MadCap's Trailer Reactions - "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" (Take Two)

Okay, so this one is a lot less meh.

A lot, lot less meh.

Go watch it, folks. You might need a cigarette. I know I did.

...

Okay, watched? Good. Let's talk about it.

Believe me when I say, there's not a frame of this trailer that I don't like. We see a bit more on newcomers Finn and Rey, as well as spoken dialogue from new baddie Kylo Ren, but that's not really the big draw - at least for me - but I'll get to that.

We get an introduction to Rey, her salvaging from what looks to be the Imperial Star Destroyer wreckage we saw in all the teasers before.  She insists that she's "no one".

Finn, on the other hand, was apparently raised in the new "First Order" and now has nothing to fight for, being stranded on the Not-Tatooine planet shown in the teasers.

We also see a short scene of Kylo Ren monologing to the melted remains of Darth Vader's helmet, promising to "finish what [he] started".

Then we get some nice shots of the Falcon swooping through the deserts of Not-Tatooine (yes, I know it has a name, but I'll just call it Not-Tatooine, thank you) while Rey talks of stories about what happened, presumably of the previous three movies.  And now we come to my favorite part of the trailer: Han Solo himself tells a stunned Rey and Finn: "It's true.  All of it.  The dark side. The Jedi. They're real."

If you've ever seen the original film - A New Hope - you'll remember Han's words about the Force when it's first presented to him, not believing in the "hokey religions".  But it shows that he's grown, he's developed.  He's not only gotten to know the Force, but he's seen it in action.  He's a believer now, far beyond where he was before back in 1977. It's an awesome moment and it makes me really, really hopeful that we'll see more such development for the others.

And, of course, we get other shots of both the First Order and the Resistance (apparently the New Rebellion) on various worlds and our heroes in various situations - including some snowy forest world where Finn ends up in a lightsaber duel with Kylo Ren.  Over the last few seconds, a woman's voiceover narrates: "The Force. It's calling to you. Just let it in..."

Oh, yeah, I'm really, really hoping this doesn't suck.

Indeed, the only thing I don't really care for is the fact that there is very, very little of Luke (just reusing that one shot of him touching his new mechanical hand to R2's dome) and implications that there is no Jedi Order around...which is confusing, considering that Luke has had three decades to get going on that again. In the EU he'd already done that and had enough time to nearly get them all destroyed in the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.

But still, a very, very minor issue in what I really, really, really hope will be an awesome movie. Which we need, since there hasn't been a good Star Wars movie since 1983.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will premiere in theaters December 18, 2015.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.

MadCap's Trailer Reactions - "Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens"

I've got a meh feeling about this one.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I'm definitely excited for this movie.  I've been a fan of the Star Wars films every since I was able to sit up and look at a flickering screen on the television.  My generation actually stands as one of the last few to have seen the original films before the 1997 re-releases...and, of course, the dreaded Prequel Trilogy.  Before Doctor Who, before Star Trek, and before virtually everything else, there was always Star Wars.

Then the prequels happened.  Oh, lord did the Prequels happen.  But it's been nine years since the last of those, and will be ten by the time that this film actually comes out - a film that could, perhaps, save the franchise from the Lucas-ification (yes, that is a word, leave me alone, spellcheck) that it suffered? Will we be able to forget about the nine year old boy who thought things were totally "wizard"? Will we be able to leave behind the sand, coarse and rough and irritating and getting everywhere? Will yousa be able to forgive George for creating Jar Jar Binks?

Yeah, I could spend this entire write up bashing the prequels, but let's go for some taste, shall we?

It's a teaser trailer that Abrams and company have brought to us, and I'm normally rather against them.  Why? Because they have nothing of substance.  I know that the movie is coming out, there's no need to torment me with vague imagery.  Give me something of substance to speculate on, please.  As it looks, we have something like that, though not a great deal.

The camera opens over the sands of a desert planet (presumably Tatooine) with a voice-over speaking of an awakening in Force, with some shots of our three main leads - from the look of it an Imperial Stormtrooper, a desert-dwelling speeder block riding woman, and a Rebel/New Republic X-Wing pilot.  The voice also speaks of the dark side, showing a sinister figure all in black with his/her back to the camera, activating a red-bladed lightsaber.  Suddenly, the screen goes black and the voice speaks, "...and the light..."

And then, to the glorious John Williams's score of the main theme, the Millennium Falcon makes a long-awaited return to the franchise as it soars over the dunes of the desert world, and the title card is shown.

So...why am I not foaming at the mouth excited? Because that doesn't really tell me anything I didn't already know.  Beyond a shot of some Stormtroopers moving off a drop ship and the Falcon flying into battle, I haven't seen any familiar characters I care about.  No Luke, no Leia, no Han or Chewbacca (who is alive again, which I will get excited about).  The new characters are interesting, but we're not given any details on them besides the bits we can piece together from their short snippets.

And then, of course, there's the clear antagonist for the film.  Who we also know nothing about, and who has the utterly stupidest lightsaber I have ever seen in my life.  The saber looks very much like the standard one-bladed, the crimson blade shooting out from the hilt as you would expect.  The blade also, however, has two miniature blades that shoot out to the sides to form a crossguard as you would see on a longsword.

Why?

If it were that weapon, I could understand the need to do such a thing, but putting it on a lightsaber only makes it all the more dangerous for the wielder.  Consider how lightsaber combat has been done even in the Original Trilogy.  The crossguard would only serve to slice off the wielder's hand in combat, leaving them completely defenseless.  And don't we have enough hands cut off in this franchise already? Or is Abrams purposefully tempting the Rule of Three? Seriously, if this was an attempt to do something different, I can understand that, but it doesn't even fall into the "Cool, but Impractical" category, it just looks really stupid.

That being said, the teaser - for what it does show - does actually look pretty good.  Despite the cleaner look of the Prequels to it, I will say that it at least makes more sense for things to look more advanced after the Original Trilogy than before it (one hang up of the Prequels that I admittedly have never been able to get over, irrational as it may be).

So, will the Star Wars franchise be able to rise again under the watchful care of the House of Mouse? No idea.  If the Marvel films that have been produced are any indication, though, we have next to nothing to worry about (so long as Drew Pearce and Shane Black have nothing to do with any of them).  As for the teaser, though, it doesn't really perform its function for me at least.  I'm excited for the movie, but this did nothing to deepen my appetite for the film...which is also still an entire year away from coming out, and thus might contribute to my apathy.

I'll still see it, but the teaser did little for me.  Perhaps the full trailer will do more.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is set to be released on December 18, 2015, by Walt Disney Pictures, Lucasfilm, and Bad Robot Productions.

For the latest from the MadCapMunchkin, be sure to follow him on Twitter @MadCapMunchkin.