Star Wars: The Phantom Menace improves with each spin-off it inspires

War of stars: The Phantom Menace is 25 years old and is coming back to theaters for Star Wars Day (“May the 4th be with you”), inevitably sparking a new round of debate about the film, the prequel trilogy as a whole, and the current, sometimes frustrating state the Star Wars media. Although The Phantom Menace has been heavily criticized in recent decades, but also re-examined and even adopted. There are memes that celebrate highly dramatic dialogue and direct references in tentpoles Solo. The kids who grew up with the prequels as their most important Star Wars films have spoken out to defend them.

But arguably what really validated the prequel trilogy was the spin-off culture. The animated series, books, comics, and everything else related to the expanded canon have delivered on the promises made in the prequels’ seven hours of CG-filled adventures. The Phantom Menaceand later attack of the Clone warriors, launched a political conspiracy that reached every corner of the country war of stars Universe, a corrupt government working with a somewhat clueless Jedi Order. In order to achieve reasonable running times, the films don’t delve too deeply into the Jedi’s request for a clone army or into interesting characters like Darth Maul, Mace Windu and Count Dooku, all of whom die early. But the genius of Lucas’ plans – whether expected or coincidental – is that the films stimulated the creativity of other creators.

In 2014, shortly after acquiring Lucasfilm, Disney rebranded most Expanded Universe media as Legends content, with only a handful of stories and lore from outside the films surviving the purge. Nevertheless, both the deceased and the surviving EU enhance the prequels.

One notable book that has not survived the new post-Disney canon is that of James Luceno Darth Plagueis, which took one of the prequels’ most important but unknown characters and gave us a complete story that fills in many gaps. The novel dealt with the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis, hinted at in Revenge of the Sith Being Darth Sidious’ master and a being who could manipulate midichlorians to create life. The novel tells the story of Plagueis’ training of a teenage Palpatine, his becoming a politician, and how the duo planned the creation of a clone army and thus the Clone Wars themselves.

Although the novel is no longer canon, the idea that Palpatine and his master planned everything surrounding the Clone Wars in order to gain power has been explored in other comics and novels, such as Luceno’s own The most accurate from 2014. Palpatine was supposed to be this mastermind in the films who was ten steps ahead of everyone, but we didn’t really see that much until then Revenge of the Sith. Likewise, we’re told vague statements about corruption and the “bureaucrats” who run the Senate, but in books we’ve finally seen how much the senator from Naboo has changed the course of history in the galaxy. The most accurate illustrated the corrupted political system and how easy it was for Palpatine to manipulate it in his favor, turning the hooded figure formerly known only as “The Emperor” into a cunning man who everyone underestimated until it was too late was.

The expanded canon also sheds new light on the Jedi Order better than the films ever could. We knew from the original trilogy that the Jedi had all but disappeared; The prequels showed them to be a naive, strict organization that couldn’t prevent their downfall.

The novels Master and apprentice by Claudia Gray and the audio book Dooku: Lost Jedi by Cavan Scott focus on why some Jedi across the galaxy became disillusioned with the Order and its close ties to the Republic. Master and apprentice follows Qui-Gon Jinn as he welcomes Obi-Wan Kenobi as his apprentice, and fleshes out some themes from the films, such as slavery in the galaxy and the Jedi Order’s role in galactic politics. The novel shows that Qui-Gon constantly wondered whether the Jedi were more than the Chancellor’s police force and what the “balance” was in the Force.

The Phantom Menace introduced the idea of ​​Jedi as something similar to United Nations peacekeepers, who cannot intervene without the full authority of the Republic and are expected to always be neutral. But how can they protect the light side of the Force that lives within all living beings if they cannot intervene in wars or end slavery? The current EU books confront the contradictions that displaced members like Count Dooku and eventually Anakin.

When it comes to the comics, the anthology is on Age of the Republic sheds new light on the characters we know from the prequels. The Qui-Gon edition expands the story of Master and apprentice where the Jedi Master became obsessed with prophecy and found true balance in the Force, something he believes the Jedi Order cannot achieve by remaining so rigid.

There are also Obi Wan and Anakin, written by Charles Soule, which explores the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin and the 10 years between Episodes I and II, highlighting the brotherly bond that formed between the two Jedi. The Darth Maul The miniseries focuses on Maul’s insatiable hunger to kill Jedi and his frustration at being forbidden from participating in battles before the events The Phantom Menacesomething that sends him further to the dark side of the Force, even as he wonders what the light has to offer.

And then there’s The Clone Wars, one of the few media not previously decanonized The Force Awakens was published. What made the animated series special from the start was that everyone involved seemed to know that viewers were pretty negative about most of the characters in the prequels, so they took it to heart to flesh them out and give them enough depth love her just as much as Luke, Leia and Han.

From the first season The Clone Wars showed us the impact the conflict had on Star Wars as a whole Universe. We meet children orphaned by war, see how the criminal underworld thrived in a wartime environment, and discover why most planetary populations were reluctant to join the war effort – leading to uprisings in some regions. While the series was primarily aimed at children, it also featured some dark and adult material that showed the horrors of war and the human costs associated with it.

One of the best parts of the series was getting to know the faceless clone army introduced in the films. We first meet Domino Squad in training and then accompany them through their trials and tribulations on the battlefield. The Umbara arc best illustrates what was created The Clone Wars so good. The four-part story follows Domino Squad and the larger 501st Legion as they embark on a deadly mission to take the capital city of Umbara, and watches as tensions rise between the clones and their new and ruthless commander, Jedi Pong Krell. gain weight. The series is dark and open-hearted about the losses of war, yet still found room to give the clones personalities even though they all looked the same.

The animated series also did a better job of clarifying open questions. Remember it Deleted scene from Revenge of the Sith Basically, where does Padmé form the Rebel Alliance? The Clone Wars shows that there was resistance on several worlds that opposed the war and what the Republic did. This also included the introduction of Saw Gerrera, who played a key role in the live-action Villain One. There was also the reintroduction of Darth Maul, who came back to life in the series with far more than three lines of dialogue.

When it came to filling in the gaps from the prequels, The Clone Wars also gave fans their first canonical look at the infamous Sifo Dyas in the episode “The Lost One”, which was about the conspiracy surrounding the creation of the clone army. In the same final season, the series showed how the Emperor was able to control the clones with Order 66, giving us a backstory for the devastating order.

In the end, for many fans, The Clone Wars Succeeded where its predecessors failed to do by keeping audiences interested in Anakin Skywalker’s journey. The arrogant, brash Jedi was given more dimension and his story became that of a man caught between the light and dark sides of the Force. We witnessed his constant struggles with the dark side, his fear of loss, his anger and resentment towards the world, the pressures of being a Jedi, and how it all made him the perfect target for Palpatine’s manipulation. The series offered a deeper, more complex look at the character, making his transition to Darth Vader logical and with much more impact.

The Phantom Menace is 25 years old, but the prequel era feels fresher than ever. The grievances accumulated over two decades have been challenged, upended and matured by the ever-expanding EU. Fear of the prequels leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to suffering – but most of that could be alleviated by choosing the right book.