TOY SHOPPERS CHASE `PHANTOM'; MIDNIGHT MARKETING LURES `MENACE' FANS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

While some fanatics of The Force have been camping out in movie theater lines for weeks, shoppers on Monday scooped up toys and collectibles relating to ``Star Wars: Episode 1, The Phantom Menace.''

The long-awaited prequel to the ``Star Wars'' trilogy won't open in cineplexes until May 19, but the merchandising tie-ins kept cash registers humming all day Monday. The doors opened at 12:01 a.m. at Toys `R' Us stores, including the Stevenson Ranch location, where 12-inch-tall action figures of ``Phantom Menace'' characters - priced at $19.99 - sold out between midnight and sunrise, said store service manager Janie Crews.

``Those seem to be the hot item,'' she said.

But late-morning shoppers still had plenty of other ``Phantom Menace'' paraphernalia to choose from, in displays near the front entrance.

Valencia resident Greg Howard was just a toddler when the original ``Star Wars'' was released in 1977, but he said he grew up on the tales of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and Darth Vader on video. ``I watched the first episode probably once or twice a week as a kid,'' he said.

On Monday, he had selected six small action figures, priced at $6.99 each, from the new film in the sci-fi franchise of director George Lucas.

``We've gone through an incredible number of action figures,'' Crews noted, listing the movie-toy characters that no doubt soon will become household names: Queen Amidala; Jar Jar Binks; Padme Naberrie; Qui-Gon Jinn; Darth Maul; Anakin Skywalker, a k a Darth Vader as a boy; and Obi-Wan Kenobi - the sage of A Galaxy Far, Far Away as a handsome young Jedi knight.

``The shelves were bare in seconds. We had to restock,'' Crews said. ``Older people - college kids, high school kids, a lot of collectors - were out in force.''

A line of shoppers snaked more than 100 deep waiting to enter Toys `R' Us when the special promotion began just past midnight. Some of the toys were held back until 6:30 a.m., when a special sale began so youngsters could shop before heading off to school, Crews said.

``We had two cases (of toys) set aside for the kids, and those are gone,'' she said.

Chris Ward, 37, took an early lunch break from his job in Newhall to stop by the toy store for some of the small action figures to add to his collection of hundreds of pieces of Star Wars-themed merchandise. The movies have appealed to him since his teens, when they first came out, and he hopes to be one of the first to see ``Phantom Menace'' two weeks from now.

``We have a friend who runs a movie theater - Pacific Winnetka - so he's going to try to get us in on opening night,'' said Ward, a Woodland Hills resident.

``I like the epic storytelling. You're following the life of Luke Skywalker from the beginning to the end, and now you're going to get to see what happened before he was born.''

Northridge resident Eric Isabella, on his way to work at College of the Canyons, stopped at Toys `R' Us to see if their selection was any better than the Porter Ranch Toys `R' Us he had gone to at midnight. ``I got 15 (action) figures, and that was all I was able to squeeze into my budget,'' he said.

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Oliver Espiridion checks out the new ``Star Wars: Episode 1'' toys Monday morning at the Toys `R' Us in Stevenson Ranch.

(2) Barbara Boxley and daughter Brittany shop for ``Star Wars'' gear, which went on sale just after midnight at Toys `R' Us.

Tom Mendoza/Daily News