I didn't go to the cinema to see this movie, preferring to wait for it to come out on video, although I did read the book before I even watched the video. Consequently I had to sit through various over-hyped TV shows all of which offered differing opinions.

It seemed that many people disliked Episode One, saying that it was nowhere near as good as the first three movies, but I preferred to reserve judgement. Even hardcore Star Wars fans seemed to be knocking it in one way or another.

First a little bit of personal history. When Star Wars was released I was 7 years old and the cinema in Doncaster where I was going to see it ran a special offer for kids (it was the school holidays) so I ended up seeing this film 10 times in 10 days. It hooked me from the opening bars of the now famous theme music. I was spellbound. Droids, spaceships, laser guns. The stuff of childhood. No other film has ever had such an impact upon me, and I became a true Star Wars fan, reading every book I could lay my hands on, even now.

Therefore, The Phantom Menace could never really disppoint me, but then I was going in with my eyes open. I already knew the general storyline for Episode One (and the next two), because I have seen the original three. I knew I would be meeting a young Obi-Wan, see the development of Darth Vader and the rising of Emperor Palpatine. It was the handling of the development of cinema's nastiest bad guy, that interested me so much, and Episode One didn't disappoint me.

The storyline of Episode One, (is there anyone that hasn't watched it?) focusses on a small planet called Naboo, that is being blockaded by the Trade Federation. The Galactic Council send two Jedi Knights (Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi) to mediate and settle the dispute, and this is where you get an inkling that a darker power is pulling the strings of the trade federation. After being attacked by soldier droids, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan escape to the s
urface of Naboo, coming into contact with Jar-Jar Binks (a sort of frog-like creature that is loathed by most people that watched the movie, syaing that he was a stupid character) and eventually the ruler of Naboo (Queen Amidala).

They decide to flee Naboo with the Queen, and have to stop on a very familiar desert world to effect repairs on the ship, where Qui-Gon meets a slave boy Anakin Skywalker, who is very strong in the Force. Strange space craft races, blaster fights and battles with lightsabers ensue, until the final reel, and it leaves you with a sense of expectation for the next instalment.

George Lucas could never achieve with Episode One, what he did with the first three. Star Wars itself was a landmark in cinema history. They are not films that are meant to be analyzed, but watched and enjoyed for what they are, pure unadulterated entertainment. Episode One is a worthy edition to the Star Wars universe, that cannot live with it's older sequels because of people's love of Star Wars. The effects are better than the others but that is to be expected, the acting a little weak, the script is ok (the original cast of Star Wars, thought the script for the first movie was cliched and found it hard not to laugh while delivering the lines) but Lucas's vision and direction pull it all together and deliver a film that would have been brilliant had it not had to contend with the other Star Wars films.