Smithers said:

Padme as the protagonist is actually an interesting concept, though this isn't particularly true since she gets less screen time than Qui-Gon and just as much as Anakin. The movie could be edited to focus on her, but that would cut out the more fun and interesting parts of the story, resulting in something even worse.

All of the palpatine stuff makes sense I guess, but it should've actually been explained clearly in the movie rather than someone putting it together fifteen years later.

The ring theory is absolute bullshit, it's not a theory, it's fact. A four year old kid could figure out that the PT tries to mirror the OT! This adds nothing to the PT, and simply makes it seem sloppily written. Not poetry, not symbolism, just repetition, and useless repetition at that.

TPM wasn't just explained to me, it was simply defended by someone who won't accept that it sucks ass. I appreciate that you are trying to understand this movie, and can enjoy it after putting this together, but it does not redeem the movie. The movie sucks big time, especially by Star Wars' standards.

When will you people understand I do NOT LIKE the Phantom Menace. This movie sucks big time. I didn't even include it as part of the main series when I showed my friends Star Wars for the first time ( Machete Order ). While Attack of the Clones is a failure as a movie on every level, Phantom Menace is a failure as a continuation of the Star Wars saga. It undermines not just the original trilogy, but the other prequels too. There are two good things in this movie: Darth Maul and the score by John Williams.