Why no "Episode VII"..?

Every movie requires people to know something about it. A lot of sequels have completely different titles and people are expected to know The Dark Knight is the sequel to Batman Begins. Maybe "Episode VIII" will show up in the advertising.

 

I don't think it will, and I think that's Disney's whole point. Knowing that this is the seventh episode in a series would likely scare away potential new fans. It feels daunting to go see a movie knowing there were six others that came before it. If, somehow, you've avoided seeing Star Wars all these years, you'd feel like you have to catch up on six movies before you go see Episode VII. But if it's just being marketed and advertised as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, that feels like a much more feasible spot to jump in and join the fun.

 

True, but you'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't at least know the basic storyline of the six movies.

 

In the days of digital clocks/watches that use standard numerals and where people hardly pay attention when a movie credits its production date as MCMLXXVI is a largely ignored/unnoticed detail, I don't think it's fair to say that. The only series that I know to use Roman numerals in their titles would be SW and Final Fantasy, and I've heard third-hand of maybe another 2 or 3 others

 

Really? You never heard of Star Trek? Or Ultima?

 

Didn't know Star Trek used them, never heard of Ultima

 

If it was not in the crawl I would disappointed but of course it will be. I will still refer to it as ep.VII.
Seagoat "What the hell's an Aluminum Falcon?" is my all time favourite Star Wars joke/gag. Even seeing it in writing makes me laugh.

 

I almost pointed that out but thought Seagoat was referring to currently running movie series. Yes, most numbered sequels used Roman numerals before the end of the '80s, but then it wasn't common yet for a series to go beyond three or four movies and then it became a kind of joke for comedians when they did. It was almost a gag to see the numerals in titles for Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street as they kept putting out editions with big sets of Roman numerals and even Star Trek got some ridicule for continuing on with V and VI.

 

I am a little baffled as to why the Episode VII logo is so different from the rest on the official site. Even the OT have the PT-style logos on their pages.

 

It's probably because the website has different designers and they haven't had a chance to incorporate the new title into the existing site.

 

Eventually when the movie is released and stuff they'll probably have them all looking the same again.

 

As long as the episode number is in the opening crawl, that's all I really care about.

Now – whether or not it will be on the case artwork for the Blu-ray release, that's another question… Hopefully it's there too.

 

Actually, I would prefer if all the numbers actually look the same as the way they're making VII look. I like that design – a little more of a retro feel, and matches better to the Star Wars logo.






Whoops – sorry for the double post.

 

On the other hand, I prefer the ones that are currently there so I hope they just change Episode VII.

 

Or ROCKY??

 

I think the reason the chose to remove the episode option it because it would make the title boring & predictable.

 

I think it's cool without the VII. I don't think it's anything other then a throwback to the originals.It's still Ep VII,just is not being marketed that way.Just like the originals.

 

I've always felt I'd prefer it if it was like the Dark Knight trilogy, Twilight or Hunger Games: where they refer to the main name as the "saga," but they only use the individual names for each part. Agreed that there would need to be a certain amount of knowledge involved to get the right order, but it worked for all those-as well as Harry Potter-and the Middle earth Saga too.

Just:

The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and so forth...

no episode designation, just the title. I'd love that.

 

I'm going to guess the non-saga Star Wars movies will have a different heading, like the new "Star Wars Legends" heading for the Expanded Universe.

 

I have zero problem with minimizing the numbers in the marketing, but it does make me wonder how they will differentiate the spin-offs.

Then again, sometimes it doesn't matter how clear your marketing tries to be. I remember a coworker in '99 who, just says before TPM came out, still thought the little blonde kid in the commercials was Luke.

 

It's not that big of a deal, that EPISODE VII isn't on the official marketing but I'd prefer if it was.

 

It doesn't really bother me either way, but I felt it always made the posters etc. look busy and the full titles were a mouthful. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends hit the nail on the head when Mac and Bloo make a film titled T-Rexatron Alienwolf III, A Prequel in Time: The Unrelenting. ;-)

 

IMO, leaving Episode VII out of the title is more of an attempt to get back to the Star Wars brand. When you look at the originals, most associate the brand, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, for example. But when you look at the prequels, most associate the episode, Episode II: Attack of the Clones. I don't know of many who actually call it Star Wars: Episode III: Return of the Sith. So I think it's not being done to mislead the casual fan, or to abandon the previous formats. I believe this is more a case to get back to featuring Star Wars in the titles again.

 

Most of the original films were advertised as STAR WARS Empire Strikes Back, or Return of the Jedi. While the numbering has remained as a constant, it was only heavily used during the prequels, for obvious impact. Here, though, it isn't really necessary. The Force Awakens doesn't need a VII for marketing, frankly.

 

I think it's kind of a mix between how the OT and PT were originally marketed. One trilogy was "Star Wars", "The Empire Strikes Back", and "Return of the Jedi". Another was "Star Wars Episode I/II/III: The Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith". I'm fine with just "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", but I wonder how the standalones will be marketed now considering the change.