STAR
WARS
E P I S O D E I
THE PHANTOM MENACE

1999 ***** 133 mins.

This is my personal favourite of the Star Wars series. It's not the greatest, of course (that title will forever go to the original 1977 version of Episode IV), but this is still my favourite. This is the beginning of the whole story. All throughout the original trilogy, we heard about the "Old Republic". Well, we finally get to see that Old Republic. We finally get to see what the universe was once like before the Galactic Empire. This is a wonderful film that maintains the magic of Star Wars, puts more elements into perspective, gives us more lovable characters, and has marvellous special effects. The pod race is exhilirating, and every part of the film enthralls the viewer like no other film in the series does.
Rated PG for sustained sequences of sci-fi action/violence.

• Original theatrical aspect ratio: 2.35:1 (Hawk Scope)
• Original theatrical release date: May 19, 1999

• ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing (Ben Burtt and Tom Bellfort), Best Effects, Visual Effects (John Knoll, Dennis Muren, Scott Squires, and Rob Coleman), and Best Sound (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Shawn Murphy, and John Midgley)
• ACADEMY OF SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY & HORROR AWARDS: Best Costumes (Trisha Biggar) and Best Special Effects (Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires)
• ACADEMY OF SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY & HORROR AWARDS NOMINATION: Best DVD Classic Film Release, Best Actor (Liam Neeson), Best Director (George Lucas), Best Make-Up (Paul Engelen, Sue Love, and Nick Dudman), Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress (Jake Lloyd), Best Performance by a Younger Actor/Actress (Natalie Portman), Best Science Fiction Film, Best Supporting Actor (Ewan McGregor), and Best Supporting Actress (Pernilla August)
• BAFTA AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects (John Knoll, Dennis Muren, Scott Squires, and Rob Coleman) and Best Sound (Ben Burtt, Tom Bellfort, John Midgley, Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, and Shawn Murphy)
• BMI FILM & TV AWARD: BMI Film Music Award (John Williams)
• BLOCKBUSTER ENTERTAINMENT AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Favorite Actor - Action/Science Fiction (Ewan McGregor), Favorite Actor - Action/Science Fiction (Liam Neeson), Favorite Actress - Action (Natalie Portman), Favorite Supporting Actor - Action/Science-Fiction (Jake Lloyd), Favorite Supporting Actress - Action (Pernilla August), and Favorite Villain (Ray Park)
• BOGEY AWARD, GERMANY: Bogey Award in Platin
• BRIT AWARDS NOMINATION: Best Soundtrack
• CINEMA AUDIO SOCIETY NOMINATION: Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for a Feature Film (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson, Shawn Murphy, and John Midgley)
• CASPNIVALO AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Female Performance (Natalie Portman), Best Original Score (John Williams), Best Screenplay (George Lucas), and Best Visual Effects
• DVD EXCLUSIVE AWARD: Best DVD Menu Design (Van Ling)
• DVD EXCLUSIVE AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Audio Commentary (George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires), Best New, Enhanced or Reconstructed Movie Scenes (Pablo Helman), Best Original Retrospective Documentary (Jon Shenk for "The Beginning"), and Best Overall New Extra Features, Library Title (Jim Ward)
• GOLDEN SCREEN AWARDS, GERMANY: Golden Screen, Golden Screen with 1 Star
• GOLDEN TRAILER AWARDS NOMINATION: Best Action
• GRAMMY AWARDS NOMINATION: Best Instrumental Composition Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media (John Williams)
• LAS VEGAS FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARD: Best Costume Design (Trisha Biggar)
• LAS VEGAS FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Production Design (Gavin Bocquet), Best Visual Effects (Dennis Muren)
• MTV MOVIE AWARD: Best Action Sequence (For the pod race)
• MTV MOVIE AWARD NOMINATIONS: Best Fight (Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Ray Park) and Best Villain (Ray Park)
• MOTION PICTURE SOUND EDITORS AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Sound Editing - Dialogue & ADR (Ben Burtt, Tom Bellfort, Matthew Wood, Tom Bellfort, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, and Sara Bolder) and Best Sound Editing - Effects & Foley (Ben Burtt, Tom Bellfort, Matthew Wood, Teresa Eckton, Christopher Scarabosio, Bruce Lacey, and Marian Wilde
• ONLINE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY AWARDS NOMINATION: Best Original Score (John Williams)
• RAZZIE AWARD: Worst Supporting Actor (Jar-Jar Binks [Ahmed Best (voice of Jar-Jar Binks)])
• RAZZIE AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Worst Director (George Lucas), Worst Picture, Worst Screen Couple (Jake Lloyd and Natalie Portman), Worst Screenplay (George Lucas), Worst Supporting Actor (Jake Lloyd), and Worst Supporting Actress (Sofia Coppola)
• SATELLITE AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Sound (Tom Bellfort, Ben Burtt, Tom Bellfort, and Matthew Wood) and Best Visual Effects (Peter Hutchinson, John Knox, Judith Weaver, and Dennis Muren)
• TEEN CHOICE AWARDS NOMINATION: Film - Movie of the Summer
• YOUNG ARTIST AWARD: Best Performance in a Feature Film - Young Actor Age Ten or Under (Jake Lloyd)
• YOUNG ARTIST AWARDS NOMINATION: Best Family Feature Film - Drama
• YOUNGSTAR AWARDS NOMINATIONS: Best Performance by a Young Actor in a Drama Film (Jake Lloyd) and Best Performance by a Young Actress in a Drama Film (Natalie Portman)

• Commentary by George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Ben Burtt, Rob Coleman, John Kroll, Dennis Muren, and Scott Squires
• Anamorphic Widescreen (Aspect Ratio 2.35:1)
• English Dolby 5.1 Surround EX
• English Dolby 2.0 Surround
• Spanish Dolby Surround
• English Subtitles
• Closed Captioned for the hearing impaired
• Digitally Mastered in THX
• Exclusive Deleted Scenes Documentary features seven new sequences completed just for this DVD release, including extended Podrace scenes
• All-new hour-long documentary film culled from over 600 hours of footage, "The Beginning" takes you where few people have been before-inside Lucasfilm and ILM during the production of Episode I
• Multi-angle storyboard-to-animatic-to-film segment featuring the Submarine and Podrace Lap 1 sequences
• Five Featurettes explore The Phantom Menace's storyline, design, costumes, visual effects, and fight scenes
• Award-winning twelve-part web documentary series that chronicles the production of Episode I
• "Duel of the Fates" music video featuring John Williams
• Never-before-seen Production Photo Gallery with special caption feature
• Theatrical posters and print campaign from around the world
• Theatrical teaser and launch trailers, plus seven TV spots
• "Star Wars: Starfighter - The Making of a Game" featurette from LucasArts
• DVD-ROM weblink to exclusive Star Wars content