Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[manunited1]

The next year of my life is going to be the hardest thing lol. At least there are some other great movies coming out to keep me sane.

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by djakrse

That is the obvious answer, but there appears to be too much space between the blades. Regardless, the weapon is cool as hell.

I'm more curious if the makeup of the blades. They appear to be less uniform and more fiery than the blades we've seen before.

JMO, I believe this is an ancient Sith that has been awakened/resurrected. Likewise, I believe that lightsaber is an ancient design, hence the crossguard, different look of the blade, etc.

[Aragorn the Elfstone]

Originally Posted by spiderfan1985

I need to do this from now on. And just be a rare, but not alone, HAPPY Star Wars fan. We loves Star Wars precious. We loves it forever.

I reveled in this type of attitude for about an hour on Friday morning, following the release of the trailer.

It's a shame that the ensuing negativity brought me down a little. Gotta work on that resistance to such stuff. I'd love to stay in that blissful state of joyous Star Wars fandom I remember from when I was a kid.

Originally Posted by rickah88

Now Episode VII is just around the corner. Rebels is a treat to watch.

Just started watching Rebels via On Demand the other day. I'm enjoying it so far. Gotta have something to pass the time until next X-Mas!

[Steelmaker]

Originally Posted by jscoggins

That shot at the end with all of the added TIE fighters had me in stitches.

My favorite was the blaster beam dodge that the X Wing pilot does in the cockpit. LOL!!!

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by BladeRunner2007

Teaser Re-Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOYw...ature=youtu.be

New order of scenes. Omits annoying scenes, shortens some scenes. Much better imo.

Most pointless youtube video I've ever watched. Zero improvements.

[dallywhitty]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

Most pointless youtube video I've ever watched. Zero improvements.

Pretty much. All I noticed is that they omitted the shot of the black guy, which is... odd.

[Kryptonic]

Star Wars: The Phantom Awakens Trailer - YouTube

[Randall Flagg]

Originally Posted by Kryptonic

Star Wars: The Phantom Awakens Trailer - YouTube

I don't get it...

[aiman04]

Originally Posted by Aragorn the Elfstone

It only needs explanation if you insist on pushing the prequels onto the originals (which I don't). TESB and RotJ set up Jedi training differently than the prequels (which upped the scale and duration of training - not to mention the stuff with the extreme age requirements).

The age requirement first mentioned in Empire when Yoda told Obi-Wan that Luke was too old to begin training.

[bluearth]

The trailer made this guy cry

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Live Trailer Reaction - YouTube

[aiman04]

One of the extras has updated his CV showing his character in Episode VII as "Padawan". It's possible that the Jedi Order has been rebuilt.

[octagon]

I just paused it at the 1:28 mark...please tell me he doesn't do the 'hands waving away tears' thing

Okay, that wasn't as horrible as I expected. Aside from rolling out of bed and making youtube videos he actually came off as half-way normal.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by dallywhitty

Pretty much. All I noticed is that they omitted the shot of the black guy, which is... odd.

To be fair, it also removed the close-ups of the other two actors. No idea why?

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Randall Flagg

I don't get it...

Maybe whoever made that video is suggesting The Force Awakens - are we calling it TFA yet? - is derivative because previous Star Wars movies also had laser swords and robots and spaceships and stuff.

For my money, I'm glad this new one is going to have laser swords and robots and spaceships and stuff.

I like laser swords and robots and spaceships and stuff.

[HockeySlasher]

I gotta say, I took my 5 year old to the one theater in the state that was playing it.

While the teaser was cool, it was even better seeing my boy's reaction to it.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Steelmaker

JMO, I believe this is an ancient Sith that has been awakened/resurrected.

I'm kind of wondering if the title might be literal. Maybe the force itself has been awakened and will be pursuing its own agenda (or their own agendas if the light and dark sides are separate thinking, self-aware entities).

Kind of like WarGames.

But with laser swords and robots and spaceships and stuff

[camper]

Originally Posted by djakrse

That is the obvious answer, but there appears to be too much space between the blades. Regardless, the weapon is cool as hell.

I'm more curious if the makeup of the blades. They appear to be less uniform and more fiery than the blades we've seen before.

I noticed that too, and think it looks wicked and violent and dangerous with all the 'elegance' of a normal lightsaber removed. I love it.

I wonder, couldn't a Sith manipulate the blade of his weapon as well, especially if there is so much hate within him/her that the corrupting influence of the dark side affects the lightsaber?

To me, is essentially an organic weapon in the first place so I personally see no reason why not.

[Another_Dude]

Really Prowse?

http://www.aol.com/article/2014/12/0...usaolp00000058

It would have been really cool to see the original Darth Vader in the newest Star Wars movie release, but it's not going to happen this go around. Perhaps there will be another and Prowse will get another opportunity before it's too late.

[Darth Marcus]

Some pretty cool fan art:

[djakrse]

Speculation: The opening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens explained!

Speculation and potential spoilers,

DISCLAIMER: This is speculation based on accurate fragments of the story we have obtained over the last year.

[Show spoiler]I’m not here to debunk anything or state anything concretely as true or accurate. But I am going to take the pieces of the puzzle that make up Star Wars: The Force Awakens and attempt to make sense of the disparate misshapen pieces. Upfront, I have to say that I am extremely skeptical of the Skywalker lightsaber being the MacGuffin of this film, at this juncture, based on the evidence I have seen. All that jazz might be accurate and I just haven’t been privy to seeing anything to reinforce it. But I’m tossing it out for this piece because I think it makes us tread water to figuring out the mystery of this film. I have tried to reconcile that rumor with the factual bits of the opening of the film and I cannot do so at this time.

Moving on, one shot in the new teaser has made me rethink how the film is organized today, at least for the first acts of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The average Stormtrooper is 6 feet fall and a few people we believe to have been cast as Stormtroopers are a little taller than that even. John Boyega is five feet, nine inches tall. That’s a little short for a Stormtrooper, well below average. For as far as I can tell, there aren’t any throwaway shots in that teaser and this shot of the Stormtroopers focuses entirely on the short guy:

screen05

Clearly the short guy is the focal point of the shot. The shot is important and more than a design reveal. So I am in the camp that the short Stormtroop is John Boyega. I also used to believe he wore the new visor helmet Indie Revolver revealed. However, that would make him a Flamethrower/Incendiary Trooper and I don’t think Boyega’s character flame throwers anything. When the ramp opens, I can see the village that is burned down, which was an outside set at Pinewood I am very familiar with.

Speculative organization of the Star Wars: The Force Awakens opening:

• The film opens on a drop-ship on course to a desert planet.
• The ship enters the atmosphere, we see Boyega’s character who is noticeably a little short for a Stormtrooper.
• Imperials land at the village led by the “Sith” with the cross guard lightsaber and begin burning the village down. Stormtroopers then reinforce the flamethrowers as resistance is met. Many troopers die.
• Boyega’s character conscientiously objects to the village burning during the fight, sees his friends die and he steals a TIE Fighter to flee the carnage. He’s a moral hero to be.
• The TIE he stole is shot at and severely damaged. He keeps it in the air for a ways until he’s forced to eject, and he wakes up in the sand dunes as seen in the teaser.
• Scavengers ascend on the TIE after he realizes they’re coming to kill him for his ship and the Imperials are coming to kill him for deserting the troops. He’s screwed, hence how scared he is.
• “Kira” observes the smoke from the burning village. She then travels and finds Boyega in trouble.
• “Kira” saves Boyega from the ruthless scavengers.
• “Kira” is informed they’re looking for the MacGuffin of the film and her bid station is their next target if they didn’t find it at the village.
• The two are now working together for a mutual advantage and survival.
• They board the Falcon and fight their way off the planet.

I can’t explain what the Imperials are looking for. That is still a mystery. We know the bad guys appear to have Darth Revean, Darth Bane, and Darth Vader’s helmets. It appears that lightsaber he uses is from a different era in the universe and is of lower technological design than the modern lightsabers we’re used to seeing. So the Sith antique collector rumor really appears to have legs. Are they looking for something, an artifact? There’s a lot of concept art showing the heroes in catacombs and caves and place Indiana Jones belongs. It certainly appears the good guys are looking for something, probably before the bad guys find it.

If they’re looking for “Kira,” that might explain why Han Solo and the Falcon are there in the concept art. The Falcon is clearly there in the teaser. There have been rumors that Han and Chewie get the Falcon back in this film. But as late as early 2014, there was concept art showing Han outside the Falcon on that planet (unless Han was a placeholder for the current owner). Is there a race to obtain a certain person that is the key to the future? Perhaps the crew of the Falcon are looking for the same thing the Imperials are before the film even begins and both have ended up on this backwater planet.

If John Boyega’s character objects to burning people alive, he gets to have his bad guy heritage while proving to the audience he’s a moral character. It also would give “Kira” some reason to trust him as someone that’s more than just a Stormtrooper. It allows the character to have a checkered past while being someone who has proven they’re worthy to lead us through this adventure in the new film and does what we think we would do in the same situation.

Another thing to note is that I have heard early credible reports, before John Boyega was even announced as a cast member that he was training with a heavy lightsaber. Now I believe that was because he has to fight two-handed against that cross-beamed lightsaber if he hopes to have a chance.

The concept art depicts John Boyega’s character as using a lightsaber. However, the earliest moment I have seen him with the saber is in the catacomb environment which is probably more towards the middle of the film. So how does he go from a Stormtrooper to a Jedi/Padawan so fast? Do the heroes find their sabers in the catacombs? Or was he always a Jedi on a secret missing to infiltrate the Empire and his cover was blown when they asked him to murder innocent villagers? I kind of doubt that last part.

We know the old alien woman is in the catacombs. They meet the young alien who brings them to the old woman. The old woman is depicted as working on crystals in some of the art. After that, the young alien is with the heroes on the grass planet and Boyega has a lightsaber. On the snow planet, “Kira” is using one too. Perhaps the old woman gives our heroes their new weapons and sends the young alien, probably her granddaughter, to take the two new Jedi to Luke Skywalker who can instruct them.

As we know from the teaser, the Force has awoken for the dark and the light. It makes me think there really aren’t Jedi in the galaxy before our new heroes step up into those positions as the conflict is staged. Everyone is coming into being in this film seems to be the case.