Star Wars, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

The novelization of The Phantom Menace, the first in the Star Wars prequel trilogy, was written based off the script of film by famed fantasy author Terry Brooks.

Brooks generally follows the script of the film, but importantly adds several scenes that help give background to several key characters. The chief beneficiary of the added scenes was Anakin Skywalker, who unknowingly has been using the Force his entire life to do amazing things as a 9-year-old especially as a podracer. Unlike the film where the identity of Darth Sidious is quickly known, Brooks effectively hides Padme Amidala’s dual identity through there clues are subtle enough for someone who has never watched the film. Though Jar Jar Binks can get on the reader’s show more nerves, Brooks is able to write him to be not so annoying as in the film and seeing things from his perspective is interesting. While Brooks can’t completely change the dialogue from the screenplay, he’s able to make it more palatable.

The Phantom Menace is a novelization that improves upon the film in various ways, which says something about the film itself and the quality of writing by Terry Brooks. show less

This was an intriguing look at an iconic movie in book form. Terry Brooks has preserved that movie "feel". It's literally like watching The Phantom Menace in your brain. However, there are some scenes that are a little more fleshed out than the film, such as young Anakin's thoughts about Padme. Some of the dialogue from the film is different, so if you're looking for a word-for-word transcription, this isn't it.

I enjoyed it. Now, I think I'll watch the movie again.

Having rewatched the movie, I hoped to find various things redeemed or explained here, but I mostly got a straightforward adaptation. It starts out with an additional scene or two pre-Start-of-Movie with Anakin, and then more or less proceeds how the film does. There’s some occasional added characterization, which helps. It explains a little more of where Qui Gon is coming from—a non-character in the film, also sort of the protagonist—as well as his padawan Obi-Wan. Anakin continues to be a boring, amiable little boy in the book but with one or two added dream sequences in which he worries about his family. That sets up Episode 3, I guess. All in all, an okay adaptation (and excellent audiobook with sound effects). It doesn’t show more justify the plot or structure of the original, or give enough extra to justify reading, so I’d stick with the movie—or don’t do either, if you want something that’s actually good. show less

The Phantom Menace is generally reckoned to be the weakest of the Star Wars films, and I would agree with that. Nevertheless, this is a good novelisation, that expands on characters' background and motivations convincingly to give depth and colour to the backdrop of events, as befits a novel written by a celebrated author of best selling fantasy novels over a period of several decades. Events take place in the same order as they do in the film, with the exception of an initial two chapters covering young Anakin's life immediately before the Jedi knights and their party come to Tatooine. Unfortunately, the film's worst element, the cringingly awful Jar Jar Binks is still here. Without him, and a few of the more cartoonish moments, this show more would have been a much better film. show less

My daughter is really getting into Star Wars now, and I told her we should read some of the books together. She decided she wants to read the novelizations of the films in episode order. I remember liking the novelizations when I was a kid too. Back in 1999, after being disappointed by the movie, a friend recommended this book to me because it was written by a well-regarded fantasy writer, Terry Brooks.

Then, as now, I enjoy the novel more than the movie. Maybe it's because it has time for scenes that provide greater depth to the characters and their relationships than seen on screen. Maybe because Brooks does a good job of providing the thoughts and points of views of several characters. Maybe it's because Jar Jar is so much less show more annoying in print. At any rate, reading a Star Wars book is fun. show less

This was a wonderful addition to the movie. The extra scenes with Annikin was detailed and a lot of thought was put into it. The conversations between Padme and Annikin was wonderful yet subtle and one could see the connection. I loved the extent of the characters inner thoughts which the movies could not provide.

I understood Qui-gon's character a lot more and even Obi-wan. The details of how everything fits together made more sense than it did with the movie.

It filles the gaps of the Queen's Peril nicely and I wished the author added a bit more to the Padmè trilogy.

AS everyone is rewatching the movies leading up to Episode 7, I took a co-worker's advice and decided to read the novelizations instead. While Brooks is hampered by Lucas's horrible dialogue, the work Brooks puts into the descriptions and internal thoughts makes the book much more successful than the movie.