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it's obvious that was PG in '77 was more like PG-13 today, and it's also obvious that the reason they had a DROID army in Ep1 was because real soldiers being sliced in half is way too racy for PG, so, do you think that GL will go for PG or PG-13 in EP2

I am sure he'll try his hardest to make it PG, for the kids and all. I imagine it will be a lot like ROTJ, in that you will see no blood, just bodies falling all over the place.

The guys who rate this stuff have gotton quite stingy over the years with all the problems America has had with violence, so expect a PG-13 rating.

Just because there was no blood (which there should have been tons of spraying all over the place) when Obi Wan sliced Maul in half doesn't mean it wasn't a shocking scene for some little little kids and goody-goody motion picture ratings people. It'll be PG13. No question.

lightsabers cauterize the skin, so little blood will spill

I think, if it get's a PG-13 (equivelant to a 12 rating in the UK) that Lucas may re-edit.

Just think, if the undr 13's (12's) can't get in, then that's the lions share of his toy market down the drain.

He'll still want the kiddies in, else Hasbro will through a fit on him for killing their sales.

That is precisely why TRU and others still have a ton of X-Men merchandise they can't shift, kids just don't get Wolverine without his yellow spandex cos they never saw it.

But TPM was PG-13, so why not Ep.II?

Not in the UK it wasn't, it was straight PG. I know cos I took my son who was 3 years old at the time.

3 years old. wow could he see over the seat in front of him unless it was first row.

it was PG in the states too. I just hope GL doesn't sacrifice part of the story line just to get a PG rating.

Well I hope he does, simply because if my son can't see episode-II it's gonna break his heart.

He doesn't have to make chnages in the sroey as much as to show any violence in a tasteful manner that is suitable for all ages.

To be honest, I have no desire to watch a Star Wars movie with blood and guts all over the place.

Actually Finti, at the lovcal Hotes at Bluewater Park the rows are very steeop in the back so that the base of the seat is not much lower than the back of the seat in front. But he did have a booster.

RC are you sure it was PG over here in the UK? It's just that I have the video here and it says U

well RC, it's not like your kid can't see it, it is PARENTAL GUIDANDCE under 13.

I don't think thats the point Merc.

Actually Merc, you are incorrect but only because of the difference in the system in the UK.

After PG rating the next one up is 12, there is not PG-13. That means that no one under 12 is admitted so if it gets above a PG then he won't get in (He'll only be 6 in 2002)

So, I'm rooting for a PG maximum.

I don't have kids, so I can't really sympathize RC, but I just hope, like I'm sure everyone does, that Lucas doesn't hold anything back just for the kids.

Oh, I know but I just feel that the story can be told at a PG level effectively. I don't want to see blood and guts all over the place.

well, My parents wouldn't take me to see Return of The Jedi,but I didn't really care back then. I was just a youngin

wait, since the system over there in the UK is screwed up, it might just be PG over there, but it could be PG-13 here because the rating system is not so strict. So that makes everyone happy.

Yeah Merc, I've seen that happen before with other films.

If you think about it , I can say that if I was 7 year old , Darth Maul would have made me cack myself. And at the end he gets chopped in half and falls as two bits. You see it all and that was a PG or a U in the UK. It would never get more than a PG here in UK , say 12 because it wont in the states. The reason for this is fox wouldn't allow it. They and probably Lucas too , will want the maximum target audience to see it, and by making a film anything more than a PG this might not happen.

Well my son was 3 when he saw TPM and he thought Darth Maul was cool. I don't think he was scary at all, fierce yeah, but not scary. I think he was designed for kids to like and was to be like to be honest. Just look hoe many Darth Mauls you've saw trick or treating in 1999 and 2000.

Of course, rumour has it that GL added the close-ups of the burnt-out skeletons in A New Hope to make sure it didn't get the bottom rating, that he was worried would hurt ticket sales.

I don't know if that was true or if it worked, but it certainly had no effect on the British Video censors. One of the early video releases of Star Wars in the UK actually had a U:C certificate, meaning Universal but specifically meant for kids- like a Care Bears movie! Star Wars is, of course, for kids in a sense, but I hardly think it needed to be put in video shops amongst "Peter the Perfect Pixie" and so on.

Yeah, kinds love it. Besides there's nothing like the sight of a burtnt up skeleton to make a kid eat his dinner...

well, I kinda think both of you are wrong, you guys both want the same rating yet you still talk like this?? Well, since this is the 21st century,the ratings commity( I don't know what it's called ) starts to expirement, I have seen a whole lot Of PG-13 movies with sex scenes in them ( I'm not talking about laying in bed smoking, I mean the real deal ) I don't see why it wouldn't be PG . Even though I want it to be PG-13 over here in the states, I don't think GL is brave enough to make it PG-13. Facts are facts

Hi everybody, nice to meet you. I would think that Episode 2 and 3 would both be PG rated.

Hi Yerial

I agree... it's tradition..adn I don't think GL will need to go PG13.

Sorry, Merc, both of who are wrong? DId you mean me? In my defence, if you did, I am only quoting facts. The BBFC realised it's mistake with the U:C certificate and withdrew it in the mid-eighties. IANd I don't actually think I was trying to say anything, I was just pointing out something amusing...

Of course, if you didn't mean me, my apologies.

im over in the US and my parents will let me see R. It must really suck in the UK.

The thing I don't understand is that I always thought of SW as a kiddie flick (well, not sooo much because I still like it as an adult). But the point I'm trying to make is that most of the kiddie flicks back then were a bit more violent and adventuresome..Look at the cartoons and Disney movies.. Look at Darby O'Gill and the Little People..that was pretty basic for a kiddie flick back then and it was waaaaaay more than you'd see in a film for the same audience today.

BTW, welcome aboard Lugi

Well, in the UK at least, the VIDEO releases have always had a U (General) rating, though I know that the BBFC does give video a slightly less rigorous testing for rating.

Does kind of make you think that any PG ratyings given where pretty close to being U ratings though.

I always find it pretty amusing that the SW saga has a U certificate, considering all the death and destruction that is shown during the course of the series. I remember the furore caused over the 'Rambo' films of the eighties, in which there were lists of all the people he killed over the course of one movie, that's nothing on SW kill ratio, how many people were on Alderaan when it blew? Or the Death Star I+II? How many are yet to die, with the upcoming jedi slaughter and will GL go as far as to show Padme being killed onscreen.

but they didn't actually show people getting killed when it blew. I've seen cartoons that use this kind of method.

DTR, you are soooo right

I think we're jumping the gun to say that we're gonna see alot of clones, jedi etc. get killed...GL won't show it...this is SW. We won't see it...not in any form that we haven't seen before.

For a start, all those criminals being hacked up by Luke at the start of ROTJ. He goes through loads ofn them, yet they all manage to get killed in a non-violent way, even though Luke is using a lightsabre.

If it gets a PG-13, George will simply cut it until it gets a PG. In Britiatin it will almost certainly get a U.

If the BBFC get's it's way it may not matter after all....

PG has so much of a kiddie feel to it,all of disney's non animated movies were PG, they had little grown up bits in them though, and since probably the word, (you know that word) might come up with all the happenings with Ani and Padme, I'm not sure.

I hope the movie is PG-13 just so Lucas doesn't have to cut away anything just for the kids. I want to see Jedi being destroyed by Anakin and the Empire, I don't want to hear Obi-Wan and Yoda "discussing" how there are no more Jedi. I want to see Padme dying not Palpatine telling Anakin that she died. And if this whole "arena" scene is true then we are going to see a lot of death. And obviously EPIII a lot of bad things are going to happen, so PG-13 is almost unavoidable.

you're on a roll JO!!

I think EP2 will have the same certificate as all the other StarWars movies. Kids today are more sophisticated than the audience of 1977, so things can be shown that in previous years would be frowned upon.
Besides, George has children of his own, and if he can't make a movie that his own kids are able to watch, what sort of a father would he be to them....they'd linch him!! LOL!!
The Starwars films were and always will be designed specifically for children as its mass audience..remember guys...we were children once!!!
I wish I could travel back to my youth and see the films through 'young' eyes again!!

well, now I'm hearing that instead of using actual Gladiators, GL is putting legions of droids to fight the jedi in the arena. I smell **1/2.

LOL...rumors fly again.

When are you gonna get it GL?? PG-13 is the way to go!!

Does PG-13 mean anyone can go but Parental Guidnace is recomended for under 13's?

Cos the UK equivelent of a 12 rating is clear cut, NO ONE under 12

PG-13 means parents strongly cautioned, which means there may be some violent or sexual themes in the movie that children should not see without an accompaning parent.

Well in that case I could deal. But if it happened that my son (age 6 in 2002) couldn't see the movie then there would be a distict possibility that I would not see it until video release, else I would actively seek a video bootleg.

It would be clearly suicidal for Ep II to get a higher rating in Europe, where these things are enforced, not suggestions.

That said- did people know that the BBFC has submitted a recommendation to make British certifcates only advisory as well? Except for 18?

I had heard that the BBFC were up to something like that. I still think that it would be somewhat of a betrayal by LFL if, after 4 films with general access certification, they decide to raise the stakes now.

The Phantom Menace left a sour taste in a few purests mouths is partially due to the PG rating. SW's appealed to all ages but Lucas targeted 10-15 year olds, there was no PG-13 in '77. he did put the skeletons in to boost it above G which is turns off to blood and guts 12 year olds. PG today is like PG then you don't see middle schoolers attending. I work with kids year round, and I tell you most of those who are 8 and up saw SW'sonce and felt that it was to kiddie to see over and over again like kids in the 70's.. Middle Schoolers HATE Jar Jar, and Anakin was a sissy who had a lot of bad lines. You lose the realness of this unique worls when you go after pre-schoolers. Lucas needs to make it PG-13. Believe me, if the film is to be darker it has to be more violent and scary. Of course this won't stop 6 and 7 year olds from going with their parents, if anything they'll want to go more if star wars is thought of as cool by big kids. It worked for Lucas with The Last Crusade, making Ep2&3 PG-13 would work wonders on his approval rating.

3 cheers for Xiz!!

Well, that will kill it dead in Europe. It will jhust become a movie for the fans... Most parents won't bother, having been disillusioned by TPM. A 12 rate or above will lock out the main target audience.

I will go out on a limb here and say that a PG is guarenteed, even if cuts have to be made to accomadate it. Lucas will not cut off his lifeblood audience.

Actually, I find it interesting that you think the film can only be good if it's a PG-13(12) rating.

As a side note, Dungeons and Dragons did quite badlt durings it's scholl holiday release last week becasue it was given a 12 which meant that the main audience that would have seen it couldn't go and the 12-16 year old market just thought the idea too geeky to go see.

Yep..I think RC hit it right on...it will be PG...and Gl will figure out a way to have it dark. I don't doubt that.

Xizor does make a very good case for PG-13 and thats what I posted at the beginning of this topic. After reading everyone's arguments though, I would have change my opinion and say PG will probably stand cause of the toy market standpoint. Although if it does come out PG-13, I think we can all plan on having that darker picture that we're all so hoping for.

Another thing. TPM was a kids movie,I have no doubt in my mind, unlike the OT. They even have jokes that the mind of a 8-year old would think of("I don't care what galaxy you're from, that's gotta hurt", and it has enough violence to be a TV-Y7 (no kids under 7)rated cartoon.

TV-Y7, hmmmm sounds like a new droid character... OK, moving on a bit, when do you think we will know? I'm guessing it could be as late as 2 weeks before release. I know that the boards have to see the final movie to make the rating and thereafter have to approve all changes to a movie. And we also know who Lucas likes to tinker right up until the last minute.