[dmm]

Not that anyone cares, but my whole family likes JarJar. We think he's funny.

As far as the quality of Episode I:
1) Duel between Maul and the Jedi was excellent, esp. with the music.
2) Pod race impossibly fast??? You haven't seen kids playing PodRacer have you? And those are human kids w/out the Force.
3) Totally agree that the climactic space battle was lame, and that Anakin's lines were REALLY lame.
4) Disagree somewhat about the ground battle being lame. Sidious's orders were "Kill them all." When I saw the Gungans on animals and saw (and heard!) the tanks come over the hill, I thought, "Oh man, they're dead." Then they activated their shield, and we find out that the Gungans aren't such pushovers after all. So far, not lame, IMHO. Yet once the droids finally break up their defenses we still see few, if any, Gungans get killed. Lame. I don't like needless blood and gore, but a battle just isn't heroic if nobody dies.
5) Maul was supposed to be obviously evil, in stark contrast to Palpatine. He had to cause immediate shudders. So he was made to look devilish, demonic, as pop culture pictures that. Evil incarnate.
6) I think you all need to keep in mind that Lucas is not, and never has been, intending the StarWars movies for serious sci-fi fans. They are comic book fare. Pulp fiction. Like the serial movies he remembers from his childhood. Think cowboy movies, Buck Rogers, Robin Hood, Flash Gordon. Eye and ear candy. Melodrama. Space opera. Mass audience. RTS gaming.