A wrecked Star Destroyer. A closeup on a TIE Fighter pilot. Stormtroopers in formation. Lightsabers and droids a plenty.
But Harrison Ford's Han Solo says it best in the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens: "Chewie ... we're home."
Director J.J. Abrams was among the cast and crew that unveiled a new trailer for the new Star Wars film — the seventh overall since director George Lucas' original film in 1977 — at Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, Calif., Thursday.
The new trailer was a mix of new and old for fans of the sci-fi franchise, beginning with a voiceover from Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) intoning via a voiceover that his family was strong in the Force — a major theme from Lucas original trilogy as well as the prequels that followed the backstory of his father Anakin Skywalker and his journey toward the Dark Side of the Force as Darth Vader. (There is even a glimpse at Vader's burned helmet.)
The familiar sights of X-Wing Fighters — with Oscar Isaac's new pilot Poe Dameron zooming around in one and giving a quick "WOOOOO-HOOOOO!" — TIE Fighters and the Millennium Falcon were seen in various planets, and although fans still don't have much of a sense of plot, they do see Finn, John Boyega's Stormtrooper character, getting a hand from Rey, a scavenger played by Daisy Ridley from the new desert world of Jakku.
Vader might not be around anymore yet the Empire, taken down at the end of 1982's Return of the Jedi, seems to be strong decades after its fall. There is a new lightsaber-wielding baddie named Kylo Ren — glimpsed in the first teaser in November from behind, we see him full frontal and with facemask in the new trailer. And Stormtroopers stand at attention in front of a new symbol eerily similar to the Imperial cog sigil.
The trailer leaves many questions for the fan base: Who's the next Force-filled Skywalker hinted at by Luke? Is Kylo Ren the newest Sith lord following Darths Maul, Sidious and Vader? Why does that one Stormtrooper have a whole chrome thing going on? And will rolly-polly droid BB-8 be as popular as old stalwart C-3PO? (All signs point to yes in that regard.)
The prequels and their characters — looking at you, Jar-Jar Binks — tested the patience of many fans who grew up with the original Star Wars movies, action figures and bedsheets, yet even the most jaded person tired of the Force, Jedi knights and John Williams theme music had goosebumps seeing Ford with that familiar Solo smirk and hearing Peter Mayhew roar again in Chewbacca fur.
It just so happens that not only are the Skywalkers really strong in the Force but it seems Abrams is, too.
