It's not a trilogy yet

Rating: Null/10 (19 May 2001)

Well, Episode I on it's own may seem pretty boring... But every scene in it sets up a building block for the next two instalments... "A New Hope", Episode IV, it's not a great film on it's own. It has a whinging character named Luke who somehow manages to thwart the evil Empire and a stupid looking bad guy named Darth Vader. It's when you take in the other two instalments of the trilogy that it all starts to get interesting. We learn more of the force; we get into Han's character and Leia's. We meet the evil emperor who has Vader on his leash, we learn that Vader is Lukes father. Seeing the same characters in the 3 movies allows them and the scenarios they're put in mean much more to us. Lando turned out to be a cool guy, he wasn't in Episode IV, we saw him at the end of Episode V and he turned out to be quite nasty, but in the end, wasn't he cool?
In Episode I, we have a younger little whinging kid named Anakin, who somehow manages to thwart the evil trade federation (I just wish he hadn't done it while he was out of control and punching little flashing buttons) and a stupid looking bad guy named Darth Maul. But more than this, you have the honourable Senator Palpitine pulling every ones strings, and I mean everyone, to place himself in a major position of power. We have a character, which all kids can relate to, Anakin, and his cool animated pal Jar Jar Binks. (which lets not fool ourselves, is for the kids) But we all know what's going to happen to this kid don't we? And it's when this story is played out, watching Anakin as a young innocent boy will be all the better.
Episode II will have the Clone Wars, Episode III will have the falling of Anakin and his defeat by Obi Wan, and if there are any new characters you really don't like (eg. Jar Jar Binks) they aren't in the original trilogy, which means, chances are, they're dead meat. (And I hope they die gruesomely, for your sake) Boba Fetts race will be defined, Obi Wan will become a more developed character, people will cast sympathy on Darth Vader and Luke won't seem so annoying anymore. (In comparison to Jar Jar and kid Anakin)
So, all in all, Episode I on it's own is just a great Sci Fi movie, with breath taking scenes and Special Effects for the kids. But in the sense of the trilogy, and in the overall picture of all 6 movies, this movie does its job in setting the scene.