Star Wars episode VII: The Force Awakens!

[Mechanizor]

So it was announced that's the name of the seventh Star Wars movie, which will be released at the end of 2015!
Here is the link of the Wiki page for some info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wa..._Force_Awakens

So what do you think of it, appropriate, lame, cheesy or typical?

[Guest]

Im neutral about it, until I see at least the trailer. But it would be messed up (and slightly funny), if this new trilogy of movies start off with:

"In a nursing home, in a galaxy far far away...."

[Mechanizor]

LOL, at least they've managed to bring the major old folks back!

[KnightStorm]

The lightsaber will double as a cane!

[Mechanizor]

Well sonny, you better hold on to my saber until I find my dentures!... Cut!!!

[Captain Atkin]

Sure beats "Attack of the Clones"

[Mechanizor]

I agree, and thanks for adding the image. ;-)... I really can't wait to see the first trailer, and I hope I won't be disappointed by the new vehicle designs this time around.

[Battle Ram Man]

The title is weak, hopefully the movie is not

[Mechanizor]

Well, I think they're keeping the tradition by following in the footsteps of the old Scifi B movies' titles.

[Battle Ram Man]

Yeah, but I think the original 3 did a better job of that. "The Force Awakens" seems kind of tepid somehow

[Mechanizor]

Probably it is, but it might sound cool for todays' kids, after all, most of this franchise is largely aimed at the younger audience even though we don't like to admit it.

[_RZ_]

The title is "eh." It's ok I guess. I am a really hardcore Star Wars guy and been following the behind the scenes quite a bit. While my Grayskull has the prominent spot in my home, we have two giant displays of both modern & vintage figures going on here too (always a work-in-progress.) Needless to say, we follow every bit of news dilligently!

If 1/2 of the rumors about the plot are true (no spoilers I promise ) then fans will be really disappointed I think. It seems from the rumors that the 1st 1/2 of the movie will be a lot of groaning in the isles when it comes out, and the 2nd 1/2 will have you chearing, crying, cursing the filmmakers. If people are expecting "The Dark Knight" quality from this movie, they will probably be very disappointed. Disappointment is certain if you're looking for characters and plots from the novels or comics too. The thing that makes me really, really weary is the talk of flashbacks in this movie, which is something Star Wars has never done on TV or in movies. I think if you want to see Han Solo and Chewbacca again and are looking for anything better than the prequels, you'll probably be happy with it. I am hoping that the great cast can give it some meaning, symbolism, some intelligence, but I plan on going in to movies just like I have for all of them on opening day since Empire Strikes Back at age 3- with an open mind and heart, ready for fun and adventure.

Personally I hate JJ Abrams and 99% of the stuff he's been involved in, but the casting and set design so far looks spot-on. Both Super 8 and the two Star Treks were pretty dismal in my opinion, and these are the closest things he's done to Star Wars. s\So my hopes are even lower than they were in 2002 when Attack of the Clones came out. The whole "mystery box" marketing and Hitchcock plot twists don't belong in Star Wars so there is hope that they remembered that the last Start Trek's one-trick-pony plot twists were an epic failure from moviegoers view, and won't work. But I'm willing to give everyone an unbiased fair chance. This guy has been loving Star Wars just as much (if not more) than me for decades, and this is his chance to become Untouchable Hollywood Royalty for life like his dad is (if you don't know the history, his mom & dad were both huge big-time exec producers of lots of really bad US TV movies in the 70's to the 90's.)

Are we allowed to talk spoiler rumors here or is that something I should stay away from or put in white text or something? Not sure of how everyone feels about these type of things.

[Mechanizor]

Personally I hate JJ Abrams and 99% of the stuff he's been involved in, but the casting and set design so far looks spot-on. Both Super 8 and the two Star Treks were pretty dismal in my opinion, and these are the closest things he's done to Star Wars.

The thing is, I really liked those Star Trek movies he's done, although I wasn't a big fan of the first one's plot, but everything else was okay to exciting to me considering the history of the franchise! So if JJ Abrams is faithful to the original Star Wars trilogy's vibe as we've heard, he has the potential to wow us as long as he doesn't allow Lucas's influences to affect his abilities as a director.

Are we allowed to talk spoiler rumors here or is that something I should stay away from or put in white text or something? Not sure of how everyone feels about these type of things.

I think you could now if you warn people of the potential spoilers.

[Y2Greg]

It's a little lame with a lot of typical. I hope the movie recaptures the glory of the original films, but I doubt.

[JimPansen]

Despite the saber, i like what i see

[Draego-Man]

I thought the lightsaber was the best part. Looks cool... like kinda homemade. The rest of the trailer is kinda boring and underwhelming.

[Captain Atkin]

It looks... old. I wonder if it is an ancient lightsaber.

[Mechanizor]

Guys,, this is only a teaser trailer, and the film is still a year away! I have a feeling it's going to rock!

[Mechanizor]

So they're using a newer version of the X-Wing, interesting!

[_RZ_]

And it looks pretty darn good too. Actually everything looks great, I'm way more excited than I should be.

The thing is, I really liked those Star Trek movies he's done, although I wasn't a big fan of the first one's plot, but everything else was okay to exciting to me considering the history of the franchise!

You know I guess I am being a little harsh on those two movies. I re-watched the 1st one after you posted this... They're ok for what they are. I am being a little too harsh I think. They just don't feel like Star Trek to me, I think if they were called something else ("Star Journey" lol) I would have liked it a lot more. And thanks for re-opening my mind on that one

I think you could now if you warn people of the potential spoilers.

Ok Rumors/Spoilers follow...

I'm going to white text it to keep those who want to be clean and free of mind next year free of plot spoilers.

If that's not cool then maybe this post could start a spoiler thread? Not really sure where to put this thought.

So if JJ Abrams is faithful to the original Star Wars trilogy's vibe as we've heard, he has the potential to wow us as long as he doesn't allow Lucas's influences to affect his abilities as a director.

Totally! But I am not so sure they're being faithful... The protagonists finding Luke Skywalker's lightsaber and severed hand from ESB and going on a journey to give them back to him, is just stupid if true, and sadly seems just like the type of corny thing JJ Abrams would do. It would provide a "direct connection" to ESB, arguably the most popular of Star Wars films, and thus fans could view it as a "direct sequel to Empire Strikes Back." Ugh. Luke Skywalker being a cyborg villain, Chewbacca having a robot hand like Luke... all corny and obvious and bad, and all sound kind of like moves JJ would make on this.

Good Morning America slyly repeating the Luke's lightsaber rumor last week makes me even more afraid that the rumor about it is true...

Luke losing his hand and his father's lightsaber disappearing from the series forever in Ep V, adds to the drama of that story- Luke loses all of his defenses and our hero is weak before his enemy, he doesn't have anything to back him up, he is all alone on that spire above the bottomless pit, when all the chips were down, he chose death before giving in to the dark side. To bring the hand and saber back makes the climax of Ep V less impactful, "Oh, well he'll get them both back in Ep VII, so its all right."

A lot of the stuff JJ directs/writes/involved in usually has some type of cheesy 1960's-1970's plot twist, which is not surprising given who his father is. And in some films it's a great idea. But for Star Wars- it is its own thing, and follows 1930's cinema tropes, not 1970's-80's ones. It's optimistic and positive, and it stood in contrast to the movies of it's time which were very dark, brooding, violent, adult... in a way, 1977 was a lot like the world of 2014 where everything needs to be real and gritty and dark and cynical as can be. Star Wars was a breath of fresh air!

The other thing that has me worried is JJ's tendency to use the "direct ties rule" for sequels, an old-school-Hollywood rule about sequels where they have to directly connect to the previous films in a very blatant way, either featuring an unresolved plot aspect of the first film, or the return of an item of importance, to "gace." This way, the audience who liked the 1st one have no reason to skip seeing the sequel ("well I can't miss Indiana Jones 4, it has the girl from the first one in it!") He's done this with a lot of his sequel films... Examples of this in other movies would be the quick flash of the Ark of the Covenant crate in Indiana Jones 4, the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, a lot of the plot from Back to the Future II, the final 15-20 minutes of ALIENS, I can go on and on... the point is in order to gain the audience's trust and enjoyment, you throw in things that directly tie into the 1st movie, or repeat scenes you know were a hit the 1st time with the audience. A movie that actually blatantly does this and is a perfect example, as makes fun of the trope, is Back to the Future II, because it basically is the 1st movie all over again for the last half- and it has a lot of fun with it. Return of the Jedi's Death Star II space battle is another good example (it's pretty much the same thing as the ending to the first film.) One that famously fails at this is ALIEN 3.

The Star Trek sequels are an example of this doing this direct-callback type of thing. The first film heavily features Nimoy as Spock despite it being a reboot with new actors, featuring the most popular of actors and characters in that series gives a reboot legitimacy. The second one upped the ante, and failed at it miserably- the film would have been a lot better without Khan and that direct touchback. The first three Star Wars movies are unique in that while there are "direct ties" via actors, props, etc. the ties are not the focus of the story, and for the most part the plots continue the story forward and do not look backwards (except for that ending of Jedi) and this is a big strength.

I think if the lightsaber or hand are involved in any real way, that kills the imagination and the new characters right off the bat, because they're not fighting any moral quandry, they're glorified deliverymen for the old characters. "Here is your hand sir, can I get some Force dude?" Star Wars is at its core about a young person making the tough journey from childhood to adult, having difficult choices to make, and trying your best to do the right thing. It is not about objects it's about feelings.

Luke's journey in each of the 1st three movies is this at it's core- in ANH it's his family vs his own desires for a future. In ESB it's helping his friends vs school so to speak. In ROTJ it's about being able to take the easy route to power at the expense of others. Even the prequels, despite their poor quality of getting these points across, at their core, there are the same ideas but in reverse- Anakin does not make decisions for himself, he reacts instead of being proactive, he immaturely does use his power at the expense of others and for the service of his temper and himself. If the prequels are about being selfish and the consequences, the originals are about being selfless and those consequences.

Again, in ANH Luke finds himself wanting to go have adventures in space at The Academy, a selfish desire, at odds with his responsability to his family; he chooses the selfless choice of helping his family at the expense of personal happiness, but is forced by circumstance to make a greater selfless sacrifice- the final battle which is considered a suicide mission by the Rebels to save the entire universe. In ESB he abandons his jedi school which kind of only benefits himself really, to help his friends. In ROTJ he is offered the chance to rule the universe, and turns it down to save the life of his friends. Maybe the new ones will have a turn on this: I can see a lot of room for difficult moral questions and stances if there is a Stormtrooper as one of the protagonists, which gets me psyched. I hope JJ and crew remember what Lucas forgot- that Star Wars can be about a lot of deep things, and not just lightsabers and jumping and CGI WOO HOO! I might be sounding really negative about the new movie but really, I'm psyched and have an open mind. The casting and set photos alone got me to rethink: "Ah, they got THAT guy? Nice! Wow, they got a great set designer! This is going to be WAY better than I thought it would. The leaked stuff looks GREAT! It's gonna be tough to mess this up now..." I hope the rumors are true and we'll be getting another look at the new movie in a few months...

[Captain Atkin]

New trailer with Han and Chewie!

[Mechanizor]

The new mini trailer looks great! :hemanrocks:

[Mechanizor]

And here is a quick LEGO version of the trailer by a fan/s:

[Battle Ram Man]

I'm getting pretty excited about this movie now!

[Captain Atkin]

Some new pictures:

[Mechanizor]

Great shots, these feel a lot like the original trilogy.

[Captain Atkin]

Some new pictures: