In these days of digital magic, fans don’t necessarily have to wait for the real thing:
Earlier this week, director J.J. Abrams announced via Twitter that there would be a teeny tiny sneak peek of the next “Star Wars” installment this weekend. A teaser trailer was set to screen at about 30 theaters nationwide….
But then the trailer was leaked on Thursday. Or rather a trailer was leaked. And then another popped up. And then another. None of them were the official trailer, mind you. They were made by people with fairly decent video editing software, but a lot of people didn’t realize that. And whoever is in charge of the Star Wars Twitter page ultimately had to spend Thanksgiving setting people straight.
@mar_mls Contain your excitement until tomorrow when the real thing is released. This, while very cool, is fan-made.
— Star Wars (@starwars) November 27, 2014
Some of the fan-made teasers looked pretty legit. This one, for example, has gotten more than 4.3 million page views:
Pretty impressive fake trailer, huh? Personally, I enjoyed them both.
You know what would have made the real one 10 times more exciting, and enable it to crush the fakes with its authenticity? A glimpse of Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill or Carrie Fisher. Maybe that was impossible (as in, they haven’t shot any scenes yet), or maybe they’re being saved for the really exciting trailers later.
In any case, I look forward to seeing them…
The Way They Were
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I do remember seeing the first Star Wars with my parents and brother over in Augusta, I believe at Regency Mall, and thinking, “Hey, this is the sort of fun movie they haven’t made in a while.” I think I might have seen the second one, but maybe not…
While I ejoyed the original trilogy as an action series, I saw nothing deeper than what one finds in a Die Hard movie: adventure, bravado, good guys beat bad guys against long odds, etc. I’ve seen bits and pieces of the other movies, but that’s about it.
I’m a LOTR guy, having read The Hobbit in 1968 and the LOTR trilogy afterwards. The works are more complex, delving into myths, real and imagined, of Western cultural / spritural origin. What also intrigued me was Tolkien’s use of languages, In high school I took Latin and German, and continuted with the latter in college, in part becuase I had trouble getting into Russian. So when I got my draft notice, after dismissing flight to Canuckistan, I went down to Chicago’s induction center, took all the tests, and beat the draft by enlistig for Russian language school.
My point with regard to Tolkien is that I was fascinated by the laguages he created and myths he recounted, seeing the connections to Germanic, Nordic, and other languages and writing systems. I saw and appreciated too the influence of his Roman Catholicism in the depiction of his characters and the significance of events.
Yes, it’s true, I’m a sucker for the old “good versus evil” storyline, especially where there’s a boatload of nuance and cultural significance behind it. Star Wars and Harry Potter lack those essential, to me, ingredients.
I try to see each of the LOTR and Hobbit films shortly after they arrive in the theaters, then wait until the “director’s cut” is available for purchase. BTW, I identify with the Hobbits…
And of course, the teaser trailer has already spawned parodies…