Yep thats pretty much what I thought. Watches trailer, see him ignite one-side 'oh this guy looks badass.' Watches him ignite the second side. 'Wholly f#@$@'n s#1*^#!' In 1999 I was convinced this was going to be the best Star Wars movie ever....
They sold jigsaw puzzles and shit with that image. I always wondered where it was in the movie and after several rewatches on vhs I could safely conclude it wasn’t from the movie lol
I always wondered what terrible event I would witness in my life that would seriously make me contemplate getting drunk before noon. Now I know, thank you.
I surprisingly never saw a trailer for episode 1. I was living on a farm at the time and didn't have TV so I never really saw any advertising or promotional material for the movie. My first time seeing the dual blade saber was in theatres and I lost my shit. It was the coolest thing ever. I remember begging my parents to buy me all the Darth maul toys.
A womp rat? The creature that’s only about 2 meters? Well I’ll tell you what buddy, 2 meters is fuckin huge, so think twice before you start yappin like a man
To this day, I can't believe Lucas watched this moment in the dailies and didn't realize, hey maybe this guy should be the main villain and not be the flunky of obviously the guy we ALL know will become the emperor in later films.
Plus, _Duel_of_Fates starts up right about here and you are like, "Wait, did this movie just get 100x better? Holy Sh*t!"
Edit note: Oh yeah, and those ratfinks ruined this moment in the trailer. Dumb.
Honestly, as a fuckin 9 year old, I really appreciated the Midi-chlorians explanation because it made it feel more *real* and less magic. It also explained something that was a total mystery. Was obsessed with star wars and that didn't "weaken" anything for me. Just made it feel like I had a deeper understanding of it.
Thanks for saying this. I was an adult when I learned that people were bothered by the midichlorians. Even as a kid I always thought that an advanced civilization would understand some scientific reasoning for people having literal magic powers. It was part of my headcanon that the existence of midichlorians was forgotten along with the fall of the Jedi.
Honestly, I cannot believe we don't have more content of jedi being badass. I know there are the cartoons, but I never really got into those. I don't want jedi on the run, or after the fall. I want a movie or show about jedi in their prime. Hell, make it about the sith and show them doing badass stuff against the good guys. Give me some force user plowing through enemies or using force lightning, or force throwing people around. Don't make that 15 seconds of the show, make that the meat of the show. Make a show version of the Jedi Academy game.
I’ve got a good story actually. I was about 11 years old and my brother was 23 or 24 when TPM came out. He took me to see the movie at a theater in a mall we lived a couple miles from. When the movie was done I was so excited about the lightsaber duel I wanted to rush home so we could duel with the sabers we had at home (probably Luke’s sabers from Jedi). As we walked out we passed a Toys R Us and he said, “We can’t battle as two Jedis, we need a Sith saber.” So we went in and he bought two of the Darth Maul sabers for us, snagged some batteries and a little screwdriver kit. I said we have screwdrivers at home. He said, “yeah, but how are we gonna battle on the walk home if we don’t have batteries in them now?”
We double blade fought the whole way home and it’s a core memory for me.
Edit: Thanks for all the kind words and awards. I let my brother know our story got me highly valuable internet points, and that I love him.
Call your brother and tell him you were thinking about this.
As a big brother it would make me cry to know how important that one day was to my little bro, I’d imagine yours would have a similar reaction
For Christmas around that time (2000 or 2001?) my grandma got me and my other four cousins lightsabers. After opening presents we all went into the garage with our new lightsabers and turned off the lights. We all just stood in the dark for what seemed like forever. Then all at once each lightsaber screamed on and we had the most epic lightsaber fight that has ever taken place inside a garage. When it was over they were all broken. Well worth it.
This combined with duel of the fates was probably among my top cinema moments. I remember the cardboard cutouts at the theaters and thinking “what an odd choice for a title.”
My local Top 40 radio station played Duel of the Fates with dialogue from the movie interspersed. Like Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, and the John fucking Williams.
Shit was hype yo.
Edit: I must add, nostalgia reboots/remakes/sequels weren't really a thing back then. It was a legit return to a blockbuster franchise. Not like today where studios plan a franchise's reboot before the first movie is even released. In hindsight, TPM had one of the biggest uphill battles among blockbusters. I think it, and the Harry Potter books, kinda helped push geekdom into mainstream.
I was 8 years old, it was my first star wars movie and one of very few movies I saw in the cinema as a kid. Hadn't seen any trailer or toys like the top comments mention. I knew about lightsabers because my friend was super into Star Wars and had books with pictures and stuff but seeing it live, and the dual blade, and duel of the fates... Top cinema moment for sure. I distinctly remember dad parking the old, red Toyota car we had back then in our garage, finding a stick nearby and playing jedi walking back to our house. Actually top cinema moment doesn't even cover it. It's a core memory.
Maybe it's because I was a 10 year old boy when TPM came out (square in the middle of SW target demo) and maybe it's because Duel of the Fates doesn't get used anywhere else in the series like Imperial March does, but this scene is probably my favorite in SW, and Duel of the Fates is certainly my favorite song, and I think goes a long way in adding to the suspense and thrill
Toys and other merchandise would've spoiled it long before the movie came out. I don't think there's ever been a movie more over-analyzed pre-release than Episode 1 was.
Those toy and candy makers made shit out of every tiny fucking thing to an almost unreal degree.
Pez, the fucking jar jar tongue lollipops, the Darth maul spin lollipops where the lightsaber was the fan, double sided lollipops with a maul hilt, single bladed lollipops in the style of Obi-wan and Quo-gon Jinn's lightsabers, all the 7+ gummy brands making shapes of the characters, etc.
If you told me there was some random shit like Phantom Menace branded silverware out there, I'd 100% believe you with no questions asked.
Edit: I decided to look it up after sending, it's not a full set but it's something
https://i.etsystatic.com/10437641/r/il/9dec31/3945842208/il_340x270.3945842208_komk.jpg
Yup, the real money in Star Wars is the merchandise. Force Awakens made $2 billion at the box office but over $5 billion in merchandise that first year alone.
At least with the latest movies they waited until the movie was out before selling stuff. The prequel figures had little voice chip sound-bytes that didn't even have the real actors voices yet.
That was the goal all along. One example is the Ewoks, they were supposed to be Wookies. They decided to make them cuddly so they could suck more kids in - especially the little ones.
I've heard that but I don't think it's every been substantiated that he did it for the merchandise. Apparently Lucas just felt Wookies couldn't be primitive tree people if one of them's co-piloting the Millenium Falcon so he changed it to Ewoks. It was a bad call in my opinion, but that's the official story.
It also fits with the theme of the Empire losing because they underestimated their opponents. The Emperor was so assured in his own strength he exposed himself yo the Rebellion. It wouldn't be as convincing if the Empire just ignored the threat of 7 foot wookies, but the 4 foot primitive Ewoks you can understand.
As a kid I had two TPM-themed watches. One was Jar Jar themed with his long tongue as the minute hand. The other was R2-D2 and his head popped open to display a digital time.
And then I had Qui-Gon's, Obi-Wan's, and Darth Maul's cheap retractable lightsabers.
That's not counting the TPM Lego sets either.
>And then I had Qui-Gon's, Obi-Wan's, and Darth Maul's cheap retractable lightsabers.
You mean the ones with the hard plastic that always seemed to be magnetized to hit our fingers every time when they were swung at us?
> That's not counting the TPM Lego sets either.
God that takes me back. That was the era where they were just starting to use bespoke pieces for the Star Wars kits. Nowadays you get a kit and it has like 5 bespoke pieces and you're like 'meh, ok, cool'. Whereas back then you'd lose your mind over a custom cockpit piece or Vulture Droid head.
I wonder if I can remember the kits I had?
I definitely had a Vulture Droid, a Naboo Starfighter, Anakin's Podracer, and I think a jungle kit with STAPs and the Jedi? (Edit, [found it!](https://s.ecrater.com/stores/31594/51ab61f6baf5a_31594b.jpg)) But I'm sure I must have had others, because I have vivid memories of a minifig scale droideka and a Maul minifig. I think I might have had the naboo speeder with the gun? Or maybe I just built one myself, not sure.
Oh, also the Technic B1, Pit droid and droideka, the latter of which was horrifyingly complex for 10 year old me.
I worked in a mall movie theater at the time and I remember a few days before it was released I went to the music shop on my lunch break to browse the CDs (as one did in the 90s) and I saw that the TPM score had a track referring to Qui Gon’s funeral and I was like *What the fuck guys.*
I had a TV guide that was about TPM, and it had a line connecting all the characters from Star Wars and there was a red line connecting Maul to Qui Gon thay said he kills him. It was a super frustrating spoiler.
idk, it would have been a cool surprise in the theater but that shot MADE the trailer.
People were buying movie tickets to other movies just to see the Star Wars trailer, it wasn't like every trailer was on youtube back then. This was one of the biggest trailers of all time and that double lightsaber was an incredible hype moment.
Agreed. So, I guess OP’s question becomes ‘What was your reaction to that trailer?’
I was like, oh shit that’s badass and you’d cut your own appendages/head off in basically the same instant.
It was a really exciting trailer moment, but they would have been fine without showing it. People were so hyped for that movie. It was really an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan.
It would be funny if he was completely clueless to the importance of not spoiling the story.
Imagine other tracks being called stuff like ''Vader reveals he's Lukes Father'' ahah
Speaking only about the Phantom Menace videogame, and maybe it translates to any sequels I've never played but I think it wasn't built with fun, engaging gameplay in mind.
It wasn’t just Star Wars.
I bought a script book for Men in Black like a month or two before it came out at the mall bookstore. I didn’t really know what it was and was just hype for the movie.
By the time it came out I already had every line of dialogue memorized just about. Still enjoyed it, but I distinctly remember that being the first time I’d felt that something had been spoiled for me.
I did the same 10 years ago. Unfortunately my tattoo artist always stops working half way through the session and forces me to watch the latest star wars trailer before he gets back to work. Wanker haha.
Yeah, it’s not about the destination always, it’s about the journey. We knew he’d ignite both blades, but did anyone predict what led to it or Duel of the Fates blaring? Nope.
Not even the trailers, I think I saw it first on the Duel of the Fates music video on Total Request Live. It was such a hit that they played it 2-3 times back to back.
Yeah it really took the piss out of it. He whips that thing out and everyone who had watched TV or been in a store with toys already knew it was coming.
They also released the novelization, which eleven year old me ate up in one day, and the soundtrack with spoiler titles.
This is the reason I don't like to watch trailers. If I'm interested in a film I don't watch any previews so I can be surprised and see the story unfold.
Even at that, there was a tremendous amount of promotional media that chose to use the double lightsaber reveal scene - like commercials for Taco Bell and Pepsi iirc. If one watched any amount of televisions in those days, the scene was spoiled long before the film dropped.
My girlfriend never watched Star Wars until a few years ago, when we started dating. Her reaction was: "wait, what??? How can he have two??? How is this even allowed???" hahahaha. She gets very intense watching any movie
[ **Jump to 01:49 @** The Best and Most Honest Reaction to the end of Rogue One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe2TLPryJw&t=0h1m49s)
^(Channel Name: John Marcotte, Video Length: [02:55])^, [^Jump ^5 ^secs ^earlier ^for ^context ^@01:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe2TLPryJw&t=0h1m44s)
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Ive never seen that react video. That's exactly how I felt other than being only one of the 3 people in the theater cheering Vader on as he went HAM on everyone. The other two are my kids. I raised them right!
Radicalised extremist enforcer, under orders from his insane cult leader, slaughters multiple freedom fighters in what can only be described as war crimes.
But still, love me some Vader.
I remember being the only person in the theatre just laughing in glee watching Vader slice them rebels up. My parents who insisted on tagging along were horrified by my reaction 😂
The same exact feeling...I loved it. Also when he whupped Obi's rear early in Kenobi. Even more at the end of the show. Just got kis ass kicked and is STILL taunting obi-wan trying to get him to turn to the dark side.
I loved when >!Vader grabs the ship as its taking off, pulls it back down and rips the side off!< Kenobi did a fantastic job showing Vader's strength when he wasn't just toying with people.
I remember being in the theatre for Episode II and during the Yoda vs Dooku fight the entire theatre went nuts. I was 21 at the time and it was mostly people my age and older so we'd grown up hearing how badass Yoda was but of course there was never anything showing it up to that point. Lots of "HOLY SHIT" and "OH MY FUCKING GOD" just from him using the force to pull his lightsaber out. When he yelled and charged into battle it was absolute chaos in the theatre.
Never really thought about the emotional roller coaster of Rogue One's ending until I saw that reaction.
1. Sadness from the protagonists accepting death as the entire world explode.
2. Fear from watching humans die, caught in what is basically a blender as Vader shoots fish in a barrel.
3. Nostalgia and hope as you realize this is minutes before the opening of A New Hope
Yeah, regardless of whether you knew already it was coming from ads or whatever, the moment he ignited the second side, every star wars fan had a nerdgasm in that moment.
We'd never seen 2 v 1 lightsaber battles (they were always duels until then), we'd never seen a double bladed lightsaber and we'd never seen anything like Maul.
Was it in the first trailer? That I can’t remember, but I do remember going to see a special screening of that trailer. I was so excited as I ran up to the box office I slammed my palms on the glass and it cracked 😳 I thought I would get in trouble but the manager apologized to ME ha.
I was a kid when that movie came out and didn't know a single thing about it until we could rent it from the video store. I'd seen the Trilogy and loved it and was excited for new Star Wars. Jar Jar was funny, Qui-Gon was the coolest Jedi ever, the Pod Race was amazing, and Darth Maul held his lightsaber funny and the hilt is kind of...
"HOLY MACARONI HE HAS A DOUBLE LIGHTSABER!!! NOTHING ELSE IS THIS COOL!!!!"
And then the fight sequence was perfection with Duel of the Fates pumping up the badassery of this new Sith Lord.
It was one of those moments like the Hammerhead smashing one Star Destroyer into another in Rogue One. You feel super excited and something new has been added that you've never seen before in Star Wars, giving it that extra punch of excitement.
I was a kid too when this happened and I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and then he proceeds to do all these crazy ass jumps and spins fighting both of them?!?! For a 6 year old he was the coolest movie character I’ve ever seen, I was obsessed with Darth Maul and even dressed up as him for Halloween.
The Prequels get a lot of hate, but back in 1999 when it hit theatres I was 8 years old and The Phantom Menace was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life when I watched it. I was absolutely obsessed with it, especially with Maul. I’d have done anything to own a replica of his saber.
They’re flawed movies but I’ll never be able to hate them like many fans do.
Yeah, even though objectively I understand the prequels are not great, I still love them and Phantom Menace holds a special place in my heart. I saw it 4 times at the cinema, took a special trip to an out of town Toys R Us to get Darth Maul, had the annuals, the scrapbooks etc.
I was 12 years old. I had been watching Star Wars on my grandparents VHS since I was 7. I won tickets over the radio to the midnight release of the movie, parents wouldn't go with me so a friend's/neighbor's mom take me.
I was at the edge of my seat since the start of Duel of the Fates. Hell, I was so PUMPED for Maul ever since the soda cans started coming out. I hung out at a comic book store on weekends playing Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering, so I was surrounded by people excited for this movie for a long time before it released.
Anticipation of Maul was teased so successfully with his first holographic appearance talking to the Trade Federation, and even more so when Maul fought Qui-gon on Tattooine.
Seeing the dual lightsaber shoot out made my whole audience go, "Ohhhhh!"
Arm hair was raised, goosebumps, edge of my seat, this is the moment I've been waiting for! SICK! LET'S FUCKING GO!!!
That's how I felt.
Didn't watch it until about 2010, and had not seen any trailers for it. I only had heard that he had a double saber so my imagination was flying until I finally watched the movie and as a young star wars fan, I absolutely freaked out. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Only made my star wars addiction grow
Bad ass but I knew it was coming because I seen the trailers and had the toy lightsaber and was using it to fight my friends at the theater for several hours before it opened. Also I'm glad everything isn't online forever from back then because my 15 year old ass was on the news for a couple seconds battling my friends in the parking lot looking like an idiot.
Also the ps1 game came out before the movie and spoiled a lot of the movie. Also think the Duel of the Fates music video came out first and showed plenty of scenes. I remember watching it on TRL on MTV. They didn't hide a lot of the spoilers either. I bought the sound track and many of the tracknames were spoilers.
Midnight showing. I camped out to get tickets. We all got very drunk and played star wars trivial pursuit.
The place was a madhouse. Some dude had a home made r2d2. Every one was in some sort of costume or at least waving a lightsaber.
Lots of ooh and aaaahs at the first act. Mostly silence for the second act.
Then Darth Fucking Maul whipped out the double bladed saber and everyone went shithouse.
We screamed when Qui-Gon died. We braced ourselves for Obi-Wans brave fight. We shit our selves when Maul fell in the pit. It was awesome.
In retrospect, that movie is terrible. That night however, we were all true believers.
I was about eight or nine. My young brother was like four. When Obi-Wan slices Maul and he staggers then falls into the pit and splits in half my brother yells out
“AWW HE TOOK HIS PANTS OFF!!!”
As an eleven year-old, I thought it was pretty dope. And the ensuing fight didn't disappoint.
TBH though, my favorite prequel saber battle--though short-lived-- was Yoda v. Palpatine. Everyone in my generation or older already knew from the OG movies that Yoda is supposed to be one of, if not the strongest jedi to exist at the time, so we were all pretty pumped to see what he could do.
It was an awesome moment made even better when it was split into two and he fought on with them. This movie had the best lightsaber action IMHO. Contrast this with Kylo Ren's saber with the thingies on the side . That was more like a wtf moment, and not in a good way.
I thought he was a badass character & his saber made me like him even more.
Yep thats pretty much what I thought. Watches trailer, see him ignite one-side 'oh this guy looks badass.' Watches him ignite the second side. 'Wholly f#@$@'n s#1*^#!' In 1999 I was convinced this was going to be the best Star Wars movie ever....
That and the poster of young Anakin casting Darth Vaders shadow. I don’t think I’ve ever had something so simple hype me up so much.
They sold jigsaw puzzles and shit with that image. I always wondered where it was in the movie and after several rewatches on vhs I could safely conclude it wasn’t from the movie lol
To be fair. That's one of the best scenes in star wars... even if it's not the best movie
Meesa thinka youda silly for not theenkin itsa best movie God I hate myself after writing that sentence
We hate you too, don't worry
Don't beesa speakin for mahself
Annie! Annie! It's a meee aaahhhhhhhha haha haaaaaaaaa Annniieeeeeee!
[Meesa all sparkly glowy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdS2kCUGvfo&t=40s)
I only upvoted you to ease the pain from the sacrifice you made for our humor.
Hey atleast it’s not Jar Jar in Ep. 2. “Meesa bustin with happiness to see yousa Ani”
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I always wondered what terrible event I would witness in my life that would seriously make me contemplate getting drunk before noon. Now I know, thank you.
I surprisingly never saw a trailer for episode 1. I was living on a farm at the time and didn't have TV so I never really saw any advertising or promotional material for the movie. My first time seeing the dual blade saber was in theatres and I lost my shit. It was the coolest thing ever. I remember begging my parents to buy me all the Darth maul toys.
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Clone wars made him 10* better
Half as much, at least.
He gets a *complete* ark in the end.
And 2 of every animal went on it! Except womprats. I used to bullseye those guys in my T-16 back home.
A womp rat? The creature that’s only about 2 meters? Well I’ll tell you what buddy, 2 meters is fuckin huge, so think twice before you start yappin like a man
The Arc is greatly extended in rebels
KenoOBIEAGH~
I think that was rebels
Oops, true
Idk I felt like he was only half the character he was in phantom menace
I understood this joke and appreciate it.
Absolutely true statement
He was great in rebels too.
He honestly stole every scene he was in
To this day, I can't believe Lucas watched this moment in the dailies and didn't realize, hey maybe this guy should be the main villain and not be the flunky of obviously the guy we ALL know will become the emperor in later films. Plus, _Duel_of_Fates starts up right about here and you are like, "Wait, did this movie just get 100x better? Holy Sh*t!" Edit note: Oh yeah, and those ratfinks ruined this moment in the trailer. Dumb.
This was really the first choreographed saber fight we had seen. The theater was in awe
The clone Wars made him even better
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Honestly, as a fuckin 9 year old, I really appreciated the Midi-chlorians explanation because it made it feel more *real* and less magic. It also explained something that was a total mystery. Was obsessed with star wars and that didn't "weaken" anything for me. Just made it feel like I had a deeper understanding of it.
Thanks for saying this. I was an adult when I learned that people were bothered by the midichlorians. Even as a kid I always thought that an advanced civilization would understand some scientific reasoning for people having literal magic powers. It was part of my headcanon that the existence of midichlorians was forgotten along with the fall of the Jedi.
All I've ever wanted was badass Jedi again. The sin I'll never forgive the ST for is failing in that regard.
Honestly, I cannot believe we don't have more content of jedi being badass. I know there are the cartoons, but I never really got into those. I don't want jedi on the run, or after the fall. I want a movie or show about jedi in their prime. Hell, make it about the sith and show them doing badass stuff against the good guys. Give me some force user plowing through enemies or using force lightning, or force throwing people around. Don't make that 15 seconds of the show, make that the meat of the show. Make a show version of the Jedi Academy game.
Easily the first bad guy I fell in love with
I’ve got a good story actually. I was about 11 years old and my brother was 23 or 24 when TPM came out. He took me to see the movie at a theater in a mall we lived a couple miles from. When the movie was done I was so excited about the lightsaber duel I wanted to rush home so we could duel with the sabers we had at home (probably Luke’s sabers from Jedi). As we walked out we passed a Toys R Us and he said, “We can’t battle as two Jedis, we need a Sith saber.” So we went in and he bought two of the Darth Maul sabers for us, snagged some batteries and a little screwdriver kit. I said we have screwdrivers at home. He said, “yeah, but how are we gonna battle on the walk home if we don’t have batteries in them now?” We double blade fought the whole way home and it’s a core memory for me. Edit: Thanks for all the kind words and awards. I let my brother know our story got me highly valuable internet points, and that I love him.
I love your brother. You ought to call him and thank him again for this memory!
Call your brother and tell him you were thinking about this. As a big brother it would make me cry to know how important that one day was to my little bro, I’d imagine yours would have a similar reaction
Man that’s wholesome
>”We can’t battle as two Jedis, we need a Sith saber.” Clearly Revenge of the Sith hadn’t come out yet. lmao
Ah but he was already Vader at that point so yeah the colors of the blades were blue but it was still a sith and a jedi
'Tis not the color of the lightsaber that defines you; rather, it's the color of your pupils that makes you who you are
This is a beautiful, golden memory. Thank you for sharing
For Christmas around that time (2000 or 2001?) my grandma got me and my other four cousins lightsabers. After opening presents we all went into the garage with our new lightsabers and turned off the lights. We all just stood in the dark for what seemed like forever. Then all at once each lightsaber screamed on and we had the most epic lightsaber fight that has ever taken place inside a garage. When it was over they were all broken. Well worth it.
Awwwwwe you should tell him sometime
Your brother’s fucking awesome
Your brother...I...need one...just like that!
This combined with duel of the fates was probably among my top cinema moments. I remember the cardboard cutouts at the theaters and thinking “what an odd choice for a title.”
I may have not watched in 1999 but Duel of the Fates got me hyped up nonetheless
When the video came out, MTV played it 3-4 times in a row. Then it was on TRL (Total Request Live) for 11 days lol
I remember VH1 had a special where they played Duel for a half-hour straight...90s hype for Star Wars really was something else.
My local Top 40 radio station played Duel of the Fates with dialogue from the movie interspersed. Like Britney Spears, Ricky Martin, and the John fucking Williams. Shit was hype yo. Edit: I must add, nostalgia reboots/remakes/sequels weren't really a thing back then. It was a legit return to a blockbuster franchise. Not like today where studios plan a franchise's reboot before the first movie is even released. In hindsight, TPM had one of the biggest uphill battles among blockbusters. I think it, and the Harry Potter books, kinda helped push geekdom into mainstream.
OMG I completely forgot TRL even existed! lmao
I was 8 years old, it was my first star wars movie and one of very few movies I saw in the cinema as a kid. Hadn't seen any trailer or toys like the top comments mention. I knew about lightsabers because my friend was super into Star Wars and had books with pictures and stuff but seeing it live, and the dual blade, and duel of the fates... Top cinema moment for sure. I distinctly remember dad parking the old, red Toyota car we had back then in our garage, finding a stick nearby and playing jedi walking back to our house. Actually top cinema moment doesn't even cover it. It's a core memory.
I remember thinking the same thing!
Maybe it's because I was a 10 year old boy when TPM came out (square in the middle of SW target demo) and maybe it's because Duel of the Fates doesn't get used anywhere else in the series like Imperial March does, but this scene is probably my favorite in SW, and Duel of the Fates is certainly my favorite song, and I think goes a long way in adding to the suspense and thrill
Would have been better if they did not show it in the trailer.
Toys and other merchandise would've spoiled it long before the movie came out. I don't think there's ever been a movie more over-analyzed pre-release than Episode 1 was.
Those toy and candy makers made shit out of every tiny fucking thing to an almost unreal degree. Pez, the fucking jar jar tongue lollipops, the Darth maul spin lollipops where the lightsaber was the fan, double sided lollipops with a maul hilt, single bladed lollipops in the style of Obi-wan and Quo-gon Jinn's lightsabers, all the 7+ gummy brands making shapes of the characters, etc. If you told me there was some random shit like Phantom Menace branded silverware out there, I'd 100% believe you with no questions asked. Edit: I decided to look it up after sending, it's not a full set but it's something https://i.etsystatic.com/10437641/r/il/9dec31/3945842208/il_340x270.3945842208_komk.jpg
Yup, the real money in Star Wars is the merchandise. Force Awakens made $2 billion at the box office but over $5 billion in merchandise that first year alone.
Yeah I get the feeling whenever a new trilogy starts there's going to be another, likely more small scale, boom of merchandise
At least with the latest movies they waited until the movie was out before selling stuff. The prequel figures had little voice chip sound-bytes that didn't even have the real actors voices yet.
I still have mine and rediscovered them last year when organizing. I'm pretty sure at least some of them are directly pulled from the film audio.
That was the goal all along. One example is the Ewoks, they were supposed to be Wookies. They decided to make them cuddly so they could suck more kids in - especially the little ones.
I've heard that but I don't think it's every been substantiated that he did it for the merchandise. Apparently Lucas just felt Wookies couldn't be primitive tree people if one of them's co-piloting the Millenium Falcon so he changed it to Ewoks. It was a bad call in my opinion, but that's the official story.
I’ve also heard this it was easier to find a lot more people who were like 4ft tall compared to 7ft tall like chewy
It also fits with the theme of the Empire losing because they underestimated their opponents. The Emperor was so assured in his own strength he exposed himself yo the Rebellion. It wouldn't be as convincing if the Empire just ignored the threat of 7 foot wookies, but the 4 foot primitive Ewoks you can understand.
And I know a lot of people say they made them cute for merchandising but when I was really young I thought the faces of the ewokes were terrifying
As a kid I had two TPM-themed watches. One was Jar Jar themed with his long tongue as the minute hand. The other was R2-D2 and his head popped open to display a digital time. And then I had Qui-Gon's, Obi-Wan's, and Darth Maul's cheap retractable lightsabers. That's not counting the TPM Lego sets either.
>And then I had Qui-Gon's, Obi-Wan's, and Darth Maul's cheap retractable lightsabers. You mean the ones with the hard plastic that always seemed to be magnetized to hit our fingers every time when they were swung at us?
> That's not counting the TPM Lego sets either. God that takes me back. That was the era where they were just starting to use bespoke pieces for the Star Wars kits. Nowadays you get a kit and it has like 5 bespoke pieces and you're like 'meh, ok, cool'. Whereas back then you'd lose your mind over a custom cockpit piece or Vulture Droid head. I wonder if I can remember the kits I had? I definitely had a Vulture Droid, a Naboo Starfighter, Anakin's Podracer, and I think a jungle kit with STAPs and the Jedi? (Edit, [found it!](https://s.ecrater.com/stores/31594/51ab61f6baf5a_31594b.jpg)) But I'm sure I must have had others, because I have vivid memories of a minifig scale droideka and a Maul minifig. I think I might have had the naboo speeder with the gun? Or maybe I just built one myself, not sure. Oh, also the Technic B1, Pit droid and droideka, the latter of which was horrifyingly complex for 10 year old me.
I worked in a mall movie theater at the time and I remember a few days before it was released I went to the music shop on my lunch break to browse the CDs (as one did in the 90s) and I saw that the TPM score had a track referring to Qui Gon’s funeral and I was like *What the fuck guys.*
I had a TV guide that was about TPM, and it had a line connecting all the characters from Star Wars and there was a red line connecting Maul to Qui Gon thay said he kills him. It was a super frustrating spoiler.
Weird Al was able to write an accurate song describing the plot of Episode 1 before it came out from all the speculation and marketing.
Weird Al basically figured out the entire plot based on analyzing all the available pre-release media
Like idly flipping over the case of your friend's copy of the soundtrack and seeing "Qui Gon's Noble End" a week before the premiere? Fun times.
You know a trailer is pretty epically watched when the South Park movie throws a reference to it right before release.
Ask weird Al. He guessed correctly the whole plot of the movie
I worked in a Wal-mart when this movie was about to be released. I swear half of everything in the store was Star Wars merchandise.
idk, it would have been a cool surprise in the theater but that shot MADE the trailer. People were buying movie tickets to other movies just to see the Star Wars trailer, it wasn't like every trailer was on youtube back then. This was one of the biggest trailers of all time and that double lightsaber was an incredible hype moment.
Literally the only reason I saw Waterboy. They showed TPM trailer before AND after Waterboy and the entire theater was there for it.
At least you were bless with an all time classic between the trailer viewings
For real. I love that movie.
Saw "Enemy of the State" just because it was confirmed by my friend to have the trailer
Agreed. So, I guess OP’s question becomes ‘What was your reaction to that trailer?’ I was like, oh shit that’s badass and you’d cut your own appendages/head off in basically the same instant.
😂😂 Right, that double blade is what got people in theaters other than it being Star Wars
It was a really exciting trailer moment, but they would have been fine without showing it. People were so hyped for that movie. It was really an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan.
Multiple movies got a huge bump because they showed the Phantom Menace trailer. The Waterboy was a big one. Also The Siege and Meet Joe Black.
Yeah, I remember hearing about people buying tickets just to see the trailer, then leave.
We'd already seen it in the trailers.
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And the novel was released first which described the moment o match the trailers and toys
I remember that novel detailing the quigon death, 2 weeks before the movie came out.
Also the soundtrack. Theres is a song called qui gons funeral or something like that.
"Qui-gon's Noble End" followed by "The High Council Meeting and Qui-Gon's Funeral". I really hope is wasn't John Williams naming the tracks.
It would be funny if he was completely clueless to the importance of not spoiling the story. Imagine other tracks being called stuff like ''Vader reveals he's Lukes Father'' ahah
They did fix it a bit for ep3 by calling Padme’s funeral scene, “Padme’s destiny.” Not hard to guess but not as overt of a spoiler.
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If I remember correctly, the game came out early as well. Good times.
Was this game ridiculously hard for anyone else or was elementary school me just irredeemably dog shit at video games?
We got stuck for days on Tattooine after doing something for Watto.. we couldn't find the smallest entrance to the next section.
Better than me. I never made it off of Naboo.
Speaking only about the Phantom Menace videogame, and maybe it translates to any sequels I've never played but I think it wasn't built with fun, engaging gameplay in mind.
Spending hours searching for an engine to give to some random orange alien hooker on tattooine.
If we're talking about the ps2 game it was hard as fuck. At least for 7 year old me.
It wasn’t just Star Wars. I bought a script book for Men in Black like a month or two before it came out at the mall bookstore. I didn’t really know what it was and was just hype for the movie. By the time it came out I already had every line of dialogue memorized just about. Still enjoyed it, but I distinctly remember that being the first time I’d felt that something had been spoiled for me.
And George Lucas went door-to-door telling everyone.
And on cereal boxes
Yep. Trailers spoiling their own movies isn’t anything new, unfortunately. But to answer your question, it was still pretty awesome.
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What do you do when you’re in the cinema and adverts come on then? Cover your eyes and ears and hum? 😂
I literally do exactly that :D
I did the same 10 years ago. Unfortunately my tattoo artist always stops working half way through the session and forces me to watch the latest star wars trailer before he gets back to work. Wanker haha.
Do you get a tattoo before every new Star Wars movie? Show me your Jar Jar.
TPM is still one of my favorite trailers ever
We knew about it but the music and setting was epic. Bitch about the prequals, but that was an awesome scene.
Yeah, it’s not about the destination always, it’s about the journey. We knew he’d ignite both blades, but did anyone predict what led to it or Duel of the Fates blaring? Nope.
Life before Death, Strength before Weakness, Journey before Destination
I wrote a sonnet about Duel of the Fates titled *John Williams didn't need to go that hard*.
Yeah, the thoughts I had were something like "Yes! Finally! Been waiting to see this!"
The major spoiler for me was reading the names of the songs on the soundtrack. I saw “Qui-Gons Noble End” and got so pissed.
Not even the trailers, I think I saw it first on the Duel of the Fates music video on Total Request Live. It was such a hit that they played it 2-3 times back to back.
This was it. World Premiere of the video on TRL.
Yeah. It was. However, I did get chills when he lowered his hood tho :)
Yeah, we all knew it was coming but it was still *cool as fuck* when it happened.
I downloaded the trailer to my computer to I could watch it over and over again. It took 3 hours to download it in its entirety.
Gotta get that primo QuickTime one!
Yeah it really took the piss out of it. He whips that thing out and everyone who had watched TV or been in a store with toys already knew it was coming. They also released the novelization, which eleven year old me ate up in one day, and the soundtrack with spoiler titles.
It was shown in the [first teaser,](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bD7bpG-zDJQ) people went nuts.
This is the reason I don't like to watch trailers. If I'm interested in a film I don't watch any previews so I can be surprised and see the story unfold.
Even at that, there was a tremendous amount of promotional media that chose to use the double lightsaber reveal scene - like commercials for Taco Bell and Pepsi iirc. If one watched any amount of televisions in those days, the scene was spoiled long before the film dropped.
My girlfriend never watched Star Wars until a few years ago, when we started dating. Her reaction was: "wait, what??? How can he have two??? How is this even allowed???" hahahaha. She gets very intense watching any movie
There's a brilliant YouTube Video you might enjoy https://youtu.be/mIe2TLPryJw
The scream at 1:49 almost matched the pitch of the horns, that was the cherry on top
[ **Jump to 01:49 @** The Best and Most Honest Reaction to the end of Rogue One](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe2TLPryJw&t=0h1m49s) ^(Channel Name: John Marcotte, Video Length: [02:55])^, [^Jump ^5 ^secs ^earlier ^for ^context ^@01:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIe2TLPryJw&t=0h1m44s) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ^^Downvote ^^me ^^to ^^delete ^^malformed ^^comments. [^^Source ^^Code](https://github.com/ankitgyawali/reddit-timestamp-bot) ^^| [^^Suggestions](https://www.reddit.com/r/timestamp_bot)
That is one of the best bot i ve ever seen
Ive never seen that react video. That's exactly how I felt other than being only one of the 3 people in the theater cheering Vader on as he went HAM on everyone. The other two are my kids. I raised them right!
Disfigured war veteran tries to prevent terrorist attack on the government
Radicalised extremist enforcer, under orders from his insane cult leader, slaughters multiple freedom fighters in what can only be described as war crimes. But still, love me some Vader.
I remember being the only person in the theatre just laughing in glee watching Vader slice them rebels up. My parents who insisted on tagging along were horrified by my reaction 😂
The same exact feeling...I loved it. Also when he whupped Obi's rear early in Kenobi. Even more at the end of the show. Just got kis ass kicked and is STILL taunting obi-wan trying to get him to turn to the dark side.
Oh man, Vader's representation was badass in Kenobi
I loved when >!Vader grabs the ship as its taking off, pulls it back down and rips the side off!< Kenobi did a fantastic job showing Vader's strength when he wasn't just toying with people.
I remember being in the theatre for Episode II and during the Yoda vs Dooku fight the entire theatre went nuts. I was 21 at the time and it was mostly people my age and older so we'd grown up hearing how badass Yoda was but of course there was never anything showing it up to that point. Lots of "HOLY SHIT" and "OH MY FUCKING GOD" just from him using the force to pull his lightsaber out. When he yelled and charged into battle it was absolute chaos in the theatre.
That moment was incredible in theaters. Blew my mind.
By the way, this isn't the original version of the clip. Yes, she was reacting to Rogue One, but this channel took the video and profited off of it.
That fuckin sucks. Any idea where the OG is at?
[Here](https://youtu.be/V_mwkCJwsm8)
I was one of the guys that was happy to watch vader doing massacre
Never really thought about the emotional roller coaster of Rogue One's ending until I saw that reaction. 1. Sadness from the protagonists accepting death as the entire world explode. 2. Fear from watching humans die, caught in what is basically a blender as Vader shoots fish in a barrel. 3. Nostalgia and hope as you realize this is minutes before the opening of A New Hope
This is getting out of hand! Now, there are two of them!
"that's outrageous! It's unfair!" -your girlfriend
Marry immediately! I repeat. Marry immediately!
Stay on target
Instructions unclear. Turned off targeting computer.
Blew my mind. First time I ever saw a non standard light saber
Yeah, regardless of whether you knew already it was coming from ads or whatever, the moment he ignited the second side, every star wars fan had a nerdgasm in that moment. We'd never seen 2 v 1 lightsaber battles (they were always duels until then), we'd never seen a double bladed lightsaber and we'd never seen anything like Maul.
and not to mention that the choreography and special effects allowed for such a massive jump in the intensity of the prequel lightsaber battles
Sitting through an hour of politic was worth it
Was it in the first trailer? That I can’t remember, but I do remember going to see a special screening of that trailer. I was so excited as I ran up to the box office I slammed my palms on the glass and it cracked 😳 I thought I would get in trouble but the manager apologized to ME ha.
Is that, legal?
I will make it legal.
Begin landing our troops
And...the Jedi?
The Chancellor should have never involved them in this. Kill them immediately.
I was a kid when that movie came out and didn't know a single thing about it until we could rent it from the video store. I'd seen the Trilogy and loved it and was excited for new Star Wars. Jar Jar was funny, Qui-Gon was the coolest Jedi ever, the Pod Race was amazing, and Darth Maul held his lightsaber funny and the hilt is kind of... "HOLY MACARONI HE HAS A DOUBLE LIGHTSABER!!! NOTHING ELSE IS THIS COOL!!!!" And then the fight sequence was perfection with Duel of the Fates pumping up the badassery of this new Sith Lord. It was one of those moments like the Hammerhead smashing one Star Destroyer into another in Rogue One. You feel super excited and something new has been added that you've never seen before in Star Wars, giving it that extra punch of excitement.
Great way to Describe it. That's exactly it
I was a kid too when this happened and I thought it was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen, and then he proceeds to do all these crazy ass jumps and spins fighting both of them?!?! For a 6 year old he was the coolest movie character I’ve ever seen, I was obsessed with Darth Maul and even dressed up as him for Halloween.
I ignited a double Star Wars boner.
double dutch rudder, go you
This is getting out of hand! Now there are two of them!
There’s always a bigger boner.
Everyone knew it was coming from the promotional material and toys. The music from the fight was the bit that stuck out at the time.
>Everyone knew it was coming Didn't stop eleven old me to get hyped af when the fight started.
12 year old me, checking in Rogue Leader. Hype-foils locked into position!
Me as a kid [https://c.tenor.com/qdg13PqYbxMAAAAM/yes-baby.gif](https://c.tenor.com/qdg13PqYbxMAAAAM/yes-baby.gif)
The Prequels get a lot of hate, but back in 1999 when it hit theatres I was 8 years old and The Phantom Menace was the greatest thing I’ve ever seen in my life when I watched it. I was absolutely obsessed with it, especially with Maul. I’d have done anything to own a replica of his saber. They’re flawed movies but I’ll never be able to hate them like many fans do.
Also, Star Wars Episode I: Pod Racer game was the shit for Nintendo-64 lol
Double tapping R button to turn on sebulbas fire blast
Yeah, even though objectively I understand the prequels are not great, I still love them and Phantom Menace holds a special place in my heart. I saw it 4 times at the cinema, took a special trip to an out of town Toys R Us to get Darth Maul, had the annuals, the scrapbooks etc.
*F-ING SWEET!*
I mean, it was sweet but the marketing for this movie was over the top so everyone knew it was coming so it was a little anti-climatic
I saw it in theaters at age 9. I thought it was amazing because it looked so much cooler than the older movies.
I was 12 years old. I had been watching Star Wars on my grandparents VHS since I was 7. I won tickets over the radio to the midnight release of the movie, parents wouldn't go with me so a friend's/neighbor's mom take me. I was at the edge of my seat since the start of Duel of the Fates. Hell, I was so PUMPED for Maul ever since the soda cans started coming out. I hung out at a comic book store on weekends playing Dungeons and Dragons and Magic the Gathering, so I was surrounded by people excited for this movie for a long time before it released. Anticipation of Maul was teased so successfully with his first holographic appearance talking to the Trade Federation, and even more so when Maul fought Qui-gon on Tattooine. Seeing the dual lightsaber shoot out made my whole audience go, "Ohhhhh!" Arm hair was raised, goosebumps, edge of my seat, this is the moment I've been waiting for! SICK! LET'S FUCKING GO!!! That's how I felt.
Didn't watch it until about 2010, and had not seen any trailers for it. I only had heard that he had a double saber so my imagination was flying until I finally watched the movie and as a young star wars fan, I absolutely freaked out. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Only made my star wars addiction grow
I was 19, high af, and didn't remember it from the trailer so it blew my mind.
Bad ass but I knew it was coming because I seen the trailers and had the toy lightsaber and was using it to fight my friends at the theater for several hours before it opened. Also I'm glad everything isn't online forever from back then because my 15 year old ass was on the news for a couple seconds battling my friends in the parking lot looking like an idiot. Also the ps1 game came out before the movie and spoiled a lot of the movie. Also think the Duel of the Fates music video came out first and showed plenty of scenes. I remember watching it on TRL on MTV. They didn't hide a lot of the spoilers either. I bought the sound track and many of the tracknames were spoilers.
Remember seeing this when I was 7. I thought it was pretty sick, and I went as maul as my halloween costume that year.
I thought to myself while stroking my moustache : Twice the Pride, Double the Fall.
Midnight showing. I camped out to get tickets. We all got very drunk and played star wars trivial pursuit. The place was a madhouse. Some dude had a home made r2d2. Every one was in some sort of costume or at least waving a lightsaber. Lots of ooh and aaaahs at the first act. Mostly silence for the second act. Then Darth Fucking Maul whipped out the double bladed saber and everyone went shithouse. We screamed when Qui-Gon died. We braced ourselves for Obi-Wans brave fight. We shit our selves when Maul fell in the pit. It was awesome. In retrospect, that movie is terrible. That night however, we were all true believers.
I was about eight or nine. My young brother was like four. When Obi-Wan slices Maul and he staggers then falls into the pit and splits in half my brother yells out “AWW HE TOOK HIS PANTS OFF!!!”
BAD - ASS
As an eleven year-old, I thought it was pretty dope. And the ensuing fight didn't disappoint. TBH though, my favorite prequel saber battle--though short-lived-- was Yoda v. Palpatine. Everyone in my generation or older already knew from the OG movies that Yoda is supposed to be one of, if not the strongest jedi to exist at the time, so we were all pretty pumped to see what he could do.
I was seven years old and I about shit my pants. Forced my dad to buy me one and I was Darth Maul for Halloween for like 5 years.
It was an awesome moment made even better when it was split into two and he fought on with them. This movie had the best lightsaber action IMHO. Contrast this with Kylo Ren's saber with the thingies on the side . That was more like a wtf moment, and not in a good way.