X

'The Force Awakens?' Nah. Twitter has #BetterStarWarsTitles

The Force has awoken some considerable ribbing on Twitter as "Star Wars" fans offer up amusing alternative titles for the next film.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
See full bio
Amanda Kooser
2 min read

Well brush my Wookiee, it's finally official! The upcoming "="" movie="" has="" a="" title"="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="9ab6714e-59f7-4c0e-883d-85339543b45b" slug="star-wars-vii-gets-official-title-the-force-awakens" link-text="new " section="news" title="Star Wars VII gets official title: 'The Force Awakens'" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":null,"slug":null,"contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{},"metaData":{}}"> : "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." Note the missing "Episode VII" part.

This particular title isn't as descriptive as past efforts. Previous titles gave us a pretty good hint as to what was going on. For example, we knew there would be a phantom-y sort of menace with "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" and that the Empire was pretty pissed and going to do something about it in "Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back."

Twitter users are already on the case of analyzing the new title and making helpful suggestions for ways it could be improved. For starters, "The Force Awakens" brings up a pretty obvious question: Exactly how long has the Force been asleep? Eight hours? Years? Since Jar Jar Binks first showed up on screen? CNET's Seth Rosenblatt felt this deserved the all-caps treatment, providing this tweet: "THIS WHOLE TIME THE FORCE WAS SLEEPING?!" Twitter user Mitzula adds this gem: "I can't wait to hear Sam Jackson read Star Wars 6.5 Go The Force To Sleep #TheForceAwakens."

The title announcement has generated hot new hashtags, #BetterStarWarsTitles and #rejectedstarwarstitles. Ideas have ranged from the absurd ("Star Wars: Electric Naboogaloo" from TV Guide writer Damian Holbrook) to the very straightforward ("Star Wars Episode VII: Less Small, Fake Animals, More Older Actors" from Steve Saideman). Keeping with the sleeping theme, Richard W. Maass suggests "The Force Hits Snooze" as a better subtitle.

Crave's own Anthony Domanico thinks "The Force Awakens" should be just the beginning to a series of sequels titled "Star Wars Episode VIII: The Force has Some Breakfast" and "Star Wars Episode IX: The Force Gets to Work." After all, even the Force needs to earn a galactic living somehow. You can't just sit around on the couch all day and expect the Dark Side to conquer itself.

Even if some fans don't care for the new title, at least it gives all of us nerds something to talk about for a few days. It's just too bad that David J. Synder's suggestion of "Star Wars Episode VII: The Mandalorian Who Went Up a Sail Barge But Came Down a Sarlacc" will never happen.