Saturday, August 26, 2006

Geektalk: Revenge of the Phantom Clone


Remember the big fuss over what the new Star Wars movies would be called? Remember the cries of disappointment over the name The Phantom Menace? Remember the scorn and ridicule over the name Attack of the Clones? Remember the cheers over the name Revenge of the Sith? It seems kind of silly now, since I don't actually use those names when talking about the movies. Usually I say "Episode One" or "Episode Three." I never go "I loved that scene in 'Attack of the Clones' where Mace Windu comes into the arena." It's just easier. Yet I rarely say "I loved in 'Episode Six' where the Emperor blasted Luke Skywalker." I spell out the full names. Maybe it's because Lucas put so much emphasis on the episide numbers. In the logo for the first movie, the letter "I" is bigger than the actual title. I always felt Lucas was worried about how confusing the whole prequel thing is. "So it's the next movie in the series?" "Yes." "And it takes place after the last one?" "No, it takes place before the first one." Lucas wanted the episode numbers to be emphasized to help clarify it.

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2 comments:

Maurice Mitchell said...

I know what you mean. While I would never call "Return of the Jedi" "Episode Six" the way the last three movies have been marketed we really have no choice but to call them by their numbers. But, I think this was a brilliant move on Lucas' part because it helped to eliminate a lot of confusion. In the end the names were pretty stupid anyway.
Phantom Menace - Boring and lame
Attack of the Clones - Corny and completely untrue since they didn't attack anyone. War of the clones would have more accurate.
Revenge of the Sith - Pretty much perfect except it doesn't count because this was based on a name he was going to use for one of the first films.
M2Cents

Nigel G Mitchell said...

I didn't know that was an old name...wild