[dropcap size=small]M[/dropcap]onday was a huge event for every Star Wars fan in the modern world. As had been rumored the entire week prior, Monday Night Football on ESPN was the host of the premier for the final (and indeed, first full-fledged) trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens (thank goodness they finally stopped with the episode numbering in the official titles). It was, by all accounts, breathtakingly great to watch. If you haven’t seen it already, first, climb out from under that rock you’ve been inhabiting, dust yourself off, and then enjoy the eye candy below:
For all intents and purposes, this is setting out to be a great film – already we can see the ideal mix of familiar visuals and ultra-modern filmmaking flourish – something to breath new life into what had become a tired old visage of something greater that was long gone. Now, we have an actual fan of the original Star Wars story at the helm, and all signs point to up. But what if we had to place the aforementioned criteria for greatness on a list of “do”s and “do not”s? What would be our barometer? I submit the following: base the guideposts for this new first in a forthcoming trilogy on the last Star Wars film to hold that same honor: The Phantom Menace in 1999.
Here’s a twist, though – I see nothing but list after list containing all the things Episode I did wrong (and therefore, The Force Awakens should avoid), so why don’t we build a different list – one containing all the things that film did right and worth emulating? What I mean to say is, let us turn from the Dark Side… And awaken the Light. Because whether some want to admit it or not, there were actually a lot of really good aspects to The Phantom Menace.
Don’t believe me? Read on…
Top 5 Ways The Phantom Menace Got it Right: What The Force Awakens Should Salvage from its Prequel Counterpart.
I know, I know – The Star Wars prequel trilogy was horrible. Objectively speaking simply from the perspective of a serious fan of film, I’m not one to disagree. For the most part the pacing was uneven, the plot full of holes, character development abysmal, dialogue unrealistic, the cinematography flat, the special effects overbearing, the list goes on and on.
However, the first film in that trilogy is still my personal favorite – an unpopular opinion, for sure, but one not unfounded. As I hope to explain in the following points, Episode I still served as a fitting opening act for what could have turned out to be a fine little trilogy of decently entertaining Star Wars films, albeit not of the same greatness as the originals. Had George Lucas emulated his previous tradition of handling all the creative duties for the first outing but then handing over the reins to more capable filmmakers for the sequels, that could have happened – instead, what we got was an unmitigated mess that (in my opinion) only got worse with each installment.
But enough about the Dark Times – let’s try and find the silver lining in Lucas’ 1999 pseudo-epic and look at the Light Side. Without further ado, here’s the #5 thing The Phantom Menace did right.
#5: The Jedi Order
The fact that the Jedi depicted in the Original Trilogy were nothing more than nomadic remnants of a much more sophisticated hierarchy was an intentional narrative move – it built mystery and intrigue around these guys. Eccentric space wizards like Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda never should have worked as written on paper, and yet the way they were presented on the screen gave us glimpses into a very high-minded, regal, philosophical order full of magic and wonder that made pine for more.
Well, The Phantom Menace gave us exactly what we wanted, in that respect. And while one can (convincingly) argue that the costumes of the full-fledged Jedi knights in the prequels never should have been the same desert rags that Obi-Wan Kenobi was clearly wearing as a disguise in the original Star Wars (because after all, he was supposed to be in hiding), the overall presentation of the Jedi Council – the traditions eluded to, the codes, the prophecies, etc. – made for a much more fleshed-out and fitting depiction of what we all had in our minds ever since Alec Guinness spoke those immortal words, “for over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the Dark Times… Before the Empire…”
You can’t tell me you weren’t at least a little pumped in the theater to see Yoda sitting there on his chair, leading the Council and speaking in his classic, twisted-about vernacular – a revered sage finally being recognized as such in a “more civilized age.” It almost made you forget all about Jar-Jar, didn’t it? Be honest. It was awesome.
Fast-forward to the present. In order for The Force Awakens to please as many fans as possible, it needs to serve three functions:
1) Pay reverence to the Original Trilogy’s marriage of gritty aesthetic and human wonder;
2) Somehow keep/solve consistency between both existing trilogies (like it or not, the prequels are still canon and plenty of Wars fans do like them);
3) Keep things fresh and intriguing for a new generation.
That’s a tall order, but one way to start is to follow Episode I‘s lead when it came to reinventing the Jedi – we don’t want Luke and company to have stagnated in the past 30 years; instead, we need to see a fresh take on the Jedi Order that reminds us of just what highly civilized philosophers they are – they are warriors, yes, but only in war time. Their overall demeanor and code of ethics needs to match what old Obi-Wan eluded to in the 1977 Star Wars, as well as validate the image that The Phantom Menace brought to the fold. At the same time, it has to bring something new to the table that makes us, yet a third time, go “wow” when we see a Jedi – as if we’ve never truly seen one before.
No easy feat, but I believe in that if anyone can do it, it’s J.J. Abrams.
Top 5 Ways The Phantom Menace Got it Right
#4: Those Beautiful, Beautiful Sword Fights.
You know, I’m not typically one for superfluous flashy imagery in a film – I’m more old school in that, if a movie is good enough, it can stand on its own and hold the audience’s interest without a bunch of crap thrown onto the screen to make us ooh and ah. That being said… Goddamn.
I challenge anyone to disprove the following statement: none of the Original Trilogy’s fight choreography combined could capture what a Jedi duel should look like as gracefully or as perfectly as The Phantom Menace did in a single scene.
I don’t make this claim lightly. Think through the above statement, and really digest what that means. A Jedi duel is going to be different from any other type of battle one is likely to see in the Star Wars universe. Why? Well, as the brilliant Liam Neeson said as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, when speaking about the newly discovered Anakin Skywalker: “He can see things before they happen. That’s why he appears to have such quick reflexes. It’s a Jedi trait” (emphasis mine).
That’s exactly right – Jedi can see things right before they happen, meaning that it’s much more difficult to best one in a fight, because he will usually know exactly what move you’re going to make before even you do. Apply that principle to a duel exclusively between Force users, and you’ve got yourself something that, visually speaking, would be much more akin to a dance than a brawl. The Phantom Menace got that aspect of the lore absolutely correct, and the results are breathtaking to watch. I’ve heard people complain before that the fight choreography in this movie looks too choreographed, but as I already pointed out, that was precisely the point. And it worked. The “Duel of the Fates” from Episode I is arguably the highlight of the entire Prequel Trilogy, and for good reason. Go back and watch it yourself if you need to be reminded of just how much you loved it opening day in May of 1999.
My hope for the fight choreography in The Force Awakens is that it will be, again, something of a middle ground between the two prior trilogies’ styles while simultaneously bringing something equally exciting of its own to the table that we have yet to see in a Star Wars film. Considering that Abrams has been reported to have hired a mix of parkour experts and cutting edge martial artists to work on the film, I suspect that’s exactly what we’re going to get. Fingers crossed.
Top 5 Ways The Phantom Menace Got it Right
#3: The Wise, Stoic Mentor.
Okay, so this one is a bit of a cheat, since it’s not something unique to the prequels; the original Star Wars had this, too. But that shouldn’t negate the fact that Liam Neeson’s performance as Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn is one of the best things about watching The Phantom Menace. Again, I’ve heard the complaints about all the characters in this film being poorly drawn/acted, but I never could agree with that criticism when it came to the character of Jinn or Neeson’s performance.
Seriously. Just watch the brilliance of Neeson’s subtleties while playing this character. The eyes, conveying a range of subdued emotions (after all, he’s only human – yet as a Jedi he knows he must hold his feelings at bay and let wisdom and tradition move him instead). The body language, revealing an aging warrior still willing to do his duty yet weary from a lifetime of service. And let us not forget the playful, knowing banter he exchanges with (SPOILER ALERT) the queen in disguise as she complains about her crew’s current inauspicious conditions while stranded in the desert.
Most importantly, however, Qui-Gon is the mentor to young Obi-Wan Kenobi, and had either of those roles been miscast (as so many others were – but everyone already knows that), that relationship between the two of them might not have worked at all on screen. And yet, every time I watch this film, I cannot help but totally buy into the concept that not only is Qui-Gon every bit as wise and capable as he is supposed to be, but that Obi-Wan developed much of his own later-found wisdom and strength as a direct result of being this man’s pupil. It just works.
Of course, the wise leader will return for The Force Awakens, and my money is going toward Luke fulfilling that role. We’ll only have to wait two more months to figure out if that notion is correct! *fanboy squeal*
Top 5 Ways The Phantom Menace Got it Right
#2: Location, Location, Location.
Say what you will about how real most of the environments actually looked in the prequels (although as I’ll explain in a moment, that accusation is actually somewhat misapplied to The Phantom Menace), the concepts behind these exotic locales are nothing short of breathtaking. The idea that an entire galaxy’s parliament could be held in a big round room with floating platforms housing each representative, or that a whole functioning city could be located underwater (and that it would actually look plausible) was unthinkable prior to 1999. In the Original Trilogy, the most exotic a setting got was a floating city in the sky, and even then it was relegated to interior sets with small windows and awkward lighting.
Obviously they worked with what they had, but the original Star Wars films were significantly limited by the technology they had at their disposal at the time, and usually the most open locations the characters could actually explore were locations any of us could have easily stumbled across on Earth – a desert, a snowy mountain, a forest, a swamp… You get the picture. Not exactly the sorts of places that scream “otherworldly.” But all that changed when the new films came out – the limits were much farther out, and while sometimes the prequels could be faulted for assuming they were in fact limitless, they still deserve a nod for creativity when it came to the worlds their concept artists were imagining. From a design point of view, the prequels are really quite impressive and certainly more daring than the originals.
As for The Force Awakens, so far we haven’t actually seen footage of any surroundings that would seem all that inventive, but there are rumors going about that elude to a gloriously original set piece that would certainly ignite the imaginations of this generation’s child moviegoers – who knows, maybe we finally have a Star Wars film on our hands that can effectively be its own generation’s Star Wars, if you get my meaning, sir.
And if taking a page from the prequel book gets it there, that’s just fine by me.
Top 5 Ways The Phantom Menace Got it Right
#1: The Ideal Blend of Practical & Digital Effects
Before you curse me as being a nearsighted scrap pile, hear me out – I am not saying that The Phantom Menace has absolutely no intrusive digital effects; it does. Nor am I postulating the idea that somehow the Prequel Trilogy as a whole should be praised for its excessive use of digital technology; it shouldn’t. What I am saying, however, is that people tend to forget these days that in 1999, simply creating every non-human aspect of a live-action film inside of a computer was still very much unheard of – even for George Lucas. As a result, he didn’t go as far into the rabbit hole of digital inertia he would later do with Episodes II and III.
The Phantom Menace, when taken on its own merits and not lumped in with the rest of the trilogy (like people tend to do), actually has a very similar aesthetic to the original films in that it was shot on film, used actual stunt work for its fight scenes (Episodes II and III would go on to replace this almost entirely with CGI version of the actors – and it showed), and incorporated a ton of miniatures, models, puppets, explosives, real costumes, makeup effects, and practical, hand-built sets to bring its world and inhabitants to life.
Granted, all of that changed with its sequels, and by the time we got to Episode III nearly everything on the screen was generated with a computer. But that wasn’t the case with Episode I. Just look at the behind-the-scenes footage of both films side-by-side. It’s like night and day. Natalie Portman on a set built to look like a battlefield is certainly going to more real than Natalie Portman on a blue stage, staring at nothing, digitally consolidated with a digital environment built separately by animators who weren’t anywhere near the production of the scene on the day of. But if we go back in time to 1999 and watch the production of The Phantom Menace, things were much more balanced between the practical and the digital, and you can bet that is exactly the route The Force Awakens is also going to follow.
Now, was all of Episode I‘s practical effects wizardry augmented heavily my some miscalculated CGI? Absolutely. It wasn’t perfect at the time because the technology wasn’t there yet. But a good faith effort was obviously made in the production of Episode I to follow the past SFX tradition of blending the new technology with the old. The original films did this, too. Remember Yoda from The Empire Strikes Back? Cutting-edge technology at the time. The only real difference in the case of The Phantom Menace is that its generation’s “cutting edge” was really a technology still in its awkward, pimple-faced adolescence. Yes, computers handled rendering of the spaceships just fine, but full-fledged characters like Jar Jar Binks and the rest of the Gungans just weren’t ready to grace the screen. Yet.
Now, that has changed in a big way. Digital characters are becoming more and more prominent by the year in filmmaking, and the results have gotten considerably better. James Cameron’s Avatar was really the watershed moment when it was proved possible to inhabit an entire film with CGI characters and not have the end result be laughable. But the technology utilized to get such fine results, of course, still implemented human elements such as actors giving genuine performances “beneath” the digital makeup (of sorts) to bring CGI technology over the hurdle of artificial emulation. The Force Awakens has been confirmed to be doing the exact same thing to bring new, exciting characters to life that would not have been possible even ten years ago (when the last Star Wars film was released). We should embrace this marriage of old and new once again, and get ready for the thrill ride of our lives. It’s going to be amazing.