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Force Awakens trailer
10 years ago
Sure. So.
I've been a little burned out on Star Wars. A lot of why is that it's something that you're supposed to love, as a good red blooded American nerd, despite the way the prequels were basically big budget fanfic - you need the prequels to be into Star Wars about as much as you need to read the Silmarillion to be into Middle-Earth - and the constant remarketing of the old trilogy every time a new slightly different iteration got released.
There are things to be optimistic about with the upcoming movies. I mean, the Abrams Trek films were all pulse-pounding action and glitzy special effects and that's not really Star Trek... but it is Star Wars. We get Carrie Fisher back, which means this Star Wars movie will have two women who presumably deal with them, and one's older, so that's kind of a nice change of pace. I'm pretty happy with a Black guy being apparently more prominent, that's kind of a nice change of pace. Having Chewie be a suit and BB8 being an actual real prop suggests that there won't be the prequels' fondness for blue screen over story.
That said, the first trailer didn't grab me. Okay, some kinda cool tech, stormtroopers doing the Godzilla HALO drop into SF thing, and some kind of Sith in the forests out beyond the Wall and oh yeah the Millenium Falcon. Eh. But the second trailer just blew me away. I think a lot of it was actually long shots this time - we start with "don't mind me, I'm just cruisin' the desert AND THERE'S AN OLD WRECKED IMPERIAL CLASS STAR DESTROYER" and move on to big epic armies of stormtroopers and so on. Star Wars is about big expansive spaces in which people do fast-moving cinematic things, and this trailer definitely promised that.
I don't have the same "oh wow this is gonna be the most awesometastic movie ever!" feelings that I had watching the Episode I trailers back in the day (and I know I still get that, because that's how I reacted to the Malificent trailer). But y'know, for the first time in a while, I think this might actually be a fun movie I'd like to watch - and hopefully that's true.
I've been a little burned out on Star Wars. A lot of why is that it's something that you're supposed to love, as a good red blooded American nerd, despite the way the prequels were basically big budget fanfic - you need the prequels to be into Star Wars about as much as you need to read the Silmarillion to be into Middle-Earth - and the constant remarketing of the old trilogy every time a new slightly different iteration got released.
There are things to be optimistic about with the upcoming movies. I mean, the Abrams Trek films were all pulse-pounding action and glitzy special effects and that's not really Star Trek... but it is Star Wars. We get Carrie Fisher back, which means this Star Wars movie will have two women who presumably deal with them, and one's older, so that's kind of a nice change of pace. I'm pretty happy with a Black guy being apparently more prominent, that's kind of a nice change of pace. Having Chewie be a suit and BB8 being an actual real prop suggests that there won't be the prequels' fondness for blue screen over story.
That said, the first trailer didn't grab me. Okay, some kinda cool tech, stormtroopers doing the Godzilla HALO drop into SF thing, and some kind of Sith in the forests out beyond the Wall and oh yeah the Millenium Falcon. Eh. But the second trailer just blew me away. I think a lot of it was actually long shots this time - we start with "don't mind me, I'm just cruisin' the desert AND THERE'S AN OLD WRECKED IMPERIAL CLASS STAR DESTROYER" and move on to big epic armies of stormtroopers and so on. Star Wars is about big expansive spaces in which people do fast-moving cinematic things, and this trailer definitely promised that.
I don't have the same "oh wow this is gonna be the most awesometastic movie ever!" feelings that I had watching the Episode I trailers back in the day (and I know I still get that, because that's how I reacted to the Malificent trailer). But y'know, for the first time in a while, I think this might actually be a fun movie I'd like to watch - and hopefully that's true.
A crashed spaceship is a big "Hnnggg" for me, its a symbol of many things.
But I think you're right, that fits Star Wars better.
and here's hoping they incorporate elements from the Thrawn trilogy cause those were sooooo good
I will not come right out and predict that this new Star Wars installment will be a failure. Based on JJ's work I am pretty sure it will look amazing. But looking amazing did not save the prequels from being terrible. Based on my experiences with JJ's films and TV attempts that I am not holding my breath on this one.
I dunno. I'm a huge Star-Wars fan myself and this film makes me both excited and sick to my stomach. The prequel trilogy proved that Lucas couldn't do it any better than anyone else, but some of the apparent decisions that went into this film seem to point toward writers that just have no idea. Like, there was never a major battle over Tatooine. Judging by how they are trying to crank out novels and material that is supposed to bridge the gap between the last trilogy and this one...it feels like they're falling over each other in a rush to write things into the canon. I just don't see it ending well.
I have only ever just seen the movies and I think this was actually a good idea on Disney's part. it would be frustrating to movie goers if they had to read all the novels and played all the games to understand what is going on in the movie. Referencing the off-camera cannon like the books and games is part of that 'check list' of things I don't like about JJs works.
To give you a gist of it: A tactical genius takes over the remains of the Emperial fleet and spearheads a campaign to sabotage Leia's fledgling New Republic. At the same time he finds a rogue mentally unstable Jedi and uses him to bait Luke away from his own burgeoning Jedi Academy, which buys him time to come up with ways to neutralize Force Users. The Solo kids are caught in the middle. On top of all this, some of the Emperor's leftover plans and secrets come into play as they are discovered by one or the other side.
I really loved the Zahn trilogy - in part because it was so not focused on Jedi - but the follow up to that was a lot of stuff I didn't like. Like the whole Suncrusher deal? Lame. And I hate to admit that the Dark Empire comics were kinda crummy, because they had Cam Kennedy's art and I really liked that, but... yeah. They weren't very good either. Not everything in the EU is awesome.
And I don't think it's necessarily that likely to go away. As long as we're on Splinter of the Mind's Eye? For the longest time people forgot it existed, and then Dark Horse came out with a comic adaptation. So you never know.
At this point what I hope for is a movie that I'll enjoy. I remember just how disappointed I was by Indiana Jones IV and the prequels, how my interest in The Hobbit movies tapered off to the point where I still haven't seen the third one, and how actively pissed off I was about Hellboy II. If I go to the theater in December and walk out vaguely happy, it'll count almost as much as if the odds are beaten and there's a masterpiece.
I do agree about Tattooine. When the planet shows up in Episode IV, it's Fresno in space. If there's a bright center to the universe, this is the planet it's furthest from. It's this nowhere, an appropriate place for the last of the Jedi and one of the two Chosen Ones to lay low. And then... it shows up all the time. It may not be as exotic and cool and prominent as Coruscant, but it's definitely as exotic, cool and prominent as Naboo. I'm not exactly stoked about it showing up in yet another movie, if that's Tatooine.
This... wrecked star destroyer, banner of a 2nd Empire/New Republic? New generation of characters? All very much interesting. I think they're going to deal with the plot elements in those comics and books about what happens later, but it'll never ever be to the satisfaction of those who like the books. How could it be? There are those who, after getting such epic movies of the Hobbit, just complain it wasn't exactly like the book.
What gives me trepidation is the horrible bits from the first trailer are in the same movie with the awesome cool stuff from the second trailer. What a dangerous, caustic mix that is. I can see why Lucas bailed. :p