Well, here's your viewing for the week decided.
February 4, 2024 3:46 PM Subscribe
Do you like Star Wars lore? Exactly how much do you like Star Wars lore? I ask because A Very Brief Analysis: The Phantom Menace is 12 hours long and is chock full of Star Wars lore. "This is not a defence of Episode 1, nor is it an attack. The idea is a detailed, fair, and informed analysis. We'll go over the entire movie, giving credit and blame as needed."
Star Wars: A New Hope, The Most Frequently Asked Questions.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:01 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 4:01 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
The one hour mark of the video:
"The eleventh minute of the movie introduces Jar-Jar Binks."
So yes, that's what we're dealing with here. A full hour of the analysis, 11 minutes into the movie.
posted by hippybear at 4:42 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
"The eleventh minute of the movie introduces Jar-Jar Binks."
So yes, that's what we're dealing with here. A full hour of the analysis, 11 minutes into the movie.
posted by hippybear at 4:42 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]
Adjusting the engine output on the Tantive IV would not have the postulated benefit in maneuverability that the video mentions, because of the lack of friction in space
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:46 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 4:46 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
Good lord.
posted by doctornemo at 5:02 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by doctornemo at 5:02 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
Adjusting the engine output on the Tantive IV would not have the postulated benefit in maneuverability that the video mentions, because of the lack of friction in space
In the Milky Way, perhaps, but in that particular 'galaxy far far away,' spaceships whoosh quite loudly when they zoom across the screen. So, they must be rubbing against something up there...
posted by y2karl at 5:16 PM on February 4 [13 favorites]
In the Milky Way, perhaps, but in that particular 'galaxy far far away,' spaceships whoosh quite loudly when they zoom across the screen. So, they must be rubbing against something up there...
posted by y2karl at 5:16 PM on February 4 [13 favorites]
I remember in the olden times, when the Plinkett review seemed like an absurdly long dive into an even-at-the-time long-released movie. I have no doubt that if the many worlds hypothesis is right, there’s a universe somewhere whose entire length and content is a thorough breakdown of the flaws of The Phantom Menace. I will likely at least give this a shot, though!
posted by Jon Mitchell at 6:27 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by Jon Mitchell at 6:27 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
If the examination of the various possibilities of 3PO robot models within the Empire turns you on, then this is entirely your jam.
posted by hippybear at 6:29 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
posted by hippybear at 6:29 PM on February 4 [2 favorites]
So yes, that's what we're dealing with here. A full hour of the analysis, 11 minutes into the movie.
Note that those who like this sort of thing, might find something else to be the sort of thing they like: The Star Wars Minute, which scrutinizes and celebrates the Star Wars films one minute at a time (that is to say, each episode covers one minutes of screen time, although the podcast episode itself might run thirty minutes). As a Gen-X OG Star Wars nerd, I thought I was pretty much unable to be surprised by new trivia revelations, but TSWM is where I learned that, e.g., Harry Shearer makes a couple of audio cameos in A New Hope.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:35 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
Note that those who like this sort of thing, might find something else to be the sort of thing they like: The Star Wars Minute, which scrutinizes and celebrates the Star Wars films one minute at a time (that is to say, each episode covers one minutes of screen time, although the podcast episode itself might run thirty minutes). As a Gen-X OG Star Wars nerd, I thought I was pretty much unable to be surprised by new trivia revelations, but TSWM is where I learned that, e.g., Harry Shearer makes a couple of audio cameos in A New Hope.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 7:35 PM on February 4 [4 favorites]
I've been pretty unreasonable deep into Star Wars: Legion this year, which is basically Warhammer 40k but Star Wars. There's a surprising amount of what I initially called 'prequel content.' Which I thought was what they went to when all the good stuff from the original trilogy had been boxed up already... But there's a whole bunch of it... And over time I came to realize that it's not really aimed at fans of the prequels (who are still pretty rare) but fans of the seven season Clone Wars cartoon (who are apparently fairly numerous and true devotees). Or at least that's how I explain the continued interest in anything relating to the prequels, while still maintaining any faith in humanity.
And then I see something like this, and my faith is shaken.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:44 PM on February 4 [5 favorites]
And then I see something like this, and my faith is shaken.
posted by kaibutsu at 9:44 PM on February 4 [5 favorites]
The channel Empire Wreckers has some good Star Wars video essays too. How to Design a Star Wars Alien (56 min) is the newest, a good look at how the alients were created (somehow I missed that Newt Gunray's name is a combination of Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan). Also good: How Bad Movies Are Made feat. The Rise of Skywalker (1hr 18) and Why Does Attack of the Clones Look Like a Video Game? (30 min)
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:46 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
posted by TheophileEscargot at 9:46 PM on February 4 [1 favorite]
It's a great comfort to me that, no matter how nerdy I can be ( which can be very), threre's always someone on the internet who's 1000 times nerdier.
posted by kirkaracha at 12:02 AM on February 5 [6 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 12:02 AM on February 5 [6 favorites]
This is why when regular people say I’m a nerd, I’m like “No, no, I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:30 AM on February 5 [9 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:30 AM on February 5 [9 favorites]
This theorycrafting based on silly things like the history of the franchise's officially released material is all well and good, but if you look, really look, at the story told in The Phantasmal Malevolence and its sequels, it's obvious that it's a TTRPG session that went off the rails. Everything just makes so much more sense, especially how Anakin cheated at threw defrauded won lost made a mockery of doped for whatevered that pod race.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 5:27 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 5:27 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I watched a bit less than an hour. It's very detailed No-prize type stuff where he points out problems and tries to find solutions. It's somewhat amusing if you're into this stuff. But it's very nitpicky stuff. Like the silver equivalent of C-3PO is TC-14, so he wonders why it doesn't have a 3PO suffix when it seems basically identical.
And there are long tangents about fairly irrelevant stuff, like he thought a young boy was piloting a spaceship but it was actually a woman with short hair. I didn't think that really rated so many words.
And there are long tangents about fairly irrelevant stuff, like he thought a young boy was piloting a spaceship but it was actually a woman with short hair. I didn't think that really rated so many words.
The captain of the ship leans forward and we can clearly see that he's a little boy.posted by TheophileEscargot at 5:54 AM on February 5 [3 favorites]
Tell them we wish to board at once.
I was quite confused.
Why do you have a prepubescent kid in charge of a starship?
It doesn't make sense.
This choice is immersion-breaking.
Did they put a child in a position of authority to appeal to a young audience?
Why is the movie like this? What were the Rices thinking?
Most shows from Super Mario Nation were made for a family audience, just like Star Wars.
However, the star of Joe 90 is very clearly stated to be a nine-year-old boy.
Boy aged about nine.
A nine-year-old boy.
And he was nine years old.
Nine year old.
I believe that was really declaring the target demographic.
The Phantom Menace is the one with Anakin as a wee lad.
Could this child ship captain be the same thing?
Maybe it doesn't mean anything that he looks like W.I.N.'s most special agent.
Maybe his species just looks like that and he's really 900 years old.
After all, Nien Nun isn't very tall.
Nobody thinks he's a child just because Sullustans are short.
This has always been a minor gripe of mine.
It's not all that bad, but it's strange and really doesn't add anything to the movie.
You have Jar Jar in this movie for the kids.
Is it that important to have a child on screen so early?
There's no way he's been properly trained for a secret mission this important.
It makes the Old Republic look incompetent unless he's an alien.
But it doesn't really matter because he dies in a couple of minutes.
This was my stance until last week.
Then, while looking through TPM for clips, I noticed something about the captain.
Upon closer inspection, I don't think he's a little kid at all.
Turns out that was a woman with short hair.
In my defence, she was only on screen for 10 seconds.
Apparently, her name is Mayoi Makador.
The Expanded Visual Dictionary also names the co-pilot as Antidar Williams.
This is a much more sensible situation than I'd always thought.
And there are long tangents about fairly irrelevant stuff, like he thought a young boy was piloting a spaceship but it was actually a woman with short hair. I didn't think that really rated so many words.
It's stunning to me that somebody would sit down to record something like this without EVEN ONCE thinking "oh hey, maybe I should check the IMDB cast list." If they had, they might have figured out that the "boy" was in fact well-known Irish character actress Bronagh Gallagher, who's been in tons of movies and TV series for the past 30 years.
Anyway, I would advise anyone looking for a relevant deep-dive into all of the Star Wars movies to check out the Star Wars Minute Podcast, which takes a "movies by minutes" approach, wherein the hosts look at a movie one sequential minute at a time and do a close reading of what happens or appears in each minute. It gave me a new appreciation of the finer points of the prequels, and also enhanced my understanding of the movies I already liked. SWM never gets too heavy-duty with the lore, and the hosts keep it approachable even for casual listeners.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:33 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
It's stunning to me that somebody would sit down to record something like this without EVEN ONCE thinking "oh hey, maybe I should check the IMDB cast list." If they had, they might have figured out that the "boy" was in fact well-known Irish character actress Bronagh Gallagher, who's been in tons of movies and TV series for the past 30 years.
Anyway, I would advise anyone looking for a relevant deep-dive into all of the Star Wars movies to check out the Star Wars Minute Podcast, which takes a "movies by minutes" approach, wherein the hosts look at a movie one sequential minute at a time and do a close reading of what happens or appears in each minute. It gave me a new appreciation of the finer points of the prequels, and also enhanced my understanding of the movies I already liked. SWM never gets too heavy-duty with the lore, and the hosts keep it approachable even for casual listeners.
posted by Strange Interlude at 6:33 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Speaking of "sit down to record something like this", the narration is sitting in a strange place for me between "very clear and professional diction" and "intonation tracing subtly nonsensical curves over the course of a sentence" (I only watched the 3-minute conclusion though). Without meaning to make any accusations, is this the AI-generated narration that the microphone-holding trend has been described as a reaction to? RemnantCult (credited for the narration) doesn't seem to have done many 12-hour spiels, based on a brief look at their youtube channel.
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 6:45 AM on February 5
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 6:45 AM on February 5
Right in the video description is:
Narration recorded in partnership with THE WARDROBE (IG: @wardobestudionz).
But that's all the information I have about that.
posted by hippybear at 7:14 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Narration recorded in partnership with THE WARDROBE (IG: @wardobestudionz).
But that's all the information I have about that.
posted by hippybear at 7:14 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
"The eleventh minute of the movie introduces Jar-Jar Binks. You can turn it off now."
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:52 AM on February 5
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:52 AM on February 5
I’ll never get back the 2 hours I wasted watching the film so I won’t go here. For me there were two problems:
1) the new movies are generally worse than the original 3, esp. Star Wars and Empire.
2) I’m much older now and movies like that have to work a lot harder to get me to feel the magic.
And I guess 3) is the general feeling that the later movies exist mainly for merchandising purposes.
Creating a scientific explanation for the Force is where the series jumped the shark, really.
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:24 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
1) the new movies are generally worse than the original 3, esp. Star Wars and Empire.
2) I’m much older now and movies like that have to work a lot harder to get me to feel the magic.
And I guess 3) is the general feeling that the later movies exist mainly for merchandising purposes.
Creating a scientific explanation for the Force is where the series jumped the shark, really.
posted by caviar2d2 at 9:24 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Creating a scientific explanation for the Force is where the series jumped the shark, really.
Which is why it’s never mentioned ever again after Episode 1. In fact “Machete Order” simply skips that film altogether.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 9:45 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
Which is why it’s never mentioned ever again after Episode 1. In fact “Machete Order” simply skips that film altogether.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 9:45 AM on February 5 [1 favorite]
I wonder if the amount of video like this, obsessively picking over this artifact of popular culture, has added up to more hours than it took a small army of humans a few years to make the movie yet.
posted by egypturnash at 9:46 AM on February 5
posted by egypturnash at 9:46 AM on February 5
This is a very tough watch because, as mentioned, everything is repeated three times. The repetition in triplicate makes it a bit grating. It might be easier if we did not hear everything thrice.
posted by betaray at 10:30 AM on February 5 [2 favorites]
posted by betaray at 10:30 AM on February 5 [2 favorites]
I cannot imagine spending that much time thinking about this.
posted by George Lucas at 12:24 PM on February 5 [10 favorites]
posted by George Lucas at 12:24 PM on February 5 [10 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 3:02 AM: It's a great comfort to me that, no matter how nerdy I can be ( which can be very), threre's always someone on the internet who's 1000 times nerdier.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:30 AM: This is why when regular people say I’m a nerd, I’m like “No, no, I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”
It was at the end of the previous century when I had the realization that I now refer to as my very own Law of the Internet:
"No matter HOW far out there you consider yourself -- when you go on the Internet, you WILL find someone whose is Further Out There than you are, and this will be true in whatever direction you choose to look."
[This observation first occurred to me when I discovered the "Maytag Collectors Society" online.]
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 4:30 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
posted by Horace Rumpole at 7:30 AM: This is why when regular people say I’m a nerd, I’m like “No, no, I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe.”
It was at the end of the previous century when I had the realization that I now refer to as my very own Law of the Internet:
"No matter HOW far out there you consider yourself -- when you go on the Internet, you WILL find someone whose is Further Out There than you are, and this will be true in whatever direction you choose to look."
[This observation first occurred to me when I discovered the "Maytag Collectors Society" online.]
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 4:30 PM on February 5 [2 favorites]
This is a very tough watch because, as mentioned, everything is repeated three times. The repetition in triplicate makes it a bit grating. It might be easier if we did not hear everything thrice.
Don't make me come over there
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:29 PM on February 5
Don't make me come over there
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:29 PM on February 5
1) the new movies are generally worse than the original 3, esp. Star Wars and Empire.
2) I’m much older now and movies like that have to work a lot harder to get me to feel the magic.
A fresh-faced electrician's apprentice was admiring my LEGO Star Wars collection between rewiring plug-sockets and switches as part of some renovations I was having done. During a pause in work he asked;
"What's your favorite Star Wars movie? Of the originals, not the new ones I mean"
"Well Empire, obviously."
"I prefer Revenge of the Sith."
"But... you said originals... wait, how... how old are you?"
"Nineteen, why?"
Reader, I sadfaced.
posted by Molesome at 8:42 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
2) I’m much older now and movies like that have to work a lot harder to get me to feel the magic.
A fresh-faced electrician's apprentice was admiring my LEGO Star Wars collection between rewiring plug-sockets and switches as part of some renovations I was having done. During a pause in work he asked;
"What's your favorite Star Wars movie? Of the originals, not the new ones I mean"
"Well Empire, obviously."
"I prefer Revenge of the Sith."
"But... you said originals... wait, how... how old are you?"
"Nineteen, why?"
Reader, I sadfaced.
posted by Molesome at 8:42 AM on February 6 [1 favorite]
I will absolutely not be watching this, but I will link the only Phantom Menace content you will ever need: Peter Serafinowicz perfectly captures the disappointment of the Phantom Menace, in which Peter Serafinowicz (who voiced Darth Maul) shares his experiences dealing with George Lucas, not being invited to the premiere, Terrence Stamp's weird paedo vibes, and more besides. And in only 20 minutes!
posted by Acey at 8:59 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
posted by Acey at 8:59 AM on February 6 [2 favorites]
I dunno, y'all. It's like the Action Button of movie analysis and I kind of like it.
posted by ob1quixote at 9:03 AM on February 6
posted by ob1quixote at 9:03 AM on February 6
One of the biggest flaws of the prequels is that Anakin Skywalker is an annoying child, teenager, and young man. A tragedy works best when it deals with a fall from grace of a noble hero. Anakin's such a whiny brat I was eager for him to go to the Dark Side.
Which is why it’s never mentioned ever again after Episode 1.
Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, too (in the movies).
In Attack of the Clones, the clones fight for the Republic. Usually the attacking things (killer tomatoes, 50-foot women, etc.) are the antagonists.
Criticisms of the prequels are often dismissed because the complainers saw the original movies when they were kids (I saw Star Wars in 1977 when I was 13) and the new movies were made for kids. Sure! Kids love the slaughter of the Sand People in Attack of the Clones and the toddler Jedi massacre in Revenge of the Sith.
Star Wars crawl:
Which is why it’s never mentioned ever again after Episode 1.
Qui-Gon Jinn and Darth Maul, too (in the movies).
In Attack of the Clones, the clones fight for the Republic. Usually the attacking things (killer tomatoes, 50-foot women, etc.) are the antagonists.
Criticisms of the prequels are often dismissed because the complainers saw the original movies when they were kids (I saw Star Wars in 1977 when I was 13) and the new movies were made for kids. Sure! Kids love the slaughter of the Sand People in Attack of the Clones and the toddler Jedi massacre in Revenge of the Sith.
Star Wars crawl:
It is a period of civil war. Rebel ships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.The Phantom Menace crawl:
Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute.posted by kirkaracha at 4:58 PM on February 6
Peter Serafinowicz (who voiced Darth Maul) shares his experiences dealing with George Lucas, not being invited to the premiere, Terrence Stamp's weird paedo vibes, and more besides.
He's right that the trailer was fantastic
Just watch the trailer and skip the film
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:01 PM on February 6
He's right that the trailer was fantastic
Just watch the trailer and skip the film
posted by Ray Walston, Luck Dragon at 5:01 PM on February 6
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posted by hippybear at 3:47 PM on February 4 [3 favorites]