First things first:
If you can keep from clicking “AGAIN!” on the YouTube clip, here’s some notes on the panel discussion that preceded the debut of that gorgeous trailer, from STAR WARS Celebration in Anaheim:
* Harrison Ford is still recovering from the plane crash late last year. Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy called him even more of a badass than she realized: “The man crashed a plane safely, on a golf course, in close proximity of two doctors. That’s good flying.”
* Also from Kennedy, when a fan’s question was posed of which STAR WARS character she identified with: ” I didn’t have a lot of choices, originally – it had to be Princess Leia. It’s good to note, however, that will soon be changing in a big way.”
* The level of craftsmanship that R2-D2 builders has reached is breathtaking. So much so, that when Kennedy saw an R2 build at Celebration three years ago, she hired two of the builders – Lee Towersey and Oliver Steeples – to be the architects of the FORCE AWAKENS droids, including BB-8. What you see is a practical effect. The “soccer-ball droid” isn’t CG – that’s a practical robot you see on screen and in person, as they wheeled BB-8 out on stage, to the amazement of everyone watching.
* That emphasis on practical effects versus CG is something JJ Abrams was keen to adhere to: “There are going to be an endless number of effects, CG and otherwise, but we needed to set a standard that was real, that felt like you knew those people were in those places.”
* Abrams namechecked legendary director John Ford when talking about shooting in Abu Dhabi for the desert planet sequences (Jakku, not Tattooine, mind you) where we assemble our cadre of characters. The Ford influence is evident when you see that opening shot in the new teaser of the downed Star Destroyer and X-Wing.
* After introducing John Boyega, Daisy Ridley and Oscar Issac to the rabid Celebration crowd, Boyega revealed he brought a large-scale figure of Han Solo in Stormtrooper gear on set for Ford to sign. “He took one look at it, and said, ‘This is pretty weird’,” Boyega said, affecting a great Harrison Ford growl.
* After some Q&A with the new additions to the series, the crowd got some face time with Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew. Each expressed their love for the fans (or, as Hamill termed it, “the UPFs – Ultra-Passionate Fans”). Seeing the young and veteran cast members together was a real treat. (If only they had brought a cardboard standee of Ford to pose alongside them for the group photo…)
[From L} BB-8, Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy, Peter Mayhew, Mark Hamill, Oscar Issac, John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, R2-D2, THE FORCE AWAKENS director J.J. Abrams
Some flash thoughts about the trailer:
* The dialogue in the trailer is a mirror – but not a direct lift – from Luke Skywalker’s reveal to Leia that she was a Jedi, and Luke’s sister.
* At first blush, the Falcon / TIE Fighter chase sequence is into the Star Destroyer wreckage, but I’m not so sure after a few pause/play viewings. Looks to be a different configuration of ship to my addled brain.
* The robot hand reaching out for R2-D2 by the campfire is the same hand Luke lost to Vader in EMPIRE, but it may still not actually be Luke’s (my money’s on “yes”).
* Is Luke delivering that dialogue to Daisy Ridley’s Rey, John Boyega’s Finn, or to another Jedi acolyte?
America's Sweetheart. Pixel monkey; media whore; recovering film critic; baseball fanatic; husband; Texan; human. 
