Month: December 2014

Fan Art by Phil Noto

Like many, I have watched the Star Wars: The Force Awakens teaser trailer several times. I finally had the chance to go through it frame by frame to catch things that were hard to see during the first viewing. Let’s get right to it.

No company logos. I can understand the missing Walt Disney Pictures company logo, but was surprised not to seed the Lucasfilm Ltd. logo. Not that this is a major omission, especially this being a teaser, but still was expecting it. I know this sounds crazy but one thing I keep thinking of is how the opening credits will appear. I would say that the 20th Century Fox Fanfare music is synonymous with all Star Wars films. That will definitely be gone for The Force Awakens, but will Disney add their own company logo to the new films? There definitely is a part of me that thinks they should so that people will associate Star Wars with Disney. Disney has been producing Marvel films for a while now and not once do you see the Disney company logo before any of the films, just Marvel. I have spoken to several friends and after seeing the Marvel movies, they had no idea that they were produced by Disney. Some didn’t even know that Disney owns Marvel. I don’t want to see this happen with Star Wars. So hopefully when we get the first official trailer, not teaser, we will see some form of Disney logo.

This is the first image that we see in the teaser. It is a desert for sure, but is it a desert planet? Is it Tatooine or a new planet? Tatooine has played a major role in the Star Wars saga films. It is the home planet of Anakin and Luke Skywalker as well as the home for Obi-Wan Kenobi after the rise of the Empire.

This is our first look at John Boyega, who is said to have a major role in the film. Before the teaser was released, I heard months before that Boyega was playing a Stormtrooper, so for me, this was no surprise seeing him in uniform. He does appear startled over some kind of event that is happening off camera that we can’t see. Was he abandoned by the rest of the team of Stormtroopers he was with?  Is he really a Stormtrooper or just in disguise?

I had to mention this because I always got a kick out of this. When my friend first saw Star Wars as a kid, he was convinced that the Stormtroopers were all robots because on their backs they had a huge sign that read “Oil”. Still can’t look at the back of a Stormtrooper without thinking of that. You can see in the comparison photos that the Stormtrooper uniform is redesigned. And yes, the oil sign is still there but now the “o” has a grey oil cap, so it makes it easier to know where to pour the can of oil in. 🙂

This is apparently the new droid that accompanies Daisy Ridley’s character. My first reaction to this was a computer track ball. This also looks like it could be designed by Apple as the new i-Droid. I also can’t help seeing a soccer ball with R2’s head on it. As great as R2D2 was in all of the movies, he always seemed to take his time. R2 was always the last one on the ship, while the rest of the crew was ruining for their lives. You can’t blame him though since it was do to the limitations of his design. You definitely can’t say this about this R2 unit. Without a doubt, he moves very fast and maybe this will somehow play during one of the escape scenes. In the background you can see some old engine parts. Hope no one is building a Pod Racer.

Stormtroopers! These helmets also match the leaked photos that we reported about months ago. One thing that most people are noticing is the difference in height with the Stormtroopers. What this means is that there are no more Clones! I never liked the idea of all of the Stormtroopers looking the same under their uniforms and having the same voice. Why are the Clones gone? Because they probablly all died or got old and the Empire never renewed their contracts with the Kiminos. Thankfully all of the Stormtroopers in this movie are recruits.

The Stormtrooper’s blaster definitely went through a new redesign. Most of the exterior is painted white now, which makes sense. Also the scope is different and there is a digital readout to make it appear more high-tech.

The character that actress Daisy Ridley is rumored to play is Kira. According to rumors, Kira lives on a desert planet and survives by her wits. She lives in the belly of a downed AT-AT and it appears through concept art that the Force is strong in her. The goggles that she is wearing on her head seem to be refitted from a Stormtrooper’s helmet.

When I first saw this image, I immediately thought of a USB Flash Drive. In the teaser, it sounds very much like a speeder bike. It even looks like she is sitting on a speeder bike. This may be a vehicle that she creates using various parts of different vehicles. If you notice, the laser rifle that she had in the previous photo is missing from this image.

I love these new Rebel helmets. Just looks sleeker and has some red, black and grey added in there which gives it a new kind of flavor to it. The red Rebel insignia is still on the helmet and also on the vest. New microphones, no chinstrap and a slightly smaller visor. The uniform colors look very similar and seem to be just slightly altered. The Rebel in the above photo is played by actor Oscar Isaac.

New X-Wing fighters! They look similar to the old X-Wings but the S-foils open differently now. If you look at the wings on the top, they come out towards the back and the wings on the bottom come out from the front. When they are not in attack mode, it appears that they form one wing when locked. This also looks like a snow covered planet. It could be Hoth, but more than likely will be a new planet.

This is the most controversial image from the new trailer. People are not liking the new lightsaber design. This is obvious a Sith do to the color of the red blade but what are those mini-blades coming out of the sides of the lightsaber? This does look like your classic sword and they possibly are their to protect your hand from being struck by your opponents blade. It’s just not very practical. I think it could do more damage to the person wielding the lightsaber. One thing that I noticed is that there is something different about the blade. It looks like their is some kind of power surge or maybe even flames flowing through it. The old lightsabers were solid and didn’t display anything like this. I heard someone mention that maybe the blades on the sides are a form of exhaust. Not sure about that one. I still like it and have a feeling that we will find out in the movie that the new blades do have some form of purpose. So who is this Sith? Most people believe it to be actor Adam Driver. I am sure that Adam Driver is not the only Sith because there are always at least two.  A Master and an Apprentice. But who is the Master? Check out my article I wrote a few months back, just be warned, it is spoiler heavy but also very much speculation.

Definitely the money shot. I’ve waited 30 years to see this bucket of bolts being shown in flight again. This is part of the teaser where we hear the classic John Williams Star Wars theme and get our first glimpse of the Millennium Falcon doing some incredible acrobatics and attacking a pair of TIE Fighters. More than likely this is the same planet that appeared in the opening shot of the teaser. It’s hard to tell how much of a redesign the Tie Fighters went through since the move so quickly through the frames. They look great as does the Falcon.

One thing that I immediately looked for was if the circular radar dish that Lando knocked off in the attack of the second Death Star was back. Nope. It is replaced by a rectangular dish, which I kind of like the idea that it is different. It has to be hard to come by exact parts for the Falcon, so it makes sense that they replaced it with something else, probably more high-tech.

J.J. Abrams’ lens flare! Most people were worried that Abrams would go crazy with the lens flare effect like he has in his Star Trek films. That I only saw one use of lens flare is a good sign. I think it was used well in this shot because from that point of view it makes it look more realistic.

There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?

The Dark Side….and The Light.

The voice over. I was convinced that this was Benedict Cumerbatch but it now sounds like that this may be Andy Serkis. So what can we take away from these three little sentences?

• This movie takes place 30 years after Return Of The Jedi and according to the voice over, The Force has been dormant but there are signs that now it is back.
• He asks, “Have you felt it?” This means he is talking to another person who should also feel the presence of The Force. Only Jedi and Sith would feel the presence of The Force.
• He mentions, “The Dark Side….and The Light.” So yes, the Dark Side has reawakened, but so has the Light. That means to me, two awakenings. The narrator does have a deep dark sounding voice and more than likely he is a Sith but that he pauses and mentions The Light makes it seem possible that maybe he isn’t a Sith.

That is all that I came away with but wanted to leave you with this fantastic fan made teaser trailer that asks the question, “What if George Lucas got his hands on the trailer?” Enjoy!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v93Jh6JNBng]