Future Familiar: The New Trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens




Unless you decided to take a vacation under a rock over the weekend, you'll have heard by now that the first trailer for the next Star Wars movie, The Force Awakens (a.k.a. Star Wars: Episode Seven) has arrived at both movie theaters and on the Internet. It's been met with great fanfare--within hours of its debut, the 'net was swamped with new updates, analyses, and complaints about this 88 second bit of film. There's even a stop-motion remake of this trailer that's been made purely with Lego toys. How fanboy-ish can you get?

The new trailer is a teaser in the most literal sense. It doesn't give any hints about the film's plot; instead, it gives us fleeting glimpses of what this era of the Star Wars universe looks like. What I think most critics, commenters and curmudgeons have missed it how the trailer emphasizes familiar aspects of Star Wars, details that fans will instantly recognize such as vehicles (X-Wings, TIE Fighters and the Millennium Falcon), technology (an astromech droid and pod racer engines) and uniforms (Stormtrooper armor and someone dressed in the Sith fashion ensemble of a black Sith hood and red lightsaber accessory). Some of these things look slightly different in order to suggest a passage of time between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens--the Stormtrooper armor looks more streamlined, and the astromech has a different body than the standard barrel-shaped model--but the trailer doesn't stray into anything that fans wouldn't recognize in some way. (While we're on the subject, the same emphasis on familiarity has been part of the advertising and marketing of the new Star Wars: Rebels animated series, with lightsabers, TIE Fighters, Stormtroopers and two-legged Imperial walkers making very frequent appearances.)


Star Wars' new astromech droid, although I hear that only
goalies are allowed to pick it up with their hands.


I'm assuming that the purpose of leading this film's marketing campaign with the familiar is to get fans excited for episode 7 before easing them into aspects of the new trilogy that will be significantly different from the previous six films. With a title like The Force Awakens, I think we'll be seeing a few startling revelations about how the Force works, how the revelations relate to the "balance in the Force" prophesy, and what it all means to both Jedi and Sith alike. Personally, I'm hoping that the new trilogy will revisit some of the stranger aspects of the Force that were introduced in The Clone Wars (such as the story arcs that involved locations such as Mortis and Moraband), since these aspects have the potential to make the new trilogy the epic conclusion it was always meant to be. I can't wait!

Here's the trailer, in case you haven't seen it yet:


Comments

  1. BrianDecember 2, 2014 at 1:26 PM

    Hopes aren't high, but here's to a new trilogy at least being better than last decade's prequel trilogy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TimDecember 2, 2014 at 3:42 PM

      From what I can tell, Disney has big plans for the Star Wars franchise (and they should, given how much they paid to get it). I think that they're doing a good job with Rebels so far, so hopefully they can do the same for episodes 7, 8 and 9.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Tron: Uprising (Part 1 of 4): Characters

Image
This month marks the one year anniversary of the cancellation of Tron: Uprising , which aired on Disney XD for 19 episodes. Set between the events of Tron and Tron: Legacy , Uprising chronicled the events shortly after Clu’s rise to power within the stand-alone Grid created by Kevin Flynn. Personally, I think that Tron: Uprising got a raw deal from Disney. It’s a fantastic addition to the Tron saga that went on to win both Emmy and Annie Awards , yet Disney clearly had other priorities and was willing to toss Uprising aside without so much as an official cancellation notice. Even to this day, Uprising has yet to be released on DVD or Blu-ray and I’m wondering if it ever will. In honor of this amazing animated series that was cut down in its prime, I have decided to do something that Disney won’t. Since there will never be an official Tron: Uprising art book, I have searched across the Internet to find a selection of art from Uprising that I can share here on my blog with ...
Read more

FOUND: Mechanical Shark from Universal Jaws Theme Park Ride

Image
When the Universal Studios Theme Park in Florida shut down its Jaws ride back in January 2012, Jaws fans everywhere were devastated. Yet even though this part of the Jaws franchise is no longer operational, some of its sharks are swimming around out there … including places such as Frederick, Maryland. A few days ago, I was contacted by a fellow Jaws fan named John Ryan, asking me if I knew anything specific regarding the sharks from the Universal Jaws ride. He was asking because he thought he found one and is trying to verify its authenticity. We spoke on the phone and exchanged a few emails, and here’s what he told me about his find: “I've been collecting Jaws memorabilia for decades and when I found this incredibly rare gem sitting in a backyard in Frederick, Maryland, I wondered about its connection to the state. The current homeowners said the shark was already there when they purchased the property. They also told me it had been the subject of neighborhood rumor for y...
Read more

Machine Robo's Magnificent Robot Combiners

Image
I don't collect Transformers merchandise, but I see articles and advertisements about it when I browse through Japanese robot toy sites. From what I can gather, one of the latest product lines for Transformers is called "Combiner Wars" , a line that consists of five or six transforming robot toys that combine into one bigger robot. Combiner robot toys have been around for a long time, and Transformers had quite a few of them even back in the '80s. Yet of the many combiner robot toys I've seen over the years, the ones that have consistently impressed me were the ones released by Bandai under the Machine Robo line. Whereas other robot toy lines are stuck in the novelty of combining smaller toys into a bigger toy, Machine Robo has used the concept of combination to promote creative play. Read on for a review of how Machine Robo has built upon its combiner toys throughout the years.
Read more