Edition Details:
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Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
• Color, Closed-captioned, THX, Widescreen
• Commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren and Scott Squires • Exclusive Deleted Scenes Documentary features seven new sequences completed just for this DVD release • All-new hour-long documentary film culled from over 600 hours of footage, "The Beginning," including an insider's look at Lucasfilm and ILM during the production • Multi-angle storyboard to animatic to film segment featuring the Submarine and Podrace Lap 1 sequences • Five featurettes explore the storyline, design, costumes, visual effects and fight sequences • Award-winning twelve-part web documentary series that chronicles the production • "Duel of the Fates" music video featuring John Williams • Never-before-seen Production Photo Gallery with special caption feature • Theatrical posters and print campaign from around the world • Theatrical teaser and launch trailers, and seven TV spots • "Star Wars: Starfighter-The Making of a Game" featurette from LucasArts • DVD-ROM weblink to exclusive Star Wars content • Widescreen anamorphic format
• Number of discs: 2
"I have a bad feeling about this," says the young Obi-Wan Kenobi (played by Ewan McGregor) in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace as he steps off a spaceship and into the most anticipated cinematic event... well, ever. He might as well be speaking for the legions of fans of the original episodes in the Star Wars saga who can't help but secretly ask themselves: Sure, this is Star Wars, but is it my Star Wars? The original elevated moviegoers' expectations so high that it would have been impossible for any subsequent film to meet them. And as with all the Star Wars movies, The Phantom Menace features inexplicable plot twists, a fistful of loose threads, and some cheek-chewing dialogue. Han Solo's swagger is sorely missed, as is the pervading menace of heavy-breathing Darth Vader. There is still way too much quasi-mystical mumbo jumbo, and some of what was fresh about Star Wars 22 years earlier feels formulaic. Yet there's much to admire. The special effects are stupendous; three worlds are populated with a mélange of creatures, flora, and horizons rendered in absolute detail. The action and battle scenes are breathtaking in their complexity. And one particular sequence of the film--the adrenaline-infused pod race through the Tatooine desert--makes the chariot race in Ben-Hur look like a Sunday stroll through the park.
Among the host of new characters, there are a few familiar walk-ons. We witness the first meeting between R2-D2 and C-3PO, Jabba the Hutt looks younger and slimmer (but not young and slim), and Yoda is as crabby as ever. Natalie Portman's stately Queen Amidala sports hairdos that make Princess Leia look dowdy and wields a mean laser. We never bond with Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan's day is yet to come. Jar Jar Binks, a cross between a Muppet, a frog, and a hippie, provides many of the movie's lighter moments, while Sith Lord Darth Maul is a formidable force. Baby-faced Anakin Skywalker looks too young and innocent to command the powers of the Force or wield a lightsaber (much less transmute into the future Darth Vader), but his boyish exuberance wins over skeptics.
Near the end of the movie, Palpatine, the new leader of the Republic, may be speaking for fans eagerly awaiting Episode II when he pats young Anakin on the head and says, "We will watch your career with great interest."
