You'll remember that on the fateful day of August 22nd, 2000 Lucasfilm and several of its agents registered domain names related to Episode II. Today, insiders suggest to us another sequence from the opening of the movie, including a new planet name. We've heard rumor of it before and even guessed it in our story so far, and here's the scoop:

You know the names, right: GEONOSIAN.COM, GEONOSIAN.NET, GEONOSIANS.COM and GEONOSIANS.NET. As we speculated before, this undoubtedly is the people from a planet in Episode II.

Well today, Jango Fett swoops in with a cool bit of information. Geonosis is the name of one of the planets we'll visit in Episode II. We quickly checked for confirmation and indeed the story checks out, as they are all owned by Tony Behen (of LFL), and all registered August 22, 2000, same day as the rest of the Lucasfilm domain names.

Now, that's where the information ends and the speculation begins. My (Josh) first reaction to the name is that it bears a striking resemblance to the first Biblical book, Genesis. The book recounts the origin of life and the creation of the universe by God, and how sin entered into the world in His creation. This would be what would separate the Creator from His creation, the gulf between that could only be filled with the ultimate and perfect sacrifice in Jesus Christ. Lucas has always had a passion for Bible and cultural references, so this certainly may be one of the allusions. Some astute fans will even remember that one of his early drafts for Episode I was entitled "The Beginning."

Is Geonosis the place for the beginning of life? Maybe clones or perhaps the Force? Is this the place where we will see someone fall away from the truth? Is this the beginning of the need to show a Savior, a New Hope so to speak? We're not sure, but there's some striking parallels to the Biblical account, and we'll keep you posted on what we come up with. If it's just a coincidence, I'd be shocked.

If you have anymore info on this new planet or details of what may happen there, please send it in. Also, shout out your thoughts for the world to see in this Jedicouncil forum thread.