The third and last episode in the Star Wars saga now has a title: The Revenge of the Sith.
The title was announced today at the San Diego Comic-Con (which I was attending, though I didn’t go to the Star Wars presentation). It also appears on the official Star Wars website. Also announced was more DVD news.
The long fan guessing game about what title Lucas would go with is now over. The ensuing debate about whether it is a good title now begins.
For my money, this is a good title. Better than the title of Episode II (“Attack of the Clones”), and much better than the hopelessly obscure title of Episode I (“The Phantom Menace”).
The title for Episode III needed to have some reasonance with the title of Episode VI (“The Return of the Jedi”), which it does. The Episode III title also should hopefully do something to clarify the title of Episode VI, which is otherwise obscure. Does “the Jedi” mean an individual Jedi–Luke? Annakin?–or the Jedi as a class? (One friend a few years ago thought the Ep VI title should be parsed to simply mean “Luke’s Back!”). The new title clarifies matters. “The Revenge of the Sith” balances “The Return of the Jedi,” and so by symmetry, it makes “the Jedi” a class.
There are a few other titles I would have been happy with (“Birth of the Empire,” “Return of the Sith,” “Fall of the Republic”), but after the less-than-happymaking titles of Ep I and Ep II, I was concerned Lucas would come up with something smilarly unsatisfying.
Let’s hope the trilogy–and thus the series–ends with a film as strong as its title.
I’m a big Star Wars fan, and I actually liked Attack of the Clones quite a bit–it had it’s flaws, but Star Wars movies aren’t about acting. The title was lacking a bit, though.
This title is very good, I agree. Can’t wait…
Well, except for the pesky “Empire Strikes Back,” there was a clear pattern (I left out articles):
Episode I: Adjective Noun
Episode II: Noun Preposition Noun(pl.)
Episode III: Noun Preposition Noun(pl.)
Episode IV: Adjective Noun
Episode V: Noun VERB ADVERB
Episode VI: Noun Preposition Noun(pl.?)
Obviously, Episode V should have been called… uh… “Striking-Back of the Empire.” Wait… “Strike-back of the Empires.”
My only complaint with the Title is that, given the story arc from Eps I and II thus far, there really is nothing for the Sith to seek revenge for.
In Ep I the Sith surfaced (re-surfaced in the grand scheme of SW mythology) and in Ep II Darth Sidious arguably triggered the beginning of the war he sought, and created the army of the Republic that he wanted.
Therefore, thus far things appear to have gone according to the Sith’s plans.
Given the small window into the SW story that Eps I and II have given us, I would consider what we’re going to see in Ep III more “Conquest of the Sith” than “revenge”. “Revenge” implies knowledge of stuff that happened prior to Ep I
My only complaint with the Title is that, given the story arc from Eps I and II thus far, there really is nothing for the Sith to seek revenge for.
In Ep I the Sith surfaced (re-surfaced in the grand scheme of SW mythology) and in Ep II Darth Sidious arguably triggered the beginning of the war he sought, and created the army of the Republic that he wanted.
Therefore, thus far things appear to have gone according to the Sith’s plans.
Given the small window into the SW story that Eps I and II have given us, I would consider what we’re going to see in Ep III more “Conquest of the Sith” than “revenge”. “Revenge” implies knowledge of stuff that happened prior to Ep I
Maybe Lucas will delve a little into the history of the Sith in Ep. III in order to help clarify the title.
I like “Revenge of the Sith.” I would have liked “The Fall of the Jedi.”
+J.M.J+
>>>My only complaint with the Title is that, given the story arc from Eps I and II thus far, there really is nothing for the Sith to seek revenge for.
Well, then there is that quote from Darth Maul in TPM: “At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi; at last we will have revenge”
Darth Maul certainly seemed to think the Sith had something to seek revenge for!
In Jesu et Maria,
Rosemarie:
Undoubtedly within the storyline from elsewhere in the SW universe (comics, etc.) we are given the history of the Sith. My point is simply that an isolated line or two in the first two Episodes doesn’t really lay this out.
The entire story arc of Eps I and II constitute the “revenge” of the Sith. The transformation of Anakin Skywalker into Darth Vader and the obliteration of the Jedi to near-extinction will be the pinnacle of that revenge.
Perhaps, as Brandon suggested, we’ll get some of the actual backstory (through flashbacks or otherwise) in Ep III.
But otherwise, the title assumed knowledge that the non-fanatic viewers of Eps I and II (and IV through VI for that matter) simply wouldn’t have.
I was at a book discussion/signing with SW novelist James Luceno last November, and he confirmed that RotS will reveal a lot about the Sith. In addition, the official synopsis that’s shown up a couple of places pretty much states that Palpatine is going to be far more open in his corruption of Anakin than he has been so far, and will reveal to him the ‘secrets of the dark side’. Sounds promising.
Matthew L. Martin
It is a good title. At one time Return of the Jedi was going to be called Revenge of the Jedi. The first two movies do point out rather well that the Jedi had come up against the Sith before and eliminated them on that or even those occasions. There has been speculation that the Emperor is a Clone of and earlier Sith. We shall see…