With the 9th and finalchapter of Star Wars arriving, here’s a memory from when I saw the premier of Star Wars: Episode I, the Phantom Menace.
It was difficult to get tickets for SW:TPM because everyone had been anticipating this film for so many years, and in some cases decades.
Luckily it was easy for me to get tickets. I found a theater that had just opened a month earlier, and with the internet not being as pervasive as it is today, most people didn’t know it existed. I stopped by and bought 20 tickets so I could take my entire work team and a few friends.
By a weird coincidence, a few days before Chapter 1 opened, I went to see a different film at that same multiplex. The audio system was messed up. You could hardly understand anything. We complained and got a refund.
During our conversation with the manager I was able to probe and find out that this was the theater Episode 1 would be shown in. Oh no!
I asked him, “If the audio problem isn’t solved by Wednesday (the day of the premiere) you’ll swap it to a different theater, huh?”
He had a surprised look on his face. But then he agreed.
When we went to see Episode 1 with my 20 coworkers, it was in a different theater. AND THAT’S HOW I SAVED CHRISTMAS… I mean… Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
(Sadly nothing could help overcome the fact that the film was awful. At least we could hear the awfulness well. Sigh.)
