Star Wars - The Phntom Menace - Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999)
Front Cover Actor
Ewan McGregor Obi-Wan Kenobi
Liam Neeson Qui-Gon Jinn
Natalie Portman Queen Amidala / Padme Naberrie
Jake Lloyd Anakin Skywalker
Pernilla August Shmi Skywalker
Frank Oz Yoda
Ian McDiarmid Senator Palpatine
Oliver Ford Davies Sio Bibble
Hugh Quarshie Captain Panaka
Ahmed Best Jar Jar Binks
Movie Details
Genre Action; Sci-Fi
Director George Lucas
Studio 20th Century Fox
Language English
Running Time 2 hr 11 mins
Country USA
Color Color
Plot
In 1977, George Lucas released Star Wars, the ultimate sci-fi popcorn flick turned pop-culture myth machine. It quickly became the biggest money-making film of all time and changed the shape of the film industry. After two successful sequels (1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the Jedi) that extended the story of the first film, Lucas took some time off to produce movies for others with mixed success. In 1999, Lucas returned to the Star Wars saga with a new approach — instead of picking up where Return of the Jedi left off, Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace would be the first of a trilogy of stories to trace what happened in the intergalactic saga before the first film began. Here, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson); Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and become known as Darth Vader, is just a nine-year-old boy. When the Trade Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are assigned to settle the matter, but when they arrive on Naboo they are brought to Amidala, the Naboo Queen (Natalie Portman), by a friendly but opportunistic Gungan named Jar Jar. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan plan to escort Amidala to a meeting of Republic leaders in Coruscant, but trouble with their spacecraft strands them on the planet Tatooine, where Qui-Gon meets Anakin, the slave of a scrap dealer. Qui-Gon is soon convinced that the boy could be the leader the Jedis have been searching for, and he begins bargaining for his freedom and teaching the boy the lessons of The Force. The supporting cast includes Pernilla August as Anakin's mother, Terence Stamp as Chancellor Valorum, and Samuel L. Jackson as Jedi master Mace Windu; Jackson told a reporter before The Phantom Menace's release that the best part about doing the film was that he got to say "May The Force be with you" on screen. — Mark Deming
Personal Details
Seen It Yes
Index 34
Product Details
Format DVD
Region Region 1
Nr of Disks/Tapes 1