Which is the more un-Star Wars title?

Well, which one? I voted Splinter - Phantom Menace seemed hokey at the time but is probably the more SW if you had to choose.

(Other suggestions accepted too)

DAE star wars??

Splinter of the Minds Eye Sounds more like a bad 90's thriller film.

I guess A New Hope isn't very Star Warsy either, but it's been around so long it's just accepted.

"The Phantom Menace" was very much inspired by the style of chapter titles used in cliffhanger serials.

They were usually descriptive of what will happen in that week's episode as, for example, the 1936 Flash Gordon:

"The Planet of Peril"
"The Tunnel of Terror"
"Captured by Shark Men"
"Battling the Sea Beast"
"The Destroying Ray"
"Flaming Torture"
"Shattering Doom"
"Tournament of Death"
"Fighting the Fire Dragon"
"The Unseen Peril"
"In the Claws of the Tigron"
"Trapped in the Turret"

Nowadays such titles would be considered 'spoilers', but they were intended, along with the cliffhangers, to get children to keep returning to the cinema to continue watching the story.

"Splinter of the Mind's Eye" wouldn't really cut it.


"The Phantom Menace" is actually a play on Flash Gordon's, "The Unseen Peril".


"A New Hope" wasn't the original chapter title, but the far more punchy, "Star Wars".

Episodes II-VI continue the tradition:

"Attack of the Clones"
"The Revenge of the Sith"
"Star Wars"
"The Empire Strikes Back"
"The Return of the Jedi"


VII-IX are similar, yet turned out to be a little more esoteric, like "Splinter of the Mind's Eye":

"The Force Awakens"
"The Last Jedi"
"The Rise of Skywalker"


"Solo" and "Rogue One" diverge completely, referring only to a title character and a call sign.

Good post Asta! Yes that fits with my contention that the PT is the most cliffhanger-serial/B-movie trilogy of the saga.

The Phantom Menace has other pulp connotations too (though possibly coincidental):

Prime Clone said:

Good post Asta! Yes that fits with my contention that the PT is the most cliffhanger-serial/B-movie trilogy of the saga.

The Phantom Menace has other pulp connotations too (though possibly coincidental):

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Yes.

'Phantom' was used a number of times in both serial titles and chapters. It often implied the spies and ringmasters operating in the shadows, and the latter were often disguised so the whole serial was a whodunnit where you try to guess who the villain is.

Star Wars is essentially the cliffhanger serial Lucas made because he couldn't get the rights to Flash Gordon.

I got hooked on pulp serials while searching for the inspirations behind Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Lucas and Spielberg sometimes lifted whole segments, particularly for Temple of Doom and The Last Crusade. The rolling boulder from Raiders goes way back though, before the repeats Lucas and Spielberg were watching as children, all the way back to The Perils of Pauline (1914).


As for chapter titles, I'll always remember this one from Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939):



It was used for a video game title:

Exxxxxxxcellent.

I didnt vote in your pole because it was exluding the most important one.. The last Jedi is terrible name for star wars movie since the last jedi they reference as the last one trying to end the order for good was also the same jedi that actually changed the order for the better. Its complete nonsense like the movie.

Anakin never would have turned to the darkside if it wasnt for Yoda and Obi wans crazy beliefs and inability to explain or comfort him as to why his more compassionate feeling were wrong, mainly due to the jedi's crazy rules at the time. He cared about his friends and loved ones, much like luke, the main difference is the Jedi didnt allow anakin to act on the emotions that made him a good person. So he repressed them which lead to this dark consequences, you cannot force people to repress healthy emotions and expect them to turn out ok. The jedi failed to identify the difference between compassion and love, both healthy attachments, the kind that compelled jedi to fight for the greater good and defend the defenseless and the bad kind of attachment.. To jedi at the time it was all the same, even though they asked jedi to help fight a war to save those that could not protect themselves- eg compassion. No wonder anakin was confused, he even told us this in Atoc "Possession is forbidden. Compassion—which I would define as… unconditional love—is essential to a Jedi's life. So, you might say that we are encouraged to love". Anakin's bseically says in his own words that compassion (eg concern for others/ love) as the top priority for any Jedi. The order told him otherwise, esp when it came to people he cared about. Luke straight up rejected any of their teachings that told him to forsake his friends which is why he never listened to Obi wan or Yoda, so they never impacted him like Anakin (anakin tried so hard to blindly follow them at al cost, which is why he made that last ditch effort to ask yoda for help in sith, but yoda did not give him the answer he was looking for. Had anakin grown up during luke's time he would have faired ok, there was no academy or a bunch of crazy jedi telling him that his concern for his friends and loved ones is wrong and he is bad for caring about them cause all forms of "attachment" are bad, because it leads down a dark path- they were wrong. There are many different types of attachment, one based on compassion and love like how you are attached to family members and friends or those who you risk losing your life to save- these are healthy attachments. Then there are unhealthy attachments the ones that do lead down the dark path such as being attached to their own internal gratification (selfishness) at the expense of others, or to material pleasures such as power and wealth- the jedi just wrongly thought all of them, even the good kinds were bad.. All Luke had to do was ignore the 2 remaining jedi, but anakin could not do this cause the jedi were everywhere teaching, training, watching his every move and attempting to control his every feeling. Yoda gave him a heartless answer "fear not for those that you love that die and rejoice in their death for they become one with the force". They could never exert the same control over luke, nor prevent him from caring about or helpoing friends cause cause neither yoda nor ben had the power or oversight to do that at that time, but during anakin's time the jedi controlled everything, he felt stuck and then begin to view them as evil because they were basically telling him to let people he cares about die even if has the power to stop it all the while fighting a war supposedly in the name of "compassion" to save the republic from the ruthless robot trade federation. Luke just ignored them, hoped in his xwing and left but anakin did not have the same option he was stuck. Its the Pa Kent Speech all over again, Son dont save me or others in order to protect your secret and our set of beliefs, regardless if it blurs the lines between right and wrong.

A good example of this in sith is towards the end when Anakin tells Mace about Palpatine. He pleads with him to let him go but mace says no (not only another trust issue) its the same dominant one way conversation the jedi always had with him. Mace says no if what you told me is true you have "earned" my trust. Ok so mace is basically telling him the jedi dont trust him, the same thing the emperor was telling just a few scenes earlier. They were terrible mentors to anakin, luke was smart just to learn what he could from old ben and Yoda and then stick to his own heart for the rest- Until the ST happened and Luke was no longer luke Skywalker but someone else KK created in her mind to prop up Rey Palpatine as the true hero of the skywalker saga. Yoda was right when he said failed i have, he completely misinterpreted how the force works, what leads to the darkside and how to train his underlings so they do not go down that path. This is also why both yoda and obi wan hid they completely missinterpreted the force, they were wrong, the hid cause they didnt want to do anymore damage then they had already done. They are directly responsibile for creating vader and they new it, they didnt want to do ****. Luke on other hand know they were wrong which is why he never obeyed them when it came to people he cared about. leaving them behind to die, or killing is own father. Yoda and ben didnt learn a ****ing thing. TLJ fails because it completely ignores luke's arc in the ot or it doesnt even care to be consistent in order to prop up KK's the force is female agenda in a movie arc it didnt belong.

Skywalker(OG)Kush said:

I didnt vote in your pole because it was exluding the most important one.. The last Jedi is terrible name for star wars movie since the last jedi they reference as the last one trying to end the order for good was also the same jedi that actually changed the order for the better. Its complete nonsense like the movie.

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Point taken... but my criteria was any title with Jedi, Sith, Force, Clones, Empire etc. was Star Warsy by definition.

I did think it was weird that only two episodes after the *return* of the Jedi we had the *last* Jedi.

Prime Clone said:

Point taken... but my criteria was any title with Jedi, Sith, Force, Clones, Empire etc. was Star Warsy by definition.

I did think it was weird that only two episodes after the *return* of the Jedi we had the *last* Jedi.

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I agree the tittle would have been fine until they explained what it referred to; that the "last" jedi was none other than luke skywalker and he wanted the order to end lol