The Force Awakens Official Trailer

[Girdeux]

I actually liked the old form of a lightsaber, it shows me that the lightsaber evolved over time. I always hated the idea that in the old EU that it never improves.

 

Its seems pretty apparent now that the old sith in canon never used a modern day lightsaber. They were more like hybrid slash weapons. Especially with the example of Darth Bane and his pike-saber. Now the question is whether the jedi had the technology of a modern day lightsaber or used something similar to the old sith.

 

Im assuming Driver's characters collects the ancient form of lightsaber from a famously known sith lords tomb.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Girdeux

[Paelo]

Double bladed lightsaber looks cool.

 

Well yes, even I will admit the double bladed lightsaber looks cool. It is however the definition of a geek weapon, it looks awesome but it's about as practical as a chocolate teapot.

[Beniboybling]

Well yes, even I will admit the double bladed lightsaber looks cool. It is however the definition of a geek weapon, it looks awesome but it's about as practical as a chocolate teapot.

Really? For what reason?

 

Anyway I'm happy to abide by the rule of cool here, but this lightsaber doesn't look cool, it looks dumb.

[Falensawino]

P.S. Who was doing the voice over? I read over at KMC I think that it was Benedict Cumberbatch...

Sounded like Adam Driver to me.

I hope it's not Andy Serkis, don't like being wrong.

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And the CG... I don't know, but to me, this looks WORSE than what the Prequels did. Then again, this is J .J. Abrams we're talking about. It looks so much like the style of his Star Trek movies. It had a very large "fanfilm feel" to me.

, don't like the way it was filmed at all, not in the classic Star Wars way, weird headshots and leg shots, so much CGI... Everything that made TPM bad and it worries me.

I agree with what most has been said, it was a crappy teaser trailer and it didn't feel like Star Wars.

I'm also worried about the similarities to JJ Abrams' Star Trek directing.

• "It looks so much like the style of his Star Trek movies"
  
• "weird headshots"
  
• "it didn't feel like Star Wars."
  

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Lightsaber crossguard - I really hope there's a logical explanation to that!!!!

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And I don't get people going nope tot he hand guard anyways. If you EU lovers can accept a light whip, light batons, and even lightsaber style clubs, why is a hand guard all the sudden the straw that broke the camels back? It's more practical than a light whip.

Besides the cross-lightsaber is probably just owned by the guy on the trailer. People react like all sabers will look like this. And we have seen/read about weirder things like lightwhips, inquisitors' funny chakhram lightsaber hilt.

Crossguard sabers have been in the EU for a while, nobody cared before. starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Crossguard_lightsaber#Appearances

 

(Feb 2004)(Dark Horse comic book) Star Wars: Republic 61: Dead Ends

(Dec 2005)(Dark Horse comic book) Star Wars: Purge

(Nov 2008)(Nintendo DS video game) Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance

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How much more ridiculous can it be compared to the fact that a light blade has no mass and yet they can swing it around with gyroscopic inertia as if it were a 14 lb. katana blade? Cut off a 9 in. metal pipe, and try and twirl it around like they do in the movies. I don't see how that's any more ridiculous than light whips, and light tonfas.

This saber sounds different, like an improvised custom construction. Could have used a heavy mass synthetic crystal. It looks bigger, thicker and more unstable than regular sabers.

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When I heard the roar of the X-Wings engines, I felt my eyes get moist, when I heard the OT Fanfare blare through the trailer and saw the Falcon swoop through the screen I swear to God I almost got up and did some kind of kid in a toy store dance.

 

Star Wars has been a part of my child-hood since I watched the OT in the 90's with my parents, seeing a new trilogy come to life now...its...wow.

My first star wars movie was the 1997 special edition Return of the Jedi in theaters.

My second movie was 1999's The Phantom Menace.

In 2000, I finally started watching my 1995 re-release unedited VHS trilogy, it was gifted to me in 1997. Watched these tapes religiously every night, sometimes I watched two movies a night. (this trailer still gives me goosebumps

, it played at start of each tape)

 

In the Force Awakens trailer, what made me feel star wars were the the x-wings skimming over the water. I've played Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader (2001, Gamecube), Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike (2003, Gamecube) and re-watched ANH Battle of Yavin, RotJ Battle of Endor enough times to give me flashbacks whenever I see x-wings in formation.

 

Though, back in 1997 all I cared about was Nintendo 64. pbs.twimg.com/media/B3ikXt7CUAIoWGW.png (twitter.com)

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But my fear is that JJ is going to put his "touch" on lightsabers in the same way that he put his "touch" on Starfleet phasers, meaning, changing them completely in that they don't reflect that which is canon. If all the lightsabers in the movie end up looking like this, it would not be appealing in my opinion.

He's got a lucrative merchandising deal, probably wants as many new products that he can market and make money off of. Explains the stormtrooper redesign too.

 

Also, is it just me, or does it look like the Millenium Falcon went on a diet? It looks thinner and sleeker than I remember. I'm gonna have to watch Episode 4 this weekend for a comparison. If JJ tweaked the Falcon, like he tweaked the Enterprise....oh that just won't fly in my book.

Maybe it's just the new dish twitter.com/thefrankwu/status/538363298216181764

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I know doing a Cathar would require a lot of CGI, but no more than in planet of the apes movies(That would bring in a lot of the Furry Fans)

How about finally giving Bothans some screen time.

"Many Bothans died to bring us this information." ―Mon Mothma

Edited December 1, 2014 by Falensawino

[Paelo]

Really? For what reason?

 

Anyway I'm happy to abide by the rule of cool here, but this lightsaber doesn't look cool, it looks dumb.

 

Difficult to explain it completely if you aren't familiar with weapons. To put it plainly though, when it comes to melee weapons, the simple designs are the most effective, and the basic rule is, reach is your friend. Which is why in both western and eastern martial arts, polearms are a superior choice to things like swords (aside from being cheaper to produce)

 

The double bladed lightsaber is it's own worst enemy because it limits the possible movements of the person wielding it, which would make it easy for the person fighting you to predict your attacks. The only possible means to avoid such a limitation would be to leave one end "sheathed" so to speak, until a sneaky opportunity to suddenly deploy it mid fight possibly presented itself. That and maybe in a release from a blade bind, using the opposite end for a quick strike.

 

Another way to understand some of it's limitations is to take a close look at the choreography of the Maul vs Qui Gon and Obi Wan fight. Anytime they're both striking at him at the same time, it's always one striking high, the other striking low, and at the exact angle where the other end of his double bladed lightsaber is pointed. Reason being, the double bladed lightsaber is fixed at the middle, which means if Maul is blocking a high strike from one, it's impossible for him to block a second strike anywhere at the same time, unless the second strike is directed in the area where the other end of his lightsaber is pointed whilst blocking the first attack. So in other words, if they hadn't worked so hard to choreograph the fight in such a way to hide the gross limitations of the weapon, it would have been painfully obvious how short that fight should have been.

 

 

If he was simply duel wielding single lightsabers he wouldn't be limited like that, because the design of a standard sword doesn't have the kind of limitations that come with a double bladed weapon.

 

 

Also, think about our weapons history. The Sith/Jedi are basically space knights/samurai and the lightsaber is their sword. A weapon inspired from an actual historical tool of ancient war. No where in history however do you find any warriors (in either the east or west) using a double bladed sword, and it's not through lack of imagination, as they exhausted every reasonable idea for practical designs on how to kill each other. It's simply not a practical design for someone to use in an actual fight.

 

You might also like to watch this video to help understand it a bit more https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPXOOKEnvoQ

 

Obviously this doesn't mean much in a film, and as you pointed out, it still looks cool. But if a very impractical weapon like the double bladed lighsaber is going to be part of the movies/story, there's no reason not to use something that actually has practical design elements like a cross guard lightsaber.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Paelo

[Beniboybling]

Interesting, I hadn't considered that, very interesting.

 

Anyway I see the praticalities of the cross guard, although the one from the trailer looks like you could just cleave through the emitters, but it just looks dumb, it doesn't look like Star Wars in the sense that it is far too medieval.

 

And in general I think three lightsaber prongs is one too many. Not a good look.

 

Personally I think the EU design looked much much better, for more subtle and elegant.

Edited December 1, 2014 by Beniboybling