Argh,I'm traveling to Pittsburgh for the holiday, and they don't get a theater:-(

I'm trying to avoid spoilers, but I don't really consider a trailer a 'spoiler'. Putting aside what I think about the prequels, they all had amazing trailers.

Trailer WILL be up online, so no need to find a theater!

...and here it is....

Not much excitement here, but at the least the visuals look more "authentic" than the prequels. No signs of life from the original cast either.

The young black guy was last seen in 24!

Eh...

Spiffy effects...but these days every movie has those. I realize it's just a teaser, but the absence of any characters leaves me cold. It's more like a commercial for game.

I have a feeling this movie might resonate with those who are nostalgic for Star Wars (both the older "episodes IV-VI" generation and the "prequel" generation). But I don't see it creating a new generation of Star Wars fans.

I am however very much looking forward to the score!

Not much to see here. This looks like a preview for a video game. It looks like what I would expect from a JJ Abrams' TV movie. Maybe the next preview (Super Bowl Sunday?) will show us something more interesting.

At this point, I'm not seeing anything that would convince me to watch this in a movie theater. As with all other Abrams' productions, it appears to be better suited for home viewing. I'm also still not convinced they'll make that December 2015 release date unless they're planning to rush their post-production. And all that would do is make the movie look even more like a video game.

I'm still thinking that the original cast - particularly Hammill, Ford and Fisher - will only be in a few scenes here and there, likely near the beginning and end of the movie. The movie will really be driven by Abrams' new cast. It's possible that Anthony Daniels will have a little more to do, if Abrams has incorporated Threepio into much of the plot. It's also possible that Daniels will only appear in the quick cameos with the original cast.

I still think the film is going to be a HUGE commercial smash, especially with kids. And, upon further reflection, I think they are smart to sell the film on new characters. If it were me, I wouldn't have even brought Luke, Han and Leia back for another go-around...the prequels needed new characters, or at least side characters, who weren't saddled with baggage like the Skywalkers.

I mean, look at the crap HOBBIT cash-grabs and how much they've made. Or something like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, which was fine, but was hardly the second coming of Spielberg and Lucas as some proclaimed it to be.

The public appetite for the film is huge -- and given the Disney marketing machine, they will make sure young viewers who know nothing about any of the prior movies will be there in big numbers. I think, if anything, the film might appeal more to them than older viewers who will take issue with whatever Abrams does.

Anyway, with Williams scoring, I'll certainly be there...hoping it's better than STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS all the while And I think Abrams is going to be playing this very safe no matter what. Whether or not that results in a truly good movie remains to be seen, but at least his writing cohorts didn't have anything to do with the script which is a plus (apparently)

Oh well, at least as a teaser, it wasn't as bad as JURASSIC WORLD...faint praise as that may be lol.

AndyDursin wrote:I still think the film is going to be a HUGE commercial smash, especially with kids. And, upon further reflection, I think they are smart to sell the film on new characters. If it were me, I wouldn't have even brought Luke, Han and Leia back for another go-around...the prequels needed new characters, or at least side characters, who weren't saddled with baggage like the Skywalkers.

I mean, look at the crap HOBBIT cash-grabs and how much they've made. Or something like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, which was fine, but was hardly the second coming of Spielberg and Lucas as some proclaimed it to be.

The public appetite for the film is huge -- and given the Disney marketing machine, they will make sure young viewers who know nothing about any of the prior movies will be there in big numbers. I think, if anything, the film might appeal more to them than older viewers who will take issue with whatever Abrams does.

Anyway, with Williams scoring, I'll certainly be there...hoping it's better than STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS all the while And I think Abrams is going to be playing this very safe no matter what. Whether or not that results in a truly good movie remains to be seen, but at least his writing cohorts didn't have anything to do with the script which is a plus (apparently)

Oh well, at least as a teaser, it wasn't as bad as JURASSIC WORLD...faint praise as that may be lol.

I wonder who's doing the voice over in the trailer? Some say it's Benedict Cumberbatch. Could be. Sounds like him.

One other thing I noticed watching the trailer again -- the visuals have a much stronger real world appearance than the prequels. You can tell they are doing a lot more location shooting than the prequels so that at least is a positive...looks like the original trilogy a lot more by comparison.

As for Cumberbatch that would be ridiculous. He's already part of Star Trek and Marvel franchises...can you say overexposed???

Andy, I think you're right that the JJ Abrams' attempt will make a lot of money regardless of whether it's any good or not. I too am glad that he has John Williams doing the music, although just to play Devil's Advocate, are you sure you want a movie scored by John "Jurassic Park: The Lost World" Williams...?

I agree that Abrams will try to play this safe, but I honestly can't expect much from a script he's essentially written himself from Lucas' outline and the earlier version they had. Kasdan can only do so much, as he showed when his rewrite of Jedi still couldn't fix it.

This teaser simply showed a few shots, mostly of VFX. No real indication of what the heck is going on or what this movie is about, which only confirms for me that this will be a rushed affair, with the original cast members thrown in around the edges at the beginning and end to essentially bless it. We'll just have to see if they prove me wrong on this.

And I wouldn't want anyone to think I don't give Abrams credit for his talents. He's got a very creative mind for television. His pilot for LOST is one of the best TV movies I've ever seen, bar none. It is unfortunate that his work since then has not progressed in any significant fashion. In the case of the two Star Trek inflictions, his work has actually gone backwards, which is always depressing to see. I do hope that he'll do better with this movie and show the talents we previously saw on LOST, Alias and Felicity.

On the Cumberbatch front, he's quickly outpacing Michael Caine's record in the late 1970s for appearing in every single movie ever made during an era. But I agree it would be beyond ridiculous to have him in this movie. In fact, it would be downright Strange...

AndyDursin wrote: The young black guy was last seen in 24!

He (John Boyega) was also in the cool little British horror/comedy Attack The Block. He reminds me of a young Denzel Washington.

Still not watching this trailer (LALALALALALALALALA).

AndyDursin wrote:One other thing I noticed watching the trailer again -- the visuals have a much stronger real world appearance than the prequels. You can tell they are doing a lot more location shooting than the prequels so that at least is a positive...looks like the original trilogy a lot more by comparison.

As for Cumberbatch that would be ridiculous. He's already part of Star Trek and Marvel franchises...can you say overexposed???

On his recent appearance on The Graham Norton Show, he didn't seem to give much away, or did he?
It's about 50 seconds in.

I will say it was nice to see a trailer that wasn't tracked with Has Zimmer!

Paul MacLean wrote:I will say it was nice to see a trailer that wasn't tracked with Has Zimmer!

Absolutely! And that was much of the problem with that JURASSIC WORLD trailer...showing how ordinary the film is without Williams' themes.

What we can hope for is that EPISODE VII is good and provides Williams a forum to show the "modern" world what real film music is like. Frankly, if this was a Marvel movie and was being scored by whatever hack they usually employ (Tyler Bates or whoever), I'd probably not even see it theatrically.

His music for the prequels was superb (especially The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith), and many overlook how good the scoring was in those films.

Andy Serkis narrates the trailer and apparently plays a "small but pivotal" role (i.e. the new Emperor or something?) in the film according to Hitflix --

https://tv.yahoo.com/news/reveal-true-i ... 00005.html

AndyDursin wrote:

Paul MacLean wrote:I will say it was nice to see a trailer that wasn't tracked with Has Zimmer!

Absolutely! And that was much of the problem with that JURASSIC WORLD trailer...showing how ordinary the film is without Williams' themes.

What we can hope for is that EPISODE VII is good and provides Williams a forum to show the "modern" world what real film music is like. Frankly, if this was a Marvel movie and was being scored by whatever hack they usually employ (Tyler Bates or whoever), I'd probably not even see it theatrically.

His music for the prequels was superb (especially The Phantom Menace and Revenge of the Sith), and many overlook how good the scoring was in those films.

I would love to have the full SITH score - I thought he really nailed it on that one...and wasn't that the year that he did WAR OF THE WORLDS and MUNICH as well? I can't remember the third one he did that year. Anyway, I would bet that Williams will not change from his formula and the next SW score will be thematic, rich, textured, and MUSICAL. One can only hope that the "modern" world will take notice of it, but based on contemporary trends my hopes are not high.