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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.
will be able to breath new life
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
...YouTube's Safety Mode won't show the video in the direct link to me unless I turn the 'safe for viewing' mode off...
"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.'
They also should also rename them to spoilers!
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.
This will be successful.
I just realized that all of JJ Abrams' movies are the same style. That only hit me while seeing this trailer.
Also there's a robot playing soccer in it, and I wish Mr. Sith good luck in not searing his own wrists off.
"When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
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.
Nice work on the contrails. No Jar Jar. Hey, it's a teaser but I like what I see so far.
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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!
This trailer is getting lots of hype but has very little content. I know, it's only 88 seconds long but really what is in it? Not much. Yeah. we see the Millenium Falcon again. We see a spiffy new kind of multi-blade light sabre. We see some other clever method of moving around faster than the best that us poor feeble humans can walk. We see some other nifty little robot. But none of that really tells us much about the movie itself; it could just as well be a teaser for Disney's toy catalog for next Christmas.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Looks like JJ can do action scenes but just throws in stuff "to make it interesting"...like a lightsaber cross-guard! Also the intro dialogue? Phantom Menace level bad.
The initial shot is obviously pre-finished. It slowly builds from raw to production level scenes. I have high hopes, but it will have bad parts.
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
... should have stayed as a trilogy.
Political correctness is really just herd psychology pushed by insecure people who desperately seek social conformity.
That's not something you can do to a lightsaber goddammit. And why to the crossguard beams look like they're on fire?
Most of the trailer is CGI, which makes sense at this point. The movie won't be released for another year, so this early on most of the finished shots would be fairly generic CGI stuff that was being worked on in parallel to the main shooting. The hard part is all the editing and incorporating CGI into the shots with the actors, and they've only just wrapped up the shooting this month. That's what they'll be working on for the next several months.
One thing about the lightsaber scene, at first I was like "that's a lame gimmicky lightsaber", but then looking at it more closely, it doesn't have a pure even glow like a normal lightsaber. It looks more like fire and less refined. So my hunch is that sith guy had to figure out how to fabricate the weapon on his own without any guidance, so it's this crude, barely controlled weapon that has to vent extra energy so it doesn't blow up or melt or something. Yeah, that was a pretty geeky analysis.
Better known as 318230.
First Star War Episode 7 Trailer Released
Wasn't singular "Star war" one of the subtitles in the infamous "Backstroke of the West" bootleg? (Pic)
I was chomping at the bit for all three Lord of the Rings movies, and for every single Harry Potter movie, and I certainly enjoyed the original Star Wars trilogy as a kid.. but not so much the 'prequels', and my subject line pretty much sums up my level of enthusiasm for this. It just seems like so much piling-on the Star Wars gravy train. Also I'm still pissed at J.J. Abrahms for his piss-poor attempt at making Star Trek movies, and over time have become a little disgruntled over how Lost ended, although I rather liked Fringe. I think the man should stick to television, and I'll wait to see what other people say about this new Star Wars before I bother myself to go see it. Chances are about 50/50 that I'll end up waiting for it to be rentable on-demand and watch it at home instead of going to a theatre.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
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!
but it clearly just gets worse in the future. There's no doubt there will be plenty of catwalks with no guard rails and plenty of other Imperial style over substance. It's remarkable though that light sabers just get more treacherous to use. The flaming laser guard on the evil light saber in the teaser looks like a great way to lose and arm and frankly just didn't look all that cool. After not really understanding Star Trek and what made it amazing, JJ Abrams will bring his special brand of ruination to the Star Wars franchise. Thanks, Disney. Thanks.
Millenium Falcon shot: I hope he's got a new pilot, because I think Han's getting too old for this. Also: 25+ years later and they're still using original TIE fighters?
Harrison Ford still has a valid pilot's license.
As far as technology goes, what I observed from the episodes 1-3 is that they had better technology available than they did in 4-6, like double bladed light sabers, unlike the paltry one bladed ones available in the future. It's almost like their society is failing and their technology is limited to only what has already been produced and hasn't been destroyed yet. They should count themselves lucky to have TIE fighters.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Django Fett, the "D" is silent.
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."
Tie fighter over water was just them playing with special effects. Very gratuitous.
Guards on the light saber was definitely the silliest addition.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
How is this automatically "homoerotic"? Girls don't "sip" from "straws"??
you had me at #!
... or is all the whining about a *black* stormtrooper on the youtube comment thread beyond embarrassing.
Lame!
"Let's move the Yavin/Trench run down onto the surface of a planet"
"Ya, that sounds awesome, we could have X-Wing's carving their way down a shallow mountain pass with a lake it it"
"Oh my god yes... Rooster tails, we need rooster tails on the X-Wing's"
"...and that scene, in the forest with the Sith lord, it's missing something, he looks really cool, like a Knight of old"
"Oh I know, let's put tiny little light-sabre hilt things on his sabre, kinda like a hilt, that would be cool"
"Oh, and we have to make something that will work for the Lego franchise, so let's make sure the design for her Speeder Bike to be really blocky"
"Ya, and we have to have robotic humor, cause that's a staple, since clearly Jar Jar was an utter failure"
"Hold up, we are not allowed to speak oh him that shall not be named. How about a soccer ball with a head, that would be cute, the kids would love that"
"And what about a homage to Space Balls? We should do that."
"How about a really scared looking black man in a storm trooper uniform, minus his helmet. There's your space balls homage right there."
"Ya, let's start with that. Make him all sweaty and scared looking, and have him pop up from the bottom with scary music, on a desert scene"
"Ya...
and on and on it goes.
Really great trailer, but I fear that the trailer will be the best thing out of Star Wars 7. Something definitely indeed has awakened (Dune reference anyone) and it's likely going to be the wrath of the fans after Disney completely trashes the entire franchise.
A word to JJ A. Get as much money as you can out of this, and then free yourself from the shackles that is Disney.
black space where stars don't shine scenes. And I can't wait for it to be listed on The Piratebay....
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
Light saber technology is not the best example, since that is a Jedi weapon and the Jedi are all but extinct during this period.
The Death Star is an impressive example of technology that did not exist in the first episodes.
I'm not saying it looks bad, I'm just saying it looks like what talented college students were doing for their end of year projects...
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X-wing shot: 'Hey I thought it wasn't safe for x-wings to fly in an atmosphere with the s-foils deployed.'
Millenium Falcon shot: I hope he's got a new pilot, because I think Han's getting too old for this. Also: 25+ years later and they're still using original TIE fighters?
I noticed these and several other "no longer even pretending consistency" moments. I guess my reaction to the trailer is: "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
50 seconds worth of film in the trailer and it includes a bloody lens flare.
Because you cant see the back of it, where the rooster tail is?
My though is why do the TIE's fire? blasters go straight. If you aren't lined up, what's the point of firing?
Not sure about the S-Foils... but according to wookiepedia, they were deployed for "high stress situations" -- whatever that means. So considering that in space, there is no G-Force, there can be no exertion of "stresses" -- unless by "stress" they simply mean combat. But the X-Wings at least have control surfaces and afterburners -- and they show them flying in atmosphere in Ep IV and V So I can overlook that. The TIE Fighters on the other hand... totally bogus.
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Why does he gave a lightsabre with a cross-guard made out of two mini lightsabres? The cross-guard is to protect the fingers, not amputate them
There's no doubt there will be plenty of catwalks with no guard rails [...]
The imperial senate decided that there was no need for OSHA.
The have shown TIE fighters in the atmosphere on Star Wars: Rebels, which is canon.
So considering that in space, there is no G-Force,
You have clearly never been in space.
If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
Perhaps technological advances between the end of 6 and beginning of 7 have overcome these obstacles.
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
(and didn't Luke fly his x-wing in Dagoba's atmosphere?)
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
Ofc you have gforces in space. The inertia laws, forces and physics is the same as on earth!
Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
You're not looking at scenes carefully chosen to build anticipation. You're looking at the only two minutes of the movie that didn't have lens flares in them.
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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.
At the end of ep3 they're starting to work on a Death Star.
True, but in Star Wars 4-6 it looks like any technology that isn't in direct service to the Empire is second-hand, beaten up, sometimes barely working technology. The Death Star is for the Emperor so it's "state of the art" and shiny and new. The Rebellion can't get access to technology made for the Empire so they make due with what fighters they can scrounge together.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
I guess my reaction to the trailer is: "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Indeed. A new JJ Abrams trailer often seems to be followed by millions of voices crying out in terror. I guess time will tell whether they will suddenly be silenced on release day.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
You can't tell anything from a trailer other than how much they're willing to spend on special effects (and how much they're willing to ignore canon). The real test is whether or not the story is any good, and we'll just have to wait and see. Honestly I doubt it, but here's hoping. Also, friggin' shakey cam! Boo!
"I have never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain
Light saber technology is not the best example, ...
Obi Wan Gilette: "Heck, we'll make one with 5 blades!"
(or was it Wilkinson?)
There are fewer illiterates than people who can't read.
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.)
Seriously, this is much better than the new episodes:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c3B18gAJyc
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
This looks like every American action movie that has come out in the last 5 years. I would not have been surprised if Micheal Bay had done this. Pass.
F-14's, and they are from a single planet's defense industry. You'd expect a whole galaxy full of designers to come up with something better in 25+ years. When a beat-up freighter is both faster and more agile than your top-of-the-line fighters, then maybe killing all the aerospace engineers in a tiff wasn't such a great idea.
Infinite ammo, and the ship might jink into the shots. Why not fire?
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.
There's no doubt there will be plenty of catwalks with no guard rails [...]
The imperial senate decided that there was no need for OSHA.
And of course that was the REAL reason that thing was called "Death" Star by the people working there.
You'd expect a whole galaxy full of designers to come up with something better in 25+ years.
Sure. And I'd expect that they'd be able to get them into mass production, shipped, and deployed in... well under 100 years. Probably. If everything goes smoothly.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Well they have been working on the new F35 TIE fighter but you know now these things go.
Seems unlikely it can be saved now. Filming is finished, it's going to look like that. Crappy CG, shakey camera, extremely fast cuts and flashing lights so you can't see anything... Even had the lens flare in there, although not as bad as Star Trek. In other words a standard J.J. Abrams film.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
I'm most certainly over thinking this but it could be a comment on the inefficiencies of the giant bureaucracy that would need to be in place in order to administrate a massively autocratic, centralized regime such as the Empire.
not really there are lightsaber resistant metals they could make the cross gaurds out of. It would block lightsabers. Mandelorean iron or Phrik alloys like palpatines sabre
Good points. Only counter is that it might give away your position more easily.
Hey at least it still *looks* like an X-Wing and not an iWing, like what happened to the Enterprise...
Extremely fast cuts isn't really indicative of anything in a trailer.
Supporter of the +1 Over Dramatic mod option. In memory of apk.
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.
Global productivity (outside US obviously) dropped by 30% on nov 28th 2014
I found all the characters and political groupings in Star Wars unlikable. Go ahead, kill each other, see if I care.
And an aloe strip. Call it Mach3Turbo!
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
...until bastards go to four blades.
Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling three blades and a strip.
Moisture or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five blades.
Sure, we could go to four blades next, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do.
After all, three worked out pretty well, and four is the next number after three. So let's play it safe.
Let's make a thicker aloe strip and call it the Mach3SuperTurbo. Why innovate when we can follow?
Oh, I know why: Because we're a business, that's why!
You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the multi-blade game.
Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Sith is the best a man can get.
What part of this don't you understand? If two blades is good, and three blades is better, obviously five blades would make us the best fucking saber that ever existed. Comprende?
We didn't claw our way out of a sarlacc pit to the top of the saber game by clinging to the two-blade industry standard.
We got here by taking chances. Well, five blades is the biggest chance of all.
Here's the report from Engineering. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it.
They don't tell me what to inventâ"I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick two more blades in there.
I don't care how. Make the blades so thin they're invisible. Put some on the handle.
I don't care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!
You're taking the "light" part of "light saber" too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let's hit it.
Let's roll. This is our chance to make saber history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that five blades can happen, and it will happen.
If you aren't on board, then fuck you. And if you're on the board, then fuck you and your father.
Hey, if I'm the only one who'll take risks, I'm sure as hell happy to hog all the glory when the five-blade saber becomes the fencing tool for the Gal-a- "this is how we cut the hands off now"-xay.
People said we couldn't go to three. It'll cost a fortune to manufacture, they said. Well, we did it.
Now some egghead in a lab is screaming "Five's crazy?"
Well, perhaps he'd be more comfortable in the labs at Coruscant, working on fucking electrics. Rotary blades, my white ass!
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should just ride in Empire's wake and make blasters. Ha!
Not on your fucking life! The day I shadow a penny-ante outfit like the Empire is the day I leave the saber game for good, and that won't happen until the day I die!
The market? Listen, we make the market. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle.
It's as easy as, "Hey, cutting with anything less than five blades is like scraping your beard off with a dull hatchet."
Or "You'll be so smooth, you'll make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."
Try "Your neck is going to be so friggin' soft, someone's gonna walk up and tie a goddamn Medal of Bravery under it."
I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?!
Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top.
Which Sith is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five blades, sweet Jesus in heaven.
Stop. I just had a stroke of genius.
Are you ready? Open your mouth, baby birds, cause Mama's about to drop you one sweet, fat nightcrawler.
Here she comes: Put another aloe strip on that fucker, too. That's right.
Five blades, two strips, and make the second one lather. You heard meâ"the second strip lathers.
It's a whole new way to think about swords. Don't question it. Don't say a word.
Just key the music, and call the chorus girls, because we're on the edgeâ"the saber's edgeâ"and I feel like dancing.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
No EWoks in sight, no Gungans in sight.
Can it be they actually learned from the "we want Darth Maul and WTF is this jarjar shite doing under my xmas tree" toy debacle?
One can only hope.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
A friend sent me a link to the video. Every second I expected to see the logo of a prankster. When I saw the idiotic lightsaber with a guard ... I was almost laughing.
And then it ends with a release date.
Really ? This piece of crap is supposed to be the next Star Wars movie ?
Ah well ...
I guess I can forget about it and wait for an eventual release of the "original" 4 5 6 in BluRay.
Irrelevant news and morons using moderation to mod down what they disagree on. 2018 resolution: so long.
He thinks that Star Wars is Star Trek and vice versa.
That's why the flying zamboni sounds like a TransformerTM transforming in front of you - while moving away.
It's grinding down instead of zooming away and dopplering out.
Gears grind. Gears inside mechanical things.
Star Wars technology is indistinguishable from magic. The moment you start thinking "How does light saber work" it breaks apart.
Until that point Force is plausible, hyper jumps across galaxy in a small fighter are plausible, Death Star i plausible, Ewoks are plausible...
Lucas fucked that up with midi-chlorians.
This is the same thing, only it's not as obvious. You don't see it right away - but your brain does.
Star Trek is the one where the tech needs explanation.
In Star Wars "it just works" (or not) because plot demands it.
Three blade saber does the same thing.
You don't question the original saber, but that one literally BEGS an explanation.
WHY? Why three blades? How? What's the use? What for?
Same for the soccer ball and R2's love child robot.
How? Why? What for? What's the use?
It makes you question the fairytale on a level on which you are not supposed to be questioning it.
You should ponder the moral message NOT the verisimilitude of the SCENERY.
Even the Falcon in the end.
No tech issue there. Instead, it feels too CGI and static.
Because it is not moving. It sits and spins in the shot while the HORIZON moves.
But your brain and your body know that the horizon is not moving. You know it's fake.
Compare it to the scenes of doing loops in the original trilogy - where it moves THROUGH the shot and you have the distinct feeling of action and movement taking place.
Cause you have a stationary point of reference. A fixed horizon.
This will be an overproduced and very expensive fan movie.
High on effects, interesting concept, plenty of action - overall... just meh.
Star Wars is the McDonald's of franchises now.
Note how they HAD to include the old actors and promise to keep it the same - while Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Avengers etc. keep being completely re-imagined?
FFS the same guy tried rebooting Star Trek.
Remember how Superman used to have a John Williams theme?
Would they DARE to try to change that with Star Wars?
It's a TOY franchise now. Like Lucas intended it to be.
You know... for kids.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
that it's _Twin_ Ion Engines.
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I thought the new light saber version was Christian symbolism.
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I have a science background and it my actual spaceship made any of your blunders I would be livid. But that's not what we're doing here. We're going for a ride. Enjoy it.
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It's a wonder anyone went to see it based on the actual original trailer. Check out the behind the scenes of the 6-film DVD set. The production was so disjointed, when crew from various units saw the first complete cut the remarks were along the line of "Cool! So what movie is this?"
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
with a cattle prod - a la GoatBoy - that automatically fires if he so much as utters the first "Jar-"
"Win treats sysadmins better than users. Mac treats users better than sysadmins. Linux treats everyone like sysadmins."
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.
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
Not canon.
My biggest hope for this new series is that it acts as a condensation of the best of the Expanded Universe, sort of like how the Marvel and TDK movies take the best storylines and elements from the decades of comics, and condenses it into a handful of cohesive stories. The EU had a lot of bad and even just mediocre shit in it, but it also had a ton of good stuff. Disney would be foolish to slavishly follow continuity, yes, but they'd also be foolish to completely ignore the best stories of it. Sure, nobody outside the hardcode Star Wars nerds know who Thrawn is or why we should be excited for his movie, but nobody outside the hardcore comic nerds knew who Rocket Raccoon was, and how much money did GotG make? Take Thrawn, X-Wing, Corellia, the two Han Solo trilogies, maybe some of the New Jedi Order (it was a good idea, just unevenly executed and too continuity-laden), and distill those down to a decade's worth of movies. Mix in some original stuff, and you'll be printing money.
My biggest fear is that this turns out like Abram's Star Trek reboot - it copies the superficial elements, ticks off all the checkboxes for the series, but completely misses the point.
For Star Trek, it was the optimism and the science. Roddenberry genuinely believed the future was going to be good, and the best Trek showed us a future that had its problems, but was overall optimistic. The science was often laughable, but they at least *tried* to figure out where the future might go. The reboots had Kirk and Spock, they had the Enterprise, they had Klingons, they had time travel and warp drives, but it didn't have optimism (just lens flare), and didn't have either a retro-futurist science, or a modern scientific outlook (either of which would have been acceptable).
For Star Wars, it's the heroism. Clear-cut bad guys, archetypal Hero's Journey, and a heavy dose of fantasy on top of the sci-fi foundation. Other than the zweihander-esque lightsaber, I didn't see any of that - although such a short trailer can hardly be expected to. So my fears were neither proven valid, not assuaged. We'll have to wait and see.
...does it still make a "WHOOOSH!" sound as it flies by?
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
Now with more blue.
Did anyone else notice a disturbing similarity between the "rolling" droid, and the robot Vincent from Disney's horrible "The Black Hole"?
Seemed to me to be symbolism for a "Dark Templar" as it were. Crusader ... for the dark side.
What is it with film makers in the last too many years, who think that using growling voices and Double Thunder Base Technology (TM) or whatever it is called is all it takes to make an 'epic' movie? And why would that in itself be an adequate replacement for a good storyline, proper acting and all the rest? You know, I've found to my horror, that given the choice between 'Sound of Music' and this crap, I'd actually go for 'Sound of Music'. Well, I don't know, actually; I might just choose to slit my own throat slowly with a spoon.
the first rule is nobody mentions the "Holiday Special"... the second rule refers to the first rule...
Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
As far as technology goes, what I observed from the episodes 1-3 is that they had better technology available than they did in 4-6, like double bladed light sabers, unlike the paltry one bladed ones available in the future. It's almost like their society is failing and their technology is limited to only what has already been produced and hasn't been destroyed yet. They should count themselves lucky to have TIE fighters.
Give it time. Disney won't kill the franchise, so look forward to:
Star Wars Episode 10: Jedi facing a crisis of lightsaber shortages. Lightsabers handed down generationally.
Star Wars Episode 15: Re-introduction of kinetic weaponry. Jedi learn to their horror that when a lightsaber blocks a kinetic round, they get splashed with plasma and liquified metal.
Star Wars Episode 18: Droids across the galaxy are falling into disrepair without the technology to repair them, and people with the ability to calculate the logistics and plotting for hyperspace routes grow fewer - they form into a guild called "Navigators."
Star Wars Episode 22: Droids are gone, kinetic weaponry and explosives dominate, Jedi lightsabers are a thing of legend, and interstellar travel requires the help of the navigators, whom no one actually ever sees.
Star Wars Episode 24: A boy with unprecedented midiclorian levels is born on the planet Calidan. Legend foretells that he will save or destroy the Universe.
Star Wars Episode 25: A New, New Hope: The spice.....must flow....
Oh, I don't know. Making Jar Jar Binks responsible for handing the galaxy over to the most evil man in it was a nice touch. ;-)
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
Star Wars was never science fiction by genre.
It's Space Opera. Which in turn was descended from Western Opera.
Space opera and science fiction have some overlap, but they're different creatures.
hawk
The 5 blade razors aren't the best example. That would go to the original Schick Quattro, which had three blades positioned exactly like the three in Gillette's Mach 3 plus a fourth blade that did nothing at all -- it was set FARTHER BACK than the first three so it would never actually cut anything. The Quattro was later redesigned because the first version infringed on a Gillette patent.
Max Von Sydow: It's not ready.
Harrison Ford: (looking old and resigned) It's ready enough.
(plays the lamest trailer, ever)
We're too stuck on the idea that technology *must* progress rapidly, but that's an artefact of our time in history.
Plausibly in the Star Wars universe, fundamental science is effectively settled, so there are no new innovations to be found through new scientific discoveries (like we shrink transistors, or build better solar panels, or eventually figure out room temperature superconductors). I believe the lore states that hyperdrives and blasters have been around for millennia. That suggests the science behind this stuff as firm as it'll ever get.
Instead, technological progress comes in the form of devices changing form to prioritise things like manufacturing, supply, economics and changes in 'market' dynamics - such as noticing Rebel fighters start using shields, so producing more TIEs with shields in response, which might cost more but be an effective strategy, until, for example, the Rebels recruit millions of new pilots and turn to building more inexpensive shieldless fighters, and so it goes.
Lightsaber changes might be better explained through signalling - like knights' swords and armour could be embellished to mark their station - so too do individual Sith customise their 'sabers to maximise recognition and intimidation (Jedi are probably beneath this stuff).
Just a thought.
Where we're going, we don't need... licenses.
I'm more of a Trekkie than a Jedi master, so just wondering if you'd enlighten me about the title. The Force Awakens? Doesn't that make this a prequel? Now if knowledge of the Force was lost after Return of the Jedi (along with the smarts on howto build a proper light saber), then we're talking about a RE-awakening of the Force. Of course The Force Reawakens sounds quite awful, but hey the Wachowskis did come up with a rather clever title for their Matrix sequel, even if the actual move left much to be desired.
The technological decline was obvious once episodes 1-3 were released. That was the peak of Galactic Civilization. Things have been in decline since. No more shines ships. The Millennium Falcon is still the fastest ship around. No more research into the force, and the little knowledge gained re: midichlorianes was completely lost. And the Jedi devolve from a quasi-science into a cult.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Maybe that was an off comment when she said "Aren't you a bit short for a short for a Storm Trooper?"