I've got one big question for all these people who've been complaining.
Why not "The Phantom Menace"?! What is the big deal with this title, really?
There have been complaints left, right and center, from newsgroups, to IRC
channels, to web page reviews saying what a crummy title this is for
Star Wars. Episode I will be released in May and frankly, I think they should
just drop it!
For those of you who don't quite understand what I'm talking about, let me
bring you up to speed. As you may or may not know, the original Star Wars movie
was actually Episode IV of an original series of 9 movies that George Lucas had
planned, followed by episodes V and VI, of course. All of these movies had a main
title. Star Wars IV "A New Hope", Star Wars V "The Empire Strikes Back" and Star Wars
VI "The Return of the Jedi". After 20 years, George Lucas is finally working on the
opening prequel trilogy, and he has officially announced that the first episode
of Star Wars will be titled "The Phantom Menace".
Far be it for me to deny people their opinions, but some of these so-called fans
are going to ranting extremes to put down the title for the movie, saying that
Lucas was really not trying and that it doesn't compare to the three other titles.
First of all, I think it's fair to say that whether or not you like Star Wars,
it HAS become a part of our culture, and unfortunately for George Lucas, I
doubt that ANYTHING he could possibly do will live up to the originals that so
many of us have grown up with and that goes for the title. On the other hand, this
will be like the second coming for all Star Wars fans who've been waiting 20 years
with the promise of new movies. We've always known they were coming... they had
practically become urban legend.
Second, all these so-called fans that are putting down the title and acting like
they have any kind of say are forgetting one thing, they don't! Like it or not,
they have no part in the creative process that is going on behind the scenes to
create the movie. Therefore, they have no say in what the title is going to be.
True, there will surely be "test groups" that could express their opinions of what
the movie will be entitled, but I certainly hope that they'll have more sense
than to nitpick at something as trivial as the title of the movie.
Third, "The Phantom Menace" really isn't a bad title! Really!! I mean, how
many of these critics have seen the script!? Sure, if you follow the development of
the film, you have a good idea what the movie is all about, but without seeing the
script, how can you know how relevant the title really is.
Finally, George Lucas really has nothing to worry about anyway, the people who are
picky enough to over criticize the title of the movie are also the people who will
be there on opening night and probably several dozen times after that, even if
George Lucas renames the movie "The Little Wookie that Could".