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Prequel Character Names

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Does anyone like the names of many of the prequel characters? Are Padme Amidala, Mace Windu, Sio Bibble, etc really good names or are they more silly than anything?
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Oops....I put this in the wrong forum. SLAPS HEAD!!!

Can a mod move this to General SW??? Sorry...I'm a dolt.
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I have always been critical of the Prequel names. "Padme" makes me think of tampons. "Naberrie" makes me think of "dingle-berries" and of course, "Dooku"---it's all rather scatological. Jar Jar Binks is just so damned childish. Bibble is equally childish. Bibble..dribble. Ugh. Panaka..Panache? Pancake?

If we're going back to a "golden age" in the prequels I'd expect something a little more "romantic" or lyrical.
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Yeah...that's what I was thinking.....the names sound like they're straight out of an animated kids movie or something.

Anyone got ideas for what the names should have been?
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Mace Windu and Jamilla are names I remember come from the early drafts. There are many more that do.
I agree that Dooku is really silly for a character played by Christopher Lee... Cringeworthy, indeed.

There are also many character names in the original trilogy that are pretty silly.
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There are also many character names in the original trilogy that are pretty silly.



Please elaborate....
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Originally posted by: Cable-X1

There are also many character names in the original trilogy that are pretty silly.



Please elaborate....


Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff, Greedo, Lando, Ewoks, Boba, Dodonna, etc....

Sounds like more "OT Rose Tinted Glasses" memories....
"Among many things I have to be thankful for are you, the fans. I know that some of you haven't liked every single thing that I've done with the saga, and that you have a strong sense of ownership over all things Star Wars. But take that passion and devotion and channel it into a creative project of your own."
-George Lucas
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I beg to differ....

None of those names sound childish in the least. They're on par with anything from the LOTR books. Skywalker is the only thing that kinda sticks out. Han Solo sounds just as awesome as Aragorn or Boromir or Legolas.

Sio Bibble, Jar Jar Binks...come on....those sound utterly retarded.

Rose tinted glasses my ass....
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Originally posted by: JediRandy
Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff, Greedo, Lando, Ewoks, Boba, Dodonna, etc....


So are you saying that you disliked all of those names, Randy? Or are you claiming we should dislike them?

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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Originally posted by: Tiptup
Originally posted by: JediRandy
Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff, Greedo, Lando, Ewoks, Boba, Dodonna, etc....


So are you saying that you disliked all of those names, Randy? Or are you claiming we should dislike them?


No, I'm claiming that the names aren't that different at all and it's your dislike of the PT that gives the names a bad connotation.

How about "Porkins" as a name for the fat guy? Ugnaught? And how about Hobbie? Bib Fortuna? "Many Bothans died?" Sy Snoodles and Droopy McCool? Should I go on or would you rather resume wearing these?

http://www.designer-fashion-trends.com/img/sunglasses/aviator-sunglasses-1.jpg
"Among many things I have to be thankful for are you, the fans. I know that some of you haven't liked every single thing that I've done with the saga, and that you have a strong sense of ownership over all things Star Wars. But take that passion and devotion and channel it into a creative project of your own."
-George Lucas
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Originally posted by: JediRandy
Originally posted by: Tiptup
Originally posted by: JediRandy
Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff, Greedo, Lando, Ewoks, Boba, Dodonna, etc....


So are you saying that you disliked all of those names, Randy? Or are you claiming we should dislike them?


No, I'm claiming that the names aren't that different at all and it's your dislike of the PT that gives the names a bad connotation.

How about "Porkins" as a name for the fat guy? Ugnaught? And how about Hobbie? Bib Fortuna? "Many Bothans died?" Sy Snoodles and Droopy McCool? Should I go on or would you rather resume wearing these?



Actually...you've got us there....point made. But the rose tinted glasses comment was a little uncalled for...

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I agree that the PT has names as cool and silly as the OT. Mace Windu is just an awesome name, and i rather like Count Dooku, Anakin Skywalker and even stuff like Captain Tarpals. I think the notion that the OT only had "normal" or "cool" names is bullshit: Boba Fett is lame ("boba"?? we accept it as "cool" because the character is cool), and then there is stuff like Sny Snootles, Obi Wan, and Grand Moff Tarkin. Personally, i don't mind any of them. They are supposed to be alien and exotic but also connotative of certain qualities: Greedo is greedy, Han Solo is a loner, Luke Skywalker has his head in the clouds, Leia Organa represents the human rebels in opposition to the artifical Empire, Darth Vader is the dark invader, opposing Obi Wan the "holy one."

The difference between the PT and OT lies solely in the fact that Star Wars utilised ordinary, contemporary names as well. ESB and ROTJ used alien or exotic names exclusively, even in in humans (ie Lando Calrissean), and ROTJ is littered with creatures with correspondingly weird names. However, the core characters from Star Wars remained with their American names, offsetting this. Honestly, thats all there is. Sio Bibble and Boss Nass are completely comparable to Nien Numb and Yoda. The difference is that the main characters are named Luke, Han, Leia and Ben, names that were common--at least in the 1970's--and in fact i know many people today that have these names, and this gave the films a kind of grounded reality and subtle familiarity.
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Originally posted by: Cable-X1
Originally posted by: JediRandy
Originally posted by: Tiptup
Originally posted by: JediRandy
Jabba the Hutt, Grand Moff, Greedo, Lando, Ewoks, Boba, Dodonna, etc....


So are you saying that you disliked all of those names, Randy? Or are you claiming we should dislike them?


No, I'm claiming that the names aren't that different at all and it's your dislike of the PT that gives the names a bad connotation.

How about "Porkins" as a name for the fat guy? Ugnaught? And how about Hobbie? Bib Fortuna? "Many Bothans died?" Sy Snoodles and Droopy McCool? Should I go on or would you rather resume wearing these?



Actually...you've got us there....point made. But the rose tinted glasses comment was a little uncalled for...


Yeah, probably.

Sorry 'bout that.

"Among many things I have to be thankful for are you, the fans. I know that some of you haven't liked every single thing that I've done with the saga, and that you have a strong sense of ownership over all things Star Wars. But take that passion and devotion and channel it into a creative project of your own."
-George Lucas
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Yeah, Droopy McCool is pretty stupid, but of course, was never mentioned on screen.
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Originally posted by: Wookie Wedgie
Yeah, Droopy McCool is pretty stupid, but of course, was never mentioned on screen.


was Sio Bibble?
"Among many things I have to be thankful for are you, the fans. I know that some of you haven't liked every single thing that I've done with the saga, and that you have a strong sense of ownership over all things Star Wars. But take that passion and devotion and channel it into a creative project of your own."
-George Lucas
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Originally posted by: JediRandy
No, I'm claiming that the names aren't that different at all and it's your dislike of the PT that gives the names a bad connotation.


Then I would tend to agree with your assessment, but you should have said that first if you ask me. (Though there's no excuse for a character named "Grievous." Also, most of the worst OT names were not uttered on-screen.)

However, in defense of the people here, the absurdity of the names stood out more in the PT because it wasn't good enough to make you want to believe its characters were real. In the OT, we believed that Lando sounded like it could be a real name in the Star Wars universe because it was all being presented in a believable way at that time. The PT loses my desire to believe it at many points and I would guess that many of the others here have similar experiences.

"Now all Lucas has to do is make a cgi version of himself.  It will be better than the original and fit his original vision." - skyjedi2005

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Originally posted by: Tiptup
Originally posted by: JediRandy
No, I'm claiming that the names aren't that different at all and it's your dislike of the PT that gives the names a bad connotation.


Then I would tend to agree with your assessment, but you should have said that first if you ask me. (Though there's no excuse for a character named "Grievous." Also, most of the worst OT names were not uttered on-screen.)

However, in defense of the people here, the absurdity of the names stood out more in the PT because it wasn't good enough to make you want to believe its characters were real. In the OT, we believed that Lando sounded like it could be a real name in the Star Wars universe because it was all being presented in a believable way at that time. The PT loses my desire to believe it at many points and I would guess that many of the others here have similar experiences.


Yep, Tiptup, you got that right. To me, you can tell that GL was struggling to come up with most of those names. I will always hate the name "Padme", I concur, it does bring to mind something my wife would say. "Hon, could you pick me up some Pamde's at the store."
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Qui-Gon Jinn is an OK name, i think.

A lot of the other ones aren't as good, though.
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Come on! With names like Elan Sleazebaggano and Nute Gunray, is there any doubt of Lucas' imaginative genius?



(I'm being facetious... )
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Originally posted by: aled
Qui-Gon Jinn is an OK name, i think.

A lot of the other ones aren't as good, though.


Qui-Gon's whole character hardly fits with the PT atmosphere. Back in 1999 who would have thought that by 2007 a cool PT character would be such a novel thing.

With that said, the prequels didn't really have a guy named Sleazbaggno did they? Please say no. Because if they did this whole discussion has just become pointless.

In defense of Sny Snoodles, and Droopy McCool, they come from a ROTJ which is a lot closer to PT quality than the other too. Also they are show business names of people in a band, [sarcasm]which is totally absurd. In the real world bands and band members have the most normal names I could imagine.[/sarcasm]

Bothans? I fail to see anything too lame about that. Sounds as good as any other alien name I have ever heard. Grand Moff? Why not? Greedo... well, you got me on that one. Boba Fett, that one is pretty terrible too. But Padme? Seriously. I am glad to know I am not the only one who has an image of feminine pads come to mind everytime I hear it. The first time I heard Queen Amidala address her as Padme I expected somebody to hand her a pillow.

And I certianly don't think you could ever compare Jabba to Grevious. I find OT names for the most part, to be comparable to alien names of anyother sience fiction film or novel. PT names on the other hand... I swear the guys kid must have made them up. Probaby he named them all after his childrens stuff animals.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Originally posted by: C3PX
Originally posted by: aled

With that said, the prequels didn't really have a guy named Sleazbaggno did they? Please say no. Because if they did this whole discussion has just become pointless.


Yes, sadly there is a character named such in Episode II:

Yep, It's True...
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Wow. Uh... yeah the debate is over. From now on nobody has the right to even consider comparing PT names to OT names. If I had the choice between being named Boba Fett, Snaggletooth or Sleazebaggono, I would take Boba Fett or Snaggletooth any day of the week.

"Every time Warb sighs, an angel falls into a vat of mapel syrup." - Gaffer Tape

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Let's not forget that Mace Windu is only slightly different from Mace Windy, which was the name of the first Star Wars character that GL named back in the early 70's. So even though we only heard a lot of these names over the last few years, I'm sure a good deal of them were thought of long ago.
I'm nice men.