Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera written and directed by George Lucas, produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first installment in the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy and stars Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, Jake Lloyd, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Pernilla August, and Frank Oz. The film is set 32 years before the original film, and follows Jedi Knight Qui-Gon Jinn and his apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi as they protect Queen Amidala in hopes of securing
Star Wars opening crawl and immediately after "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...". This places it halfway between "Rogue One" and the main saga. The opening crawl in the first "Star Wars" film is very different from Lucas' original intention. The original text, used in the rough cut he showed to friends and studio executives in February 1977, appears in the Marvel Comics adaptation of the film. When originally released in May 1977, the first film was simply titled "Star Wars", as 20th Century Fox forbade Lucas to use a subtitle because it could be confusing, since there had been