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Episode III Opening Crawl Released

moggyf writes "The official Star Wars website has revealed the opening crawler text for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, currently scheduled for a May 19th, 2005 release."

54 of 609 comments (clear)

  1. In Case Of Slashdotting by American+AC+in+Paris · · Score: 5, Funny
    In case of slashdotting, here's the original GIF:

    47 49 46 38 49 61 35 02 DC 02 C4 00 00 E0 E0 E0
    F0 F0 F0 10 10 10 D0 D0 D0 A0 A0 A0 30 30 30 20
    20 20 90 90 90 60 60 60 50 50 50 70 70 70 B0 B0
    B0 40 40 40 80 80 80 C0 C0 C0 00 00 00 FF FF FF
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 21 F9 04
    00 00 00 00 00 2C 00 00 00 00 35 02 DC 02 00 05
    FF 20 04 8E 64 69 9E 68 AA AE 6C EB BE 70 2C CF

    [Lameness Filter encountered. Post aborted.]

    --

    Obliteracy: Words with explosions

  2. Thank goodness for the Internet by Staplerh · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe this means that I'll see the Opening Crawl for Episode III before that poor bloke who started camping out in front of the theatre about a month ago!

    --
    "There's no success like failure, and failure's no success at all."
    - Bob Dylan
  3. General Grievous? by 10Ghz · · Score: 3, Insightful

    *sigh*

    --
    Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
    1. Re:General Grievous? by Xpilot · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, he's the 2nd cousin twice removed of General Protection Fault.

      --
      "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
    2. Re:General Grievous? by artemis67 · · Score: 3, Funny

      He's related to Major Fubar, isn't he?

    3. Re:General Grievous? by UWC · · Score: 4, Funny

      And Colonel Panic. Or something.

    4. Re:General Grievous? by lpangelrob2 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      So I'm guessing that you're one of those people that 25 years ago said, "Skywalker? How cheesy is that? Does he even think he's a native-American tribal hero?"

      Or are we again doomed to a thread where all that is holy and righteous was that which was Star Wars 4, 5, and 6. :-p

    5. Re:General Grievous? by dstewart · · Score: 5, Informative

      From the Star Wars Databank:

      "General Grievous was developed for Episode III as a powerful new villain on the side of the Confederacy. The initial instructions that Director George Lucas gave the Art Department were very open-ended: "a droid general." From that vague direction, the artists developed a lot of explorations, some purely mechanical, some not, for the look of General Grievous."

      He can be seen here engaged in heated battle with Earthworm Jim.

      --
      Not every argument requires reduction to absurdity.
    6. Re:General Grievous? by NanoGator · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm surrounded by assholes!

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    7. Re:General Grievous? by jcostantino · · Score: 4, Funny

      Isn't his son Corporal Punishment?

      --
      Reviews with a twist! http://www.sardonicbastard.com
    8. Re:General Grievous? by Bigthecat · · Score: 3, Insightful
      "General Grievous was developed for Episode III as a powerful new villain on the side of the Confederacy. The initial instructions that Director George Lucas gave the Art Department were very open-ended: "a droid general." From that vague direction, the artists developed a lot of explorations, some purely mechanical, some not, for the look of General Grievous."

      One would think that 'vague direction' and 'a lot of explorations' would come up with something innovative. But, as can be seen from the picture, what do we have?

      A droid, in the shape and likliness of a human, holding two lightsabers. I mean honestly! Put it together with the name 'General Grievous' (What is his taunt going to be? 'I HAVE A GRIEVANCE WITH YOU!!')

      And along with that, what shade of bullshit are they going to come up with for the reason a Jedi can't pull the cord out of it's head and disable it? Arrrgh!

      To think of the fine Star Wars books that could have been made with this money...

    9. Re:General Grievous? by OleMoudi · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Every time some little detail about Episode III is revealed, people is always looking for catastrophical flaws at first sight and flashbacking to episode I.

      Seriously guys, if you try hard enough, you can easily see flaws in almost everything, even in the old trilogy. Try to imagine yourselves writing an opening crawler for episode III that couldn't be in some way criticised for any stupid elitist star wars zealot.

      Don't bury the movie till you see it

      --
      ---------
      Thinking never hurt anybody --MacGyver
    10. Re:General Grievous? by WormholeFiend · · Score: 3, Funny

      Well, hello Captain Obvious.

    11. Re:General Grievous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Didn't Private Parts serve under him?

    12. Re:General Grievous? by GTRacer · · Score: 4, Informative
      Your retort is more insightful than you know...the Clone Wars shorts for Cartoon Network were directed by none other than PPG creator Genndy Tartakovski. Grievous is in it. He totally wails on some Jedi in a 3-on-1 battle. It's actually good stuff but I'm waiting to get the whole 20 5-minute episodes run together as one.

      GTRacer
      - Will be in a midnight line out of habit with tempered optimism in my heart...

      --
      Defending IP by destroying access to it? That makes sense, RIAA/MPAA. Go to the corner until you can play nice!
    13. Re:General Grievous? by NanoGator · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Why would a proctologist be on /.?"

      He's still mad that you bit his finger.

      --
      "Derp de derp."
    14. Re:General Grievous? by CoreWalker · · Score: 3, Funny

      We have Darth Tyrenus, Darth Sidious, Darth Maul, General Grievous... what's next, Darth Meanie? Darth Badguy?
      I'm still convinced that Count Dooku is named as such just because it was as close to 'Count Poopie' that Lucas could get without being TOO obvious.

  4. thanks... by phyruxus · · Score: 3, Funny

    but meesa wait for the broadcast.

    --
    "A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
    "d'Oh!" ~Homer
  5. Back to the Future by TFGeditor · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is it just me, or does the whole "back to the future" approach somehow degrade the Star Wars saga? The new stuff has nifty effects and all, but it just doesn't have the "feel" of the originals.

    --
    Ignorance is curable, stupid is forever.
    1. Re:Back to the Future by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is it just me, or does the whole "back to the future" approach somehow degrade the Star Wars saga?

      Agree. SW jumped the shark when Yoda said "tree you make like and get out of here!".

      --
      Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  6. Spoiler by TheNextBigThing · · Score: 5, Funny

    Annikin becomes Darth Vader!!

    --
    Three men walk into a bar. They all got concussions.
  7. Capitalization by Mekabyte · · Score: 4, Funny

    Separatist Droid Army and not SEPARATIST DROID ARMY?

  8. War! Huh! Hey! What is it good for? by Chagatai · · Score: 5, Funny
    Absolutely nothing!

    Seriously, with the way the new crawl starts with the word "War!", Lucas just might have replaced it with "Ass!" or something else asinine.

    --
    --Chag
  9. NOOOO!!!!!!! by paranode · · Score: 4, Funny

    That's not true, that's IMPOSSIBLE!!!!

    1. Re:NOOOO!!!!!!! by Stavr0 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Search your feelings... you know it to be true...

  10. Must RESIST ... must resist .. whimper by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny
    Look. Look.
    See. See.
    Look. Look. Look.
    See. See. See.
    See Anakin. See Anakin turn. Turn Anakin turn.
    See Jedis. See Jedis die. Die Jedis die.
    See Palpatine. See Palpatine rule. Rule Palpatine rule.
    Look. See Darth Vader. See Amidala. See Amidala give birth and hide children. Hide them Amidala.
    See Amidala die. Die Amidala die.

    There's so much to see.

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  11. No, but... by paranode · · Score: 5, Funny

    It did say "This isn't the story you're looking for" at which point I had an uncontrollable urge to say "Move along, move along". That was weird.

  12. Revised Crawl by FunWithHeadlines · · Score: 5, Funny
    REVENGE OF THE LUCAS
    Cash! The production house is crumbling
    under attacks by the ruthless
    Sith Lord, and Slashdot fanboys.
    There are whiners on both sides.
    Ennui is everywhere.

    In a stunning move, the
    fiendish droid leader, General
    Lucas, has swept into the
    Hollywood capital and kidnapped
    famous movie critics, and leaders of
    the big studios.

    As the exhasperated Slashdot army
    attempts to flee the onslaught
    of PR pushed by bought-for flaks
    two Jedi Knights lead a
    desperate mission to rescue the
    captive franchise...

  13. Re:Can someone explain something(s)? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Is Dooku good or evil?

    Evil. It's the laughing at wholesale destruction and killing the Jedi that gives it away...

    Which is the Empire and which is the Rebellion? Is Dooku on either one of those?

    The (Old) Republic becomes The Empire. The Rebellion hasn't started (because it has nothing, yet, to rebel against). Dooku is on the side that will become The Empire.

    Which side (Palpatine vs .Dooku) is the one that gets Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers?

    Palpatine and Dooku are on the same side. They are both Sith (i.e. evil).

    Since Palpatine is the Emperor, how can he be on both sides?

    Palpatine is creating a war situation to allow him to seize tighter control and disband the senate. This is a fairly unoriginal trick amongst politicians (see Margret Thatcher in the UK and George W. Bush in the US for real life examples - although they were both a bit less blatant about it). Palpatine's minions are running the separatist movement, under his orders.

    I've seen Episode II a bunch of times, but frankly, I can't figure it all out.

    It's not exactly complicated...

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  14. obligatory simpsons reference by Class+Act+Dynamo · · Score: 4, Funny

    I would be remiss in my duties if I did not bring up the Cosmic Wars crawler text.

    The Gathering Shadow

    It is a time of uncertainty. The
    empire's ambiguous tariff statutes
    mandate close reexamination of
    galactic import quotas. Interim
    Princess Agoomba has co-chaired
    a subcommittee to draft amendments
    to existing trade policies

    Meanwhile, regulatory agencies
    are being heavily lobbied by a
    consortium of mercantile interest
    groups and their suppliers to
    streamline loading restrictions for
    class C cargo vessels. The shipping...

    --
    My other computer is a Jacquard loom.
  15. Re:Okay, did anyone else.... by Basehart · · Score: 3, Funny

    I wonder if with all the last minute stuff going on at Lucas Film right now, whether anyone would notice if they forgot to make the opening titles crawl up the screen and just stuck that gif up there by accident.

    That would really put a dent in the look and feel of Star Wars III.

  16. Re:Crawler Text in case of /.ing by Bonker · · Score: 5, Funny

    Episode VI
    THE RETURN OF THE HYPE
    Money! Lucas' Fanbase is crumbling under
    the onslaught of bad film after bad film.
    Theree are people camping out for Episode
    III, but everyone thinks they are just
    kinda sad.

    In a predictable move, Lucas Arts has
    announced dozens of new action figures
    and marketing tie-ins. Ronald McDonald has
    been Kidnapped and is being replaced by
    Yoda, C-3P0, and Chewbacca.

    As the general geek community attempts
    to brace for another soul-crushing
    dissapointment, Jar Jar Binks threatens
    to taint yet another gasping breath of
    a dying franchise...

    --
    The next Slashdot story will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and slashdot the links early!
  17. It is just me by calbanese · · Score: 4, Funny

    Or does anyone else think that Lucas should spice up Episode III with some breakdancing?

  18. "You WILL!" by Thud457 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Thanks to the Internet, you'll see Star Wars Episode III before that sad git camping out in line for tickets. /Tom Selleck

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:"You WILL!" by the31337z3r0 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In a manner of speaking, he knows them TOO well. The original trilogy (4, 5, 6) used models as opposed to CG. In my opinion, the models were MILLIONS of times more convincing than the CG in the past two movies. It's almost as if he's stretching the CG too far.

    2. Re:"You WILL!" by Glsai · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I don't have mod points so you'll have to deal with a verbal mod up. I rewatched the original trilogy (as almost everyone else did when they were put out on DVD) and watching the end of Return of the Jedi as Luke is battling with the Emperor, one thing I noticed is how real it seemed. No matter how many green screens and CGI you do, it just doesn't seem to give the real feeling that seeing actual props do. Now using CGI for the backgrounds instead of matte painting works nicely, but for foreground elements it just looks much better with models.

  19. I don't thin that Word means... a:Crawler Text by HiredMan · · Score: 3, Informative
    As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their turgid hostage

    TURGID
    [adj] abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas; "tumescent tissue"; "puffy tumid flesh"

    Unless Lucas himself is playing Chancellor Palpatine I'm not sure how this description applies. Is it really necessary to point out that the guy is really fat in opening crawl?
    Either that or "turgid" is sometimes used as an oblique reference to having a stiffy... and that REALLY doesn't need to be in the opening crawl, IMHO.

    =tkk

  20. Re:You have no valid option by grub · · Score: 3, Informative


    Your next best option is to find someone with the original 3 movies on laserdisc.

    There are very good quality DVD-R ISOs of the original 3 ripped from laserdisc floating around the net. Nice to see Han shooting first.

    --
    Trolling is a art,
  21. Holy... by jalefkowit · · Score: 5, Funny

    He actually named a bad guy "General Grevious"???

    What a breathtaking lack of creativity. I look forward to seeing his counterpart on the other side, Major Niceguy.

  22. parody by jmaxwell39648 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Check out this parody of Episode III. The guy did some nice work. Looks like everything is green screen. Funny as hell. http://www.sequentialpictures.com/moviestarwarsepi sode3.html

  23. Re:Can someone explain something(s)? by RobinH · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since Palpatine is the Emperor, how can he be on both sides?

    He's a politician, right? It doesn't matter which side of the aisle he sits on, he's evil through and through.

    Seriously, episodes 4, 5, and 6 were about the rebels (clearly good guys fighting for their freedom) overcoming the "evil empire". It was clear where the good/bad distinction was. In episodes 1, 2, and 3, it's the story about how they got to that point. There were no clear sides, just decay throughout the entire old republic. Some people were good and some people were bad, but the good guys weren't organized to see what was going on.

    To me, this is all very much related to how we all perceive world events. In the late 70's, early 80's, there was a clear good and bad side to the world (from our perspective in the west). The soviets were the "evil empire", and we were all the good guys fighting for freedom. In this day and age, the lines have blurred. Nobody's sure who's on "our" side, and we're all afraid about terrorists infiltrating our own neighourhoods. We still want to live by the old ideals of freedom, but we are also aware that there are people in power who might not have the noblest intentions. It's hard to paint Iraq or Iran as truly "evil" because we shy away from stereotypes now. The governments can't unite us against any enemy that we can't all agree is evil.

    When I was growing up 20 years ago, the U.S. was the ultimate "good guy" nation. Now, none of us (outside the U.S.) know who the good guys really are anymore. Many of us expect the U.S. to turn on the rest of us merely out of its own self interest, even if it's against its own self-proclaimed principles to do so. Within the U.S., it seems like many people also worry about whether their own government will turn on them some day.

    Movies tend to mirror the ideas and fears of the time when they are made. These movies are no exception.

    --
    "I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
  24. ''Turgid Hostage'' ! by Odd+John · · Score: 4, Funny

    ''As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their turgid hostage''

    Turgid hostage!

    Did Senator Palpatine get a woody while being held down ?

    Turgid:

    1. Excessively ornate or complex in style or language; grandiloquent: turgid prose.

    2. Swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated: a turgid bladder; turgid veins.

    On the other hand you can say that all the Lucas movies are turgid.

  25. Wrong! by jspoon · · Score: 4, Funny
    One would think that 'vague direction' and 'a lot of explorations' would come up with something innovative. But, as can be seen from the picture, what do we have?

    A droid, in the shape and likliness of a human, holding two lightsabers. I mean honestly!

    Oops! You didn't study the picture closely enough. Gen. Grievous is clearly wielding not two but THREE lightsabers. Let's all raise our voices to congratulate Mr. Lucas for striking off in this radical new direction.

  26. Re:War! Huh! Hey! What is it good for? by dr_dank · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lucas just might have replaced it with "Ass!"

    No point in giving away the film in the first ten seconds.

    --
    Where does the school board find them and why do they keep sending them to ME?
  27. Not spicy enough for todays audiences... by GeneralEmergency · · Score: 3, Funny



    Note to Scroll Writing Staff:

    Please rework Scroll to include the phrase "hot space-monkey nookie".

    Please, no Wookie-Nookie jokes.

    THX, GL

    --
    "A microprocessor... is a terrible thing to waste." --
    GeneralEmergency
  28. Re:Worst Star Wars ever? by ultranova · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Why do we ever bother caring anymore?

    Because it is Star Wars ?

    Will we have more jar-jar? Yup.

    No. We had less Jar-Jar in Ep2 than in Ep1, so logically there's even less in Ep3. Besides, if you think about it, Jar-Jar was actually a neccessary character for the plot - to get the Republic army established.

    Yup. Will we have another wonderfully dark, brooding piece of science-fiction/fantasy like "The Empire Strikes Back"? Errr, no.

    Possibly. I don't really see how Ep3, with the birth of Vader and fall of the Republic (and death of nearly all jedis), could possibly be anything but dark.

    But, on more general note, was I the only one who actually liked Ep1 and Ep2 ? People seem to dislike them because they don't have the same feel as the Ep4-6, but of course they can't have the same feel - the original SW trilogy described a war, but the war only started at the end of Ep2.

    Just forget midiclorians (as Lucas apparently did in Ep2 - never, ever try to explain mystery) and the ludicrous episode of kid Anakin accidentally blowing up the droid battleship, and they are actually pretty good movies.

    I, for one, am very interested in seeing this one - now that the plot is moving full speed, with a desperate war being fought in the background, and Vader appearing to the scene, there is every reason to believe this could be the ESB of the new SW movies.

    It better be - because if they mess up my favourite childhood villain...

    --

    Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  29. It's official... by William_Lee · · Score: 5, Funny

    Star Wars has now become a parody of Space Balls...

  30. And it's REALLY STUPID by mcc · · Score: 5, Funny

    The opening crawls in the original trilogy served as a method of allowing the movie to open in medias res without the audience having a sense of disorientation. In the latter two movies this included an aspect of establishing that time had passed since the previous movie-- but, no meaningful or potentially interesting-to-watch events were in this way "skipped", it is simply made clear to us that what we expected has occurred in the intervening time (the war continues, Luke continues to train, Vader turned Solo over to Jabba the Hutt) with perhaps one or two little bits of information that alert us as to the movie's focus (the Imperials are known to be building a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet).

    In the prequel trilogies the crawls have served two purposes. The intentional purpose is to allow George Lucas to weasel out of characterization, establishing setting and place, and moving the plot along. Unlike the original trilogies, where the Star Wars universe's background and nature was established incidentally, through subtle details of what we see and hear during the movie, in the prequel trilogies they just use the opening crawl to say "plop, there it is", and disorientingly slam down the characters and setting they wish to put the movie in. After this point, since they seem to consider themselves thus freed from explaining themselves, they completely refrain during the movie from elaborating on the things the opening crawl sketches or filling in details beyond the crawl's bare outline (where is Naboo and why, if in any obvious way, are they important? who is the Trade Federation and why should we care? who is "count dooky", why would someone have heard of him, what does he claim he wants, and why does this all appear to be important to someone who does not know his true aspirations? who is "grevious", how and why is he starting a droid army, and what are the implications of this? most importantly what would the answer to these questions appear to be to someone within the movie-- not us the viewer, to whom the answers are "he's the bad guy and he wants to rule the world", what would an average citizen of the Republic think Dooku to be?) and so use the time freed up within the movie in this way to concentrate on roller-coaster-style but otherwise long, boring and irrelivant action scenes.

    The unintentional purpose of the prequel trilogy opening crawls is to bash you over the head with how stupid all these character names are ("Grevious"? "Dooku"??? I mean come on!), just in case the majesty of John Williams' opening score might otherwise distract you from the suspicion that the entire plotline to the prequel trilogy was written by Lucas's 4-year-old child in a single sitting some years ago in crayon on a napkin.

  31. Youse Guys are giving me a by mykepredko · · Score: 3, Funny

    Major Payne!

    myke

  32. Re:Worst Star Wars ever? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I liked them to.... (man, I should get an account, this is my 15th ano.... )

    Most people don't realise two critical aspects:

    Episode 1 was no where as good as the originals: true... but then, when was the last time you read a GOOD (not just any old one will do, it has to be one you thought was well thought out and well written) Novel where the first chapter was better that the one with the climax... (please no inuendo jokes)

    The 'Romantic' dialog in Episode 2 was supposed to be crap... what is anikin it that one late teens, early twenties at best... and in terms of emotional maturity we was at best 14. Have you ever listened to any one that age 'try' to be romantic in conversation, or better yet, remember when you yourself were that age and were trying to woo the women. Trust me, they are/you were that bad... no matter what you would like to believe.

    Anikin walks into Padmes appartment, seeing here for first time in 10 years: "And you've grown to, more beutiful I mean, for a senitor"

    Me in audiance: "That is the worst line I have ever heard!... wait a minute, it sounds familiar... holly shit, I used that one on *name removed to protect the innocent*, no wonder she ran screeming in fear!"

    so in conclution I have commpletly forgotten what it was I was going to say so:

    slashdot:"Character limit exceded..."
    me: bloody hell!

  33. Re:Crawler Text in case of /.ing by rollerbob · · Score: 3, Funny

    Episode III
    REVENGE OF THE SITH

    War! - huh - yeah-
    What is it good for?
    Absolutely nothing
    Say it again y'all

    Ohhh... War! I despise
    Because it means destruction'
    Of innocent lives

    War means tears
    to thousands of mothers eyes
    When their sons go to fight
    and lose their lives

    I said - War! Huh - Good God y'all
    What is it good for?
    Absolutely nothing
    Say it again

  34. I would think the reference is blindingly obvious. by abb3w · · Score: 3, Insightful
    The evil that men do lives after them;
    The good is oft interrèd with their bones.
    So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus
    Hath told you Caesar was ambitious.
    If it were so, it was a Grievous fault,
    And grievously hath Caesar answered it.
    -- Wm. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene ii.

    Given that this is a story of the fall of the Republic and the Rise of the Empire, Lucas' literary allusion here seems to have all of the subtlety of a high-speed halfbrick to the cranium.

    Come on, everyone-- ripping off Shakespeare is a noble literary tradition !

    --
    //Information does not want to be free; it wants to breed.
  35. Re:Some real news about Revenge of the Sith by Frobisher · · Score: 3, Funny

    Obi-won chops off Anakin's other real hand and both of his legs.

    Obi-won: What are you going to do, bleed on me?
    Anakin: I'm invincible!
    Obi-won: You're a loony.
    Anakin: The Black Knight always triumphs! Have at you! Come on then.
    [...]
    Anakin: All right; we'll call it a draw... Oh, oh, I see, running away then. You yellow bastard! Come back here and take what's coming to you. I'll bite your legs off!

  36. Georgie? Is that you? by gosand · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Don't bury the movie till you see it

    Mr. Lucas, is that you?

    Fool me once (Ep I), shame on me.
    Fool me twice (EpII)... uh... can't get fooled again.

    That twit isn't getting any more of my money. For Ep II he only got the rental money, this time he isn't getting squat.

    --

    My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.