For true fans of a certain age, the anticipation of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace has been going on for most of two decades. Back in the 1980s, after Return of the Jedi, many of us found it hard to believe director George Lucas when he said he planned to do a prequel trilogy toward the end of the century, when the technology would be ready for it.

But sure enough, that long-term vision has paid off. The anticipation has morphed into hype, which has built to fever pitch over the last year or two. In 1999, technology has caught up with George Lucas's imagination. Digital animation is used in 95 percent of the frames in The Phantom Menace, more than triple the number of shots ever for a motion picture.

"I had been very frustrated before when I made the first series because I had an imagination that created a kind of world that I could never get on film," says Lucas. "It was just technically impossible. I was stuck with creatures in rubber masks that couldn't move very far."

"This was the one time I was able to sit down and basically let my imagination run wild," says Lucas. "The film, ultimately, was all digital in that the film was put into a computer - the whole film - and then it was manipulated, and then taken out of it.

"I don't think anyone can tell what part of the film was shot digitally and what part of the film was shot on film . . . . I'm not going to tell you. But there are a number of shots in there that are digital."

If the technology is very definitely up to date, the story was essentially written when Lucas made the first trilogy, as background to the villainous character of Darth Vader.

By this stage, Star Wars is so well established in our imaginations that the idea of "Episode I" is nearly like a creation myth, a new Book of Genesis. This mythic dimension can get carried away by some media commentators. One American professor commented on the queues outside cinemas for last week's advance-ticket sales: "The only time you see something like this is on religious pilgrimages, where people crawl up mountains on their hands and knees."

Do we really care that much? Will we if the media say we do? Already critics are lining up against The Phantom Menace - "one of the worst movies I've ever seen," says one. Does that matter in the face of a cultural phenomenon?

Planet Hollywood film competition: The winners, who wrote smart, well informed scenes for the new Star Wars film, are Niall Hughes and Des McGovern of Colaiste Chiarain in Leixlip, Co Kildare. Their class wins a trip that includes visits to TV3 and The Irish Times as well as a meal at Planet Hollywood.