Monday’s announcement (the “official StarWars.com newsletter, Homing Beacon, which published it. was dated “Thursday, 08-06-01,” possibly referring to a different galaxy’s time zone) that Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones will be the title for the next Star Wars film has been almost universally roasted within the film industry and by film journalists. Buttonholed by reporters at the Hollywood Film Festival, Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel, called it “a terrible, terrible title.” Employees of Pixar Animation began posting alternative titles that included: Attack of the Killer Clones, Send in the Clones, Killer Clones from Outer Space, and Dude, Where’s My Clone?. The British entertainment Web site Popcorn.com, operated by media giant Carlton Communications, carried word of the title, then commented: “Stop laughing, we’re serious.” Another British news agency, Independent Television News (ITN), observed that “another possible problem with the title Attack of the Clones is it may lead some cynical journalists to point out repetitive similarities between the latest sci-fi money-spinner and those that have gone before it.”
