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

[Geoff D]

Originally Posted by aiman04

[Show spoiler]

Look at that last one, seems as if the rider has scavenged the armour from a smaller AT-ST-type vehicle and outfitted it on their steed, which fits with Rey living on Jakku with that downed Super Star Destroyer being a goldmine for scavengers.

[DCW]

Everything looks... SPECTACULAR!

[wormraper]

damn... I'm feeling like I need to wear loose pants today

[Riddler The Slag]

JJ Abrams discusses Kylo Ren.

Remember how we eventually learned that

[Show spoiler]“Darth” is not a first name, but a kind of title? It appears the surname “Ren” is something similar.
“He is a character who came to the name Kylo Ren when he joined a group called the Knights of Ren,” Abrams says. But that’s as far as the writer-director will go. What are the Knights of Ren?

You’re going to have to wait until Dec. 18 to find out.

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by DCW

Everything looks... SPECTACULAR!

My thoughts exactly! I keep waiting for the inevitable bad news to hit...but the news just keeps getting better and better!

[iamsometal]

Originally Posted by rickah88

My thoughts exactly! I keep waiting for the inevitable bad news to hit...but the news just keeps getting better and better!

Getting the feeling I'm going to start buying magazines again from all this excitement. Come to think of it, last time I purchased a magazine (other than that Vanity Fair that had the new cast on the cover) was back when Revenge of the Sith was coming out.

December will not be here soon enough!!!

[Harry Güchenschlong]

Originally Posted by rickah88

My thoughts exactly! I keep waiting for the inevitable bad news to hit...but the news just keeps getting better and better!

I agree, this is shaping up to be AWESOME

Hopefully I can stop checking for updates on this stuff soon... I don't want to spoil everything before I even see the darn movie.

[aiman04]

So here are the questions expected to be answered in the new EW issue:

Before signing on to direct, what was the question Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy asked Abrams about the galaxy that made him decide he had to know the answer, even if it meant devising it himself?

Who is Adam Driver’s villainous wielder of the crossguard-lightsaber? What is his relationship with Darth Vader … and is Kylo Ren his original name?

What was it like on Harrison Ford’s first day back on the clock as Han Solo, when he finally set foot back on the Millennium Falcon after three decades?

From whom (or what) does Daisy Ridley’s character Rey rescue the ball-droid BB-8 amid the desolate sands of Jakku?

Which cult-horror movie inspired one of the main characters, and what cuddly child’s toy led to the name of another?

What are the odds Abrams may come back for Episode IX?

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/12...s-exclusive-ew

[rickah88]

Originally Posted by iamsometal

Getting the feeling I'm going to start buying magazines again from all this excitement. Come to think of it, last time I purchased a magazine (other than that Vanity Fair that had the new cast on the cover) was back when Revenge of the Sith was coming out.

December will not be here soon enough!!!

Haha! Funny you should mention that! I remember begging my parents to take me to the local bookstore in hopes that the new Starlog magazine was out and I could ravenously digest any/all new info and pictures about Empire and Jedi!

Originally Posted by Harry Güchenschlong

I agree, this is shaping up to be AWESOME

Hopefully I can stop checking for updates on this stuff soon... I don't want to spoil everything before I even see the darn movie.

It's so nice to see legit SW excitement return! The next phase of my epic SW journey will happen in a few years when I can show my boys(currently 4 and 1) all these great films! Sure they won't be exactly how Dad saw them, but nobody will be complaining!

[Riddler The Slag]

I made that portrait of Kylo Ren with the saber my lock screen on my iPhone. Glorious image.

Great surprise for Star Wars fans with a whole slew of new imagery.

[chaingunsofdoom]

Originally Posted by goeagles5039

[Show spoiler]May I ask why c3po has a red arm?

Looks like

[Show spoiler]an R-3P0 red arm...

[Deathbymonkeys]

Originally Posted by DCW

Everything looks... SPECTACULAR!

If you like awful costume design I tend to agree.

With the exception of Phasma of course.

[Riddler The Slag]

Originally Posted by Deathbymonkeys

If you like awful costume design I tend to agree.

With the exception of Phasma of course.

What are you not liking?

[kylor]

Originally Posted by wormraper

damn... I'm feeling like I need to wear loose pants today

[Riddler The Slag]

Originally Posted by aiman04

Maybe it's just me and my time serving in the military but isn't this guy just a tad young to be a General?

[Al_The_Strange]

Originally Posted by Riddler The Slag

Maybe it's just me and my time serving in the military but isn't this guy just a tad young to be a General?

I wondered the same thing about Obi-Wan in the prequels. And Han and Lando in the originals.

"General" in the Star Wars universe seems to be a rank they like to throw around arbitrarily whenever a really good character pops up.

...and let's not even think about Jar Jar's on-the-spot promotion to "bombad general"...

Come to think of it though, it kinda fits in with Abrams and what he did with Star Trek, having everybody get instant promotions and organizational changes so that characters fit in their right spots.

[Det. Bullock]

Originally Posted by Riddler The Slag

Maybe it's just me and my time serving in the military but isn't this guy just a tad young to be a General?

If the first order is like the old empire, they probably have an insane turnover rate.
Also totalitarian regimes tend to promote with criteria like political connections, social rank, etc, much more than freer political systems.

When it comes to the rebels, well, like many guerrilla fighters they are on average young and with few experienced soldiers and those get promoted even if they are young to fill that rank for a real army but even then we know that Ackbar was already Captain during the clone wars, so he's not exactly young.

Originally Posted by Al_The_Strange

I wondered the same thing about Obi-Wan in the prequels. And Han and Lando in the originals.

"General" in the Star Wars universe seems to be a rank they like to throw around arbitrarily whenever a really good character pops up.

...and let's not even think about Jar Jar's on-the-spot promotion to "bombad general"...

Come to think of it though, it kinda fits in with Abrams and what he did with Star Trek, having everybody get instant promotions and organizational changes so that characters fit in their right spots.

True, even accounting for what I said before Star Wars plays it very loose with military ranks.

[aiman04]

EW.com has published their discussion with Kathleen Kennedy, JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan.

They first discussed how and why J.J. Abrams ended up in the director's chair after first turning down the job:

"Kennedy persuaded him to helm Star Wars: The Force Awakens by asking a simple question, one with the potential to upend our core beliefs about the galaxy far, far away. “In the context of talking about story and laying out what we were thinking, I said one thing to him,” Kennedy recalls. “‘Who is Luke Skywalker?’” Abrams, who’s 49 now but was only 11 when the original Star Wars debuted in 1977, decided he needed to know the answer, even if he had to devise it himself. “He said, ‘Oh my God, I just got the chills. I’m in,’” Kennedy says. “I mean, it really was almost that quickly.”"

They also reveal various details about the different factions, Han, Chewie, Leia, the bad guys and Luke's Lightsaber:

"The Empire has morphed into a junta known as The First Order, while X-Wing pilots like Oscar Isaac’s Poe Dameron now fly for a splinter group known as the Resistance. Princess Leia (Fisher) has come into possession of the lightsaber once possessed by her father, Darth Vader, and later lost by Luke (Hamill) when Vader separated him from his arm during that “join me” duel in The Empire Strikes Back."

"The amount of screentime the Skywalker twins may get is still unclear, although Luke’s fate is obviously a key factor. Ford’s Han Solo, however, will be one of the leads, piloting the Millennium Falcon alongside his old pal Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew.) Among the newcomers, desert scavenger Rey (Daisy Ridley) and runaway stormtrooper Finn (John Boyega) will be running for their lives, with the rolling droid BB-8 trying to keep up. Eventually all five of them end up aboard that familiar starship."

"On Team Dark Side is Darth Vader obsessive Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), The First Order’s merciless General Hux (Domhnall Gleeson) and chrome-armored officer Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie)."

Kathleen Kennedy also speaks about the influence of George Lucas on these films:

“George spoke often about that tension in everybody between what’s good and bad. He always felt that it was easier to be bad than good,” she says with a laugh. “I’m not sure all people would agree, but I think that that’s always an interesting conflict to explore. So that’s a big part of the themes inside of Episode VII.”

Was there anything from the original films they struggled to echo in The Force Awakens? “I think we can’t explore in quite as much detail issues of compassion, the way [Lucas] did in terms of the values of the Jedi,” Kennedy says. “But we’re going to get there, let’s put it that way. In the arc of all three movies, that will increase.”

And finally, J,J. Abrams confirms that he will not direct the final film in the Sequel Trilogy Episode IX:

“No, I’m not going to direct Episode IX, as much as I am deeply envious of anyone who gets to work with this group of people on the future movies,” he says...“It’s a thrill to see [Rian Johnson] take things and elevate them beyond what we had imagined at the time,”

Commentary by StarWarsUnderworld.com

[octagon]

Originally Posted by Riddler The Slag

Maybe it's just me and my time serving in the military but isn't this guy just a tad young to be a General?

He's here to rescue you.

Just go with it.

[Pounder]

Hux and Kylo Ren are the same person. Driver is playing Luke's son which won't be shown until the film's release.

[Show spoiler]