Star Wars: The Force Awakens (J.J. Abrams, 2015)

[Jeff]

Ugh, I'm not going to have to be familiar with any of the other Star Wars stories/series/books outside of the films to follow this one, am I? I grew up with the films, love the original trilogy, but never had interest in any of the stuff outside of them, the prequel trilogy and those 80's animated shows with the Ewoks and the Droids being the only other Star Wars related things I've seen.

Ditto to all of that, but I don't think it's going to be a problem. Abrams and Company have reportedly ignored any Star Wars lore outside of the three (okay, six) canon films. To the extent that there is any story overlap with the post-Jedi universe created in Star Wars books and whatnot, it will all be re-explained here as if being invented for the first time.

[Luke M]

Should we be worried the art was created in the prequel style instead of the original Star Wars posters?

[How rude!]

Seems like a certain major character is missing from that poster.

Look closer - he went to the dark side.

[Mr Sausage]

Seems like a certain major character is missing from that poster.

Look closer - he went to the dark side.

I did wonder if the masked guy with the claymore lightsabre was supposed to be Luke.

[A man stayed-put]

I'm not fully up to speed on this stuff, but thought the claymore guy fella was Adam Driver's character.

[jindianajonz]

Seems like a certain major character is missing from that poster.

Look closer - he went to the dark side.

I did wonder if the masked guy with the claymore lightsabre was supposed to be Luke.

The masked dude is Adam Driver, and is almost certainly not Luke, though that article makes me wonder if

Spoiler

Luke is somehow involved in the Knights of Ren group that he joins.

Ditto to all of that, but I don't think it's going to be a problem. Abrams and Company have reportedly ignored any Star Wars lore outside of the three (okay, six) canon films. To the extent that there is any story overlap with the post-Jedi universe created in Star Wars books and whatnot, it will all be re-explained here as if being invented for the first time.

Here's a primer on the post-Jedi events that are still canon. I don't think Abrams is ignoring everything outside the films, but Disney did invalidate most of the old Extended Universe continuity a year or two ago in order to allow give more freedom to the plots of upcoming films. Things like the recent novels, comics, and the Battlefront video game are all "official". I'm guessing that the new canon will be referenced in the upcoming films, but I doubt it will play a bigger role than giving an occasional wink to die hard fans.

[lacritfan]

Entertainment Weekly's take on the poster

[How rude!]

Entertainment Weekly's take on the poster

''His red blade, and the staff of Daisy Ridley’s Rey combines with the downturned lightsaber of John Boyega’s Finn to form a pyramid''

'' The way her staff aligns with his unstable laser sword makes me worry about her fingers''

This is positively filthy! The Force is awakening just thinking about it.

[dx23]

"Boycott 'Star Wars VII'" Movement Launched; Movie Called "Anti-White". Social media keeps bringing the idiots and racists to public light.

[flyonthewall2983]

Trailer

[Drucker]

Luke has to be the villain.

[Luke M]

God, I hope this movie this doesn't suck.

[dx23]

Luke has to be the villain.

They teased that was going to be his future in the Dark Empire comics released in the 90's but for the sake of the characters legacy, I hope is not.

[Drucker]

Bigger fans than I on twitter speculate Luke in hiding, r2d2 visiting him, perhaps his son the evil one. Also possible relationship drama between a Solo and Skywalker. That's all I got.

[SpiderBaby]

Guessing Han and Leia's kids are the hero (daughter) and villain (son) of the movie. And the son kills Han for dramatic twist at the end. Luke playing the Yoda role.

[aox]

I speculate Luke won't become a player until Episode 8 or really 9.

[R0lf]

If the villain is Luke's son and the movie is about a weapons cold war I would guess the villain is a plant.

[Numero Trois]

Did we really need the Death Star Redux pt. 3? Isn't there a road already well travelled (and likely to be again with Rogue One)? I'll still be seeing it, but I was hoping for more originality and less an 'upmake' of the original saga.

Is there anything in the various ancillary merchandise over the years that gives the idea that this franchise is about new ideas? Or that the producers are interested in anything remotely like that? After the second movie it's been one rehash after another. I don't know about the books or video games but certainly the Marvel comics frequently resorted to Death Star and/or Darth Vader knockoffs in between or after the movie events.

[flyonthewall2983]

Last night's SNL bit

[Dylan]

A Star Wars scoring session with John Williams and J.J. Abrams

Not that I'm surprised, but it sounds amazing.

[flyonthewall2983]

I would think sitting in on a scoring session would be pretty cool in general. There's a great couple minutes in Mark Rance's doc on Magnolia where the camera just slowly moves around Jon Brion's orchestra.

[flyonthewall2983]

Be careful, people are planting spoilers everywhere it seems.

[jindianajonz]

Be careful, people are planting spoilers everywhere it seems.

Very true.
All I can
Do is try to
Evade forums and other places where jerks try to
Ruin the movie for the rest of us. I had hoped to
Limit my exposure to these spoilers,
Until I realized that the
Killjoys will
Eventually get me no matter how I try to avoid it,
So I
Decided to just suck it up
And see the movie on opening weekend instead.
Damn trolls.

[domino harvey]

Yeah, wasn't planning to rush to see this, but considering how everyone's going to try to out whatever surprises there are, I gritted my teeth and bought a ticket for Friday morning (every other showing this weekend is sold out already!)

[jojo]

The positive reviews seem somewhat over the top right now.

Can't wait for Armond's review.