First Impressions: Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens Teaser Trailer

I guess this would be an odd first impressions article since it's based off of a minute and twenty-eight second teaser trailer, but that was the best way I could figure to describe today's article.  Sure I might be jumping on a bandwagon if I already wasn't excited about next years installment in the Star Wars franchise.  So, for today's post, I wanted to break down the short 1m28s teaser trailer for Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens because it came out a number of hours ago, but less than 24.  

Now, I'm not going to give you a frame-by-frame analysis and tell you that the real Millennium Falcon didn't have that buffer panel next to the radar dish in the original trilogy because I don't tend to notice things like that.  I'm also not going to be making sweeping declarations about how each scene figures into the plot as I really don't know.  I'm not up to date with my Star Wars lore.  I just want to talk about something that has captured my imagination (sigh, clichés) since I first saw Return of the Jedi back in 1983 (at the State Theatre in Woodland, CA).

But first off, watch the trailer (again), this being the real one from the Star Wars people and not one of umteen thousands that were fake and propagated the pages of every social networking site for the past month:

Now, I'm not going to be making assumptions as to who specific characters are, how they relate to each other and the returning cast from the original trilogy.  To note, I've never read any of the books in the Star Wars universe.  The last Star Wars video game I played was Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron 2.  I'm just going to talk about what I noticed in an almost purely non-contextual way.

Oh, and all of the sights and sounds contained herein are the property of Disney, Lucas Film and those types.

So there's this desert here right.  Probably Tatooine since that's the main (only) desert planet that the audience is associated with.  And there's a dark gruff British voice over that at first (as well as second, third, forth, fifth, etc) listen sounds a lot like Benedict Cumberbatch.  He's not in the cast listing over at IMDb.  Maybe J.J. Abrams just had him record some script lines for trailers and such?

Then there's this guy.  Who is this guy?  I don't know.  Am I supposed to know who he is since he's the first face in this trailer?  Again, no idea.  But he's in a stormtrooper outfit, apparently very frightened and on the run.  Very briefly you can hear the Imperial probe droid noise before the scene cuts to:

what looks to be an R2 unit head on top of a soccer ball.  I would like to think that it's all a single unit, kind of like a mix between the Dyson Ball, a Roomba and an R2 unit.  But where's this little feller off to?  I don't know.  What are those machines in the background?  One looks like a ship.  Was that a ship that was used/mentioned in that one book "Crosscurrent" that had something to do with a Jedi?  Maybe, I just made that reference up.

Then there's an obligatory multi-shot of stormtroopers that look like they're about to jump out of a plane.  Kind of like the beginning of that Godzilla trailer, but you know, at night time.  I think the helmets look a little bit different than they do in the original trilogy.  That's fine.  Things change over time, especially when your second space station gets blown up by a rag-tag group of rebels.

And here's this woman on a hoverbike transportation device thing.  It might be Tatooine again since there's sand, but that's all I can tell you.  I don't even know her connection to the story, just that she makes an appearance here and rides off towards a settlement.  I will say that it didn't look like she put down her goggles before speeding off and that thing probably kicks up a bit of dirt.  Remember, safety first.

This shot is when I got goosebumps.  I'm sure I did anyway.  But it just looks awesome.  I'm sure this shot is 60%+ CG and I'm fine with that.  I don't expect us to have functioning X-Wings for at least another 11 years.  It looks good though.  I'm also fine with X-Wings flying this low as I would do similar "maneuvers" while playing any one of the Rogue Squadron games.

And as much as people make fun of J.J. Abrams for using lens flares, this is probably the closet the trailer gets to a real life genuine lens flare, out here in the wild.

And then there's a Sith guy, trudging through the snow in a black cloak (which isn't great if you're trying to stay hidden in the snow) with a lightsaber.  A lightsaber that apparently has a little lightsaber crossguard.  Part of me thinks that this shot was included to be like the Darth Maul shot from The Phantom Menace, but less dramatic.  I've read over on reddit that crossguards are mentioned in the books so it's not 100% new or out of place.  I just think it looks a lot like a claymore.

Other people have also commented on the weird looking saber-ness of the lightsabers.  I personally just chalk it up to either being a jerry rigged lightsaber or maybe the force isn't strong enough with this one to maintain a strong beam.  Is that a thing?  Is lightsaber strength based on ones power with the force?

The voice also makes a return here and now I am less convinced that it is Benedict Cumberbatch.  Less British somehow.

And finally we have a sequence that kicks off the Star Wars fanfare with a sequence centered on the Millennium Falcon that does a flip/loop-the-loop! over sand dunes (Tatooine again?) while making a charge towards a pair of Tie Fighters.  There is now spoken dialogue from either Han or Chewie (growl or otherwise) so who knows who is piloting the Falcon.  It's a pretty awesome sequence to watch as I get a little dizzy.

I would say this is probably the most exciting part of the teaser for me since, with the exception of the desert opening, is the longest uncut section, lasting a whole 7.71 seconds.  Plus there's the fanfare by John Williams.

Lastly, there's the cut to the Star Wars titles along with the subtitle of "The Force Awakens."  I'm not about to analyze what the title means in relation to the Star Wars universe and all that I care about right now is that I like it.  It's a catchy title that has caught my attention, unlike "The Clone Wars," which just didn't sit right with me.

As the screen goes dark, there's a quick sound effect of a lightsaber being drawn.  I couldn't tell you which faction of lightsaber it belonged to, Sith or Jedi and I'm sure there's someone out there who knows if there is indeed a difference in the sounds that the lightsabers make.  Again, I'm just guessing and not making fun of the people who do notice/know if these little details exist.

So after a lot of speculation, we now have 56 seconds of visuals from the new Star Wars movie that is slated to be released in December 2015.  I can wait.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Behold Me Now

First Impressions: S. by Doug Dorst & J. J. Abrams

So first off, I have not read this book.  The Kid got me S. for Christmas and all I've been able to do is just look at it and flip through its pages.  Actually, I should reiterate that all I have  done is to carefully turn its pages, not to disturb the contents that are between it's pages.

S. is, or at least appears to be an interesting experiment.  First off, it is a work of fiction, in that it is written and designed to look like an older library book titled Ship of Theseus by V.M. Straka, complete with check out stamps dating back to October 6th, 1967 all the way up to October 14th, 2000.  I would not be surprised at all if at least some of the check out dates are either relevant to the story or world history in some way (go Wikipedia!).

Here is what I do know.  The fictional book, Ship of Theseus is the final book published by V.M. Straka.  That is the first story.  The second story is one that is related between two people who have found "something" within the story and its apparently mysterious author.  These two people have a conversation (regarding what specifically I do not entirely know, seeing as how I have not yet read the book) in the margins though out its entirety.  Plus there are footnotes by F. X. Caldeira and I have yet to decide if I want to read through first without reading the footnotes.  There are so many layers.

Now, here is where it really gets interesting.  Through out the book, there are various documents: postcards, newspaper clippings, photocopies, black and white pictures and cards containing Brazilian newspaper clippings from 1964.  There is even a compass/wheel cypher in the back of the book.  There has been so much work put into this book that it honestly boggles the mind.  Newspaper clippings are appropriately browned and have that old newspaper feel to them.  A copy of a local college's newspaper/newsletter is even not folded exactly in fourths, as how most people quickly fold a newspaper in fourths.  Even the ink that two (maybe more?) people conversing with each other in the margins changes color, possibly for a specific reason, or maybe because that is the color of pen that they had on the day they got the book back from the other.

I am honestly afraid to read this book anywhere except a table.  I am horrified to think of what I would do if the book were to fall and its contents fell out as I am certain that their placement within the book is very deliberate.  I am going to be that anal person that does not want some random person to pick the book up and start to fiddle with it, out of feat that items may get moved around.  I will not be taking this book to work to read it and I will not be reading it at night before going to sleep as I have the habit of falling asleep, quite literally with the book landing in my face (or the Kindle on Conklederps face, which has happened at least once).

Oddly enough, there is an ebook edition of S., and while initially I couldn't understand how it would work, I think that when there would be an inserted document, there would be a hyperlink to that specific document.  For me however, I want to be able to hold this postcard from Brazil or carefully unfold and examine that map written out on the back of a napkin (and yes, it real cafe paper napkin-type paper, logo of the cafe in multi-colored ink).  That is what I am talking about, total immersion.  The only thing that I can think of that would take me out of total immersion from the book, is that it smells like a new book.  There isn't that smell of a library and old pages that a book can only achieve after sitting on a shelf for no less than 50 years.  Do I often smell books?  If they are old, yes, I have been known to whiff a binding or two in my time.

I briefly looked at a review for the book over on Amazon (or was it Goodreads?) and the reviewer had their suggestion for how you should read the book.  You know what, I plan on reading the book in my own way without a walkthrough.  I want to discover the book in my own way.  I plan on reading the Ship of Theseus by V.M. Straka, then after I will go through the book again, reading the notes made by the two people passing the book back and forth, going through the various inserts.  Then maybe I will read Ship of Theseus a second time with all that has gone back and forth in my mind to see if I take anything away from the book/story that I did not the first time around.

To say that I am excited to start reading this book is a bit of an understatement and I love that this book was actually able to be published.  I have not even read any of it yet and I already want to recommend it to everyone.  So yes, not having read the book, I fully recommend picking up the hardbound copy.  Do not buy it used as there may be some missing inserts or they may be in the incorrect spot in the book.  And at least one point while reading, give the binding a whiff, just for me.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

Could It Be, The Things I Need?

TV Review: Revolution Season One

Today I move away from video games and will be discussing a TV show.  A show created by Eric Kripke, produced by J.J. Abrams, Jon Favreau, Bryan Burk et cetera, and with music by Christopher Lennertz.  For me, that's a pretty decent line up.

Revolution is a post-apocalyptic science fiction drama that takes place on Earth with the primary story happening 15 years after the "blackout."  Now if this didn't sound like a concept that would be cancelled halfway through the first season (especially if it had been on Fox), then I'm not a TV consumer.  Which I'm really not, mainly due to my rotating four-on-two-off 2pm - 10pm schedule, which doesn't allow for consistent on-air program watching.  But that's why I don't work in television, because I would greenlight the first season and order at least two additional seasons of the show, just based on the premise.

Everything in the (long) following article is all just speculation and I'm not pulling anything from chatrooms, message boards, forums or other forms of internet chatter.  This all comes from me watching the first season, minus three episodes (episodes 13, 14 & 15) and drawing my own conclusions, none of which are groundbreaking or revolutionary (eh, eh!?).  On with the show, but be warned, THAR BE SPOILERS AHEAD!

Let's get to the meat.  The primary story of the show takes place 15 years after the "blackout" (the night all power on the planet Earth seems to have disappeared. "All power" meaning anything that runs on electrical, battery power, anything operable by solar power, ALL power.  One of the characters even brings up the absurdity of this in the first episode in a "school-lesson-type" scene saying something along the lines that physics went wrong and stopped working when it shouldn't have, for no reason.  I like that the show acknowledges this fact.  So yes, 15 years after the power goes out is when the TV series starts.

What have people been doing for the last 15 years?  They've been building communities/hamlets and trying to get by without the use of "power."  Revolution does a good job keeping away from Mad Max imagery although it does bear some resemblance to The Postman, which isn't a bad thing.  Apparently 15 years after an apocalyptic event is when people start getting their shit together.  This is one thing that I had a problem with.

Episode one (Pilot) starts with some members of the Monroe Militia (antagonists) assaulting the little village where most of our main characters live.  The Militia is looking for Miles Matheson, brother of Ben Matheson and uncle to Charlie (F) and Danny (M).  Ben is killed, Danny is taken as "payment/hostage" and before dying, Ben tells Aaron (school teacher-guy who has the problem with physics hiccuping) to find Miles who might be in Chicago.  The word is that this Miles guy might know something about how to get the power back on. So Aaron, Charlie and Charlie's step-mom Maggie set out to Chicago to find Miles to help them get Danny back.

So where is the problem that I have with this show?  Season One is essentially a character building story for Charlie, who is roughly 19-20 and very, very naive in how dangerous the outside world is out there.  She has a very optimistic and unrealistic view of how "real" people act in this world.  "Because we're family!" quickly becomes her mantra/catch-phrase for the first half of the season and becomes a bit annoying at times.  She almost comes across as a Pollyanna-type, trying to help everyone along the way who needs help, which doesn't work when you're trying to save someone who is constantly on the move and away from you.

I feel I know why the creators had the story take place 15 years after the blackout.  So that out protagonist, Charlie, would be old enough at the beginning of the blackout to have lived a life with all of our modern conveniences for those memories to be distant, almost dreamlike.  But because this is a character building story, she now has to be old enough for the audience to believe that a woman would travel out in search for her brother with the very probability of ending up dead.  And for her to eventually fall in love with the obvious love interest as well as kill a fair amount of people (when she reaches that level in her development) without the viewing public giving outcry about children murdering others.  I get that.  I get that it's easier for an audience to follow a 20 year old woman than following, say, a nine year old.

So in the Pilot, Charlie and gang set off for Chicago.  They encounter some dangers, but ultimately make it safely.  And in the same episode, they find Miles Matheson.  Whom the Monroe Militia has been looking for, apparently for a number of years.  In the first episode.  No build up.  I personally would have liked it if the journey to Chicago had taken a couple of episodes since they were travelling on foot, you know, to help establish the perils of this world and to show some scope.  While there were some nice vista shots, ultimately Chicago was reached, Miles found, Miles joined the party ("because we're family!") and successfully defended himself and party against a squad of Militia members in order to establish that he's a bad-ass.  I get that by finding Miles so early on, that the audience is immediately thrust into the world and the surrounding conflict.  I personally would have liked to have spent some time getting to know our initial characters, the world a bit more and not have it so easy for someone to be found right off the bat, especially in a world that is being established.

Back to the 15 year thing, in episode 5, "Soul Train," it is introduced that the Militia are bringing steam locomotives back into use.  15 years without power and no one thought to use trains?  I don't remember if it was in this or an earlier/later episode that it was mentioned that trains/boats/planes were dismantled to be used for their parts to build. . . other things I guess, I don't remember. 

One last thing, is that apparently, in 15 years, aside from the children, no one appears to have aged at all.  I'm not saying that different younger actors should have been brought in for Ben, Miles, Monroe, Rachel (Ben Matheson's first wife), you know, the adults, but it doesn't seem like there was made any effort to made the actors at least appear 15 years younger.  Flashbacks are obvious because there are lights on.

Well, after ragging on Charlie for the better part of the article, I feel like she deserves some praise, which she does.  By the end of the first season, she's a much more likeable character.  I do not think that I would have believed she was capable of where she is at now if she did not have the journey that she had.  I just had to sludge through half a season of being annoyed with her before she started to grow on me as somewhat likeable.  Her journey is necessary.

I also want to mention Christopher Lennertz's score for the show.  I was honestly a little disappointed that there weren't as many melodic pieces, but I think that might be more a TV thing than his personal style.  Maybe it is his style as the only music of his that I am familiar with has been the score from Gun, which was pretty awesome epic-western themed.  I can pick up hints of that particular style here-and-there, but overall, the music fits as atmospheric and driving music for those scenes and the world.

I admit I was surprised that this show wasn't cancelled, partly because I liked it and because the last pseudo-post-apocalyptic show I was watching, Flashforward, and the last Bad Robot Production's show, Alcatraz, were both cancelled after their respective first seasons.  I am very happy that Revolution was renewed for a second season of 22 episodes.  The DVD/Blu-ray will be released on September 3rd of this year with the second season premiering on September 25th.

~JWfW/JDub/Jaconian

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