Twenty-five years onward from the theatrical debut of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace,” nearly every one of its haters has a story about how George Lucas wrecked their childhood.
Maybe it was the acting, or more accurately, its absence. Many cite the introduction of the whole midichlorians pseudo-science which, as my still-traumatized husband explained during a recent rewatch, negated the mystical wonder of the Force connection. “The podracing . . . the podracing . . . ” he muttered his breath with all the resignation of Colonel Kurtz gasping out his last words.
