What was so wrong with “Episode II: The Clone Wars”?
That at least sounds a teeny bit more dignified, and it reminds people of Kenobi’s line in the original where he said he “hadn’t been called Obi-Wan since the clone wars.”
I didn’t think “The Phantom Menace” was a great title when I first heard it, and I still don’t think it’s that great. But it’s a million times better than “Attack of the Clones”!
As someone over at http://www.mrcranky.com said, this proves that George Lucas is an “assclone”…
-Ben
Granted, I think that the dual usage of the word “Wars” is annoying… BUT (and this is a very important “but”) people have been expecting this title usage for twenty years.
C’mon, George, we stayed loyal to you for two decades… throw us a frickin’ bone, here, okay?!?
What I don’t understand is why the new movies have to have the clunky “Star Wars Episode X: Blah, Blah” formation. The first three movies were sold as Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi, and nobody got confused about the order of the movies. Why not just “The Phantom Menace” and “Clone Wars”? People don’t have any problem understanding that “The World Is Not Enough” is a James Bond movie. I don’t think that anyone interested would have trouble finding “Clone Wars” if it didn’t have Star Wars in front of it.
If Episode II were directed by Victor Salva, it would probably be called Clonehouse. That might yield some interesting twists on the Anakin “love story”, BTW.
Star Wars II: Anikan’s Big Adventure
Star Wars II: Luke, I Am Your Replicant
Star Wars II: Honey, I Cloned the Jedi
Star Wars II: The Nutty Geneticist
Star Wars II: I Am Joe’s Clone
maybe, just maybe he’s doing it to get all the net in an uproar. Maybe he’s still trolling for good names? yeah right, sigh
I really really REALLY hope he changes it.
Clone is too … too … cliche and corny.
If I were to give him 1 word that he must, absolutely must use, it would be horde. ‘Star Wars 2: The ***** Horde.’ Rather then calling to our mind Dolly, we’d think of Mongols. Which is cool, and it’s dark like ep5’s title. Too bad it can’t be “The Dreadnaught Horde,” the history’s off.
Are you kidding? Fat Star Wars fans can’t run. I know. I am one.
Anyhoo, I spent some time thinking about it, and have come up with the following alternate titles (I don’t think that the word “Clone” should be used in the title, unless he finally goes with what everyone want… “The Clone Wars”).
-Rise of the Dark Side
-Balance of the Force (Anakin was supposed to bring balance, yadda yadda yadda…)
-Call to Destiny (Anakin develops his relationship with Queen Carboard… I mean, Amidala… thus fulfilling his destiny of bringing balance via Luke…)
Sufficiently vague, matches what will hopefully be the mood of the movie, and doesn’t remind the viewing public of UFO’s made of hubcaps.
It needs something a little more dramatic, like “Scourge of the Clones”, something that makes it sound like a swarm of locust sweeping over the galaxy, and changing everything as it leaves. After all, this is the turning point of the story, where the world of Episode 1 becomes the world we see in the original trilogy.
Well, I like the title. I have been reading threads all over the net and the most interesting one has been over at Coming Attractions(the grand-daddy of movie pages).
There are a few reasons this title is going to be OK.
Empire Strikes Back sounds lame too. Only in retrospect did we realize the entire implication of the title. When Luke has his revelation, the empire struck back more than expected. So looking forward at a movie called Attack of the Clones may be lame, but looking back might not be.
I really believe this is a Sci-Fi fifties-like serial story. Look at it this way.
Phantom Menace
Attack of the Clones
–
A New Hope
Empire Strikes Back
Return of the Jedi
If you see all 5(6) in a row, it looks right. The least fitting title to me seems to be Phantom Menace.
If the movie is good, the title will be fine also. This does not pull the quality of the movie down at all. Only the movie can destroy the movie. Of course, if the movie is bad, it will solidify the negative feelings toward the title. “Gosh, they couldn’t even get the title right!”
I suggest we just wait and see. I actually believe this movie will be good.
“Star Wars” was always part of the title, the full title wasn’t until the release of the box set videos.
Don’t forget Jango Fett! Boba’s father, perhaps?
And IMHO, The “Phantom Menace” refers to the future “Emporer” Palpatine. The Jedi Council knows there must be another Sith somewhere but they have yet to discern where.
Jeff: you misunderstood me. I know that the original title was just Star Wars, and that the Episode IV: A New Hope stuff was added later. My point was that this was unnecesary and detracts from the movie. “Star Wars” is a much better title then “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.”
But more than that, it is a fundamental change in the essense of the title. By having the “Star Wars Episode X: Subtitle”, what they’re saying is that Star Wars is the name of the series, but the name of this movie is really A New Hope.
Each of the first three movies has a single, unique name by which it is known: Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi. It would make more sense to do the same with the three new movies, ie. The Phantom Menace, Clone Wars, The Dark Side (or whatever), and leave the “Star Wars Episode X” part off.
Lucas obviously decided to use Star Wars as the series name, which makes sense, but I can’t see any reason why that can’t be the name of the series and the name of one of the episodes in the series, or why the name of the series has to be part of the title of each movie in the series. I have the same problem with “Indiana Jones and” which could be left off of the second and third movies in that series, and the titles still make sense. At least they didn’t go back and change the title of the first one to “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark”.
In general I find series that the same word or name in every title awkward. The Bond movies all have unique titles. The alphabet theme for the Kinsey Milhone books works well, and the color theme for the Travis McGee books also works. Robert B. Parker uses literary references for his Spencer books. “Harry Potter and the” shows a lack of imagination in choosing titles.
Ultimately, what I dislike the most about this kind of formation is that it is a subtle insult to the audience. It’s like saying the only way people will be able to figure out that this is a Star Wars movie, or a Harry Potter book is if that is part of the title. It’s lazy, unimaginative and condescending.
A> It’s no worse than Return of the Jedi. In fact, it’s basically the same title… (<blank> of the <blank>) It’s just not one of the ones we were expecting “Rise of the Empire” “The Shadow Falls”… yada yada. So everybody is disappointed.
B> The title is likely a double entendre (sp?)… from what I understand as the plot of the movie. I have been reading spoilers (I know-- I can’t help myself though!) And when I thought of it from that perspective, I liked it more and more.
But when it all comes down to it. It’s just THE STUPID TITLE! Even if it was a lame title, so what! All sorts of good movies get lame titles.
I was referring to TESB and RotJ, not the original. As I said, “Star Wars” was part of the title but went unused until the release of the box set. And, yes, the full title is unnecessary.
You have to remembr that any movie with “Star Wars” in the title will SELL SELL SELL, so you can see why whoever chooses the title will be more than happy to stick “Star Wars” in there no matter how it makes the title sound, ie… Star Wars: “Clone Wars”.
In my opinion Phantom Menace is a great title, it tells of a looming(phantom) menace(the dark side) that nobody is aware of, but will play an extreamly significant role in every movie
after the first.
I feel like such a nerd talking about Star Wars on the internet (sigh) but, I seriously hope the title isn’t going to be Attack of the Clones.