Looking back, we can see just how terrible The Phantom Menace was as a film, but at the time the film was still in theaters fans seemed to really enjoy it. This enjoyment, for many that saw the film on opening day, even surpassed the love they had for the original trilogy! I was a young lad, still in middle school, when the film dropped, so my experience with Star Wars was from the VHS releases and special editions that saw limited theatrical release. As a kid I like The Phantom Menace, but mostly because Darth Maul was cool looking, and the pod racing bits were fun to watch. How adult fans thought the film was great is beyond me. Perhaps they did in fact hate the film, but reality just hadn’t set in yet.
Below you will find a supercut of local news segments talking to fans on opening day. It’s sort of sad to hear people calling the film better than Return of the Jedi and how it’ll still be a great movie 20 years from now, but at least Lucas was right in thinking little kids would like Jar Jar Binks. Still, it’s fun to see fanboys going nuts over the film, and just how far the cosplay scene has come. Now let’s just hope The Force Awakens turns out a little better.
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