Redditor Shaggy9342 recently took it upon themselves to do a frame-by-frame break down of all the things you might have missed from the latest Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer.
Star Destroyer and X-Wing For Sale, Used
The crashed Star Destroyer and X-Wing on Jakku are both ROTJ era (Imperial II-class Star Destroyer and T-65 X-Wing), showing that the Battle of Jakku takes place much closer to the OT than the new films (confirming what was stated in the Star Wars Celebration Battlefront panel).
Darth Vader’s Helmet (has seen better days)
Darth Vader’s helmet is a display in a very clean environment, indicating that someone other than Luke has collected it and places a large amount of value on it. This is most likely Kylo Ren, going around and collecting significant Sith artifacts, or maybe even collecting what he sees as a family heirloom.
“Hooded Figure” and R2-D2
If this isn’t Luke, then it’s the most pointless mislead since JJ Abrams said the villain of Into Darkness wasn’t Khan. Luke being in a cave with R2 lends a lot of credibility to the rumor that he has found an ancient Sith artifact/entity and has secluded himself in order to guard it. The synthflesh missing from his hand definitely isn’t a good thing as it shows he’s been away from civilization for a long while. A bit of trivia, the voice-over in the teaser is taken directly from Luke’s dialogue in RotJ, but Mark Hamill also recorded the line again this year, which was then used as reverb in the teaser.
Passing of the Lightsaber
Whoever is handing the lightsaber to (probably) Rey is definitely not Leia or even human. The face, hand size and coloring are all wrong. Yellow skin, a hand with adult proportions smaller than a human child’s, this character is probably the alien rumored to be played/voiced by Lupita Nyong’o.
It Belongs in a Museum!
As a note, this is Anakin’s second lightsaber, the one he constructed at the beginning of the Clone Wars. Three years of being used in the Clone Wars, twenty years of sitting in a chest in Obi-Wan’s hut on Tatooine, three years being used by Luke until he loses it, along with his hand, in Cloud City. Then 30 years who knows where before it shows up in this movie. For all that, this saber’s still looking pretty good.
The Alliance Starbird Keeps on Flying
The Rebel/Resistance logo hasn’t changed in 30+ years. Either this group is a holdover/splinter group or the Empire/First Order is the only one that employs graphic artists. For those that don’t know, the Aurabesh writing on Poe’s flight suit is upside down and says “Pull to inflate”. Nice to see attention to detail isn’t being missed in this movie.
T-70 X-Wing Fighter
While being passed off as the evolution of the earlier T-65 X-Wing from the original trilogy, this X-Wing is really just taken from Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept paintings, as seen below.
Bad Guy Does Bad Things To Show Audience He’s Bad
In this shot, Kylo Ren slashes his lightsaber at someone offscreen. Based on how the Stormtroopers behind him are standing at attention, this is likely Kylo Ren executing someone early in the movie, establishing him as an actual villain, not just someone that carries a red lightsaber for style. As a note, I love that the new First Order stormtroopers still use shoulder pauldrons.
More Bad Things
Kylo Ren and his stormtroopers look like they’re corralling people next to what might be moisture vaporators. Since Jakku is a desert planet, it seems like the logical location for this to take place.
I Don’t Think They’re Clones Now
I had to include three different shots of this scene, as so much information is given out. The new snowtroopers can be seen in the very front row. On top of the platform, a silver trooper stands next to the main figure, probably Captain Phasma. There’s a large variation of stormtroopers standing in the assembly.
Ralph McQuarrie Concept Stormtrooper
Before lightsabers were established as Jedi-only weapons, there were plans for every stormtrooper to carry a saber and shield. The shield has finally made its way into the movie, as can be seen on the far right of each of these assembly shots. No indication of what weapon he’s carrying, if any, but if I wouldn’t be surprised if he has some sort of melee weapon instead of a blaster.Some of the troopers have straps crossing their back in the first shot. Now we can see that those straps keep a chest/bandolier type thing in place. Also, on the right side you can get a good glimpse of the new flametrooper.
Ralph McQuarrie Concept Snowtrooper
In keeping with the trend for this movie, the new snowtroopers borrow heavily from Ralph McQuarrie’s paintings. They’re barely visible in these shots, but the full costume was on display at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim and a quick google search will show you the whole thing.On the far left, the new TIE fighters can be seen, and close to them, some Imperial Navy Crewman, complete with ludicrous helmet. Apparently they don’t get a fancy new outfit like all the stormtroopers.
So Many New Ships
In case anyone missed it, the TIE fighter in the hangar has a totally different body the other new TIEs. In the upper left you can see the cockpit of a more normal TIE fighter. On the right, there is one of the new ships that appears escorting the shuttle in the next shot.
Flying V!
What looks like the successor to the Lambda Class shuttle has dropped the top wing and become something that looks both cool and useless. Not sure why any ship would have that design. The four boxes flying next to it seem much more practical, if a bit boring. The new Star Destroyer’s two tiered body looks great to me. The whole shape is much more aggressive and sinister than the Imperial II-class Star Destroyers.
Shiny Armor Better Have Active Camouflage
Captain Phasma’s amor has a huge number of subtle differences from the new standard stormtrooper armor, most of which look like callbacks to earlier armors, from the phase II clonetroopers helmet ridge to the classic TK abdomen plate. I’m guessing this’ll be one of the first times most male cosplayers will want to do a female’s costume (assuming that Captain Phasma is played by Gwendoline Christie). And seriously. If this armor doesn’t have some sort of camouflage mode, it’s worse than the all white stormtroopers.
Commander Gree
I included this just to give a quick reference to the armor above. It’s obviously not exactly the same, but I see a lot of influence. Except for the obvious camouflage.
They’re Going to Run Out of Space Real Quick
In case anyone missed it, the ship the Millennium Falcon flies into at the end of the teaser isn’t the Star Destroyer from the opening. It’s impossible to be sure before watching the movie, but it looks like an upside down Super Star Destroyer.
Star Destroyer/Super Star Destroyer Comparison
As you can see in this shot, the Super Star Destroyer has panels that go over the tops of the engines, much like in the shot above, provided it’s upside down. Either way, the missing bridge means that it’s not the Star Destroyer.The TIE pilot helmet at the end is still quite close to the original stormtrooper faceplate (the original TIE helmet was made by attaching a stormtrooper faceplate to a X-Wing helmet), but has some Clone Wars style boxes on the sides. I really like how they’re blending sources from the past to create a new modern style.
CT-1284 “Spark”
Reference shot for those that haven’t seen The Clone Wars.
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves. Thanks, Shaggy9342!
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