Fanboys Anonymous

The title for the latest installment in the Star Wars saga has been revealed. For a long time, we've just been referring to it as Episode VII, but today, it was announced that the subtitle is THE FORCE AWAKENS.

WOO!!! I was worried about this. Granted, I'm still worried about the movie itself, but this helps calm my nerves a lot.

I had said before that the title was something that I cared a lot about and that I would love to see The Force worked somewhere into the title of at least one of the new films in this trilogy. In fact, "A Rising Force" and "A Rising Tide" were my two pitches for what Episode VII should be called.

One of the reasons this is good is because it follows the pattern from the titles in the past. Perhaps it's my perfectionism and OCD acting up a bit, but it would have bothered me if we didn't get a title in the same spirit of The Phantom Menace and A New Hope for the first chapter of a new trilogy. Would it have been the end of the world? No. But if we had something like the rumored titles of "A New Dawn" or "Rise of the Jedi" or "Return of the Sith", those would have been so uninspired that my enthusiasm would have been minimal at best.

I will admit, though, that a split second after reading this, I thought it might work better (with a minor tweak) for the second film. Since those are based on actions with The Empire Strikes Back and Attack of the Clones, I would have been cool with Awakening of the Force as the title for Episode VIII.

However, there's a plot element that needs to be addressed and I feel like this title points that out. With the Sith gone at the end of Return of the Jedi, how could there be any more enemies from the dark side? Well, something awakens in The Force, duh. There you go.

Also, there is a spoiler going around that (highlight to read) Luke Skywalker will be in exile after he does something very destructive while manipulating The Force that will have grave consequences (/ end spoiler). If that is true, then this definitely has implications regarding that event.

I've been worried that this film would try too hard to remind people of the original trilogy and in turn, abandon The Force in favor of more starships and blasters. Having a reassurance that The Force would be a primary factor in the movie is making me much more comfortable.