Timber

Well I will be now.

Damn, I was 23 years old when it came out. Life is flying by.

DRG

Glad to hear this. You shouldn't be checking your watch or drifting off during a mega blockbuster, but it happens so often these days. The last few Transformers and Pirates films are the worst offenders... just dragging on for ridiculous lengths without actually having any story to justify it.

Solid Snake

Every year has the anniversary of TPM in it. What makes 16 years all that special?

kgrogers1979

Nothing. I just saw it mentioned on another site, and it made me feel old. You're still young, so you don't quite get it yet when something makes you feel old.

Rob V

Fell asleep during both of those last two films... and shit was exploding everywhere in Transformers --- but it was all so... meaningless.

Solid Snake

I saw T2 and JP in theaters. Both are over 20 years ago. Granted... I'm 28, about to be 29, too. But your 16 years, that I too share cuz I saw it in theaters, is nothing.

You're 36. If you feel old now... you might want to do something about that.

rocket1312

But how long is 16 years when compared to a marathon?

Solid Snake

Longer?

kgrogers1979

28 and 36 is a fairly significant difference. 36 is only 4 years from the magical 40. 40 is the "over the hill" moment when you realize you're not a spring chicken anymore. Turning 30 can be depressing, but I imagine it will be nothing like turning 40 will be.

It's also kind of personal for me, and I feel it more, because my dad died when he was 38. Thinking that I'm only 2 years younger than he was when he died kind of gets to me sometimes.

But this grumpy old person talk is getting a bit off topic.

Solid Snake

Not to say that age doesn't slow you down, it does, but it also depends on how you have lived your life. Age is just a number that doesn't define what one physically is. I'm 28 but I look like I'm 20, were I not to have facial hair. My strength so far only keeps going higher but I'm not blind that that has limit. My father died when he was 42, that guy might as well have been 32 cuz he didn't look or act like it. You're probably adhering too much to the stereotype in putting cultural value to 30 and 40. Your dad's age is something in you that hits you. But.... again, it doesn't control you. He, or my father, could have died at any age. We'd both (hopefully) pass it up unless something went awesomely wrong.

devilshalo

Has Kasdan seen BDW when he was on DwtS? Is Lando going to pilot from a wheelchair?

mcnabb

Still remember a co-worker saw the midnight show and I asked her at work the next day how it was and she replied, "ummm.....it was OK." That worried me as I was still in full Star Wars fanboy mode thinking Lucas could do no wrong and really couldn't comprehend how a SW fan could not love a SW movie?

EctoCooler

I saw the 10am showing opening day at a local Loews. I'll never forget the feeling I had as I walked out of that theatre afterwards and made my way back to my car. It was almost like I was in shock or something.

--

Solid Snake

I wasn't a fan of SW and I only wanted to see this cuz it looked like it had cool action cuz of the Darth Maul bits they'd show off. I thought it was alright. Now I'm more critical of it.

Kal-El

Saw it at midnight AND at 10am the next day. But even at that first showing, as soon as Nute Gunray spoke, I already "had a bad feeling" about it. Kinda funny too, I remember walking out of the theater and everybody was just...quiet.

Mike86

Yeah not to get too far off topic but I agree about age. Some people place way too much emphasis on it. Granted I'm only 28 myself, but I agree that it really boils down to how you live your life and act. Some of my friends who are the same age as me make it out like they're so old already. There's still a good chunk of life left to live at this point and yeah time does go by fast but that's why you make the most of what you have for as long as you can.

As far as The Phantom Menace goes, I don't like the Prequel Trilogy anymore but at the time I was part of the prime target audience for the film. I was only twelve and was just the right age to still be really into Star Wars and was stoked as hell about seeing it. I think I went at least a few times in theaters.

Mondo Kane

Well, you did get raped, you know.

joe_b

Something felt off as soon as the female captain said "Yes, sir." to Qui-Gon. Two words, yet her delivery was just awful. After Nute opened his mouth and battle droids started saying "Uh-oh." I realized the movie wasn't going to be the quasi-religious experience my adolescent mind had built it up to be.

Even without sky high expectations, TPM was a disappointment. Still, I was at the peak of my Star Wars obsession back then and went back to see it 15 more times over the next 8 months. I was probably in denial, but the podrace looked awesome on the big screen and the lightsaber duel at the end was pretty exciting. My rationale: "It's still Star Wars, dammit!"


It got a standing ovation at my screening. Fanboy loyalty is a hell of a thing. For me, opening day was a pretty shitty experience. My mother and I had stood in line for half an hour to buy advance tickets the week before. At that point, people were already camping out in tents at the side of the theater. I'd wanted to go to a midnight screening (or at least the first matinee) but my parents weren't having that with school the next day. We got tickets for 5pm, but my dad didn't get off work until 4pm. By the time we got to the theater, it was three minutes to showtime.

Since we couldn't find any seats together, my dad had to sit in the back row next to a screaming toddler. I was somewhere in the mid-section, crammed beside a Kevin Smith look-alike with a serious case of B.O. (probably from camping out all week). This was no doubt his fourth timing seeing the movie that day and he kept making dumb comments to the screen the entire time. Trust me, Jar Jar wasn't even close to being the most annoying thing about that viewing.

EctoCooler

I'm curious what your first-ever reaction to Attack of the Clones was like. How many times did you go back to see that one in theatres?

joe_b

^ My first reaction was it gave me a blinding migraine... but I think I watched it at least 7 more times. It was also the first movie I saw in IMAX and at a drive-in.

I'd graduated high school and moved on to other things by the time Revenge of the Sith rolled around. I only saw that in theaters twice -- the second time because someone else bought my ticket. I just didn't care for how sloppily Lucas chose to tie up all the loose ends to link it with A New Hope. It remains my least favorite (and least watched) Star Wars movie.


EDIT: Here's a behind the scenes clip of the filming of one of the shots from the trailer:

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=2bdab035b0dc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

BrewCrew

The gap between ROTJ and Phantom Menace was 16 years.

MBoyd

I've wondered. We did have a naked man run through our midnight showing.

Ranger

I still had fun with the prequels when they first came out.

TPM was one of my first DVDs and I used to watch the pod race and final duel over and over again.

MBoyd

And it was probably many people's last VHS! What a stupid Lucasfilm decision, among many others of course.

The Valeyard

Wow. I saw a midnight showing filled with Star Wars fanboys who screamed the second the 20th Century fanfare started. The theater was absolutely silent when the movie ended. I think I was in shock while people slowly started to leave.

For the Episode II midnight showing, everyone in the theater was a drooling fanboy. They cheered for every fucking thing. I preferred the silence of Episode I.