Released in 1999, The Phantom Menace has a 62% positive review rating on Rotten Tomatoes. While it has earned over $900 million worldwide, the backlash from critics and fans, over what is often seen as a movie with a confusing plot with too much reliance on special effects, has been brutal and unrelenting. So how is it that ten years later, a Youtube video adding to a conversation that has been going on for a decade can be so popular?

It’s been less than a month since it was posted, but the first part of the video series, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review already has 963,599 views, 1,699 comments and is linked to from over 23,000 sites. In its entirety the review has seven parts and it almost as long as the actual movie. These type of numbers imply a high level of authority, but more importantly, they imply the kind of authority so crucial to the internet; the kind given to you by your peers. Created by video production company Red Letter Media, the review thoroughly critiques almost every aspect of the movie. When you combine the fact that this review is so complete and has been seen by so many people, this post on Spots Unknown brings up the question of whether or not George Lucas has seen or even heard of it.

I had a long-time employee of his confirm afterward that this is him, in line in front of me today at Borders at the Westfield mall. He’s got some courage coming out in public right now with this thing (the review) going ’round the sphere

George Lucas was recently on the Daily Show, and a post on Comedy Central’s blog CC Insider titles the clip George Lucas Addressed the Haters on the Daily Show.

While the accuracy of this title comes into question after watching the clip, and while there is no real reason to make a connection between the review and Lucas’s appearance on The Daily Show, it’s pretty easy for individuals on the internet to connect the dots and engage in a conversation based purely on speculation; several comments on the review page mention George Lucas’s visit to the daily show.

The point of all of this is that conversations are happening and it’s not always clear who’s in charge. Quotes, which have always had the danger of being taken out of context, are now everyone’s personal property. George Lucas doesn’t need to respond to the review, he just needs go to a book store or appear on TV and internet users will transform his actions into a response. He may be in the position to ignore all of this, but many artists are not and they need to have an understanding of how these phenomena can affect them.