Ok enlisted men and women, your wait is coming to a close. It seems STAR WARS: THE PHANTOM MENACE is coming to a Military Theater near you! Here's all the details we have so far. Here's what Private Snafu had to say about it!
I live on a U.S. military installation in Europe. This bit of information may be of interest to any U.S. Military personnel living overseas who read your website.
Lucasfilm has released "The Phantom Menace" to theaters located on overseas U.S. military posts/bases. Basically, this means that the only places overseas where TPM will legally be shown BEFORE the overseas release dates are in AAFES theaters (AAFES is the entity which manages the military installation theaters, as well as the P/X and B/X stores). This is also an apparent exception to Lucas' strict sound system policy for showing TPM, since most AAFES theaters, if not all, do NOT have THX sound systems.
According to my local theater manager, Lucasfilm only agreed to this after AAFES agreed to some strict security measures. Each theater is not getting its own copy of TMP. Apparently only a few copies are being released to AAFES. TMP will be shown for approximately one week at each theater, then it will be transported by armed guard to the next theater, and so on. Also, they will be searching bags, purses, etc., at the door for any kind of recording equipment, and there will be heavy duty checking of U.S. military ID's to be sure only authorized people get into the theaters. For those who don't know, all military members, employees, spouses, and dependents 10 years of age and older are required to have a U.S. military I.D. So, if you are near a U.S. military installation with a theater, and you don't have a U.S. military I.D., the only way you could possibly get in is if you can pass for a 9 year old kid, and are accompanied by an adult with a military I.D. ;>
One last tidbit: our men and women deployed in Bosnia, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait will get to see TPM free of charge sometime this month. :)
Private Snafu over and out!
