The Wildest (and Most Wildly Inaccurate) Rumors About 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace'

We’re less than two weeks from the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and it’s kind of remarkable how little we still know about the film. Beyond broad strokes, not all that much has been revealed about the hotly-anticipated seventh chapter in the mega-franchise. That hasn’t stopped people speculating, though: Rumors have been flying about the new film ever since it was announced. That said, it’s just a drop in the bucket compared to the fervent rumormongering that accompanied the release of the first Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace, back in 1999.

That film geared up for release just as the internet movie gossip era was coming of age, and all kinds of information — both correct and utterly wrong — was reported. With just a matter of days until we find out which Force Awakens rumors are correct, we delved into the archives of sites like TheForce.net and Corona’s Coming Attractions, which monitored the speculation more than most, to reveal some of the wildest — and totally erroneous — reports from back in the day. Click on to read more.