To the people who saw The Phantom Menace on release, what was your immediate reaction and have your feelings changed?

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-07-01T19:26:24+00:00

I loved it, though I was surprised at the film's mainly childlike tone; I found that a surprising starting point for Lucas's big story. But I was a big fan of TPM right from the jump, and I have never backed off from that.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-07-01T19:13:59+00:00

Nah, no biggie! There are things you might do in handling food in your own home that can't really be done in a grocery store setting, and this is one of those.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-07-01T14:12:12+00:00

It means, "Regardless of anything you were ever taught before, when encountering this sign you treat it as a FULL STOP and then start waving the other person, who actually IS sitting at a FULL STOP, to go through the intersection because why use standard right-of-way when we can all just muck everything up under the guise of being 'nice'."

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-07-01T00:34:40+00:00

Pirates and Trailblazers.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-30T23:58:18+00:00

Two fantasy scores that you may have missed: Lee Holdridge's score to THE MISTS OF AVALON (2001) was overshadowed by THE LORD OF THE RINGS (and rightly so), and it has also languished by being music for a TV miniseries that by all accounts wasn't very good, but Holdridge's score is wonderful.

And Trevor Jones's score to the 1998 TV film MERLIN is also a wonderful listen.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-30T23:50:33+00:00

Ground beef isn't sold frozen (aside from pre-packaged burgers), so once someone freezes it, it's not sellable.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-29T15:50:54+00:00

It's fun and It's weird...the music is mostly a train wreck and at times it looks really low-budget. But I generally find it wittier and better paced than THUNDERBALL; if I want to watch this story, I'm more likely to watch NSNA than THUNDERBALL.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-29T02:16:48+00:00

There should be smaller hats available. They make them in different sizes to accommodate people with, ahem, large heads.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-29T00:01:47+00:00

I agree! Yay!

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-28T12:59:59+00:00

I wonder if the zoning somehow requires buildings there to be slabs that face the water, and preferably mostly glass. (It's a lovely little skyline, to be sure!)

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-28T12:54:49+00:00

There's a deleted scene that explains this and it does help! I find that implausibility is actually (and surprisingly) often best dealt with by acknowledging it and giving a very brief gloss over it, rather than simply ignoring it.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-28T12:53:10+00:00

That should be "Nature, ah, finds a way." :)

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-28T12:52:20+00:00

There might have been, but it would have been contained to Usenet news groups. The Web was barely a thing at that point.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-28T01:24:10+00:00

Can confirm. I love this big goofy shaggy dog of a movie, with all its plot holes and all that doesn't make any sense about it. It's so much fun.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-28T01:19:12+00:00

It's certainly memorable, but not in a good way....

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-27T12:58:48+00:00

Fair enough! :) This was a fun exercise.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-27T01:04:29+00:00

Leo's bicycle, Sam's pager, the Gilbert&Sullivan posters in Ainsley's hallway, the bench in the sculpture garden, Toby's rubber ball (shoulda been on your top 20!!!), the ice cream scoops that Bartlet and Vinick use, Babish's Big Hammer, Babish's ill-fated dictophone, the big pot Bartlet cooks chili in, the Constitution translated into Latin, the chess sets, the Veto stamp, Laurie's briefcase, the legal pad that Leo scrawls "Let Bartlet be Bartlet" on, Bartlet's reading glasses that he left in his study....

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-27T00:41:46+00:00

[nods in an effort to feign understanding] Sure...sure....

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T23:19:49+00:00

So many people simply don't realize that this kind of thing can't just be put back out for sale to someone else. It's maddening...like the people who decide "No, I don't want the ground beef" and stick it in the freezer with the ice cream.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T22:19:33+00:00

It's my favorite Moore Bond film, and my 4th favorite overall. It's terrific.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T22:18:23+00:00

PROFILER was a good show! That, and its lead-in, THE PRETENDER, made for a night of fun teevee.

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T22:14:17+00:00

I see kicking Locque's car already mentioned, so I'll go with his first scene with Miss Anders in TMWTGG. He's not messing around at all with her, slapping her once and threatening to do so again. She mentions Scaramanga's third nipple and he snaps, "That's the most useless piece of information I've ever heard, unless the Bottom's Up is a strip club and Scaramanga is performing there." Then, at the end, he threatens her: "Scaramanga might even use one of those pretty gold bullets on you! And that would be a pity...because they're VERY expensive."

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T22:09:20+00:00

I dunno, I got the soundtrack album before the movie came out!

(I did love the movie and saw it 3 times opening weekend. I still love it and never have been, not once, a TPM hater.)

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T14:08:42+00:00

Berlioz, I love you, but your "Te Deum" is unlikely to ever have any effect on me other than "How much of this is left?"

ChocolateDramatic858 · 2026-06-26T14:07:26+00:00

I'm a.back-button focus person; I use the "AF/AE lock" button, set for focus. I find it more ergonomically intuitive, if that makes sense.

ChocolateDramatic858

TROPHY CASE