Anticipation-The Real Life Story of Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace

Jonathan L Bowen

Review by Mark Newbold

May 19^th 1999 – a date indelibly etched into the minds of Star Wars fans across the planet, as the release of Phantom Menace ended fifteen years, three hundred and fifty-nine days of Star Wars movie starvation for millions of fans.  And of those fans, Jonathan L Bowen decided to research his subject matter to the finest point and write this book, compiling an overview of what was undoubtedly the most anticipated motion picture of all time into a treasure-trove of information, laid out in a crisp manner.

But the subject matter of Anticipation has proved to be one of contention among saga fans.  While many were more than pleased with the film, an equal amount were disappointed with the results, shunning Episode I and claiming Lucas had lost the magic touch that made Original Trilogy so popular.  And yet despite the arguments a box office tally north of $900 million dollars worldwide was undeniable proof of the power of Star Wars, coming on the heels of the $465 million the Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition made just two years before.  Lucas was back in the blockbuster game, and the Prequel Trilogy had left space dock.

While reading this book it’s evident that Bowen sits firmly in the camp that enjoyed Menace and the return of Star Wars to the big screen, revelling in the characters and finer points of the production of the movie.  As he says in the epilogue “The Phantom Menace continued the tradition of excellence associated with the Star Wars saga and it serves as a suitable introduction to the characters, the Prequel Trilogy and the saga as a whole.”

For those readers who enjoy detailed statistics on productions, this is a statistician’s heaven, giving information on everything you could wish for.  $200 – the price eBay were selling tickets to the first TPM screenings.  $30,000 – the amount raised by fans lining up outside Mann’s Chinese Theatre for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.  Three million – the amount of Star Wars books Dorling Kindersley sold in 1999, and so on. 

The book is broken down into logical chapters, from an introduction that explains the state-of-play of Star Wars in the early 90’s through chapters on merchandising deals, casting, 20^th Century Fox winning the war to release the prequels (by no means a sure thing), the phenomenal reaction to the first trailer right through to the critical reaction the film received from both media sources and disgruntled fans.  It even goes so far as to make note of the large part the internet community played in spreading the word of the film, marking out TheForce.net, Countingdown.com and JediNet.com as the major movers of the time as well as the unique approach the official site took to promoting the product.

What Bowen achieves here is exactly what the book promises, a detailed essay into the real life story of The Phantom Menace, from its inception in November 1994 to the aftermath of its release in May 1999 and beyond.  Currently it sits happily on my shelf between Empire Building by Garry Jenning and George Lucas The Making of His Movies by Chris Salewicz.  Logically laid out, engagingly written and packed with more detail than a Tusken Raider could shake his gaffi stick at you can only hope that Bowen decides to write a follow up detailing the anticipation surrounding Attack of the Clones and to a larger degree Revenge of the Sith.  Without a doubt there’s a tale to be told there.