Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker teaser revealed
From Star Wars:
“Every generation has a legend. Watch the brand-new teaser for Star Wars: Episode IX.”
Here we worship the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.
11 Comments
jppiper
WHERE THE HELL IS R-2?!
Carlos
what kind of fan film is this?
Alexrd
The expensive and forgettable kind.
Cryogenic
@ Alex:
Ouch! We’ll see.
I don’t think I could ever be as enamoured of the sequel trilogy in the same way I was and am with the prequels and the originals, and when the whole property was under Lucas’ control, not that of a soulless, phoney, patronising, profit-chasing, risk-avoiding, fan-appeasing, free-speech-crushing corporation.
Alexrd
@ Cryo:
I could never be a fan of this sequel trilogy the moment they discarded Lucas’ and his stories. That was an arrogant and stupid move by Disney. The fact that not only did they do that, but the final product is a reflection and an ad of your very accurate description of the company making it, makes me despise it. It’s soulless, hollow and tactless. There’s a completely lack of care and subtlety. The reverence that exists is selective and completely superficial.
I like what I like and that’s never going to change. But the brand is tainted forever. The creative integrity and consistency it once had is gone. One can’t openly speak of the story and characters and discuss them with others without having the perversion that are the reinterpretations from the sequel trilogy attached to it.
Cryogenic
@ Alex:
You articulate your point of view so blazingly and brilliantly. I also vacillate between every sentiment you just expressed and trying to see some good in the sequels. It’s very difficult. I’m so married to the concept of a third trilogy and the saga being taken to a deeper sense of completion (although, prior to the sequel trilogy announcement, I was perfectly happy to live without it); and yet, it isn’t Lucas at the helm, and we see what they’ve done. The only Disney film I’ve watched a lot is TFA; and I haven’t seen “Solo” all the way through even once.
I fight myself a lot over the sequels and what has happened to Star Wars since Disney took the reins. I kind of feel like a boat without an oar. Star Wars, as you say, has been irrevocably tarnished with the stain of commercialism and the stench of hollowed-out storytelling. There’s a real sense of grime and fakery over the whole thing now. Like Anakin being re-made as Darth Vader: a fleshy, ruined being, with all his attendant hopes, dreams, victories, and sorrows, shut away inside a cold shell forever.
These sentences could be the basis for a very lengthy anti-Disney screed; or a philosophical treatise on the series that laments what was:
– It’s soulless, hollow and tactless.
– There’s a completely lack of care and subtlety.
– The reverence that exists is selective and completely superficial.
One thing seems certain: 1977-2012 were the Golden Years. And we will never see the like of them again.
Cryogenic
TROS / ROTS
“Every generation has a legend”.
Interesting prequel acknowledgement and at least a vague “full circle” feel.
And yet — this trailer is very spartan.
What is JJ’s fascination with deserts?
Cryogenic
@ Joe:
It’s a good question. Threepio and BB-8, but no Artoo.
One gets the impression he has been neglected yet again.
Oh, well. That’s one kind of sequel trilogy hat trick.
Weird, too, since a “practical” Artoo was one of the first official pictures released of the new trilogy, and yet, so far, he has largely been a no-show; or “does one useful thing with his projector lamp and goes back to sleep again” show.
On the other hand, I quite like the shot of Threepio on that barge thing. Very ROTJ-y/swashbuckle-y. One of several core aesthetic sub-components “The Last Jedi” was missing.
Also something a bit “Seven Samurai”, arguably, in that shot of our “heroes” in that grass field at 1:38. Love Rey’s costume in that shot.
The cinematography, too, is mercifully clear and clean in this trailer, and very unlike the murkiness of “The Last Jedi” and “Rogue One”, and a big improvement on the hyper-murkiness of “Solo”.
Now… Kylo’s helmet being fixed. Neat. A little bash of Rian Johnson for having Kylo destroy it near the start of TLJ? There is this slightly weird push-pull tension between the sequel movies that’s kind of interesting.
Anyway, I’m no hardcore sequel trilogy fan; but I’m not quite not-a-fan, either. So, for the final time, I’ll try to keep an open mind and reserve judgement until the thing has come out and I’ve had a chance to see and attempt a partial digestion.
Stefan K
The title seems to be more in line with the naming scheme established by the PT and OT:
– First film of the trilogy: a noun with an adjective, indicating something that will decide the course of action of the trilogy (“The Phantom Menace” – “A New Hope” – “The Force Awakens” does not really fit as it is not a noun with an adjective)
– Second film of the trilogy: something violent happens (“Attack of the Clones” – “The Empire Strikes Back” – “The Last Jedi” does not really fit either)
– Third film of the trilogy: something is (re-)established (“Revenge of the Sith” – “Return of the Jedi” – “Rise of the Skywalkers” seems to match the scheme)
Cryogenic
@ Stefan:
Yep…
The film titles — much like the movies themselves — obey a rigid yet still somewhat flexible scheme/pattern.
If Episode IX had actually been called “Rise Of The Skywalkers”, or “Rise Of The Skywalker” (singular: see the first drafts of the original movie), then the last title would have complete acronym parity with Episode III: ROTS and ROTS. As it is, it is ROTS… re-SORT-ed! Other freaky details: SORT is TROS in reverse. “Sort” also derives from the Latin word for “fate”.
In many ways, the new and final title is quite appropriate and very pleasing. I like how Disney/Lucasfilm played this one. Also love the primary colours for each movie: TFA was decked out in classic Star Wars yellow, TLJ got blood red, and TROS gets that lovely sky(walker)/Jedi blue. Quite ideal.
While there is a loose sense of honouring what came before, the sequel trilogy titles all begin with “the”; which is a departure from the former trilogy titles (one a piece — TPM and TESB — in the former trilogies). This means that no fewer than five of the nine saga installments now begin with the word “the”: more than half. The three-time repetition of “the” might be a bit clunky, but it also makes each of the sequels sound like more of a detached event; each a “definite article”. Even though TLJ follows “straight on” from TFA. It’s a little weird, but sort of interesting.
Also, in some odd sense, the sequels, by repeating the word “the” at the start of their titles, are paying a kind of peculiar homage to TPM and TESB; movies which many fans have long considered estranged. “The Phantom Menace” (blank), “The Empire” (Strikes Back), which resolves to: “The Phantom Empire”, an actual twelve-chapter 1930s “B” serial, which (via Wikipedia) “combined the western, musical, and science-fiction genres”. Here we have some of the first primal stirrings of the genius form this strange set of essences called “Star Wars” would go on to assume. “You assume too much”. But Star Wars has never assumed too much. Although Amidala is kind of like the “robed up” sensibility of Star Wars; lashing back at a part of itself. Listen, you guys, Star Wars is weird — okay?
So, anyway, coming back down to Earth. What I was about to say is that TPM and TESB have some strange resonances, not the least of which may be the “fancy ship with a damaged hyperdrive” McGuffin, which powerfully drives the plot and shapes the themes of both movies. Star Wars is this thing which is both grounded and forever taking flight at the same time. Look at the sequels. It can be argued that Abrams very much grounded the series by using basic Earth locales and reprising all those ANH/ROTJ plot motifs in TFA. In TLJ, on the other hand, the characters end up being grounded in space, facing fuel trouble and being pursued by bad guys in an oblique reprise of the plot lines to TPM and TESB; Luke, meanwhile, is literally grounded and has cut himself off from the Force on his remote island. In other words, consecutive use of the word “the” tells you something about the constrained nature of the sequel trilogy and its uniquely locked-down architecture.
Furthermore, all the sequel trilogy titles seem to recapitulate basic SW lore in their noun subjects: “Force”, “Jedi”, “Skywalker”. Which could be considered more of a marketing move than anything else. These are also positive words that affirm the “higher” concepts of the saga. Almost like word runes or a form of brainwashing. If you’ve seen Steven Spielberg’s “A.I”, you may recall that Monica imprints onto David by uttering seven words that “activate” his attachment to her (“Don’t speak the seven-word activation code unless you mean it”). Plus, curiously, three more, her name, David, and her name again, for a total of ten words, that completes the activation cycle.
All of these facets combined — the cycling through primary colours, the repetition of the word “the”, and the summoning/recycling of core SW lore terms — does give the sequel trilogy a finalising feel, and with it, perhaps, the sense that Star Wars, or the gorgerous formalism of the so-called “Skywalker Saga” (a strangely epic yet reductive name plate), has had its day. Of course, human imagination is theoretically limitless, and one could easily envision even more films beyond these (the “Flash Gordon” serials on which SW is roughly based, like the aforementioned “The Phantom Empire”, tended to be broken into twelve or thirteen parts) — so, really, who knows?
archdukeofnaboo
Interesting trailer. I’m excited, although I do think it’s important that we don’t loose the run of ourselves with the hype machine brewing.
Palpatine’s iconic laugh at the end stole the show for me. It’s stunning to hear that he’s returning, but it does beg the question: how, and moreover, why?! I read Kathleen Kennedy saids the idea has been in the works for a long time, but I refuse to accept that without hard evidence. Palpatine, aka, ‘The Senate’, has been a massive fixture in the PT’s growing resurgence on the Internet over the last few years, and I’m pretty sure Lucasfilm employees have been noticing.
I adore the title. “The Force Awakens” felt somewhat cumbersome, and I preferred to call “Episodes VII”, “The Last Jedi” sounded too dramatic and is now a synonym for any terrible film, but this one? It’s a fitting bow to the finals instalments of both the PT and OT, while also leaving enough ambiguity for us all to chew on.
Rise of Ben Solo – as the head of Empire 2.0
Rise of Rey – as a Jedi
Rise of Anakin Skywalker – via ‘Force Resurrection’
Still find it bizarre, and kind of mind-bending that Palpatine is going to be in this. I had the chances of it happening way below Anakin reappearing. Even below Snoke still being alive, or Rey’s parents not being the nobodys Ben told her they were.
The Clone Wars trailer on Sunday is going to be even better!