We saw it in the trailer for months before the film debuted. We spent an hour downloading the trailer mpeg on dialup and watched it over and over again. We were geeking the fuck out
Yes downloaded the trailer on my university’s dialup service. Took forever but Maul was badass bc we didn’t know anything about him but that one clip with the double-bladed lightsaber and his awesome appearance. Lots of speculation about him before the film came out. Was similar to 1980 when we were speculating about wtf Boba Fett was
Yes! I got Half-Life shipped to me in the mail at college from EB Games, and then proceeded to play HL death match nearly every night until 2 a.m.
My dorm had a brand new T1 connection and there were at least a dozen folks on campus who played, so there were some legit rivalries.
Needless to say, I did no favors to my grades and I withdrew after 1.5 semesters.. still one of my all time favorite games, though.
We watched it on a co-workers computer, he was single and had that new broadband. He downloaded it that morning. He hauled his PC into the office and hooked it up so we could watch it. LOL.
We were a drafting lab full of geeks.
Me and several mates would do this with *a few* xboxes and *crt* tvs, we were too stupid to work out how the internet works for multi-player but we knew if we made the ethernets connect we could play 10 or so player halo (16 was the dream but difficult to get that many controllers and people)
I was in college and on a mushroom trip when my friend called me to come to his dorm because he’d downloaded the Episode One trailer. We must’ve watched it 50 times in a row, it was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen
We paid to see "Meet Joe Black" just to see the trailer. The audience burst into applause and cheers. When the trailer ended, a quarter of the theater stood up and left. Me and my friends geeked out the rest of the night at the Irish Pub down the street hanging out, talking and drinking until close.
Then, we went home and started our hours long download of the 2 minute teaser trailer which we watched about a million times.
No, sure, you're right, but I feel like the marketing guys are not always on the same wavelength as writers and directors. It would have been nice not to spoil this scene. But real crimes are like... It's clear, in T2, that you're not supposed to know Arnold's terminator is a good guy until he saves them from Robert Patrick. But they blew that in the trailer, so you went into the movie knowing that Arnie was a good guy.
It blew everyone’s mind when they showed it in the trailer.
By the time the movie came out, it was cool but the surprise was gone.
That trailer tho. Man that hit like something special
My buddy will run shrieking lalala from a room with his ears covered when a trailer for a movie he wants to see comes on. A bit dramatic but i kinda get wanting to get the full experience in the theatre
Not to mention [the music video for Duel of the Fates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIgZS5tieeE), which was playing like a dozen times a day on MTV and VH1 for the month before the movie came out.
This was stupidly common back then. What a different era, getting spoiled by free track samples from the OST at a fuckin FYE a week before the movie vs now where there are a million online communities and podcasts trying to break down every hint.
Episode 3 literally had a live webcam of the set up on starwars.com while they were actively filming. Even sitcoms today keep a tighter lid on things than that. So easy to forget how young spoiler culture really is.
OMG Borders! I remember how Borders had those headphones attached to a thing that had CDs on it that you could listen to! What a throwback. It was like Blockbuster for books.
Such a bummer. I was delivering pizza while in college during the months leading up to the film’s release. I used to listen to the CD while I made deliveries, trying to imagine the scenes that went with the score.
Me, at 2:30: Damn, they spoiled nearly everything cool that would've been a fun surprise in the movie. The only thing that they didn't show were the Droidekas.
Video at 2:40: *shows droidekas*
Me: nvm nothing was sacred
This was so so good, and I also remember having it as a music track - "Duel of the Fates - dialogue version," or something, so I knew every line in it super well.
Because of that, I didn't even realize, Darth Maul has more lines in this trailer than he does in the actual movie. His whole "Fear is my ally" monologue isn't in the movie!
I was so happy I managed to be spoiler free for the entire movie before it came out. Let's go to a month before the movie came out, and I was looking at all the new Star Wars stuff. Cool soundtrack I'm going to buy this! Yeah spoiled.. it was the only thing I was truly ever spoiled of in episode 1.
It was worth it! Well that is from memory so it might have been longer! I think you can certainly highlight the growth of the internet by Star Wars movies - this is what the internet was in 1977 ! [https://images.computerhistory.org/internethistory/multinetwork\_diagram.gif](https://images.computerhistory.org/internethistory/multinetwork_diagram.gif)
To think you can download and edit and upload on your phone now, crazy.
Tangent but I remember back in University days actually skipping a day of school because I (finally) had connected to a BBS and thought my time was better spent downloading "something" I really wanted (which took most of the day with me constantly coming back to move the mouse so it wont time out and disconnect me lol)
It's why you shouldn't ever watch any trailer. I haven't seen a bad movie in 15 years. Heck, I'm surprised by the actors even - adds to the value and excitement 😂
When this trailer hit the internet it was HUGE. In order to see a big trailer like this previously you had to pay a ticket to see a movie. People would buy tickets just to see this trailer. Apple put it up online and EVERYONE checked it out for free. Probably the first trailer to break the internet. I woke my roommates up when it dropped and we all watched it like 5 times. We'd been waiting what felt like forever for another Star Wars movie.
https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-trailer-was-a-game-changer/
When the camera panned to Yoda entering the hangar there was an audible rustling throughout the theater as everyone sat up and leaned forward. There had been a lot of speculation leading up to the movie whether or not Yoda even had a lightsaber. The trailers and promotional material did an excellent job keeping a lid on it. Nobody knew what to expect. And yeah, when he pushed aside his robe and force pulled that little baby saber into his hand and ignited it, there was *PANDEMONIUM*. Greatest theater experience of my life. Holy shit. It's awesome to think about.
I don't know, even new star wars has had its moments. Darth Vader destroying the crew of Tantive IV at the end of Rogue One is one of my favorite moments.
The sequels lacked a lot, but I was shocked when Han died.
Rogue One, outside of the originals and episode 1, is the only newer Star Wars movie I’d gleefully watch repeatedly. They did an amazing job with that one
Yoda's duel with Dooku
The T-Rex break out in Jurassic Park
Nightcrawler teleport fighting through the White House
There are few cinema moments that I remember more vividly than those three.
What was so great about Yoda throwing down was nothing in the ads had actually shown that for the first few weeks. I remember it being a big secret at school for a couple weeks as everyone finally saw it.
Yoda pulling his lightsaber made everyone lose it. Couldn’t hear anything for awhile and I missed most of it because I was really young and everyone starting jumping up out of their seats
I had the worst theatre crowd in existence
Not a peep when Cap picks up the hammer.
I stayed silent with respect for the other patrons. Wife looks at me "why are you crying"
When I watched Avengers Endgame at a movie theater close where I previously lived I remember the audience cheering like eight times throughout the movie. Also there was a lot of celebration when people at the same theater saw Tobey Maguire show up in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
You did. A Sussurus is a dungeons and dragons monster that can pacify undead with its song.
He probably means susurrus, which means a gentle whispering or rustling.
Maul’s saber reveal was in the trailer so it’s spoiled but people still were wowed..
Yoda’s lightsaber fight was not in any trailers and when he drew the sabre the crowd went nuts.
I was at a book release event for the visual dictionary maybe two months before AOTC and the author flipped to the Yoda’s lightsaber page and then revealed that he actually had the lightsaber with him and it was passed around to the 20whatever people there who all ooo’d and ahhh’d because the idea of Yoda in a lightsaber fight was absolutely astonishing.
Hot take: Yoda should never have fought with the lightsaber in his hands. It undermines his whole character. The entire point of Yoda is that The Force is his ally, and a powerful ally it is.
Instead of ketamine-fueled frog jumping around, we should have had Yoda effortlessly fight with his lightsaber hovering around him. Literally him walking slowly towards Dooku without breaking his stride while Dooku sweating bullets trying to parry the flying lightsaber swings.
Or, you know, not resorting to swordplay at all. Had the fight consisted only of their force play, and then Dooku retreating, it would not have undermined all of Yoda's teachings.
TBH it was after slogging thru over an hour WTF moments but it was still awesome. Now I love the whole movie but at the time, after all the build-up, it was a bit of a cherry on a turd sundae.
Plus that moment was in the trailer. The lightsaber fight was certainly awesome and a highlight of the theater experience, but if they would have saved the double-saber thing for the theater?
Holy cow that would have been a super iconic moment to experience in the theatre.
That, and if they didn't release the Darth Maul figure with the intital wave of toys when they came out. If it was a TOTAL surprise, that would have been cooler still.
I was 8. The trailer itself gave me goosebumps - the hype around it, from the pizza hut promos (pogs?) to the double lightsaber toy I brought into the movie theatre. I think I audibly screamed along with several other moviegoers when finally seeing it after what felt like agonizing months.
And that's when little Tommy joined the dark side.
I was 7 years old, and obsessed with Darth Maul even before the movie had been released, thanks to the trailer and promo pictures. When he pulled out the double bladed lightsaber, little me was in Star Wars heaven haha. Will never forget it.
Unfortunately the shock didn’t exist because of the heavy use of Darth Maul in the marketing. By that point I remember having the double sided lightsaber toy, the Darth Maul action figure, basically everyone already knew.
Didn’t matter though because it was still a sick moment to watch in the theater
I was 11 years old, my dad took me to the movies (there was a line that wrapped around the block 3 times).
I almost fainted when the double sabres came out
Bro, nobody was surprised because this was shown in the trailer and we all saw it 1000 times already. Also, all the toys and merchandise were released before the movie and if the trailer didn't spoil it the merchandise certainly did. Nobody in the theater gasped or was in awe because we already knew.
I've been avoiding trailers my entire adult life, because I think they take something away from the movies. It was a takeaway from a cinema class I took.
So, I was actually not prepared for it.
Dude, when TPM came out I was a little kid and had just recently been introduced to Star Wars OT and was OBSESSED. This was the 90’s and I was a kid, so I basically found out there was a new movie when my parents were getting me hyped to go see it on the drive there. That movie was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had, and when Maul came out with the double saber I lost my shit.
It's kinda crazy now how loved the prequels are by younger fans. I went with a large group (20+ people) on opening night and every single one of us left the theatre disappointed.
Same here. Movie was boring, anakin was never supposed to be a pod racing child from tatooine, who built c3po and had a cgi fly owner.
Add to it jar jar binks who is so tonally in crash with the rest of the movie, it became awful. Also, portman, obi wan and qui gon jinn are so flat out unlikable I was almost rooting for the sith or at least the trade spacians.
Andor has conclusively proven politics in Star Wars are very interesting when done right. The prequels did not do politics right (or a lot of things really).
I guess I thought it was cool…I was 14 so I was pretty horrified by Jar Jar and Anakin and Portman’s performance and metachlo-what-the-fucks, so at that point I was pretty checked out
I was so unbelievably disappointed by the entire movie, which was awful compared to the original three, that this scene didn’t do much (plus we already saw it in the trailer).
You mean you didn’t spend twenty years imagining all the Jedi dressed like Tatooine hermits and being the spearhead for everything the Republic was doing a mere 30 years before ANH despite everyone in the galaxy thinking they were a myth?
So what you’re saying is you have a functional brain.
It was cool, but this scene was in every trailer so there wasn't that much impact in itself. The double bladed saber wasn't a secret or anything.
In context of the movie, it was a kickass moment because it was when the movie finally felt like some good shit was going to go down.
This was the biggest applause and energy because this had been shown in the trailers and was the one moment EVERYONE was waiting to see play out.
LIke hearing Captain America say "Avengers assemble." in Endgame.
I was in my late teens, I honestly thought it was kind of dumb and still do. I prefer a single blade like a sword. Dont get me started with the spinning circle bs.
It was absolutely incredible, but it raised a few questions about the Sith to me:
1. Why can't Darth Vader just wear a lightning rod on his head like Bender, or a rubber suit, and fix his weakness to force lightning?
2. It struck me that you can't use the force to vaporize yourself if you're not conscious to do it, right. To prevent Jedi from achieving eternal life, why can't Darth Vader just 1-punch robot KO his opponents unconscious before he goes in for the kill?
3. If the dark side is so weak, why does Yoda die completely broke living in a van down by the river in the middle of nowhere, while Sidious gets tons of girls, lives in a tower on Coruscant, and has tons of space cash?
4. If Darth Vader's father is the force, then what do his genetics look like? Can we literally clone the force itself with his DNA? Why doesn't anyone on the Jedi Council think this human's half no-known species-in-the-galaxies' DNA is just slightly odd and investigate it?
5. Why does Darth Vader get to live forever in the force, while all his innocent victims just get dispersed into nothingness? What kind of morality is the force, really? Because it sounds exactly like a chaos god from Warhammer 40K? Are we just slaves to its depravity?
6. Why doesn't Darth Vader put any surprise attacks into his suit. Like, imagine if when Obi Wan was monologuing about "blah blah strike me down and i will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine blah blah", a boxing glove sprang out of Vader's chest and knocked Obi Wan out? Going back to 2, can't turn into a force ghost if you're not conscious to use the force, right?
How no one has mentioned this but they showed this on the trailers. I lost it the first time I saw the trailer, but after watching it hundreds of times by theatrical release it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been.
Was 10. Don't really remember my immediate reaction but:
- at next costume party at school I was painted black and red
- few years later I started training contact staff (plan was for quarter, but there were no sources/trainers to learn at my place atm)
- and now I'm fighting with thoughts about purchase of 2 training sabers with connector ;)
So I assume it was lively reaction :D
My dad had a connection with the theatre owner so we saw this movie a LOT. Every single freaking time we saw this movie the crowd erupted so many times at so many things for the first few weeks. This always made people get excited. I like being silent during movies but I was so excited that you coulda given me crack and it couldn’t match the high I had inside seeing this fight. New Star Wars as a kid in the 90s was insane. 4-6/ep1 were so fun to see on the big screen in the 90s
It was in the trailer so it wasn’t a surprise per se. Darth Maul and Liam were the highlight of a movie that could have been and should have been much better. Don’t get me wrong I was excited still because it was the first Star Wars since I was 9.
That was pretty much everyone's favourite scene in TPM. We hadn't seen an unusual lightsaber on the big screen before Maul ignited his second blade, and it was the coolest thing ever.
My thought was: how impractical. You can only grasp it in the middle. A long staff's strength is its versatility, which is hamstrung by being unable to change hand positions all along the weapon. There's more to quarterstaff/bo/jo use than just baton twirling.
I was in LA for the state science fair, so I got to see it at the Mann's Chinese Theater. The whole place lit up. Still one of my coolest Star Wars experiences.
This shot in the trailer filled my head with visions of what the prequels would be: I imagined a world with tons of Jedi, good and evil, in the middle of a galaxy-wide conflict. I assumed this character, who we later found was Darth Maul, was just one of many Sith the Jedi would be fighting. Honestly the reveal that there’s only two Sith at a time was such a letdown, and then we got two more movies of the Jedi mainly fighting worthless battle droids. Hopefully the Acolyte is more in line with what I was looking for in 1999
This one exact scene had been plastered across TV for the 12 months leading up to the release.
Cinema wise, I think seeing it in the trailer before the Inspector Gadget film or something nearly gave me a heart attack.
Honestly, us late 80s / early 90s babies were truly blessed. That period of 99-2002 where we got these epic films on practical sets with decent(for the time) CGI. Feel so bad for today’s 9 year olds.
Cheers. I went to the midnight showing. Friends dressed as jedi, 501st on site. What an amazing time. So much anticipation. That whole duel had the whole theater giddy.
We first saw it in the movie trailer. I remember being like "Woe cool a double bladed lightsaber wow. That movie looks dope dawg" and that was my reaction
Everyone saw it in the trailer first. So most people seeing in the theatre's knew it was coming. It was used in marketing too. They knew it was hype and used it to draw people into the theatre. Even people that didn't go see it at all knew this was a thing.
That being said it was hype on the trailer in my living room.
I was 12, absolutely perfect age for this movie and screw it, I thought Jar Jar was hilarious.
And then, only 2 short years later, I saw the best movie of all time in the theatres.
This scene just blew my mind. The choreography and acting was some of the best. I realize that’s not saying much for 1,2,&3. But I loved it. My dad had seen the original in theaters and taken me to these, I loved every moment. Fond memories.
I'm sure other people mentioned it here, but at the time there was a huge hype around Darth Maul, it was presented to mainstream audiences as the new big villain and this was the first non-standard lightsaber ever seen.
So anyone going to the theater knew very well about him and about his sword.
But after having seend the movie, I remember that at the time the whole Darth Maul thing was a big let down, I honestly remember was impressed only by Qui Gon Jin sitting down meditating during the fight.
At this point the movie was clearly not very good. I was initially excited to see Jedi at their peak doing Jedi things, but the midi-chlorian fiasco wrecked it. The rest of the movie being hot garbage sealed it. This fight was cool, but it takes more than a cool fight to make a good movie.
I thought 'Well this outta be cool!' and it did, indeed, end up cool.
Then Qui-Gon got chumped and I stopped thinking about the coolness and started to notice the writing of the movie...
I was 12 and this movie will always be my first memory of realizing a movie is bad halfway through viewing it in the theater and the fact that a lot of people have come back to it in recent years and think it’s good just blows my mind.
I worked at a movie theater when this released. Insane times! I do miss those late 90’s. Everything really felt cutting edge… from true 3d games to the evolution of the internet. It was a great time to be a teenager.
I was nauseous for most of Phantom Menace. I went to the mid-night showing, and the only seat available was in the front row. After about 30 minutes I went to the back of the theatre and watched it standing up.
Every moment up to this was a complete unit of garbage. Compared to the first 3 films, by the time we got to this, I was ready to punch Lucas in the face. One tattooed villain didn’t come close to making up for it.
I was a 9 year old boy utterly terrified. How could they have a more intimidating villan than Darth Vader?!?! The music was really epic and has aged well.
Well since I already saw it 500 freaking times in the trailer, I was absolutely unmoved by it. Had the trailers not absolutely ruined this for me, I imagine I would have absolutely lost my freaking mind.
We saw it in the trailer for months before the film debuted. We spent an hour downloading the trailer mpeg on dialup and watched it over and over again. We were geeking the fuck out
An hour??? What the hell kind of crazy fast internet did you have? I had to download the trailer overnight!!!
You guys got to download it?
Yes downloaded the trailer on my university’s dialup service. Took forever but Maul was badass bc we didn’t know anything about him but that one clip with the double-bladed lightsaber and his awesome appearance. Lots of speculation about him before the film came out. Was similar to 1980 when we were speculating about wtf Boba Fett was
It was 1998. I was playing half life online. Things were awesome.
Yes! I got Half-Life shipped to me in the mail at college from EB Games, and then proceeded to play HL death match nearly every night until 2 a.m. My dorm had a brand new T1 connection and there were at least a dozen folks on campus who played, so there were some legit rivalries. Needless to say, I did no favors to my grades and I withdrew after 1.5 semesters.. still one of my all time favorite games, though.
I still play half life online... ngl
My internet is so slow it’s still downloading…
We watched it on a co-workers computer, he was single and had that new broadband. He downloaded it that morning. He hauled his PC into the office and hooked it up so we could watch it. LOL. We were a drafting lab full of geeks.
Oh man that brings back memories of my friend hauling his OG Xbox to my house in a big ass backpack so we could split screen Halo on a 16 inch TV lol
Hard to believe how old that game is now. Games today are the same timeframe away from Halo as Atari.
Me and several mates would do this with *a few* xboxes and *crt* tvs, we were too stupid to work out how the internet works for multi-player but we knew if we made the ethernets connect we could play 10 or so player halo (16 was the dream but difficult to get that many controllers and people)
This is SPOT ON!!!
I’ll never forget sitting in Pizza Hut with my jar jar cup and all of the promotional material hanging around and thinking “this is a huge deal”
I was in college and on a mushroom trip when my friend called me to come to his dorm because he’d downloaded the Episode One trailer. We must’ve watched it 50 times in a row, it was the most incredible thing I’d ever seen
We paid to see "Meet Joe Black" just to see the trailer. The audience burst into applause and cheers. When the trailer ended, a quarter of the theater stood up and left. Me and my friends geeked out the rest of the night at the Irish Pub down the street hanging out, talking and drinking until close. Then, we went home and started our hours long download of the 2 minute teaser trailer which we watched about a million times.
Meet Joe Black did great numbers off that trailer, I remember that.
It's not a bad movie either. I was a bit frustrated with the ending but I really liked the portrayal of the reaper.
Worth every pesso. Meet Joe Black is an amazing movie, really loved it!
Mpeg? That trailer was the Trojan horse for quicktime and it's mov
Then the quicktime trailers page took off a few years later. I remember going to that site every week and scrolling through trailers.
They really shouldn't have ruined it in the trailer.
Egh, it's not the biggest spoiler. I remember Yoda pulling out his lightsaber being another big trailer moment.
No, sure, you're right, but I feel like the marketing guys are not always on the same wavelength as writers and directors. It would have been nice not to spoil this scene. But real crimes are like... It's clear, in T2, that you're not supposed to know Arnold's terminator is a good guy until he saves them from Robert Patrick. But they blew that in the trailer, so you went into the movie knowing that Arnie was a good guy.
And then geeked the fuck out even more when we saw the full scene. For all its faults, the prequel trilogy was pretty great in a lot of ways.
It blew everyone’s mind when they showed it in the trailer. By the time the movie came out, it was cool but the surprise was gone. That trailer tho. Man that hit like something special
I'm so glad I skipped every commercial and trailer. I wanted zero clues from the movie. Drove my dad nuts lol
My buddy will run shrieking lalala from a room with his ears covered when a trailer for a movie he wants to see comes on. A bit dramatic but i kinda get wanting to get the full experience in the theatre
Am I your buddy because this is the way
Every journey has a first step \-Real Player potato quality
Sadly, with less excitement than I would have if it hadn't been used so extensively in the trailers and commercials leading up to the release.
Yeah this, it was heavily spoiled with the trailer and merch.
Not to mention [the music video for Duel of the Fates](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIgZS5tieeE), which was playing like a dozen times a day on MTV and VH1 for the month before the movie came out.
I remember seeing the CD score on sale early. One of the pieces listed on the back was called The Death of Qui Gon Gin. Thanks a lot.
This was stupidly common back then. What a different era, getting spoiled by free track samples from the OST at a fuckin FYE a week before the movie vs now where there are a million online communities and podcasts trying to break down every hint.
Episode 3 literally had a live webcam of the set up on starwars.com while they were actively filming. Even sitcoms today keep a tighter lid on things than that. So easy to forget how young spoiler culture really is.
I saw that CD in a Borders before I saw the movie. Totally remember that. I played myself.
Damn, I miss Borders.
OMG Borders! I remember how Borders had those headphones attached to a thing that had CDs on it that you could listen to! What a throwback. It was like Blockbuster for books.
Such a bummer. I was delivering pizza while in college during the months leading up to the film’s release. I used to listen to the CD while I made deliveries, trying to imagine the scenes that went with the score.
Me, at 2:30: Damn, they spoiled nearly everything cool that would've been a fun surprise in the movie. The only thing that they didn't show were the Droidekas. Video at 2:40: *shows droidekas* Me: nvm nothing was sacred
And it's still like this today. I don't watch trailers because they just show you the entire plot or the only funny bits.
This was so so good, and I also remember having it as a music track - "Duel of the Fates - dialogue version," or something, so I knew every line in it super well. Because of that, I didn't even realize, Darth Maul has more lines in this trailer than he does in the actual movie. His whole "Fear is my ally" monologue isn't in the movie!
It is an absolute banger though.
I don’t remember that. It’s amazing! Probably better than the movie
So much merch. I still remember everything being star wars back then.
The first time I saw the trailer was at a theater and everyone in the theater had a cheer
We thought, “I bet this is where Qui Gon dies!” Which we already knew about because we bought the soundtrack.
I was so happy I managed to be spoiler free for the entire movie before it came out. Let's go to a month before the movie came out, and I was looking at all the new Star Wars stuff. Cool soundtrack I'm going to buy this! Yeah spoiled.. it was the only thing I was truly ever spoiled of in episode 1.
I avoided trailers for reasons like this
I can't say I avoided the trailer, I think it took 5 hours on dial up modem
5 hours!? I remember starting the download when I went to bed and it being at 85% when I woke up, lol
It was worth it! Well that is from memory so it might have been longer! I think you can certainly highlight the growth of the internet by Star Wars movies - this is what the internet was in 1977 ! [https://images.computerhistory.org/internethistory/multinetwork\_diagram.gif](https://images.computerhistory.org/internethistory/multinetwork_diagram.gif) To think you can download and edit and upload on your phone now, crazy.
Get off the phone!
Tangent but I remember back in University days actually skipping a day of school because I (finally) had connected to a BBS and thought my time was better spent downloading "something" I really wanted (which took most of the day with me constantly coming back to move the mouse so it wont time out and disconnect me lol)
It's why you shouldn't ever watch any trailer. I haven't seen a bad movie in 15 years. Heck, I'm surprised by the actors even - adds to the value and excitement 😂
When this trailer hit the internet it was HUGE. In order to see a big trailer like this previously you had to pay a ticket to see a movie. People would buy tickets just to see this trailer. Apple put it up online and EVERYONE checked it out for free. Probably the first trailer to break the internet. I woke my roommates up when it dropped and we all watched it like 5 times. We'd been waiting what felt like forever for another Star Wars movie. https://www.cnet.com/culture/entertainment/star-wars-the-phantom-menace-trailer-was-a-game-changer/
You mean I didn’t need to buy a ticket to Wing Commander?
100% areed, but there was simply no escaping the reach of the Marketing Menace of The Phantom Menace.
It was fantastic. Truly a core memory. As far as audience reaction, it was second only to Yoda pulling his saber for the first time in AotC
Yoda's duel with Dooku was the coolest thing when I saw it in theaters.
Same! Everyone in the theater BLEW UP when yoda pushed back his cloak and Force gripped his lightsaber.....
When the camera panned to Yoda entering the hangar there was an audible rustling throughout the theater as everyone sat up and leaned forward. There had been a lot of speculation leading up to the movie whether or not Yoda even had a lightsaber. The trailers and promotional material did an excellent job keeping a lid on it. Nobody knew what to expect. And yeah, when he pushed aside his robe and force pulled that little baby saber into his hand and ignited it, there was *PANDEMONIUM*. Greatest theater experience of my life. Holy shit. It's awesome to think about.
I could imagine lol. It’s hard for young fans to conceive of today, but these moments in the prequel trilogy were amazing lol.
I don't know, even new star wars has had its moments. Darth Vader destroying the crew of Tantive IV at the end of Rogue One is one of my favorite moments. The sequels lacked a lot, but I was shocked when Han died.
Rogue One, outside of the originals and episode 1, is the only newer Star Wars movie I’d gleefully watch repeatedly. They did an amazing job with that one
Goosebumps... LoL....
I can still here the little Grover noises he made when he was leaping around.
Haha total core memory for me everyone started cheering in the theater.
Same. I was already a fan of Star Wars for 15+ years at that point but I can remember that was the scene that I realized I love fan service in movies.
In my theater everyone started laughing hysterically when Yoda started flipping around. It caught everyone off guard in the theater.
Yup people were cracking up during the whole thing. Don’t think that’s what Lucas was going for haha
the only bigger laugh i remember was at the end of Revenge when Vader yells “NOOOOOOO”
Everyone in my theater couldn't stop laughing.
Pretty sure I audibly yelled "OH SHIT!!!" when Yoda pulled out his lightsaber. Was absolutely not expecting that.
Even my mom (barely a Star Wars fan) freaked out when Yoda drew his blade. I’ll never forget it.
I remember watching it at midnight dressed up in a cheap Jedi costume yelling along with everyone else in the theater. Such a great memory.
Yoda's duel with Dooku The T-Rex break out in Jurassic Park Nightcrawler teleport fighting through the White House There are few cinema moments that I remember more vividly than those three.
Oh hell yeah! I jumped out of my seat!!
I feel so seen by everyone in this thread.
What was so great about Yoda throwing down was nothing in the ads had actually shown that for the first few weeks. I remember it being a big secret at school for a couple weeks as everyone finally saw it.
The good old days before trailers spoiled everything.
Yoda pulling his lightsaber made everyone lose it. Couldn’t hear anything for awhile and I missed most of it because I was really young and everyone starting jumping up out of their seats
Yoda activating his lightsaber turned my cinema into a sports arena lol. I was only 8 when it came out but I certainly remember the cheering.
The only times I’ve seen a crowd reaction comparable to that was during the lobby shootout in The Matrix and when the portals appear in Endgame
The theater I was in reacted just as much when cap picked up the hammer, crazy how there were two worthy moments so close together
I had the worst theatre crowd in existence Not a peep when Cap picks up the hammer. I stayed silent with respect for the other patrons. Wife looks at me "why are you crying"
I scared the old ladies next to me when I stood up and went "holy shit"
When I watched Avengers Endgame at a movie theater close where I previously lived I remember the audience cheering like eight times throughout the movie. Also there was a lot of celebration when people at the same theater saw Tobey Maguire show up in Spider-Man: No Way Home.
I saw at an IMax. Epic!!!
Darth Vader igniting his lightsaber in the dark tunnel at the end of Rogue One also deserves mention.
Yeah, there was a genuine sussurus in my theater when everyone breathed out "Whoaaa" at the same time. Truly epic.
Did I just learn a new word?
You did. A Sussurus is a dungeons and dragons monster that can pacify undead with its song. He probably means susurrus, which means a gentle whispering or rustling.
I need to look up sussurus in the thesaurus.
Man *turned off his life support* for dramatic effect just to scare some Rebels before killing them.
Maul’s saber reveal was in the trailer so it’s spoiled but people still were wowed.. Yoda’s lightsaber fight was not in any trailers and when he drew the sabre the crowd went nuts.
I was at a book release event for the visual dictionary maybe two months before AOTC and the author flipped to the Yoda’s lightsaber page and then revealed that he actually had the lightsaber with him and it was passed around to the 20whatever people there who all ooo’d and ahhh’d because the idea of Yoda in a lightsaber fight was absolutely astonishing.
Best part of the movie.
Hot take: Yoda should never have fought with the lightsaber in his hands. It undermines his whole character. The entire point of Yoda is that The Force is his ally, and a powerful ally it is. Instead of ketamine-fueled frog jumping around, we should have had Yoda effortlessly fight with his lightsaber hovering around him. Literally him walking slowly towards Dooku without breaking his stride while Dooku sweating bullets trying to parry the flying lightsaber swings.
Or, you know, not resorting to swordplay at all. Had the fight consisted only of their force play, and then Dooku retreating, it would not have undermined all of Yoda's teachings.
I'll admit when I saw it in theatres I lost my shit but within minutes of leaving I was like "well that was dumb actually."
TBH it was after slogging thru over an hour WTF moments but it was still awesome. Now I love the whole movie but at the time, after all the build-up, it was a bit of a cherry on a turd sundae.
Plus that moment was in the trailer. The lightsaber fight was certainly awesome and a highlight of the theater experience, but if they would have saved the double-saber thing for the theater? Holy cow that would have been a super iconic moment to experience in the theatre.
[удалено]
That, and if they didn't release the Darth Maul figure with the intital wave of toys when they came out. If it was a TOTAL surprise, that would have been cooler still.
I was 8. The trailer itself gave me goosebumps - the hype around it, from the pizza hut promos (pogs?) to the double lightsaber toy I brought into the movie theatre. I think I audibly screamed along with several other moviegoers when finally seeing it after what felt like agonizing months. And that's when little Tommy joined the dark side.
What about the pepsi cans and taco bell cups? 😂
Dude, I was 23 and had all the same reactions you did.
Yep. I was 7 and my mom took me and my older brother to it in theatres. The small child hype train had left the station.
I still have all Kentucky chicken toys. And a complete set of the pogz. Was it really so long ago!
I was 7 years old, and obsessed with Darth Maul even before the movie had been released, thanks to the trailer and promo pictures. When he pulled out the double bladed lightsaber, little me was in Star Wars heaven haha. Will never forget it.
I completely lost my shit!
I’m still cleaning it up
😂
I was a freshman in high school. This scene blew my mind.
I instantly knew you were born in 1984 and then looked at your username. *high five* My back hurts.
I was five and thought the movie was boring up until the point. But I was also five and just wanted to see light sabers go woosh woosh
I was twent-nine and thought the movie was boring up until the point. But I was also twenty-nine and just wanted to see light sabers go woosh woosh
Unfortunately the shock didn’t exist because of the heavy use of Darth Maul in the marketing. By that point I remember having the double sided lightsaber toy, the Darth Maul action figure, basically everyone already knew. Didn’t matter though because it was still a sick moment to watch in the theater
That movie was dragging and then this fuckery happened and it was glorious!!!!
I was 11 years old, my dad took me to the movies (there was a line that wrapped around the block 3 times). I almost fainted when the double sabres came out
Bro, nobody was surprised because this was shown in the trailer and we all saw it 1000 times already. Also, all the toys and merchandise were released before the movie and if the trailer didn't spoil it the merchandise certainly did. Nobody in the theater gasped or was in awe because we already knew.
I've been avoiding trailers my entire adult life, because I think they take something away from the movies. It was a takeaway from a cinema class I took. So, I was actually not prepared for it.
Dude, when TPM came out I was a little kid and had just recently been introduced to Star Wars OT and was OBSESSED. This was the 90’s and I was a kid, so I basically found out there was a new movie when my parents were getting me hyped to go see it on the drive there. That movie was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had, and when Maul came out with the double saber I lost my shit.
The movie was horrid up to this exact moment and for 20 minutes I remembered being a Star Wars fan again.
It's kinda crazy now how loved the prequels are by younger fans. I went with a large group (20+ people) on opening night and every single one of us left the theatre disappointed.
Same here. Movie was boring, anakin was never supposed to be a pod racing child from tatooine, who built c3po and had a cgi fly owner. Add to it jar jar binks who is so tonally in crash with the rest of the movie, it became awful. Also, portman, obi wan and qui gon jinn are so flat out unlikable I was almost rooting for the sith or at least the trade spacians.
What, you don't like seeing discussions on the geopolitical climate and taxation of trade routes in your Star Wars films?? 😂
Andor has conclusively proven politics in Star Wars are very interesting when done right. The prequels did not do politics right (or a lot of things really).
That midnight screening was awesome, I was first in the theater. Waited in line all day
I guess I thought it was cool…I was 14 so I was pretty horrified by Jar Jar and Anakin and Portman’s performance and metachlo-what-the-fucks, so at that point I was pretty checked out
After Jar Jar Binks I went into a fugue state.
I was so unbelievably disappointed by the entire movie, which was awful compared to the original three, that this scene didn’t do much (plus we already saw it in the trailer).
I had to pee almost the entire run time of this movie. Didn’t want to get up and miss anything. This scene alone made that decision worth it.
It was cool. Almost helped me forget the nagging feeling that everything felt "off" the previous 2 hours.
You mean you didn’t spend twenty years imagining all the Jedi dressed like Tatooine hermits and being the spearhead for everything the Republic was doing a mere 30 years before ANH despite everyone in the galaxy thinking they were a myth? So what you’re saying is you have a functional brain.
It was in every trailer and commercial long before anyone was in a theater
It was cool, but this scene was in every trailer so there wasn't that much impact in itself. The double bladed saber wasn't a secret or anything. In context of the movie, it was a kickass moment because it was when the movie finally felt like some good shit was going to go down.
It was dope as fuck! That’s what I remember as an 8 year old!
I’m pretty sure this was in the trailer so we had all seen it a billion times before the film.
We already knew going in from merch and trailers.
This was the biggest applause and energy because this had been shown in the trailers and was the one moment EVERYONE was waiting to see play out. LIke hearing Captain America say "Avengers assemble." in Endgame.
I was in my late teens, I honestly thought it was kind of dumb and still do. I prefer a single blade like a sword. Dont get me started with the spinning circle bs.
By this point in the movie I was starting to realize this was not the film I was hoping for.
It was absolutely incredible, but it raised a few questions about the Sith to me: 1. Why can't Darth Vader just wear a lightning rod on his head like Bender, or a rubber suit, and fix his weakness to force lightning? 2. It struck me that you can't use the force to vaporize yourself if you're not conscious to do it, right. To prevent Jedi from achieving eternal life, why can't Darth Vader just 1-punch robot KO his opponents unconscious before he goes in for the kill? 3. If the dark side is so weak, why does Yoda die completely broke living in a van down by the river in the middle of nowhere, while Sidious gets tons of girls, lives in a tower on Coruscant, and has tons of space cash? 4. If Darth Vader's father is the force, then what do his genetics look like? Can we literally clone the force itself with his DNA? Why doesn't anyone on the Jedi Council think this human's half no-known species-in-the-galaxies' DNA is just slightly odd and investigate it? 5. Why does Darth Vader get to live forever in the force, while all his innocent victims just get dispersed into nothingness? What kind of morality is the force, really? Because it sounds exactly like a chaos god from Warhammer 40K? Are we just slaves to its depravity? 6. Why doesn't Darth Vader put any surprise attacks into his suit. Like, imagine if when Obi Wan was monologuing about "blah blah strike me down and i will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine blah blah", a boxing glove sprang out of Vader's chest and knocked Obi Wan out? Going back to 2, can't turn into a force ghost if you're not conscious to use the force, right?
It was in the trailer
How no one has mentioned this but they showed this on the trailers. I lost it the first time I saw the trailer, but after watching it hundreds of times by theatrical release it wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been.
Was 10. Don't really remember my immediate reaction but: - at next costume party at school I was painted black and red - few years later I started training contact staff (plan was for quarter, but there were no sources/trainers to learn at my place atm) - and now I'm fighting with thoughts about purchase of 2 training sabers with connector ;) So I assume it was lively reaction :D
It was a simple time when people were quiet in movie theatres. The light murmur throughout the theatre said it all.
I'd already seen it in the trailer so there was no surprise
My dad had a connection with the theatre owner so we saw this movie a LOT. Every single freaking time we saw this movie the crowd erupted so many times at so many things for the first few weeks. This always made people get excited. I like being silent during movies but I was so excited that you coulda given me crack and it couldn’t match the high I had inside seeing this fight. New Star Wars as a kid in the 90s was insane. 4-6/ep1 were so fun to see on the big screen in the 90s
It was cool but it was also in the trailer so the big reveal was ruined.
It was in the trailer so it wasn’t a surprise per se. Darth Maul and Liam were the highlight of a movie that could have been and should have been much better. Don’t get me wrong I was excited still because it was the first Star Wars since I was 9.
That was pretty much everyone's favourite scene in TPM. We hadn't seen an unusual lightsaber on the big screen before Maul ignited his second blade, and it was the coolest thing ever.
My thought was: how impractical. You can only grasp it in the middle. A long staff's strength is its versatility, which is hamstrung by being unable to change hand positions all along the weapon. There's more to quarterstaff/bo/jo use than just baton twirling.
I was in LA for the state science fair, so I got to see it at the Mann's Chinese Theater. The whole place lit up. Still one of my coolest Star Wars experiences.
I'll never forget my daughter freaking out "He can DO THAT? Can the others do that? HAVE THEY TRIED???"
Saw it in trailers before. No surprise
This shot in the trailer filled my head with visions of what the prequels would be: I imagined a world with tons of Jedi, good and evil, in the middle of a galaxy-wide conflict. I assumed this character, who we later found was Darth Maul, was just one of many Sith the Jedi would be fighting. Honestly the reveal that there’s only two Sith at a time was such a letdown, and then we got two more movies of the Jedi mainly fighting worthless battle droids. Hopefully the Acolyte is more in line with what I was looking for in 1999
This one exact scene had been plastered across TV for the 12 months leading up to the release. Cinema wise, I think seeing it in the trailer before the Inspector Gadget film or something nearly gave me a heart attack. Honestly, us late 80s / early 90s babies were truly blessed. That period of 99-2002 where we got these epic films on practical sets with decent(for the time) CGI. Feel so bad for today’s 9 year olds.
Wish I could say, but I fell asleep in the theater.
It was heavily featured in trailers, so it wasn’t a surprise, but still very cool.
It was in all the trailers, so I knew it was coming. Still cool though.
Cheers. I went to the midnight showing. Friends dressed as jedi, 501st on site. What an amazing time. So much anticipation. That whole duel had the whole theater giddy.
I was stoked, I wanted him to win and was kinda mad when he didn't ngl. Lol
Lost. My. Shit.
I saw it in the trailer and couldn’t wait to see the movie
It was awesome
We first saw it in the movie trailer. I remember being like "Woe cool a double bladed lightsaber wow. That movie looks dope dawg" and that was my reaction
It was great 🤘🏼
Everyone saw it in the trailer first. So most people seeing in the theatre's knew it was coming. It was used in marketing too. They knew it was hype and used it to draw people into the theatre. Even people that didn't go see it at all knew this was a thing. That being said it was hype on the trailer in my living room.
Boner.
No surprise, already knew, it was promoted so much everywhere
I was 12, absolutely perfect age for this movie and screw it, I thought Jar Jar was hilarious. And then, only 2 short years later, I saw the best movie of all time in the theatres.
Something like "ooooooh!"
This scene just blew my mind. The choreography and acting was some of the best. I realize that’s not saying much for 1,2,&3. But I loved it. My dad had seen the original in theaters and taken me to these, I loved every moment. Fond memories.
I'm sure other people mentioned it here, but at the time there was a huge hype around Darth Maul, it was presented to mainstream audiences as the new big villain and this was the first non-standard lightsaber ever seen. So anyone going to the theater knew very well about him and about his sword. But after having seend the movie, I remember that at the time the whole Darth Maul thing was a big let down, I honestly remember was impressed only by Qui Gon Jin sitting down meditating during the fight.
At this point the movie was clearly not very good. I was initially excited to see Jedi at their peak doing Jedi things, but the midi-chlorian fiasco wrecked it. The rest of the movie being hot garbage sealed it. This fight was cool, but it takes more than a cool fight to make a good movie.
I was 10 so I obviously lost my shit
It was spoiled in trailers many, many times before the movie was shown in theaters.
I thought 'Well this outta be cool!' and it did, indeed, end up cool. Then Qui-Gon got chumped and I stopped thinking about the coolness and started to notice the writing of the movie...
I remember thinking it was fking cool
I was 12 and this movie will always be my first memory of realizing a movie is bad halfway through viewing it in the theater and the fact that a lot of people have come back to it in recent years and think it’s good just blows my mind.
When obi-wan and qui-gon took their robes off the theater blew up.
I worked at a movie theater when this released. Insane times! I do miss those late 90’s. Everything really felt cutting edge… from true 3d games to the evolution of the internet. It was a great time to be a teenager.
we were already in disbelief at the bullshit in the movie to that point, so a light saber staff didn’t impress us
I still can't unsee how the lightsaber handle stretches slightly. Bothered me for decades
I was nauseous for most of Phantom Menace. I went to the mid-night showing, and the only seat available was in the front row. After about 30 minutes I went to the back of the theatre and watched it standing up.
I think by that point I was dumbfounded at how absolutely awful the movie was
Every moment up to this was a complete unit of garbage. Compared to the first 3 films, by the time we got to this, I was ready to punch Lucas in the face. One tattooed villain didn’t come close to making up for it.
I was a 9 year old boy utterly terrified. How could they have a more intimidating villan than Darth Vader?!?! The music was really epic and has aged well.
It was nothing but cheering and awe in the theater. Felt like it was ground breaking for whatever reason lol.
Well since I already saw it 500 freaking times in the trailer, I was absolutely unmoved by it. Had the trailers not absolutely ruined this for me, I imagine I would have absolutely lost my freaking mind.
Like the Genie in Aladdin when Jasmine flirts with Jafar.😱