"Star Wars 6 -- er, 3" has a title now

In what I hope will be the last entry in a once great franchise, "Star Wars" episode 3 will be titled "Revenge of the Sith." I was going to blog about this, but somehow Saddam Hussein, who, based on his knowledge of our pop culture has to be considered the Quentin Tarantino of bloodthirsty tyrants, beat me to it:

As I recall, the original title for "Return of the Jedi" was "Revenge of the Jedi." However, fans objected, pointing out that the Jedi are a bunch of pansies who would never fall for such a base emotion as revenge. Consequently, the title was changed.

So I find it interesting that Lucas would come up with something like "Revenge of the Sith." On the other hand, I suppose it can be argued that the Sith, since they have already joined the Dark Side, are susceptible to such petty temptations as vengeance. Plus, the Dark Side is believed to posses powerful weapons of mass destruction, and it's up to the Jedi to prevent their use.

Yeah, right. And those stupid Jedi probably also believe they'll be greeted as liberators.

For me, "Star Wars" (now known as "Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope") was one of the greatest movie experiences ever, and "The Empire Strikes Back" remains one of the best movies ever made. Like "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," it's a technically perfect movie, achieving everything that it sets out to do. Since then, however, the movies have gone downhill quickly. I don't have much hope for "Revenge of the Sith."

Basically, when Nicholas is old enough to watch movies, I have to hope that my old laserdisc player still works, so I can show him the original versions of "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back." And when he asks what happened to Han Solo (frozen at the end of "Empire"), I'll show him the first forty minutes of "Return of the Jedi" and tell him the series ends when Luke Skywalker and company rescue Solo from Jabba the Hut.

Comments

[Jason Steffens]

Whatever faults Return of the Jedi has, surely you won't deprive Nicholas of the saber fight between Luke and Darth Vader at the end, will you?

[Tung Yin]

Well, I suppose. . . . I guess I can always show the stupid Ewok parts too and give him some basic physics lessons. Like how illogical it is that Imperial walkers impervious to laser fire could be brought down by giant logs swinging down from trees. (Assume that the logs had enough potential energy stored up to damage the walkers; ever wonder how the little teddy bear Ewoks could manage to lift the trees to that height?!?)

[Brian]

I agree with Jason. Just edit out the Ewok parts. Also, you can't deprive your boy of Admiral Ackbar!!

Seriously, I am wishfully thinking on this last movie. I hope that Lucas has learned from his shortfalls in the last 2 and gives this movie the story and ending it deserves. He needs to forget about what his kids like and satisfy the people who have supported his movies for 27 years. (I have owned both the original and re-edited versions on VHS and DVD from Hong Kong, and ran out in 1997 to see the movies again in the theatre.)

But, in the end Lucas will have my money. I'll be at the theatre at Midnight to see ROTS. Maybe he'll use his last chance to salvage this once great series. I wish he had stuck to his original plan and did these movies in 1986, 1989, and 1992.