[JakeLipson]

Today, I decided to watch The Phantom Menace again for the first time in a while. I don't think I've seen it since before Episode II came to DVD, but I pulled it out again now that I've seen Episode III to see if I could make any connections between them, and the medicloreans stuff in particular.

Anyway, so, I'm sitting there watching the movie and enjoying it, it's playing fine, and I'm not expecting any problems with it since when I first got it I played it a lot (prior to Episode II, it was the only Star Wars movie I had, and benefited frequent rewatches; meanwhile, I *DO* like it a lot. But, anyway...)

Then I get to the scene where Anakin sees Qui-Gon's lightsaber in his robes, and when he asks if they have shelter, it paused for a second. I thought that this might be the layer change at first, but I didn't remember it from all the times I played it before. A couple seconds went by and it started playing again, but it skipped ahead, only momentarily, but it did. I played it a third time and it started skipping again around that same spot.

So, I think the disc has become damaged. There's some scratches on the back, but I don't know when or how it got to be that severe, since I've got plenty of DVDs with some scratches here and there that still play fine.

But, I went to Fox's website, and they have a program for disc replacement, but they'll charge me $6.99 for it, and only give me the replacement if I ship my current disc to them for them to inspect and make sure that I need a replacement. Then, it'll take 4-6 weeks for me to GET the replacement, not to mention waiting during the time that they take to look and decide wheather the replacement is something I really need to have or not.

So, I'm wondering if there's something else I can do, like cleaning the back or something, or would it just be worth my while to buy the set at retail again. I know Circuit City's got it on special for $9something this week, so I figure if I bought it again I'd be set, and it'd only be $3 or so more than I'd be paying Fox to replace it directly, and I'd get it now. Still, I don't have a lot of money right now and would like to spend that money on other stuff -- ie, I still don't have the Episode III soundtrack or Pocahontas SEs from a few weeks ago, not to mention a few things that came out on Tuesday that I'm interested in -- so it'd be a whole lot nicer if there was a way of fixing my current disc rather than spending $9 to buy a new one. Still, if I have to, I will.

Suggestions?