Posted on by Dunc

The Phantom Menace teaser and Holiday Special both celebrate anniversaries today

Yes, there’s the Star Wars Holiday Special‘s 30th, but more importantly, it was November 17th, 1998 that The Phantom Menace trailer debuted, ushering us into a new era for the movies and fandom. The Stooge shares his story of seeing it… What’s yours?

I think I just loaded it up on my computer (Dialup plus an overloaded early StarWars.com… Took forever) because even then I couldn’t muster enough interest in the prequels to see Meet Joe Black or that Adam Sandler flick. The more things change…

8 Replies to “The Phantom Menace teaser and Holiday Special both celebrate anniversaries today”

  1. I remember watching the trailer on the TV broadcast (was it Entertainment Tonight?) and being on the phone with Beth. And we’re both blubbering in sheer joy and happiness. Of course, we’re playing it over and over again on the tapes we’d made off the TV trying to figure out what it all meant. (Those hands on Anakin’s shoulders have to be Palpatine’s. That’s how he turns him!)

    Of course, we also had to go see the trailer in the theater. We went to Meet Joe Black, watched the trailer and then turned around and left to dissect it even further over, I think, a pizza at Pizza the Hutt.

    As for the Holiday Special? I remember loving it as a kid. Now it can only be watched with either a valium or lots of friends with whom you can snark.

  2. I remember the TPM trailer being one of the first video files I downloaded to my computer (via slow dial-up access. ) In fact, I think it’s still on my harddrive somewhere.

    As for the SWHS, I made the mistake of simply mentioning its existence to my roommates, who insisted on watching it. They’d sing “Just on more round, friends” on and off for months…

  3. Saw Meet Joe Black, with the promise of the trailer being shown both before and after the movie. The audience was made up of an equal mix of undatable guys, and girls on dates. The part where Pitt gets hit by a bus was met by a mix of heartfelt gasps and uproarious laughter.

    After hour four of the movie, us geeks started getting restless. Someone shouted “KILL HIM AGAIN!”

    ph

  6. I saw the trailer in the theatre. I actually had no idea I’d be seeing a Star Wars trailer, despite having visited TOS in the lead-up etc.

    My first thought: “That’s nothing like Star Wars!”

    Mind you, I am still around, and embraced the prequels wholeheartedly, but I never thought how popular that thought would become with other lifetime fans of the OT.

  7. I saw the trailer on december 31st, at an afternoon screening of Star Trek IX. Yeah, that late and yeah in the combination.
    By that time I was on the verge of becoming a fan, having started with the Special Editions, but I had no idea that there would be prequels. So there I was, in the dark, and those taglines came up… “Every generation has a legend”… And the music and all, and I was like “This can’t be Star Wars, can it?” That was a really great surprise.
    I remember very little of the movie, though. ;-)

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