Star Wars age 9 Comic Book

So Many Emotions!

I’ll briefly reflect on this disappointing later page – and then move onto my own thoughts about the New Star Wars Episode VII Trailer. Yaaaaay! And I’d love to read your own thoughts, by the way.

“Yaaaay! The new Star Wars Trailer!”

I’m amazed at how emotional some of these pages are. I must have had a very deep belief in the characters and what they were going through. Nice to see the names of his uncle and aunt were got right this time without the need for correction! Marvel mislead me when I did my « earlier version.

Artwork Notes

The bottom panel’s not too bad but his poor unfortunate adopted parents still look ridiculous! Once again, see yesterday’s page, « Smouldering Piles for more on this.

That’s a pretty awkward looking fist. I’ve just noticed that it’s shaking – or trembling. Shock? Grief? Or… rage? Gosh, you can read quite lot into these comics can’t you? Ambiguity can be a plus sometimes.

Still, this stuff does very little for me. There’s not a lot for me to nostalgically muse upon. Friday’s edition is going to be better!

So stay tuned!

The Star Wars Episode 7 Trailer!

Han: Not so much the skeptic now

I can’t very well omit any mention of the new Star Wars Trailer now, can I?

So, the new trailer crashed in on us the other night, 19th October 2015. Geeks all over the USA risked seeing football in the hopes of seeing the New Star Wars Episode Seven Trailer during half-time!

The October Star Wars Episode 7 trailer. More questions!

So what did I think? Does it matter? Okay, seeing as you asked (we didn’t!) I clicked play on the YouTube video feeling pretty excited. Because I am really looking forward to seeing this movie. Obviously, I’m a child of the seventies, and an ex-child-Star-Wars-nut. You’re looking at the evidence… So, yes, I can’t wait to see the old gang, my old heroes shooting it out with the baddies again.

What can it mean?

Also, The Prequels were, let’s say, unsatisfactory – to me. To me. But I’m not going to slag them off, because for many people today, their first, beloved experience of Star Wars was the Phantom Menace or the two that followed. And why would I want to rob them of that lovely nostalgic heart-felt inner glow? Let’s face it, I know I don’t like it when the first and my favourite Star Wars film is disregarded as one of the lesser installments. As an embarrassment almost. I don’t even call itEpisode IV. And I cringe when it’s called ‘A New Hope’. To me it was just Star Wars. A great, standalone movie.

I even loved seeing Han with his holster at his side – Gary Cooper-like

Oh yes, back to the trailer! On the first run-through, it didn’t actually excite me like the first little trailer did last year. It’s quite downbeat. Serious. The voices murmur. It’s doom and gloom. Leia looks seriously unhappy. The music is even subdued. It may turn out to be even darker than Empire Strikes Back was. In fact, I think it will be.

This could be a very darkly, serious movie

But no, let’s rewind: I can presume and assume nothing at this point. The Web has lit up with people second-guessing why this film will be awesome, and even why it will suck, based on these trailers. On these trailers! But that’s nuts! The Phantom Menace trailer was (apparently) amazing, but lots of us loved the movie and lots of us – didn’t. So, I’ll keep an open mind and control my expectations. And I replay the trailer…

You know what? With each repeated viewing, it gets better and better! And I see new things. I think of more questions. And even though this film might be a cynically assembled contrivance to win back the old fans, as many people say it is (without having er… seen it) I think, “Well, so what if it actually IS cynically contrived?” Because Raiders of the Lost Ark wasn’t meant to be an Arthouse movie. It was meant to entertain. And it did. And it was absolutely brilliant at that (and lots of other things besides). But it did what it was supposed to to do, par excellence.

George actually spent an age writing and rewriting the first – and my favourite – Star Wars film. He went through the torments of hell over it. He’ll be the first to say that he couldn’t write. But he used common elements of traditional folk stories, referring to Joseph Campbell’s works on the subject – allegedly. He based the story on an underlying formula that was common to most successful folk tales. And he added great characters. He also drew from other movies too, like The Dambusters, and Hidden Fortress and The Searchers. This annoyed some knowledgable reviewers of the day, who could see exactly what he was doing with his patchwork of magpie-borrowings, but you know what? To most people: it worked. And oh HOW it worked. And it still does.

So, no, I don’t mind if Episode VII doesn’t turn out to be J.J. Abrams’ Citizen Kane. But I want to be entertained, and taken back – and forward! – and feel the great spirit of Star Wars rise again on-screen. It’s something that I (personally) haven’t seen since 1980. That’s 35 years! For you, it may be a different story.

The funny thing is, I think there could be a a new term soon: Sequel-Haters. Oh, the extreme irony. It’s entirely possible that the old guard of the Seventies will actually now berate the younger fans for not liking the new films!

But me? I’m going to stay positive. Keep my mind open and my expectations in check. If the new film is good, what a bonus that will be!

“Yaaaay! The new Star Wars Trailer!”

So, what do you think, readers? Comments to your left please.