I was about 8 at the time Phantom Menace was released and the majority of the cinema experience was spent running back and forth from the toilets to be sick (not from the movie, hehe. I had eaten too many sweets and had worked myself up with excitement. For a long time afterward I had a fear of going to the cinema because I was afraid I would be sick, which is odd now that I have a career in the film-making.) The odd thing is that I would only come in during the action scenes, so I missed the majority of the plot and the dreadful dialogue scenes. It was when Episode 2 came out that I realised how bad the Prequels were. I went to see it with my Dad and a friend and a palpable feeling of embarrassment came over me as I watched it.

Extra note: There was an exhibition at the Barbican (a sort of arts venue in London) a year or so prior to Episode II, which displayed several of the props and concept art for the STAR WARS films. There was far more stuff from the original films, which I was totally fine with (Han Solo and Luke being my favourite characters as a kid). We got a chance to meet with a Iain McCaig, one of the concept artists of the prequels, for a group discussion and a crash course in concept artwork. He was really gracious, patient and was an all round joy to meet. Goes to show that although the prequels are irredeemably terrible, the people who worked on them weren't.