Phantom Menace 3D?

[DennyMo]

OK, we all know the movie was a let-down, most folks agree it was the worst of the 6. Forgetting that for the moment, have any of you seen the newly released 3D version? Did they do the 3D well? Or is it a sucky post-conversion? My boys are clamoring to see it, but $40 for the 4 of us is cause for pause. Any comments? Thanks.

[Dennis Burger]

Ask and ye shall receive!

[Tracy Rainwater]

Dennis is on it.

[NoUDont]

I agree with Dennis, there were only a couple of 3D "moments" which includes the Lucasfilm logo.

the part that I thought would blow me away had little to zero 3dness, the pod race.

the coolest part of the 3d experience are the glasses...nuff said.

I knew I should have just watched in 2D...$40 later ($23.50 + concessions). My son enjoyed it, so that makes it worth while. The franchise is still one of the few where people applaud at the beginning and at the end.

[Jerry Del Colliano]

Denny - welcome back to the site. Good to see you posting again.

[Dennis Burger]

Sorry for the long absence! Hopefully I'll be around a lot more.

[DennyMo]

Dennis, enjoyed your write-up. I was intrigued by your comparison of your DVD player's conversion of Ep1 and Ep2. Do you think this has anything to do with the different generations of digital filming used? (2K vs. 4K, if I remember the terminology correctly.)

I clicked through to your defense of Ep1, was surprised by your assertion that Ep1 has stood the test of time better than Ep3. I'm curious, what turned you off of Ep3?

Also, I wonder what happened to that "live action Star Wars TV show" that was supposed to start production in 2010. Google, here I come...

[edit: According to Wikipedia, it's "currently on hold due to budgetary concerns."]

[Dennis Burger]

Oh, nothing has turned me off of Revenge of the Sith, per se. I still love it. ("Noooooooooooo!" aside.) I just think The Phantom Menace, a few annoyances aside, has a more intriguing story. It's not as rushed. It's just as poorly acted (although not so much as Return of the Jedi, in my humble opinion), but the acting has never been what drew me to Star Wars, despite a few great performances in ANH and TESB.

Yes, the kid is terrible. Yes, that two-headed race announcer thing ruins an otherwise fun action sequence. And yes, the whole C-3PO thing was forced. (I could go on and on listing imperfections.) But Episode I still intrigues me. I love that such seemingly banal events led to such an upheaval in the political system of an entire galaxy.

As to the question of filming formats, Episode I was actually filmed and then digitally scanned, with all effects created/composited in the digital domain. Episode II and I believe Episode III, as well, were shot flat (as opposed to anamorphically) at 1920x1080/24 and cropped to 2.35:1, so the actual resolution of those is only about 1920x817, at best.

So, theoretically, at least (depending on the resolution at which Episode I was scanned), the first prequel film actually had more resolution to work with. It's always been the crappiest looking of the entire saga, though.

[DennyMo]

We took the boys to the Monday noon show. I must say it was a much better experience than I expected. On the way home, we discussed "What 3D moment surprised you the most?" My 8yo said, "The subtitles really popped out front of the pictures." Ha! Like some of you commented, the pod race didn't feel any different. But at the speeds everything was moving, I'm not sure I would have noticed any 3D effects. The assault on the droid command ship benefitted from the treatment. There were only a few places where I found the 3D "bad" or distracting: maybe it didn't add much to the movie, but it certainly didn't take anything away, either.

If you enjoy the movies and don't have a 30' screen in your HT, I recommend catching them again: it is Star Wars on the big screen after all.