STAR WARS (untagged spoilers, yo)

[Dr. Cactus]

Well, the trailer didn't tell us much of anything that we didn't already know; but it was damn cool, and given how little it showed its impossible to fault it.

The effects looked great; the scenery was interesting and diverse, the Falcon and the X-wings looked real, that little ball droid thing was inventive and charming; and I am very intrigued by John Boyega's character in the stormtrooper suit. Looks as if he's going to be some sort of reformed Empire supporter come Jedi sympathiser used to deliver expository dialogue about the Empire and the Dark Side. The cool three-headed lightsaber thing seemed like a subtle jab (pun intended) at The Phantom Menace, which made me smile.

So after the first few seconds of the film we've been shown, there are no glaring warning signs. No lazy computer effects or scenery. No obnoxious racially insensitive rabbit creatures. Just a lot of imaginative, visceral, glorious Star Wars fun. I really, really hope this is true of the film when it is released.

[Johnny Deformed]

Maybe the character in the Stormtrooper suit is just a reference to A New Hope?

[CousinMerl]

That was a very nice first teaser and I liked the voiceover and pretty much all that was shown (guy in stormtrooper armor, the little gyro-droid, the new stormtroopers and the new lightsaber and so forth; Millennium Falcon vs. TIE fighters with the theme playing over it was possibly the standout).

Overall, it certainly did what a good teaser should: tease the film without revealing much of the story.

[kupomog]

Read an article called "Here Star Wars, I Fixed Your ‘Force Awakens’ Lightsaber Crossguard For You." I am definitely sick of people whining about the crossguard on the lightsaber.

[steamed_hamms]

don't understand people getting grumpy about the practicality of a lightsaber
it is a fucking laser sword, lads

[box elder]

i mean, it's not just that it would be a terribly stupid design. it also just looks dumb. i don't see how expressing that is somehow "wrong"

i get that the super nerdy people may make it unbearable, but they'd be unbearable one way or another over this

[kupomog]

Who said it was wrong

People can and are expressing whatever they want

[Matty]

I like the shot of the droid. Looks very Star Wars visually. I dig the movements of Mr Sith, but the cross guard is a bit too much. The concept has something cool, but it fails visually for me. Plus it feels like it's just there because they felt a need to upgrade the light saber up a knotch. Especially with the delayed reveal. I think less would have been more in this case.

I hope this has something new to tell beyond the 'here are some more Sith for the good guys to fight over another trilogy', though

[Matlock]

This actually could be good because it's written by Lawrence Kasdan.

[Ryan]

this looks very good and the cinematography is already instantly better than the strange, quasi-photorealistic prequel look and matches the OT much better so yay for that

still a bit too early to tell. obviously a year from now this opinion could fully change.

[Steve]

Good teaser, I am more excited for the movie now.

So people actually are complaining about the lightsaber thing? Well, of course they are! I thought it looked pretty cool. Also got super happy when the Millennium Falcon showed up.

[Sniper Squirrel]

It's cool that the empire and rebel designs look the same, but doesn't make a ton of sense if it's supposed to take place several decades after Jedi. I also hope they try and explain it as some kind of "New Empire" coming out of the shadows after a long time being gone, because it makes no sense that the same civil war would be going on for this long

[CousinMerl]

Regarding the new lightsaber with the crossguard, I found this joke pic the other day:



Funny thing is that the bottom part kinda makes sense; I know the design is "rule of cool" but logically, it would have been better if the crossguard was part of the handle itself and maybe the small lasers on the sides were sticking out over it.

[Suomynona]

Good trailer, too short, want more. I nearly squeed when the Millenium Falcon showed up while the Star Wars theme played.

What the hell is up with the lightsaber though? I thought Lightwhips and double lightsabers were impractical already, but this is like a lightsaber deliberately designed to slice the wielder's hand off.

Also, I'm not sure how much J.J. Abram's style is going to affect my enjoyment of the film. True, I've only seen one use of lens flare in the entire trailer (and to be fair, lens flares also came up in the prequels), but then there was also the shaky cam when the Millenium Falcon was flying at the end, which was kind of jarring when none of the Star Wars films never shook the camera in its dogfight scenes. If that's going to be a regular thing, it's probably going to make the battles much less clear to watch.
I will give him kudos for deciding to push for more physical sets and actual extras rather than relying too much on CGI. The prequels actually did use physical miniature sets for many of its scenes, but there was still a CGI overload, especially with clone troopers and humanoid characters that really could've been played by actual extras. So I'm glad Abrams is aiming to make things look more tangible.

I know the entire Expanded Universe is considered a separate canon from J.J. Abram's Star Wars now, but since it's still going to be used as reference material, I'm betting that the woman on the speeder is Jaina Solo, and the Sith enemy is either a reborn Palpatine or evil Jacen Solo.

[Ryan]

Somebody made a good point that the lightsaber is probably not a true lightsaber, so there's that.

That said: who cares

[Ryan]

also

[The Goode Family]

the voice is serkis
https://tv.yahoo.com/news/reveal-tru...032000005.html

[Jims]

this looks very good and the cinematography is already instantly better than the strange, quasi-photorealistic prequel look and matches the OT much better so yay for that

This. The fact that they were comfortable enough to put that (fairly) long shot of the desert in their trailer suggests to me that they're not going to be so hyperactive with their cinematography this time around. The prequels were so ridiculously busy visually that they lost track of some of the pacing of the original films.

[LukeMM95]

Seriously, why is everyone making such a big deal that the stormtrooper is black? Stormtroopers are not clones, at least not all of them are. If that was the case then how come they had different voices and were shown chatting among each other?

Anyway the trailer was pretty good. It got me excited for the movie, which is saying something since I currently have very low expectations. The new lightsaber design is a bit dumb though. I mean it will probably look cool in action but it doesn't look very practical. The effects look really good too. I especially liked that shot of the X-wings flying across the lake. And of course they had to show the millennium falcon so all the Star Wars fanboys could simultaneously cream their pants. Can't wait to see more.

[Ryan]

Seriously, why is everyone making such a big deal that the stormtrooper is black? Stormtroopers are not clones, at least not all of them are. If that was the case then how come they had different voices and were shown chatting among each other?

that guy isn't even a stormtrooper. he's supposedly a jedi, so he's probably just wearing a stormtrooper outfit as a disguise

[Sam]

either way it's just thinly-veiled racism if you care the dude is black

[Matlock]

I read on Making Star Wars he's a defecting stormtrooper and the empire are tracking him down, which could possibly be true because at the start of the teaser you hear the same noise as the Viper Probe droid makes at the start of Empire Strikes Back.

[steamed_hamms]

[CousinMerl]

[pax]

Even if we just got a brief glimpse of the Stormtroopers on the ship, just the simple fact that they're coming back makes it even more awesome.

[LosTickaToeRest]

I used to be a total fanboy of the original trilogy and be kind of ambivalent about the prequels (mostly disliking though I have a lot of stupid nostalgia for Phantom Menace) but over the past decade I'd pretty much stopped caring altogether about the franchise. The teaser is definitely piquing my interest though. I might even pay to see it in theaters, which is a big leap for me.

[iambobdole1]

It's cool that the empire and rebel designs look the same, but doesn't make a ton of sense if it's supposed to take place several decades after Jedi. I also hope they try and explain it as some kind of "New Empire" coming out of the shadows after a long time being gone, because it makes no sense that the same civil war would be going on for this long

As was hinted at earlier, the expanded universe novels address this, so I imagine the movie will take a few notes from this. Short version: there was a collection of various bad guys collectively known as the Imperial Remnant. Essentially, these were Imperials who hadn't received any orders after the second Death Star blew up, and carried on with their missions, believing the war was still going on.

[LukeMM95]

[Ryan]

Amazing how those dudes never stop being hilarious

[Sniper Squirrel]

As was hinted at earlier, the expanded universe novels address this, so I imagine the movie will take a few notes from this. Short version: there was a collection of various bad guys collectively known as the Imperial Remnant. Essentially, these were Imperials who hadn't received any orders after the second Death Star blew up, and carried on with their missions, believing the war was still going on.

Oh, I get that wars go on for a while after the main battle, the real life battle of New Orleans is a classic example, but we're talking 30 years. Even if the Death Star wasn't even the official last battle, it was still a major turning point, and in most historical cases, those signify a very short time for the opposition, like the south after Gettysburg, or the nazis after the battle of the bulge...My point being if the rebels weren't able to put the final nail in the coffin in a year or two tops, they deserve to lose