Disney's Titling Problem With Its Star Wars Movies

An anonymous reader writes "When George Lucas produced his Star Wars movies, he subtitled them 'Episode I,' 'Episode IV' etc. But that style will become inappropriate and confusing with Disney producing a new Star Wars movie each year, observes blogger Christopher Knight: 'Those were individual chapters of one story in an epic fantasy setting. And it suffices for that one multi-generational epic on film. Except now, there is the intent to produce several stories in that same setting. And they aren't necessarily going to pertain to the tale of the Skywalker family from Anakin to Luke to whoever it will be in the next trilogy.' Knight's solution is to retroactively amend the titles of Episodes I through IX to reflect it being the Skywalkers' saga, just as Lucas retroactively subtitled the first movie to be Episode IV."

Comments

Peh.

[Black Parrot]

They should just name them after the action figure each one is made to sell.

Re: Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

You misspelled. "Pez".

Re:Peh.

[pitchpipe]

Jar Jar Strikes Back??? NOOOOOOOOOOOO...

Re:Peh.

[Billly Gates]

Well better than Darth mouse!

Re:Peh.

[MightyMartian]

Meesa thinking a movie about da Binks family is mooie mooie good. Nowsa that I'm a traitorous bastard who sold da Jedi and da Republic up da river, it could be called Revenge of da Binks!

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Would pay to see a grimdark Jar Jar forced to choose between his love for country and the power required to protect it, slipping farther into darkness until he becomes the befouler of the very homeworld he sought to defend.

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jar Jar as the new Sith Lord!

Re:Peh.

[gagol]

How about Mickey Skywalker?

Re:Peh.

[HornWumpus]

Jar Jar grows up to be Jabba the hut. Radioactive pizza/time machine/black hole/kessel run if need be for story line.

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Awesome - wish I still had mod points!

Re:Peh.

[Patch86]

Radioactive pizza/time machine/black hole/kessel run if need be for story line.

I find your ideas intriguing an would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

Re:Peh.

[dintech]

Since they've already gone into full corporate sell-out mode, I suggest Disney take some advise from Electronic Arts. Similar to the Madden, NHL and NBA games, they should just name it Star Wars 2014, Star Wars 2015 etc. At least it's not going to make things worse.

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Jar Jar grows up to be Jabba the hut. Radioactive pizza/time machine/black hole/kessel run if need be for story line.

umm...Sounds more like a recipe to turn Jar Jar into Pizza the Hut.

captcha: delivers.

Re:Peh.

[jellomizer]

Why not just drop the Episode nonsense from the movies.

It isn't like anything you will do will stop a bunch of Raving Sci-Fi lunatics from complaining about it anyways. Even though they complain about it they are going to see it anyways.

That said, the biggest problem with Ep I-III, wasn't the special effects or Jar-Jar, but the fact we never really liked Anakin Skywalker. Yes we knew he will go to the darkside, but I wanted a character who I didn't want to go to the Dark Side, and the transition of Jedi Knight to Sith Lord should have been a tragic one. Not
"Oh you are the Sith Master!"
"Yea, wanna join the Dark Side, I'll give you a cool name"
"Sure, sounds good, let me throw Samuel L. Jackson out the window"
"Good, your name is now Darth Vader"
"Sweet!"

Re:Peh.

[TWiTfan]

Meesa feel moy moy hate!

Re:Peh.

[CimmerianX]

"Sweet".... "Plus you get to choke a bitch with your mind" "Awesome" "And you get to wear a cape" "That's just boss"

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not just drop the Episode nonsense from the movies.

It isn't like anything you will do will stop a bunch of Raving Sci-Fi lunatics from complaining about it anyways. Even though they complain about it they are going to see it anyways.

That said, the biggest problem with Ep I-III, wasn't the special effects or Jar-Jar, but the fact we never really liked Anakin Skywalker. Yes we knew he will go to the darkside, but I wanted a character who I didn't want to go to the Dark Side, and the transition of Jedi Knight to Sith Lord should have been a tragic one. Not
"Oh you are the Sith Master!"
"Yea, wanna join the Dark Side, I'll give you a cool name"
"Sure, sounds good, let me throw Samuel L. Jackson out the window"
"Good, your name is now Darth Vader"
"Sweet!"

That's not really a fair representation of the content of the movies.

Anikin is a classic tragic hero. He wanted to protect people, but his tragic flaw is that he couldn't let go of Padme and he went down the path of the dark side to save her but ultimately failed. Then having nothing left that he really cared about and relying on the force of his hatred to remain alive turned him into the monster we see in A New Hope.

Re:Peh.

[jedidiah]

Anakin is just a talented idiot raised by monks that could not relate to the fact that he had a little personality left in him. There's very little that's heroic about Anakin on the large screen.

They've done him much more justice in cartoons produced by 3rd parties.

That said, we've already been here before. Like anything with this deep space franchise, its' already been done before. So this really should not be a difficult thing to deal with.

You may have suppressed it from your memories, but this has been done before.

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

Since they've already gone into full corporate sell-out mode

That happened many parsecs ago, in a decade far, far away.

Re:Peh.

[shmlco]

The concept was for Anikin to be a classic tragic hero. The implementation, however, gave us a spoiled, whiney teenager. The original stories had heart and pretty good character interaction and humor. The later stories gave us stilted dialog, and Jar-Jar Binks doing slapstick sight gags.

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

The phrase is to sell someone "Down the river". Being sold "up" the river meant a relatively cushy job working as a house servant for someone in the North, being sold "down" the river meant you got shipped to the cotton fields in the South where conditions were generally much worse.

Re:Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

The big problem is nobody had any character development. The audience couldn't connect to the characters and therefore didn't give a crap what happened to them. It was actually somewhat of a relief when whiny Anakin ended up limbless and burning (I had a big grin on my face). When Padme died, it was a "meh" moment; I didn't care about either of them. Lucas really messed up by even making Episode I because the entire thing was a big waste of time. We didn't need to see Anakin as a toddler. We didn't need a comic relief character like Jar-Jar when we already had C-3PO. We certainly didn't need a completely worthless character like Qui-Gon Jinn. There also should have been far fewer Jedi, making them much more rare and individually more awesome, but also weaker as a whole.

Episode I should have presented Anakin as a likeable, young adult and his entire past as a slave on Tatooine summed up as a reflective moment in a couple of minutes. Obi-Wan should have already been a Jedi Master, Anakin his Padawan, Padme a fellow Padawan and Palpatine a member of the Jedi high council when viewers are first introduced to them. That would have allowed a lot more time to show Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme's relationship build and become something that viewers would begin to develop an attachment to. Obi-Wan and Anakin get into some scrapes together, while Padme and Anakin have a realistically portrayed chemistry immediately, culminating in them hooking up at the end of the movie. Palpatine, in his own arrogance and madness, commissions the creation of a secret clone army to seize power.

Episode II should have furthered Obi-Wan, Anakin and Padme's development while also, ever so subtly, hinting at Anakin's temptation towards the dark side as he learns more about his own extraordinary abilities. Luke and Leia are born, creating an even stronger bond between Anakin and Padme. Palpatine unleashes his clone army and those loyal to him upon the galaxy, killing off most of the Jedi and getting his forces entrenched. At the end of the movie, Obi-Wan and Anakin confront Palpatine, but are handily defeated. Anakin gets captured but Obi-Wan escapes. This fuels Anakin's desire to become more powerful as quickly as possible, while giving him a twisted respect for Palpatine and a misplaced disrespect for his own master, Obi-Wan. Palpatine uses his power to begin warping Anakin's mind, construction of the Death Star commences and the Empire is formed.

Episode III should begin a number of years later, perhaps five years. Led by Yoda, the last remaining Jedi and newly formed Rebellion wages a guerilla war upon the Empire. Obi-Wan has spent most of his time searching for Anakin, but is greatly hindered by the current state of the galaxy. In the meanwhile, Anakin tracks down Padme and she contacts Obi-Wan to tell him the news. Anakin and Padme spend the night together, but after years of Sith indoctrination and training, he attempts to take her and the children away in order to present them to Palpatine. When Padme resists Anakin's seduction, he attempts to just take the kids, forcing Padme to attack him. Out of pure reflex, Anakin kills Padme. Obi-Wan shows up to find Anakin still there, distraught over what he's done. When Obi-Wan tries to appeal to the good still in Anakin, the two get into a heated argument over Anakin's perception of Obi-Wan and the Jedi being weak next to the power of the dark side. They battle and Obi-Wan ends up severely wounding Anakin. Obi-Wan takes the children and Anakin off-planet to the hidden Rebel based where Yoda is currently located. Upon arrival, Anakin is placed under medical care. Unknown to them all, Palpatine has been tracking Anakin through the force and an entire fleet of Star Destroyers shows up, bombarding the whole planet. The Rebels are forced to flee and everyone gets separated. Luke ends up on a transport with Obi-Wan, who takes him to be cared for by a couple on Tatooine. Leia ends up on a transport with Bail Organa. Anakin ends up on a transport that is captured by the Empire. The Rebel planet is wiped of all life. Yoda, filled with guilt and feeling responsible for what happened, becomes a recluse on Dagobah. Under Palpatine's order, Anakin is rebuilt into the Darth Vader we all know. Palpatine cackles evilly.

Re:Peh.

[HornWumpus]

Sing sing prison is 'up the river' from new york. That's generally being 'sent up the river' though.

Re:Peh.

[LMariachi]

“Sent up the river” refers to being sent to prison (originating from Sing Sing, as you point out,) but “sold down the river,” which has come to mean betrayal, referred to the slave trade on the MIssissippi. http://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/11/river.html
 

Re: Peh.

[Anonymous Coward]

i thought a parsec was a measure of distance , not time...

Just rename everything

[anarcobra]

The movies formerly known as star wars.

Re:Just rename everything

[aliquis]

"Camel-frog guy and laser sabers" is my suggestion.

I don't know the Star wars saga good enough but maybe:

"Camel-frog guy and the creation of the Israeli state" or something such would work to. Conflict and the princess involved somehow.

Retroactively?

[sayfawa]

Didn't the original scrolling intro always say "episode 4"?

Re:Retroactively?

[CaitlinAnnPatton]

Didn't the original scrolling intro always say "episode 4"?

Not in the original showing of the film. The "Episode IV" part was added later when the film's popularity made it viable for a sequel. OR something like that.

Re:Retroactively?

[Rockoon]

Yes.

Saw it in the theaters on its first run. It was indeed Episode 4, and even then it was known then that he wanted to make 3 sets of 3 movies, and that episode 1 would begin the second trilogy.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Didn't the original scrolling intro always say "episode 4"?

Nope, that came later.

Re:Retroactively?

[ericloewe]

The very original release just read Star Wars, from what I've seen, with the "Episode 4" added later

Re: Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the original title was "Star Wars". The "Episode IV: A New Hope" was added in the 1981 release. This was after The Empire Strikes Back (1980), which surprised everyone with Episode V in the title.

Re: Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Episode You-Are-Wrong-O.

Re:Retroactively?

[Ghostworks]

It did. The idea as Lucas originally described it in his draft (back when it was called "Journal of the Whills") was that it was like picking a book off the shelf and finding it was the fourth volume of a history series. (While he said that later, it seems more likely that it was actually more like coming into a Buck Rogers serial halfway through.) Perhaps the original poster is referring to the way it was subtitled retroactively _on_posters_. That is, until Episode I came out, it was just "Star Wars", with sequels "(Star Wars:) the Empire Strikes Back" and "(Star Wars:) Return of the Jedi".

Episodes 1 through 3 are a lot more modern idea than Lucas wants many to believe. He never really talked about them until he was into his second sequel. There was likely no master design for a 9-part arc as he described. There was just a convenient gap left by an earlier gimmick.

None of this really changes the point though: Star Wars doesn't have a title problem. Well, other than the fact it keeps changing titles on movies that already exist, a problem this proposed scheme exacerbates. Nobody cares if a Star Wars movie follows the Skywalkers anymore than they care if every videogame, novel, cartoon, and comic follow them. Star Wars is not a brand. And while that makes it ever so slightly awkward for the movie to call itself "Star Wars 7", they never did that in the first place, and likely won't do it by the time the movie has a real title. So who cares? Star Wars: Number-free Title.

Re:Retroactively?

[sjames]

Why not change the title considering that he keeps changing the movie itself?

Re: Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw Star Wars in the theater before The Empire Strikes Back was released. The scrolling text clearly stated "Episode IV" back then.

Re:Retroactively?

[Animats]

Didn't the original scrolling intro always say "episode 4"?

It did when I saw the original theatrical release on opening day in1978. Seeing that go by, I thought they were showing a serial out of order by mistake.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it did not. You are misremembering it because it was changed and has been seen in that form so many times since.

The Episode IV moniker was added to the film later.

Re:Retroactively?

[MightyMartian]

I guess it all depends on which version of reality Lucas is peddling at any given time. One day it was three trilogies, then two, now it's nine trilogies plus unrelated add-on movies. Why, by the time Disney is done, the Christmas Special will return its rightful canon place and we'll have full length Wookie porn flicks; "Revenge of Chewbacca's 36 Inch Dong!"

Re:Retroactively?

[Chris Mattern]

It did when I saw the original theatrical release on opening day in1978.

Except that Star Wars premiered in 1977. And it did not say "Episode 4" when it did. I was there, and it didn't. It did get a 1978 re-release, but "Episode IV" was not placed into the title crawl until the 1981 re-release (after The Empire Strikes Back proclaimed itself "Episode V" in its original 1980 release).

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Then you didn't see it in the cinemas on opening day in 1978. Or you're not remembering the opening day screening.

Episode IV wasn't added until the film was re-released.

Re:Retroactively?

[icebike]

Why change anything?

We still reference dates with BC/AD, what wrong with negative Episode numbers, and even decimal versions if they decide to squeeze something between two others?

Or betting yet, just let it end, and use their imagination to come up with something totally new and different rather than changing one digit in the title and slapping a brand new copyright date on the same old movie.

Re: Retroactively?

[_merlin]

IIRC the "Episode IV" line was added in 1981 for the Laserdisc and cinematic re-release. It definitely wasn't there in the '70s.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

I saw it in the UK the first time it came out, and it definitely said Episode IV. I remember trying to find the first names of the first 3 episodes in the library.

Re:Retroactively?

[plover]

No, it did not. You are misremembering it because it was changed and has been seen in that form so many times since.

The Episode IV moniker was added to the film later.

He's obviously confused or deranged. Next he'll be claiming something outlandish, like "Han shot first" or something equally absurd.

Re: Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Try downloading the torrent of the original theatrical release. Just as I remember it in the cinema in 1977 - it was called "Star Wars". I was 8 years old. I feel lucky to have, in this context, been born at the right time.

Now, if you'll excuse me, we have always been at war with Oceania.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wrong. The original theatrical crawl

Re:Retroactively?

[nedlohs]

It's amazing how bad human memory is. Unless you had a time machine, that never happened.

Re:Retroactively?

[OhANameWhatName]

It did when I saw the original theatrical release on opening day in1978

Karma: Geek Cred +1

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

More like geek cred -1. The movie came out in May 1977 and did not have any numbers or subtitles.

Re:Retroactively?

[thereitis]

How do novels do it? There must be plenty of Star Wars novels out there.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anubis IV]

More like a reason to strip his geek card. Not only was he off by a year (opening day was May 25, 1977), but he's outright wrong or misremembering the episode number being there. They didn't add "Episode IV: A New Hope" until Empire Strikes Back came out a few years later (it wasn't even there for the 1978 re-release, which is what he may be thinking of). The original film, when first released, was simply titled "Star Wars" and nothing else. No episode numbers, no "A New Hope", no nuthin'.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Liar

Re:Retroactively?

[Darinbob]

The studio did say 9 very early on, after the initial release. However based on how they scripted things on the fly in the next two films, even changing major story lines, I seriously doubt Lucas had things planned out beyond a rough idea. The first movie is clearly a standalone one, and roughly follow the thematics parts of The hidden Fortress instead of being open ended.

Re:Retroactively?

[gl4ss]

I saw it in the UK the first time it came out, and it definitely said Episode IV. I remember trying to find the first names of the first 3 episodes in the library.

was the uk on the original release lineup?

Re:Retroactively?

[Patch86]

I guess it all depends on which version of reality Lucas is peddling at any given time. One day it was three trilogies, then two, now it's nine trilogies plus unrelated add-on movies.

Not to be pedantic, but 9 trilogies would be 27 films.

Re:Retroactively?

[Aboroth]

From http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/faq#.2.1.7


Why has the title been changed? I always remember it as "Star Wars."


When the film was originally released in 1977, it was simply referred to as Star Wars, though supposedly, George Lucas had intended to put Episode IV: A New Hope in the opening crawl, but 20th Century Fox didn't want Lucas to do so because they thought it would confuse audiences, since there were never any other episodes released before it. After the commercial success of the original Star Wars, Lucas was able to continue with the multi-film epic he originally envisioned. The Empire Strikes Back was released in 1980 and bore the full title of Star Wars, Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back in the title crawl, although it was referred to only as The Empire Strikes Back as the title of its commercial release. It was the "Episode V" appearing in the opening crawl which originally confused those members of the audience who had not been made aware of what Lucas was explaining, that the original "Star Wars" was now intended to be the 4th part of a nine-part series (since cut to 6). The original "Star Wars" was re-released in 1981 with a new title: "Star Wars, Episode IV, A New Hope" in the title crawl. This title appeared on all subsequent re-releases and versions from then on (though the original version was released on DVD in 2006, which shows the title crawl in its original form). All subsequent Star Wars films have followed this new naming structure, although "Star Wars" often refers specifically to the 1977 film.

Re:Retroactively?

[wonkey_monkey]

Then you didn't see it in the cinemas on opening day in 1978. Or you're not remembering the opening day screening.

Or he doesn't live in the US, like 96% of the people on the planet.

Re:Retroactively?

[wonkey_monkey]

Yeah, okay, or he lives in one of Uruguay, Hong Kong, West Germany, Ireland, South Korea, Japan, India, Iceland, or Iran.

Re:Retroactively?

[wonkey_monkey]

Don't get people started. The big one in Star Wars land is those who claim they saw Luke throw the grappling twice, missing the first time.

Re:Retroactively?

[mwvdlee]

They just make up an original title and fit it into the timeline without a need for serial numbers.

To me there seems no good reason to deviate; release episodes VII, VIII and IX, then don't use episode numbers for the rest of the movies.
Considering Disney plans to release a new one every year it's not like people are going to care much for any release beyond the "planned" third trilogy.

Re:Retroactively?

[_Shad0w_]

Yes; it came out in December 1977, not in 1978. It also didn't say Episode IV, that was added in 1981 after ESB was released the previous year with the Episode V label on it.

Re:Retroactively?

[Skrapion]

Time to have the protocol droid's mind wiped.

Re:Retroactively?

[RaceProUK]

I thought the big argument was who shot first, Han or Greedo?

Re:Retroactively?

[gsslay]

I think it's clear to everyone but the most obsessive of fans that Lucas has been following the methodology of "making shit up as I go along" the entire time.

The idea that he had planned out an entire series of movies and over-arching plot, and that we were started somewhere in the middle of the saga in 1977, is appealing to fans, but frankly laughable.

"Star Wars" was a simple space opera that was a great success on that basis. As movie after movie gets added to the pile, its limitations become increasingly obvious and the plot is a mess that creaks under the weight of its own implausibilities and inconsistencies. Hence the continual re-hashing.

Re: Retroactively?

[multimediavt]

Citation please! I clearly remember "Episode IV" appearing in the scrolling intro to the original, 1977 release and until someone can give me non-anecdotal evidence to the contrary I am sticking with what I know I saw, TYVM. Now, I did go see it again in 1978, and 1981 multiple times because that's what us kids did those days; play arcade games and see how many times we could watch Star Wars. I do not remember anything changing in those screenings from one release to another. AFAIK, Lucas didn't change them until he did the new space FX.

Re: Retroactively?

[Sqweegee]

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/alternateversions

It list all the alterations ever made, which makes for a very long list. There was a whole lot of changes made between the 77, 78, and 81 releases but are hidden in with all the new ones. Terrible record keeping and Lucas' habit of destroying old versions and footage makes it tough to watch the old releases, side by side. I remember seeing different versions of the opening crawl.

"When the original theatrical version was first released, it was simply titled Star Wars.The opening crawl was changed to "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope" during the 1981 re-release. According to Sterling Hedgpeth, Lucasfilm film archivist: "I found a box with all the positive elements for the 'revised' opening crawl, and the assorted trim boxes are dated from October through December 1980. This, then, is consistent with the view that Episode IV: A New Hope was added for the first time to the opening crawl for the April 10, 1981 re-release." "

Re:Retroactively?

[MrYingster]

It did not. It was added on in 1981 after ESB was released. Here is an article on Wookiepedia that explains it. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Opening_crawl

From Wookiepedia: "When originally released in 1977, the first film was simply titled Star Wars, as Lucas was not certain if he would follow the film with a sequel. Following The Empire Strikes Back, the film was re-released in 1981 with the subtitle 'Episode IV: A New Hope'. The original version, without the subtitle, was not released until the 2006 limited edition DVDs. "

Re:Retroactively?

[Chris Mattern]

Mine was "Close the blast doors, close the blast doors...*open the blast doors!". I was really surprised when I was talking about the movie with some younger fans and they didn't remember that moment, because it had been edited out of the release they'd seen; apparently it wasn't on the first home releases either. While Lucas has done some awful edits (he should be strung up just for making Greedo shoot first), one of the good things he did was put that back into the latest editions.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope. Not unless you're in a country where the first run was several years after the fact. You can research this; it didn't have a subtitle. Interesting how such a blatant change (it was 'controversial' among the SF geeks of the time) works; it really is now believed to be fact by many people. Their memories change to fit what they're being currently told.

Re: Retroactively?

[N0Man74]

Citation please! I clearly remember "Episode IV" appearing in the scrolling intro to the original, 1977 release and until someone can give me non-anecdotal evidence to the contrary I am sticking with what I know I saw,

I can't tell if you are just extremely arrogant, or just clueless as to just how incredibly susceptible the human brain is to false memories. I don't even trust all of my own memories, let alone yours.

Re:Retroactively?

[mister2au]

Or in the UK in a city that debuted it after 27th December 1977 ... not really that difficult to work out !

FYI - the UK release was London only until January 1978

Re: Retroactively?

[TWiTfan]

You only believe you did. Memory is fluid, and yours has changed. The "Episode IV" was NOT there at the premiere. In 1977, they hadn't even begun planning a sequel, much less the idea of a "trilogy of trilogies." It was there in the 1981 re-release.

Re: Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go get the 2004 DVD and listen to the commentary track. George Lucas himself states that the original was simply titled "Star Wars". It's not that difficult, so your only reason for disbelief is that you're lazy.

Re: Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Welcome to the human brain, jackass.

Re:Retroactively?

[markhb]

He definitely threw at least twice. I have a friend who remembers Luke missing twice, then landing it on the third try, but I don't clearly remember that one way or the other. (I didn't see it on release day, but I did first see it during the summer of 1977.)

Re:Retroactively?

[wonkey_monkey]

And yet there is no evidence of it ever being cut, or even shot, that way. Ever. It's one of those things which has seeped its way into people's memories and ends up getting remembered as fact. I used to have a perfect example from my own life, but ironically I can't remember what it was.

Numerous studies have shown how easy it is to plant false memories of events that occurred minutes ago, let alone decades.

Re:Retroactively?

[rwise2112]

It did when I saw the original theatrical release on opening day in1978.

Except that Star Wars premiered in 1977. And it did not say "Episode 4" when it did. I was there, and it didn't. It did get a 1978 re-release, but "Episode IV" was not placed into the title crawl until the 1981 re-release (after The Empire Strikes Back proclaimed itself "Episode V" in its original 1980 release).

1981 according to Wikipedia - the source of all knowledge in the galaxy and other galaxies far far away.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Not when I saw it in 1977, in a cinema in Plymouth. A group of us made the trip by train from Cornwall to the nearest cinema that was showing the film. We repeated the trip later for Close Encounters.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can back this. I distinctly remember being confused by the term "A New Hope" as referring to "Star Wars" when it began to be referenced that way well after the original theatrical release.

Re: Retroactively?

[bonehead]

I don't even trust all of my own memories, let alone yours.

Heh, I have memories that I *know* are false. And can prove so conclusively. Yet they seem absolutely true to me, while I can't recall the version of events as they really happened no matter how hard I try.

And, no, I'm not talking about situations where chemical influence was a factor.

Re:Retroactively?

[jedidiah]

Greedo initiated the classical "quick draw" from a Western.

Han responded in kind.

If you want to get all modern about it, Greedo was also guilty of assault with a deadly weapon. That's a legally valid reason for defending yourself (or others) in most sane jurisdictions.

Nothing remotely evil on Han's part.

Although it did say something about the kind of people he associated with.

Re:Retroactively?

[Gonoff]

"Not in the original showing of the film."

When I first saw it - 1979 or 1980 - it was called episode 4 not IV. But that may have been the Scottish dislike of pretentiousness.

Re:Retroactively?

[Hognoxious]

I don't which is sadder - that you know, or that you care.

Re:Retroactively?

[typo-lfm]

I thought it was there in the original too. I remember being let down before it even started that it was some sort of series. I don't know how these other people can be so certain it wasn't there, they could have missed it. Its not like they have a copy of the original screening to verify it.

Re:Retroactively?

[Hognoxious]

In those days the delay between US and UK releases was huge. Sailing ships were at the mercy of the weather, steamships were in their infancy and the only relaible thing about them was that they were unreliable. Then there was the redone dialog (adding "please" and "thank you" all over) and conversion for right-handed projectors.

And don't get me started about Australia. They have to reshoot the whole movie in a mirror because the spools turn the other way. In fact they still haven't got round to doing "Cocktail", which many say is a mercy.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, the retitling story is a more recent urban myth. I was there too, in the theatre in the first week it was shown. I clearly remember a murmur in the crowd as the "Episode IV" subtitle scrolled past, as people wondered what in the world that meant.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

No, the newspapers of the time discussed the Episode IV designation, and explained that Lucas planned a "triple-trilogy", with Star Wars being the first of a trilogy, followed by a trilogy occurring earlier and then a trilogy occurring later. The Episode IV designation was there from the beginning, leading to the need for such an explanation.

Re:Retroactively?

[oreiasecaman]

Wookie porn flicks; "Revenge of Chewbacca's 36 Inch Dong!"

Will it have subtitles?

Re:Retroactively?

[Anonymous Coward]

I stayed home to watch re-runs of Star Trek and Forbidden Planet. I didn't get around to watching that fantasy drama called Star Wars until the 90s when I started hanging out with some really bad people.

Re:Retroactively?

[Anubis IV]

The first Star Wars release with an episode number was "Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" in 1980, so it's entirely possible that you're remembering that one, since it doubtless would have engendered a similar response from the audience. Episode IV was re-released the next year with "Episode IV: A New Hope" added to the intro crawl.

As for it being an urban myth, it must be a pretty pernicious one, since George Lucas repeated it as fact in the audio commentary for the 2004 DVD release. Not to mention that every single source I've seen backs it up as fact. The best writeup on the topic I've seen is this one, which cites numerous 1980 articles reporting on the imminent retitling that was to occur to the next year: http://www.starwarz.com/tbone/the-missing-episode/

Re:Retroactively?

[mannd]

I can confirm that. Saw it first day it was released in the theater.

How about this

[MonkeyPaw]

How about this? Stop making stupid Star Wars movies and come up with a new idea.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

come up with a new idea.

Disney? Come up with a new idea? Hahaha, oh wow, are you kidding? They've finished sucking classical childrens stories dry, and now they've moved on to modern culture, Disney hasn't had a single original idea since the ink dried on Steam Boat Willy.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

audiences are afraid of something new, execs are afraid of something new

after a brief 100 yr jump in ideas welcome to the next 1000 of same old thing and mediocre refinements..

Re:How about this

[The Sad Nazgul]

Inconceivable!

Re:How about this

[phantomfive]

Incidentally, I feel like I've seen more Star Wars related things since Disney took over than in the previous five years combined. The marketing power is strong with this one.

Re:How about this

[jamstar7]

Great idea. Not gonna happen. They already looted our childhood fairy tales and locked them in the vaults under eternal copyright and there was nothing left for them to do except buy Lucasfilms to get Star Wars.

Re:How about this

[Billly Gates]

come up with a new idea.

Disney? Come up with a new idea? Hahaha, oh wow, are you kidding? They've finished sucking classical childrens stories dry, and now they've moved on to modern culture, Disney hasn't had a single original idea since the ink dried on Steam Boat Willy.

What are you talking about? Disney has re-innovated Star Wars quite well. Just look at the new characters introduced in episode 7?

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

How about this? Stop making stupid Star Wars movies and come up with a new idea.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha. No.
I'am a star wars fan and I don't give a shit about the future of the Star Wars franchise.

I've got Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi (pre Lucas tinkering versions) together with the Thrawn Trilogy (the only good sequel to the original trilogy if only in book form). Everything else is shit except maybe for TPM heavily fan edited version.

Re:How about this

[MightyMartian]

Disney paid a lot of dollaro for the rights to Star Wars. They will milk it every nickel they can. And you'll buy it! Do you hear me, you'll buy it!

Re:How about this

[OhANameWhatName]

come up with a new ide

Quit living in the past. Modern film making is about certainties. If you try to come up with a new idea, what if it didn't work?

The studios need to know precisely what's going to happen before they even try. That's why you stick with the same formula over and over again and the only new content is derived from best selling works. That way you know what's going to fail and what's going to succeed.

Risk is not an option.

Re:How about this

[quantaman]

How about this? Stop making stupid Star Wars movies and come up with a new idea.

I don't necessarily agree, Star Wars has a very rich universe which gives a new movie the advantage of ditching some exposition and working in a universe the viewer has an emotional connection with.

Of course that only works if they recapture the vision and adventure of the original trilogy, I think it's possible (particularly if you pull in some of the old cast) but if they can't make it work it's probably better to leave it alone.

Re:How about this

[westlake]

How about this? Stop making stupid Star Wars movies and come up with a new idea.

There are three durable Sci Fi franchises and geek culture would be lost without them: Dr Who, Star Trek and Star Wars.

If the geek wants to know why HBO's audience gets Crown of Thorns and CN's DreamWorks: Dragons, he might want to look at his own fandoms --- not exactly a hotbed of original ideas.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

This isn't the movie you're looking for.

(Also, you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.)

Re:How about this

[MonkeyPaw]

Of course that only works if they recapture the vision and adventure of the original trilogy,....

...and I could go back to being 10 years old when I first saw the movie and thought it kicked ass.

Watching the original Star Wars now is boring. It really isn't that good of a movie. The RiffTrax version helps though.

Re:How about this

[dk20]

I think you mean look at project gutenberg for some out of copyright material to turn into a movie? Why not combine them both and use the star wars characters?

Re:How about this

[Zargg]

I think a lot of people are focusing on the movies too much, remember that Disney does much more with their characters than movies. Imagine a Star Wars land at Disney world, Star wars cruises, and then do it all again with Marvel also. They are the one company is a position to do way more than just more Star Wars movies.

Re:How about this

[GodfatherofSoul]

Disney was a cool, innovative entertainment company while Walt was alive. He was the Pixar of the mid 20th century. It was long after his death that Disney turned into the "milk parents company." Disney still churns out the occasional hit like The Lion King, but most of their releases are shamelessly accountant-driven.

Re:How about this

[mjwx]

come up with a new idea.

Disney? Come up with a new idea? Hahaha, oh wow, are you kidding? They've finished sucking classical childrens stories dry, and now they've moved on to modern culture, Disney hasn't had a single original idea since the ink dried on Steam Boat Willy.

This.

Why do you think Disney supports copyright extensions/abuses with such reckless abandon?

Because they dont want people doing to Disney what Disney did to Hans Christian Anderson.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

Disney hasn't had a single original idea since the ink dried on Steam Boat Willy.

Perhaps not even then...

Re:How about this

[blackraven14250]

The Lion King was substantially ripped off too, from Kimba the White Lion. What, you thought Disney actually did anything original?

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

What's lilo & stitch based on? Seriously, I really liked it, quite original, and the art as well, non of those blocky characters..

Re:How about this

[seandiggity]

come up with a new idea.

Disney? Come up with a new idea? Hahaha, oh wow, are you kidding? They've finished sucking classical childrens stories dry, and now they've moved on to modern culture, Disney hasn't had a single original idea since the ink dried on Steam Boat Willy.

Actually, Steamboat Willy was a cartoon parody of a Buster Keaton film.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

How about this, start coming up with new ideas to post!

Re:How about this

[Miamicanes]

> The Lion King was substantially ripped off too, from Kimba the White Lion.

Twenty years from now, kids will watch the remake of the Lion King. During the climax scene, he'll be running away, and right as he's starting to get tired, he'll hear a familiar voice booming from the sky:

"Simba! Use the Horse! THE HORSE... USE THE HORSE!"

At that moment, the lion chasing him will start to laugh so hard, he won't be able to run. In fact, while skidding to a halt, a pebble will get thrown up into the air, and land in his windpipe as he rolls on the ground writhing in laughter at the cheesy attempt to tie the Lion King to Star Wars. He'll choke to death, and discover that Leia the Lioness is his sister...

Re:How about this

[Miamicanes]

^^^ argh. Terrible typo I missed because I was laughing so hard while I typed this. The lion CHASING him chokes to death on the pebble, and Simba discovers that Leia the Lioness is his sister.

Re:How about this

[Stormwatch]

Disney hasn't had a single original idea since the ink dried on Steam Boat Willy.

Are you implying that Steamboat Willy was original? Nope! It was a parody of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

That was painfully unfunny. Cute Leia though.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

No it wasn't. Aside from TRON (and not that travesty TRON Legacy), there isn't a single thing that Disney has made that is original or creative.

Re:How about this

[Stormwatch]

There are three durable Sci Fi franchises and geek culture would be lost without them: Dr Who, Star Trek and Star Wars.

Is Star Wars even science fiction? Lucas himself called it a "space fantasy". One might say it often feels closer to Lord of the Rings than to Star Trek.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

The Lion King was substantially ripped off too, from Kimba the White Lion. What, you thought Disney actually did anything original?

This is true. The Lion King is Hamlet meets Kimba the White Lion.

Re:How about this

[GodfatherofSoul]

So, do you dismiss Disney for creating the first color animated feature and the first movie length animated feature because it was based on an old fairy tale? Is every book adapted to film a "rip off"?

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

There's a difference between adaptation and ripping off. Many good movies are adaptations of books, I wouldn't call Blade Runner or Clockwork Orange ripoffs.

Re:How about this

[blackraven14250]

Books adapted to film have the book listed in the credits, something along the lines of "Based on the Novel 'Yadda Yadda' by Random Author". It's also changing the medium entirely whereas Kimba/Lion King is moving from TV to a movie (very similar mediums) without credit given tot he originator of the concepts, so that's almost completely irrelevant.

Disney has done one hell of a job creating and improving technology (sometimes by buying the most advanced companies, i.e. Pixar), and I don't disagree there, but it's a stretch to call their stories or characters since Walt's death original. My comment, while technically not saying that I was referring to the stories, was definitely meant to refer to their lack of creativity in stories.

Re:How about this

[AcidPenguin9873]

Yeah, exactly - I mean, look at all the stuff Disney did that's a total rip-off, like the animations, 3D models, voices, music, dialog and lyrics. I can't believe they just took that from the days of yore that Slashdot longs for.

/sarcasm

A feature film is a heck of a lot more than a 5-minute fairy tale from hundreds of years ago. I'm so sick of everyone saying "Disney ripped off this and that". Sure, almost all of their movies are adaptations or based on or directly taken from old fairy tales. But that's not the point. No one is paying money to hear a 5-minute fairy tale told by a traveling bard. If you think that's what Disney is doing, go ahead and start up your own traveling storytelling company that tells 5 minute stories, and start raking in the profits.

Re:How about this

[clickclickdrone]

Aside from TRON (and not that travesty TRON Legacy), there isn't a single thing that Disney has made that is original or creative

The Black Hole?

Re:How about this

[sturle]

How about this? Stop making stupid Star Wars movies and come up with a new idea.

Hear, hear! Disney aren't making more Star Wars movies, they are making a Star Wars soap opera.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

The Black Hole is probably *the* stupidest film that Disney has produced.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

So you have a lower attention span now than when you were 10. Got it.

Re:How about this

[rasmusneckelmann]

So it's okay for me to rip off things created by Disney, as long as I'd be making more money than them?

Re:How about this

[_Shad0w_]

Also Hamlet and Macbeth.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

Come on. They both ripped off Steamboat Itchy.

Re:How about this

[chowdahhead]

Disney has made an innumerable amount of money on others' works in the public domain, like Grimms' Fairy Tales. Yet, they have lobbied and pushed for copyright laws to prevent their work from being used the same way.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

It's people like you who keep going to see the same drivel that makes the studios a fortune on reselling the same crap over and over. The problem is people like you.

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't Steam Boat Willy "borrowed" from a postman cartoon character?

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

The entire story is about past-future space wizards. Not exactly sci-fi to me. It more fantasy than anything else.

Re:How about this

[cyborg_zx]

I think there may be a little more than a hint of performance art in that post.

Re:How about this

[jedidiah]

I dunno. How long before the idiots wise up and realize that they don't have to buy new material anymore? You can just get the old stuff for cheap and watch that instead.

Re:How about this

[jedidiah]

Make those space wizards derive their power from technology and suddenly it's not just fantasy anymore.

Even just calling them the Psi Corps would de-fantasy them.

Re:How about this

[HornWumpus]

You slay you....somebody should.

Re:How about this

[HornWumpus]

Is Star Drek even science fiction? There are more episodes that are 'Court Dramas' then are 'Science Fiction'.

Not that I'm speaking in favor of Star Wars. That sucks too.

Re:How about this

[toddestan]

Lilo and Stitch?

Re:How about this

[squiggleslash]

You're right, Star Wars (or ANH episode 4, whatever, shuttup George) does lose its charm after the 56th or 57th time you watch it.

Re:How about this

[evilviper]

the only new content is derived from best selling works.

That was pretty much true for the past several decades, as well.

And there's plenty of exceptions today, too. How about: Inception

Re:How about this

[Anonymous Coward]

Walt himself stated that Disney sells "corn"

They don't need original ideas. That would be contrary to compant policy.

Re:How about this

[mjwx]

A feature film is a heck of a lot more than a 5-minute fairy tale from hundreds of years ago.

So you've never read any of them.

That wasn't a question. Some of these "fairy tales" are quite long.

And if time is a good reason, why cant we do what we like with Disney's older works, I mean it's from dozens of years ago.

Re:How about this

[AcidPenguin9873]

Some of these "fairy tales" are quite long.

Okay, fine. A feature film is a heck of a lot more than a hours-long fairy tale from hundreds of years ago.

And if time is a good reason, why cant we do what we like with Disney's older works, I mean it's from dozens of years ago.

No, you have completely missed the point of my post. Time has absolutely nothing to do with it. Disney is selling a specific retelling of these fairy tales, complete with their own animation, characters, dialog, music, lyrics. That's what you can't take (for free). Like I said in the original post, if you want to sell your own version of Beauty and the Beast (which is one of those hundreds-of-years-old fairy tales), that's totally fine - or at least I would support that. But want to rip a DVD copy of Disney's version? Better pay them for their animation, characters, dialog, music, and lyrics.

Re:How about this

[SiChemist]

I will buy instantly a blu-ray version of the ORIGINAL Star Wars trilogy that doesn't have any of Lucas's ham fisted changes.

This isn't anything new...

[Anonymous Coward]

For those of us that have entered the realms of Dark Forces/Jedi Knight, X-Wing/TIE Fighter, The Force Unleashed, KOTOR, etc., the LucasArts folks have been pretty good at making sure the general story elements are consistent. Can't really speak to the Clone Wars, though.

Just use the A.D. notation . . .

[PolygamousRanchKid]

. . . you know, like A.D., as in, "Anno Disneyi" . . . ?

. . . and BCE . . . "Before Crap Era" . . .

Re:Just use the A.D. notation . . .

[jrumney]

. . . you know, like A.D., as in, "Anno Disneyi" . . . ?

. . . and BCE . . . "Before Crap Era" . . .

You're missing Episodes 1, 2, 3 and the remakes of 4, 5 and 6.

Re:Just use the A.D. notation . . .

[plover]

. . . you know, like A.D., as in, "Anno Disneyi" . . . ?

. . . and BCE . . . "Before Crap Era" . . .

BCE == Before Copyrights were Eternal.

Re:Just use the A.D. notation . . .

[Anonymous Coward]

So 4-5 are BCE, 7+ are AD, 6 is CE and 1-3 are... what, ACE, the antediluvian crap era?

Re:Just use the A.D. notation . . .

[gl4ss]

. . . you know, like A.D., as in, "Anno Disneyi" . . . ?

. . . and BCE . . . "Before Crap Era" . . .

what's the lost perioid in the middle? jarjar years? a decade at zero?

Re:Just use the A.D. notation . . .

[Valdrax]

what's the lost perioid in the middle? jarjar years? a decade at zero?

NEVER HAPPENED.

Reboot!

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars: 2015
Star Wars The Next Generation
Star Wars The Dark Night
Star Wars 2: Electric Boogaloo

Or my favorite, how about just:

Star Wars

but in an alternate universe. Hey it worked for Star Trek!

Re:Reboot!

[cyborg_zx]

2 Star 2 Wars

Star Wars II: The Search for More Money

[Gothmolly]

Or why not "Star Wars That Sucks" ?

Re:Star Wars II: The Search for More Money

[JustOK]

Or why not "Star Wars That Sucks" ?

Not nearly specific enough

Re:Star Wars II: The Search for More Money

[gagol]

What about "Star Wars that sucks the balls off a dead moose" ?

Re:Star Wars II: The Search for More Money

[Anarchduke]

That's "mouse", not "moose".

Re:Star Wars II: The Search for More Money

[mrchaotica]

A mouse once bit my sister...

(Oh, how I wish Slashdot had proper special character support!)

So?

[Anonymous Coward]

From my understanding, The Clone Wars movie and series are set between Ep 2 and 3. So what's the problem then? Just don't name it as an episode number.

Re:So?

[MightyMartian]

Star Wars 2.5?

Re:So?

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars 33 1/3 The Final Insult

Not a surprise

[Anonymous Coward]

They're just going to try and trick people into buying them again by rebranding it slightly.

Pure Disney.

Re:Not a surprise

[Macgrrl]

Only after releasing it from the Disney Vault for a limited period release - be sure not to miss out - call 1-800-DISNEY now for our special collectors edition edition.

What problem?

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars 2015
Star Wars 2016
Star Wars 2098 SE
Star Wars 3001 => Star Wars ME
Star Wars The Next Generation

The least of our concerns

[SammyRenard]

If you think that's the biggest problem about star wars right now...

Old style serials?

[zippthorne]

So, we're to understand that now that they're going to produce actual episodic content, which is more in the style of old serials that the original were intended to homage, they're going to drop the episodic titling for something else?

Re:Old style serials?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's an idea: don't call them episodes unless they're actually serial parts of a larger story.

I have no problem with "Star Wars: Boba Fett Unchained" without the word "episode" anywhere near it.

Re:Old style serials?

[almitydave]

Exactly. The 2 made-for-TV Ewok movies didn't have episode numbers, and I'm not sure they even had "Star Wars" in the title originally. The one-offs shouldn't have episode numbers. It makes sense to use numbering for sequential stories that are part of an arc, however they don't have to have "Star Wars" in the title. "Dawn of the Jedi: Episodes I-V", "Yoda's Playhouse, Episodes I-X", etc. etc. Thus each story arc can have a clearly identifiable name without messing with the films already made.

Re-re-subtitling is stupider than stupid.

I don't get it...

[lrsach01]

What's the problem? There is almost 40 YEARS of novels and they never seem to have any trouble.

Re:I don't get it...

[phantomfive]

Yeap, you have the answer, the blogger doesn't know what he's talking about; problem solved, thread closed.

And they can always recycle the "Christmas Special." Or the cartoons.

Re:I don't get it...

[jtownatpunk.net]

There can't be that many years. Because, counting forward from the...D'oh!

Re:I don't get it...

[Chris Mattern]

Yep, there's nothing like contemplating Star Wars' release date to make you feel old. Yes, I remember watching it when it came out--multiple times, in theaters, which I don't think I ever did with any other movie.

Re:I don't get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Novels, comics and video games. So many other "Star Wars" stories told and the titling has never been a problem.

The award-winning Knights of the Old Republic video game has (had?) an amazing story, interesting characters and the opening crawl was simply titled "Knights of the Old Republic". The next installment, KotOR II, has its opening crawl titled "The Sith Lords" (all caps, sames as the other).

The current SW mmo, The Old Republic has 8 different class stories, each with its own opening crawl simply titled with each class name. Btw, the Imperial Agent story rocks.

These are all stories in the SW universe with no (direct?) relation to the Skywalkers saga, and there has never been a problem with titling them. Why would it be a problem now.

Re:I don't get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

What's the problem?

I agree. Does this guy have the job of thinking up of a name for the new films, and spends more time getting people to do his work for him than doing it? Testing the waters to see if people would accept a change? Just bored, ignorant, and trolling the web?

Why on earth would you try to retroactively edit 40 year old movies to give them different names? The blogger (seriosly slashdot, this is front page worthy news?) say to not cause confusion between the old and new films, but these new films don't even HAVE a name yet - much less made. Unless, of course, you want to start selling yet another remastered version of the same movies?

Re:I don't get it...

[WillAdams]

Except for all the novels where the nature of entire planets was ret-conned, forcing authors of incompleat trilogies to just stop writing.

Re:I don't get it...

[dywolf]

you mean novels that simply tell the same story over and over... ...by destroying the Star Crusher..the Planet Killer...the Galaxy Smasher...the Universe Burner...ad inifinitum... ...by rescuing and redeeming from the Dark Side Luke Skywalker...Leia...Han...Han/Leias Kids... ad inifinitum... ...and oh by the way, everyone is a Jedi all of a sudden and Luke is no longer the last one. Leia becomes one...and Han...and their kids...and everyone eventually... ...then some perpetuate the midicholorians travesty... ...others introduce "force blocking/nullifying" tricks, violating movie canon, to give the bounty hunters more even footing... ...and oh yeah, the interesting characters...if they arent Jedi, they're a bounty hunter....or a reckless rogue with hodgepodge yet surprisingly capable ship...

Ya, the EU is such a bastion of creativity...

Re:I don't get it...

[Valdrax]

Ya, the EU is such a bastion of creativity...

So, it's pretty much a match made in Heaven for Disney, right?

I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Anonymous Coward]

So in my view the Rebel Alliance are not freedom fighters, but terrorists. Leave it to Disney to make movies celebrating horrific, terrorist acts against the forces of the democratically elected galactic government. It's sickening.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Anonymous Coward]

I liked playing TIE Fighter better than X-Wing too.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[WhiplashII]

They destroyed the planetary mineral extractor! All aboard were killed! Hundreds of thousands of civilian contractors perished in the explosion!

These terrorists must be STOPPED!

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[gijoel]

I had clones on that Death Star.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget about the Endor Holocaust

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[joe_frisch]

Actually they could do some really nice movies showing the story from the other side. The legitimate government of the galaxy battling an unholy alliance of slavers, smugglers, and terrorists being manipulated by a secretive theocracy.

How many contractors died on death-star 2? The terrorist alliance tricked neolithic "ewoks" into a suicidal assault on an imperial base, just as a distraction. (OK, personally I don't mind ridding the universe of Ewoks, but it wasn't nice).

Was there even an attempt at a recall election for the chancellor? No, they went immediately to assassination because they found out that he belonged to a rival religious group.

All I really want though is 2 hours of the opening battle from episode 3......

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[SuperKendall]

How many contractors died on death-star 2?

All the ones that didn't care Alderaan had been blown up by the first one.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[joe_frisch]

I'm not saying the Moff Tarken didn't exceed his authority.....
I'm sure there would have been a full investigation and a clarification of the rules of engagement.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[gignac.adam]

Alderaan shot first...

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[jbeaupre]

You're not alone...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN9LdTkR85Q

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Anonymous Coward]

Of course. Whenever a government oversteps its authority, there is always a full investigation. The results of the investigation are then placed in the circular file. And in the case of the Galactic Empire, so are the investigators.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[evilviper]

Send in Seal Team Six to wipe out those godless rebels.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[aevan]

Welll...technically... wasn't 'peaceful' Alderaan hosting numerous rebel terrorist cells, and while a 'peaceful world' it had arms/supply depots for said rebels. Factor in that a large percentage of the populace joined the Rebellion, its senator was smuggling top secret information to hostiles...

Then when Death Star finally approached the system, a rebel fleet engages its escorts...

Surely a sign of seditious hotspot, and a member of the Axis of Terror that needed quelling. Alderaan may indeed have shot first.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Patch86]

Let's face it- the Taliban got knobbled for less than that...

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[isorox]

Let's face it- the Taliban got knobbled for less than that...

A more apt description would be Iraq, who had change the currency they used to trade oil, and got wiped back to the stone age in "Shock and Awe" tactics.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[tfmachad]

All I really want though is 2 hours of the opening battle from episode 3......

All I really want is the X-Wing series made into movies. That'd be sweet.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[devman]

"TIE Fighter" had a much more developed story line and (accompanying materials) and would be awesome for a movie. Forgive me if you include that game in the "X-Wing series".

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey, that's GRAND Moff Tarkin. He didn't spend all those years working for the Emperor just so you could confuse him with just a plain Moff.

(CAPTCHA: blasted)

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm.. Well, at a special news conference with media sources from around the Empire reporting, the Emperor's press secretary said the official cause of the Alderaan system catastrophe was, in fact, due to a Rebel Alliance attack. The terrorists positioned several thousand micro-satellites around a significantly massed asteroid and used the micro-gravity of the satellites to alter the asteroid's orbit to set it on a collision trajectory with Alderaan. Imperial Investigative Security Services were able find a lot of the micro-satellites and trace their origins back to factory on Coruscant whose ownership has been arrested for providing material aid to the Rebel Alliance terrorists. The Empire Security Intelligence Bureau became aware of the Rebel Alliance terrorist plot which led to the Emperor directing Grand Moff Tarkin, Governor of the Imperial Outland Regions and commander of the Freedom Star space station, to deploy the Freedom Star (which was fitted with weaponry precisely designed to counter this type of threat) on an intercept and destroy mission to the asteroid. Unfortunately, the Freedom Star was delayed due to a suicide attack by Rebel Alliance terrorists which prevented Empire Forces from saving the lives of nearly 2 billion people.

Your implied accusation that it was the Empire that destroyed Alderaan and the not the terrorists is nothing more than Rebel Alliance propaganda, or the ravings of an unhinged conspiracy theorist. You know, there's an ancient, ignoble term originating from a long ago forgotten civilization that was used against ordinary, peaceful, law-abiding people who were blamed collectively for being complicit with the purported destructive and immoral actions of their society and it's governing bodies. I strongly disagree that the hard-working, innocent construction workers, civilian space station personnel and their families are "Little Eichmanns" as you imply. I can only hope that the ESS has detected your terroristic message, and Imperial Agents are on their way to your location.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[gl4ss]

"TIE Fighter" had a much more developed story line and (accompanying materials) and would be awesome for a movie. Forgive me if you include that game in the "X-Wing series".

usually people do count it. it was essentially the same engine and gameplay, with just minor variations.

(one of the minor variations was that in original xwing with mouse countrol you could turn around instantly.. iirc. as an overall package though tie fighter was so much cooler and more polished, with the included novel and all).

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[almitydave]

I have somewhere an old flyer advertising TIE Fighter, and it had the slogan "Flying for the Rebel Alliance was never this fun!" and it's true, it wasn't. TIE Fighter was a better game. And I liked the fact that they didn't make it like you were playing for the bad guys, it was really told from the Empire's perspective of things.

TIE Defender FTW.

Re:I recently embraced the New Imperialism

[thejynxed]

That's the interesting bit. I think that Hussein swapping from the petro-Dollar to the petro-Euro is all the excuse Jr "needed" to go finish the job daddy started.

Hussein swapped the currency, presto-chango, we're in Iraq less than 4 months later.

Who on earth cares?

[vux984]

What else is there really to say?

Are there even any star wars fans who care all that much how disney resolves this apparently complicated and difficult conundrum?

Re:Who on earth cares?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are there even any star wars fans who care

You're kidding right?

Re:Who on earth cares?

[dcw3]

Are there even any star wars fans who care

You're kidding right?

No, because the only people who will give a shit, are those who attend Star Wars conventions, or live their lives through role playing. 99% of the consumer base does not.

Star Wars XVIII

[Anonymous Coward]

Star Wars XVIII: The Empire Milks it for All it's Worth.

Star Wars LXIX: The Audience Gets Crewed

etc., etc., Who cares?

Will Lucas ever be satisfied?

[fizzer06]

Go on and do it, do it,
Do it 'til you're satisfied,
Whatever it is, do it,
Do it 'til you're satisfied.

Re:Will Lucas ever be satisfied?

[gagol]

Sure Lucas is satisfied, he is laughing all the way to the online bankin website to check his account!

If you don't like it, make your own

[Darth Hubris]

Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga: Episode IV: Con Carne y Salsa Verde

Re:If you don't like it, make your own

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you suggesting we cannibalize it for profit? You realize you would be buried in court and everything taken from you.

Sounds like Disney, the Monsanto of the media world. Simple recipe, take something that has been around a long long time before you existed, modify it some, claim it is yours exclusively and ban all variations.

You mean...

[Anonymous Coward]

Lucas*ARTS* was pretty good about it. Lucas and Lucasfilm have been terrible with consistency and canonicity of elements for DECADES.

Honestly 9/10 of what I consider Star Wars now has nothing to do with 'Lucas-universe' Star Wars, the majority was Book, Comic, or Videogame inspired. Go back to pre-prequels and the only thing that had kept Star Wars going so long was the sublicensing for other media. Hell even the toys started producing extended universe prior to the runup for TPM, due to the 'theatrical' toys having been played out.

Spaceballs: The Search for More Money

[LostOne]

Maybe we can have that Spaceballs sequel, too?

Oh, wait. That's essentially what this is.

Of course, there's an outside chance it won't suck horribly.

Expanded Universe

[Anonymous Coward]

I always enjoyed the EU stuff. Pretty much all of it was better than the Prequel Trilogy, except for maybe that story about Zorba the Hutt looking for the Glove of Darth Vader...

So basically Disney is making Expanded Universe movies. I'd love to see films based on parts of Tales From Jabba's Palace/Mos Eisley Cantina, The Zahn Trilogy, etc., and I hope whatever they come up with is at least on par. Making "Episodes VII, VIII, and IX" would just be a mistake.

- chinagreenelvis

Re:Expanded Universe

[MightyMartian]

The one thing I'm reasonably certain about is that whatever Lucas had approved for the expanded universe will be thrown out the door. Disney is out to make a lot of money, and it will have absolutely no interest in is optioning Zahn or any other expanded universe author.

Besides, most of the Expanded Universe stuff I've read (admittedly only a splattering here and there), is just gawdawful shit.

On second thought, considering how the standards for the prequel trilogy went down the shitter and Disney's involvement, maybe the Expanded Universe crap will set the perfect tone.

Re:Expanded Universe

[Anonymous Coward]

I've read a lot of it, due to a compulsive disorder, and I can safely say that it's almost universally gawdaful shit, and that include the Zahn stuff

How did they name those 2 Ewok movies?

[taxman_10m]

Why should this be any different?

Re:How did they name those 2 Ewok movies?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh god I hope it's very different.

You haven't read the novels for the last episodes!

[Anonymous Coward]

Certainly I haven't read all of them, I think they are 52, but I know for shure it continues with son of Luke and the three kids of Leia and Han, so, they continues with the skywalker saga just facing a new menace besides the original one, yes, Palpatine is still alive.

No longer matters

[dbIII]

The naming was to make people think it was like the old Republic serials and nobody younger than Lucas is really going to get the reference any more. While I've been told this I don't really "get it" since I didn't grow up seeing those things in smoky cinemas and waiting for the "next exciting episode" to come out.

Overrated

[Anonymous Coward]

I like science fiction but the cartoon-ish Star Wars movies are some of the most overrated movies in history.

Truth in advertising

[PopeRatzo]

They could just name the last six movies, "The.Star.Wars.Saga.dvdrip.engsubs.aXX0" and I'm not sure anyone would notice.

Re:Truth in advertising

[thegarbz]

Oh I hope Disney gets sued by aXX0 for trademark infringement.

Re:Truth in advertising

[Stormwatch]

You mean that's not the official title?!

Re:Truth in advertising

[Anarchduke]

damn you nailed it with that comment.

It was always episode IV

[Anonymous Coward]

The first Star Wars film was always episode IV, it was NOT retroactively renumbered. It was an homage to the old movie serials that they used to show.

Re:It was always episode IV

[radarskiy]

The original film prints did not say Episode IV in the titles.

Yes, in all but name

[SuperKendall]

Star Wars 2.5 is EXACTLY what the Clone Wars series is.

In fact you should not even watch EP3 without seeing the first season of the animated Clone Wars (which is BTW much better than EP3) as it explains a ton the movie just doesn't.

Re:Yes, in all but name

[devman]

I just wish they'd make a film for Star Wars 5.5 (aka Shadows of the Empire) which had an awesome story line.

/. editors seduced by the Dark Side

[mrsam]

Following the link to TFA, I find myself reading a few pages on some nobody's personal blog, where he fan-wanks off in some general what-if idle speculation.

And the esteemed /. editors bought this whole load of some fanboy's idle speculation, hook, line, and sinker, thinking it was real news, straight from Lucas's horse's mouth.

Idiots.

Um, no

[gignac.adam]

No need to add "The Skywalker Saga" on to the titles. Movies that are part of the main thread keep their "Episode $n" titles, and spin-offs get their own titles. Worked for X-Men (the quality of that series notwithstanding) which had X-Men {1,2,3} (spanning the Xavier vs Magneto stories), Origins and First Class (prequels), and the upcoming Wolverine and Days of Future Past.

What a crap article

[Anonymous Coward]

I think the guy is just trying to drive traffic to his blog. Seriously, they don't need to follow a scheme or retroactively name anything.

Ahem

[justthinkit]

News for nerds, stuff that matters?

Re:Ahem

[Stormwatch]

News for nerds, stuff that mattered a long time ago.

Re:Ahem

[Anonymous Coward]

News for nerds, stuff that mattered a long time ago.

In a galaxy far, far away.

Re:Ahem

[Anonymous Coward]

in a galaxy far far away?

Re:Ahem

[Anonymous Coward]

News for nerds, stuff that mattered a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

They'll use...

[Horshu]

"The Clone Wars", "More Clone Wars", and "Still More Clone Wars". Wait, no, that was the cartoons.

I read that as "tilting"

[RogueWarrior65]

And I thought "Tilting? Are they finally realizing that Star Tours doesn't really simulate motion?"

Wasn't it originally supposed to be 1 movie?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wasn't star wars supposed to just be one movie but because it was so popular, it became a trilogy?

Re:Wasn't it originally supposed to be 1 movie?

[Miamicanes]

As I understand it, Lucas always intended for there to be a sequel to Star Wars, but the investors made him go through the motions of pretending Star Wars could stand on its own. The problem wasn't that they didn't think it would be popular, but rather that it wouldn't be popular enough to justify the unholy production cost of a sequel made to the same standards. They wanted to make sure that if it merely did "OK", they could keep wringing cash out of it for a few more years in second-run and international markets.

I believe The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi were kind of like the final two "Back to the Future" and "Matrix" movies... filmed mostly back-to-back, and some parts filmed simultaneously to cut costs. I think Lucas originally planned to wrap everything up in a single ~3-hour second episode, but after Star Wars turned into a license to print money, he (or his investors) decided to make it into two separate movies, and leave the door open to a 3-movie prequel that Lucas himself didn't really have any interest in making.

I've got it!

[evilviper]

I've got the PERFECT name for the next Disney-produced Star Wars film:

Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money

You're welcome.

I'll go see them, but will be thinking ...

[jbeaupre]

The secret title of every one of the new movies will be:

Star Wars: Episode ? Now give me your money, fucktard!

Retroactive?

[typo-lfm]

"Lucas retroactively subtitled the first movie to be Episode IV."

Did he really? Exactly when was this? I seem to remember the episode IV subtitle when I saw the first run in the theatre. Is my memory fooling me?

Re:Retroactive?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes

Ummm...no.

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

There are already plans for Star Wars "one-shot" films, focusing on individual characters like Yoda and Boba Fett .

and Boba Fett
and Boba Fett
and Boba Fett

It shall be interesting to see the first Star Wars flop.

Fuck Disney and FUCK Lucas

[Anonymous Coward]

Both.

Star Wars

[Anonymous Coward]

Is Gay

Tilting or Titling?

[Anonymous Coward]

I completely agree we should get rid of the tilting problem..

Now a days films are shot with too much tilt, making the viewer totally dizzy and having to rotate ones head. This is also true of many sequences in the "newer" star wars films. Yeah, we really should advocate to get rid of the tilting problem found in many post-modern directors.

It did say Episode IV originally!

[cstacy]

I remember very clearly that the original release said "Episode IV"; I was enjoying Stay Puft marshmallow treats while watching the movie. Always loved those as a kid growing up in the 70s. (And wasn't JFK assassinated that week? I remember the trauma of watching that on TV a couple days after Star Wars.) Pretty sure.

Re:It did say Episode IV originally!

[asmkm22]

No, it was originally just Star Wars, until it was re-released in '81. Lucas has never had a problem retconning his stuff.

Re:It did say Episode IV originally!

[Anonymous Coward]

It's fun how people's memories get rewritten over time.

Re:It did say Episode IV originally!

[Anonymous Coward]

So you're saying JFK was shot in 1981?

Re:It did say Episode IV originally!

[Thugthrasher]

JFK was assassinated in 1963. Star Wars came out in 1977. I'm thinking that you are not remembering things correctly here.

Re:It did say Episode IV originally!

[cstacy]

what? nothing about Stay Puft? what an epic WHOOSH!

StarWarsOne with daily web login and no used DVD s

[charlesjo488]

Then Star Trek will make an announcement about how they won't require daily logins and permit used DVD sales and there will be much rejoicing throughout the universe.

Makes no sense

[wonkey_monkey]

Knight's solution is to retroactively amend the titles of Episodes I through IX to reflect it being the Skywalkers' saga

To what?

Episode I: Anakin Begins
Episode II: Anakin In Love
Episode III: Anakin Goes Bananas

Re:Makes no sense

[JTsyo]

Star Wars: Skywalker saga: Eps (X): Title

I'll second that.

[Anonymous Coward]

It was definitely only "Star Wars" on first release in Australia too. I also remember queueing around the block to get a ticket.

It wasn't until a later time it became "A New Hope".

Peasy

[Anonymous Coward]

How about Star Peace, and they all sit around drinking cups of tea...

just leave it

[SuperDre]

Or just leave it as it is and only continue counting with movies actually pertaining to the skywalker family.. and have the rest just like they did with ewoks, which in itself are also starwars movies but didn't get a 'number'...

Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are currently 6 movies in the series and they all have episode numbers. Adding a new movie would make the next movie number 7. The next is 8. After that, there's 9. Are they figuring that there will be so many of these movies that they'll outstrip the ability of anyone to count high enough to understand what movie they're watching?

Seriously, trying to discuss the first 6 movies (particularly in geek company) is frustrating and tedious because when you say Star Wars 4, some people will think you're talking about A New Hope and some will think you're talking about about Phantom Menace (and some who have disavowed the one trilogy will claim they have no idea what you're talking about). 7 would be a refreshingly easy number to work with as there's no "wrong order" problems with it.

I clearly remember seeing it too

[Anonymous Coward]

However, that wasn't on the Movie Screen, it was on a re-showing on the telly in the late 80's.

There's a lot of stuff in your brain that is stored as a series of hints, not a set of movie reels each distinct, but the same neurons fired in association with one set of neurons will produce a memory different if it was excited the same way in the presence of a different set of neurons.

Deja vu.

All over again.

Yup, it was a legitimate drone strike target.

[Anonymous Coward]

There was some collateral damage, but you have to determine the operational needs to win a war against terrorists who will hide behind a civilian human shield whilst attacking innocent people who are just living in a free democracy!

clear solution

[intermodal]

Leave the original arc alone, give new storylines subtitles. The franchise has been doing it for years in the books and so forth. Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron. Star Wars: Heir to the Empire. Star Wars: Millennium Falcon. Star Wars: George Lucas Ruins The Original Trilogy.

It's not that hard.

The episodes already have a name!

[Misagon]

They episodes are already together called the [url=http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Journal_of_the_Whills]Journal of the Whills[/url].
This is found in early "drafts" of George Lucas' Star Wars scripts from the '70s and has since then become included in Star Wars novels.

Space

[WilyCoder]

I'm still waiting for SpaceBalls 2: The Search For More Money

Knights who?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why Slashdot keeps posting other people's crap here?

yeah, but it was for research purposes...

[Thud457]

Try downloading the torrent of the original theatrical release.

WORST advice on /. evar! Yeah, just steal bread from the mouths of Lucas and the Mouse, that'll end well.

Misread "titling" as "tilting"...

[mrt_2394871]

... and assumed it must have been something to do with the gimbal-lock you can get if you're rotating 3D objects and not using quaternions.

TGIF.

Star Trek > Star Wars x 20 million parsecs

[Hognoxious]

Terrible record keeping and Lucas' habit of destroying old versions and footage makes it tough to watch the old releases

Whereas now he has to rely on retarded characters and stupid plots to get the same effect.

ePISODE aBSURD

[Anonymous Coward]

Why not just be simple about this. The main Saga's continuation will be Episode's 7, and 8, and 9. The spinoffs get unique titles, but main ones that continue where "Return Of the Jedi" leave off are Episodes in the Saga. Its really that simple.

This is a very poorly written entry

[Anonymous Coward]

It literally took 5 reads to gleam something from it. Why don't you try to change contexts a little more often, otherwise someone might understand what you want to say.

Shit ... not given.

[RockDoctor]

I've still only seen about 1 and a half of the Star Bores films - is it 6 or nine now? - and I find my desire for my post-breakfast shit to be much more significant than my non-existant desire to watch the rest.

Do we care...

[Meski]

How Disney number future StarWars? It's a story that's been taken well beyond its use-by date. Disney would do better investing in new stories. Or, here's an idea. License existing books, and attach completely unrelated stories to them.