Star Wars episode 7 teaser trailer released!

Well, after hours of anticipation, the Star Wars episode seven, The Force Awakens teaser trailer has released. Watch it below...

So, after digesting the first taste of JJ Abrams' first dishing of the re-birthed series...

It was very JJ Abrams-esque with the voiceover that sounded quite a bit like Benedict Cumberbatch (Kahn in Star Trek Into Darkness), the lighting and atmospheric changes as well as how the camera follows the Millennium Falcon all harkening back to Star Trek filmography, which is a good thing if you've seen the films (awesome!).









The first character we see is John Boyega popping his head up into the shot wearing what looks like a storm trooper uniform with a very confused/concerned expression.

Then we (unfortunately) cut to what looks like a droid designed by David Beckham rolling through what appears to be Tatooine.  I say unfortunately because the silliness of it reminds me of episodes 1-3, which I was hoping Abrams would steer away from.  Hopefully this shot is followed by John Boyega punting the thing to Alderan. 

Next is a super-cool scene of a group of stormtroopers on a ship preparing to disembark. Lights flashing, camera shaking, dark -very promising.

The next actor we see is (I think) Gwendoline Christie zipping away on a speeder of some kind (also on Tatooine. 

It is clear in this sub one second scene that her acting abilities surpass any exhibited during episodes 1-3 so again, promising.

Next a fleet of X-wing fighters zip into frame over a lake.  A very cool shot -we haven't seen them in action in a non-space/futuristic environment before (I don't think).

Then comes the coolest part of the teaser for me.  A person in black walks through a dark snowy forest and ignites a bad-ass looking lightsaber.  

The lightsaber ignites in two phases. First (above) is the regular 'blade' extension then (below) out pop two short flame looking things.  The entire lightsaber glows more like fire or lava with a touch of lightning...very bad-ass.

The last scene we hear John William's unmistakable introduction followed by a sequence where the Millennium Falcon does a cool loop through the air and along the ground before engaging with Tie-Fighters.  The camera work is marquee Abrams. 

and the title...

So, in my opinion, it looks promising, which means it looks like it won't be the train wreck that was episodes 1-3. Just sayin'.

P.S. all images are courtesy of StarWars.com -Disney -IMDB

Star Wars episode 7 trailer coming soon, will JJ Abrams meet expectations?

As a Star Wars junkie, I'm sure you know that the title of episode seven was announced earlier this month. The title left me feeling cautiously optimistic.  

Star Wars, The Force Awakens.

Just to back up a few steps -after the last three films (episodes/debacles 1-3), I was left disheartened with the franchise (see my rants HERE ).  When Lucasfilm sold to Disney, I was excited.  No more George Lucas (sorry, bro, everyone's time comes eventually), no more crappy casting and vomit-inducing love scene dialogue. I was even more excited when I found out that JJ Abrams was slated to direct.  

He did an amazing job resurrecting  the Star Trek franchise with Star Trek and Into Darkness, directed Super 8 (awesome movie) and Lost (best TV show EVER). Then they released information about the casting…including casting some of the originals, which horrified me (see THIS blog post for more on that). 

Then, primary casting was announced  and I was slightly relieved.   Good potential -especially with Abrams at the helm. 

Okay now we are current.  

The name releases.  Star Wars, The Force Awakens. This could be good, right?

My first thoughts are negative (unfortunately -damn you, George Lucas for making me so pessimistic!) 

Can the force sleep? 

Are all those little Midi-chlorians taking a cozy little nap?  

Who/how are they going to be woken from their comfy beds?

At the end of episode VI (Return of the Jedi) Luke is the reigning bad-ass when it comes to the force (possibly the only one) and his sister, Leia has ‘the force’ in a very fledgling state. The end. 

So 30 years later what has happened to the dynamic duo (Luke & Leia) to cause the force to fall into obscurity?

Here is where the positive thinking comes in.  Something bad had to happen, right? Something dark and very JJ Abrams-esque. Perhaps the collapse of the Rebellion, the banishment of Luke and Leia, the destruction of Endor, Naboo and every other annoying character, species and storyline Lucas created?  

See 'ya later, Jar Jar. 

End of Endor.

Things are looking up for sure.

According to THIS ARTICLE  from IGN, Disney may debut a trailer within the next 4-5 weeks.  Sweet! (fingers crossed)

So, with any luck, the galaxy is in ruin, the original cast is banished and occupies about twelve seconds of screen time and an awesome re-booted franchise is birthed.

Star Wars: Episode VII, The Force Awakens, is scheduled to release December 18th, 2015

There is a GREAT ARTICLE with several fan-made Star Wars VII posters worth checking out.   Two of the coolest (and two of the funniest) are below. 

Star Wars 7 -updates, thoughts, ramblings

Man, Vader's got good taste in books!

Some of you may know I'm a Star Wars geek...if you've read my blog you may have seen my Star Wars related posts (all of which are downright hilarious if I do say so myself)

The future of Star Wars -Star Wars VII 

Ten most annoying Star Wars characters. Ever. 

Star Wars 7; stop the nonsense 

A Jedi's Lament...part I 

Top five youtube videos supporting my disdain for the Star Wars prequels 

Yes, this is Star Wars related -ThinkGeek.com -funny stuff! 

Now that you're done reading all those gems, I thought I'd continue sharing my thoughts on the upcoming film.

Here is what we know:


Damn near nothing.

We know, from the StarWars.com news page that the release date (at the moment) is December 18, 2015.  From the site: (Feel free to skip right over this...)

"With pre-production in full-swing, a confirmed release date of December 18, 2015, has been set for Lucasfilm's highly anticipated Star Wars: Episode VII.
"We're very excited to share the official 2015 release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, where it will not only anchor the popular holiday filmgoing season but also ensure our extraordinary filmmaking team has the time needed to deliver a sensational picture," said Alan Horn, chairman of The Walt Disney Studios.
Star Wars: Episode VII will be directed by J.J. Abrams (Super 8, Mission: Impossible III, Star Trek) and is being scripted by Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan (Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi). Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams, and Bryan Burk are producing, with Tommy Harper (Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, Jack Ryan, Star Trek Into Darkness) and Jason McGatlin (Tintin, War of the Worlds) serving as executive producers. John Williams is returning to score Star Wars: Episode VII.
Shooting is scheduled to begin spring 2014 at Pinewood Studios."

 Actually, according to Alan Horn, the big cheese at Walt Disney Studios, filming is already underway.

As far as casting...according to this news report Chewbacca has been cast by the actor who has played him since the originals, Peter Mayhew. 

I'm not sure how I feel about Chewbacca being in the re-load of Star Wars.  I was hoping J.J. Abrams would move away from all the fuzzy, annoying and outdated characters (essentially the entire original cast) and on to characters with more depth and interest.

The IMDB page has (sadly) many of the original cast members listed...

...but fortunately their status remains rumored.

Think about Star Trek under J.J. Abrams's wing.  Did we see a bloated Bill Shatner squeeze into an Enterprise uniform? No!

  or an ancient looking Walter Koenig (Chekov)? No!

So why would we try and throw Mark Hammil (looking more alien than human)

or Carrie Fisher, a far cry from her days as Jabba the Hutt's palace slave girl, in the mix?

All I'm saying is that I fear for the film when I hear the rumors about casting members of the original cast.  We need to, as that insanely popular Disney flick, Frozen, character sings, Let it go!

In J.J I trust

My worries are quieted somewhat now that J.J. Abrams is at the helm.  I believe he is setting himself up as the next uber-power director in Hollywood a-la Stephen Spielberg.  He nailed it with Star Trek so why wouldn't he nail it with Star Wars?  Disney?

lets hope Disney doesn't try to shove too many kid friendly characters into the mix making it just plain annoying.

There was also some question as to whether the film would follow the Expanded Universe stuff (more on the EU below).  The Answer is no. (source article below)


So, will the old characters be in episode 7?  What do you think?

My answer: God, I hope not.
----------------

One thing I did discover was something called the Star Wars Expanded Universe (I'm a fan of the movies...depending on which ones we're talking about -these guys are hard-core!) which is HUGE and quite amazing.  Read more about it HERE or watch the video at the bottom.

Source articles: 
Star Wars: Episode 7 -What we know so far Cinemablend.com
StarWars.com Episode VII news
Star Wars films 'not beholden' to Expanded Universe


Other cool related sites:
http://www.theforce.net/
https://www.facebook.com/starwarsrocksmyworld
http://www.jedinet.com/
http://www.starwarsreport.com/

Fan Site listing:
http://starwars.com/connect/fan-sites/

Fan sites...wookieepedia LOL

Interesting video about the Star Wars Expanded universe.

If you write an awesome Star Wars blog, tell me!  I'd love to hear about it.

The future of Star Wars -Star Wars VII

by J.R. Wagner

J.J. Abrams

JJ Abrams has been picked (more like begged) to direct the next Star Wars film.

Two words: Thank God.

Shortly after the announcement that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm Ltd. came the announcement that there would be new star wars films. 

My first reaction was one of pure terror. You see, I've lived through a very similar announcement. The first time, we fans had come off the high of the original films years prior when we began hearing rumors of prequels.  Excitement rose until it was almost palpable...that is, until the films were released.

You can get a sense of how I felt about the prequels by perusing these posts:

Top five YouTube videos supporting my disdain for the Star Wars prequels
Star Wars VII, stop the nonsense
Top ten most annoying Star Wars characters

Anyway, it was a major let down. I actually did a speech about how George Lucas ruined my childhood.  This post; A Jedi's lament, covers some parts of that speech.

So, after cursing George Lucas for creating the prequels, I moved on with my life as a fan of film.  Years later I started watching this amazing show on network television (of all things) called Lost.  I was floored!  What an amazing, creative, cutting-edge show filled with fantastic actors.


And who was the man behind this ground-breaking show?  JJ Abrams.

Several years after Lost began came the greatest re-load of a series in the history of film.  Star Trek.  I'm not a Star Trek fan by any stretch of the imagination (or I wasn't at the time) but this film had everything a non-fan needed to appreciate the movie. Great acting, pacing, plot, creativity...and on.  Abrams pulled the drowning franchise from the depths. 

Not long after Star Trek came the end of Lost and a void, which has not been filled to this day, in my television enjoying life.

Thank goodness for the movies, right?



Along came a film that I fell in love with the moment I saw it. It so much reminded me of my childhood (except for the alien...and the train wreck) that I couldn't get over it! Who was responsible? JJ Abrams. The movie? Super 8.

So in my mind, Abrams had earned the street cred necessary to re-make just about any film.  Especially when so many big name directors (Ridley Scott: Prometheus -see my diatribe here) (Pete Jackson: The Hobbit -ditto here)  dropping the ball on their high budget films.

When I hard about Star Wars VII, all I could think was, ugh...how are they going to screw this one up.  Then, after some introspection, I decided there was one person who could resurrect this franchise.  JJ Abrams.  Lots of talk floated about from director to director and each announcement made me cringe.  Abrams originally declined and I though all was lost...alas, I was wrong.

There is hope for the Star Wars franchise after all!

Star Wars 7; stop the nonsense

by J.R. Wagner

I thought I was done.

I thought my whining and complaining and frustration had finally reached an ending point.

I thought the prequels marked the end of a three movie abomination.

I was wrong...mabye.

For those of you who don't know, I'm a Star Wars fanatic (the originals, not the three most recent disasters associated with the originals *cough* prequels).

Also for those of you who don't know, Disney has purchased Lucasfilm for some obscene amount of money (something like 4.3 Billion) and almost synchronously announced the release of a new film in 2015.

I knew I would have to address it at some point (and have been thinking about it ever since the Disney purchase was publicized) I just didn't think it would be so soon.

Today I read several articles that, if seen to fruition would spell the end of the franchise (although, after the prequels, I'm not sure it could get worse).

Here they are:

Harrison Ford "open" to reprising Han Solo in new Star Wars film

 No! No Harrison Ford! Sorry, dude, but you just don't belong.

'Star Wars' Episode 7 Sparks Interest from Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Will They Return to the Series? 

 Seriously?  Of course Hamill and Fisher are interested. What else are they doing? No. No. No!!!

New 'Star Wars' Will Be 'Biggest Event Movie Ever,' Says 'Lost' Co-Creator-Damon Lindelof eager to see what's next after Disney buys LucasFilm

What? I love Damon Lindelof's stuff but, with all due respect, I think he's got this one dead wrong. In the article he says:

As far as casting, my feeling is that they have to bring back the original actors. How can you express that these movies take place after the original trilogy unless some of those characters are in it?

What? Really? Because introducing C3P0 and R2D2 into the prequels wasn't irritating enough? Now we should take actors who, for the most part (although it could have been the directing...maybe) weren't great to begin with, add 30 years and throw them back into the same ridiculous costumes? No, Damon, No! This isn't Star Trek. Star Wars didn't originate from a TV series with limitless possibilities to entice generations of eager fans.


My advice; if you really want to 're-load' Star Wars you need to start fresh. None of the same characters, peripheral mention of the goings on in the original films and NO mention of the prequels simply out of spite (just kidding...sorta). The timeline should be at minimum one generation after Jedi, maybe two.

Fresh start. Fresh characters. Same world, different conflict- it is high time to move past the whole Jedi versus Sith thing and get to something interesting!






More to come!

To purchase Exiled, bid on the movie rights, hire me as a writer for the next Blade Runner film, the next Star Wars film...for videos, fan art, contests and more, visit my website!

www.TheNeverChronicles.com

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