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Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens- Teaser Trailer Thoughts


As a HUGE Star Wars fan, I have been cautiously excited about the announcement of the new movies. We all know what happened when Original Trilogy fans got all excited about the Prequels…and look what happened. As one young enough to have grown up with the Prequels (so I understand they are underwhelming but I still like them) I worry that this is going to happen to me with these new movies.

So I’ve tried to stay as spoiler free as possible. I haven’t been keeping up with the news. This is only working slightly well, what with social media and all, but I don’t look at pictures, I don’t read news announcements; I want to go into the theater opening night with as little expectations as possible so if it’s not great I won’t be hugely disappointed. And if that happens, I’ll just disown these movies and stick with the Expanded Universe timeline that I’ve spent hours and hours of my life delving into through books, comics, etc.

Despite this, I decided that watching the teaser trailer would be harmless. And, once I found out that there were only 30 theaters playing the trailer and I was a 10 minute drive away from one, I decided that I HAD to go to the theater to see it for the first time.

The following are the thoughts that ran through my head while watching the teaser (in italics):

Ok, this is it. Finally!

Desert, Tatooine…this better not be a trailer where I watch the desert for eighty seconds while someone talks.

Oh, stormtrooper! Though is he a stormtrooper or is he pulling a Han/Luke and disguising himself as a stormtrooper for some reason? If he is a stormtrooper, I’d be pretty excited to see what his story is. Either way, this looks like some fan made movie. It’s so surreal. Like, some really intense fans got together and shot this, right?

Aww cute little droid! What’s behind him? Podracer engines? This guy better not replace R2D2.

SWEET new stormtrooper helmets! And they are still active. Hmm, does evil still rule the galaxy?

Oh pretty Tatooine lady. I wonder who she is. Han and Leia’s daughter? (Side note: Han and Leia BETTER be married in this movie!) I also wonder who this actress is. I don’t think I recognize her. She’s riding a weird new speeder thing. Again, this still feels like some super fans got together and made a Star Wars movie.

X-Wing pilot! Or I assume X-Wing. Interesting new pilot designs. It looks like they went the way of the Original Trilogies in the sense that technology seemed to go backwards…for people outside of the Empire that is. This STILL feels like a fan made thing.

X-Wings! I was right! I love X-Wings.

Ohp, here’s the bad guy. I like this new snowy forest setting, it’s something we haven’t seen before.

Wait, what is this lightsaber? Are we just trying to make it look cool by making the lightsaber look like a broad sword or is there a purpose for those little side lasers? This, for some weird reason, makes me the most nervous for this movie. I don’t want things to be done just for the sake of looking cool…

Millennium Falcon! Is it just me or does it look a little souped up? Maybe it’s because this is CLEARLY a CGI Millennium Falcon? Wait, what is this shot? This shot doesn’t feel like Star Wars. Oh, lens flare. It feels like JJ Abrams. More nervousness. I don’t want to think “JJ Abrams” when I see the movie, I want to think “Star Wars.”

Titles. I like that they’ve placed the subtitle between “Star” and “Wars.” This still feels surreal, like some fans made this. It wasn’t excitement that hit me at the end of the trailer, it was more…”hmmm.” I don’t know how to describe that feeling. And after more than several viewings afterwards I feel the same. Does this mean that I’m not going to like the new movie(s)? I’m not really sure.

I do worry that on first viewing of this new movie I’m not going to be able to accept that this is actually a real flesh and blood Star Wars movie. Because I really didn’t believe it when I saw the trailer. Like my brain doesn’t associate this as being Star Wars. My brain’s all like “Aw, silly people who think this is really Star Wars. You’re cute.” Not to say that this is how I want to feel or how I’ll always feel. It just doesn’t connect right now.

Now, I’d like to talk about the other big trailer that came out this week in comparison: Jurassic World. This trailer got me REALLY excited, and I’m a fan of the original movie, but I’m not a die hard fan like I am with Star Wars. To be fair, the teaser for Jurassic World was meh. But the trailer (despite having some sub par CGI) got me really excited! What really hit me was the music. It was a lovely haunting spin on the original theme. And I kinda wish they would have done something like this with Star Wars; taken something loved and recognizable and used it to transform the emotional experience into something more powerful. Maybe they will do this with the movie, it just wasn’t clear from the teaser.

And again, this was just the teaser, so maybe I shouldn’t put TOO much thought into it. Hopefully the full trailer will spark something inside me. Right now though, I remain cautiously excited.

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