The Phantom Menace at 20: was the infamous prequel actually that bad?

It’s 20 years since George Lucas outraged fans, derailed careers and introduced us to Jar Jar Binks. Is it time to forgive him?

It is hard to believe that The Phantom Menace is 20 years old this year. In the decades since we first met Jar Jar Binks, Anakin Skywalker and those weird cod-Japanese blokes from the Trade Federation, fans have found umpteen new targets to obsess over – not least the current trilogy of Star Wars movies, overseen by Lucasfilm’s not-so-new owner Disney.

These days super-fan outrage – such as that currently aimed at the final season of Game of Thrones – has become the norm. But it was Episode I that perhaps ushered in the era of fan power, of amateur bloggers capable of turning an entire franchise on its head, of careers and lives derailed (in some cases before they even got going), of CGI-phobia and anti-marketing wrath.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2HyR9Cx
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