This edition of The Week in Star Wars is dedicated to Daniel Fleetwood. Rest in peace good sir, and may the Force be with you. #ForceForDaniel
In this packed edition of The Week in Star Wars, we’ve got more new footage from The Force Awakens, new images and posters for the movie, a possible first look at Supreme Leader Snoke and Admiral Ackbar, a new name for Princess Leia and a whole lot more…
It’s been a busy week for footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as we got our first TV spot over the weekend, and then we got the announcement of a special look at the movie would be shown on the Disney-owned ABC. TV writer and producer Shonda Rhimes made the announcement, and then we got a promo and a second TV spot for the exclusive look that sadly offered up nothing new. But if that disappointed you, the extended TV spot gave us even more new footage from the film – including dialogue between characters. And even after that spat of new footage, The Disney Channel also released an on-set featurette from the movie that offered up even more new footage. With the movie just over a month away, I’d imagine we’ve seen our fill of new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens…
…Speaking of the footage, and some eagle eyed viewers caught our first look at the returning Admiral Ackbar (it’s not a trap). The character was rumoured earlier this year and was then briefly seen in the behind the scenes video shown at San Diego Comic Con. Original actor Tim Rose then confirmed he was reprising his role…
…If that wasn’t enough, there was also a load of new images from the movie released this week and some behind the scenes stills…
…With more footage landing online, it’s still very impressive that we still don’t know much about the ins and outs of plot details for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. “I give credit to, and frankly surprisingly so, the incredible people at Disney, especially Alan Horn [chair of Walt Disney Studios] and Bob Iger [Disney CEO],” director J.J. Abrams told Wired. “Bob’s been unbelievably collaborative and supportive of this entire process. When it came to marketing, I was expecting Disney to want to put out an overabundance of material. But they’ve been incredibly reluctant to do that. They want this thing to be an experience for people when they go to see the film. And I’m grateful for that. There’s a really positive side to keeping quiet. You can protect the audience from spoilers or certain moments that, in a way, obviate the movie experience. But on the other hand, you risk being seen as coy or as a withholding shithead. That’s never my intent.” You can read more of that interview, where he also says that The Force Awakens will be a contained story here…
…FMTV producer Oli Davis talked about the new footage from Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the latest Flickering Myth News podcast, which you can listen to below:
…Entertainment Weekly dropped images of their upcoming covers, which features various members of the cast of The Force Awakens including Han Solo, Rey, Finn, C-3PO and R2-D2…
…In conjunction with the EW covers, Harrison Ford also spoke to the magazine about returning to the role of Han Solo. “There’s not an abandoning of the character [in The Force Awakens],” he says. “He does not aspire to the position of Obi-‘Ben’ Kenobi, nor do I aspire to be some New Age Alec Guinness. His development is consistent with the character, and there are emotional elements which have occasioned his growth. We spend a lot more time [in the movie] on his failure to master basic skills, like accounting. And accounting for his own behavior. There’s a lot of the rogue still left in Solo. Some things don’t change…”
…Harrison Ford wasn’t the only cast member to speak about the movie this week, as Andy Serkis gave some details of Supreme Leader Snoke, who we heard in the very first trailer for the movie earlier this year. “Supreme Leader Snoke is quite an enigmatic character, and strangely vulnerable at the same time as being quite powerful,” he says. “Obviously he has a huge agenda. He has suffered a lot of damage. As I said, there is a strange vulnerability to him, which belies his true agenda. He’s a new character in this universe. It is very much a newly-introduced character. He’s aware of what’s gone on, in the respect that he has been around and is aware of prior events. I think it’d be fair to say that he is aware of the past to a great degree…”
…And speaking of Supreme Leader Snoke, a new image cropped up online this week that could possibly give us our first look at the character. Now the site that posted the image claim that this could be just an early design and not an actual representation of the character. So, take it for what it’s worth…
…More from J.J. Abrams now as he also revealed this week that Princess Leia is no longer named Princess Leia, and will instead be known as General Leia…
…Abrams also talked about The First Order’s Starkiller Base (a nod to the original name of Luke Skywalker), saying that the space station is indeed basically The Death Star Mark III. “It is very much — and it’s acknowledged as such in the movie — apparently another Death Star,” he states. “But what it’s capable of, how it works, and what the threat is, is far greater than what the Death Star could have done. Starkiller Base is another step forward, technologically speaking, in terms of power…”
…More from Abrams’ interview with Entertainment Weekly as he also talked about the lack of Luke Skywalker in the marketing of the movie. He had previously said that it was “no accident”, an this interview suggests more of the same. “No one forgot about him!” states the director. “We were hoping people would care, but there are a lot of things that are not on the poster, as busy as the poster is. Certainly Luke is a very important aspect of the story. It was the thing that struck me the hardest, which was the idea that doing a story that took place nearly 40 years after [Return of the] Jedi meant that there would be a generation for whom Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Leia would be as good as myth. They’d be as old and as mythic as the tale of King Arthur. They would be characters who they may have heard of, but maybe not. They’d be characters who they might believe existed, or just sounded like a fairy tale…”
…Speaking of Luke, remember our two op-ed pieces about Skywalker being either Kylo Ren or a Sith Lord…
…If you’re one of the lucky people who got a ticket to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens on IMAX 3D, then here’s a snazzy new poster for you featuring Rey and BB-8…
…Speaking of which, we’ve also got some new banners for the movie featuring Rey and Kylo Ren…
…If you’re awaiting the release of the first trailer for X-Men: Apocalypse and heading to the cinema to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, you’re in luck! It was announced this week that our first official look at the superhero movie will be attached to the hotly anticipated seventh Star Wars movie. For more information, head over to The Week in Spandex…
…As mentioned earlier in this edition of The Week in Star Wars, it was sadly reported this week that Star Wars fan Daniel Fleetwood passed away at the age of 32. In the only positive thing to say about this story, Disney and Lucasfilm did grant him his wish to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens before he died. Our thoughts our with Daniel’s family…
…Lastly on The Force Awakens for this week, and you can watch myself, Oli Davis, Rebecca Perfect and Kat Kourbeti counting down our favourite moments from the trailers shown so far below:
…Moving away from The Force Awakens, and writer Lawrence Kasdan has sadly announced that he is leaving the Star Wars family after Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. Kasdan, of course, had previously written the scripts for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and it seems working on The Force Awakens and the spin-off movie has burned the writer out. “That was my last film of this saga,” Kasdan said of Han Solo: A Star Wars Story. “I will never do Star Wars again. I want to work again as a director…”
…On Friday night, the annual BBC charity drive Children in Need had a sketch based on the Star Wars universe which saw R2-D2 and C-3PO helping Warwick Davis in his quest to find a worthy winner to help trigger the fundraiser’s first totaliser of the night…
…Stepping over to Star Wars Rebels for a moment, and another clip for the episode “Wings of the Master” was released – which saw the Ghost going up against Agent Kallus and the Imperial fleet – and the latest Rebel Recon took us inside the episode…
…And you can read Chris Cooper’s review of “Wings of the Master” here…
…Ahead of its release next week, Electronic Arts unveiled a new live-action trailer for Star Wars Battlefront, which featured Pitch Perfect star Anna Kendrick. Remember to read our exclusive hands on review of the game from a few months ago here…
…Before we dive into the comic book previews, we send our congratulations over to Marvel who once again dominated the October comic book charts. The publisher took all ten spots in the best seller’s list, three of which were Star Wars titles: Star Wars #10 (6th), Star Wars: Chewbacca #1 (7th) and Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens – Shattered Empire #2 (8th). Furthermore, but topped the top 10 graphic novels for the month with Star Wars Vol. 1 – Skywalker Strikes and Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1 – Vader taking the number one and two spots…
…And finally, here’s your comic book previews for the week, all of which hit shelves on November 18th. First up is Star Wars #12: Showdown on the Smuggler’s Moon! Plus: Lightsabers! Loads of Lightsabers! And finally: the truth about Sana Solo! Next up is Star Wars: Kanan #8: Young Caleb Dume has not yet been to war …But now, the Jedi Temple is under attack! Can a Padawan really make a difference? And lastly, here’s the preview for Star Wars: Vader Down #1: When Darth Vader accidentally finds himself facing off against the Rebel Fleet on his own, the rebels will learn the true strength of the Dark Side of the Force! Once Vader crashes on a nearby planet, the Rebellion is willing to risk everything for this once-in-a-lifetime chance to take out one of their biggest enemies! Luke! Vader! Leia! Aphra! Han! Chewie! And all manner of Droid, good and evil!
That’s all for this week – may The Force be with you…
Luke Owen
