Sunday, April 19, 2015

Star Wars Episode VII.V: The Force Stretches And Turns On The Coffee Machine

I haven't said anything about the new trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens yet, so a few thoughts.

:: First, here's the trailer, just in case you somehow missed it.


:: A Star Destroyer and an X-Wing fighter, both wrecked on the desert planet which we're being told is not Tatooine. OK.

:: Voiceover from Luke Skywalker. Interesting. I wonder who he's talking to.

:: Vader's melted helmet, distorted to the point of looking skull-like. Again, interesting.

:: Lots of quick visuals. X-Wings in a combat configuration, but on a planet surface. Lots of new-ish stormtroopers standing beneath a flag we haven't seen before. Quick glimpses of the red lightsaber in action.

:: My favorite shot in this trailer? What looks like a TIE fighter just hovering above a landing bay, blasting everything in sight.

:: "Chewie, we're home." Oh yeah, babe. That helps a lot.

I've seen some commentary to the effect that "This trailer makes us feel like we're eight years old again!" I don't know about that, and even so, I'm not sure being transported back to that age is really possible. I think it's that expectation that partially caused people to elevate their desires to levels no film could match, not the least of which would be the three Prequel Trilogy movies. Besides, I don't want to be transported back to when I was eight.

And, as usual, any new bit of Star Wars news seems to bring out all the folks who want to sharpen their anti-Lucas axe at every opportunity. I almost dread new Star Wars stuff for that very reason.

But anyway, I'm looking forward to seeing this in December. It feels a bit odd, really, having new Star Wars on the way for which I have virtually no investment in terms of the characters or idea of what the story is doing. This is almost virgin territory for me!

3 comments:

Jason said...

Re: the desert planet with wrecked warships on it that is NOT Tatooine... I'm wondering if perhaps that's Endor, 30 years after the environmental catastrophe of Death Star II exploding in low orbit? Just a thought, probably hopelessly wrong... I don't know that Abrams would be clever or daring enough to go there. But the thought did occur to me.

I agree with you that it's dangerous to build too much expectation of "feeling like I'm eight again" into these new films, and that was ultimately at the heart of so many people's disappointment with the Prequels. But dammit, this trailer DID make me feel like a kid again. Exhilarated and quivering with anticipation. Of course, it remains to be seen what the actual story is like, because that's where the rubber is going to meet the road, as the oldtimers say. But as trailers go, wow.

As for the Lucas-bashers... god, it's time for them to grow the fuck up. Pardon my Aurebesh.

lala412 said...

I hadn't wanted to see the trailer, because I didn't want to get my hopes up. I have zero expectations after the prequels. Zero good expectations, anyway. I'm not even looking forward to the movies. I loved Alias, and the new Trek movies... well, I don't think they suck quite as badly as most of the people in my ST fan groups seem to... but I would rather be pleasantly surprised with this one. And, for once, I doubt I see it on opening day. With my recent track record, maybe not even in the theater...

But I will admit, hearing Hamill's voice in the voice-over made me go "awww..." and think maybe I would look forward to it at some point.

Roger Owen Green said...

I've NEVER seen so much excitement for ANY film.