by Gabe Carleton-Barnes

In 1977, George Lucas released the first Star Wars movie, which is commonly referred to simply as Star Wars. It was followed in 1980 and 1983 by Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, and Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi. The lesser known subtitle of the first movie is A New Hope. These films were dubbed episodes IV, V, and VI, respectively. The significance of the numbering and the word "New" in the title of the first movie were lost on most people. Sixteen years after the release of the third movie (Episode VI, that is - The Return of the Jedi), George Lucas brings us the explanation of this unusual naming pattern. The story is not yet complete - the beginning has not yet been told.

On May 19, Lucasfilm Limited will reveal the first of three "prequel" movies - Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

I have been carrying my lightsaber since February. There are those who mock it, a few who are confused by it and a number who are impressed with how 'hardcore' I am. I will admit that I am drooling with anticipation of the new Star Wars movie, but the best part of it all is that my obsession with Star Wars is a far cry from the true fanatics'.

Twenty-somethings, thirty-somethings, and even a few forty-somethings have been in line since early April for the movie. These people have quit their jobs to stand in line so that they might be among the first to see Episode I. People are flying in from Europe, where the release date is months behind the American release, simply to see this movie.

George Lucas has decreed that the reel can roll at 12:01 a.m. on the 19th, and it is clear that the theaters will be full for this midnight Tuesday showing.

This is big, no question about it. This is the most anticipated movie of all time.

If your face is not stretched into an absurd grin of excitement right now, you may be wondering what has everyone else acting like school-children on the day before Christmas. There are people who are slightly frightened about the effect Hollywood's latest creation can have on so many members of our generation.

Let me clarify. The first thing you should know is that this is not a Hollywood production. George Lucas has given 20th Century Fox a small cut for their distribution services, but that is the only involvement Hollywood has. Lucas made so much money from the first three movies and merchandising for the Star Wars universe that he is now an entirely independent filmmaker. The creative freedom of independence is something any Oberlin student should appreciate.

But forget all this bureaucratic background: you are probably still reeling at the idea of a 44-year-old quitting his job to get in line on April 7th for two and a quarter hours of film. In the last half a year I have heard a great number of theories on the popularity of Star Wars, ranging from conjectures about the absence of myth in American culture to the "Princess Leia's metal bikini" theory.

My theory is a little more complicated than all that. George Lucas is a brilliant storyteller and moviemaker, and he has woven myth and morality together with action and stunning effects as no other director ever has. The action sequences in the original Star Wars Trilogy, though made in the late 70s and early 80s, are great even by today's standards. But the action and effects, though appealing, are not what make Star Wars. Star Wars is a wonderful story, with characters that have depth.

Star Wars is told in a fantastic world which is flawlessly executed on the big screen, with an attention to detail that is mind-boggling. All these elements are woven into a wonderful story with human and artistic value. There is simply no movie in existence like Star Wars. (If the name Captain Kirk just popped into your head, I have one question for you: how long were people waiting in line for the last Star Trek movie?) I have lost count of the number of people who have told me that their first movie, or even first memory, was Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back or Return of the Jedi. The Star Wars movies were beyond simple entertainment for the children that have become our classmates, our friends, and our generation. For many, they were an introduction to the concepts of good, evil, faith and morality.

The significance of the name "Darth Vader" is huge: everyone recognizes that evil breathing. Even those unfortunate souls who have reached college without seeing the Star Wars trilogy recognize the name, and associate it with that evil black costume.

As someone who grew up with the Star Wars movies, I can testify that, though Yoda may very well have sounded like Grover, his sage advice has crept its way into my morality: "Wars not make one great," "Do or do not, there is no try," "Judge you me by my size do you? Hm! And where you should not!"; "Fear, anger, aggression - the dark side are they!" I could go on. It may seem strange to think of a movie having a strong effect on a person's moral foundation, but I cannot deny that Star Wars has had such an effect on me. And I am not the only one for whom this is true.

Waiting in line for Star Wars is going to be a spiritual experience, and it is going to be a shared experience. While I am in line for Star Wars tickets, sitting in my $12 lawn chair from Super-K all through reading period, I will know that there are people in line in San Francisco, New York, and other cities across the nation, all in anticipation of the new Star Wars movie, all sharing a common appreciation of a brilliant story, celebrating the impact Star Wars has had on all of us over the years.

Many of our parents marked Woodstock as one of the defining moments of their generation. More than one person has observed to me that Episode I is the closest our generation is going to come to our own Woodstock. This may sound preposterous, but it is the truth. People will be in line for days sharing the anticipation with other members of their generation. If sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll were the icons of the generation which celebrated Woodstock, then what else should the internet generation celebrate but a morality tail told with the tools of technology?

A friend of mine guessed that after Episode I came out, world peace would ensue. Perhaps this is an exaggeration of the impact this movie will have. Alright, this is certainly an exaggeration. But for those of you who are still squinting and saying, "it's just a movie!" I have only sympathy. This is going to be a wonderful experience for so many fans - I hope you take the opportunity to enjoy it and take a careful look at a movie that is permanently enmeshed with your generation. As Darth Vader said: "This will be a day long remembered."

by Graham Johnson

I just want it to be a better film than Return of the Jedi. That's really all I'm asking of The Phantom Menace. Because, let's face it, Jedi was a pretty bad film. So I think it's an achievable goal. But, really, there's no way it can live up to the hype; Star Wars fans and the mass media are acting like this is the second coming. I've now seen the music video, "Duel of the Fates," on MTV and VH1 about 500 times, there was a run on Toys R Us when the action figures were released last week, and the soundtrack CD is flying out of record shops. I'll admit, I've gotten caught up in it - I downloaded the trailers, and I've spoiled it for myself by reading all sorts of plot synopses on the internet.

The reviews are now in, and they run the gamut from hesitantly positive to downright negative, with most being emphatically so-so. Does it matter? I'm going to go see it, and so are you. This is still the film I've been waiting to see since I was 7 years old. So I'm already finding that I've become a big apologist for George Lucas. They say he's just making The Phantom Menace for the money. But he's been planning to do a prequel trilogy all along. They say he's so caught up in weird aliens that the human characters are flat as pancakes. But Chewbacca and Yoda were always more interesting than Luke and Lando. They say the story lacks grandeur and an epic quality. But it's setting the scene for the next two; much of the first Star Wars film was expository and kind of dull, too.

However, I really don't know how I'll react when I actually see it. I have no critical distance from the original Star Wars trilogy. They quite simply defined my childhood, and I still watch them with that same sense of wonder and excitement. So how can I, at 22 years old, watch The Phantom Menace and have it be the same kind of experience? It's like when the reunited Beatles released "Free as a Bird" and old fans were disappointed that it wasn't another "Hey Jude." But I, who had never before heard a new Beatles song, was delighted. Well, this isn't going to be another Empire Strikes Back. Kids who weren't born when the classic trilogy was released will undoubtedly be enthralled by The Phantom Menace, but what about the rest of us?

I have to admit that I'm really impressed by what I have seen, in the scraps that Lucas has thrown us. Seeing lightsabers and Jabba the Hutt and the barren desert of Tattooine have lit that old spark in me. I'm normally wary of computer generated graphics, but the landscapes and creatures of The Phantom Menace have a lifelike quality and vividness of color that's astounding. And I'm fascinated by the chance to see the little boy who will become Darth Vader, to witness the manufacture of C-3P0, and to meet the beautiful but sad mother Princess Leia spoke of.

Of course, I still might sit in the cinema, looking at my watch, disgusted by the flimsy characters, the wooden acting, the lackluster plot that critics for Variety and Newsweek have spoken of. But I'm going to try to forget the reviews I've read, ignore the crass commercialism of it all, and hopefully I can just be excited and amazed and enjoy it like I enjoyed Return of the Jedi before I realized how annoying the Ewoks were and lose myself in the spectacle. And if not, I'll tell myself that George Lucas still has two more chances to get it right.

by Brian Gresko

On May 19, Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace explodes onto theaters in all its digital glory, heralded by a marketing blitz of media, merchandise and commercial tie-ins. Is all this press only a test-run for the Y2K hysteria to come, or is it, as some would seem to think, an event equal to that of Christ's second coming?

Perhaps this doesn't mean much to you if you're not a young white male - demographically the largest audience of the first trilogy, and demographically the largest target audience for the latest trilogy. Many of these boys will buy into the fad of Star Wars and then reminisce about it later on video. But some take this interest to another level, creating out of it a credo, an ethics - a religion of sorts - focused around merchandise, and based on the mythical rhetoric of the Force.

It has been said that directors usually make the type of films which they enjoyed as a child, and Lucas has done just that. He describes both the first trilogy and this new one as "Saturday afternoon serials for children," their purpose being to provide out of this world excitement and a few humorous, throw away lines. When the first Star Wars film, Episode 4: A New Hope, premiered, it garnered high acclaim as a fun filled action adventure replete with evil villains and wise heroes.

But where the first Star Wars took audiences by surprise - going on to break box office records in sales and win seven Academy Awards - Episode 1 has high standards to live up to.

After last week's sneak preview, the reviews are in, and they all express disappointment with the film. Lucas is not surprised. Talking to the Associated Press, Lucas said that the film could never live up to the vast amount of hype surrounding it, which he feels has "kind of got out of control."

Reviewers said that the film, 95 percent of which employs digital imagery, looks more like a video game than a movie. Lucas even uses digital technology to manipulate the actors' performances: merging an actor's smile in one take with the rest of his or her body in another take. Critics have chided Lucas for focusing more on the effects (which all reports agree are stellar) and less on the human side of the story.

If Episode 1 were just another edition in a kid's movie franchise, it would be only a tid-bit of entertainment news. But Star Wars devotion has a stranglehold on a small slice of our society who were once marginalized to sci-fi conventions and used toy stores. Now, over the internet, they can propagate their breed and communicate freely. Combined with the energy generated by the re-release of the original trilogy a couple of years ago, Star Wars frenzy is at a record high.