, you did.
