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Unbelievably, somehow, Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace turned 20 this week: the most controversial sequel, never mind prequel, in entertainment history.

Arriving in 1999 at the same time as the notable rush of fans and non-professional critics onto the ever-widening platforms of the Internet and nascent social media, this sudden amplification of everyone’s unedited opinions and the inevitable bully mobs we now hear daily was coupled with worldwide media paying at least as much attention to fans, Jedi cosplayers and merchandise collectors as anything official Lucasfilm placed in front of them.

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Consumers were suddenly the main story, long gone were the days when movie studios controlled the message — especially true in the case of Star Wars, which had ascended to a near religion to its biggest adherents since the first film’s release in 1977.

And after the not-always-loved Ewoks of Return of the Jedi, with its not precisely original Death Star — and especially after George Lucas’ 20th anniversary Special Edition re-edits, including philosophical tweaks like having Greedo inexplicably shoot first (and miss!) Han Solo from two feet away — there was a definite tension in the air leading up to Episode I, enough to give the bloodhound media a sense of where to point the cameras, especially at anyone in a costume that didn’t fit quite right.