Five Reasons Why The Phantom Menace Is Way Better in 3-D!

Today, Star Wars: Episode 1—The Phantom Menace gets a much-hyped 3-D upgrade and theatrical rerelease. And that's only the beginning. George Lucas plans to retrofit all six Star Wars films with extra dimensions, and unleash one per year.

So will fanboys return to the big screen? We're thinking, duh. Lucky for them, this is one droid-filled production with no crammed-in new scenes, at least one much-needed alteration and plenty of reasons to feel The Force one more time.

So get those 3-D specs on! Here are five great reasons to check out this Menace:

1. The Podrace: Lucas didn't want the 3-D to be about just tossing womp rats off the screen. We understand the desire to give depth and not just cheap gimmicks, but whatever! Anakin's high-speed deathrace across Tatooine is made for comin'-at-ya excitement.

2. Darth Maul's Double-Sided Lightsaber: The Jedi-on-Sith duels totally pop with richer color and more dangerous blades. Even baddie Maul's dark hoodie gets a thrill upgrade.

3. Space Battles Get More...Space: Phantom has a climax (spoiler alert, from a long time ago) with not one but four epic battles all at the same time. The sight of the endless droid army invading poor, peaceful planet Naboo overwhelms the senses, no matter how many pairs of glasses you're wearing. Trumped only by Anakin's assault on that donut-shaped death star thing.

4. Natalie Portman's Many Wardrobe Changes: Look closely, cosplay gals, and maybe you'll be able to see if Queen Amidala's outfits—constantly switched in between all her political debates and subtle subterfuge—are made of satin or conflict-free cotton.

5. Yoda Looks Alive Again: If Lucas ever replaced the Frank Oz Muppet marvel from The Empire Strikes Back, we would flip out like a certain green Jedi master did in Attack of the Clones. But in the original Phantom Menace, surrounded by computer-generated everything, the puppet looked just plain weird. So this is the first time (well, in theaters, at least) you can see the now-CG Yoda.

But none of that really beats seeing the opening crawl, with the giant words STAR WARS floating through space...in 3-D!