I actually really enjoy The Phantom Menace. For an intricate handful of reasons that sort of congeal into this distant fondness. The first and foremost is just a good association with that period in my life. I was a senior in high school, it was Star Wars and we all had such high hopes and I skipped school and waited in line for seven hours on a Wednesday for tickets and had the time of my life geeking it up with geeks. For those three months, everything was one giant plus in my life, and Star Wars was only the icing on the cakes. Second, TPM gave me Naboo and handmaidens. I don't think I have to elaborate further on that point. Third, I actually did not mind Jar Jar. Was he over-the-top? Yes. Did it strain all rational credibility that any leader in their right mind would make him a 'bombad general'? Hell, yes. But I guess I'm just the kind of person who has spent so much of my life being the awkward one in the room that I don't mind having an awkward fool in the gang. Not every alien sidekick can be as cool as Chewbacca. It is absolutely impossible, but I really think that is why I think Jar Jar got such a vehement backlash from the fandom. And finally, I wasn't disappointed that the movie was so introductory. It was supposed to be part one of a six part story. When is the beginning ever the most amazing part? I wasn't looking to be blown away, I was looking to be titillated. I even had a perverse fondness for the pod race because it was the perfect excuse to take a non-harried bathroom break, which meant I got to drink as huge a pop as I wanted during the movie.
(Mostly, though, it's the Naboo and handmaiden thing. ;-))
The absolutely only things I liked about Attack of the Cheesy Dialogue were:
The quadruple-layered conversation between Obi-Wan and Jango on Kamino. Padme's wardrobe. John Williams' composition of Across the Stars. The teensy moment where GL let Beru say something. Gazing at Bail Organa.
But I can't watch the movie anymore. I just can't. It hurts too much.
RotS is only slightly more tolerable because I loved the performance that Ewan was able to salvage from his material. And the scene with Luke and Leia being delivered to their respective families at the end (especially Luke, because Beru is a SW character very intimately dear to my heart, and I had written a whole fanfic about her life story and in that moment it was like my story leapt off my page and onto the screen and I was literally in tears).
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Date: 2010-04-05 02:04 am (UTC)(Mostly, though, it's the Naboo and handmaiden thing. ;-))
The absolutely only things I liked about Attack of the Cheesy Dialogue were:
The quadruple-layered conversation between Obi-Wan and Jango on Kamino.
Padme's wardrobe.
John Williams' composition of Across the Stars.
The teensy moment where GL let Beru say something.
Gazing at Bail Organa.
But I can't watch the movie anymore. I just can't. It hurts too much.
RotS is only slightly more tolerable because I loved the performance that Ewan was able to salvage from his material. And the scene with Luke and Leia being delivered to their respective families at the end (especially Luke, because Beru is a SW character very intimately dear to my heart, and I had written a whole fanfic about her life story and in that moment it was like my story leapt off my page and onto the screen and I was literally in tears).
... but yeah. Basically what all you said.