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Episode VII: The Force Awakens - Discussion * SPOILER THREAD * — Page 58

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I did notice one nice touch though. It looks like Daisy Ridley's goggles were scavenged from an OT Stormtrooper helmet.

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I'll break this down shot by shot.

Boyega in the desert - it's strange that people would say that this shot isn't Star War-sy, as it's a similar reveal to the trooper standing into frame in the desert of Tatooine (look sir, droids!) I like this shot, it gives me something real to latch onto immediately.

The soccerball droid - It's similar enough to the other droids we've seen in Star Wars movies to be familiar, and has a fun method of locomotion. Not much to say really, it looks good as long as it avoids Jar Jar comedy routines.

Troopers in the carrier - I'm not a fan of shakycam, but if it's used sparingly I can live with it. These shots look the most like a modern movie, but really I'm just glad we get actual people into the trooper suits this time.

Daisy Ridley (?) on the speeder - Looks like a lot of shots from The Phantom Menace, such as Maul on his speeder. That's not a bad thing, actually. I have no complaints with this shot.

Rebel pilot in cockpit - Evocative of the speeders on Hoth, classic and straightforward.

X-Wings over water - A nice effect that I don't think has been done in a Star Wars movie.

Robed guy in forest - As much as I dislike the crossguard elements of the lightsaber, upon rewatching it I really liked how the blade crackled with energy. It's a welcome break from the sterile glowsticks of the prequels, and seems like an intentional callback to the flickering sabers of the original

Millennium Falcon - One of the most exciting and worrying shots in the trailer. I hope that it ends up looking more realistic later, but I like how JJ is not afraid of moving the camera. It's exciting, and I'll bet it's much more so in the theater. The original trench run was intended to be similar to a roller coaster ride in the 70s, and this has the same feel.

Overall, I'm optimistic. Watching it the first time was very jarring, seeing Star Wars in such frenetic movement, but upon rewatching I'm definitely feeling this more.

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Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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I think it's important to note that you can also hear the sound of probe droids in the opening shot when Boyega pops up.

Personally, I don't want this film to turn out to be another Sith vs Jedi.  We already got that with the PT.  I know the teaser don't display this (after all, they didn't show any Jedi), but the character in the forest is making me wonder since that guy is most likely a Sith.

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See what I mean?

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It looks nice except for the lightsaber. Maybe some of you expect a true OT feel but c'mon, that's not going to happen. I think that some changes can be positive and we have to accept that most of the hands that created the OT are no longer part of the SW franchise, also things were different back in the 70's.

It's too early to tell how it's going to be since is just a teaser, maybe the upcoming trailers will reveal more but only when the real McCoy hits the theaters we'll know for sure if it sucks or not, until then I'll try to stay open-minded.

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The lightsaber was the most interesting part to me, as well as the 'Soccerball R2 unit'.

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I thought it was pretty good. This is the first thing to come along since 1983 that actually shows promise.

Its going to be a modern film and will have that modern look no matter who is making it (once it's on bluray just desaturate the colour). It will never seamlessly fit in with the OT visually, but it might in terms of pacing, characters etc.

I loved the shot if the x-wings, the falcon was a bit flashy, but it will be cool to see these old ships do things they never could before.

I'm guessing the weird lightsaber hilt will have some special purpose for fighting, so I'll hold off shitting on it for now.

Great that they didn't reveal the OT characters, it's a teaser. I want more.

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dan76 said:

I thought it was pretty good. This is the first thing to come along since 1983 that actually shows promise.

Its going to be a modern film and will have that modern look no matter who is making it (once it's on bluray just desaturate the colour). It will never seamlessly fit in with the OT visually, but it might in terms of pacing, characters etc.

I loved the shot if the x-wings, the falcon was a bit flashy, but it will be cool to see these old ships do things they never could before.

I'm guessing the weird lightsaber hilt will have some special purpose for fighting, so I'll hold off shitting on it for now.

Great that they didn't reveal the OT characters, it's a teaser. I want more.

Yeah, I was just thinking about it, and since the crossguard elements didn't activate until after the main blade, and since they seemed to act more like flames than mini-blades, perhaps the crossguard is simply some sort of plasma 'vent' that can be activated at will, and won't be used in combat except to surprise an enemy.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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dan76 said:

I thought it was pretty good. This is the first thing to come along since 1983 that actually shows promise.

Its going to be a modern film and will have that modern look no matter who is making it (once it's on bluray just desaturate the colour). It will never seamlessly fit in with the OT visually, but it might in terms of pacing, characters etc.

I loved the shot if the x-wings, the falcon was a bit flashy, but it will be cool to see these old ships do things they never could before.

I'm guessing the weird lightsaber hilt will have some special purpose for fighting, so I'll hold off shitting on it for now.

Great that they didn't reveal the OT characters, it's a teaser. I want more.

 

Agree with all you've said. I hated that sword to begin with, but it is a nice nod to traditional swords & hilts with that cross shape. And those two little blades probably protect one from getting ones hands lopped off by those pesky Jedi types! ;)

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Regarding the hand guard on the new Lightsaber:

It actually makes a TON of sense. Having practiced European fencing in college and Japanese kendo for the last eight years, I can tell you from practical experience that having a hand guard at the base of your blade is absolutely imperative to prevent your enemy from just sliding his sword down your blade and cutting your hand off. (It's one of the biggest complaints I have about traditional lightsabers but they're so cool I was always willing to give it a pass / that and there ARE techniques I've learned in Japanese sword fighting where you can survive without a hand guard, you just have to be extremely good and very cautious and very very very aggressive).

THE PROBLEM with the specific design we see here is that there is an individual emitter head for each laser beam that could easily be cut off thus rendering the hand guard a mood point. A better design would have been to have one emitter just like a classic Lightsaber but then have a prism or something that splits the blade in three ways but doesn't leave a gap of any kind between the main blade laser and the little crossing lasers.

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For everybody complaining that it looks too modern, are you forgetting how unbelievably 70's the original SW looked?

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I really liked it. Daisy Ridley looks really Star Warsy, and the fighters going over the water was a high point for me. 

As far as I'm concerned, as long as the story is good, that lightsaber could be a wiffle ball bat.

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NeverarGreat said:

Boyega in the desert - it's strange that people would say that this shot isn't Star War-sy, as it's a similar reveal to the trooper standing into frame in the desert of Tatooine (look sir, droids!) 

 Oh, how did I miss that? It looked more like shot from Indiana Jones to me (like all those shots when the camera is very close to Indy's nose when he's searching something he can't find. And no... not like the prairie dog!). But yeah, it's obviously an hommage to the shot you described.

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Also, we now definitely have a better understanding of the title.

There's been an awakening. Have you felt it?

Looks like it refers to the Dark Siders sensing someone discovering their latent Force abilities. Probably Daisy Ridley's character. Or it could be John Boyega, could explain why it looks like he's on the run.

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Also, loved the probe droid sound as Boyega gets up and shiftily looks around.  Makes me think maybe he's being hunted by the remnants of the Empire or something.  Maybe using the armor as a disguise a la Luke and Han in SW?

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Are we sure that's a soccer ball droid and not a droid playing soccer?

I'm asking for a friend.

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Perhaps the soccer ball droid only rolls when it's moving, and can deploy objects from its sphere?

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I seriously doubt the soccer ball is PART OF the droid.  It's probably just some quirky comic relief antic where the droid gets on the soccer ball and uses is as transportation. It may even be the only time in the film it does that.

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The Millenium Falcon has a rectangular radar instead of the big circle.

Courtesy of Lando Calrissian.

Some are going to hate it but its a call back to what happened to the original antenna in ROTJ.