I was in 8th grade when TPM came out and just a couple weeks from turning 14 (way to make me feel old, guys).
TPM was originally scheduled for May 21st (my best friend's birthday), but was bumped up two days when the second trailer hit in March.
What I still remember vividly from the morning of opening day is my French teacher starting off class by saying "Now, we all know what "sequel" means," as she wrote the word on the board. Then she asked "Qu'est-ce que c'est "prequel"?" as she wrote that word as well.
"Wow, my French teacher is bringing this up right at the start of class," I thought. That's when I realized it wasn't just a big deal to me, it was a big deal all over.
It's just dawning on me now, especially thinking back to that "The Beginning" documentary from the dvd, that she'd probably seen a story about it on the news the night before and was wondering what all this "prequel" hubbub was all about.
We explained to her that the originals were IV, V and VI and that this was I.
Later in the day, between classes, I remember overhearing some of the other kids making plans to go see it that night. On a Wednesday. Again, exemplifying just how big a deal this movie was.
I'd told myself I could wait for the weekend, but who the hell was I kidding? This movie I'd awaited fervently since November was finally in theaters and I could go see it right now. All it took was the offer of a drive to the theater from my totally awesome mom to convince me.
Getting out of the car I bumped into a friend from the neighborhood who'd just seen it and said it was pretty good. I bought a ticket for the next late-afternoon show (this was probably around 5:30), surprised it wasn't sold out. Not only was it not sold out, but by the time the movie started the theater wasn't even close to being full.
Anyway, I still remember hearing about how Lucasfilm had limited (ahah!) the number of trailers that could be attached to the movie. I remember them playing the American Pie trailer. The Austin Powers 2 trailer was probably attached to my print as well, I remember seeing it on either Access Hollywood or E.T. in any event. Then of course there was Fox's "a quick look at three films currently in development," which were Fight Club, Anna and the King and Titan A.E.
Then the lights went down and the Loews Cineplex logo played. Then that familiar Fox fanfare started and the logos and titles came up.
"Holy Shit, this is really happening."
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....
STAR WARS
There it was, just as we knew it would be:
Episode I
THE PHANTOM MENACE
The crawl continued, looking exactly as it had in the originals but obviously having been accomplished digitally this time around (and for good reason), an intentionally low-fi effect in an otherwise cutting edge movie and something that was a throwback even in 1977. The only thing different was the words.
Then the crawl ended and the camera tilted down to an approaching spaceship, only to pan with the ship and follow it as it flew by.
Weird aliens, a protocol droid, Darth Sidious via hologram, then a laser blast, an explosion and HOLY SHIT, LIGHTSABERS.
I could go on and on, but lemme just say that I'd read the first hundred pages or so of the novelization, stopping right after Qui-Gon asks Obi-Wan for Anakin's midichlorian count. In that respect it was almost like seeing the pages played out on screen beat for beat, knowing what would happen but delighting in not knowing how. Obviously the rest of the movie after that was unknown, but I'd pretty much spoiled for myself stuff like Qui-Gon dying from flipping through the comic book at the store. The action and spectacle, the scope and scale, were entertaining nevertheless.
The lightsaber fight at the end had me still buzzing after the movie had ended.
I remember passing all the people lined up for the evening screening and bumping into my basketball coach (only a few years older than me), who was among them.
My initial overall reaction was "that was the greatest movie ever!" Deep down, I knew better.
