To See, Or Not To See - Episode I in 3-D

[banthafodder]

I may break down and see Episode IV-VI though, assuming ticket prices aren't $20 by then.

They'll be $50 by then.
I did see the movie and will probably see all the movies. My son was 2 when Ep I came out. Even though he has seen it on DVD it was a fun experience to go with him to see it on the big screen. My wife, being more pragmatic, said h-no she won't spend any money to see it. As far as the 3D effects I do think they were a little lack luster and there were several points in the movie where I removed my glasses and could not tell any difference at all.

[Inzane]

I would pay $20 to see the true 'original' unmolested OT movies in the theater.

But that will never happen.

[bigj22]

I dont care if Lucas gets money from me. I enjoyed it in 3D . It was worth it even though Ive watched the each movie like 500 times.

[naugem]

I didn't like EP 1 in 2-D so I don't see that changing in 3-D. Same goes for EP 2 and 3. Ep 4, 5 and 6 I would go to see because I didn't get to see them in the theater.
And I guess Lucas will keep getting my money for a while, at least from the Lego Star Wars license.

[Coret]

Like most people I went to see it to let my sons have the experience. Also like most people I hate 3D and it was a horribly done version. I thought the 3D for The Lion King was better. I wouldn't have wasted my time or money if not for my kids. I remember the first time I got to see ANH in the theatres was back in '97. It's an experience, and I want my kids to have it. I can't wait till the OT is released then I will really be excited(crappy additions aside).

[Faulconbridge]

My wife and I took our boys (5 and 8) to see it for a couple of reasons. The main one was so that they could see it on the big screen. The experince of seeing the opening crawl, the space battles and the duels as there were meant to be seen was too much to pass up. And we'd never seen a 3-D movie so we thought this would be a good choice. If we hated it/got headaches/etc. we could leave and not miss a movie.

Overall, it was fun for everyone!

[Mister Ed]

My wife and I took our boys (5 and 8) to see it for a couple of reasons. The main one was so that they could see it on the big screen. The experince of seeing the opening crawl, the space battles and the duels as there were meant to be seen was too much to pass up. And we'd never seen a 3-D movie so we thought this would be a good choice. If we hated it/got headaches/etc. we could leave and not miss a movie.

Overall, it was fun for everyone!

I'm glad you liked it. I hope sometime you see a movie that will actually give you a full idea of what 3D CAN do. Though it can often be a gimmick, and post-production 3D (as was on display here) is less than impressive, there ARE films where the 3D is well done and adds to the experience (IMHO, anyway). My prime example of that would be Hugo, though sadly I doubt that is still playing anywhere in 3D.

[GrayMattR]

I'm not seeing any of the 3D rehashes. I'm colorblind so the 3D just gives me a headache after five minutes. Besides that, 3D makes every movie darker and less colorful.

Besides the 3D problems I have, I'm done paying for Lucas' updates. Make the last trillogy if you really have such a compelling story to tell instead of tweaking old stuff...

[Mister Ed]

I'm not seeing any of the 3D rehashes. I'm colorblind so the 3D just gives me a headache after five minutes. Besides that, 3D makes every movie darker and less colorful.

While I'm certainly not going to argue FOR going to see these 3D versions, I'm a little surprised that modern 3D is at all effected by color-blindness, since the current method has nothing to do with colors, but uses polarization of the light. As far as I know, color-blind people should be just as able to view current 3D technology as anybody else.

Obviously, though, you would know better than I if it is still a problem. If it is, though, I'm baffled (but that isn't all that unusual ).

[lowlead]

Is it still the same story with same characters? Then no, god no.

That just totally cracked me up.

Ha, after 13 years the debate is still going strong. I'm just...nah, not gonna bother.

[renesisx]

My wife and I took our boys (5 and 8) to see it for a couple of reasons. The main one was so that they could see it on the big screen. The experince of seeing the opening crawl, the space battles and the duels as there were meant to be seen was too much to pass up.

The opening crawl of TPM? It's awful. It's all about taxation and federations and senates. BORING. Compare it to the crawls on Eps 4-6.

I went to see TPM this week, just because I want to see all 6 in 3D, even though I think the first 3 are simply awful.

Often when you see a film you like for the 10th time you see new details with every watching that make the film better. TPM is the opposite of that. It gets worse with every viewing.

I love 3D films, but this was the worst 3D film I've ever seen. I know Lucas wanted to be subtle with the 3D and keep everything "behind the screen", but it was BARELY 3D at all. You could almost have watched it without the glasses on. Most of the film there was no depth at all. Pointless.

And of course, being in 3D puts the glasses between you and the screen, and this was EASILY the darkest 3D movie I've ever seen too. Some scenes were totally ruined by being so dark.

If you want to see an awesome 3D film, go see Hugo. Definitely the best use of 3D to date.

Whatever you do, do not go see TPM in 3D. Avoid it. If you must watch TPM, buy the Blu-rays.

[renesisx]

BTW, this is a "must see" trailer for Star Wars 3D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 69ftWNg97U

"Hurry up Qui-Gon! Don't be late for the celebrations!"

Oh, you're dead. We burned your corpse.

[Robzula]

Sure I don't like some of the changes he's made, and the prequels didn't quite meet my very high expectations but I don't think they ruin the movies and I sure as hell know they don't change any of my memories of the first time I saw them.

I love you.

(I debate whether people who consistently trash on the Star Wars prequels and/or George himself are actually fans)

Also you.

It is impossible to defend The Phantom Menace as a movie after absorbing his film analysis.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/ ... ears-Later
As a movie, a form of entertainment, it's perfectly defensible. As a piece of art, maybe not, but that's not what I'm looking for from Star Wars.

On a side note, absolutely every freaking line Ian McDiarmid had in this movie sent chills down my spine. Actually some good dialog and great acting there.

[SonOfSolo]

I took my 3 and a half year old son to see it on Monday. I dont like the new trilogy either but he likes all 6. To see the look on his face when Darth Maul came on the big screen was all worth it. I'm sure my parents complained about the "crap" I was watching too but I'm sure they also were pleased to see me happy. I will go see any of the Star Wars movies released in the theater with him until he no longer wants to go. We went to a morning show and it was a little cheaper. Still $$$$ but a little cheaper.

[MrCRskater]

I love you, [MisterFubar].

Also you, [The_Chosen_1]

As a movie, a form of entertainment, it's perfectly defensible. As a piece of art, maybe not, but that's not what I'm looking for from Star Wars.

I'm with Rob et al on this one. Is The Phantom Menace the greatest Star Wars movie? God, no! But of course I'm going to go see it in 3D because it's entertaining, and it's simply a lot of fun to see any Star Wars flick on the big screen. As Inzane said, I'd be more than happy to pay regular movie prices to see any of the Star Wars films in 2D. But after these 3D releases pass us by, will there ever be another opportunity to see them in theatres? Unlikely, save for the odd showing at an art house cinema.

[Dendo]

I took my kids to see it and had a good time. There were people dressed up in the lobby and R2D2 was there. 3D did absolutely nothing for the movie, but the experience for my kids was worth the extra $3 per ticket. Love the pod race and love the lightsaber duel between Obi-Wan and Maul. Say what you will about the fact that the rest of the movie is pretty much terrible, but I have no regrets about taking my kids to see this in 3D. That being said though, I will try to find a 2D screening next time because like I said, there was no 3D in this adaptation. Nothing ever came out at you - all it did was seperate the foreground from the background.

[Whovian Zorker]

My wife and I are planning to see it, for three reasons (despite it probably being my least favorite of all six):

1. I'd rather risk the possibility of seeing it and feeling "ho-hum" on the 3D than miss the opportunity.
2. She really wants to see the three-way lightsaber duel in 3D.
3. Sentimental value. It originally came out in theatres on Wednesday, May 19, 1999. She bought me an Episode I t-shirt, which I wore when we saw it on that Thursday or Friday, I forget which. We kind of had other things on our mind...like our wedding coming up on May 22. There was all sorts of potential to this Prequel Trilogy, and all sorts of potential to our lives together.

I've fallen out of love with large portions of the PT, but at least she and I are still doing well together after nearly 13 years....

[Bellicose]

I enjoyed it.

The biggest gain from the 3D conversion was perspective and depth of field. Most scenes, with characters talking, you could see the layering between people - you could tell one person was closer to you than the other, and sometimes there were multiple layers of this. They did it in every scene so it made things 'pop' a bit more, felt more immersive. The 3D did NOT seem gimmicky to me, there was no in-your-face Jar-Jar or lightsabers, and it made some scenes like the pod race a bit more fun. It seemed to me the 3D effects were applied conservatively in function, but across the board to the entire film, not just a few key scenes.

Then there's the gains from the brushed-up HD treatment - the film looked great, clean, and bright instead of grainy and darker like they sometimes can be. Also Yoda's awful-looking puppet from this film was replaced by a CGI copy who looked a lot more like the character from the other two movies (as well as ESP and ROTJ), the puppet always looked diseased compared to the original used in the first film series.

I have yet to get the Blu-Ray copies, been waiting for prices to calm down a bit, so that last paragraph may be old news. But bottom line it looked great and was fun. My wife took me for my birthday. I will say, tho, I felt like I was the oldest person there who either didn't have children, or didn't have my own costume and lightsaber. Felt a little too normal...

Also...one defense of TPM - compared to the other two prequels, IMO it seems to have the most believable background scenery - at this point the use of CGI wasn't completely out of control like it came to be in the later films, and they were still using actual sets for filming instead of doing everything in front of a green screen. I think the CGI usage degraded in the series to the point of showing off, making it hard to enjoy things like the battle over Coruscant. Comparing that scene with ROTJ's Battle of Endor scenes, at least at Endor the battle was something you were engaged in and it was believable (with usage of models and miniatures only at that), compared to two Jedi transitioning across an overwhelming amount of stuff going on that we ultimately don't care about because they're just trying to get across the battlescape.

[cas]

BTW, this is a "must see" trailer for Star Wars 3D:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 69ftWNg97U

"Hurry up Qui-Gon! Don't be late for the celebrations!"

Oh, you're dead. We burned your corpse.

After watching that, what I could muster anyway, I'd gladly take Qui-gon's place.

I love you, [MisterFubar].

Also you, [The_Chosen_1]

As a movie, a form of entertainment, it's perfectly defensible. As a piece of art, maybe not, but that's not what I'm looking for from Star Wars.

I'm with Rob et al on this one. Is The Phantom Menace the greatest Star Wars movie? God, no!

And I repeat the sentiment. I enjoy watching each of the Star Wars films. There all flawed to varying degrees and every time I watch them I'm convinced I could rewrite them and make them better. But do I? No. I continue to have fun with them and I wouldn't be here without them.

I don't quite understand why people continue to be bitter about the prequels and/or changes to the OT. Liking them is optional, like anything. If you aren't having fun with one available experience, why stick around? It's irrational, but I guess some people can't help themselves and cling to that sliver of hope that the world does, in fact, revolve around them to the point that their resentment will be heard and one day the OT will be restored to it's former glory and the prequels will be wiped from existence or remade the "right" way.

[Mister Ed]

It doesn't really bother me all that much that Lucas keeps tinkering for the worse. The only part that bugs me a BIT is his apparent desire to erase the older versions from existence. Ah well. My VHS tapes are kind of worn out. I got DVDs of the OT, but of course the only thing available was V 4.3 or whatever he was up to by that point. At least those should last a while, so my copies won't get any WORSE, no matter what he does...

It kind of gets to the point where, with more silly tinkering in every release, it doesn't make sense for me to "upgrade", no matter how much better the technical specs might get.