Star Wars II: Return of the Name

Mutant was among the onslaught of readers who submitted that the final name has been chosen for Star Wars Episode II. It is... Attack of the Clones. Let the sarcasm commence. I'll pass judgement after I see it.

Comments

Re:Yeah, it's like watching Big Bird go into the o

[delong]

Have you actually *watched* the first three films without the rosy glasses lately? Star Wars was a B-grade space opera flick (no doubt only justified by the then cutting edge FX and Alec Guiness) and the followups weren't much better. Sir Alec turned his nose up at the films ("that Force rubbage"). They're BAD man. I mean, "Star Wars?" How much cheesier of a title can you get? You only think they're wonderful because, like me, you saw them as a kid. There are NO adult themes or elements in ANY of the films, these are aimed at children, Lucas has said they always were and always will.

Now, I didn't expect much from Phantom Menace, and I actually got more than I expected. I saw kids leaving the theater with wide eyes and full of excitement. No doubt the same way I looked when I saw Star Wars in the theater more than 20 years ago.

Get over it, man. Star Wars is a children's franchise. It was never good to begin with, so why expect it to be the pinnacle of film now?

Derek

The real face of scifi fandom & the geek community

[Gona 1977]

I have been reading Slashdot for several years. I created an account just to post this. And here is what I have to say:

This is getting silly. Half of the comments here seem to be lamenting the fact that the prequel trilogy appears to be geared towards children. Well, I've got news for you: the same applies to the original trilogy as well. You just don't realize it because you were so young when the movies first came out.

Do you know why almost everybody here hates the Ewoks in ROTJ? Because they make you feel insecure. You're afraid that people will laugh at you for watching a children's movie with talking teddy-bears in it. And they will. You should just shrug it off, but you can't because of your low self-esteem. And, for some reason, you can't realize that the average Joe sees all Star Wars movies as children's movies, regardless of whether they have Ewoks or Jar-Jar in them or not.

The Jargon File has a section called "A Portrait of J. Random Hacker". I'm sure most of you here have read it. The section has a list of "Things Hackers Detest and Avoid", and here is how it begins:

"IBM mainframes. All the works of Microsoft. Smurfs, Ewoks, and other forms of offensive cuteness."

"Offensive cuteness" seems to rank very high on the list, right after Microsoft. Why is this? I believe that the reason is the same as stated above: you fear that being associated with any sort of "cuteness" (such as the Ewoks in ROTJ) will make you look ridiculous and childish in the eyes of others. And a lot of people seem to think that enjoying "dark" movies such as The Empire Strikes Back or The Matrix will somehow help you gain acceptance and credibility.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but it doesn't work that way. Nobody cares if you prefer The Empire Strikes Back to Return of the Jedi, or The Matrix to The Phantom Menace, or Babylon 5 to Star Trek. Again, to the proverbial average Joe, it's just "stupid sci-fi for geeks and nerds". That's what people think.

And here's another explanation: many of you are depressed and therefore can't stand the thought of "offensive cuteness" such as talking teddy bears or Jar Jar. You'd rather wear all black, watch splatter movies and listen to German industrial rock while fantasizing about killing your classmates or coworkers. Sorry about being a bit over the top, but this is how "regular people" see you. They don't see you as intelligent persons who appreciate a good sci-fi movie. Instead, they see you as sad computer geeks.

Somebody here wrote something along the lines of "well, Star Wars sucks, but fortunately we'll still have The Matrix and Lord of the Rings".

Huh? Are sci-fi and fantasy movies all you have? If you get mad because the title of the new Star Wars movie did not live up to your expectations, I think you should seriously re-examine the priorities in your life.

Very sad ...

[taxman_10m]

It is very sad that Lucas has chosen to go negative in his campaign against Senator Palpatine. The Senator only wants to use embryos, that will be discarded anyway, to harvest stem cells in an attempt to find a potential cure for such afflictions as Alzheimer's disease and certain neurological disorders.

By poisiong the debate with such senseless propaganda as "Attack of the Clones" he does injury not only to an honorable public servant with only the public's best interests in mind, but he also places in jeopardy the lives of people needing a cure. To eliminate the hope of these people is a crime against humanity.

For shame Lucas! For shame!

Re:Clone wars - read Frank Herbert

[Tupper]

Perhaps inevitably, clones are treated as far less than human, simply disposable lumps of flesh.

Oh, kinda like stem cell research.

What I think is sad.....

[Vermifax]

...is that if the title of the first movie back in '77 had been Star Wars: Attack of the Clones instead of just 'Star Wars' (Retroactively subtitled A new hope) and then the prequel, created in '99 was given a subtitle of 'A new hope' people would be whining and bitching about how lame the title was and how it couldn't compare to any of the titles in the first trilogy. If Jar Jar had been in the first movie, he would have been loved and had figures of him sold on the black market and been incorporated as a real character in fan fiction, while Ewoks would be universally hated and have fanfiction written about 1001 ways to kill them.

The problem is most of the people bitching, IMO, were children when they saw the movie. They saw with a child's eyes and a child's viewpoint on life. The people complaining have lost the ability to view the series through that childish viewpoint and have attached a sense of reverance towards it that will certainly get me modded down for saying this.

I think that the people who retain the ability (or a part of it) to view things as a child are probably the ones who loved ST:TPM as I did and yes, they will even like Jar Jar.

Am I the only one with a brain here....?

[pudge_lightyear]

Star Wars movies are not movies as many of you morons are reducing them too. A minor bump on the road (menace) does not deter my faith in the series. A title that you geeks don't like does not deter my faith in the series. I just can't compare one of the most influential events of my generation to any other mere movie. I think that Lucas has earned the credit you should give him. Even in Menace, he displayed things that we've never before seen. And remember, he is responsible for us being jaded to the special effects. Wake up and realize. You can't criticize a star wars movie and you can't criticise a star wars title. A Star Wars movie is (before production even) above every other effort Hollywood can even try. That's why the minor thing of a title appeared as a headline here and has gotten more responses than anything here lately (and in very little time). And that's why it'll be here pretty steadily until it comes out in the theater.