Stop Teasing Me

Last week was amazing. Let's start with Sunday. Some people start their weeks on Monday, but for the purpose of this post, Sunday works better. Everyone is carrying on with their lives, when suddenly - JURASSIC WORLD TEASER TRAILER. I've know for a while that the movie was being made, and scheduled for release sometime next year, so was super excited when the teaser was released. And golly did it tease me. It gave absolutely nothing away, and lasted only 16 seconds, but showed enough to get attention and build hype. We get a brief glimpse of the reopened park, a scientist lady who appears to be in charge of something, and Chris Pratt looking like an archaeologist explorer dude.The simple music in the background was a perfect combination of tranquillity and eeriness. Whilst it's a bit redundant now, if for some reason you haven't seen it, I'd still recommend checking it out.This was a good day.

Monday was shit.

Tuesday was shit. I thought at one point it was going to be good. There had been word for while about a Star Wars trailer coming sometime soon, and since the Jurassic World teaser, everyone was expecting it. So when I saw a link floating about, I was momentarily excited. Then someone did this.

Things got a bit better on Wednesday with the release of the full Jurassic World trailer. After the teaser, there was an announcement of the full trailer release date having something to do with Thanks Giving, which thanks to the internet, means that even non-Thanks Giving-celebrating countries like Australia could still watch it. In the end it came out a bit earlier anyway, not that I'm complaining.

This obviously expands greatly on the teaser. You can see that the park is not only reopened, but has had a massive upgrade, including new safari vehicles for roaming with wild dinosaurs, and even a water show not unlike something you'd see at Sea World (and given the history of killer whales eating their trainers, it might be more relate-able than you think). One of the big things is you finally learn something about the plot - the creation of a hybrid dinosaur. This is announced by the aforementioned scientist lady, to which Chris Pratt archaeologist explorer dude replies that it's probably a bad idea. Which of course it is. You don't get to see much of this hybrid, only its feet, which tells you that it's bi-pedal like a T-Rex. Judging purely from the feet though, it looks like a pretty awesome dinosaur. But what really wraps it up are the Velociraptors at the end. Everyone loves a friendly raptor. This was a good day.

Thursday was shit.

Friday was shit.

Saturday seemed like it was going to be shit. I started work at 6 in the morning, expecting it to be just like any other day. I bumped into a friend as I was leaving work, and he mentioned something about a trailer. I missed exactly what he said, so assumed it must have been about the Jurassic trailer. So responded with, "Yeah, looks awesome. Pretty excited for it. ...The Star Wars trailer should be coming out soon I reckon". Suddenly the conversation got awkward and neither of us knew what the other was talking about:
"You mean the full one?"
"No, just the teaser, that one released the other day was a fake."
"Huh, it was released this morning."
"What?"
And that was how I found out about the Star Wars teaser. Unfortunately, I wasn't finished running around for the day, but I wasn't going to let that stop me from seeing this trailer. I was only going home to change and find directions to my next destination - perfect time to have a quick look. I noticed I had 5 different Facebook notifications from friends sharing the video with me, so I clicked one, and experience 88 seconds of awesome.

I didn't have time to see the impression it made on the internet, as I had to quickly leave again, but it was stuck in my mind the rest of the day. Until I got home again a bit later in the afternoon, and I watched it again. But as before, I had to quickly go out elsewhere. Do you know what I did when I arrived home at 11.30pm? I watched it again. I have since watched it many more times, and here are some things that impress me/draw discussion.
It does everything a teaser is meant to, and whilst a little longer than the one for Jurassic, doesn't give too much away, and certainly raises some questions. Is the Stormtrooper in the first scene (John Boyega) in disguise (think Han and Luke in A New Hope), or is he a rogue, like others have suggested. One things that's really cool, and I'm very surprised that I haven't read anything about this yet, is at the very end of the first scene, you can hear what sounds like a probe droid from The Empire Strikes Back. Is this guy being chased? But speaking of Stormtroopers, how awesome is the new helmet? They look a little more high-tech, but still have the classic 'frown' that they're known for. There's also a new astromech type droid, which draws inspirtation from a soccer ball.

Notice the pod-racer engine in the background?

The environment here certainly looks like Tatooine, and we're also shown some new planets which is great. I think it's done really well - it emulates the classic Star Wars feel brilliantly, particularly the vehicles, but with a modern twist. The appearnce of X-Wings, TIE-Fighters and the Millennium Falcon just set if off. They are things we know and love, plus you know Han and Chewie are sitting the the Falcon's cockpit pulling that sick air manourvre. One thing that is either coincidince or very very deliberate, is the resemblance of the X-Wing pilot to the Snowspeeder pilot on Hoth that finds Han after he rescues Luke. Even my brother noticed it, so it's not just me:

X-Wing pilot from The Force Awakens

Snowspeeder pilot from The Empire Strikes Back

First of all, let me just say I love cockpit shots, they for some reason always look really cool. But is that the same guy, or is that the same guy?? Ok, so it's not actually the same guy. Dude on top is Oscar Issac, and dude on the bottom is Christopher Malcom. But is that the same guy? It's probably just coincidence, and the characters certainly aren't going to be the same either, But if that was intentional, then Abrams, to you I tip my hat.

Definitely the biggest point of discussion from the teaser is the new lightsabre design. I personally think it's awesome. Sure, it may not be safe or practical, but normal lightsabres don't have a hilt guard at all, which is not any safer. It has spawned many parodies and arguments, but it sure as hell is cool. Even the blade(s) of the lightsabre itself are awesome. It looks a bit unstable, and you can see plasma arcing out of it, unlike in previous movies where the blades have been very controlled and crisp.

There's also a cool little surprise at the very end of the trailer, watch it to the last second. After everything has faded to black, you can hear the faint sound of a lightsabre igniting. And it sounds like the traditional ignition as well, not the new sound that's used on the new lightsabre (which still sounds cool). Not sure what exactly it's there for, and again, I've not seen it mention in any of the articles I've read about the teaser. It's subtle, and it's awesome.

One little mistake though... The scene with the female character (Daisy Ridley) shows starting up some sort of speeder bike (very retro-Star Wars looking) with a lightsabre hilt hooked onto the side. Then as it cuts to her speeding away, suddenly the lighsabre is gone. It could well be from different scenes in the movie, simply cut together for the teaser (not uncommon), but from what is shown, it looks like an editing error, WHOOPS.

Some fan art. I can't un-see it now.

The only thing I didn't like about the teaser (although I already knew this beforehand) was that it annouced the release for the film in December (written in the original Star Wars, for extra nostalgia). No. Star Wars movies are released in May. They have always been released in May. I don't give a shit about Christmas time holidays releases, Star Wars must be released in May. And while I'm on that note, each movie in the trilogy has been released 3 years after the one before it. But Disney's big plan is to release them 2 years apart. No. They should come out in May, and 3 years apart, that's Star Wars tradition. End of Rant.

So far no word on when the full trailer will come out, but I can only hope it's soon. Although in the space of 2 days, there's already countless remakes and parodies, including a George Lucas Special Edition, J.J Abrams signature Lens Flare Edition, and even a Lego version (there's actually a few Lego ones, that one wasn't the first, but it's by far the best).

Saturday was a good day.

While I'm talking teasers and trailers, notable mention to the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer, and the Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies. Both came out recently-ish, and both look pretty intense.

Chris