god I love the: "they couldn't have found someone with Harrison Ford's charisma, it's impossible, nobody -" "Brendan Fraser" "oh I would have liked that"

James wheezing in the background as Maso talks about his vitriolic hate for this movie is absolutely incredible.

"What an awful pack of nerds" is my all time favorite description of the Jedi Council I've ever heard.

"I hate this movie" was delivered perfectly - I actually laughed for about 3 minutes straight

When Nick Mason hates something, it’s powerful. It’s like watching 1989 Michael Jordan make the shot in Game 5 against Cleveland. I just feel inspired.

I like that Obi Wan used his Padawan Force powers to make his rattail grown on different sides of his head at random points throughout the film.

this the closest to Statler and Waldorf that James and Maso have ever been, and i love it! “this movie not half bad.” “no, it’s all bad!”

Warwick Davis's character from e1 showing up in Solo is one of the coolest SW continuity things that I never knew about. Thank you Mr. Movies

This may be controversial but I'm gonna say it. of all the 12 Star Wars feature films this one is definitely and without a shadow of a doubt one of them.

Mason's hate twist is genuinely incredible. Hook it to my veins.

I still think the greatest plot-hole of all time, which was pointed out brilliantly in "How it Should Have Ended" was the moment at that scene in the Senate where Amidala just finished accusing the Trade Federation of invasion, their representatives object by saying "there's no proof." At that moment, why wasn't she like "Uh, wtf are you talking about? There's a ton of proof, including an eyewitness account from the two Jedi you specifically sent to Naboo to settle this whole thing." I remember seeing this movie when I was 10, and even as a kid I was like "Uh, wait. Where are Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan? Shouldn't they be here for this?"

16:59 I think the reason why they gave the role to Qui-Gon instead of Obi-Wan is so that Anakin can get a chance to bond with Qui-Gon as a potential father figure, just for that to get stripped from him in the duel of the fates. Anakin really needed a father in Qui-Gon but instead Obi-Wan clearly only saw him as a brother, as he says in Revenge of the Sith

The prequels in a nutshell. "If you were just nice to him, he wouldn't have killed you all. And you know what? I'm glad he did. Quite frankly, I'm glad."

realizing how much work the Clone Wars animated series did in retroactively improving the prequels in my mind.

22:18 what finally made Obi-Wan a Jedi Knight was the fight with Maul. The Council heard about his duel and went “damn. That’s pretty impressive. We’re gonna treat that fight as a Jedi trial and you passed. Time to cut your braid and develop a hairstyle!”

The No dialogue thing explains how this plot works much better in the context of Lego Star Wars

I’ve been watching people talk about the Star Wars Prequels on the internet and outside of it for years and at this point it feels impossible to say something that hasn’t been said before but the guys were able to keep it fresh alongside the great work from the editors Really excited to see the next two Caravan of Garbage on the other two films

Another layer to the duel of fates thing. Anakin called Obi-Wan his father. Obi called him his brother. They wanted different things from the relationship. And that lack of a father figure, what Qui-Gon would have provided him, was a role filled by Palpatine. Allowing him to he groomed to the Dark side

The way Mason says “we’ll fudge the numbers” adds years to my life whenever I hear it.

Just wanted to thank you guys for making this. My GF and I took about an hour and a half to watch the whole thing because we kept having to stop to discuss the things you brought up, and to laugh at some of the jokes, too. This was a great discussion, and we're looking forward to the next one.

The editing of different takes from different characters in the same shot was a crazy concept and probably took years off the editors lives from stress. It's now a very common thing. David Fincher does it in almost every scene.

You know... that trivia about 'Anakin's Soul' makes so much sense. And explains Obi Wan's pain so well, because he clearly would have realised what happened later.

"If you were just nice to him he wouldn't have killed you all and im glad he did!" i love this line!

My reaction as a 17-year-old seeing this on opening night was basically “there wasn’t enough Obi-Wan” and I still think simply replacing Jar Jar with Obi-Wan during the Tatooine scenes would have significantly improved it for me. Also, they shouldn’t have killed Darth Maul. What a waste of a good villain.

I think Mason sums up what I think about Phantom Menace perfectly in his build up and tear down of the film at the beginning of the video. This is why I love the guy. I like you too James. I don't want you to feel left out.

Just so we're clear. I was very happy with the run time of this video. When the content is this good, it's allowed to be this long.

Anakin was easily the most valuable “thing” Watto owned… never mind the financial implications of him accepting worthless Republic Credits from Qui-Gon or getting robbed of the highly specific hyperdrive they needed… the next time we see him in Episode 2 Watto is absolutely destitute from having lost the free labor of Anakin Skywalker.

27:31 James: you gotta nail it Collings: *Han points at Leia* C-3PO: How rude!

I listened to the extended audio version a few days ago but part of me still thought this video was going to be a trick.

This is one of the best CoG in a while. I feel like my generation (I'm 40) heard about this movie for ever and ever and it didn't feel like there was much else to say. However, you guys totally kept me engaged the entire time with new fun information and your terrific chemistry with each other. Can't wait to see the next two.

21:00 "I wanna get back to the Jedi Council. What an awful pack of nerds!" Bro I spit coffee everywhere hahaha

Anakin should’ve been 12 or 13. The romance between Anakin and Padme will eventually destroy the galaxy, but in this movie the bond is maternal. The idea of romance is just icky. The trauma of being pulled away from his mother would’ve worked, a tween/young teen might front that they are okay on their own, but they’re not

Aw man, as much as I like Qui-gon I kinda love the sound of a film where Obi-wan is out on his first mission alone, and it goes pear-shaped, and he's just floundering around teaming up with anyone who'll take him in and doing whatever it takes to get home. And hell, it'd be a great film for a new generation, with a solid trio of young people (Obi-wan, Anakin, and Padme), each with their own personal stuff to overcome.

I love how Mason did that 180 from praise of the movies production and technical achievement to then go with that being said I definitively hate this film. I couldn't stop laughing and that's why I love Caravan of Garbage.

That George Lucas wrote this without a writer's room reigning him in really explains a lot, especially with the dialog. On a recent rewatch I was struck by hearing kids shout the word "yippee" like 6 times in the span of 20-30 minutes, and I remember wondering how this got past even one additional set of eyes on it. Now I know. Oh well, the whole of Star Wars has always been greater than the sum of it's parts.

Mason’s hatred for this film honestly surprised me. He’s such a chill guy, so seeing him react so intensely genuinely threw me for a loop! Also: 7:17 Also I think James nailed it on the head when it came to Star Wars and politics.

Here for Mason’s second point causing several solid minutes of laughter

For a moment I was like "oh yeah, Michael Jackson did audition, I wonder where I heard that piece of trivia before" until it hit me.

It’s one of those movies that is somehow so memorable while simultaneously not being good

Just like every conversation I have ever had about this film. It ends with them rewriting it after the fact. It goes to show how much potential the premise had.

Literally anything, from the Phantom Menace to Frog Fractions 4, could have been the topic of this video and would not have been shocking at this point.

The worst part is that Anakin getting separated from his mom wasn’t powerful, and was only brought up in a meaningful way once Anakin was an adult. Edit: I don’t think I made myself clear. This comment was in response to them taking about Anakin being a child. George casted a kid because he thought the emotional weight of the decision would be heavier for a child. I don’t think it was a good decisions, and aging Anakin up even 3-4 years would have made a world of difference

That last point pretty much sums up the whole movie, and it's why it's called Duel of the Fates. It's a duel that will forever steer Anakin into the path he's headed towards

Haven't seen anyone mention it but the fact that the lads accidentally figured out how Watto flies is incredible since toydarians to basically have a big gas bubble in their stomach that make them float!

21:00 so on point. Never even thought of it that way. The Jedi council is completely unreasonable. George didn’t make it obvious enough that the Jedi were a decaying org. They should have added a conversation between qui gon and obi wan where he’s complaining about the Jedi

13:15 We literally went through this all over again quite recently, when Kelly Marie Tran and Daisy Ridley decided to leave Twitter from the abuse they were getting. Star Wars fans haven't learnt shit. Some of the most toxic people on the internet you can come across, and all for mostly poor to average films outside of the originals.

The screen rant pitch meeting reference when discussing the false necessity of so many plot points was spot on.

Always liked this one more then most people because One pretty and two I actually like the story because I inherently love the idea of qui-gon as someone who is not ambitious or unrealistic. He doesn’t care about getting on the council and he knows he can’t save everyone but he is going to do what he believes is right. Also I didn’t realize until I was older but I actually love political maneuvering and even the lead up to pod race were qui-gon is manipulating things to get Anakin is using the culture and politics of this gamble heavy backwater to get what he wants.

Replacing Qui-Gon with Obi-Wan in the first 2/3 of the movie would actually make this a far better movie. As a kid I would get all of the characters in the prequels mixed up constantly and I don't think it helps that there is never a clear focus on a single character throughout an entire movie.

Maso's opening monologue sums it up so beautifully: It's an incredible production of an absolutely terrible movie.

also to defend qui-gon's role/existence, he was the type of Jedi that SHOULD have been leading the order. also ties back to duel of the fates cuz its not just Anakin, its the fate of the whole order

I think the duel of the fates thing perfectly demonstrates my opinion on the prequels and why they're so bad but people online love them so much. They're good movies on paper. The plot and ideas in the movie are interesting, but the execution is just not there. The idea of duel of the fates is really cool, and if you read a plot summary or a wiki page about it, it seems like an awesome movie, but the issue is the direction and the editing and the moment to moment dialogue just does not pull the idea off at all. the idea of a relationship of "we work as brothers and friends but I don't know enough to teach you" is too nuanced to work with the writing in these movies. That's why I think so many people like these movies, because all they do is talk about the movies, they rarely sit down beginning to end and watch the movies without interruptions.

"Jar Jar is the key to all of this" was Lucas saying that in reference to special effects? Because if so, he was 1000% right.

Dammit. I’m not a Star Wars fan but this video really makes me appreciate the detail and effort that went into the series while also highlighting where the major shortcomings popped up.

You Guys, the kid Grant, who plays young Luke in Obi-wan. I worked with on FNAF and hes the most grounded kid you could ever meet! GREAT Parents and a great kid. plus he is a really good actor too.

21:54 "if you were just nice to him, he wouldn't have killed you all" omg laughed way too hard at this

Ah man Phantom Menace wasn't as bad as I remember... "Are you an angel?" **throws up**

I was in hs when this movie was released, and the theater on opening night was one of the most joyful, excited, happy atmospheres I've ever been in with a big group of people. Strangers dressed in various character costumes reenacted scenes while were queued up waiting to go into the theater, and others staged lightsaber battles in the aisles as we waited for the movie to start. The roar that went up when that first note of the score played was defeaning--people gave the movie a standing ovation before it even started...and it's probably good they did, because it was an entirely different crowd that left when it was over. People weren't unhappy or angry by any means, I wouldn't even say they were disappointed yet. Mostly, everyone just seemed confused. There had been a new Star Wars film, the first one released in 30 years, and it had had some great moments like the lightsaber duel, but for some reason the audience who had just seen it felt unsatisfied, and at least with the fans who cared enough to see it on opening night, this was an extremely confusing feeling. We were totally expecting the movie to kick ass, and it totally didn't, and we didn't know how to process that. For a day or two, I think most people tried to tell themselves the movie was good, but eventually someone would say, "yeah but jar jar was fucking annoying," or "the kid who played anakin was fucking annoying," or "the dialog in this movie was even worse than the original Star Wars movies," and it would be the catalyst for people to admit the truth: the film is a visually beautiful piece of crap. It managed, for the first time, to make Star Wars boring. Unfortunately, it was a portent of things to come.

Are you telling me that glass isn't frozen air? what a twist of events happens in this amazing movie.

Absolutely love these 2 gents talking through this film and what a couple legends Ben and Lawrence are.

1:30 to 3:40 is the best sequence you guys have ever done. It should be the disclaimer before giving any sort of unpopular or overwhelmingly negative opinion on the internet. Good job, Mason.

34:48 I cannot believe you've subjected me to Ashens' horrifying Jar Jar lollipop recreation.

They made a board game out of the final act of this movie, and yes, you conduct all four aspects of the battle at once. But it's an amazing game. It's definitely a better use if two hours than watching the actual movie.

Phantom Menace is full of good ideas that are executed in an incredibly wooden and ineffective fashion (and sometimes, recalling racial stereotypes from his youth.) A big reason why The Clone Wars animated series worked is that Lucas' ideas were filtered through creators with a far better understanding of characters and dialogue.

My takeaway when I saw this movie in 1999: This was the first movie I’ve ever seen that was totally awesome and totally sucked at the same time.

Mason's heel turn there was textbook, absolute masterclass of how to set up a joke. I think the fact that so many people have 'come around' on this terrible movie is proof that everyone has lost their damn minds over the course of the pandemic

"If you were just nice to him, he wouldn't have killed you all. And you know what? I'm GLAD he did."

The harassment that the actors (who gave George exactly what he asked for, btw) have had to endure is messed up. End of the day, this is George’s baby, and I believe the main problem is that there wasn’t a single person at Lucasfilm that was giving him honest opinions on the story and the very stuffy performances. This is what happens when you are surrounded by yes men. He really should have had someone else direct and write the screenplay. It would be intimidating, but I’m sure they could have found someone that could take this story (which is a good story) and make it into something that would have been a much more enjoyable film. This movie is full of great actors, so we know it’s possible. In the end, this led to The Clone Wars animated series, which is the best thing to come out of the Prequel era. I hope the Disney+ Obi-Wan show will be great and give Ewan, and Hayden as well, a real chance to shine. I’m looking forward to it!

Watching this was super easy, barely an inconvenience

to be completely honest, the politics is part of my favourite parts of star wars, especially the clone wars.

17:25 to be fair, the Force permeates all living things, which excludes droids. Also, I think detecting poison with the Force would be a lot harder than looking into the server’s memories and learning about the poison that way.

Begged my Mother Heavily to see this Movie as a Kid and it's how I feel in Love with Star Wars. Loved how Filoni took Maul and made him a Definitive Character in his TV shows.

A billion dollars in the late 90s is an achievement all it's own.

In my opinion, the prequels are infinitely more interesting to discuss than to watch.

I forgot about James doing that sweet magic trick with the disk

I love how Maso gave a very detailed breakdown of the innovations & cinematic triumph of this movie in one breath only to say "Fuck this movie" in the next 🤣🤣🤣🤣 GENIUS

Caravan of Garbage has become such an amazing series over the years let’s be honest

It's weird to think that in 5 years, TPM will be a 30 year old movie

2:59 I *burst* out laughing at my desk at that

The first time in my life where I ever noticed the soundtrack enhancing the action on screen was during duel of the fates. I was nine and it was the beginning of my love of motion picture soundtracks and appreciation of how they interact with the visuals to enhance storytelling.

I love the zeitgeist around this movie moreso than the movie itself, tho of the prequels it’s probably my favorite (I don’t get a real sense of friendship between Obi-Wan & Anakin in the other two, tho the Clone Wars cartoons have helped a bit). The anticipation for the new film, especially after the hype of the rereleases, was so palpable that watching the trailer on QuickTime in a small window was worth the time it took to download it over a dial-up connection, even if you had to reset because a call came in and you had to disconnect to answer. Paying full price for a movie just to watch the trailer and then walk out certainly helped the box office for Meet Joe Black. But yeah, the 90s served to revive the franchise after the draught and backlash of the late 80s thanks to all the expanded universe content via comics, novels, and video games, and The Phantom Menace was the cap-off to all that goodwill. It was arguably the last time the fandom was United in anticipation and reverence. From there, the fans became divided and in some ways it’s never recovered. I will say that while they’re not favorites of mine, I’ve grown to appreciate them thanks to new perspective of children and supplementary material like the Clone Wars series, and the much more controversial Disney era has given this era a reassessment & reevaluation.

I recently binged all three of the prequels, and the first two were so abysmal. You'd think that I'd be sick of watching by the third film given I was binging it, but the third was just so much more engaging and fun than the first two that it's incredible. Even after slugging through those two, ROTS was leagues more entertaining and had many more great moments flying by than the first two prequels had. That being said I do like the political explanations the films give, the domino effects leading to the creation of Darth Vader, and the plots/concepts are interesting, but the execution just kills me.

3:08 this is my direct evidence as to why i love caravan of garbage

Love the extent that Maso managed to surprise James with his second take! 😁

Things I love: Duel of Fates. Darth Maul’s look, sound and fight choreography. Natalie Portman. The Naboo Starfighter. Things I didn’t like: everything else.

If you make that jar jar vehicular manslaughter shirt I will buy it

The true tragedy of this trilogy is that there could have been the *kernel* of a good story buried within this Garbage-fire. An old but ultimately failing democracy that is causing Outer Rim worlds to secede-in increasingly violent and underhand ways (much like the way the Rebel Alliance broke away from the Empire), with a lot of help from Sith interference. A relatively young pilot/Jedi Apprentice who is driven to the Dark side mostly by a desire to bring order to the galaxy, and to end all the death and destruction the secession is causing (but who ultimately ends up causing more harm than good), A noble Jedi Knight who is sadly blind to the flaws in both his apprentice-and friend-Annikan, and the Order to which he belongs. A Jedi Order whose initial refusal to choose a side in the conflict ultimately leads to the Sith becoming dominant, and a Chancellor who is playing both sides against the middle, in order to gain complete control over the galaxy. Oh, and members of the Alderaan political elite (House Organa and their chosen senator, Padme) trying-but failing-to uncover the Sith conspiracy before it reaches fruition-namely the unleashing of the Clone Army against the seperatists on a level that comes close to genocide.

The behind the scenes dvd extras are easily the most enthralling aspect of the prequels.

I was 16 when this came out and had recently watched all the special editions when they were in cinemas and was hyped AF. All I remember from after was realising it was the first time I'd ever been disappointed watching a movie.

I was a very young child who loved star wars when I first seen this so I've always been lenient with it. I thoroughly love this movie. That being said i never heard that obi-wan was sposed to be the lead instead of Qui-gon and I kinda wish that version existed

Here is the actuall story of the Mace Windu guy on Naboo: That guy at Naboo was Maze Window, not related to Mace Windu at all, not even a Jedi. He was just minding his own bussiness on Coruscant when Palpatine walked up to him and ordered him onto the ship that was going to Naboo. It was not clear if Palpatine knew that he was Mace Windu or not, but Yoda witnessed this and felt some weird darkside energy emanating from Palpatine in that moment and took notice of this. Later on Naboo, as they prepared to leave the ship Palpatine called Maze by his name, ordering him to walk in the back, even behind the aliens, even the long headed one. Yet again Yoda took this into account and therefore told Yaddle about this, both being perplexed over why Mace was told to walk behind them when he in fact outranked most of the people in that conga line, and in rank was the closest to Yoda himself. Maze however did not think much of the happenings at all, on Coruscant he was out for a stroll in his morning robes actually looking for any excuse to get off planet. Maze Window was a simple minded man suffering from either a form of early onset dementia or an extreme lack of sleep so that the symptoms just matched, and he wanted off planet because he was on the run from his caretakers. When Palpatine ordered him to board the ship, he didn't hesitate or even say a word, he just walked aboard. As they later landed on Naboo Maze followed behind, as he was told, and later kept on walking in a direction that seemed like the best one to him. Nobody noticed this, not even Yoda. As they were later lifting that glowing orb thing in celebration Maze Window was nowhere to be seen, but this did catch Yodas attention and he goes to look for him, in the end, finding only his left shoe. However, Yaddle, staying close to Palpatine back at the celebration notice some strange behaviour, first thinking it's signs of darkside powers makes an even more troubling discovery about the Senator. This discovery is later told to Yoda, as he returns back to the celebration with the one shoe of the lost man Maze Window. And it is this discovery about Palpatine that would be what clouds Yodas judgement about the Senator in the later two movies. As Yoda and Mace is informed by Obi-Wan about the Clone army in the second movie, Yoda is quoted as saying "Only a Dark Lord of the Sith knows of our weakness. If informed the senate is, multiply our adversaries will" after Mace Windu suggest that they should tell the senate that the Jedis powers are diminishing. Mace is confused by everything Yoda says on a regular basis and was in this instance as confused as always or even more, as he had no idea what Yoda was actually saying. Mace could never have known the true meaning of Yodas words in that moment because only Yoda and Yaddle knew about the discovery that Yaddle had made that day on Naboo admist the celebrations. The powers of the darkside was a true presence and only grew stronger as Yaddle closed in on the celebrating Palpatine, they had just raised another glowing orb and had their guard down, like there was something in the air that made them all loosen up and relax, laughing and smiling at everything. Yaddle had not been as effected, as she had not raised any orbs herself. She carefully walked, fake mingling with people, steadily getting closer to Palpatine, and then she heard it. Palpatine was spouting a bunch of nonsense about black people all looking the same when someone had asked him why Mace Windu was not at the celebration and that the guy on the ship had not been Mace Windu. Yaddle was asstounded by the news of Palpatine being a racist, maybe even a white supremacist symbol. Yaddle told Yoda everything she had heard and they both were disgusted, but Yoda, not as much as Yaddle would have thought. Yoda was quoted as saying "after all, politician he is". Since that moment Yoda knew that Palpatine was evil, that he looked down on, maybe even hated, people of color. But Yoda could have never imagened just how much hate there was in that man, not just for people of color, but for everything and everyone that was not him. So what happened to the poor man that got left behind on Naboo, tricked by the Dark Lord himself, what happened to Maze Window? He left the celebration and got his foot stuck in some big doo-doo and accidentaly, trying to free himself, pulled his shoe off, falling backwards, tumbling, rolling down a hill, getting covered in dirt. His robes getting all torn and sullied, as he fell all the way down to the swamps of Naboo, outside of the city. He couldn't get back up again so he started walking. He didn't get far as he was already, before all this, so tired, only working at about 40% he decided to take a well earned nap. He suffered from night terrors though, so he was hesitant and didn't really want to fall asleep. The night terrors were caused by visions of what he dreaded could actually be his future, and he would often wake up sweating in his bed. But as he laid down on the swampy dirt, he drifted off to a dreamless night, or day, as it was daytime when he fell asleep. He didn't wake up screaming about "a bigger fish", no, he woke up with a smile. Maze Window would later go for a swim in the lakes of Naboo to wash off all the dirt he had on him from rolling down that incredibly long hill - and Maze Window would never be seen in the Star Wars universe again.

Technically speaking, Episode 1 is absolutely incredible. The problem is that it becomes 'The Room' the moment you turn up the audio.

This movies plot is solely about palpatine trying to get the previous chancellor fired. It’s genius

Something about that palpatine fella doesn’t sit right with me

Nick Mason standing by his principles, K I N G

26:46 I'm glad someone finds my accent posh! You must admit, politicians and corpos ruling with indifference and careless disregard for human/alien life is a British tradition and quite appropriate for the film.

Darth Mauls Entrance. One of the best Star Wars moments. Shame its in this film

It was interesting to hear about some of that behind-the-scenes stuff. On a side note, I’ve never been bothered by Jar Jar, and I think that’s because I was the target demographic for his kind of slapstick comic relief character when I saw it as a kid.

I come back & watch this every few months for Mason’s intro. Bonus points for “Wingsie Snouter”

The great thing about the prequels for me is that George Lucas taught me one thing, it is that when someone has a goal and they accomplish it and yet everyone around that person is saying it isn't any good just appreciate the work they did for that "garbage". The prequels were not the greatest films ever but George Lucas intended for them to be at the start childrens movies, the actors seem to have all really enjoy working together and overall George loved these films. For me they are not masterpieces but they are enjoyable to watch and the are quite fun and creative. The sequels were not even close to this good because the actors really only saw it as a job, they knew it wasn't doing good in the second one and overall I think people and the directors alongside the writers were nowhere near as excited to work on this film. George Lucas tried to write for the first film before he handed it off to Disney and to say they betrayed him is a understatement. Both sequels and prequela have their pretty major flaws but overall I think the prequels were better because the cast and crew seemed to have enjoyed making it more.