Lucasfilm Nails It With the First “The Force Awakens” Trailer

Today proved to be the greatest Black Friday of all time, as Lucasfilm shockingly released an early look at the upcoming J.J. Abrams film Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Shortly after 10:00am EST on Friday, November 28th, fans got their first look at the next exciting chapter in the Star Wars film saga.

You can watch the teaser trailer for The Force Awakens and then watch it again… and again, in the video below:

Welp. There’s the 88 seconds that J.J. Abrams promised us earlier this week. There’s a lot in there. Let’s talk about it, shall we?

First off, it seems that the rumors going around about John Williams scoring the trailer with all new music were accurate. Though it’s only a minute and change of new composition, it’s excellent and very effective. In fact, this trailer wouldn’t have anywhere near the impact that it does without the Williams touch.

The trailer opens on a desolate landscape that instantly calls to mind the desert planet of Tatooine. Williams‘ eerie strings are accompanied by a menacing voice over performance by the brilliant Andy Serkis…

"“There has been an awakening… have you felt it?”"

Suddenly, the young British actor John Boyega leaps into the frame, looking rather frightened. We’ve heard rumors that Boyega’s character wears Imperial Stormtrooper gear in the film and this shot confirms that. Why is this young man looking so panicked? We’ll most likely have to wait until December ’15 to find out for sure.

The new Williams score dramatically builds to dizzying heights throughout the short trailer, beginning with some low brass instruments playing some dark tones in short bursts as the screen goes dark again…

The next shot opens to reveal a very interesting new astromech droid, rolling through the sand of what appears to be the same desert planet that Boyega was running around on in the previous shot.

This new “ball droid” has proven to be one of the more divisive moments of the new Star Wars film, so far. It’s admittedly a confusing design… how does this droid actually function? Is it as tiny as it appears to be? Does it feature in a large role in the new story? Again, we’ll just have to wait to find out.

We think it’s pretty cool… or, it’s really cute at the very least.

Speaking of cool… how about those Imperial Stormtroopers?

The next shot reveals a legion of Imperial forces readying for some serious action, complete with all new armor and some mean looking blaster rifles.

For some stupid reason, Lucasfilm allowed images of the new Stormtrooper helmet design to leak months ago which really weakens the impact of seeing them here in this first official reveal. For those of you who missed that particular spoiler, consider yourself fortunate. They look badass here in this short but thrilling sequence.

Nearly forty seconds into the trailer, the lovely Daisy Ridley finally shows her face. Dressed in some heavy flight garb and piloting a rather large speeder bike, the young British actress is revealed as she races towards some mysterious structures on the desert planet we glimpsed in the earlier “ball droid” shot.

There have been numerous rumors going around surrounding the nature of Ridley’s role in the new movie, including speculation as to what name her character has been given.

We won’t reveal the name here. Not only is it completely unconfirmed but we’d rather not ruin anymore surprises. We’ll find out next year, won’t we?

Here’s where this teaser trailer really starts to crank up the excitement…

Now, we have Oscar Isaac piloting an X-Wing starfighter. The camera goes wide to reveal his flight support, as a number of “snubfighters” soar over a large body of water. This is by far the most visually arresting shot of the trailer, complete with some beautiful mountain ranges in the background.

Where are those X-Wing fighters flying to? That’s the Rebel Alliance insignia on Oscar Isaac’s helmet and flight jacket, right? What is the nature of the Alliance now? Will they be battling TIE fighters?! Hurry up, December 2015.

"“The Dark Side… and the Light.”"

The screen goes dark again and we’re suddenly transported to a snow covered forest where a dark cloaked figure is shown walking with some unknown purpose…

The camera follows behind the mysterious character then stops suddenly as the cloaked figure ignites a lightsaber… a lightsaber with a glowing red blade. However, this lightsaber isn’t your run of the mill lazer sword. It looks different, sounds different and has a very unique feature.

The mysterious cloaked figure has been assumed to be the villainous type… which is a good guess, considering all the black and red. Our money is on the tall, dark and handsome actor Adam Driver portraying this particular lightsaber wielding fiend.

Perhaps because Lucasfilm apparently has a hard time keeping secrets, someone on the internet was able to reveal some concept art from The Force Awakens last month, which featured the same “crossguard blade” type lightsaber that is featured in this shot. It might have been nice not to have been tipped off about this surprise before the first teaser trailer was even dropped.

FINALLY, the most famous piece of junk in the galaxy makes it’s triumphant return to the movie screen. THE MILLENNIUM FREAKING FALCON.

In the final shot of the trailer, the celebratory tones of John Williams’ Star Wars Main Title theme blast forth and our eyes are treated to an amazing shot of the Millennium Falcon soaring through the clouds of an undetermined planet. There’s some fancy camera work here, which tracks the beloved space freighter until a few Imperial TIE fighters rocket towards the camera…

Wow.

Did you notice the new rectangular radar dish atop the Falcon? What planet is that? Is it Tatooine? Where did those TIE fighters come from? WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

Patience, Dork Siders. All will be revealed, in time.

This “teaser trailer” does everything it should, and more. It raises more questions than it answers questions, which is terrific. It’s visually striking for the entire 88 seconds, and John Williams’ newly composed score takes the short peek at the new movie to an emotionally high level.

When will we see the next proper “trailer” for Star Wars: The Force Awakens? This upcoming April in Anaheim, perhaps? Time will tell.

DORK SIDERS! Sound off below by leaving us a comment. What are your thoughts on the trailer? Feel free to speculate as to what we’re actually seeing here and what it all might mean!

As always, MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!!!