Seeing as its been 20 years since the Phantom Menace was finally unleashed upon the world, and it’s a scant 11 months until Episode IX brings the Skywalker Saga to a close, the MMP crew decided now would be the perfect time to begin our saga re-watch. In this episode, we of course touch on the latest Celebration announcements, and then launch into a discussion of all things The Phantom Menace, from the hype leading up to its release, to the reactions of a first-time viewer, to trivial matters that become more obvious and hard to ignore after 20+ viewings, to the box-office and personal legacy of the movie.
NOTE TO THOSE LISTENING WITH THEIR YOUNGLINGS – In discussing the legacy of the movie, we do get into how the negative reaction of some corners of fandom affected the lives of Jake Lloyd and Ahmed Best. We do touch on the fact that Best revealed last year how he actually contemplated suicide during some of the darkest days of those unwarranted attacks. I cut that part from the main part of the show, but felt that the conversation should still be included in the episode, and so I attached it to the END of the episode, following our closing song. If you feel that this is not a subject that your younglings are ready to discuss, then you should stop the episode after we say our usual good-byes.
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