Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Comic Adaptation, Part 1 - Atop the Fourth Wall 

Fun fact: In the old EU, Jar Jar got exiled because he accidentally flooded a party Boss Nass was hosting. Yes, really.

While the treatment of the droids is inconsistent in star wars, it's heavily implied droid bias and general dislike for them increased under the empire due to the clone wars and how destructive and horrific the damage from the battle droids was to worlds and their people

The official hand gesture greeting for Star Wars is the Carrie Fischer Bird-Flip.

One minor thing. One of the reasons George didn’t get other people to “cover his weak spots” was cause he couldn’t get anybody. He tried to get people, notably Spielberg to direct and a few others to write, but they all said no. So he did it all himself. And this was the result.

Qui-gon was right about one thing tho Lewis. The negotiations were short.

My guess for why the Queens of Naboo dress that way is to make it easier for their handmaids to step in for them. The elaborate hair and clothes and makeup make people less likely to notice her face, so when she does go incognito (as Padme is doing here), people in-universe can't tell the difference; literally any of her dozens of handmaids could put on that getup and it would be very difficult to tell which one it is unless you knew them all very, very well. Same reason her voice is lowered unnaturally whenever she's wearing that outfit and why the handmaids wear the scarves that shadow their faces; they are literally interchangeable as needed.

"None of these movies are perfect." Except the Holiday Special. I think everyone can agree that was a cinematic masterpiece.

As anyone that has played the original Battlefronts can testify: Droidekas are a nightmare to fight against.

10:17 You joke, but it's implied in various canon materials that there _is_ resentment towards the Jedi among certain factions in the Senate. That's probably the reason the mission was secret.

I used to hate Amidala's design, but in the last few months I saw an excerpt from the novelization that turned her design from, "overly elaborate and bad," to "overly elaborate and bad, but for a good purpose." According to the novelization, all queens of Naboo dress like this because the elaborate robes and headwear enable them to hide all manner of defensive apparatus, from weapons to shield generators, in plain sight, and to more easily allow the use of body doubles when necessary. From what I remember the outfits only LOOK cumbersome by design, but have a quick release system that allows the queen to swap herself out for someone else any time she has a moment of privacy. Granted, this was an inclusion after the movies were said and done and was likely included to justify the rather bad aesthetic, but I think it's a fairly good justification.

Keep in mind Padme is 14 years old and a queen. She's basically being told/pressured by everyone to be extremely conservative of her emotions and not develop interpersonal connections that would compromise her position. She's also surrounded by decoys constantly who she Needs to be able to match easily, which is achieved by her hiding a lot of her emotions (And her face using make up). Padme congratulating R2 Is the first hint that we get at Padme's compassion and appreciation of those who risk themselves. If she was older, she probably wouldn't think anything about an Astromech doing its job, but beneath her responsibilities she has a strong belief that there are heroes in the galaxy who will stand up and risk their lives for innocents. Especially as her life is suddenly on the line, she idolizes those who protect her. This appreciation and trust towards the Jedi is what is challenged for Padme in the future as the Clone Wars begin and her relationship with Anakin begins. Padme's whole character is believing the best in anyone, which is why she tries to make peace with separatists even during the Clone Wars. Why shouldn't that also go for droids?

18:30 - That, and Jake Lloyd was a CHILD when he played that role. The kinds of people who would send hate mail and death threats to a kid are truly monstrous.

"A person is not a product" Careful Comrade Linkara, you wouldn't want to make more sense than our government.

"Everything was better on MY Trade Federation planet!"

I bursted out laughing when you gave Nute Gunray the Superboy Prime voice. Anyway, I admit that I grew up with the prequel trilogy, and was really excited for the Phantom Menace when it came out when I was four years old. Looking back now, and taking away my rose-tinted glasses, I admit that they are not good movies. But Phantom Menace is the movie out of these that I keep coming back to. Linkara, I also really loved your speech at the beginning of the review and before the introduction of Jar Jar, about how Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd didn’t deserve the toxic, vitriolic hate that they got. Really appreciate the maturity there.

"The Trade Federation sounds like a racist Asian stereotype...the kind like you'd hear from a white guy in yellow face in a 1940s movie." "I don't think Lucas INTENDED to be racist here...it was just a bad creative decision." ME: **glancing nervously at Watto, the hook-nosed, hunched over Toydarian who hoards and covets money** "Uhhh....."

18:57 "I spaaak!" "The ability to speak does not make you intelligent."

Thank you for calling out the BS of people sending death threats to actors and creators, because that is just sickening.

Sidious: This is my Apprentice, Lord Maul. Maul: Darth Mau--- Sidious: Nope, I'm already prepping Tyranus. Maul: :(

Amidala dresses that way a call out to Queen Victoria, George likes to have allusions to things. In universe the make-up has historical significance, the blood red lipstick is a "scar of remembrance" to remember the bad time before the Age of Peace brought on the King Jafan, and white face is always worn to signify the first queen, though they can also have Kings. Males also wear the makeup and flashy outfits and Robes, each style signify duty and task being done, they just kinda only have Queens after Amidala. They got weird traditions.

I have a confession to make. When I heard Linkara and almost ever other critic on RU-vid criticize and hate on the Rise of Skywalker, I felt both betrayed and depressed. I felt betrayed because these guys defended movies I liked when others didn't and seeing them hate on it made me angry with them for it. I also felt depressed because it made me feel like I was the one who in the wrong and that I liked something everyone now disliked. So, for months afterwards, I kept myself as far from star wars as possible in order to avoid such emotions until recently when I finally was able to realize that I took like something that others didn't. However, even after realizing that, I felt angry again because why didn't the critic see it as great as I did, I also had realize that they have their own opinions as well. I say to anyone who interests that I let other opinions influence my opinion and it tore me apart. I have thankfully reached a point where I can accept both love and hate for the ninth episode from anyone and everyone. thank you for reading this if you did, it means a lot.

Link: May the fourth be with you! (Does the Vulcan salute) Me: ...-_-... Your on thin ice boy...

10:18 That actually was a plot point in a lot of The Clone Wars and EU stuff of that period. There were a lot of people who were not to keen on the Jedi. A bunch of creepy, emotionless old space wizards, with free writ to take your kids from you, who can mind trick you into agreeing with them? And keep in mind, remeber how the first thing Watto says to Qui-gon when he tries it is that his race is immune to it. As far out from the Core as they are, its still common knowledge, hell, some of the only knowledge. Hell, never been able to source it, but a lot of older fans loved to talk about a story where the Jedi arranged a genocide because a Force sensitive race wouldn't give up their kids. Point is, the people bought Order 66's coverup and the Jedi treason for a reason, not just because they DID commit high treason.

I read the novel about Padmé and it is explained why the Queen of Naboo wears such elaborate outfits and a lot of makeup. It is so one of her handmaidens could slip into the role of Queen while the actual Queen can slip in amongst the group of handmaidens. It is also a way to draw attention to the elaborate parts like the outfit and makeup so if someone sees a young woman in that garb she will be seen as the Queen and not noticing the tiny differences that each young woman has. It was actually pretty interesting. I think that there is the fact that Naboo is a very prosperous planet and I think they like to show it off in fancy outfits and of course the leader of the planet would be in the most elaborate outfits too.

“In universe, have they ever fought a giant brain?” Okay, now that just makes me think that the Metroid series takes place in the Star Wars universe.

"No body else on Naboo looks like this." Linkara, there is someone sitting right next to her dressed in the same Red Robes! Yes he dosnt have the makeup but still dressed in the political outfits the Naboo like to wear.

"I can give them any accent I want, and let them have the dignity they deserve." *I take a bite of my burger* *Linkara belts out his superboy prime voice* I almost DIED.

In fact Ahmed Best received so much harassment for his character he considered committing suicide. Okay no matter how you slice it, that’s messed up people. Actors are not the same as a character! So please stop attacking actors or directors just because they played a character or helped make a movie you didn’t like!

The best thing that came out of this: Weird Al Yankovic's parody song, The Saga Begins.

Speaking of odd accents: The Clone Wars' Twi'leks have French accents.

Thank you so much for your criticism towards the people sending death threats to Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd as well as calling out the Plinkett review. Also, I never actually found Jar Jar racist, before or after what people were supposedly saying what was bad about him

To ALL Star Wars fans: May the Force be with you Always

I don’t think the prequels are the best representation of the series, but I still contend the Revenge of the Sith is a legitimately great movie. As James Rolfe said: it’s like they had two strikes and than a homerun

Speaking of devisive opinions, the Phantom Menace was the very first Star Wars movie I saw as a kid, and I loved it. Obviously my tastes have changed as I grew older, and its flaws became more apparent. But it always held a special place in my heart. Also devisive, the Gungans are may favorite Star Wars aliens. I love their technology and the designs of their cities, plus their old style warfare combined with alien technology; with beasts of burden and catapults but with things like energy shields. That being said, Jar Jar never appealed to me, even as a kid.

The way droids are treated in Star Wars varies from character to character. Even some of the heroes like Han and Obi-Wan treat them like the robots.

"So sit back, full screen the video and let's dig into Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Comic Adaption!" I feel like you just called me out for not having the video in full screen.

Now THIS is criticism of the Prequels I can see eye to eye with! Thank you Linkara! I especially loved it when you called out the Plinkett review, THANK GOD finally someone said it! I used to get so sick of people shoving that review in your face and being like "fAcT!" You're the best Linkara, May the Fourth Be With You.

This movie would have been SO much more interesting if Diamanda Hagan, or her descendants, ruled Naboo. Although I'm sure her first order of business would have been to give the planet a less silly name.

12:06 when one can mass produce an army by the thousands for every 50 destroied individual unit intelligence isn't very important now is it Elgar these droids are not plus they're a lot funnier then elgar just watch some of there best moments in the clone wars cartoon they're a riot 12:41 Heres an easy anser Lightsabers require a special crystal inorder to create the blade known as a kyber crystal they are incredibly rare and valuable and only one planet is known to have a surplus Illum which the Jedi have sealed off from the public for their own purposes although other crystals were found on different planets Also if your wondering how the sith get their crystals then in legends sith just grew systhetic red crystals while in Canon and much better in my opinion sith use the darkside to corrupt jedi crystals by bleeding into them Yup I'm that kind of starwars nerd

About the Brain Mr. Linkara, while technically no one ever fought a brain, there were two instances of brain-like organisms. Siniteens that had massive engrossed head, resembling a brain. There were droids that contained Brain that looked like spiders, that were called, “Brain”. Yep. That’s all Mr. Linkara, have a nice day!

And yeah, the queens of Naboo do actually dress that way for tradition and protection. The materials mean a bunch of random stuff. It’s all in“Queen’s Shadow”.

About the way droids are treated, it generally changes depending on the society around them. Someone from Coruscant is going to be different when compared to someone from Naboo. Along with that, droids generally aren’t built with a personality already programmed. They eventually develop them as their code needs to adapt to different situations and us always changing, but then some people like to do a factory reset every couple of years, so the personality doesn’t necessarily break out

"Giving them the dignity they deserve." *Superboy prime voice* I lost it, dude. So dang funny.

"May the Fourth be with you!" _(does Vulcan salute)_ Oh, I like this guy even more now. :)

Jar Jar's face when getting zapped is worthy of memes...

5:59 LMAO Linkara called Red Letter Media a jackass made me cry with laughter

Star Wars: A New Hope was one of the very first movies I remember growing up to, and I have been a fan of the franchise ever since the beginning, and that love has been growing since the release of the Special Editions, the Prequel Trilogy, the Clone Wars movie & TV series, and now in the current Disney era. I guess I love Star Wars for the same reasons why you love Camelot, because it tells the difference between good & evil, light vs. dark, compassion vs. revenge, and being a kind, positive-thinking individual.

About the goofiness of the battle droids? You have to keep this one thing in mind: Palpatine never meant for the Seperatists to win. The entire plan was for the Seperatists to cause such a commotion, that the Senate HAS to give him full power to do what he wants, in order to put down the Seperatists that HE put up to this, and he'll have the political power to raise his empire! The dude is an absolut megalomaniac, in every sense of the word! HE RAISED UP A GALACTIC ARMY, JUST SO HE COULD CRUSH IT, AND GET MORE POWER FOR HIMSELF!!

:::holds a picture of a Dalek::: "This is a picture of R2-D2. He's a cyborg from Star Trek.

Some fans who wanted Rey and Kylo/Ben to be together have sent hate messages and death threats to J.J. Abrams and others who worked on The Rise of Skywalker because they didn't like how the movie ended. They've even gone after the loved ones of Adam Driver and Daisy Ridley, wanting them to be a couple in real life. Not all Reylos are like this, but the ones that are need to deal with their disappointment in healthy ways like writing fanfiction.

The thing about the Prequels is that as time has gone on, a lot of fan opinion has warmed to the trilogy on the whole. the most likely reason to this is that while it had a loooooooooot of spotty moments, it gave us something invaluable: a true idea of what a living Breathing Galaxy was like before the empire! since then with the help of expansive materials such as excellent games and books (republic commando for the win) and of course the Clone wars TV series, the concepts given to us by the Prequels has opened up a lot to the fans, to the point many of them prefer the Prequel time span for story telling far more than the Sequel trilogy

22:00 I guess the "surrender gown" one is propably one of the doubles, while in the conference it was the real one. She is meeting with hostile forces after all.

Amadala's outfits is based upon Mongolian traditional dress with Chinese and Korean accents to further show her royal status.

The destroyer droids were always my favorite for the design, seeming invincibility, and the sound they made when they shot.

Im curious how many times Linkara has used a Weird Al song for the title card now

16:18 the recent canon novel Queen's Shadow by E. K. Johnston goes into much detail about Naboo culture and the traditions surrounding the Nabooian Queens particularly their elaborate outfits and use of Handmaidens and Decoys I highly recommend it. In an attempt to condense what I recall from the book, the Queen's goofy outfits are primarily used as a distraction, when the Queen's life is in danger (which is fairly often even on the decidedly pacifist world of Naboo) one of her Handmaidens (all of whom are hand picked for their resemblance to the Queen) will dawn the elaborate costumes and Make up (the make up helps to further disguise a decoy) while the Queen takes the Handmaiden's place in her entourage. The book also notes that typically the big dumb costumes often hide weapons to use if shit hits the fan. Obviously the decoy business comes up in the movie, but they don't really bring it up till near the end so it's not like super clear just how often the Queen is actually a disguised Handmaiden, which if you rewatch the film closely you can kinda tell in which scenes it's actually Padme and which scenes it's her decoy, it's actually kinda clever. Padme's primary handmaiden/decoy is played by Keira Knightley who notably bares a striking resemblance to Natalie Portman I recall reading an Anecdote that on one day of filming both young actresses had the make up on and even their own mothers couldn't tell them apart

Counterargument, battle droids in the Clone Wars are the most adorable woobies in creation. I love it when you toss a grenade in Battlefront and they go "Bye-bye grenade!"

I'm of the opinion that there is a lot to like about the Phantom Menace. The ship designs look completely different and unique compared to the original trilogy, I don't think Jake Loyd was bad as far as child actors go (although the way he's written makes him a terrible young Darth Vader), the set designs are unique despite the technology not aging the best and the story on paper is a good one. That's the thing though, in my opinion it's botches some of these points on execution and suffers for it but at least they tried new things and pushed the franchise in new directions. Also say what you want about George Lucas but you have to give him one thing especially in regards to the sequel trilogy, at least he planned everything out and had a clear beginning, middle and end for the three movies.

Most memorable quote from the Phantom Menace: “Now THIS is pod racing!” EDIT: “I will MAKE it legal,” is a close second place.

15:59 "Everything was better in MY TRILOGY".

Quick point, I've always liked the scene where The Queen orders her handmaiden to clean the droid. Spoilers but who actually cares. The handmaiden is actually Padmé and the queen her double, we know this but think about it for a moment. The double is there to draw attention and get shot at. So she goes out of her way to give the actual Queen the position of cleaning what is in effect a glorified dustbin! It's a nice little move. It not only gets Padmé out of there and safe (no one would care about the Handmaiden that been given such a low assignment) but it puts her in position outside of the court to make contact with the Jedi. There's also the subtext of: "Put me in the firing line will you? Well enjoy spending your time cleaning carbon scoring off an outdated droid!"

Queen Elizabeth the 1st's look was pretty Amidala-esq, so maybe it comes with the station.

3:14 There is *one* thing (other than Jar Jar, but we'll get to him.) that I think we can all agree on: the fans were a little hard on the child actor for Anakin. 3:18 Both Ian McDiarmid and Ewan Mcgregor, he was great as Obi Wan. 4:22 This is likely way the EU (both Legends and current canon) usually worked better, people knew what they wanted to do. Better writers came in and defined the characters a little more. The Clone Wars series got more seasons for a reason, is what I'm saying. That's not even mentioning the other major prequel that came out I think after Attack of the Clones, KOTOR (Knights Of The Old Republic). 6:04 What a load of Bantha. 6:44 I'm probably going to mention this again next week, The Clone Wars series (both Gendy and 3D). 11:10 In KOTOR II, the concept of "Force Breath Control" is brought up. Basically, they take a breath, and use the Force to sustain it, keep you going. It's quite useful against gas attacks. 12:00 It took a canon story in the comics to make one of them look cool. B1-0516, nicknamed *Bats* . This droid was given sentience by accident, a blaster hit to the head. When the droid starts to question what's going on, and why he's doing this...he turns against his own kind, and joins the joins the Republic. A normal droid doesn't have good aim or combat skills, but Bats...does. He uses a friggin' droids arm as a melee weapon at one point. He's amazing. 12:48 KOTOR also introduced (or used more, it's unclear) a weapon called a *Vibro-Blade* . It said that was a weapon made with a special metal and an Ion cell (I forget what it was called) that vibrates the blade at a frequency that could block a lightsaber. They're strong weapons (you could improve the hilt, the cell, and in some, you could add a Krayt Dragon Pearl to it, it was great) in their own right, and judging from the vendors in game, you could get it as easy as a blaster. 16:46 "Sure glad I don't look stupid in this." 17:44 Gnoggin did a video on how Jar Jar might have been done better. I honestly agree with it, and honestly think the whole "Darth Jar Jar" thing is a wonderful concept. I'm actually sad it wasn't used. 17:58 *Looks at Stephen Universe, Final Fantasy, and Homestuck fandoms* Oh sweet mother of mercy, yes. You got to take the good with the bad. 18:36 It's disgusting. All that hate, it was...kind of a shock to me, at the time. I was just shocked by how much hate they got. I knew it was bad, but WOW. I had no idea. You got to remember the people behind these roles. Like I typed above, Gnoggin did a video on what Lucas might have been trying to do. I learned that Jar Jar originally had a bigger role to play later on. The working title had his name in it. One of the quotes from Lucas himself was that "We need to find a way to get Jar Jar working. Jar Jar is the key to all of this." Remember his love of Flash Gordon pulp stories? To Jar is to surprise someone. As for Binks? Look up Magicians of Xanth sometime. "Bink's unknown talent, which is that he cannot be harmed by magic, but by non magical attacks, if known." Or to be more accurate, it's luck based, he could beat a powerful sorcerer...by accident. Sound familiar? 20:04 Even *if* the idea is that Jar Jar is acting the fool on purpose, this is a little on the nose. You can't *tell* that Jar Jar is acting like an idiot in the first place. We're barely (if ever) given the impression that he's actually smarter than he looks. You can see glimpses of it in the movie, but you have to focus on it. 20:54 Who the Heck is Siniteen? 25:52 A fact that becomes apparent all the more when you learn his backstory...and his final words on Tatooine. "Is he the chosen one?" "He is." "He will avenge us."

I always liked the battle droids. I find there voices endearing and there weakness made me think they were just a mass produced weak and cheap commercial product.

The Superboy Prime voice makes me smile *literally* every time I hear it.

I was 9 years old when Phantom Menace hit the theaters. I had seen the original trilogy, but couldn't really enjoy it cause I just wanted something more colorful, and flashy at that time. Like my dad would tell me how Jedi were amazing badasses who were space wizards of incredible power, but I didn't see that. In Phantom Menace, I dunno. Honestly I loved everything in it, except Jar Jar. What bothered me most was Qui-Gon Jinn, still does today: He just really clicked with me and it felt like he was meant to have a much bigger role, ya know? I mean he IS the beginning of Anakin discovering the Force, and begin his path as a Jedi/Sith. Jar Jar Binks' race was interesting. Binks himself sucked, but the underwater city looked so cool, I watched it again, I still like it. It has it's ups and downs, but I tell you what, it's much more memorable compared to the sequel trilogy. The music was fantastic, that's honestly my absolute favorite thing about Star Wars beyond it's memes, the music is always so good.

10:17 You say that, but with how easily Palpatine convinced the entire Senate (sans Padme and Bail Organa) that the Jedi were traitors who attempted a coup after spending the past few years being generals and war heroes during the Clone Wars and completely censor and smear historic accounts of the Jedi and the Force’s existence in the years afterwards, there would have to be a lot of people who absolutely hated the Jedi for that move to go completely unopposed. In fact, there’s a few Star Wars media that have characters and stories do go the direction of anti-Jedi and anti-Force users: - One NPC in KotOR 2 disparaged the conflict between the Jedi Order and Revan and Malak’s Sith Army (calling it a war between Jedi) which our our player character can correct him but he responds that he doesn’t care as they’re all the same to him. - The final antagonists of the Imperial Spy character’s story in The Old Republic MMO are the Star Cabal, a secret illuminati-esque group who was secretly setting events in motion to get rid both the Jedi and the Sith under the belief that all conflicts in the galaxy are centred around Force-users, which they are not wrong about. - And a lot of the Star Wars novels had Senators and space politicians who were very anti-Jedi, adding conflict to stories. In the last Star Wars novels before the Disney buyout, the leader of Imperial Remnant and then Chief of State in the Galactic Federation, Natasi Daala, tries to start a movement and new laws to harshly police and then get rid of the Jedi, even banishing Luke to Outer Rim because Jacen Solo turned to the Dark Side (which Luke had no action or influence over).

Actually to the Sith and their allies, the "Darth" and "Lord" titles are virtually interchangeable.

Honestly Queen Amadalla (dont know how to spell her name) actually has a pretty unique look. Idk I’ve never had an issue with it?

7:50: “The Saga Begins” by Weird Al Yankovic. 15:59: Superboy-Prime Voice

I like the prequels more than the sequals because they had clearly been planned out. Its bad but it was bad from the start. The sequals had a lot of potential with the force awakens but a lot of that was thrown away. I hate rise of skywalker because it feels like it was just thrown together. No heart or soul no passion put into it. Disney wanted a star wars movie out for christmas and they had to make it.

Fun fact: the reason amidala switches dresses is because it Isnt padme. Its Sabé. Her handmaiden. Played by Keira Knightly (not even kidding) rather than Natalie Portman. Padme has already swapped places. Thats why several points a handmaiden speaks up on behalf of the queen...when the "queen" is right there. Shes covertly giving orders. Its honestly kinda clever

Even though I think that the first two prequels are kind of crappy, (mostly Attack of the Clones) I do appreciate what they did for Star Wars as a whole. Because of these films, we got both of the Clone Wars animated shows, some awesome games, and new characters we love. I can't say the same for the Sequel trilogy, which feels like a bad fanfiction that brought nothing but nostalgia, and unwanted messages. I also have to admit that Revenge of the Sith is my favorite Star Wars film, (with Return of the Jedi as my second) despite its flaws. One thing we can agree on though is that Baby Yoda is cute as hell, and the music from the prequels is amazing!

Thankfully Star Wars: The Clone Wars redeemed/revived Maul and made him a far more interesting character beyond his fight moves.

Given the Jedi's aloof relationship with the Senate and their stance that they are the ultimate protectors of the Republic*, it would be understandable that a part of the Senate would dislike/mistrusted them and would object to involving them in a political situation. This would also explain why their was so little uproar in the Senate over Order 66. *Example: they were already planning to remove Palpatine from power before they knew he was a Sith because they felt he had stayed in office too long and been given to much power

George Lucas knew about his shortcomings , but no one wanted to correct him , because people regarded him as man who knows/knew how to make a perfect Star Wars movie.

My two cents re. performance and direction. There was a _lot_ of attempts by George Lucas to get other people to make the prequels. He asked Ron Howard, Robert Zemeckis, and Stephen Spielberg, who all said, "no, this is your baby, you have to do it." So, he gave up and just directed/wrote them, and there are moments when I wonder if Carrie Fisher, who is said to have been an uncredited script doctor on this trilogy, left certain things the way they were as her own personal 'revenge' for parts of her own trilogy: the bikini from hell, not wearing a bra, issues surrounding her weight, that sort of thing. Regardless of how they got to that point, Lucas was apparently really set in certain things. The fact that the biggest criticisms are usually directed at the less experienced actors who were carrying the film, especially Jake Lloyd and Hayden Christensen, is the most indicative of this. Christensen apparently showed up for Attack of the Clones filming with all these ideas about playing Anakin with passion, and then George made him dial it back to the performance we ended up getting. And now, speaking as someone _obsessed_ with Padmé Amidala and the Naboo: the makeup is, yes, in part to help with the decoys. _All_ her handmaidens are supposed to be able to act as decoys if called upon, but the main one is Sabé (Keira Knightley), specifically for her resemblance to Padmé, so the makeup helps make the disguise easier. And the cleaning of Artoo has less to do with gratitude and more to do with an inside joke. Whenever Padmé was being a handmaiden while one of the handmaidens was being Queen Amidala, they'd stick her with silly chores as a sort of ribbing/hazing, so cleaning up Artoo was an extension of that.

I think the reason the chancellor had to dispatch the Jedi "in secret" was probably because doing it through official channels would have taken weeks or months to navigate all the red tape and committees in order to send them.

i hope you look into the 3D clone wars show. it's probably the best star wars stories outside of maybe kotor 2.

me, a star war, vibrating at lightspeed trying no to "Um Ackshully" about every other thing: this is fine

12:45 Fun fact: The Kyber Crystal, which is the source of the lightsaber's power, was used by the Empire... as the Death Star's destructive laser beam.

Insanely elaborate getups for the royalty are par the course for many historical cultures. They help people to see them from far away, allowing them to appear before crowds of citizens and not become just unrecognisable blobs. They also turn them from just a regular person into a living icon, a symbol for the nation's greatness. The look is specifically lifted from the Japanese Kabuki-theatre, which was just one step of exaggeration from what the Imperial court and the Shogunate actually wore on formal occasions.

"Darth Maul is the most screwed over character in all of Star Wars." I think after Clone Wars rehabilitated him and there's been some lovely stuff done with him since Phantom, this has been largely undone. Rose Tico on the other hand?

Almost seven minutes of introduction, and not one word about 'The Rise of Skywalker'. … Kudos, man, that's discipline right there. :)

If you haven't heard of it I highly recomend the Darths and Droids web comic, it recontectualize the whole series as a D&D session, even changes plot points up and explains stuff. For instance instead of Mustafar they drag Naboo closer to the sun to SMELT DOWN THE ENTIRE PLANET INTO THE DEATH STAR

I am so gonna read the traders in the superboy prime voice for Darths and Droids now

Should've started off with "Hello, there.... and welcome..."

This is already the most respectful, humble, and kind critique of Episode 1 I've ever seen, and it's only part 1. As someone who enjoys these movies, I appreciate going the extra mile that way. Good on you!

I recently marathoned all the films with a friend, and while we ended up LOVING Revenge of the Sith even more than when we first watched it, Phantom Menace... not so much, for all of the reasons you mentioned. Halfway through the film, I slowly turned to my friend and said to her "There's... a LOT more Jar Jar in this movie than I remember."

George Lucas eventually said the problem with the prequels are the tone. They story they tell is a tragedy, an invincible warrior who could have saved the galaxy but falls because the only enemy he couldn't defeat was his own anger. Lucas however insisted in telling the story in the form of action movies, so the tragedy falls flat.

"Shrug" I still like them

"The senate isn't this uncooperative w/ our greed in MYYYYYY galaxy!"

YIPPIE! Now THIS is comic book reviewing! EDIT: And I like this even more now because I honestly thought you’d fall back on the Plinkett reviews. Good call to discount the reviews and him right away in the intro.

Linkara: "I'm not going to do the "What's wrong with your face?" complaint!" Also Linkara: 16:28

The biggest problem that the sequel trilogy makes is that when fans dont like something the media and even actors jump to call them racist and misogynists. But with the prequels, no one had a problem calling it bad and instead of ignoring it George listened and made changes like with Jar Jar especially.

Jake was heavily bullied for his role as Anakin and developed Schizophrenia. Ahmed contemplated suicide after hearing negative feedback about Jar-Jar. These people never deserved to be in those positions.

Obviously "Amidala" was just giving R2 so much thanks because she wanted to make Padme clean him. Probably to get back at her for the whole decoy thing.

Star Wars is one of the few things my dad and I bond over and I'll always remember the prequels fondly because he took me to watch them. He didn't have to but he took the time to have a father daughter moment with each film.

Isn't the joke with old Red Letter Media reviews that they mash legitimate criticism with deliberately nitcpicky bullshit?

Everyone please be nice to the guy who played jar jar. He’s been through enough