Star Wars Episode I: The Dark Menace 3D

In 1999, after sixteen long years of waiting, a dream came true for all STAR WARS fans. George Lucas continued his saga with three new films that told the prequel to the events of the classic trilogy. The first of these was EPISODE I: THE DARK THREAT, whose release was eagerly awaited by fans around the world. Long lines formed in front of the theaters, many fans even camped out in front of the theaters several weeks before the film's release, just to be the first to be there when it was once again: once upon a time, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

Star Wars Episode I: The Dark Menace was, of course, a huge success at the box office accordingly. But after the initial euphoria died down, many fans realized that their expectations had not been met. The computer-generated character Jar Jar Binks became the fan community's favorite hate object, and even some new information about the Jedi mythos still bothers loyal followers to this day. But even if the film is probably the weakest part of the series, it is still part of a great saga that can still fascinate and leave viewers in wonder and rapture, especially on the big screen.

After James Cameron had revolutionized 3D technology with Avatar and the studios had noticed that a lot of money could be made with three-dimensional effects, not only current films but also classics were increasingly converted from 2D to 3D. What has not always been convincingly successful seems to have been made for the STAR WARS saga. Because with a perfectionist like George Lucas in the background, it should be clear that viewers are now being taken on a whole new, more intense journey into distant galaxies. STAR WARS in 3D - that just has to work - even for a rather weak film like Episode I: The Dark Menace.

No question, it's great that STAR WARS is coming back to cinemas. Because it also gives a whole new generation a chance to see the films where they belong: on the big screen. But to sell this re-release as 3D is nothing short of cheeky. Sure, in some moments, with a lot of effort, some form of image depth can be made out that was not seen in the conventional theatrical version. But especially in comparison to the recently released Blu-Ray version, the image of the non-three-dimensional 3D version performs shockingly poorly. Especially during the flights through space or the big pod race, scenes that are predestined for 3D, the 3D label turns out to be pure fraud. It may be that the expectations of a technical perfectionist like George Lucas were set too high in the first place. But considering what's possible with 3D, the conversion of Star Wars Episode I: The Dark Menace is a bitter disappointment.

Lucas and his team weren't concerned with adding spiffy new 3D effects to the film. Rather, the film was meant to inspire with new visual depth. But alas, the one-dimensional characters in this star-crossed battle have far more depth than the heavily advertised three-dimensional image. No question, it's still fun to see STAR WARS in the cinema and especially children, who have been denied this pleasure so far, will hardly be bothered by the lack of 3D effects. But loyal fans who have already invested a lot of money in various cinema visits, figures, DVDs and most recently the Blu-Rays and who simply want to discover a new dimension of their beloved saga will rightly feel ripped off. But since we can still assume a decent financial success, we can only hope that Lucas and his team will put more effort into Episode II and that the cinema visit will be worthwhile again, not only for new fans, but for ALL fans. Because that is definitely not the case here!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp