Star Wars Fans Think Swapping Every Movie Title Would Fix the Franchise

Star Wars fans have many ideas about the epic space opera universe, and some have even suggested that certain movies in the franchise could do with some retitling. Star Wars has taken audiences to a galaxy far, far away on cinema screens since the debut of A New Hope in 1977, with the original, prequel, and sequel trilogies comprising the nine-film Skywalker Saga. However, Star Wars fans themselves have often been among the most critical of the Star Wars franchise.

Whether it’s midichlorians, Jar-Jar Binks, or whether Han Solo or Greedo shot first, Star Wars fans put the franchise under the microscope more than anyone. That also includes in the titling of the Skywalker Saga itself. As it turns out, some Star Wars fans are of the opinion that switching titles among certain Star Wars movies might be a smart move.

Why Some Star Wars Fans Are Swapping Titles In The Franchise

On the unofficial Star Wars Reddit fan page, the idea of trading out Star Wars movie titles was introduced a few years ago by user brady160, who proposed the idea of trading the titles of Episodes 1 and 9 to Star Wars: Episode 1 – The Rise of Skywalker and Star Wars: Episode 9 – The Phantom Menace. Per the suggestion of brady160, the title switch would then make the two movie’s titles more reflective of their plots, with the retitled Episode 1 being focused on, in brady160’s words, “Two Jedi discover a slave boy powerful in the force who was the product of a virgin birth, being the FIRST in a FAMILY who will bring balance to the force.”, and Episode 9 being telling the story of “A powerful enemy who was thought to be DEAD is brought back to THREATEN the galaxy once more.”

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The user’s proposition gained a fair amount of traction with other fans on the Star Wars Reddit. One user (whose profile has since been deleted) even went as far as to retitle the entire nine film Skywalker Saga, with the franchise retitled as follows: “Episode I: A New Hope, Episode II: Rise of Skywalker, Episode III: Attack of the Clones, Episode IV: The Force Awakens, Episode V: Revenge of the Sith, Episode VI: The Last Jedi, Episode VII: The Empire Strikes Back, Episode VIII: Return of the Jedi, Episode IX: The Phantom Menace.” Fans engaging with Star Wars or any other IP in such a direct manner is commonplace in the age of the internet and social media, but would such hypothetical re-titling reshape Star Wars in a larger sense?

Title-Swapping Is A Fun Exercise, But Wouldn’t Fundamentally Change The Star Wars Franchise

With fans raising the idea of shifting the titles of various Star Wars movies around, it does it does raise the question of how much, if at all, such title reworking would change the actual Star Wars universe and perception of the franchise. In all likelihood, the answer is little to none. Whatever one’s feelings on any given Star Wars movie (or indeed, any movie at all) might be, a title can be as reflective or non-reflective of the actual story, characters, or world of a given film as one can imagine, but in the end, the movie itself is still the movie it has always been.

To be fair, the suggestions of brady160 and other Star Wars fans on Reddit isn’t a poorly thought out one. With the plot summaries of Episode 1 and Episode 9 brady160 outlines, an argument can certainly be made that The Rise of Skywalker and The Phantom Menace, in hindsight, would have been more fitting if each had been applied to the opposite movie. Nonetheless, even with George Lucas‘ well-known (and much-derided, among Star Wars fans) penchant for retroactively editing and tweaking the Star Wars movies, there’s little, if any, chance of two already made and released Star Wars movies having their titles actually switched, let alone the whole franchise.

Star Wars Fandom Is Among The Most Engaged & Polarized In The World

While it might be surprising to see some Star Wars fans suggest the idea of trading movie titles within the series, it really shouldn’t be. Few fandoms of major sci-fi, fantasy, horror, or superhero intellectual properties are as deeply engaged and invested in a fictional universe as are Star Wars fans. In many ways, Star Wars is one of the first examples of a passionate collection of nerds coalescing into an engaged fandom devoted to a IP. At the same time, Star Wars fandom is nothing if not a divided one.

Despite the original Star Wars trilogy standing the test of time as the most iconic space opera ever made, subsequent Star Wars movies and TV shows have often left Star Wars fans split right down the middle into love it or hate it wings. The backlash to the Star Wars prequels is the stuff of legend, but their more positive reputation among newer generations of Star Wars fans have also raised their stock considerably. Additionally, Disney+’s Star Wars shows have seen an even more polarized discourse, save for the generally positive reception to The Mandalorian. The animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is another generally well-regarded Star Wars property, but 2017’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi is also well-known arguably the most divisive Star Wars movie ever made.

Star Wars fans proposing the idea of switching titles around in the series is ultimately reflective of how passionate yet also divided Star Wars fandom is. In the end, the idea itself is one of the more fun ones of Star Wars fans making the own retcons and head canon alterations to the franchise they love. Just don’t expect the change to actually be one that LucasFilm eventually applies to the Star Wars universe.

All Star Wars movies can be streamed on Disney+.