Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace

Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (original title in English: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace; also known in Spanish as Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace) is a space opera film > from 1999, written and directed by the American film director George Lucas. It is the fourth installment in the Star Wars saga and the first in the chronological order of the saga, after a hiatus of twenty-two years from the release of A New Hope.

The plot follows the story of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi, who escort and protect Queen Amidala from her planet Naboo to Coruscant in hopes of finding a peaceful solution to a trade conflict. large-scale interplanetary It is also about young Anakin Skywalker before he became a Jedi, portrayed as a slave with unusually strong Force potential, and must deal with the mysterious return of the Sith.

Lucas began production on the film after concluding that special effects technology had advanced enough to make the fourth installment in the saga. Filming began on June 26, 1997 in different locations, including Leavesden Film Studios and the Tunisian steppe. Special effects include a large number of computer-generated (CGI) scenes; some of his characters and landscapes are created entirely by this technology.

The film was released in theaters on May 19, 1999, sixteen years after the previous installment, Return of the Jedi, in 1983. Its release was highly acclaimed and received wide coverage. both in the media and by the large number of followers who had been waiting for him all these years. Despite the criticism received, it is one of the highest-grossing films in cinema history, grossing $924,317,558 worldwide. On February 10, 2012, it was re-released in 3D version, which allowed it to get an additional over one billion dollars at the box office.

Plot

Long ago in a galaxy very, very distant [...] The Galactic Republic is in riots. There are protests against the taxation of commercial routes to star systems. [...] Expecting to solve the problem with a blockade of deadly cruises, the greedy Trade Federation has stopped all the shipments to the small planet of Naboo. [...] As the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to resolve the conflict...

Introductory text

The Trade Federation has initiated a trade blockade on the planet Naboo, ruled by the young Queen Amidala, after imposing new and high taxes on trade routes in the galaxy. The Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, Valorum, sends two Jedi ambassadors to the Federation center, where the Viceroy, Nute Gunray, awaits them. Upon arrival, the welcoming android TC-14 tells Gunray that the ambassadors appear to be Jedi Knights named Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, his Padawan. Gunray is very nervous because he knows that his blockade will end when the Jedis demand it, but he contacts a Sith Lord, Darth Sidious, who tells them that what they have to do is finish off the Jedis.

The emblems of the Galactic Republic and the Confederation of Independent Systems, whose confrontation is one of the main themes in the first three deliveries of the saga.

Gunray poisons the compound where Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan were, who encounter a group of battle droids. The Jedis easily defeat them using their lightsabers. Gunray then sends out a pair of destroyer droids, but the Jedis escape through the ventilation tunnel. Escaping, they come to a forest on the planet Naboo, which was under siege by Federation droids. Qui-Gon meets a Gungan named Jar Jar Binks, who guides him and Obi-Wan to his hidden city, Otoh Gunga. There they meet with their leader, Nass, who grants them a ship to go to the rescue of Queen Padmé Amidala of Naboo with Jar Jar Binks as their guide. On their journey underwater, they are attacked by different kinds of creatures. Arriving on Naboo they free her sovereign and her group.

Views inside the Royal Palace of Naboo.

They all escape on the Queen's ship, heading for the planet Coruscant, but as they leave the planet they are attacked by Federation fleets, and damaged. For that reason, they must land on the planet Tatooine to repair it. There they go to a parts store run by Watto, who owns a boy named Anakin Skywalker as a slave. There a rapprochement between Padmé and Anakin occurs. Leaving the premises, a sandstorm breaks out, so Anakin offers Qui-Gon, Jar Jar and Padmé refuge in his house. While there, Qui-Gon explains to Anakin's mother, Shmi Skywalker, that she senses a strong Force presence in the boy. Qui-Gon senses that Anakin could be the Chosen One of Jedi prophecy, bringing balance to the Force. Anakin tells them that he is an "expert" in a racing game called podracing, and that he was preparing a ship to participate. Qui-Gon bets Watto that if the boy wins the race, they will get the parts for the ship and Anakin's freedom. Watto accepts, believing that Anakin's greatest opponent, Sebulba, would beat him.

Already in the race, Anakin has problems as Sebulba had broken an element of his pod. However, the boy manages to stabilize the ship and ultimately wins the race. After an emotional farewell between Shmi and Anakin, everyone heads towards the Queen's ship to travel to Coruscant, capital of the Republic. Before reaching the ship, Qui-Gon is surprised by Lord Sidious's apprentice, Darth Maul, and they engage in a small fight with his lightsabers. Finally, Qui-Gon manages to flee in the ship. Once on Coruscant, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan go to the Jedi Council to propose Anakin's training, but it is rejected because the council opposed it because they did not see Anakin as the chosen One. However, Qui-Gon, for his part, decides to end Obi-Wan's training so that he can train Anakin himself. At the same time, Senator Palpatine convinces Padmé to vote against Supreme Chancellor Valorum for taking no action on Naboo. She votes in favor, but when the vote doesn't turn out the way Palpatine wanted, she decides to leave for Naboo with the Jedis.

On Naboo, Padmé reveals herself to the Gungan leader and makes an alliance with them against the Trade Federation. The Gungans, under the authority of Jar Jar Binks, battle Federation droids on the ground. At the same time, Padmé and his group capture Viceroy Gunray. On the other hand, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon meet Darth Maul again, and begin to fight with him. In the fight, Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul, who is then defeated by Obi-Wan. In his last words, Qui-Gon asks Obi-Wan to train Anakin. Finally, the Federation ship that controlled the droids on Naboo is destroyed by Anakin with the help of a spaceship. Senator Palpatine is elected as the new Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, and Queen Amidala makes peace with the Gungans.

Cast

Casting agents

Liam Neeson

Ewan McGregor

Natalie Portman

Jake Lloyd

Ian McDiarmid

Ahmed Best

Pernilla August

Ray Park

Anthony Daniels

• Liam Neeson as Qui-Gon Jinn: Master Jedi and mentor of Obi-Wan Kenobi. When he discovers Anakin, he urges to train him to be a Jedi despite having the Council against him. In the beginning, Lucas had thought of an American actor for this role, but in the selection process he changed his mind by seeing that Neeson had great histrionic skills and presence on the screen, and described him as “an actor who is regarded as an acting expert, in whom the other actors could be inspired, and who has the qualities that the character requires”.
• Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi: Padawan under the orders of Qui-Gon. He has his master in a high esteem even though he is sometimes questioned by his methods. McGregor was chosen among a total of fifty actors; all of them were compared to images of Alec Guinness of young man, who had played Obi-Wan in the original trilogy. Ewan had a personal singing teacher to be able to assimilate his voice to Guinness and studied his behavior in acting, both in his early films and the others Star Wars.
• Natalie Portman as Padmé Amidala: the young queen of the 14-year-old planet Naboo, Amidala, hopes to protect her planet from the site to which she is subjected by the Trade Federation. About 200 actresses made an audition for paper; production notes indicate that "the role required a young woman who could be credible as the ruler of this planet but at the same time vulnerable and open." Portman was specially chosen for his papers Léon (1994) and Beautiful Girls (1996), which impressed Lucas. He said: "I was looking for an actress who was young, strong, in the line of Leia; Natalie embodies all these features and more." The actress wasn't familiar with Star Wars before castingbut he was very excited to interpret the Queen of Naboo, a character he saw as a model to follow: “It was wonderful to be able to interpret a young queen with so much power. I think it's good for young women to see a strong and actionable woman who is also intelligent and a leader."
• Jake Lloyd as Anakin Skywalker: nine-year-old boy with great pilot skills who dreams of becoming Master Jedi. Hundreds of actors tested the paper before the producers decided on Lloyd. Lucas considered that Lloyd had all the necessary requirements: “a good actor, enthusiastic and very energetic”. Producer Rick McCallum added: "intelligent, naughty and loves mechanics, just like Anakin."
• Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine/Darth Sidious: Senator of Naboo, who is finally elected supreme chancellor of the Republic. McDiarmid was surprised by Luke when sixteen years later of the premiere The return of the Jedi He asked him to reinterpret Palpatine.
• Ahmed Best like Jar Jar Binks: he is a clumsy gungan, exiled by his people but welcomed by Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. He's accompanying them throughout the movie. Best was hired to make exhibitions about the technology that gave life to his character in San Francisco, at first he was only going to provide the capture of movement, but then he also offered the character's voice. During the shooting he was wearing a foam and latex suit with a high helmet so that the actors had a reference point where his face was. Jar Jar Jar's movements were often improvised, as Jar Jar is a comic and clumsy character.
• Pernilla August as Shmi Skywalker: is Anakin's mother. Despite worrying about the future of his son, he lets him leave home to become Master Jedi. August was a veteran Swedish actress who was chosen in an audition despite being worried because she thought they wouldn't select her for her accent.
• Ray Park like Darth Maul: Darth Sidious's apprentice Sith who uses a light saber with two leaves. Park is an expert in martial arts, gymnastics and sword fighting. At first he was going to be a member of a group of specialists, but the specialist coordinator Nil Gillard filmed Park to show how the sword struggle was imagined. Lucas and McCallum were impressed by seeing him in action and decided to give him Maul's role. His voice was considered too grim and therefore was bent by Peter Serafinowicz.
• Anthony Daniels puts his voice to C-3PO: protocol android designed to interact with human beings that was built by Anakin. A puppeteer dressed in the same color as the background gives life to the character, in a similar way as the puppets of the Japanese theater Bunraku. The dress was erased during post-production and then Daniels took care of giving her voice.
• Kenny Baker as R2-D2: astromechanical android, saves Queen Amidala from Naboo's escape. Before the production of the film began, fans asked via the Internet for Baker to play the role of the robot again, and Lucas responded that it would be. Baker played those scenes where R2 folded forward, backwards and stumbled into the bands. The other more complex scenes were made by computer.
• Silas Carson as Nute Gunray: Virrey of the Trade Federation and leader who leads the attack on Naboo and tries to force Queen Amidala to sign a treaty that legitimizes the occupation. Carson also played three secondary characters: the Jedi teacher Ki-Adi-Mundi, Senator Lott Dod and a wounded pilot (person for the original audition). Carson got the paper because the previous actor was uncomfortable wearing the suits used by the Federation characters: they were hot, they were exerting a lot of pressure on the carrier and it took about 136 minutes to put them on. The Thai accent used by the character was chosen after Lucas and McCurrt heard several languages to choose them as they speak of the Neimodians.
• Andy Secombe puts his voice to Watto: Tatooine's chatterman who has Anakin and his mother as slaves. Its design comes from the fusion of several rejected ideas.
• Hugh Quarshie as Captain Panaka: security chief of Queen Amidala. Quarshie accepted the role because he considered it to be “a good step in his career” and production seemed fun to him.
• Lewis MacLeod puts his voice to Sebulba: an aggressive rot and rival of Anakin in the race. Sebulba’s design was described by Lucas as “a crosspide with an orangutan crossed with a lazy bear”, with a camel face and clothes inspired by medieval armor.
• Frank Oz puts his voice Yoda: former leader of the Jedi Council. Yoda was mostly represented as a puppet designed by Nick Dudman, based on the original design of Stuart Freeborn, from which Oz controlled the mouth; the other parts were controlled by puppeteers, who used remote controls. Lucas hired Oz after he finished his last film, In " Out ". Lucas stated that his original intention was that Yoda was computer-generated in all scenes, but the attempts did not work well. Finally, the Blu-ray and 3D versions used a technique similar to that of the other prequels.
• Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu: a member of the Jedi Council and one of those who oppose Anakin's training due to his fierce loyalty to the Jedi traditions. After Jackson expressed his interest in getting out Star Wars, casting director Robin Gurland gave him the role of Windu.
• Terence Stamp as Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum: He is the one who sends Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn to negotiate with the Virrey of the Trade Federation at the beginning of the film. Luke describes him as a "good man but he is harassed, something like Bill Clinton."
• Brian Blessed puts his voice to Boss Nass: the leader of the gungan tribe who joins the Naboos and defeats the Trade Federation. Blessed initially made the audition for Sio Bibble, the governor of Naboo, for which he was considered “too strong”. The casting director Robin Gurland approached him for Nass, as he was a "greater than life" character with "a kind of courage." Brian described his character as a "heroe reluctant to be" and a fun role to play.
• Greg Proops and Scott Capurro put their voice to Fode and Beed, the two drivers of the pod race. The actors were filmed using makeup and blue monkeys, and their heads joined in a computer-generated body. In the visual effects team they did not like the original results and finished the production of Fode and Beed completely by computer.
• Keira Knightley as Sabé: she was the most important maiden of Padmé Amidala during the reign of this as Monarch of Naboo. Being originally from Naboo, Sabé was chosen very carefully by the Captain of the Royal Security Forces of Naboo, Panaka, shortly after the coronation of Amidala due to his strong resemblance to the new Queen. Together with the other maidens, Sabé was trained to serve as both a servant and a bodyguard, and as he was the most important of the entourage, he was chosen to be the first in order to take the role of Queen in times of crisis, as his double. Together with Padmé, Sabé perfected her performance as Queen, learning to imitate the Monarch perfectly.

Production

Background and script

George Lucas, American filmmaker, creator of the film saga Star Wars.

During the writing process of the original 1977 Star Wars film, creator-director George Lucas realized that the story he had written was too long to fit inside a single film and therefore was meant to be the introduction to a larger saga that could even have prequels if it was successful. The original film was ultimately developed as the first in the series but was actually one of the second trilogy in the series. By the time of the third project, Lucas had negotiated a contract that gave him the right to write two sequels. Also at this time he developed a rather elaborate backstory to aid his writing process. While writing the first sequel, 1980's The Empire Strikes Back, Lucas considered different directions for the story to take, including which were the revelation of the villain Darth Vader as the father of the hero Luke Skywalker and the development of a background story where it is explained that he was a great Jedi master named Anakin Skywalker, a warrior with great power who was seduced and dragged to the Side Dark of the Force, in addition to a story that he had already included in the first film of the trilogy that tells the story of the Jedis who had had their heyday as the most powerful warriors in the galaxy and after that were on the verge of extinction, which surprisingly impacted the public of the time. The impact caused by this new background story encouraged Lucas to decide to make a new trilogy that would explain the origins of the saga of the late 70s and early 80s, and changed the name from Episode II to Episode V. At the end of the trilogy, in the last scenes of Return of the Jedi, Vader he transforms into a tragic and redeemed character. However, despite initially being enthusiastic about carrying out this project, Lucas said that he was "burned out" and wanted to take a break.

After losing much of his fortune in the 1987 divorce settlement, Lucas had no desire to return to Star Wars and canceled the unofficial sequel-trilogy at the premiere of Return of the Jedi. However, because Lucas already had most of the story developed, the idea of making the prequels continued to fascinate him, especially because of the public's desire to project the story prior to the original trilogy. In the early 1990s, Star Wars became popular again in the wake of the Dark Horse Comics line of comics and Timothy Zahn's Thrawn trilogy. Seeing that there was still a large audience for his idea of a trilogy, and with the explosion of CGI technology, the director considered redirecting the saga. In 1993 it was confirmed and announced in Variety magazine. i>, among others, that the prequels would be made. Lucas then began to work further on the story where Anakin Skywalker would become the protagonist of this story instead of Obi-Wan Kenobi and which would culminate "tragically" with the origins and transformation of Darth Vader. This was the last step that turned the franchise into a saga.

Lucas began writing the script for the first film on November 1, 1994. It was an adaptation of a 15-page script he had written himself in 1976. The first outline was originally designed to help him record the stories of character background and what events had taken place before the original trilogy. For this plot, Lucas created an Anakin Skywalker with completely new characterizations that were key pieces to his original story while also respecting the historical and personal descriptions that the characters in the The first saga had made reference to him before he became a being full of evil: Anakin was born and raised on the planet Tatooine (as was his son Luke) without having a biological father, the force that was in his mother being the one who fathered him in his womb and inherited at birth, which gave him the ideality of being able to become a jedi and shown as a slave, he was initially twelve years old but Lucas reduced it to nine because he believed that he was too old to begin his apprenticeship and separate from his mother. He also rewrote the ending of the film in terms of Anakin's participation in the final battle, learning to use the starship with the help of R2-D2; this way, the scene would be much more believable. Although the title was to be The Beginning, Lucas later revealed that it would be The Phantom Menace (translated into Spanish as The Phantom Menace), referring to Chancellor Palpatine, who hides his true identity as the evil Sith Lord behind the facade of a well-meaning official. The origins of Obi-Wan Kenobi, who appears as an apprentice to Qui-Gon, who helped free Anakin from slavery and entrusted Kenobi with his training to become a Jedi upon his death; of R2-D2 and C3PO, the latter as an android created by Anakin Skywalker (despite the fact that in the movie The Empire Strikes Back, in Han Solo's freezing scene, which is the only one seen together, C3PO is a unknown to Darth Vader); and Yoda, the supreme master of the Jedis, who after analyzing the boy Skywalker is strongly opposed to him being trained because of his feelings that he will be seduced by the dark side.

The story ends with five stories running simultaneously. The main one is that Palpatine becomes Supreme Chancellor, who leads a Trade Federation attack on Naboo, the Jedis are sent there, and Anakin begins his long journey that will eventually lead to the Dark Side of the Force. As in the original trilogy, Lucas developed in The Phantom Menace a series of themes through the narrative. Duality is frequent with Amidala, a Queen posing as a maid, Palpatine playing both roles in the war, and Obi-Wan being against some of Qui-Gon's teachings, such as training Anakin; in the end it is he himself who trains it. Balance is also prevalent, Anakin is supposedly chosen to bring balance to the Force and the characters that are to influence it in some way or another. As Lucas said: "Anakin needs a mother, Obi-Wan a teacher, Darth Sidious an apprentice, without all these elements there would be no drama."

Pre-production and design

Map of the fictitious galaxy where the saga of Star Wars.

Before Lucas began writing the script, his producing partner Rick McCallum had already made some preparations for the film. McCallum said that his experience on the television series The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones helped him make many decisions with The Phantom Menace, such as long-term agreements with the actors and film sets, employing recent graduates with no film experience; and the creation of sets and landscapes through digital technology. In April 1994, McCallum began searching for professionals at art, architecture, and design schools, and in the summer of the same year, he began scouting for filming locations, along with production designer Gavin Bocquet. The art director of Industrial Light & Magic, Doug Chiang, was hired to be the lead designer.

Within the first three or four months that Lucas worked on the script, Chiang and his design team began a two-year process of revising the thousands of designs for the film. Chiang told Lucas that he intended that Episode I was stylistically different from the production of the other films in the series, which is "richer and more like a period film, as it was the story that led to A New Hope". The three planets where the story comes to life—some with varying environments, like the human and Gungan cities of Naboo and three different Coruscant buildings—would give them a distinctive look, with a bit of a real-world basis. with the exception of the gungan city, which had a visual inspiration to modernism. Ralph McQuarrie's concept drawings from the original trilogy served as the basis for Mos Espa —which also drew from old Tunisian hotels and buildings, and had details such as a separate market from Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Mos Eisley—and Coruscant, in particular the design of a metropolis that would become the base of the Senate. Bocquet later elaborated on the work of Chiang's team and the design of the interiors, translating the concepts into the building plans with environments and architectural styles that had some basis in reality "to give the audience a bit of the key to the film".

One of the dresses designed by the Trisha Biggar team especially for the movie.

Creature design was done by artist Terryl Whitlatch. Many of the aliens arose from hybridizing different real animals. He also designed detailed skeletons of the main characters and Jar Jar Binks' facial muscles for reference by ILM animators. Each creature was designed to reflect the environment in which it lives: on Naboo they are prettier as the planet is "lush and more animal-friendly"; on Tatooine there are tough-looking creatures "with tanned skins to protect them from the harsh weather of the desert"; and, on Coruscant, more bipedal human-like aliens appear.

Stunt Coordinator Nick Gillard was brought in to create a new Jedi fighting style that would differ from the original trilogy and embrace different martial arts and sword fighting techniques. Gillard likened lightsaber battles to a game of chess where "every move is a check." Since they use short-range weapons, he theorized that the Jedi would have had to develop a method of fighting that combined all kinds of swordsmanship, such as kendo and other styles of kenjutsu, with other swinging techniques, such as tennis and the use of the axe.. While training Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor, Nick would write a battle sequence that was about 60 seconds long, which would be five or six sequences. Lucas later, instead of referring to the Jedi as soldiers, described them as " negotiators”, because they use their political strategies to reach a peaceful agreement with the minimum number of victims. The preference for hand-to-hand combat was intended to give a more spiritual and intellectual role to the Jedis. As Gillard thought the acrobatic jumps did not look realistic with the actors and stuntmen dangling from wires, air boosters were used in his place.

Lucas also decided to make elaborate dresses, since the society was more sophisticated than the one featured in the original trilogy. Designer Trisha Biggar and her team created over a thousand dresses, after drawing on various cultures of our planet for the construction of various pieces of clothing. Biggar worked closely with concept designer Iain McCaig, creating a color palette for the inhabitants of each world, while Tatooine carried on with the idea of A New Hope with sun-bleached earth colors, Coruscant had greys, browns and blacks, and Naboo had green and gold for human beings, while Gungans wore "a leathery look, like their skin." The Jedi suits followed the original pattern. Lucas said that he and Biggar would look at concept art to work on "translating all of these designs into the rag and fabric and materials that really work, which doesn't seem like an easy job." Biggar also consulted Gillard when looking for ways to adapt the costumes to action scenes, and the creature department to "not overuse" exotic skins. A massive costume department was set up at Leavesden Film Studios to create from scratch over 250 costumes for the lead actors and 5,000 for the background characters.

Shooting

Mos Espa remains in the Tunisian desert.

Filming began on June 26, 1997 and ended on September 30 of that same year. It took place primarily at the Leavesden Film studios in England. It was also shot at another British studio used for the original trilogy, Elstree Studios; and Cassiobury Park, Watford, for the forest scenes on Naboo. Several takes of a shot were shot between August 1998 and February 1999., after Lucas screened a first cut of the film to his friends in May 1998. Most of the action and stunts were filmed by Roger Christian's second unit, who worked throughout the main unit due to to the high number of intakes to complete each day.

The Tunisian desert was once again used for the Tatooine scenes, with Mos Espa built just outside Tozeur. During the third night of shooting, an unexpected sandstorm destroyed many sets and props. With a quick reschedule, the production was able to leave Tunis on the exact day scheduled. The Royal Palace of Caserta was used for filming as the interior of the Palace of Naboo. In addition, scenes with explosions were built on replica sets. in Leavesden.

A folder of storyboards from the film served as a reference for the live-action recording; these scenes were shot with chroma, and later it would be applied by computer. The prolonged use of chroma was employed for digital extensions, backgrounds or landscapes. David Tattersall, cinematographer, said that stronger lights had to be found to illuminate the sets, and visual effects supervisor John Knoll developed software that would remove the blue reflection from the shiny floor. Knoll, who was on set for most of production, worked closely with Tatterstall to ensure scenes were suitable for adding visual effects later. The cameras were equipped with data capture models that provided the technical data to the CGI artists.

The Phantom Menace was the last film in the series to be shot on 35mm. Some scenes, mostly elements shot by the special effects team, were recorded in high definition on the videotapes to test the performance of the digital recording. Lucas and McCallum felt it was the next logical step given the amount of digitization—an expensive process compared to recording directly to digital—for the composition of the CGI effects. All future films would be shot with Sony CineAlta, high-definition video cameras.

Editing lasted two years and was done by both Paul Martin Smith, who started the process in England and focused on the dialogue, and Ben Burtt —also a sound editor—, responsible for the action sequences, under the direction of Luke's supervision. Non-linear editing systems played an important role in the translation of Lucas's vision, as he constantly adjusted, revised and reworked shots and scenes. The final sound mix was introduced in March 1999, and the following month the film was completed with the delivery of the remaining visual effects.

Special effects

About 1,950 shots contain special effects; the opening scene in which toxic gas is released where the two Jedis are, is the only sequence in the entire film that does not have digital modifications. The work was so extensive that three supervisors were needed to divide the work: John Knoll supervised the series production, race and space battle sequences, veteran Dennis Murano was responsible for the underwater sequences and land battles while Scott Squires was responsible for lightsaber effects.

Until the film's production, many special effects in the motion picture industry were achieved through the use of miniature models, matte paints, and on-set visual effects. It was groundbreaking, even though computer-generated imagery (CGI) had already been used extensively in other films. Knoll wrote 3,500 scripts with Lucas as a chaperone to explain shooting factors that would be practical and those that would be created through visual effects. The result was to mix original techniques with the new digital techniques to make it difficult for the viewer to guess which technique was used. New computer software was written by Knoll and his visual effects team to create certain features of the film, including clothing simulators to allow realistic rendering. Another goal was to create CG characters that could perform seamlessly with the live action actors. During the filming of computer generated scenes, Lucas could block the characters with their corresponding voice actors on the set. The voice actors then dropped out and the live action actors performed the same scene. Later, a CGI character would be added to the shot to end the conversation. Lucas also used CGI to correct the physical presence of the actors in certain scenes. Practical models were also used, such as miniature landscapes in the background. and the vehicles that would be scanned to create the digital models or filmed to represent the spaceships and the pod race.

After having problems with the props used to represent R2-D2 in the previous films, Lucas hired two companies, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and the special effects department of the British production to create their own versions. New models of the astromech droid were invented: one was for actor Kenny Baker, who was meant to be inside the robot, seven were built by ILM and featured two wheelchair motors capable of pushing 400 pounds; the British studio produced a ninth pneumatic R2 that could switch from two to three legs and was used primarily in Tunisia as the R2's engine drive system enabled it to drive over sand.

While the initial intent was to create as many aliens by computer as possible, given their low cost, more and more masks with makeup and animatronics were used. These were established by Nick Dudman's creature effects team which included the Neimodians and background characters in Mos Espa, the Jedi Council and the Galactic Senate. Dudman's group was warned that they would only have six months before shooting began, so they had to rush out of production. The Neimodians' costumes, initially envisioned as digital characters, were delivered a day before they were required to be in ensemble. Dudman traveled to Skywalker Ranch to see the original creatures that could be reused, read the script for a breakdown of scenes with practical individuals, and left only the more outlandish designs to be realized via CGI.

For the investigation of the racing vehicles, the special effects team visited a jet scrapyard outside Phoenix, where they found four Boeing 747 engines. Full-scale replicas of the engines were built and shipped. Tunisia to serve as a reference in the film. Aside from Jake Lloyd inside a hydraulic cockpit and a few useful pod racer models, all of the race scenes are CGI. The special effects team tried to design everything to be as "out of this world" as possible.

Soundtrack

On the left, the façade of the Abbey Road Studios recording studio; on the right, John Williams, composer and music director Star Wars.

As in the previous installments, the soundtrack was composed and conducted by John Williams. He began composing the score in October 1998 and recorded the music with the London Voices and London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios on February 10, 1999. Williams decided to use electronic instruments such as synthesizers to enhance the sound and choral pieces for " capture the magic and mystical force that a normal orchestra could not have been able to provide" and reflect a different atmosphere, "more mysterious and mystical and less military" than in the original trilogy. One of the most prominent themes is Duel of the Fates uses a chorus to add a religious touch to the lightsaber battle. In composing Anakin's theme, Williams wanted to reflect the innocence of his childhood and foreshadowing his transformation into Darth Vader by putting faint notes of the Imperial March into the melody.

The film's soundtrack was released by Sony Classical on May 4, 1999. This album featured the composer's restructured score, therefore it is not in the order of the cinema and omits many notable cues from the film due to compact disc space restrictions. One of the two "Ultimate Edition" discs was released on November 14, 2000. The set features almost all of the tracks heard in the film, including all edits and loops that were made for the sound mix.

Historical and cultural allusions

As in previous Star Wars installments, The Phantom Menace makes several references to historical events and movies Lucas watched in his youth. The tapes of the saga usually mix several concepts selected from different mythologies.

Jedi practice is like Zen Buddhism, meditation and martial arts, just like the ancient Japanese samurai did. The name "Qui-Gon" refers to qigong, which refers to a Chinese discipline that involves meditation and cultivation of the flow of vital energy called "Chi" or "Qì" for healing, health, and combat. The words ch'i (Chinese), ki (Japanese) and the Indian term "prana" refer to the energy that flows through all living things., from the source of all energy, which is "the path" in Chinese philosophy.

There are many references to Christian mythology, such as the appearance of Darth Maul, whose design draws heavily on traditional depictions of the Christian devil, complete with horns and red skin. The Star Wars has a religious basis with respect to the narrative of Anakin Skywalker; the "chosen one" was conceived by a virgin mother, who is tempted to join the Sith. Her fall, a priori, prevents her from fulfilling her destiny as "the chosen one", bringing balance to the Force and ending the Sith. The inspiration behind the story of the "virgin birth" parallels a concept developed by Joseph Campbell in his work on The Hero with a Thousand Faces, a work that already greatly influenced Lucas when he wrote the original Star Wars trilogy.

Japanese cinema also served as inspiration for the previous trilogy, specifically The Hidden Fortress by Akira Kurosawa. Film historians Geoff King and Tanya Krywinska stated: "The costume designs and makeup...are a mix of gothic and oriental style with a very futuristic edge. The gothic is most strongly evident in Darth Maul's demonic horns and the red and black makeup that borrows from the facial designs found in depictions of Japanese demons." King and Krzywinska also noted that "Qui-Gon's hairstyle, and the position of his Obi-Wan apprentice, further encourage a reading in terms of samurai lore." Finally, "Amidala, in keeping with her condition and character, has a number of very formal outfits... to go with her hair sculpted into a curve that frames the makeup of a Japanese cast."

Premiere

The premiere of the first installment in the chronological order of Star Wars was sixteen years after the previous one, Return of the Jedi, so its release was seen wrapped in the midst of great media expectation. Few film studios released their films during the same week of the screening, including DreamWorks and Universal Studios with The Love Letter and Notting Hill on May 21 and 28 respectively. The Love Letter was a box office flop, while Notting Hill fared considerably better, closely followed by The Phantom Menace in second place. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago employment consulting firm, estimated that if 2.2 million full-time workers did not show up for the movie, the result would be a $293 million loss in productivity. According to The Wall Street Journal, many workers announced their plans to see the première and several companies in the country closed the day of the premiere. Queues began to form at the exits of theaters one month before ticket sales.

More queues appeared at theaters when it was announced that theaters were not allowed to sell tickets in advance until two weeks before the opening. This was done out of fear that moviegoers would be unable to purchase tickets or would be forced to pay higher prices. However, after meetings with the National Association of Theater Owners, Lucasfilm agreed to allow the sale. of advance tickets on May 12, 1999, provided there was a limit of twelve tickets per customer. As a result, some advance tickets were resold for as high as $100 each. A head of distribution called it "awful", saying it was exactly what they wanted to avoid. Daily Variety reported that theater owners received strict instructions from Lucas's production company that the film it could only air in the largest audience for the first 8–12 weeks, and they were forced to send their payments to distributor 20th Century Fox after seven days.

Despite concerns about whether the film would be finished on schedule, two weeks before its release Lucasfilm moved the release date from May 21 to May 19. At the ShoWest convention, Lucas said the change was to give fans a "head start" that would allow them to see the installment midweek and allow families the opportunity to watch it on the weekend. He anticipated its future conversion to digital cinematography and stated that the film would be released on four digital projectors on June 18, 1999. Eleven charity premieres were organized in the United States on May 16, 1999. Proceeds from the Los Angeles event were donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation with corporate packages valued from $5,000 to $25,000. Other charity launches included the launch of Dallas by Children's Medical Center, in New York by the Aubrey Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Philadelphia at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, and Washington DC at Children's National Medical Center. In a statement, he said that tickets sold for $500 each and that certain sections were reserved for underprivileged children.

Promotion

Lucasfilm invested twenty million dollars in the publicity campaign for the film. The company entered into promotional licensing agreements with Hasbro, LEGO, Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc, and PepsiCo. The company also helped the film's fan club to organize a special event, Star Wars Celebration, which had took place in Denver, Colorado between April 30 and May 2, 1999.

The trailer was released on the big screen with the premiere of A Bug's Life on November 17, 1998, even the media reported that people paid full admission at theaters just to see the trailer. A second piece was screened on March 12, 1999 in the film Wing Commander. Once again, many fans paid the ticket just to see the new trailer. A pirated version of the preview leaked onto the Internet the same day and, the next morning, was released on the film's official website, without However, soon after, the servers became overloaded. The promotion caused considerable media attention, as it was not only released in theaters, but was screened at the ShoWest convention in Las Vegas and broadcast on Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood.

The advertising poster of Anakin with his Darth Vader shadow was released on November 10, 1998. Afterward, Lucas opted for a drawn mural and Drew Struzan, the artist responsible for the special edition posters, was commissioned to illustrate it; the label was unveiled on March 11, 1999. Lucasfilm ruled that, contractually, Struzan's illustration was the only art foreign distributors could use and, furthermore, that the text could not be modified in any way.

Many adaptations were released, such as a LucasArts video game for PlayStation and PC, a Williams pinball machine, a four-part comic book adaptation by Dark Horse Comics, and a short novelization by Scholastic. The official novel for the film was written by Terry Brooks, who met with Lucas prior to writing the book and received his approval and guidance, including information about the upcoming events in both installments of the series. Brooks also wrote three chapters of previously unpublished material.

For the 2012 3D re-release, General Mills and Nestlé were partners in the North American promotion, which was quite limited. In Japan it was widely promoted with official products sold by 7-Eleven, Domino's Pizza, Pepsi and Gari Gari-Kun. Kellogg's, for its part, promoted the film internationally, and the French fast food restaurant Quick, did the same with the preparation of three special themed hamburgers from Star Wars.

Home Format

The film was released worldwide on VHS between April 3 and 8, 2000. In North America, which came out on April 4, it was in two different formats; a standard cropped version and a collector's version for widescreen. In its first two days of availability, the regular version sold 4.5 million copies and the limited edition 500,000. It later became the first Star Wars film to be officially released on DVD., on October 26, 2001. The DVD version had certain scenes and other elements edited and added by the filmmaker, which is slightly different from its theatrical release but maintains an identical plot. Special features included seven sequences cut from the film and recovered specifically for the DVD, an extra featuring commentary from Lucas and producer Rick McCallum, and a series of documentaries including the full-length The Beginning: Making Episode I. The Phantom Menace became the best-selling DVD ever in the United States with 2.2 million copies sold in its first week after release. The DVD version was re-released in a box set of the prequel trilogy on November 4, 2008. A LaserDisc version was also released in Japan several months before it was made available on DVD in the US. The Star Wars films were released for sale on Blu-ray on September 16, 2011 in three different editions.

3D rerun

On September 28, 2010, Lucasfilm announced that all six films in the saga would be re-released in 3D format and that they would be re-released in chronological order, beginning with The Phantom Menace which screened in theaters in February 2012. The conversion was overseen by Industrial Light & Magic and published by Prime Focus. The revival of Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith in 3D was postponed after Lucasfilm was acquired by The Walt Disney Company, which decided to concentrate on the development of Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens and after J.J. Abrams was chosen as director of this new installment. Finally, and despite the initial idea, this was the only part that was broadcast with said technology while the other reissues, scheduled for 2013, were cancelled.

The director clarified that the 3D recut was "just a conversion" of the 2011 film to Blu-ray and that no additional changes had been made. The only confirmed change is Anakin's magnetic rod during the scene. the pod race where the tip was sharpened to more precisely fit the 2D photograph to the new 3D image.

The following are the release dates and the collections in different countries of the 3D film:

3D collection and reinstatement dates (Source: IMDb and Box Office Mojo)
Country	Remark date	Collection (in USD)	Country	Remark date	Collection (in USD)
Germany	9 February 2012	11 248 752	Greece	9 February 2012	186 481
Argentina	16 February 2012	595 820	Hong Kong	9 February 2012	213 913
Australia	9 February 2012	3 891 001	Hungary	9 February 2012	314 548
Austria	10 February 2012	715 336	Israel	9 February 2012	91 703
Baréin	9 February 2012	5.183	Italy	9 February 2012	1 036 890
Belgium	8 February 2012	650 885	Japan	16 March 2012	6 604 041
Bolivia	9 February 2012	95 285	Malaysia	9 February 2012	220 280
Brazil	10 February 2012	1 076 408	Mexico	10 February 2012	3 113 231
Bulgaria	10 February 2012	88 655	Norway	10 February 2012	578 331
Chile	9 February 2012	257 599	New Zealand	4 April 2012	368 877
Colombia	10 February 2012	348 494	Poland	10 February 2012	872 057
Croatia	9 February 2012	92 727	Portugal	9 February 2012	142 426
South Korea	9 February 2012	682 049	United Kingdom	10 February 2012	8 239 408
Denmark	9 February 2012	571 227	Czech Republic	9 February 2012	272 164
Ecuador	10 February 2012	225 641	Russia	9 February 2012	2 441 772
Egypt	8 February 2012	10 451	Serbia	9 February 2012	88 867
United Arab Emirates	9 February 2012	108 173	Singapore	9 February 2012	153 594
Spain	10 February 2012	1 960 992	South Africa	9 February 2012	209 063
United States	10 February 2012	22 469 932	Switzerland	10 February 2012	769 041
Finland	10 February 2012	151 406	Turkey	10 February 2012	350 050
France	8 February 2012	5 528 275	Ukraine	10 February 2012	186 804

Reception

Criticism

At the time of its release, the film received mixed reviews. In the March 2012 3D revival, it earned an average rating of 5.8 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 186 reviews. It also received a score of 51/100 on Metacritic based on 36 reviews. On both sites, is the film with the lowest rating of the entire saga. Many aspects of the script were criticized, especially that of the character Jar Jar Binks, who was considered by many members of the fan community to be a toyetic, merely a marketing opportunity rather than a serious character in the script. film. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described Binks as "a big goof, a comic relief character who, frankly, isn't funny". Lucas criticized the American media for using the opinions of fans across the Internet as a reliable source for their news. In 2002, with the release of Attack of the Clones, Ewan McGregor said that, in retrospect, i>The Phantom Menace lacked a little more of the "humor and color" of the upcoming prequels. A reviewer for Salon.com noted that, "perhaps the absolute creative freedom of the director was to indulge in sleep until the comic relief of the film—minus the studio execs and not many independently involved actors. It's a path to the dark side."

In contrast, Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times gave it three and a half stars out of four, calling it "a surprising success in imaginative cinematography"; In addition, he affirmed that "Lucas tells us a good story." Ebert also commented that the characters were somewhat less convincing, and concluded his criticism by saying that instead of ''Star Trek'' movies, the filmmakers might "give me cities under transparent water and vast hollow senatorial spheres any day". Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B grade and praised Liam Neeson's performance and the action scenes. Marc Bernardin, for his part, gave the film a C-, rating it of "plotted, horribly written, and youthful venture".

Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today thought the film was very good, and praised the characters Darth Maul and Watto. they just balance out the weaker ones, they knock down the strong ones". Colin Kennedy of Empire magazine said that despite problems with pacing and writing "there's still a lot of joy to see to our jedi guides in action”; He also praised the visual effects and Liam Neeson's performance, calling the duel between Darth Maul and the Jedi "the best lightsaber battle in the series."

Empire Magazine ranked The Phantom Menace on its list of "The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time", while Entertainment Weekly i> and Comcast listed it as one of "The Worst Sequels Ever Made". James Berardinelli later wrote that: "The Phantom Menace was probably the most overrated movie ever made." the past decade—or even more—and its reputation had suffered as a result of its inability to meet unreasonable expectations." William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer agreed that mass publicity of the film caused much of the negative reaction, saying that it "built expectations that can't possibly be matched and sank the surprise storytelling elements." However, he also considered that the film was "well made and entertaining" and believed that it was much better than other films released in the same year such as The Mummy or The Matrix .

The introduction of midichlorians—microscopic organisms that intervene in the use of the Force—into the film has been a source of controversy among fans. Those against it saw it as a concept that denies the spiritual quality of the Force, though the film itself still portrays the Force as a mysterious entity that uses microscopic creatures to communicate with living things. Historian and filmmaker Daniel Dinelli noted that: "For fans of Star Wars who thought they reduce the Force to a type of viral infection, midichlorians provide a biological interface, the relationship between the physical body and spiritual energy." Theologian John D. Caputo added: "In Luke's gospel, a world is conjured up in which the difficult oppositions religious thinkers have after being tormented for centuries are reconciled... The gifts that Jedi Masters enjoy may have a perfectly plausible scientific basis, yet their ways are mysterious: their bodily cells have a higher than normal concentration of midichlorians."

After the film's release, there was controversy over whether various alien characters reflect racial stereotypes, in particular: the clumsy Jar Jar Binks, had long floppy ears reminiscent of people with dreadlocks, and his manner of speaking evokes '' Caribbean patois'', reminiscent of Jamaican patois. Greedy and corrupt Neimoidians of the Trade Federation spoke with East Asian accents, and desert dwellers like Watto have been interpreted as a Jewish stereotype. Lucas has categorically denied all of these implications, however animator Rob Coleman admitted that he viewed footage of Alec Guinness as Fagin in Oliver Twist to inspire his animators in creating Watto. Jar Jar Binks he was described by one reviewer as "subservient and cowardly... a stereotyped Minstrel black minstrel similar to Stepin Fetchit". Michael Eric Dyson, a professor of African-American studies at Georgetown University, observed that the entire Gungan people seem strangely suggestive. from a primitive African tribe: "The leader of the Jar Jar tribe is a fat, clumsy jester with a booming voice, and appears to be a stereotypical caricature of an African tribal chief."

Commercial

Cinema room.

Despite its mixed reviews, it was a major financial success, breaking many box office records on its debut. It surpassed The Lost World: Jurassic Park for the highest opening day gross with grosses of more than $28 million (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone surpassed it in 2001), and that of pocketing 100 million in less time (surpassed in 2002 by Spiderman), achieved on the fifth day. It also became the fastest film to reach 200 and 300 million dollars, brands that underpinned Independence Day and Titanic, respectively. The Phantom Menace was the most successful film of 1999; it grossed $431,088,295 in the United States and $493,229,263 worldwide, for a worldwide total of $924,317,558. At the time, the film ranked as the second-highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. —behind Titanic—. If ticket prices are adjusted for inflation, it ranked as the 19th highest-grossing film in the country (four installments of the saga are within the 20th position of this classification). Other countries where they had big wins were: Japan ($109.9 million), United Kingdom and Ireland ($81,900,000), Germany (53.9 million), France and Algeria (43 million), Australia ($25, 9 million), Spain (25 million), Italy ($12,900,000), Mexico (12 million) and Brazil ($10,400,000).

After its 3D revival in 2012, the film grossed more than $1 billion. Although the film had lost positions in the ranking of the highest grossing films of all time, this re-release in three-dimensional format sent it up to twelfth position for several months. In North America, where it surpassed the original Star Wars if ticket prices are not adjusted for inflation, became the fifth highest-grossing film of all time. Also in the United States, it increased its ranking in the highest-grossing films if adjusted for added by placing 16th (one behind Return of the Jedi). The 3D revival, which was released in February 2012, earned $43 million worldwide in the first weekend. As of June 2014, the three-dimensional release has grossed a total of $102,727,119 worldwide. The film, which surpassed $1 billion on February 22, 2012, became the first Star Wars film. to accomplish this feat and the eleventh installment ever to do so, without taking inflation into account. His total income is $1,027,044,677.

Awards and nominations