Star Wars VII - Teaser Trailer (2014)
I had my first encounter with 'Star Wars' in 1977 in a toy shop in Grapengießer Straße in Lüneburg. The toy shop was in the basement. You had to climb down a narrow staircase. The shop was not very big and therefore crammed with all kinds of toys. There was a small rack of action figures at the checkout. (The term 'action figure' didn't exist then) On packaging was emblazoned. Star Wars'. I liked stars. I wanted to be an astronaut. Or a wildlife filmmaker. Also interesting: the game character was a strange, ape-like creature called 'Chewbacca'. It also had a bit of a werewolf about it. At that time I was terrified of werewolves. (I later faced this childish fear with my werewolf novel 'The Mark'). But this ape/werewolf creature had a weapon. So it seemed to be at least rational enough to be able to use a weapon. Later I learned that Chewbacca was the co-pilot of the 'Racing Falcon' (nobody knew the term Millennium Falcon at that time either) alongside the smuggler Han Solo. (What a name! In the German MAD magazine I think his name was Hans Olo)Then - it must have been around Christmas 1977 - a preview for a film was shown on TV in a commercial (the term trailer didn't exist either)In it you saw spaceships, a princess, the said Chewbacca, robots (!) and a sword made of light (!).I wasn't allowed to see 'Star Wars' back then. I was seven years old and the film was only released for children over 12. Fortunately, I was allowed to see the film in the cinema in the summer of 1979, a year before the premiere of 'The Empire Strikes Back'.Even though it is repeated by many nerds of my generation (including a certain Mr Abrams). With the passing of the first minutes of the film, nothing in my life was the same as it had been before. 'Star Wars' drew me irretrievably to the George Melies side of cinema. Let others depict reality. "You may say I'm a dreamer - But I'm not the only one" There were people out there in the world who thought and felt like me. And they made films about it. Like John Lennon made music. Or as I later discovered with Stephen King, who wrote whole books about it. I was no longer alone. My parents gave me love and understanding, but my father always dismissed my ideas of writing stories on his Triumph Adler in his office, making films with a friend's Super 8 camera, or programming rudimentary computer games on my c64 as 'spin'. Oh, that's right. And - oh dear - I was also into comics like 'The Spider' (Spider-Man). Of course, the matter is more complicated. Today I know that my father's 'disregard' was only a concern for his son's future as a breadless artist. But I was eight at the time and I thought no one understood me.
Now I'm sitting here, established, writing a blog entry about my past on my expensive iMac.And why? Because of a stupid 88 seconds. I never wanted to say a word about a new Star Wars trailer again. When the trailer for 'The Phantom Menace' premiered, I was working in the States for 20th Century Fox. A trailer for a new Star Wars film. After 16 years. If you remember, the trailer for Phantom Menace wasn't that bad. Someone even made a version with South Park characters. But then the film was released and then the rest of the prequels. The rest is history, or not. Because now there is the first teaser trailer for the seventh Star Wars film, 'The Force Awakens'.Analyses of these 88 seconds of new Star Wars footage have been buzzing around the internet since Thanksgiving weekend. Every single frame has already been analysed, interpreted and satirised. So here's my very brief (cough) analysis.
1st exterior - desert - dayJohn Boyega as a Stormtrooper. Big. Finally an end to the clone bullshit from the prequels. Next.
2nd Outside - Desert - TagBullet R-Droid. Old design by Ralph McQuarrie. Well done, J.J. Next.
3rd Inside - Troop Carrier - NightNew Stormtrooper design. My iPhone iterates every two years too. Stormtrooper uniforms in (an estimated) 30 years too. Next.
4th Outdoor - Desert - DayDaisy Ridley as (possible) Female Lead. Great. Next.
5. inside - X-Wing - tagOscar Isaac as X-Wing pilot. X-Wing flying low. Nice. Next.
6th Exterior - Winter Forest - Night. Figure dressed in black pauses and ignites his red lightsaber. Has two horizontal short blades on the shaft, reminding the Lightsaber of a medieval broadsword. The internet and the geeks freak out. Is it still working? First let's see what this Sith (red saber = Sith = evil Jedi) does with it. Next.
7th exterior - desert - dayThe 'Rasende Falke' in a daring dogfight with two TIE fighters over the desert of 'Tatuuin' (that was the name of the planet Tatooine in German. Really. No shit).
The internet and the geeks are freaking out. (A spaceship can't manoeuvre like that in the atmosphere) Are we still on? We're talking Star Wars. Star Wars. A film clearly from the Melies school. Anyone who criticises the Falcon's flight has never reenacted a dogfight with a model of it as a child. Next.This is exactly the point where Mr. Abrams got me. The coercion and pain of the prequels have left scars. Besides, I'm not eight anymore. But for a little moment, I was the little boy again, chasing his 'speeding falcon' around his parents' flat.Thanks for that, Mr Abrams.
