Star Wars - episode I thoughts

[thalia_seawood]

I'm still overwhelmed by work, but can't focus on the things I have to do longer than 9-10 hours. I just need more time, but I've only got until Thursday evening. On Friday, I'm supposed to do something else entirely and on Monday I'm already on my way to hold the trainings in London. I do not want to work on the weekend. Oh well, we'll see.

To cheer myself up after work I watched bits and pieces of Star Wars, episode I. Some impressions:

Before the podrace there's the moment when Qui Gon talks to Anakin. When he has finished his "feel, don't think" speech, he gently strokes over Anakin's head. It's such a gentle gesture, like a benediction. Can't believe I never registered this before.

The podrace scene is still one of my favorite scenes ever. It gets my attention every time. I love how Anakin keeps his cool, even when the circumstances are extremely difficult (e.g. spinning out of control or being forced onto the service ramp). He just takes everything in stride and finds a solution.

The spinning out of control scene also reminds me of the end of episode IV when Vader's tie fighter is spinning wildly. If you've seen episode I before episode IV, you'll know he'll handle this difficult situation just fine.

After Palpatine tells Anakin that he'll be watching his career with great interest, he talks to Amidala and tells her: Together we will bring peace and prosperity to the Republic. In the background, we see Anakin watching him with awe. He clearly sees Palpatine as a benevolent ruler from very early on - especially when you consider that he has spend all his life under the rules of the Hutts. The Hutts most likely never talked about peace and prosperity and other noble values. Small wonder Anakin takes things at face value.

The last shot of the funeral scene is brilliant: We see the four main characters of the next two episodes standing next to one another. There's Anakin next to Obi-Wan, Amidala and Palpatine.
These three characters will play major parts in Anakin's future life.
Each of these characters represents a choice: Obi-Wan stands for the way of the Jedi, Amidala/Padmé stands for love and a family life, Palpatine stands for the way of the Sith. (Obi-Wan will also represent friendship whereas Palpatine will represent a life of isolation.)
Anakin will be forced to make decisions between these three pathways. And Anakin/Vader doesn't like making decisions very much; he always wants it all. Anakin wants to be a Jedi and be married and save Padmé by using the power of the Sith. Vader later on wants to be a Sith, but also wants to have his son by his side.
In both episode III and episode VI we see Anakin/Vader taking major decisions. One time, when Mace Windu fights Palpatine. The other time, when Palpatine tries to kill his son. In both cases, he's just stands by and looks from one party to the other. It's clear to see how much these decisions cost him.

I like Jake Lloyd as Anakin. I just don't get why so many fans hate(d) him. Probably because everyone wanted to see Mini!Vader from very early on, i.e. a sinister child full of dark intentions.
Jake Lloyd is really good in most scenes: He has the enthusiasm and the intensity we later see in grown up Anakin as well.
He also does a good job with all the flying scenes. It really comes across that Anakin *loves* flying more than anything. When he's flying, he's free from all his fears.

Comments

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

Great insight... Especially about Obi-Wan, Padme and Palpatine representing three different paths. That's true and a very good way of putting it.

I've changed my mind about Jake Lloyd and Episode I pretty recently. See, when it first came out, I was thrilled and saw it several times in theatre. Then I realized that lots of people hated it and thought it was a huge disappointment, and slowly I started to accept this as a fact. Now, I've realized that there are lots of SW fans who liked the Phantom Menace. A fanfic author who I greatly admire even says it's her favorite in the saga. So I've looked at it again and realized that there is actually a lot of interesting, well-handled themes in it, and there are several visually stunning scenes. I agree about the podracing scene; I also really love the Qui-Gon/Obi-Wan/Darth Maul duel. Aside from the Obi-Wan/Anakin duel, it's probably the best in the series.

I must admit, I judged Jake Lloyd's performance pretty harshly all along. I thought he was one of the worst actors I had ever seen, in fact, but when I watched it a month or two ago... I realized that, no, he honestly was not that bad. In fact, he did a pretty good job. I don't know why I was so hard on him originally. I think it was just that he had to say lines like "I'll try spinning - that's a good trick!" and "Yippee!" Really, that'd be tough to pull off as sounding natural. He did a good job.

[stephantom.livejournal.com]

Oh wait, you know the "fanfic author I admire," don't you? Fernwithy.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

I do. :-)

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

I think it was just that he had to say lines like "I'll try spinning - that's a good trick!" and "Yippee!" Really, that'd be tough to pull off as sounding natural. He did a good job.

Yep. Especially since everyone was all like: "Vader would NEVER have said "yippee". That's so un-vaderish." Even I thought that for a while. But when I look at the kids playing in my neighbourhood, they do say stuff like that. I think Lucas wanted to make it clear that Anakin was a normal kid. Yes, he had special abilities like his mechanical skills and his connection to the force, but apart from that he's a lot like other children.

[juonetar.livejournal.com]

Good point about choices and decisions the different characters represent/make.

I still have occasional feelings of antipathy towards Jake Lloyd's Anakin, but he wasn't that bad, really. And one of his best sequences is the podrace. One of the things I like the most in TPM is that Anakin isn't a child Sith, but a person. ("I am a person! My name is Anakin.") Not evil from the beginning, but a relatively normal kid. Boba Fett of AotC makes an interesting comparison.

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

By the way, these are great essays by fernwithy about the question "Is Anakin a consistent character"? Both were written long before episode II and III, but are still valid. Both essays I extremely astute and well-written. I have to admit that fernwithy's thoughts about episode I made me come to enjoy the prequel series so much:

http://www.vadersmask.homestead.com/consistent.html

http://www.vadersmask.homestead.com/seeds.html