Star Wars fans and movie fanatics alike are quivering in anticipation of the first installment of the series to release in a decade, which is slotted for Dec. 18, 2015.
The new episode, the first in a trilogy spawned by Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and its subsequent decision to revive the franchise, will apparently go under the name “Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens,” and has raised both praise and criticism from longtime fans of the series.
Directed and co-written by famed director JJ Abrams, a long-standing fan of the series, the movie should be a deviation from what fans have come to expect from George Lucas and the rest of the old staff, yet a nostalgic return to the world that many felt was soiled by Lucas’s prequels.
Speaking of the prequels, much of the controversy surrounding Disney’s decision to start the series again stems from the harsh criticisms launched at the most recent three movies, which ran in theaters from 1999 to 2005 and upset more than a handful of the series’ fanatics.
Abrams even initially rejected the offer to direct the film, citing the personal attacks that George Lucas faced after even slightly deviating from the formula of the original trilogy, which many claim were made as a desperate attempt to appeal to the market and introduce easily sellable characters like Jar-Jar Binks (a character almost universally hated, but thought to have been included to sell action figures).
Despite fans’ doubts about the merits of the new movies, even the single short trailer that was released (comprising of many quick shots and cuts and not really showing much of the story or characters) generated positive reactions that reached the front page of many popular sites like Reddit.
Some of the primary visuals in the trailer were likely meant to evoke nostalgia in adults who were familiar with the series as children such as the swooping sequences of the iconic Millenium Falcon flying past the viewer or X-wings hovering above a lake, while others introduce concepts new to the series, such as a crossguard-hilted lightsaber and glimpses of some new characters (including a shadowy sith figure which one can only assume to be a main antagonist of the movie).
While some are less than enthusiastic about these additions, going as far as to question the feasibility of a crossguard on a lightsaber in a universe which has talking slugs and casual telepathy, others are hoping that the changes will help introduce a new generation of children to the vibrant space-opera, and help open doors for future iterations of similar movies.