Star Wars 7 trailer analysis: These are the details you're looking for
It's time – the first teaser trailer for Star Wars VII is here. Star Wars 7, also known as The Force Awakens, is set to be one of the biggest movie releases in the history of movie releases. News articles about single tweets about details in the film have exploded. The trailer released this morning essentially crashed the iTunes Movie Trailer website. Movie theaters across the country are seeing filmgoers come in JUST to see the trailer. It's madness. What we're doing here is breaking this trailer down scene-by-scene.
The first thing you're going to see is a desert planet. Given what we've seen of the prequels and the original series, it should be fairly clear that this is Tatooine. Like the year 1955 in Back to the Future, this desert planet is the place where big things begin. Also you'll notice that this is actor John Boyega in a next-generation Stormtrooper uniform.
Next you're going to see a rolling droid. This rolling unit shows the advancements the droid technology environment has made over the past 30 or so years – similar look, what with the R2-unit detailed head – but with transforming abilities. Chances are that ball will expand with pincer-legs when he stops.
Also above you'll see few pieces of podracers – again, indicating that if this isn't Tatooine, it's certainly a planet that has podracing as a pastime.
The next scene here is a bit blurry – but it shows an advanced Blaster Rifle. This is similar to the rifles you see Stormtroopers carrying throughout the series – just a bit bigger than a Blaster Pistol, but not quite an extended sniper-class rifle. Made for mid-range assaults.
Another view of the rifle shows that it's going to be a mix of metal and plastic. Closer to a stormtrooper uniform than the original Blaster Rifle.
A view of this Stormtrooper squad shows an opening ship door with sand flying off the latch. This and the appearance of Boyega in the sand earlier on suggest we'll be seeing our fair share of Stormtroopers on Tatooine, not unlike A New Hope.
What's that outside in the darkness? It's a Moisture Vaporator.
Next you'll see actress Daisy Ridley looking a LOT like Natalie Portman, aka Padme Amidala, aka the mother of Luke and Leia. She could end up playing either the daughter of Luke OR Leia/Han Solo, we'll see.
Between the above image and the below, you'll notice the Lightsaber Pike-like weapon is attached to the vehicle Ridley is riding, then gone. The above scene does NOT directly correlate with the below. It's the same actress and the same vehicle, but these scenes wont appear next to one-another in the movie.
The pilot you see here is Oscar Isaac (see above John Boyega link for more information on this actor), an actor who earlier this year was given an "expanded role" in the film after Harrison Ford's leg injury. He's flying a next-generation X-Wing.
Three next-generation X-Wing starfighters fly close to the surface of a lake on a planet we've likely never been to in this film series before.
In the woods on a snowy planet we see what's likely our first glimpse of Adam Driver (see above John Boyega link for more information on this actor). Driver is set to be the dark force in this trailer, and here it's clear he'll be rolling with a type of lightsaber we've not yet experienced – complete with three blades where before, only one – or two – would do.
Above we're also seeing what might be the first planet in the Star Wars series to have more than one climate. It's been a sort of strange bit in Star Wars that every planet we go to has only one sort of setting – Hoth is cold, without trees. Tatooine is hot, with craggy rocks and lots of sand. The forest moon of Endor is a forest, and that's it. Here we've got trees and snow – blasphemy!
Below you'll see the Millennium Falcon. This ship looks largely the same as we saw it in Return of the Jedi, but here we're seeing it with a replaced antenna (it was broken off in the Death Star II) – and we know it's got a Batmobile attached to it somewhere, too.
Don't get too dizzy here as we're upside-down, but notice how we're also amongst the dunes. It would appear that Stormtroopers wont be the only ones heading back to our favorite desert planet in The Force Awakens.
She might not look like much, kid, but she's got it where it counts.
Attacking the Millennium Falcon are two TIE-Fighters. These fighters appear to have more of a skeletal look to their outer wings than the original TIE-Fighter squads we saw in the original trilogy.
On the other hand, the face that we've got these TIE fighters, X-Wings, and only slightly modified Stormtrooper uniforms suggest there's a possibility we might be seeing some flashbacks to times before our current "30 years after Return of the Jedi" situation. The change between the ships in the Prequels and A New Hope were massive – these changes are more slight.
Then, finally, there's The Force Awakens as a title sequence. It's only just barely happening, but we're seeing a pull-back of the title STAR WARS just like we've seen at the start of each of the 6 Star Wars films so far.
Below you'll see the trailer in full, as hosted by the official STAR WARS YouTube channel, so you don't have to worry about it going offline any time soon. Have at it, and let us know what you think!