Angels, Knights, and Midichlorians — A look back at ‘Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’

“You will be a Jedi. I promise.”

There comes a time in every Star Wars fan’s life when he is confronted by the reality that the franchise isn’t quite geared towards audience members above a certain age. For those who, like me, were members of the ideal demographic target group for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace upon its release in 1999, that reality may hit a little harder than for fans whose childhoods unfolded during the heyday of the timeless original trilogy. Then again, if director George Lucas was indeed taking aim at my age group at the time, I have to congratulate him on hitting an undeniable home run.

The first franchise entry both written and directed by Lucas since the original film hit theaters in 1977, The Phantom Menace absolutely dazzled my friends and I. Before the film had even hit theaters, we were already obsessed, having spent the months leading up to the big release by scoping out new action figures, studying character diagrams in official movie handbooks, collecting trading cards, and being tempted to read the junior movie novelization before even seeing the film. A more cynical observer might note that we were being groomed by a greedy studio eager to squeeze every penny out of us that it could. To us, though, it was nothing less than a full-blown cultural event in the best sense of the term. We felt like we were embarking together on a thrilling adventure the likes of which we had never known. When it finally came time to head to the ticket counter, we were primed, and as the lights went down we were finally transported once again to a galaxy far, far away.

The first of George Lucas’s prequel trilogy, The Phantom Menace begins as seasoned Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) and his apprentice, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) investigate foul play by the tyrannical Trade Federation and their droid army on the otherwise peaceful planet Naboo. Escaping with Queen Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman), they become stranded on the desert planet Tatooine, where they fatefully encounter a young slave named Anakin Skywalker (Jake Lloyd). Suspecting that the boy could be the very one prophesied to save the Jedi, Qui-Gon sets a series of events into motion that will have consequences for the entire galaxy, all while the villainous Darth Maul and Darth Sidious watch and plot from the shadows.

It is well known by now that fans and critics alike have been harsh towards The Phantom Menace as the years have passed, and for good reason. The film’s lack of a single clear protagonist, a somewhat muddled mythology (the infamous midichlorians), and overly complex political subplots combine to significantly shorten the film’s shelf life, especially compared to the timeless storytelling of the original trilogy. Nevertheless, this is still a George Lucas picture, and the themes of the original series — light and dark, good and evil, purity and temptation — are still present, even if they arguably aren’t presented in a manner that stands the test of time.

For Christians, there are a surprising number of themes to chew on, beginning with the Jedi Order itself. Unlike the original trilogy, where the Jedi are nearly extinct and in hiding, The Phantom Menace shows the Jedi Order operating as a massive dual-purpose organization dedicated to peacekeeping and spirituality. When they aren’t meditating or debating the merits of the above-mentioned prophecy, they are busy training to defend the Republic in armed combat, hence the term Jedi Knight. The history of Christian Europe is full of religious military orders that served similar purposes, though it is not always popular to speak about them in our gentler era. Armed with sword and shield, military orders from the Knights Templar to the Hospitallers of Saint John in Jerusalem took vows to defend their faith and countrymen from any who would threaten them. When not on the battlefield, many of these orders were dedicated to lives of solemn prayer, and some survive to this day serving non-military purposes, primarily charitable works.

Many viewers deride The Phantom Menace’s over-complicated and under-explained political angle, but one could argue that the absurdity of it all is actually the point. On the one hand, the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order who protect it appear to be at the height of their powers. The antagonistic Trade Federation presents a threat of sorts, but the Republic readily dispatches Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to assess the situation, presumably to deal with the matter at the edge of a lightsaber if necessary (which, as it turns out, it is). Master Yoda himself is presented as but one member of a Jedi council populated by other masters who, for all we know, have comparable powers at their disposal. And yet, in spite of the prowess that both the Jedi and the Republic seem to possess, the ghoulish amphibian-looking Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray and his comedically inept droid army nevertheless present a difficult obstacle. Simply put, no one in a position of authority in the Republic nor among the Jedi possesses the political will or foresight to push for a proactive strategy.

One should tread cautiously when comparing the politics of Star Wars to the experience of 21st Century Church politics, but there may be lessons here for Catholics as well. Those familiar with the major obstacles that the institutional Church has grappled with of late would no doubt be tempted to side with Qui-Gon as he pleads with his superiors for action. On the other hand, just as in Church politics, independent and action-oriented individuals like Qui-Gon aren’t necessarily to be trusted based solely on their proactive stances. We may instinctively root for Qui-Gon against bureaucratic inertia, but his willingness to take risks is also often questionable, his impulsive (if well-intentioned) confidence in Anakin Skywalker being a prime example. Nevertheless, bureaucratic inertia is something that Catholics regularly contend with, be it within the Church or in the broader realm of worldly politics. Indeed, we must, for the Church knows from history that it is from the political realm that many of our most dangerous adversaries can emerge.

When the Sith warrior Darth Maul (Ray Park) finally faces our Jedi heroes and removes his cloak to reveal a wildly Satanic visage underneath, the lightsaber duel that ensues remains something to marvel at even after all these years. Indeed, at times it’s one the most entertaining pieces of fight choreography that the series has to offer, made even more epic by the surrounding set design and John Williams’ rousing ‘Duel of the Fates.’ But it is Maul’s master, the masterfully political Darth Sidious (Ian McDiarmid), who utilizes truly demonic tactics.  Working from the shadows to corrupt key individuals and thereby ease the galaxy into a state of war, Sidious’s plan is to create chaos on a scale that will eventually shatter the Republic and the Jedi alike, at which point he will be able to claim dominion over the galaxy. Sidious and Maul may use the Force as the Jedi do, but theirs is a decidedly darker set of religious convictions than their counterparts on the side of light.

I would be remiss to overlook one particular scene in The Phantom Menace that fans often point to as especially damaging to the mythology of the series. Utilizing a medical instrument, Qui-Gon finds that Anakin’s blood carries an above-average “midichlorian” count, apparently explaining the boy’s aptitude for the Force and reinforcing Qui-Gon’s suspicion that Anakin is the chosen one spoken of in Jedi prophecy. It’s an odd moment in the context of the rest of the series, as it proposes a biological explanation of the Force and “Force-users” rather than a spiritual one. Still, as others have pointed out, Christian viewers might take comfort in the fact that this development can be read as paralleling the Biblical belief in the significance of the body as well as the spirit, unlike the explicitly un-Christian view of the body proposed by Yoda in the original trilogy (“Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter!”)

Another scene lightly touches the spiritual realm, if only for a moment. “Are you an angel?” Anakin asks Padme in their first scene together:

Padme: What?

Anakin: An angel. I’ve heard the deep space pilots talk about them. They live on the moons of Iego, I think. They’re the most beautiful creatures in the universe.

The exchange may be little more than a foreshadowing of the two characters’ future romance together, but it also nicely teases the unexplained mysteries in the depths of Lucas’s well-travelled galaxy far, far away.

Michael Saltis

A proud native son of Akron, Ohio, Michael currently teaches English to business professionals in Prague, capital city of the Czech Republic. While he doesn't often get away from the "City of a Hundred Spires," he enjoys exploring the rest of the Old Continent whenever possible—especially those storied corners that help him recall the vividly-imagined knights and dragons of his youth.

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