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First Star War Episode 7 Trailer Released

Midnight Thunder writes: The first trailer for Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens has been released. (YouTube link.) This is the first real opportunity to get a feeling for whether childhood dreams will be crushed or Disney, with the help of JJ Abrams, will be able to breath new life into the story without making it feel like a merchandising excuse.

21 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. It's all about the merchandising. by SuricouRaven · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "without making it feel like a merchandising excuse."

    But if it doesn't feel like a merchandising excuse, it just won't feel like star wars. Even the original trilogy had that feel. Every alien, ship and droid seems to whisper 'action figure in stores soon.'

  2. You should never watch trailers from this decade by bitflusher · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They also should also rename them to spoilers!

  3. It Reminds me of by Dartz-IRL · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Sitting here, watching it, I'm reminded of how awesome the trailer was for Episode 1 a long time ago and the reaction it got.

    --
    So there I was, scribbling down some notes off the PC screen by hand, when I reached for the keyboard and Ctrl-S'd.
  4. Well, let's face it ... by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is the first real opportunity to get a feeling for whether childhood dreams will be crushed or Disney, with the help of JJ Abrams, will be able to breath new life into the story without making it feel like a merchandising excuse.

    Let's face it, it is a merchandising excuse.

    Di$ney will have fresh Star Wars everything on sale.

    The movie will be guaranteed to have some cloyingly cute character which can be marketed to kids.

    Taco Bell and McDonalds will have special toys.

    They'l re-re-re-re-release extended cuts or special editions of the damned movies.

    Little children will have R2D2 pyjamas and underpants. And diapers. And sippy cups. And hats. And halloween costumes.

    Disney will eventually put out 9 more movies, of ever diminishing artistic merit.

    There will be friggin' Ewok porn.

    I'm nostalgic about the first series. I mostly liked the second series but it had some issues.

    But I tried to watch Episode I with my wife, and within five minutes of Jar Jar Binks appearing on screen she said "if he's in the rest of this film I'm leaving". So now if I want to watch it I'm on my own, and the pod racer scene is mostly how I calibrate my home theater.

    I honestly can't decide if I will see this or not.

    But let's not for a minute pretend this is being done for any reason besides the zillions of dollars Disney expects to wring from this franchise.

    If they were doing a billion a year in merchandising for Cars years after it was released, you won't believe the marketing blitz which will accompany this.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  5. Re:Can Abrams correct slashdot grammar too? by gstoddart · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Maybe they should ask frequent Slashdot contributor Bennett Haselton

    Nobody needs to ask Bennet what he thinks.

    When he decides the world needs another of his missives, it simply happens ... and the pearls of wisdom appear, like semen dribbling out of a discarded condom in a dirty alley.

    --
    Lost at C:>. Found at C.
  6. Summary of Trailer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    1. Aren't you a little black to be a stormtrooper?
    2. A beach ball droid?
    3. Oooo! Nice X-Wing shot. Okay I might go and watch this.
    4. That sword's a bit silly. You're still going to lose a hand if the light-sabre slices through the metal bit!
    5. Millenium Falcon! Woohoo!

    1. Re:Summary of Trailer by Immerman · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hey, he's at least middle age by the time we meet him as Vader - he probably reached the point where he realized his awesome saber-sphere was more dangerous to himself than his enemies and got back to the basics. Besides, his master is clearly a fan of the "tear them apart with the force" school of combat, which has obviously rubbed off on him. Lots of force-choking after all, but did you ever see him threatening anyone with his saber?

      I suspect he kept it around as a primarily as a ceremonial piece, maybe some nostalgia from the good old days. And possibly because Force users apparently have some sort of Highlander-esque attachment to ritualized sword fighting. I mean sure it's great that your sword can reflect bullets, and maybe the Force will let you sense the incoming shot at your back, but all it takes is one idiot with a shotgun and you've had it.

      --
      --- Most topics have many sides worth arguing, allow me to take one opposite you.
  7. Lightsaber crossguard wtf by kruach+aum · · Score: 3, Insightful

    That's not something you can do to a lightsaber goddammit. And why to the crossguard beams look like they're on fire?

    1. Re:Lightsaber crossguard wtf by Piata · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The stupid part is it's not even an effective crossguard. There's a metal section close to the hilt so you can easily cut the crossguard off. Congrats on making a (most likely) primary antagonist look like an idiot. Unless they intented Luke Skywalker to show a juvenille Sith how moronic his added bling is in an actual fight...

  8. TIE-Fighters flying in Atmosphere?!?!?!?! by l0ungeb0y · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Doesn't JJ know that Ion Engines don't generate enough thrust to propel so much as a paper airplane through atmosphere, much less an entire TIE-Fighter And even if those Twin Ion Engines could generate enough thrust, TIE-Fighers don't have control surfaces or the proper aerodynamics to fly?!?!?! Is he that big of a moron or is he purposely out to make the sequels worse than the prequels? And don't get me started on the sheer stupidity and uselessness of the crossguard on that Sith's lightsaber UTTER IDIOCY!

    1. Re:TIE-Fighters flying in Atmosphere?!?!?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nothing in Star Wars has ever been aerodynamic, and any realistic application of physics (without assumptions of unknown technology compensating for our perceived errors) would cause the entire universe to fall apart. Did you know that lasers are invisible and definitely don't fire in pulses that move slowly enough to be seen? If you claim that the "lasers" are actually bolts of plasma or something, why don't you allow a similar rationalization for other phenomena such as TIEs or other in atmosphere?

      Regarding TIE fighters in the atmosphere, you may refer to Episodes 5 and 6 (iirc wrt the special editions, TIEs are shown to operate around Cloud City on Bespin and the forest moon of Endor). At the very least, atmospheric flight has been featured prominently in the video games, especially Rogue Squadron.

      Regarding the lightsaber, why is a crossguard automatically stupid? They are practical and exist in real life, and what else is going to stop a lightsaber besides another? Also note that said lightsaber looks unstable. There may be more to it than appears.

  9. Re:The Star Wars universe has always been impracti by osu-neko · · Score: 3, Insightful

    It's called "space cheese", and you can't ruin the Star Wars universe by adding more cheese, because the entire thing was made of cheese to begin with! It's kinda its whole schtick.

    --
    "Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
  10. Is it just me ... by quax · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... or is all the whining about a *black* stormtrooper on the youtube comment thread beyond embarrassing.

  11. Re:Can Abrams correct slashdot grammar too? by Em+Adespoton · · Score: 5, Insightful

    will be able to breath new life

    It actually does say "breathe." It's just hard to see that last "e" due to the lens flare.

    Ah; that explains the "Star War" title then too!

  12. Re:I agree, except: by Noah+Haders · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Also: 25+ years later and they're still using original TIE fighters?

    The US and many other countries are still flying the top gun f16s, and that was 20 years ago.

  13. Early opinions seem positive to me .... by King_TJ · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've seen this trailer shared around Facebook all morning and many of my friends who are long time Star Wars fans are optimistic, based on the little bit shown.

    Personally, I feel like part of the reason the original 3 movies were viewed as so superior to episodes 1-3 had a lot to do with the limitations of the technology of the time preventing everything from being "overdone".

    Starr Wars featured enough visually amazing things (from the Imperial Star Destroyer coming on the screen and viewers slowly realizing just how massive it was, to each one of the interesting robots) that appreciating them fully required not cluttering the scenes up with too much other eye candy or content. Back in 1977, that wasn't an issue because it was difficult and time-consuming enough to create these things that nobody would make the mistake of putting too many of them in one scene.

    The computer CGI capabilities of today made it too easy to make scenes too "busy" and cheapen the value of individual creatures, backdrops, weapons, spaceships or robots. The prequel movies felt like they were trying to see how many thousands of objects they could render at the same time in some of the battle scenes. (EG. Jedi knights chopping and hacking away at robots in wave after wave.) Believability suffered.

    If they go back to simple sets like the desert of Tatooine and stop going "CGI crazy" with every single background, I think there's a good chance they'll achieve the original Star Wars feel we all know and love. (And yeah, no insipid characters like Jar Jar either.)

  14. Re:I agree, except: by Culture20 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Infinite ammo, and the ship might jink into the shots. Why not fire?

  15. Re:There may REALLY be A New Hope after all- by 0123456 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I don't give a rats ass about piddly crap like light saber hilts, I just want a movie that has actual dialogue, plot and acting.

    In a JJ Abrams movie?

    This will have explosions, lens flare, and time travel. And the ending will suck.

  16. Re:I agree, except: by operagost · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Not infinite ammo! You have to press F9 to recharge them, and then your MGLT drops. Don't even have shield from which to redirect charge, dang widow makers.

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  17. Re: I agree, except: by Stickerboy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Nah, you're overthinking it. Episodes 4-6 are about the rebels living on the ragtag fringe of galactic society. Think of what cars tend to look like in the poorer sections of Mexico. Shade tree mechanics and barely running junk. Episodes 1-3 were most of the time centered on the heart of the Republic when not in battle. Shiny, ergonomic, aesthetically pleasing. And when the Sith and the Empire took power the newest tech became blunt instruments of power.

    --
    Light a fire for a man and he'll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
  18. Re: I agree, except: by sexconker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    not really there are lightsaber resistant metals

    That's "expanded universe" bullshit, which is less valid canonically than the fucking Star Wars ride at Disneyland.
    Canon hierarchy goes:

    Original Trilogy
    Original Trilogy toy line
    Original Trilogy Pez dispensers
    Holiday Special
    Second Trilogy
    Second Trilogy toy line
    Disneyland ride
    Third Trilogy
    Third Trilogy toy line
    -------------------
    CANON ABOVE
    FANFICTION BELOW
    -------------------
    "Expanded universe" "novels"
    Comic books
    Video games
    Shitty cartoon series
    Pogs