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."

Retroactively?

[sayfawa]

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

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: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: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: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.

[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.