Star Wars: A New Hope

Who’s the most important person now in the Star Wars franchise? JJ Abrams? Think again!

It has begun. Below you will find the trailer to the beginning chapter of the next Star Wars sequels, Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens,a new trilogy for a new generation. One well crafted 88 second trailer later, and it's just what we were hoping for. X-Wings, Tie Fighters, brand new Light Saber designs, the Millenium Falcon and just enough intriguing character moments to have us all guessing at plot points until the next one arrives. The style of camera work is also very interesting, a bit cinema verite, as we open on a character obviously on the run. We will have a full breakdown of the trailer coming next week. Our global Star Wars culture stirs in its sleep. George Lucas is whispering, “Wake up…” — for he has more life lessons for the youth. He continues on in his role as our children’s modern Walt Disney.

This second batch of Star Wars movies will hopefully fare better with the fans than the near-disastrous rollout of The Phantom Menace in 1999. The Star Wars community was split in two by the prequel trilogy. While on one hand it brought in a whole new younger audience to the franchize, the older fans who had waited so many years for these films were devastated that they were skewed to such a young audience.

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But there was something else missing, one might say the vital ingredients that made the original franchize so great.

Darth Vader Speeder Bike Attack
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There was no hope that we’d ever see Francis Ford Coppola, writer and director of the fantastic Godfather Trilogy as well as Apocalypse Now, work on the scripts as he had done on A New Hope. There was also no chance that Gary Kurtz, the original trilogies producer would be back either. Gary was just as involved with Star Wars as George Lucas was. He kept George on track on both development and production through American Graffiti and their early desire to do a Flash Gordon adaptation, the latter project evolved into Star Wars.

We can relax because J.J. Abrams, who so successfully resuscitated the Star Trek franchise with his reboot, is the director this time out.

No worries, right? So who’s left?

Leia the Starwatcher
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Lawrence Kasdan. The man who co-wrote Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi. The man credited with breathing life into Luke, Leia and Han, then taking them on a slightly darker path. Kasdan was the man who also helped bring Indiana Jones to the screen, co-writing Raiders Of The Lost Ark! Many fans, with serious Star Wars knowledge, were relieved when the first video journal for Star Wars had both JJ Abrams and Lawrence Kasdan in it. A hopeful sign that JJ wouldn’t have final say on the script, something many Star Trek fans had wished someone else had on that reboot. Lawrence will be around for a while, his name already linked with the further sequels and spin-offs planned by Disney for Star Wars.

So as the Jedi nation grows in its multitudes and the 2015 Star Wars Celebration Convention, scheduled for April 16-19 in Anaheim is projected to shatter attendance records, there remains little evidence of the Force ever having being asleep in these years after the third “prequel.”

Lawrence, our faith is with you.

No pressure.