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Episode III Opening Crawl Released

Posted by michael on Fri Jan 28, 2005 11:27 AM
from the war! dept.
moggyf writes "The official Star Wars website has revealed the opening crawler text for Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, currently scheduled for a May 19th, 2005 release."
+ -
story
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  • by NanoGator (522640) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:28AM (#11504294) Homepage Journal
    ... click on this article and get "Nothing to see here, move along..."?
    • No, but... (Score:5, Funny)

      by paranode (671698) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:36AM (#11504391)
      It did say "This isn't the story you're looking for" at which point I had an uncontrollable urge to say "Move along, move along". That was weird.
    • by Basehart (633304) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:46AM (#11504512)
      I wonder if with all the last minute stuff going on at Lucas Film right now, whether anyone would notice if they forgot to make the opening titles crawl up the screen and just stuck that gif up there by accident.

      That would really put a dent in the look and feel of Star Wars III.
        • by ultranova (717540) on Friday January 28 2005, @12:12PM (#11504791)

          Why do we ever bother caring anymore?

          Because it is Star Wars ?

          Will we have more jar-jar? Yup.

          No. We had less Jar-Jar in Ep2 than in Ep1, so logically there's even less in Ep3. Besides, if you think about it, Jar-Jar was actually a neccessary character for the plot - to get the Republic army established.

          Yup. Will we have another wonderfully dark, brooding piece of science-fiction/fantasy like "The Empire Strikes Back"? Errr, no.

          Possibly. I don't really see how Ep3, with the birth of Vader and fall of the Republic (and death of nearly all jedis), could possibly be anything but dark.

          But, on more general note, was I the only one who actually liked Ep1 and Ep2 ? People seem to dislike them because they don't have the same feel as the Ep4-6, but of course they can't have the same feel - the original SW trilogy described a war, but the war only started at the end of Ep2.

          Just forget midiclorians (as Lucas apparently did in Ep2 - never, ever try to explain mystery) and the ludicrous episode of kid Anakin accidentally blowing up the droid battleship, and they are actually pretty good movies.

          I, for one, am very interested in seeing this one - now that the plot is moving full speed, with a desperate war being fought in the background, and Vader appearing to the scene, there is every reason to believe this could be the ESB of the new SW movies.

          It better be - because if they mess up my favourite childhood villain...

  • by American AC in Paris (230456) * on Friday January 28 2005, @11:28AM (#11504298) Homepage
    In case of slashdotting, here's the original GIF:

    47 49 46 38 49 61 35 02 DC 02 C4 00 00 E0 E0 E0
    F0 F0 F0 10 10 10 D0 D0 D0 A0 A0 A0 30 30 30 20
    20 20 90 90 90 60 60 60 50 50 50 70 70 70 B0 B0
    B0 40 40 40 80 80 80 C0 C0 C0 00 00 00 FF FF FF
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
    00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 21 F9 04
    00 00 00 00 00 2C 00 00 00 00 35 02 DC 02 00 05
    FF 20 04 8E 64 69 9E 68 AA AE 6C EB BE 70 2C CF

    [Lameness Filter encountered. Post aborted.]

  • by Staplerh (806722) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:28AM (#11504301) Homepage
    Maybe this means that I'll see the Opening Crawl for Episode III before that poor bloke who started camping out in front of the theatre about a month ago!
  • General Grievous? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by 10Ghz (453478) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:29AM (#11504309)
    *sigh*
  • thanks... (Score:3, Funny)

    by phyruxus (72649) <jumpandlink&yahoo,com> on Friday January 28 2005, @11:29AM (#11504313) Homepage Journal
    but meesa wait for the broadcast.
  • Back to the Future (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TFGeditor (737839) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:30AM (#11504318) Homepage
    Is it just me, or does the whole "back to the future" approach somehow degrade the Star Wars saga? The new stuff has nifty effects and all, but it just doesn't have the "feel" of the originals.
  • Spoiler (Score:5, Funny)

    by TheNextBigThing (849842) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:31AM (#11504328)
    Annikin becomes Darth Vader!!
  • by Mekabyte (678689) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:31AM (#11504331) Homepage
    Separatist Droid Army and not SEPARATIST DROID ARMY?
  • by Chagatai (524580) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:32AM (#11504347) Homepage
    Absolutely nothing!

    Seriously, with the way the new crawl starts with the word "War!", Lucas just might have replaced it with "Ass!" or something else asinine.

  • And with that... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by JasonUCF (601670) <{moc.orplnj} {ta} {twadhsals-nosaj}> on Friday January 28 2005, @11:34AM (#11504365) Homepage
    And with that, the final raping of your childhood memories of Star Wars is now nearly at hand. Grab your wallet, grab your glasses, and grab your ankles.. May is coming sooner than you think!

  • by ackthpt (218170) * on Friday January 28 2005, @11:36AM (#11504390) Homepage Journal
    Look. Look.
    See. See.
    Look. Look. Look.
    See. See. See.
    See Anakin. See Anakin turn. Turn Anakin turn.
    See Jedis. See Jedis die. Die Jedis die.
    See Palpatine. See Palpatine rule. Rule Palpatine rule.
    Look. See Darth Vader. See Amidala. See Amidala give birth and hide children. Hide them Amidala.
    See Amidala die. Die Amidala die.

    There's so much to see.

  • by FunWithHeadlines (644929) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:38AM (#11504412) Homepage
    REVENGE OF THE LUCAS
    Cash! The production house is crumbling
    under attacks by the ruthless
    Sith Lord, and Slashdot fanboys.
    There are whiners on both sides.
    Ennui is everywhere.

    In a stunning move, the
    fiendish droid leader, General
    Lucas, has swept into the
    Hollywood capital and kidnapped
    famous movie critics, and leaders of
    the big studios.

    As the exhasperated Slashdot army
    attempts to flee the onslaught
    of PR pushed by bought-for flaks
    two Jedi Knights lead a
    desperate mission to rescue the
    captive franchise...

  • good grief (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WormholeFiend (674934) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:41AM (#11504442)
    General Grievous is described on the star wars site basically as a cyborg, not a droid.

    Or do they mean he's the general of a droid army?

    These people need good writers, that's for sure.
  • by Linker3000 (626634) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:43AM (#11504468)
    It may only be a crawler when you first look, but I've just ordered this wonderful image enhancer sticker from an online store - the sticker's only about 1.5" by 2" and according to the spec it's manufactured from "advanced, outsized nanoparticles fused with filings from real phase inverted plasma conduits", and when you stick it on the side of your monitor you can see a full length screener of the film.
  • by Class Act Dynamo (802223) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:46AM (#11504501) Homepage
    I would be remiss in my duties if I did not bring up the Cosmic Wars crawler text.

    The Gathering Shadow

    It is a time of uncertainty. The
    empire's ambiguous tariff statutes
    mandate close reexamination of
    galactic import quotas. Interim
    Princess Agoomba has co-chaired
    a subcommittee to draft amendments
    to existing trade policies

    Meanwhile, regulatory agencies
    are being heavily lobbied by a
    consortium of mercantile interest
    groups and their suppliers to
    streamline loading restrictions for
    class C cargo vessels. The shipping...
  • by calbanese (169547) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:49AM (#11504560) Homepage
    Or does anyone else think that Lucas should spice up Episode III with some breakdancing?
  • He actually named a bad guy "General Grevious"???

    What a breathtaking lack of creativity. I look forward to seeing his counterpart on the other side, Major Niceguy.

  • parody (Score:5, Funny)

    by jmaxwell39648 (854203) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:55AM (#11504626)
    Check out this parody of Episode III. The guy did some nice work. Looks like everything is green screen. Funny as hell. http://www.sequentialpictures.com/moviestarwarsepi sode3.html [sequentialpictures.com]
  • by Odd John (806803) on Friday January 28 2005, @12:03PM (#11504706)
    ''As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their turgid hostage''

    Turgid hostage!

    Did Senator Palpatine get a woody while being held down ?

    Turgid:

    1. Excessively ornate or complex in style or language; grandiloquent: turgid prose.

    2. Swollen or distended, as from a fluid; bloated: a turgid bladder; turgid veins.

    On the other hand you can say that all the Lucas movies are turgid.



  • Note to Scroll Writing Staff:

    Please rework Scroll to include the phrase "hot space-monkey nookie".

    Please, no Wookie-Nookie jokes.

    THX, GL

  • by William_Lee (834197) on Friday January 28 2005, @12:17PM (#11504852)
    Star Wars has now become a parody of Space Balls...
  • by mcc (14761) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Friday January 28 2005, @12:19PM (#11504887) Homepage
    The opening crawls in the original trilogy served as a method of allowing the movie to open in medias res without the audience having a sense of disorientation. In the latter two movies this included an aspect of establishing that time had passed since the previous movie-- but, no meaningful or potentially interesting-to-watch events were in this way "skipped", it is simply made clear to us that what we expected has occurred in the intervening time (the war continues, Luke continues to train, Vader turned Solo over to Jabba the Hutt) with perhaps one or two little bits of information that alert us as to the movie's focus (the Imperials are known to be building a weapon capable of destroying an entire planet).

    In the prequel trilogies the crawls have served two purposes. The intentional purpose is to allow George Lucas to weasel out of characterization, establishing setting and place, and moving the plot along. Unlike the original trilogies, where the Star Wars universe's background and nature was established incidentally, through subtle details of what we see and hear during the movie, in the prequel trilogies they just use the opening crawl to say "plop, there it is", and disorientingly slam down the characters and setting they wish to put the movie in. After this point, since they seem to consider themselves thus freed from explaining themselves, they completely refrain during the movie from elaborating on the things the opening crawl sketches or filling in details beyond the crawl's bare outline (where is Naboo and why, if in any obvious way, are they important? who is the Trade Federation and why should we care? who is "count dooky", why would someone have heard of him, what does he claim he wants, and why does this all appear to be important to someone who does not know his true aspirations? who is "grevious", how and why is he starting a droid army, and what are the implications of this? most importantly what would the answer to these questions appear to be to someone within the movie-- not us the viewer, to whom the answers are "he's the bad guy and he wants to rule the world", what would an average citizen of the Republic think Dooku to be?) and so use the time freed up within the movie in this way to concentrate on roller-coaster-style but otherwise long, boring and irrelivant action scenes.

    The unintentional purpose of the prequel trilogy opening crawls is to bash you over the head with how stupid all these character names are ("Grevious"? "Dooku"??? I mean come on!), just in case the majesty of John Williams' opening score might otherwise distract you from the suspicion that the entire plotline to the prequel trilogy was written by Lucas's 4-year-old child in a single sitting some years ago in crayon on a napkin.
    • So I'm guessing that you're one of those people that 25 years ago said, "Skywalker? How cheesy is that? Does he even think he's a native-American tribal hero?"

      Or are we again doomed to a thread where all that is holy and righteous was that which was Star Wars 4, 5, and 6. :-p

    • by OleMoudi (624829) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:56AM (#11504629) Homepage
      Every time some little detail about Episode III is revealed, people is always looking for catastrophical flaws at first sight and flashbacking to episode I.

      Seriously guys, if you try hard enough, you can easily see flaws in almost everything, even in the old trilogy. Try to imagine yourselves writing an opening crawler for episode III that couldn't be in some way criticised for any stupid elitist star wars zealot.

      Don't bury the movie till you see it
      • by gosand (234100) on Friday January 28 2005, @01:38PM (#11505973) Homepage
        Don't bury the movie till you see it

        Mr. Lucas, is that you?

        Fool me once (Ep I), shame on me.
        Fool me twice (EpII)... uh... can't get fooled again.

        That twit isn't getting any more of my money. For Ep II he only got the rental money, this time he isn't getting squat.

    • by TheRaven64 (641858) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:44AM (#11504479) Homepage Journal
      Is Dooku good or evil?

      Evil. It's the laughing at wholesale destruction and killing the Jedi that gives it away...

      Which is the Empire and which is the Rebellion? Is Dooku on either one of those?

      The (Old) Republic becomes The Empire. The Rebellion hasn't started (because it has nothing, yet, to rebel against). Dooku is on the side that will become The Empire.

      Which side (Palpatine vs .Dooku) is the one that gets Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers?

      Palpatine and Dooku are on the same side. They are both Sith (i.e. evil).

      Since Palpatine is the Emperor, how can he be on both sides?

      Palpatine is creating a war situation to allow him to seize tighter control and disband the senate. This is a fairly unoriginal trick amongst politicians (see Margret Thatcher in the UK and George W. Bush in the US for real life examples - although they were both a bit less blatant about it). Palpatine's minions are running the separatist movement, under his orders.

      I've seen Episode II a bunch of times, but frankly, I can't figure it all out.

      It's not exactly complicated...

    • by RobinH (124750) on Friday January 28 2005, @12:00PM (#11504676) Homepage
      Since Palpatine is the Emperor, how can he be on both sides?

      He's a politician, right? It doesn't matter which side of the aisle he sits on, he's evil through and through.

      Seriously, episodes 4, 5, and 6 were about the rebels (clearly good guys fighting for their freedom) overcoming the "evil empire". It was clear where the good/bad distinction was. In episodes 1, 2, and 3, it's the story about how they got to that point. There were no clear sides, just decay throughout the entire old republic. Some people were good and some people were bad, but the good guys weren't organized to see what was going on.

      To me, this is all very much related to how we all perceive world events. In the late 70's, early 80's, there was a clear good and bad side to the world (from our perspective in the west). The soviets were the "evil empire", and we were all the good guys fighting for freedom. In this day and age, the lines have blurred. Nobody's sure who's on "our" side, and we're all afraid about terrorists infiltrating our own neighourhoods. We still want to live by the old ideals of freedom, but we are also aware that there are people in power who might not have the noblest intentions. It's hard to paint Iraq or Iran as truly "evil" because we shy away from stereotypes now. The governments can't unite us against any enemy that we can't all agree is evil.

      When I was growing up 20 years ago, the U.S. was the ultimate "good guy" nation. Now, none of us (outside the U.S.) know who the good guys really are anymore. Many of us expect the U.S. to turn on the rest of us merely out of its own self interest, even if it's against its own self-proclaimed principles to do so. Within the U.S., it seems like many people also worry about whether their own government will turn on them some day.

      Movies tend to mirror the ideas and fears of the time when they are made. These movies are no exception.
    • by Bonker (243350) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:47AM (#11504520)
      Episode VI
      THE RETURN OF THE HYPE
      Money! Lucas' Fanbase is crumbling under
      the onslaught of bad film after bad film.
      Theree are people camping out for Episode
      III, but everyone thinks they are just
      kinda sad.

      In a predictable move, Lucas Arts has
      announced dozens of new action figures
      and marketing tie-ins. Ronald McDonald has
      been Kidnapped and is being replaced by
      Yoda, C-3P0, and Chewbacca.

      As the general geek community attempts
      to brace for another soul-crushing
      dissapointment, Jar Jar Binks threatens
      to taint yet another gasping breath of
      a dying franchise...
    • by HiredMan (5546) on Friday January 28 2005, @11:52AM (#11504586) Journal
      As the Separatist Droid Army attempts to flee the besieged capital with their turgid hostage

      TURGID
      [adj] abnormally distended especially by fluids or gas; "tumescent tissue"; "puffy tumid flesh"

      Unless Lucas himself is playing Chancellor Palpatine I'm not sure how this description applies. Is it really necessary to point out that the guy is really fat in opening crawl?
      Either that or "turgid" is sometimes used as an oblique reference to having a stiffy... and that REALLY doesn't need to be in the opening crawl, IMHO.

      =tkk