Watch Star Wars Episode VII's First Official Trailer Right Here

[MorganL4]

Question: Am I the ONLY ONE who is pissed off at the lightsaber hand guard? I mean seriously! The hand guard was there to make sure your fingers didn't get lopped off while dueling, if you make it out of lasers you and probably going to burn off your OWN fingers..... For crying out loud!!! Did the people making this actively spend 0 time researching ACTUAL sword fighting? It's not cool just because it's never been done JJ.... It is just dumb.

 

[Skeleon]

Huh. Okay, here are some of my thoughts:
- A stormtrooper with his helmet off? Will we have stormtrooper protagonists? I'd like to see that. Or is that just a rebel in stormtrooper armour? This has potential, I always wanted more characterization of the regular "bad guys" in Star Wars movies. Like in that A New Hope scene where two stormtroopers talk about a new type of glider or something while Obi-Wan disables the tractor beam on the Death Star. Of course, this dude might also just be a guy who starts out as a stormtrooper but then joins the rebels or something.
- A rolling droid? Stupid. At least the rolling droids of the Trade Federation looked kind of menacing when standing up/ready to fire. Yeah, those were kind of cool, actually. Then again, this robot will probably be more of a comedic foil like R2D2. Still stupid, though.
- Okay, that lightsabre with the little lightsabre crossguard on the handle actually makes sense (assuming you can handle it without slicing your own wrists off) seeing as the only thing that can withstand a lightsabre seems to be another lightsabre, but it still looks kind of, nay, very dumb and impractical/suicidal.[footnote]Which reminds me, why don't they use lightsabre technology for almost anything else? Melee robots with lightsabre claws to slice enemies, lightsabres as projectiles that will not only penetrate enemy installations but sink through them, lightsabre fences that function as barricades against advancing armies, lightsabre grenade lobbers (with a "star" of lightsabres that activates upon launch) and so on and so on. This technology is so powerful, I'd use it as much as possible if I was designing weaponry.[/footnote]
- Millenium Falcon? I guess that had to be there for fan service. I have to admit I like the other kind of fan service better.
Overall? A mixed impression from the trailer. Let's see what else they'll show us.

 

[elvor0]

I don't get why people are losing their shit over the guard on the lightsaber. There's a reason real swords have guards, they're there to stop your hand being chopped off, you know like what happened to Anakin, Count Dooku, Luke and Vader? If anything you would have thought they'd have learnt sooner.

Only a real swords guard isn't made of LASERS. Seriously, that's the complaint, because twisting your hand in any slightly wrong direction, will chop your /own/ hand off. Or y'know, just turning it on while the guards are facing your wrist. Not to mention it wouldn't actually stop a lightsaber blade, because it would just cut through the projectors.

Plus Luke and Vader lost their hands from over head swings perpendicular to the target. A laser guard wouldn't have made any difference, and very likely would speeded up the loss of their limbs given some of the positions they get into in those fights.

 

[Alma Mare]

This franchise gets more and more stupid by the day. Look forward to seeing light-greathammers in Ep.8 and light-swiss-army-knifes in 9.

 

[conmag9]

Just think, in a couple years, everyone will be reminiscing about the good old days of the prequel trilogy.

I'd say it's genetically, existentially, and metaphysically impossible to make a worse Star Wars film than Phantom Menace

"You underestimate my power!" ~Anakin Skywalker George Lucas

I can at least see a potential point of the light-guard thing, as it would halt attacks sliding down the blade. Still, not worth it.

The trailer left me thinking "yeah, I didn't learn a thing and they used "Awakening" as an ominous plot title. Not a great start". I'll probably end up seeing it eventually, but there's not much rush for me.

 

[Rellik San]

Can anyone enlighten me as to exactly which version of the X-Wing those fighters are, as the wing span and engine intakes aren't in line the T-65 model we see in the original trilogy.

 

[Whispering Cynic]

I fully expect this film to be somewhere between mediocre and shit (feels like a foregone conclusion, with Jar Jar Abrams at the wheel). Much to my dismay, this teaser did nothing to change this outlook.

Which is a shame, since I really love Star Wars.

P.S. That lightlongsword(?) design is retarded. There is a significant gap between the main blade and crossguard blades. So, if you tried to block your opponent's blade by letting it slide down to the crossguard (e.g. one of the primary ways you can block when fighting with medieval swords) the crossguard's emitter would get sliced off. The main blade's emitter would likely be damaged as well, not to mention your hands.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

The danger of cutting your own hands off is only half the problem.

The other half is... look at it this way. On a normal sword, there is a good reason to have a crossguard. But imagine if the middle section of the cross guard on the metal sword was instead made of butter. How useful would you imagine that cross guard would be in stopping a metal blade?

That's about how effective those protrusions would be in stopping a lightsaber.

I know exactly what you mean. One word though, my friend. Cortosis. As to why the lightsaber didn't have its entire crossguard made of cortosis,

1. Super hot plasma can obviously do much more damage to something than what a simple metal crossguard could ever do.

2. Shutting off the lightsaber retracts the crossguard too of course so it's easier to holster.

 

[Julius Ketonen]

Personally, I love the cross-guard. For whatever reason. My theory was that since one of the characters was said to be a collector of Sith artifacts (I assume that's him), he could possibly know Sith alchemy, changing the properties of the metal, therefore making the guard sensible.

And I don't see how you could possibly slice your own wrists with it. My wrists almost certainly don't bend so far as to allow that, unless you're spinning it around your hand, like with normal sabers. If his fighting style is specifically tailored to the sword, I see no problem.

Also the Force. Pretty sure nobody except a force-user could make a lightsaber work in the first place.

Ok, I admit it's goofy. But it's about "knights" after all.

 

[Ragsnstitches]

Personally, I love the cross-guard. For whatever reason. My theory was that since one of the characters was said to be a collector of Sith artifacts (I assume that's him), he could possibly know Sith alchemy, changing the properties of the metal, therefore making the guard sensible.

And I don't see how you could possibly slice your own wrists with it. My wrists almost certainly don't bend so far as to allow that, unless you're spinning it around your hand, like with normal sabers. If his fighting style is specifically tailored to the sword, I see no problem.

Also the Force. Pretty sure nobody except a force-user could make a lightsaber work in the first place.

Ok, I admit it's goofy. But it's about "knights" after all.

Not to mention that if you were tilt the sword in such a way as to risk slicing your wrists you'll likely give yourself an impromptu lobotomy on top of that. Also, I'm no expert on swordplay but I think the idea is to NOT swing your sword in such a way that the cross guard constantly bangs against your wrist... I imagine that would make for poor swordsmanship.

And as you mentioned... the FORCE! If people are arguing about the impracticality of the design and how a single slip could severe a limb then you can pretty much throw out Lightsabers altogether. The most basic Lightsaber could severe the users limb by accident. The reason why this doesn't happen is simple:

Spoiler

Anyway, on the Teaser. I didn't think much of it. John Williams score always gives me goosebumps so I can't give the Teaser credit for that. It looks like star wars, though as much as J.J's Star Trek looked like Star Trek, so take that whatever way you want.

It's a nostalgia checklist mostly. The only thing that makes me curious is the "sith" character in the snowy forest. That's about the only hook this teaser has.

But, it's only a teaser of a film that's still a long ways off after all, so I reserve my judgement until the film is out.

 

[Travis Fischer]

The danger of cutting your own hands off is only half the problem.

The other half is... look at it this way. On a normal sword, there is a good reason to have a crossguard. But imagine if the middle section of the cross guard on the metal sword was instead made of butter. How useful would you imagine that cross guard would be in stopping a metal blade?

That's about how effective those protrusions would be in stopping a lightsaber.

I know exactly what you mean. One word though, my friend. Cortosis. As to why the lightsaber didn't have its entire crossguard made of cortosis,

1. Super hot plasma can obviously do much more damage to something than what a simple metal crossguard could ever do.

2. Shutting off the lightsaber retracts the crossguard too of course so it's easier to holster.

If the whole hilt of the lightsaber was made of Cortosis, that would at least make some sense... but it still wouldn't negate the otherwise uselessness of having lasers sticking out of the side of the handle. They serve no offensive or defensive function.

You can't attack anybody with it because if you aim one of the blades at an opponent, the other one is aimed at you.
And you can't defend attacks with it unless you politely ask your opponent to direct their attacks three to nine inches away from the hilt.

 

[Proto Taco]

Well that was grotesquely average.

If there were an award for not standing out JJ Abrams would be the little gold man standing on it.

 

[b.w.irenicus]

Hmm, I totally not hyped at all. Could become a good movie, but I'm not feeling it yet. Oh, and the lase-hilt on that sith-saber looked stupid as hell.

 

[vagabondwillsmile]

WTH with the stupid lightsabre broad sword. That might be the dumbest stand-alone .5 second I've ever seen in the whole series. I want this movie to be good - and I will probably see it in the cinema but... So stupid.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

Honestly, the faked trailer that came out earlier in the week looked more coherent and interesting than this. I know it's a while before the movie even comes out, but the purpose of a trailer is to build interest and excitement... and I'm not getting either from this.

 

[Seneschal]

Tatooine? Check.
Inside shot of an X wing fighter? Check.
Millenium Falcon? Check.
Bloopie bloppy robot panicking through Tatooine? Check.

Can you FEEL the nostalgia?

That light-claymore is fucking stupid. Double edged light saber, fine, it's wieldable. But the hilt of your sword, is not meant to be on fucking fire!

Also, is it /just/ me, or does the film quality of that trailer feel a bit...amateur? A very good amateur, but not of the quality you'd think Abrams would have avilable. I dunno, maybe he's attempting to make it low fi on purpose for dem nostalgia feels.

Ironically, when I looked up the trailer on Youtube, two clickbait fan-trailers were at the top of the search results. When I finally got to the real trailer, I could hardly tell the difference.

Yes, it feels amateurish. And again it makes the prequels' mistake of placing a galaxy-spanning story onto the same locations with the same trappings. Now the galaxy feels like it consists of a single tower block, housing one extended family, and a nearby park with a sandbox.

 

[Pinky's Brain]

I get that he was trying to call back with the opening shot ... but why didn't anyone on the set tell him that for most people over 30 this will call back to Spaceballs and not Star Wars?