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DILLON ON FILM
The Phantom Menace: Reviewed as if It Were the First Star Wars Film Released
What if George Lucas’s epic space fantasy saga began with Episode I in 1977?
In what order should one view the Star Wars films? This question perplexes many a prospective parent, considering what order in which to introduce their offspring to George Lucas’s epic space fantasy series. Some, like yours truly, advocate the obvious: In the order they were released.
Yet this childhood rite of passage is sometimes undertaken via the worst possible entrance point: The Phantom Menace (1999). The tepid prequels are a wasted opportunity that, if viewed chronologically, completely ruin one of the biggest plot twists in cinema history for the next generation (ie the true identity of Darth Vader, and also, incidentally, the true identity of Yoda). Heck, you don’t even get a proper explanation of what the Force is until the original film.
Protecting the young from ruinous plot spoilers for classic films is an axe I’ve ground many times (here, for instance), but in this article, I wish to kill the idea of starting with The Phantom Menace once and for all (especially as it has a US and UK cinema rerelease this weekend). As such, I’m attempting to review the film as though it were…
