the m0vie blog

Hosted by Andrew Quinn and Darren Mooney, this week with special guests Luke Dunne and Alex Towers, The 250 is a (mostly) weekly trip through some of the best (and worst) movies ever made, as voted for by Internet Movie Database Users. New episodes are released every second Saturday at 6pm GMT, with the occasional bonus episode between them.

This week, George Lucas’ Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace.

A republic in decline finds itself slipping into fascism in the midst of a public dispute over trade tariffs. When Jedi Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi are dispatched to resolve the Trade Federation blockade of the peaceful world of Naboo, they begin an epic adventure that will bring them to the sands of Tatooine, where Qui-Gon encounters a strange young boy that he is convinced as the power to bring balance to the force: Anakin Skywalker.

At time of recording, it was not ranked on the list of the best or worst movies of all time on the Internet Movie Database.

Show Notes:

• Recorded 11th November 2024.
• Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace at The Internet Movie Database.
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• Roger Ebert reviews The Phantom Menace for The Chicago Sun Times, May 1999.
• Janet Maslin reviews The Phantom Menace at The New York Times, May 1999.
• Arun Starkey at Far Out Magazine looks back on Spaced‘s outraged response to The Phantom Menace, July 2022.
• Trey Parker and Matt Stone talk to Entertainment Weekly about mocking The Phantom Menace on South Park, July 1999.
• Gerardo Valero writes at RogerEbert.com about The People vs. George Lucas, December 2012.
• Michael Sheridan at Unwinnable looks back on Star Wars fandom’s contentious relationship with George Lucas, April 2011.
• Caleb Heine at Cider Spoon Stories reflects on the absurdity of fandom’s discourse around George Lucas, September 2017.
• Red Letter Media reviews The Phantom Menace, December 2009.
• Matthew Gault at NewsWeek considers J.D. Vance’s opinion of The Last Jedi, July 2024.
• Brian Raftery talks to All Things Considered about what made 1999 such a great year for movies, April 2024.
• David Friend reflects at The New York Times about what made 1999 such a wonderful year for movies, May 2019.
• Stuart Silverstein, Greg Hernandez and Diane Seo write at The Los Angeles Times about the marketting strategy for The Phantom Menace, May 1999.
• Claudia Eller at The Los Angeles Times reflects on the commercial success of The Phantom Menace, May 1999.
• Stuart Elliot writes at The New York Times about the anticipation building up for The Phantom Menace, May 1999.
• Richard Trenholm at C|Net reflects on how even the trailer for The Phantom Menace changed the game, May 2022.
• Tim Grierson at RogerEbert.com contemplates how The Phantom Menace changed the kids of stories told in blockbusters, April 2024.
• The BBC reflects on Ahmed Best’s confession that the backlash to The Phantom Menace almost drove him to suicide, July 2018.
• Darren Mooney writes at The Irish Independent about the rehabilitation of the prequels within Star Wars fandom, May 2022.
• Darren Mooney at The Escapist ponders how corporate nostalgia has turned towards objects that were initially loathed, January 2022.
• Darren Mooney at Second Wind considers how Star Wars had embraced nostalgia for the prequels, June 2024.
• Andrew Gumbel at The Independent considers criticisms of The Phantom Menace based around the film’s use of racial caricature, June 1999.
• Eric Harrison at The Los Angeles Times reports on the controversy around the aliens featured in The Phantom Menace, May 1999.
• Rory Carroll at The Guardian reports on the Clinton administration’s decision to stand by in the midst of the Rwandan Genocide, March 2004.
• Nathan J. Robinson at Current Affairs considers Clinton’s actions during the Rwandan Genocide, May 2016.
• Charles Krauthammer considers “the unipolar moment” in The Washington Post, July 1990.
• Francis Fukuyama contemplates “the end of history” in The National Interest, Summer 1989.
• Jonah Goldberg at The National Review ponders the complicated question of slavery in Star Wars, January 2016.
• Michael Kaminski reflects on early drafts of The Phantom Menace at The Secret History of Star Wars, October 2007.
• Alex Stedman at IGN reports on George Lucas’ early plans to have Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan swap names at the end of The Phantom Menace, October 2024.
• Abraham Josephine Reisman writes at Vulture about the development and production of the climactic lightsaber battle in The Phantom Menace, December 2017.
• Jim Veyvoda at IGN reports on the early concept art for The Phantom Menace, May 2013.
• Empire reports on the pot shot taken by the Phantom Menace creative team at the American remake of Godzilla, May 1998.
• Greg Proops talks to I Was There Too about working on The Phantom Menace, December 2022.
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