In
1977, George Lucas released Star Wars, the ultimate sci-fi popcorn flick
turned pop-culture myth machine. It quickly became the biggest money-making
film of all time and changed the shape of the film industry. After two
successful sequels (1980's The Empire Strikes Back and 1983's Return of the
Jedi) that extended the story of the first film, Lucas took some time off to
produce movies for others with mixed success. In 1999, Lucas returned to the
Star Wars saga with a new approach — instead of picking up where Return of
the Jedi left off, Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace would be the
first of a trilogy of stories to trace what happened in the intergalactic
saga before the first film began. Here, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) is a
young apprentice Jedi knight under the tutelage of Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson);
Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd), who will later father Luke Skywalker and
become known as Darth Vader, is just a nine-year-old boy. When the Trade
Federation cuts off all routes to the planet Naboo, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan are
assigned to settle the matter, but when they arrive on Naboo they are
brought to Amidala, the Naboo Queen (Natalie Portman), by a friendly but
opportunistic Gungan named Jar Jar. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan plan to escort
Amidala to a meeting of Republic leaders in Coruscant, but trouble with
their spacecraft strands them on the planet Tatooine, where Qui-Gon meets
Anakin, the slave of a scrap dealer. Qui-Gon is soon convinced that the boy
could be the leader the Jedis have been searching for, and he begins
bargaining for his freedom and teaching the boy the lessons of The Force.
The supporting cast includes Pernilla August as Anakin's mother, Terence
Stamp as Chancellor Valorum, and Samuel L. Jackson as Jedi master Mace Windu;
Jackson told a reporter before The Phantom Menace's release that the best
part about doing the film was that he got to say "May The Force be with you"
on screen.| Ewan McGregor | Obi-Wan Kenobi |
| Liam Neeson | Qui-Gon Jinn |
| Natalie Portman | Queen Amidala / Padme Naberrie |
| Jake Lloyd | Anakin Skywalker |
| Pernilla August | Shmi Skywalker |
| Frank Oz | Yoda |
| Ian McDiarmid | Senator Palpatine |
| Oliver Ford Davies | Sio Bibble |
| Hugh Quarshie | Captain Panaka |
| Ahmed Best | Jar Jar Binks |
| Samuel L. Jackson | Mace Windu |
| Ray Park | Darth Maul |
| Ralph Brown | Ric Olie |
| Terence Stamp | Chancellor Valorum |
| Brian Blessed | Boss Nass |
| Sofia Coppola | Sache |
| Anthony Daniels | C-3PO |
| Greg Proops | Beed [Voice] |
Genre/Type - Science Fiction, Space Adventure
Produced by - Lucasfilm
Release - May 19, 1999 (USA)
Released by - 20th Century Fox
Running time - 131 min.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984, Leonard Nimoy)
Battlestar Galactica (1979, Richard A. Colla)
Flash Gordon (1980, Mike Hodges)
The Fifth Element (1997, Luc Besson)
is followed by: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002, George Lucas)
is preceded by: Return of the Jedi (1983, Richard Marquand)