Can you believe thatit’s been 25 yearssinceGeorge Lucaskicked off theStar Warsprequel trilogy withThe Phantom Menace? In some ways, it seems like just yesterday we were sipping on Jar Jar Binks-themed novelty cups and rolling our"Darth Maul’s Sith Speeder" from Taco Bellon the kitchen floor. Okay, maybe that was just me. But after 16 years of no newStar Warsmovies (and those Ewok adventures don’t count), any new material was exciting, right?Epic lightsaber battleswith new, innovative technologies, computer-generated alien creatures, and a stellar cast that includedLiam NeesonandEwan McGregorcouldn’t have let us down. As a kid, I certainly didn’t think so, but then again,Episode Iwas my first theatricalStar Warsexperience, and I was more excited about it than I was about anything else in my entire life (except for maybeBarney’s Great Adventure, but let’s not dwell on that). How could I have known that George Lucas would also be directly responsible for teaching me about death?
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Two Jedi escape a hostile blockade to find allies and come across a young boy who may bring balance to the Force, but the long dormant Sith resurface to claim their original glory.
Seriously, Seeing ‘The Phantom Menace’ in Theaters Is My First Memory
How much do you remember about your first five or six years on planet Earth? Now, for better or worse, I’m dating myself here, but I was nearly four years old whenStar Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menacehit theaters on June 16, 2025, so I don’t remember much. I remember the house I first grew up in, with the tree fort out front and the terrifying, unfinished basement downstairs. I remember my baby sister coming home from the hospital a few years later. But there’s one memory from that whirlwind of a time period, which ran just before to right after the new millennium, that sticks out like Jar Jar’s tongue after being shocked by the energy binders on a podracer:seeing my first Star Wars movie.
Okay, technically,The Phantom Menacewasn’t myfirstStar Wars,but it’s the first I actively remember. When the original Star Wars trilogy was released for the final time on VHS, untainted by George Lucas' future revisions (this set right here), my dad picked it up and brought it home. I have no idea when that was, but I do know we watched the original movies often in my earliest years, to the point where both my parents thought taking me toEpisodeIwas a good idea. It was PG, after all, how harmful could it really be? Considering how much my one-and-a-half-year-old adores her Star Wars storybook now (whenever she sees Darth Vader, she tries to imitate his breathing apparatus), I wholeheartedly believe that I must’ve become obsessed with Star Wars pretty quickly.
It’s something of a tragedy that I don’t remember much of the movie. I mean, I do now as an adult. Heck, I practically have it memorized. After it came out on VHS, my siblings and I watchedThe Phantom Menacealongside the originals constantly (our Original Trilogy VHSs were beyond battle-damaged). The very next year, my mom took us toaStar Wars-themed exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicagobecause of how much we (or, perhaps, just I) loved the timeless space opera. But despitethe rousingJohn Williamsopening scoremarching over my small, childish body,I don’t remember anything beyond one particular moment. It’s not the podracing, or the droid battles, or even when young Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd) takes his N-1 Starfighter into space to blow up the Trade Federation’sLucrehulk-class Droid Control Ship. All I remember is that epic “Duel of the Fates” between Darth Maul (Ray Park), Qui-Gon Jinn (Neeson), andEwan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi, particularly those fateful final moments.
Watching Qui-Gon Jinn Die Changed Me (I’m Just Not Sure How)
My earliest memory is watching a man die on a big movie screen and genuinely believing I had become a witness to a murder. It was like we were all a part of some advanced social contract where, like the Romans of old who watched gladiators kill themselves for their own amusement, it was okayto watch Darth Maul stab Qui-Gon Jinnall the way through with his double-bladed lightsaber and let him fall to the floor. For some reason, my parents didn’t jerk or move or flinch in any way, and so I sat there between them believing with my entire being that that man on the screen was dead. Pure and simple. Until that moment, I don’t think I ever knew what death was, but it was here that I realized that it was a lot more than just falling asleep.
Never mind the fact that Star Wars contains Gungans, lightsabers, battle droids, city planets, and other improbable concepts that four-year-old Michael couldn’t fully wrap his head around: this man was dead. I saw it! I was a witness to a murder! I couldn’t believe my eyes, and yet I believed them more assuredly than I believed that I was sitting in that theater at that very moment. It was kind of terrifying, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do. I don’t think I cried. I didn’t want to disappoint the fallen Jedi Master, but it rocked me as a kid. This is the power that storytelling can have on a child, and say what you will about George Lucas' later trilogy, butthe Star Wars prequels impacted me more profoundlythan most movies at the time. Well, except for probablyThe Iron Giant,but that’s another article entirely.
How does a little boy walk away from a movie likeThe Phantom Menacebelieving he has watched a real-life Jedi be killed right in front of him, you ask? Like any other little boy who walks away from any other action-packed adventure: high on life.The final Victory Celebrationput me back in good spirits. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if my parents told me that we went home that night and I wanted to watch more Star Wars — most likelyTheEmpire Strikes Back, since I liked the cover with the purple logo the most. Somehow, I didn’t once question the validity of seeing aliens run around on the screen, nor did I question witnessing this slaughter either. I don’t remember waking up in the night with existential dread, and I don’t remember ever asking my parents about watching a grown man die in front of me. It wasn’t until years later that I even told them thatthat experience was as far back as I could remember. By all accounts, I just moved on. Sure, I was a bit scared after the Satan-looking bad guy killed the Jesus-looking good guy, but that fear didn’t follow me home.
I Still Love ‘The Phantom Menace,’ Even if It’s a Little Less Awesome Now
I don’t know what witnessing a murder does to children who don’t turn out to be Batman, but it didn’t seem to affect me much in the long term. It certainly didn’t keep me away from Star Wars. A few years later, I was back in the theater forAttack of the Clones. I couldn’t have been more excited about watching Yoda (Frank Oz) battle Count Dooku (Christopher Lee). More than likely, my brother and I went back home and rewatchedReturn of the Jediafterward (my favorite of the originals, which had Yoda on the cover). I was almost 10 years old whenRevenge of the Sithcame out (my first PG-13 movie), and I remember going all-in for Star Wars again. We played the originalLEGO Star WarsandStar Wars: Battlefront IIon our home PC constantly, adoredGenndy Tartakovsky’sStar Wars: Clone Wars, and collectedevery Burger King toy we could get our hands on. Even if I hadn’t seenEpisode Iin theaters that day, I’m sure I would’ve been as excited about Star Wars as any young kid is growing up. Even now, I get excited about watching Lucas’Star WarsSaga. And why wouldn’t you?
WhenThe Phantom Menacewas re-released to theaters by George Lucas in 2012— which was supposed to be the first of all six saga films thathe was planning to convert into 3Dbefore he sold Lucasfilm to Disney — I was first in line to re-live my earliest childhood memory. This time, I wasn’t so shocked to see Qui-Gon killed by the devilish Darth Maul, nor was I particularly distraught, since I’d seen this thing before. But it did remind me that this memory of Qui-Gon’s death, as much as I can tell, is as far back as my memory goes. Considering that I studied filmmaking in college and have always wanted to tell stories professionally, it makes some weird sense that seeingStar Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menacein theaters at four years old would be the first thing I can remember. Jar Jar Binks aside (sorry,Ahmed Best), I think that’s pretty awesome.
Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menaceis coming back to theaters on May 4.
Buy Tickets
