Employing the stealth of Bruce Lee and the courage of Tommy Gunn, I've acquired one of those highly illegal shoot-on-sight bootlegs of that Phantom Menace movie. Is there any better way to stick it to the Man than to spend yer hard earned shekels on a bootleg VCD (until the Man finally gives with an official DVD version, that is)? She's a glorious two-disc set - behold the masterfully designed packaging:

Doubtful Paul Rand himself could've done better...

Take note, envious E1 video owners - this bad mama-jama sports the Double Digital seal, which is, presumably, of far superior quality than Single Digital. Actually, single digital would've been more appropriate, since all the muffled sound stumbles out of a single (center) channel speaker. Hey, who wants the distractions associated with over-rated surround sound? Strictly old-school mono in this package.

The picture is about three shades above black and white - those soft muted colors much easier on the eyes than the bright vibrant hues we saw in the theater. The promethean producers of this package did, however, have the good sense to color code the discs. Disc One a dull grey, Disc Two a brilliant orange (of course). Very helpful when fumbling about for the proper half of the movie...

While this version of the film isn't widescreen, it isn't that repugnant pan-and-scan either. I'd best describe this new type of framing as "stationary". Not unlike the type of viewing experience you'd get if one were to simply setup a cheap camcorder on a tripod in the middle of a movie theater (that, however, would be wrong - path to the Dark Side wrong). You don't need a fancy widescreen tv to enjoy it and you don't need to worry about the frame moving left or right to keep the actors or action in view. Helps a man appreciate all the set-design work that went into the movie.

The VCD boot is packed full of extras like audience noises in the opening scrawl, no closing credits, no trailers, no commentary, no quality - the whole magilla. A must-own for any fan of the cinema. Why bother with DVD at all when you have this pulchritudinous package nestled in your player?