.Well, I liked Wattoo - best alien CGI character in TPM anyway. Personally, I found the trade federation twats rather comical - I wouldn't want to miss them. And the Gungans ... well, I'm definitely no big fan of those, but they don't bother me either - I like them even better than the Ewoks (I have nightmares of EwoksBut c'mon, the voices of the little blue flying guy, and the trade federation twats, and the jar-jar-binks race, was a serious pain in the backside to listen to and try to understand.
). Regarding their speech : well, I watched them with subtitles in my movie theatre, so I had no problem to understand them. It's a bit Euro-English, isn't it 
?In retrospect, I like the light character of the movie - it's the "civilised age before the dark times, before the Empire" as Obi would call it (from his point of viewThe "Great pod race" was cheesey and far too bright/colourfull.
). Don't get me wrong; I like dark movies and am looking forward to the proclaimed "dark" Episode 3, but I think Phantom Menace shows something different, to contrast with the empire of the last 3 (or four, if you include ep3) episodes. And yes, I like the pod race, though it's a bit tedious at times.I think judging a film by it's merchandising is kind of lame (no offenceThe whole film was made for merchandising:- another reason why so many characters were computer generated (They don't have to pay the actors for their likeness on the merchandise that way).
). I have never encountered any, yes, ANY merchandise of the Phantom Menace, probably because I never purposely went looking for it. Maybe it's the country I live in, but I have yet to encounter the first Phantom Menace puppet (I've never even seen any Star Wars puppet, can you beat that ). Besides, noone is obliged to buy the merchandise. I definitely did not. The only Star Wars prequel merchandise I have, is a poster, comic book and movie guide of Clones.There are lots of human extras in the prequels (pilots on Naboo, extras in Mos Espa, ...). And so what if Lucas had used actors in stead of CGI creatures ? He still could have made tons of merchandising out of those - he only would have to give a percentage to the actors. For you, Jericho the customer, it would still have been the same rip-off (actually, the toys would probably be more expensive). You would only have the gratitude that Lucas earns less. Were you dismissed as a prequel-extra or something that you hold merchandising as a grudge against the movie
?I like movies regardless of their merchandising and the money it actually generates.
Hm, that's a matter of taste, I guess. Anyway, I thought most of the designs were good. I like how the designs in the prequels are evolving, and getting constantly closer to the Original Trilogy look (those primitive Star Destroyers in Clones - beautiful !).It did have a grand feel to the film, although the "retro" ships and space stations looked like Dr.Who cast-offs that were thrown away for looking too cheap and nasty.
I certainly didn't go "ooohh". I prefer the Star Destroyers obviously, but the clean look fits the Galactic time frame. I think the Nubian (is it the correct term ?) ships look fine. The Calamari cruisers and the Imperial Shuttle from the OT weren't that spectacular either - they're even duller in design (compared with the corvettes, frigates, transport ships and all the others in the OT - love those)."Hmm, what should Padme's ship look like?" "Oh, I can't be bothered to design another texture, lets make it completly reflective so you can see the landscape reflecting in it and the audiance will go 'ooohhh!'".
Never been a big fan of R2D2 and C3PO in the first placeThen they throw R2D2 and C3PO in to keep the original fans happy (didn't work).
. They did work for me, like they always (barely) work for me in the original trilogy. Loved C3PO in Clones though (first time I liked him).The skiff battle, the spacebattle and the Emperor/Luke/Vader moments are the highlights of Return of the Jedi, but in between it's rather dull and flat. I saw "Return of the Jedi" just two days ago (it had been a couple of months), and it was at that moment that I came to the following conclusion : Phantom Menace is imo superior to ROTJ - it's a pretty recent decision, isn't it ?The pace and action of Jedi is admitedly a little stop-start. But the great Skiff battle at the begining has a great feel when they fly away triumphant, and the space battle at the end is the best of any of the films. (Gunguns vs battle droids or whatever their names are? that was so shite)
It's a bit unfair to compare the Gungan battle with the spacebattle (or the skiff battle). You should compare it with the Ewok battle (most similarities). Then, the Gungan battle's superior IMO. Let's see : robust amphibians with modern technology against skinny battle droids = believable (in theory, the Gungans actually lost that battle - it's all Anakin's fault !
). Silly teddybears with sticks and rocks against a legion of the Empire's best troops = a little hard to believe. Okay, both need suspension of belief, but I prefer the Gungan battle (teddy bears just don't fight). Since two days ago ...
- he only cares a little for the final trenchrun. 'Empire strikes back' is the second in boringness - he just can't stand the "slow-paced Yoda-scenes", and the "endless Millenium Falcon chase". The Hoth battle doesn't do anything for him. He only regards the final Darth Vader/Luke battle as classic. He likes 'Jedi' actually the most (curious, isn't it ?), though he won't bother to see it EVER again.
Instead of the origonal audience, and the generation below. (ie: people who saw it in the cinema, and people like me who wanted to see them in the cinema and loved the SE versions 
