--- title: Star Wars Fans React to the Premiere of The Phantom Menace description: The year was 1999 and it had been 16 years since The Return of the Jedi hit the big screen. canonical: https://time.com/4143743/star-wars-fans-react-to-the-premiere-of-the-phantom-menace/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-10T14:39:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:17.302Z og:title: Watch Star Wars Fans React to the Premiere of The Phantom Menace og:description: "There’s no way it’s going to be a disappointment" og:url: https://time.com/4143743/star-wars-fans-react-to-the-premiere-of-the-phantom-menace/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f2227a19467878/698874c7e20a87058fa8e962/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace_3mawjs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4200 og:image:height: 2363 og:image:alt: star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace_3MAWJs og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Star Wars Fans React to the Premiere of The Phantom Menace twitter:description: "There’s no way it’s going to be a disappointment" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd7f2227a19467878/698874c7e20a87058fa8e962/star-wars-episode-i-the-phantom-menace_3mawjs.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch _Star Wars_ Fans React to the Premiere of _The Phantom Menace_ > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer [Watch (HLS stream): Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/UyGxWpXw.m3u8) (2:35)  _Published 2015-10-20. Star Wars The Force Awakens Trailer_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 10, 2015 2:39 PM UTC  Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace". Liam Neeson and Natalie Portman in "Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace". Twentieth Century Fox  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 10, 2015 2:39 PM UTC As the hype continues to build for the Dec. 18 release of the highly anticipated, J.J. Abrams-directed [_The Force Awakens_](http://time.com/4116403/star-wars-force-awakens-fan-theories/), this video is here to remind everyone what happened last time the _Star Wars_ series made an encore. The year was 1999 and it had been 16 years since _The Return of the Jedi_ hit the big screen. Fans were eagerly awaiting the newest installment of the franchise, a prequel to the original trilogy, _The Phantom Menace_. This clip shows a compilation, created by YouTube user [Funny Local News](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw6s%5FN3IQI4sswTSfLoIUrA), of moviegoers’ reactions to the film both before and after having seen it. “There’s no way it’s going to be a disappointment,” said one man dressed as Darth Vader. Despite the fact that the movie would go on to be highly criticized, the majority of audience members had nothing but positive things to say about it at the time. Although the last fan interviewed shared a thought that would later become a popular sentiment: “Two thumbs way down. I think I deserve a public apology from George Lucas.” Watch the full video below: ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4143743/star-wars-fans-react-to-the-premiere-of-the-phantom-menace/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4143743/star-wars-fans-react-to-the-premiere-of-the-phantom-menace/"},"headline":"Watch Star Wars Fans React to the Premiere of The Phantom Menace","datePublished":"2015-12-10T14:39:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:42:17.302Z","description":"\"There’s no way it’s going to be a disappointment\"","url":"https://time.com/4143743/star-wars-fans-react-to-the-premiere-of-the-phantom-menace/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Star Wars","J.J. 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