When I was a youngster, I was given information about new ones Star Wars films leading up to their release required networks of Bothan spies. Then the internet became a thing and everything changed. Those of you old enough to remember the pre-YouTube days of internet video might remember downloading the Episode I trailer from Apple. At the time I was in high school and lucky enough to take advantage of Imperial College London’s rather thick pipes, but it still took several hours. However, that all seems to have happened a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
Earlier this week, Lucasfilm and Disney used a Star Wars convention in Southern California to unleash upon the world a deluge of information about the next installment of the space opera franchise. That’s what the new teaser trailer was for Star Wars: The Force Awakenswhich currently has more than 36 million views on YouTube.
There was a lot to love in the new trailer. The crashed Imperial Star Destroyer and Super Star Destroyers on the surface of the desert planet Jakku were especially editor favorites at the orbiting headquarters. odd years spanning across the Star Wars cinematic universe. Another office favorite was a Interstellar/Star Wars mashup, showing Matthew McConaughey’s reaction to the trailer:
The trailer was announced during a panel discussion with the film’s director, JJ Abrams, and some of the actors, including the newest droid named BB-8. Until now, many had assumed the robot – which looks like an astromech’s head grafted onto a beach ball – was a CGI creation. In fact, BB-8 is a physical creation built by Colorado-based droid startup Sphero (thanks @freds4hb on Twitter for pointing out BB-8’s patent). River-wind, a longtime Ars forum member, also reminded us that Disney sci-fi movies have a history of round robots, suggesting that VINCENT of The black hole could be the ancestor of the droid.
The debut of the teaser was followed a day later with a trailer for a new one Star Wars: Battlefront game. Set for release in November for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, the game is set during the original trilogy of movies.
Needless to say, Ars hasn’t been the only place to get excited about the tidal wave Star Wars information. In order to PolygonArs alum Ben Kuchera broke down his favorite moments poison for poison. The protector summarized the most outlandish rumors, including the return of both Darth Vader and Boba Fett (I remember the latter being a popular schoolyard myth around 1985 as well).
io9 brought us some good information, specifically that the Rebellion is now called the Resistance, and the Empire is now known as the First Order (which makes sense since the movie takes place 30 years after Emperor Palpatine was dropped into a hypermatter reactor on the second Death Star ). We also saw a fair amount Star Warsrelated humour on Twitter as well as a few favorites that focused on the bureaucratic side of things in the Rebel Alliance and the Empire.
Since there’s bound to be more that we haven’t covered in this roundup, feel free to use the comments to let us know about your favorite findings.