Why it's Time for The Force Awakens to Reveal Some Secrets

Before anyone reads that title and gets worried I just want to say there are no spoilers in this post!  When I say "reveal some secrets" I'm talking about how the characters, specifically the legacy characters, will look in The Force Awakens.

At this point Star Wars: The Force Awakens is only 6 months away (and I get excited just typing that!).  The second teaser trailer at Celebration gave us our first look at Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) as well as extended looks at our new heroes Rey (Daisy Ridley), Finn (John Boyega) and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) and new villains Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) and Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie).  And let's not forget everyone's favourite new droid BB-8!  Last month's Vanity Fair gave us an even better look at those characters along with a behind the scenes look at Lupita Nyong'o in the motion capture suit that she's using to help bring the pirate Maz Kanata to life.  And then StarWars.com revealed one final photo - Andy Serkis, in motion capture gear like Lupita, and named him as Supreme Leader Snoke, presumably the leader of The First Order.

Looked at like that it's been an incredibly busy few months with more than enough reveals made to see us through to next month's San Diego Comic Con.  Especially with Rebels returning this month, Disney Infinity 3.0 Star Wars Edition being fully revealed and this week's E3 bringing more news on the highly anticipated Battlefront and a new expansion for The Old Republic!

Sadly that was not the case.  Hasbro's 6 inch First Order Stormtrooper hit E-Bbay ahead of the official announcement that the first The Force Awakens action figure would be available at SDCC.  Then the real leaks started.  First a travel mug was found in Mexico that reportedly showed C-3PO's new look for the film.  Then, just yesterday, a first look at Carrie Fisher's Princess Leia leaked as well.

Hasbro's Stormtrooper hitting E-Bay probably isn't too surprising when you consider that the toys take roughly a year from concept to store and an image of prototypes for Rey, Finn, BB-8, Kylo Ren and Chewbacca already appeared online at the end of last year.  But the travel mug find and especially yesterday's leaked first look at Leia really got me thinking.  How much longer can Disney keep things secret?

Now, I'm not referring to plot details, those should be kept secret until the film's release and I applaud Lucasfilm and Del Rey's decision to limit the novel adaptation's release to digital until early next year.  In fact, I'd be more than happy for them not to release any type of synopsis before the film opens.  But the looks of major characters?  I think it's time for those to be revealed, especially legacy characters such as Luke, Leia and C-3PO who will be all over merchandise in just a few short months.  As long as revealing them doesn't reveal any spoilers for the plot then I can't see any reason to keep them hidden any longer.  I mean, sure Disney/Lucasfilm probably have a well planned publicity schedule for the film, but with leaks coming more frequently now maybe it's time for them to try and get ahead and do some big reveals of their own.

It's already been announced that The Force Awakens is going to SDCC next month with a special panel in Hall H on Friday 10th July and Hasbro set to make "a special product reveal" at their panel that same day.  With Ant-Man in cinemas later that month and Entertainment Weekly confirming that Hasbro will debut the first wave of toys at SDCC it seems extremely likely that Comic Con will be the place where we get the first full trailer for The Force Awakens and with it our first official look at Luke Skywalker and the remaining legacy characters.  At least I hope it is.  I would hate for The Force Awakens panel not to show Luke and Leia and then for Hasbro to reveal their action figures.  Or for both panels to avoid officially revealing them only for them to leak again.

The truth is, I can't see them waiting any longer than Comic Con either.  The merchandising onslaught of #ForceFriday will be less than 2 months away by the time Comic Con hits and you can bet things will start appearing on E-Bay in August or maybe even earlier.  Comic Con really is their last big, high profile, chance to debut the remaining legacy characters before the merchandise reaches stores.

Whenever Disney/Lucasfilm choose to make the reveal I just hope it's sooner rather than later.  Personally, I've avoided the leaked images of C-3PO and Princess Leia but I can completely understand why fans want to see them.  I feel like I've waited this long, I can wait a bit longer.  I really don't want my first look at these characters to be a grainy screen shot.  But the closer we get to the film the more likely these leaks are and the less impact the official reveal will have.  I hope we get another moment as memorable as "Chewie, we're home." from SDCC.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The Force Awakens - Trailer Analysis (No Spoilers!)

Ok, I was so hyped in the build up to this.  It had been suspected for a while that the next trailer for The Force Awakens might be shown at Star Wars Celebration but with the announcement of the live stream cinema events and then the live stream online it was all but confirmed.  I feel sorry for anyone that had to put up with me at work last Thursday because I was totally hyper.  I loved the first teaser but I was so ready for more!

The panel with JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy was a great way to build the anticipation, then came R2 and BB-8 (I love BB-8!!), our new trio of leads and finally the original cast.  I wish I could have been there, even on the live stream you could feel the energy in the room.  It must have been an incredible feeling.

Then came the moment everyone had been waiting for;

WOW!  I mean I was just blown away.  It showed less than I expected (I was honestly expecting to see a fuller reveal of Luke and Leia) yet more at the same time.  From the moment Luke's narration began "The Force is strong in my family..." I had goose bumps.  When it was over it felt like I'd just been reunited with old friends.  I felt like a kid again, who'd just walked out of A New Hope in 1997 and couldn't wait to get his own lightsaber.  And the best part of not being at Celebration was that I could re-watch it again and again straight away.  And I did.  A lot!

Ok, before I analyse the trailer a bit here's the obligatory spoiler policy.  THERE WILL BE NO SPOILERS.  Nada, zip!  I don't know, I don't want to know and I don't want to spoil anything for those who also don't want to know.  Unlike the Prequel Trilogy we have absolutely no idea where the story is going and I can't wait to be taken on that journey later this year.  Anything I post here is my own speculation based on what's officially been revealed in the teasers and at Celebration.

The teaser opens with an incredible sweeping shot of a distant speeder on the desert planet of Jakku.  Almost instantly the sight of a downed X-Wing in the foreground grabs your attention but as the camera continues to pan across the desert you suddenly realise that's not a mountain or dune in the background.  It's a crashed Star Destroyer!  It's a stunning visual that raises a very interesting question.  What the heck happened here?!

Thanks to Star Wars celebration and the upcoming DLC for Battlefront we know that the Battle of Jakku took place not long after Return of the Jedi which begs the question, what could have happened so soon after Endor that the repercussions are still being felt at the time of The Force Awakens?  Could this be the moment when the Empire becomes The First Order and the Rebel Alliance becomes the Resistance?



Luke Skywalker?



"The Force is strong in my family..."  This was my favourite part of the trailer.  I love Han and Chewie, but Luke Skywalker was one of my childhood heroes and just hearing his voice again gave me chills.  And the way it was done was simply perfect.  Teasing glimpses at the charred remains of Darth Vader's helmet, a robed figure implied to be Luke Skywalker and someone handing a female figure, implied to be Leia, Luke's first lightsaber before he tells someone unseen "you have that power too."

This trailer is like the perfect teaser because it just raises so many questions!

Who recovered Vader's helmet from Endor and why?

Is that Luke Skywalker?  If so where is he and is he alone?  Both teasers have shown us Kylo Ren with his extremely distinct lightsaber blazing but there's been a distinct lack of Jedi.  Luke was told to pass on what he had learned but it certainly doesn't look like he's rebuilt the Jedi Order by the time of The Force Awakens.  Has he even trained Leia?

Luke's old lightsaber?!  Last time we saw this it was lost on Bespin.  This wouldn't be the first time it's shown up again (it came back in the classic Thrawn Trilogy in the old Legends canon as well) but to see it again thirty years after it was lost certainly makes me wonder how it fits into the story.  We know Rey's a scavenger and Jakku appears to be something of a junk world so maybe that's the connection, but if so then how did it end up there?  Plus that doesn't look like Rey's hand passing the lightsaber to Leia.  And there's always the possibility that it's not been lost for 30 years...

"You have that power too." Though we don't see who he's talking to, the implication here is that Luke has found an apprentice.  Is it Rey?  Finn?  Maybe Poe?  Heck, it could be someone else entirely but I've waited a long time to see Jedi Master Luke Skywalker so I can't wait to see how this plays out and for Luke to finally pass on the knowledge of the Jedi.

The rest of the teaser has a faster pace as we get quick action shots of our new heroes and villain.  Poe Dameron flying the new style X-Wing over water.  Kylo Ren in action as everything around him burns.  Rey, Finn and BB-8 running from an attacking TIE Fighter.  BB-8 hiding on what looks like the Millennium Falcon.  Rey offering Finn her hand to help him up, presumably their first meeting.  But there's a few shots that stand out.  The first is this one;

The First Order

The new Stormtroopers look great, but what really caught my interest was the figure in black, standing in the centre under the banner.  Could this be the ruler of The First Order?  A new Emperor?  It certainly doesn't look like Kylo Ren but then we've never seen Ren without his mask on and the figure is too far away to make anything out.

There's a quick shot of what appears to be a TIE Fighter blasting the inside of a Star Destroyer hanger bay followed by Finn removing a blood stained helmet.  We know Finn is a Stormtrooper (or at least John Boyega implied he was at Celebration but he could have been messing with us) and that The First Order is hunting him so it's reasonable to assume he's defected.  But what has caused him to defect?  What's he looking at when he removes that bloodied helmet?  And is that him in the TIE Fighter, shooting his way out of the hanger?

Who is this awesome looking Stormtrooper?

The trailer closes with some fantastic footage of the Millennium Falcon being chased by a TIE Fighter into the wreckage of the downed Star Destroyer.  Then the screen goes black and we hear an unmistakable voice say "Chewie".  As we're given our first real look at two of the heroes of the Original Trilogy, Han delivers his already iconic line "we're home."

"Chewie, we're home."

Which of course begs the question, what's Han referring to as home?  It looks like they're on the Millennium Falcon.  But if Han hasn't been Captain of the Falcon for the last 30 years then who has?

The teaser trailer did a fantastic job of building up excitement for the film without giving anything away.  In fact it only served to raise even more questions that the first teaser from last year.  It's an exciting time to be a Star Wars fan and I can't wait to see what the future holds!