Trailer Trashin’: Return to a Galaxy Far, Far Away in the Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Official Trailer

Happy Halloween, dear readers! Whether you’ll be out trick-or-treating, at home giving out candy, going to parties, or something else entirely, I hope you enjoy the holiday. Now, let’s take a look at the official trailer for the biggest movie of the rest of the year, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

Premise: The Force Awakens is set approximately thirty years after the events of Return of the Jedi (1983), and features new leads Finn (John Boyega), Rey (Daisy Ridley), and Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac) alongside characters returning from the previous Star Wars films.

My take: I love Star Wars, I’m excited for this, let’s get into it.

0:08-0:16: Rey (Daisy Ridley) exploring what is presumably the wrecked Star Destroyer we saw in the second teaser. Her protective gear is reminiscent of both the Tusken Raiders/Sand People and Leia’s bounty hunter disguise from Return of the Jedi.

0:18-0:23: A female voice asks “Who are you?” and Rey replies “I’m no one.” The first voice is believed to be Max Kanata, a space pirate played by Lupita Nyong’o. It’s also interesting to see Rey and BB-8 together on the sands of the desert planet Jakku. It was previously thought that the droid belonged to Poe Dameron, but maybe he’s actually Rey’s.

0:25-0:31: Rey watches a ship taking off, and gives the slightest hint of a smile. Much like Luke Skywalker before her, Rey is someone from humble beginnings who dreams of getting off-world and seeing the rest of the galaxy.

0:36-0:37: At Starkiller Base, the primary base of the First Order, an army of Stormtroopers lined up and facing a raised platform. They’re really driving home the Nazi imagery of the villains, which was established with the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy.

0:38-0:39: Finn (John Boyega) removes his Stormtrooper helmet, which is streaked with dried blood. “I was raised to do one thing,” he says, clearly referring to the sense of purpose he had as a soldier, and has now lost.

0:40-0:44: A badly-damaged First Order TIE fighter falls toward the surface of Jakku. The second teaser had a shot of a TIE fighter firing at Stormtroopers inside a shipboard hanger, which seems to indicate that Finn steals a TIE fighter to try to escape, but has to fight his way out and gets shot down before he gets very far.

0:44-0:48: “…but I’ve got nothing to fight for.” Finn continues, as he looks down at what appears to be a settlement on the surface of Jakku.

0:49-0:52: Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) stands with his back to us, looking through what seems to be the windows of his command shuttle. “Nothing will stand in our way,” he says in voiceover. Through the windows we see a massive beam of red energy, which is rumored to be from a super-weapon that is part of Starkiller Base.

0:53-1:00: Nice close up of Kylo Ren’s mask without his hood. “I will finish what you started,” he says, revealing that he is looking at the melted remains of Darth Vader’s helmet. I like this element of Kylo Ren essentially being an obsessed fan of Darth Vader, emulating his appearance and mannerisms, putting his remains on display, and wanting to continue what Vader did. Clearly, Kylo Ren is unaware of the truth that Vader turned away from the Dark Side of the Force before he died.

1:01-1:03: Kylo Ren using the Force to torture Resistance pilot Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaac).

1:04: We fade from Poe screaming in agony to a forest being leveled by a massive wave of what looks like fiery red energy. Could this be Kylo Ren “testing” the Starkiller Base super-weapon on Poe’s home planet, similar to the destruction of Alderaan by the Death Star in A New Hope (1977)?

1:05-1:12: Awesome action shot of the Millennium Falcon pursued by several First Order TIE fighters, swooping through a veritable graveyard of wrecked starships on the surface of Jakku. “There were stories about what happened,” Rey says in voiceover. This suggests that the events of the original trilogy have, at least to some degree, become mythologized, things said but not really believed.

1:12-1:16: “It’s true, all of it,” says the unmistakable voice of Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Aboard the Falcon, we see Rey and Finn looking amazed at Han’s words. This is a really nice contrast with what Han was like back when we met him in A New Hope, where he dismissed the idea of the Force as “hokey religions and ancient weapons.”

1:17-1:20: Cool shot of the Falcon jumping into hyperspace.

1:23-1:24: Rainy nighttime shot of Kylo Ren, his lightsaber ignited, flanked by a group of figures in similar dark-colored armor, all of them with different kinds of weapons. Could these be the Knights of Ren, the mysterious group that Kylo belongs to?

1:26-1:28: On a forest/jungle planet, we see a full-fledged battle between the First Order and the Resistance. In the distance is what looks like the ruins of a castle or fortress, which is believed to be the headquarters of Maz Kanata and her pirates.

1:29-1:33: Quick moment between Finn and Poe as they prepare for battle. Poe looks super confident, while Finn seems bewildered. Is Finn still just not used to being part of the Resistance, or does he have something else on his mind?

1:37-1:38: Rey, Finn, and BB-8 on Jakku, as an explosion goes off in front of them and a TIE fighter swoops overhead. It looks like they were running toward whatever is was that exploded, so was it a ship they were planning to use to escape? Seems like the perfect opportunity for our heroes to be saved from danger just in time, possibly by Han and Chewie in the Falcon?

1:38-1:39: Han, Rey, Finn, and BB-8 are in some sort of hall or structure, approaching an entranceway decorated with tons of flags and banners. Given that the place is made of stone and has vegetation growing on the ground, it seems safe to guess that this is the entrance to Maz Kanata’s pirate castle, and the flags and banners are spoils of war. I like how Finn is warily looking at the big red droid walking past them.

1:40: This is a shot we saw in the second teaser, with R2-D2 and a figure with a mechanical right hand wearing a black cloak. It’s assumed that this is Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), who’s otherwise completely absent from both this trailer and the poster that was also released recently. It’s nighttime, and the rocky environment is lit by firelight.

1:41-1:42: Kylo Ren’s command shuttle lands as squads of Stormtroopers fan out. It looks like this is the same place as the shot of R2 and probably-Luke.

1:43: Very cool shot of First Order officer Captain Phasma (Gwendoline Christie), in her distinctive chrome armor and black-and-red cape. Again, the same environment as before.

1:44: Kylo Ren, in that same location, swings his lightsaber. Because of the black, rocky environment, some believe this might be on the planet Sullust, a volcanic world that was mentioned in Return of the Jedi and will appear in the upcoming Star Wars Battlefront video game. My hypothesis is that Kylo Ren finds out that Luke is here, and goes there with a ton of troops to try to take him out. Of course, Luke’s been a Jedi for three decades now, so I hope we’ll see him kick ass and take names.

1:45: Rey crying over what looks like a dead body. We don’t see the face, but whoever it is has loose hair and is wearing a brown jacket.

1:46-1:47: In an area of trees and stone ruins – Maz Kanata’s castle again? – Finn, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), and Han are slowly lowering their hands from having them up, as though they were surrendering but help suddenly arrived.

We also hear a female voice start to say “The Force…it’s calling to you.” But it’s not clear who’s saying this line. Most people seem to think its Maz Kanata again, but I’m not sure.

1:47-1:51: More cool action stuff, with a huge dogfight between Resistance X-wings and First Order TIE fighters over an ice planet, possibly the same planet as Starkiller Base. There’s also a giant trench dug into the surface of the planet, which, if this is near Starkiller Base, might be part of that super-weapon mentioned earlier.

1:53-1:54: Rey looking very angry, wielding what looks like the blaster version of a sawed-off shotgun. Although the environment is clearly different, you have to wonder if her anger is connected to the death she was grieving over earlier.

1:56: We finally see Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher), embracing Han, who looks like he’s trying to comfort her. It looks like something very bad might have happened to someone they care about.

1:57-1:58: In a snowy forest at night, Finn ignites the blue lightsaber that Luke originally used, and which previously belonged to Anakin Skywalker before he became Darth Vader. But he still looks uncertain as he faces off with an unmasked Kylo Ren, who has drawn his own saber. Finn looks really out of his depth, and Kylo clearly has the advantage here. Given Kylo’s obsession with Vader, it’s a safe bet that he wants that lightsaber for himself.

I’ve loved Star Wars since I was a kid, and it’s great to be excited about the franchise again. At this point, my only concern is letting my own expectations get too high, so I’m trying to keep them in check a bit. But there’s no doubt I’ll be seeing Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens the first chance I get.

ANTICIPATION: This will be a year long remembered. It has seen the return of The Avengers, Mad Max, and Jurassic Park; it will soon see the return of Star Wars.