Chat corner 109: Phantom Menace

[annathecrow]

Welcome to the Monday chat corner!

This week we start another round through the Star Wars movies, with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. If you’re curious or nostalgic, you can check out our chat from 2021 and 2022. Otherwise, well, what do you think? Who is your favorite and least-favorite character? And have you ever read/watched/played any tie-in EU material?

Comments

[havendale]

Honestly I am basically a feral cat hissing defensively when it comes to Qui-Gon. He’s terrific! I remain bewildered as to why a large part of the fandom decided he was the worst person in the GFFA.

[annathecrow]

It's the Jedi Apprentice books! Qui-Gon did a few questionable things in the movie, and the series took those and ran with them. Jude Watson develops him into a complex, flawed character, but that unfortunately flies miles above the heads of the intended kid audience. So they (and everyone who gets the series plot through fandom osmosis) end up with "Qui-Gon is evil".

Funnily enough, the writer must have realized what happened from reader feedback, because the later books are all "Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon love each other, for reals!" but obviously at that point the damage had been done.

I have read the series in my thirties for fanfic writing reasons, and it's been a bewildering experience. Why does something with kid-level plotting and language have more complex character work than many "grown up" books????

[havendale]

I do dearly love the characterisation in Jedi Apprentice! Qui-Gon slowly thawing and becoming a better mentor to Obi-Wan is a very well-done arc IMO.

I wonder if part of the fandom reaction to Jedi Apprentice stems from the fact that some of the fluffier moments written by Watson aren't found in the main series but in the related books? The Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan section in Legacy of the Jedi, for instance, is very sweet, with Qui-Gon spending most of the adventure trying to build up Obi-Wan’s self-confidence, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it referenced in fic.

(Guiltily sliding in a reply notwithstanding that the Friday post is already up.)

[annathecrow]

Hmm, you might be right - and considering the nicer Qui-Gon & Obi-Wan interaction is in the later JA books, maybe a lot of people have never read that far.

Thanks for mention Legacy of the Jedi btw, I haven't read that one! And sorry about the fansplaining - I should have guessed you would have known the series better than me! :D

_{(lol, I don't think that's a problem around here! At least I dearly hope so, because I'm always behind on replies and carrying on conversations long after the comm has moved on XD)}