Entertainment

Top 10 things I love about the new Star Wars trailer

I don’t know about you, but the second teaser for the new Star Wars movie got me all verklempt. No kidding. Or maybe it was just something in my eye. Whatever it was, the appearance of Han Solo and Chewey was the coup de grâce.

J. J. Abrams is speaking the superfan’s love language. This is an absolutely brilliant preview. It conjures all the feelings of my childhood while pulling my interest forward into new storylines. It is everything you’d want out of a trailer. In fact, these first two trailers are already better than all three of the prequels. They have exorcised my Jar Jar Binks demons. The force is strong in Abrams.

I know I’m not the only one eagerly anticipating Episode VII. December 18 can’t get here soon enough. So while we wait, here are my top 10 favorite things about this new teaser trailer:

10. Vader’s melted helmet among the imperial ruins.

9. Pilot “yahoo-ing” like I would if I could fly an X-wing fighter.

8. Han Solo and Chewey.

7. Epic cinematic vistas epitomized by crashed Star Destroyer.

6. No Padmé/Anakin puppy-love and no Jar Jar.

5. Cool hand Luke reaching out to R2.

4. Han Solo and Chewey.

3. The old John Williams theme music.

2. The Millennium Falcon. Enough said.

1. Han Solo and Chewey… they’re home.

16 Comments

  • ian Shaw

    I think it’s better to go without the trailers Denny. I started it a few months ago. Anytime something comes up on the screen or I get an email from a friend with a link, I ignore. Much better to go into the theater without my mind being pre-blown. Doing the same thing for Episode VII and Age of Ultron.

  • dr. james willingham

    Last night I posted a comment, and I hope to see a response. Was there something wrong? Did it even get through? My comment had to do with the fact that we might already have space ships traveling at speeds well above the speed of light. One science educator (a Dr. Laviolette estimated the speed at 200 times the speed of light. It makes sense of what the late Ben Rich is reported to have said to a group of alumni of UCLA. In any case, before I present that incident, permit me to call attention to the fact that in 1994 Miguel Alcubierre, physicist at the University of Mexico present an equation for travel faster than the speed of light (you all can find it on youtube and even the scientist in NY who interviewed Dr. Alcubierre). The only problem is that Ben Rich (former head of the Skunk Works of Lockheed that produced the stealth planes) said if E.T. were to come to us seeking help to get home, we could take him there – 1993. Really. I had figured out from various sources that we had tried to go to the stars in the early 50s and was told that it was in the early 40s and that something had gone wrong on the first effort. When they launched the ship they did not know there was a gravity warp between the earth and the moon. So they do not know where that ship went. While Star Wars is a bit of fun and entertainment (I went to see it with our son when he was a lad), having loved science fiction from childhood. The whole thing is meant to stir our interest in going to the stars, and I figure we have some 900,000 years to spread the elect from one end of THE (definite article in the original) heaven to the other.

  • Chris Ryan

    Question from 1 Star Wars fan to some others. Back in the ’70s/’80s how many of you got feedback from people in the church (not that it was by any means a majority, just a small minority) that Star Wars was a take down against Christianity, especially because of the catch phrase, “Let the Force be with you.” I got this from a handful of ministers growing up (but then I grew up Pentecostal and in Kansas). Curious how many others got this back then.

  • Don Johnson

    Glad you only mentioned JJB’s name twice, that is two times too many for me.

    You also repeated yourself in your list, so it is really a 10 item list or not?

    May the Force be with you!

  • James Bradshaw

    I wonder if the original Star Wars would have set off such a franchise if it weren’t for a couple key actors and the contributions of composer/director John Williams who gave the film a gravitas and depth worthy of Brahms or Mahler (particularly the “Throne Room” music at the end!).

    I’m not really a big sci-fi fan, but the original somehow made its way into our collective consciousness in a way that the more technically advanced sequels could not.

    I hope they can capture the spirit of the original in this next one!

    • Esther O'Reilly

      You’re probably right, but I think it was a combination of all those things plus Lucas’s quirky mashup of ideas—blending everything from Flash Gordon to Japanese comics to the Old West—and of course the groundbreaking special effects. It truly was lightning in a bottle. I don’t think it even turned out to be a sci-fi film. It’s a fantasy in space.

  • Derek Thornton

    I have a theory about the trailer.
    Everyone thinks because of the desert shots that it is Tatooine, but look at all the crashed ships. What if it isn’t Tatooine at all but the Forest Moon of Endor that suffered an ecological disaster from the battle in orbit and the Death Star explosion?

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