Revenge of the nerds: on naming Star Wars movies

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Revenge of the nerds: on naming Star Wars movies

28 July 2004

After much speculation — and discussion, heated at times, among fans — the official title of the next instalment in the Star Wars™ saga has been announced: Revenge of the Sith.

But the first question that comes to my mind is: revenge for what? Since when were the Sith so hard done by that they felt the need to extract revenge? So far everything has gone their way. Their clandestine plan to take control of the galaxy has all but succeeded.

Unless of course we are referring to their (almost) complete annihilation centuries ago. Even then revenge seems to somewhat understate what they are trying to achieve now. The other factor being no original Sith remain from that time anyway.

So it’s not as if the latter day Sith are avenging the demise of any contemporaries. Their comrades have been dead a thousand years (or whatever). If revenge is indeed what the Sith are seeking, it is certainly a dish served cold. Very cold.

I’d have thought a title like Rise of the Sith, or Rise of the Empire, would have been more appropriate. Well I just could be right (if I may say so). One or other of those titles were apparently being considered, but a change was required.

Why? Because Star War’s secrets are among the worst kept in the galaxy. It can’t be much fun for series creator George Lucas when fans keep figuring out the title of one of the most anticipated movies of all time.

But why announce the title now? After all, the movie is not due for release until May 2005. I’m guessing as just about all possible names had already been guessed, it was better to go ahead and make the name official, lest it leak later on.

There’s also of course that most basic tenet of marketing to factor into the mix as well: all publicity is good publicity.

Originally published Wednesday 28 July 2004.

Hal, of 2001: A Space Odyssey fame, inducted into Robot Hall of Fame

16 November 2003

I didn’t realise that Hal, AKA HAL 9000, the supercomputer in Stanley Kurbick’s 1968 film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was regarded as a robot, but apparently he is. That’s why Hal was, recently, inducted into the Robot Hall of Fame.

There he joins other illustrious bots and ‘droids, including R2D2 from, of course, Star Wars. This hall of renown, brought to us by Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Computer Science, is not restricted to fictional robots though, as the Mars Sojourner Rover is also honoured with a place.

Originally published Sunday 16 November 2003, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.