During this week’s Monday Night Football, the first official trailer finally debuted. Prior to the halftime release, Starwars.com revealed the official poster for the eighth episode of the Saga. What stands out immediately is Luke’s position in the montage that is typically reserved for Darth Vader. Speaking of Vader, speculation online has pointed out that the position of the characters and wording on the poster take the form of Darth Vader’s helmet.
Following the trailer, tickets for the movie were made available from most theater chains. Now as the anticipation begins to build for the December 15th release, we thought we’d take a look at some of the already iconic images that can be found in the trailer. So without further ado, let the speculation begin!
We begin with the very awesome and familiar shot of the new and bigger walkers approaching a base on Crait. We have seen this image below as it was featured as a free poster giveaway from Toys ‘R’ Us on Force Friday II. Of note is the contrast in size between the AT-M6s and the traditional AT-ATs.
A brief parallel to the Prequel Trilogy is made with this shot. Working as a homage to both the Empire Strikes Back, when Vader enters the base with Snowtroopers, and to when years before he storms the Jedi Temple on Coruscant with the 501st in Episode 3; this scene looks great.
Here we see Luke Skywalker accepting his first lightsaber (and Anakin’s second) from Rey. Of note is the slight reveal that he could still be carrying around his blaster damage from getting shot in the hand on Jabba’s sail barge.
“I’m not afraid!” “You will be. You will be…” Did Yoda see 30+ years into the future or is Rey and Kylo’s connection to the Force too much for the hermit Jedi Master to handle. Will he reject training her because in his opinion the Jedi need to end?
Here we believe we see once again a flashback or Forceback to the destruction of Luke’s Jedi academy. While that may be the case, all we can see is a backyard burn pit. Never before in Star Wars, with the exception of Ewoks, have we seen so much wood in the universe.
Kylo in full contemplation in front of retro Death Star decor.
The Falcon being chased by TIEs through rocky landscapes…where have we seen that before? (Hint: in Empire Strikes Back’s asteroid field scene) Here’s hoping they don’t land in the mouth of anything.
Finn finally gets his rematch with Phasma. If you look closely you can see Finn in the reflection of her helmet. Who lives and who dies? We have to wait until December but just in fair warning, if it’s Finn who dies, LFL will have just made an enemy.
The caption of this photo should read:
“Sandcrawler Crushes Pack of Crystal Wolves!”
Here we see the “Sandcrawler” gate slowing closing in front of what appears to be a sad General Leia. Again, a direct homage to Echo Base and the odds of survival being 725 to 1.
Training, a la Dagobah, appears to be going harder for Rey than it was for Luke himself.
No shortage of Imperial-era AT-ATs and AT-STs in this First Order vehicle bay.
If this is CGI, it is incredible…and very disturbing. Also what is disturbing is the massive amount of potential misdirection found is this trailer. Who is Snoke speaking of? Who is Luke fearful of?
This Force yoga position is a tough one and the question is who will be there to help Rey out of it?
The trailer wants us to believe Rey will turn to Kylo to help her complete her training and/or the least educate her on the Force. Is he the one to save her from Snoke? Does Kylo go light, while Rey goes dark? Will their Wonder Twin-like merging of powers be a problem Luke will have to remedy?
So many great scenes from the trailer but it does only feature the core Sequel Trilogy characters. Not a single new or minor character saw any screen time leaving DJ, Rose, Paige, Canto Bight, Admiral Ackbar, General Hux, Porg Caretakers, and even the second most important droid in the galaxy C-3PO a mystery until we head to theaters in December. And we can not wait!
