Lucas Announces Episode II Title
August 7 -- Some of you are asking, "Episode II of what?" To those folks, we say: Welcome to the 21st century. Don't disturb the bats on your way out of the cave — oh, and we call that gigantic luminous orb "the sun."
The rest of you doubtless realize that Episode II means Star Wars, and the title of the next movie is going to be (drum roll) … Attack of the Clones.
We swear we're not using a Jedi mind trick to deceive you.
The momentous announcement was made Monday afternoon via StarWars.com, the franchise's official Web site, and in a special e-mail bulletin posted to fans registered with George Lucas' online empire.
The new title has the same drive-in double feature, B-movie ring to it that was captured by 1999's Episode I — The Phantom Menace, and it would appear that the effect is entirely intentional. The official announcement posted at StarWars.com states that the new title "harkens [sic] back to the sense of pure fun, imagination, and excitement that characterized the classic movie serials and pulp space fantasy adventures that inspired the Star Wars saga."
Fans will recognize the title as a reference to the outbreak of the Clone Wars, a period first made mention of in Princess Leia's holographic plea to Ben Kenobi in 1977's Star Wars (and abundantly detailed in subsequent officially licensed Star Wars novels). It's been widely speculated since before filming began on The Phantom Menace that the Clone Wars would figure prominently in Lucas' expanded saga.
In a posting at AintItCoolNews.com, Internet guru Harry Knowles says that he first heard the title after being awakened by a call from USA Today. Knowles goes on to say that his first reaction to hearing the title spoken was "immediate laughter. I never fully composed myself. I had had 2 hours sleep and I get hit with that? Laughter was the only possible response."
A few mouse-clicks away, Upcomingmovies.com's Greg Dean Schmitz further observes that, as happened with The Phantom Menace, Lucas has revealed a title that flies in the face of speculation shared by fans in recent months. (Prior to Monday's announcement, the most widely rumored title was The Shadow Falls.) Schmitz also wonders whether Lucas might have been inspired by the recent furor over human cloning.
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