Star Wars: The Force Awakens Second Trailer (with analysis)

Okay, so my Facebook feed positively lit up this afternoon because the second trailer for the new Star Wars film was released. As a matter of fact, my brother-in-law called me from his hospital bed to let me know it was out. Thanks, Chris!

So in case you missed it, here it is, in all its glory:

Chills. Goosebumps. All of it! So let’s talk about why, starting with that opening shot:

This. This right here! I have to admit it, when the trailer started with another stretch of barren sand, I was a little disappointed. But the moment I realized I was looking at a crashed Star Destroyer, my jaw hit the floor. I mean, it looks like it’s a remnant of an old battle, but holy cow, that is an impressive image right there.

And then we get to the Skywalker montage:

At first, I thought that this was out on the forest floor of Endor’s moon, and I kind of questioned the logic of leaving the head of Darth Vader just lying around. You’d think that they’d want to pick that up at some point. But the second time I watched the trailer, I realized that someone had indeed done so. If you look closely, there’s some sort of table under the head.

So someone collected Darth Vader’s mortal remains. Was it simply to keep ne’er-do-wells away from the Dark Lord of the Sith’s remains? Or is there a more nefarious reason at work?

Looks like Luke has upgraded his bionic hand. Understandable, given the intervening thirty years. But it looks kind of nasty, what with those claws. Maybe it isn’t Luke.

Now this got my attention as well. That looks an awful lot like Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber, the one Obi-Wan gave to Luke in Episode IV and Luke subsequently dropped on Cloud City. Those familiar with the now-defunct Star Wars EU know what eventually happened to that lightsaber. It’ll be interesting to see if this is indeed that weapon and who it is that’s handing it to Leia (or maybe Leia is passing it along to someone else).

So the dude with the weirdly-shaped lightsaber from the first trailer is indeed the bad guy. That’s been confirmed elsewhere. I’ve read some rumors that suggest that he might be a Sith Lord who was hibernating, only to be awakened 30 years after Return of the Jedi. That could be cool.

But I have a question for my fellow Star Wars fan friends. How many of you thought “Revan” when you saw this shot? Am I the only one?

I am digging the new look for the Stormies, but I do have to wonder if their aim has improved over the last 30 years…

Ooooo…shiny.

Wait. Wrong fandom. Sorry. But I do wonder why this guy looks so spiffy.

We’re home indeed. Sweet. Although I do have to say, Chewie has aged pretty well.

So in the end, I have to admit that I’m a little excited for this. Okay, scratch the little part. The moment I saw that crashed Star Destroyer plus the X-Wings skimming the lake plus all the explosions and TIE Fighters and all of it, my inner child was jumping up and down and squealing.

But the moment the trailer ended, I sobered up a little. Because I’ve lived through something like this before.

I remember when the first trailer for Episode I came out. I remember being so excited when I saw Darth Maul ignite both blades of his lightsaber. I remember thrilling at the sight of the droid armies. Everything looked so great and promising.

And we all know how that turned out.

Now maybe, since we’ve got a new team in charge of this, it’ll turn out better, but there’s a part of me that remains skeptical.

But I can’t wait to find out if it’s good. Christmas can’t get here quick enough.

So what do you think? Let me know in the comments.

[bctt tweet=”A cautious look at the new Star Wars trailer.”]