Thanks for sticking up that last shot of the Stormtroopers Ryan, as I didn't have time to grab it the other day when I mentioned it.
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As far as the actual teaser itself, turned out I was pretty happy with it myself overall. It was much shorter, and less revealing than a lot of the first teasers/trailers for the previous chapters, that's for sure...and here's a good round-up of all the others in the saga for comparison - http://toybox.io9.com/looking-back-at-the-history-of-star-wars-teaser-trailer-1664150160/+charliejane
I had an idea that J.J.'s filming style was going to give this sequel a distinctly different 'look' to previous instalments, and I'm perfectly okay with that. Cinematography and SFX techniques have evolved since the days of the Original Trilogy after all, and I'm just hoping we get something that approaches the overall fun and adventure of those particular chapters this time around...even if there's some 'shakey cam', dubious 'colour-grading', or plenty of 'lens flares' going on.
A different kind of 'cinematic' look for a 'Star Wars' movie might be quite refreshing at this point, I reckon...and with all the other upcoming movies planned with different directors in the coming years, things are bound to have a bit of a 'shock-of-the-new' vibe for those of us used to the look of the originals. So I'll welcome the change if that's what's coming...and hope that they'll turn out to be enjoyable.
Judging by the teaser itself, some of the effects shots are certainly going to have a 'faster, more intense' feel to them in this latest one - the dizzying Falcon shots alone seem to bear that out, and along with the brief X-wing shots, they looked fabulous as far as I'm concerned. And I thought the 'lens flares' in both the Falcon and X-wing shots were suitably subtle in those effects shots. I'm hoping J.J. keeps things as restrained throughout. Oh, and I'm delighted that the original TIE fighter design is making an appearance too! It was always one of my favourite ship designs from the OT, and I didn't necessarily expect to see any of them at this future point in the saga.
We're heading into a whole new era of 'Star Wars'-related movies now, starting with this one...and I have a feeling that J.J. and his effects team are going to set quite a high bar for the look of things with this episode to kick things off. I liked the look of the Stormtrooper shots for sure, and 'roller'-droid (or 'Ball-E' as walking_carpet coined it!) is just the latest in a long line of 'comedic' droids with a 'personality' - such as the startled 'mouse droid' that scurries away on the Deathstar, for instance. But while it's verging on the 'overly cute', I just hope it's antics are 'child-like' rather than 'childish', if it gets a lot of screentime... And I really liked the unusual look of Daisy Ridley's 'lollypop'-speeder too - it had a kinda Original Trilogy vibe to it's design I thought. As far as the new-fangled 'sword'-saber goes...both my kids loved the look of it, so I'm happy with their verdict. I'm okay with it myself, although I remember thinking at the time that I would have preferred the 'guard glows' to have ignited at the exact same time as the main blade glow - but that's just a minor thing on my part, and no big deal.
However, I've no doubt the next, more revealing trailer will have them absolutely straining at the leash to go see this come next Christmas. And that's how it should be, where this franchise is concerned...and things can surely only improve on the last trilogy we ended up with. I hope J.J.'s entry is a good 'un, so that anyone who is seeing a 'Star Wars' movie for the first time will be keen to check out the earlier onscreen adventures of Luke and Co. too - even if it's a pity they are only likely to see the latest 'Special Editions' of those as things stand...
Of course, I'd assumed that we'd be getting some brief headshots of some of the original characters such as Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, C3PO, and R2...but how wrong I was. J.J. completely blind-sided me on that score, as I'd hoped to see some footage of how they appeared onscreen in this. So as he's likely keeping them for the next trailer (which is bound to make everyone go even more nuts over this movie), I'd have to risk seeing a lot more footage/potential spoilers if I want to see how they look, dammit. As far as the person in the black robes with the new lightsaber goes, that 'leaked' image which .Mac. linked to about a month ago on page 42, may indeed turn out to be legit after all. The pic certainly seems to match what we see in the teaser, and I quite like the look of this character if that's the case. Here's the link again for any of you that may have forgotten what it looked like. It's a little indistinct, but you'll get the idea - http://www.starwarsunderworld.com/2014/10/rumor-star-wars-episode-vii-villain.html
Anyway, the Force has indeed awakened with this early preview as far as I'm concerned. The only thing I kinda missed were the '20th Century Fox' logo/'Lucasfilm Ltd.' logo/and 'A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...' text appearing beforehand, this time around...but if the worst comes to the worst, and I feel this movie ends up requiring a re-edit someday...then I guess I can always include them anyway for continuity's sake, and dispose of any 'Disney/Bad Robot' logo nonsense while I'm at it...
But I hope it doesn't come to that, and that J.J. knocks this outta the park for us all. :)