1. What were your expectations going in Episode I?
I expected like it would be like all the bad bits that had been inserted into the SE, but more of it: crappy CGI, making comedy of aliens getting hurt, weak plot, shots that don't make sense, etc. I did not think that they would be able to recreate the Star Wars feel.
I did expect to be dazzled by great visuals. I did also expect the overall plot to be more interesting and the dialogue to be less cheesy than the final result.
2. What did you think of the trailers released in 1998/99?
I avoided all spoilers like the plague.
I was in school at the time. When someone played a trailer on a computer nearby in the computer room, I closed my eyes, put my hands over my ears and sang loudly so that I would not see or hear anything until it was over.
3. Did you read any SW Insiders magazines, spoilers on the internet? Anything from them that stuck out to you?
I avoided reading magazines that I thought could contain anything about Star Wars.
The only spoiler from a magazine was a picture in Wired Magazine of Battle Droids debarking a landing craft. I thought "Hey, this looks pretty cool". Then i read the first lines in the caption, and panic struck. I immediately closed the magazine and never opened it again.
From the posters of the movie, I had got the impression that Liam Neeson and Pernilla August were playing husband and wife and that Anakin was their son.
6. When did you finally see it, opening night? opening weekend? wait for the crowds to die down and saw it later in the summer?
I think that I saw it on the third night. I could not get tickets for the premiere.
It was not shown in theatres over here in Sweden until September. A buddy had a pirated DVD that I could have seen in the beginning of June, but I wanted to see it on the big screen.
Those three months were HELL ... Spoilers on billboards on the street, talk about Star Wars on television and in magazines.. It was everywhere, and I had to avoid it.
My buddy had spoiled me about Jar-Jar, but I did not think that he was going to be that bad as he actually was.