Star Wars Titles: A Mismatched Puzzle?
When you take a closer look at the Star Wars titles, it’s easy to see that they might belong to different movies. For instance, The Rise of Skywalker should probably be about young Anakin Skywalker as he’s discovered by Qui-Gon Jinn and taken on as an apprentice. Then, with Obi-Wan as his master, he continues his training and eventually becomes one of the most powerful Jedi in the order.
Following this logic, Episode 2 should be Revenge of the Sith, as Palpatine creates a clone army that will eventually strike down the Jedi. Then comes Attack of the Clones, as they finally do attack in the third episode, much to the Jedi’s surprise. After that, we have Return of the Jedi, considering that Obi-Wan takes Luke on as his apprentice and teaches him the ways of the Jedi.
Reordering the Titles: A More Cohesive Narrative
The next movie in this reimagined order would be The Force Awakens, as Yoda teaches Luke how to further access the Force and become an even stronger Jedi. Then comes The Last Jedi, since Obi-Wan is gone, Yoda is gone, and Luke is apparently the last of the order. After that, the new trilogy starts off with The Empire Strikes Back, as the First Order comes into focus. This is followed by A New Hope when Luke distracts Kylo Ren to allow what’s left of the Resistance to escape, and finally gives way to The Phantom Menace, as Palpatine has been behind the entire new trilogy from the start since he was never really dead. So essentially, the titles are accurate enough, but they were put down in the wrong order.
George Lucas’ Unpredictable Journey with Star Wars
Many people still wonder why George Lucas started at Episode 4 instead of going back to the beginning and making it all make sense. The truth is, Lucas had no idea that Star Wars was going to be this big, and he was hiding out in Hawaii on vacation when the movie was released just so he wouldn’t have to hear the boos he was expecting. But when it took off in such a big way, he was able to continue with the story, and the prequels would come later as a means of giving some backstory to the movies he’d already created.
Despite his vast imagination, Lucas has a habit of standing back from his creation at times in order to distance himself from it. This might seem maddening to some, as creating something like Star Wars would demand that the creator stay as close to it as possible for as long as possible. However, Lucas has wanted to distance himself from the biggest project that helped him achieve his success, while still coming back to it every now and again for his own reasons.
Embracing the Star Wars Legacy
Don’t worry too much about the titles being out of order; they aren’t about to be changed any time soon. They’re as set as can be and will likely remain that way for as long as memory allows. One can only assume that one day, perhaps decades into the future, some ambitious soul might decide to try and reboot Star Wars and see if they can do any better, bringing the story into the present day in a manner that people will not only understand but fully enjoy.
As of right now, it might sound like blasphemy to a lot of people, even those that might be with the idea of Disney seeking to erase the current trilogy in favor of creating a different trio of movies that might work more effectively. But it’s likely a long time coming and won’t be here until many of us are either gone or old and gray. For all its faults, Star Wars is here to stay as it is.
Follow Us
