Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace

I don't believe there has ever been a more anticipated DVD released with such enormous expectations than this, The Phantom Menace. Star Wars is a phenomena far different than any other movie franchise. Lucasfilm has set out to pay tribute to their franchise by releasing it in a form that they, themselves, stop just short of calling "the best DVD ever released." In many ways, they achieve this famously and, although they coyly say that they "wanted to do the best job for the fans," this is certainly one of the best DVD packages to date. There is no doubt that I enjoyed The Phantom Menace DVD immensely and can easily recommend it as an essential disc for any DVD collector. With its stunning visuals, excellent sound design, rich characterizations and exciting action sequences, Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace comes so close to being a perfect piece of entertainment. And yes—there are scenes that were finished after the theatrical release and incorporated into the movie. Add a second disc that is packed with extras—including "deleted scenes" (completed scenes, some not appearing in either version), featurettes and documentaries galore, as well as dynamic demonstrations of animation technique—all I can say is: you must own the DVD. Besides all fanfare, any movie with Yoda is a total delight. Here, while Yoda sitings are rare, they are significant meetings. Otherwise, the stability of the Republic is crumbling, Jedi Knights are fighting evil and a young boy named Anakin Skywalker, strong with the Force, moves toward his destiny. Waiting what for are you? Read the Full Review.

The work done by Lucas and ILM is that of flawless craftsmanship. As told in the commentary track included on the DVD, many of the sets are completely computer-generated, which is impressive considering that the interiors look so real. The effort put into the digital actors is also amazing; both Yoda and Jar Jar Binks (yes, he is back) are so richly detailed that even the way that their digital clothes sway as they move looks incredibly lifelike. The greatest achievement is that of the newly animated Yoda. One needs to look no further than the reaction shots of the Jedi master as he interacts with a human counterpart. The ways in which his ears, eyes, and mouth move are so stunning that I was baffled to think how this could have possibly been done so well. Read the Full Review.

The Phantom Menace Sets New Standards for DVD Highlights from the press event at Skywalker Ranch, Sept. 6-7, 2001 Lucasfilm Ltd invited the top online DVD sites and other press to the official presentation of the upcoming Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace DVD at Skywalker Ranch. VP of Marketing for Lucasfilm, Jim Ward said, "We do care about DVDs. It took a long time to put together value-added materials that people will want to watch. We did not use technology for technology's sake. we wanted the best things for fans and not wacky stuff. Just what was cool." Read the Full Article.

	Screen Shots of The Menu Screens - The menu system can feature scenes from one of the three planets portrayed in the movie: Naboo, Coruscant or Tatooine.
Publicity Stills from The Phantom Menace - A feast of stills from The Phantom Menace.

Transcript of the Technical Personnel at the DVD Presentation Q&A Session - Jim Ward, Van Ling, Rick McCallum, Pablo Helman, Rick Dean and Jon Shenk meet the press at Skywalker Ranch.
Transcript of George Lucas Q&A at DVD Presentation - The filmmaker talks about making DVDS and movies.

Other Related dOc Links Short 10: Chaos (2000) - Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138 4EB Lucas' legendary short film (one of a handful he made while at USC) is presented here in it'sentirety. Electronic Labyrinth, for those of you unfamiliar with it, was the source forLucas' first major film, THX-1138, and is arguably one of his best works considering theexperimental and surreal nature. The film tells the story of a man (THX-1138) attempting toescape from an overly controlling and oppressive mechanical society. The feature film heavilyexpanded the concept and used bigger actors and effects. Along with the film is included a shortinterview clip with one of George Lucas' instructors at USC and a brief explanation of what theTHX/Lucasfilm audio standard means. George Lucas In Love (1999) Wise Film Professor: "Search not! Inspiration will you not find! It will find you." George Lucas: "Could you talk...kinda...forwards?" - Patrick Kerr, Martin Hynes The Hidden Fortress The Hidden Fortress, Kurosawa's 1958 film, is not only a classic, but holds extra distinction as the main inspiration on George Lucas in writing Star Wars. Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle Steve Oedekerk's Thumb Wars: The Phantom Cuticle is a refreshing, original parody of the holy Star Wars empire. It is consistently funny, and full of clever and immature jokes. Image has issued this beautiful looking disc with a low, low MSRP, making it a required purchase for all of you that revere the world created by George Lucas. If you can take a joke, that is. Out of Control: Albert Maysles on Gimme Shelter and the Art of the Documentary dOc: Is the answer to an interesting trivia question that George Lucas was a cameraman on Gimme Shelter? AM: We were in quite a state of hysteria at the last moment, trying to find camera people who knew how to shoot documentaries. We had only 24 hours notice about the concert and I couldnąt handle all the shooting myself with 300,000 people there. There were several camera people that we knew were very good at it. One of the people working with us got the idea maybe George Lucas could come, and he agreed to it. He came with a tripod and telephoto lenses and a lot of that kind of stuff, but that was not our way of shooting. Perfectly okay, but we liked to film in a much more intimate fashion. So I am not sure how much of his material was actually used. In addition‹probably because of that last-minute nature of things‹he was provided with equipment that turned out to fail! We had a number of rolls of films that had no images on them except maybe a little spot here and there; defects in the processing perhaps. We had a joke amongst ourselves that maybe thatąs where George got the idea for Star Wars. But it was no criticism of him, of course, it was not his equipment and it could have happened to anybody. The Underdog Chronicles The wonderfully freewheeling story concerns Underdog's seaside encounter with a Genghis Khan-like villain and his robot volleyball team. Adult Underdog fans may appreciate Harris' drawings of Polly Purebred bound and gagged in a revealing bikini, and the plot's climax prefigures George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace by a good thirty years.
All images © Lucasfilm Ltd. & TM. All Rights Reserved.