A very happy 25th anniversary to Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, which made its debut in US cinemas this week in 1999! While I have a lot of affection for this film, it’s no secret that it doesn’t have the greatest of reputations, and it’s not entirely undeserved. The combination of the film’s often stilted, exposition-laden dialogue, its focus on the political machinations of the Trade Federation, and its overuse of all-CGI comic relief annoyance Jar Jar Binks made it ripe for parody; without further ado, here’s a short selection of some of my favourite Phantom Menace memes, webcomics, songs and sketches!
Darths & Droids
Beginning in 2007, Darths & Droids is a webcomic adaptation of the movie in the style of a tabletop RPG, with the conceit that Star Wars doesn’t exist and so the players are free to interpret the DM’s new campaign - which quickly devolves into “Cheddar Monks on a quest to retrieve the Lost Orb of Phantasmagoria, armed with laser swords” - as they would any generic sci-fi RPG setting. There’s D&D tropes aplenty, as the DM tries valiantly to railroad the players back to the narrarive of the movie, all while the players try to exploit, loophole and munchkin their way to victory…
The crew behind Darths & Droids have since adapted almost all of the Skywalker Saga - they’re currently 2/3rds of the way through The Last Jedi - and have even covered Rogue One and the Star Wars episode of the Muppet Show!
Obi-Wan Falling
There’s not much else I can say about this one. Just makes me giggle. :D
“Weird Al” Yankovic’s The Saga Begins
The legendary parody-song musician “Weird Al” Yankovic wrote this incredibly accurate and concise plot summary of Episode 1, set to the tune of Don McLean’s “American Pie”, before the release of the movie by using only internet spoilers as references. Now that’s impressive.
Your thoughts dwell on your mother…
It’s the reaction shot in the last panel, with the “oooooh”, that really makes this meme…
French & Saunders in The Phantom Millennium
British comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders ripped Episode 1 to shreds in the centrepiece of their 1999 Christmas special, with the pair starring as “Pork Dim-Sum” and “Toby Jugs Kenobi” as they blunder their way through a rough approximation of the plot of the movie. Very much of its time and with a lot of very British references - look, there’s Wee Jimmy Krankie! Dusty Bin! Mr Humphries out of Are You Being Served! … if you have no idea who any of those are, chances are you’ll miss a lot of this spoof’s jokes, but it’s still admirably put together for what it is.
You can watch the whole thing in fairly low quality for free here, or a slightly better copy on Now TV if you’re a subscriber.
Robot Chicken: Hold Onto This
And finally, the Robot Chicken crew use a scene from Episode 1 as a way to ask one of those burning questions we’ve always wanted to know: what happens if you drop your lightsaber?