So, a bit of fun here that was sparked by a conversation I had with Dad last week.
The story goes as such. He had a few days off work and complained that there was nothing new or good to watch. He simply wasn’t in the mood for anything and was struggling to find a good film or series.
“Why don’t you do some Star Wars?” I asked.
He puzzled for a few moments. “I like that idea,” he replied. “It’s been a while. Which is the one I like?”
“That narrows it down. It could be any of them. Which one do you mean?”
His response came like this; “You know, the one in the snow.”
“The what? Which film do you mean? Which Episode number?”
“Not a clue,” he chuckled. “But it’s the one in the snow.”
I stood there laughing at my old man. “Do you mean the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back?”
“Is that one of the older ones? The original few? If so, then, yes, that’s the one.”
So, I simply had to ask. If he had named Empire as ‘the one in the snow’ then what in the blazes did he refer to the other ones as. Now, I should state that my Dad is someone with whom I’d called a casual fan of Star Wars. He came of age during the Original Trilogy and liked them very much but that’s about as far it goes. He appreciates them as great films. Little did he know that his son would become a lifelong obsessive, but one can never predict these things. I got my phone and showed him a poster of each film to see, for my own amusement, how he referred to them. On one hand, I was giggling, on the other it was an interesting experiment to see which of the key elements of the films he pulled out to refer to each movie.
As a side note, I believe people do this all the time with films and television. Mostly with actors. I mentioned to someone ages ago that I had rewatched Robin Hood for the first time in years and years. “The one with Kevin Costner? I like that.” And a neighbour of mine quipped some time ago that their favourite Indiana Jones film was “the funny one with his Dad.”
As Star Wars fans we never do this. We know every scene and detail, but it was time to find out what a casual viewer said about each film.
Here goes:
The Phantom Menace = ‘The One with Jar Jar Binks’
Attack of the Clones = ‘The One with The Big Battle at the End’
(When I pointed out to my old man that all the films have climatic battles he said “the one with 500 Jedi in the arena”)
Revenge of the Sith = ‘The One Where He Becomes Darth Vader on the Lava’
A New Hope = ‘The First One’
The Empire Strikes Back = “The One in the Snow’
Return of the Jedi = ‘The One with The Ewoks’
The Force Awakens = ‘The One with The Girl and They’re Old’
The Last Jedi = ‘Can’t Remember that One’
The Rise of Skywalker = ‘Nor that One’
Rogue One = ‘The War One’
Solo = ‘Wasn’t Bothered by That One’
The Mandalorian = ‘The One with The Baba’
(By ‘Baba’ I’m assuming he means baby)
So, which title is your favourite, and do you know anyone who has referred to the Star Wars saga by any of these names or something else? If they ever did a reboot of Friends, then I think my old man should get the job of naming the episodes.
