Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 32

Episode VII Trailer This Year?

     Happy Halloween! This is the final Halloween before (the trailer for) Episode VII is released! To celebrate this year, Disney Interactive is releasing a Halloween-themed game, called "The Sickness", in which zombie Stormtroopers have taken over a ship, and it is your job to stop them from taking over the universe. That sounds really dumb, but it's Halloween themed. so yeah. Moving on from games that I've never played, to Episode VI news.

     On a Star Wars forum, a picture was released that appears to be concept art. It depicts a hooded character with a strange looking lightsaber:

     The blades are pointy, and it would be terribly difficult to not to accidentally sever your hands while fighting or throwing the sword. Bad design. But it looks cool. I have an issue with red lightsabers; during the original trilogy, there have only been four lightsabers shown: two were blue, two were green. Both colors were attributed to good characters. Darth Vader has a red one. That's cool, because when he broke away to the Dark Side, he changed the color, and the red lightsaber became his trademark. Then the prequels came on the scene and now every bad guy has a red lightsaber. It became a color-coded blue/green=good and red=bad (purple=slightly bad?). That's not very creative, but it won't really hurt the story to use the same themes as the prequels, I guess. Anyways, the art looks cool.

     This next piece of news comes from the ever present Making Star Wars. It states that John Boyega is a TIE pilot who crashes on Tatooine. Immediately, scavengers come on mechanical buffalos (or something buffalo-sized). It looks like Boyega, who miraculously survived the reentry and crash, will be done in by these scavengers, when all of a sudden, Daisy Ridley ("Kira") comes in and rescues him. Then they go off to her wreck, where they meet the cyborg guy and he tells them to go to Spoilerville and the rest you know. Here is a purported picture of the crash:

     It's known that John Williams will be scoring Episode VII, but that he hasn't done it yet. After all, the movie is wrapping up production at the moment. He'd have to see the footage in order to get a feel for the tone of the movie. Then he would write the music and have an orchestra play it during select clips from the movie. This is what he's done for the past 6 Star Wars movies, and there's no indication that he'll change this. However, according to the John Williams Fan Network, he's already written music, at least for the trailer, which J.J. Abrams purportedly sent to him on October 20. He is set to travel to L.A. to direct the trailer music, in order for it to be released this year. This is unprecedented. No Star Wars trailer has ever been released more than 10 months in advance of the movie. It's crazy. If this is the case, it would lead to a year of speculation and hype which the movie may or may not be able to match. It's risky. But is it possible? I think we'll know very soon...

Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 31

Han Solo is a Stormtrooper?

     Above, we find Lupita Nyong'o holding a large Han Solo replica, in Stormtrooper attire. This was released via her Instagram. She is also wearing an Episode VII crew hat. This is interesting for two reasons. One, why would she post this picture on Instagram? To tease fans with memorabilia? To show off the doll? Maybe it is a clue. This could play a key role in the plot. More on that in a minute. It's very likely that she just felt like showing that. I mean, it's not every day that you see a miniature Han Solo Stormtrooper action figure, except maybe not so miniature.

     In more depressing news, the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron was leaked online, so Disney posted an official version to dampen the impact. The depressing part is, if Lucasfilm had gone with the original plan to release Episode VII in May 2015, we would have seen the trailer already. This is crazy! I don't know why Episode VII was pushed back instead of Avengers 2, but the deed is done and the trailer for Episode VII won't be up until around May 2015, when the movie was supposed to be released. Instead of a two hour movie, we'll get a two minute teaser for the movie to be released seven months later. I know that winter movies tend to make more money, that Episode VII would probably fare better in the winter than Age of Ultron, and that either way, we'll still get the same product, but the anticipation! Then again, maybe Disney's plan is to build anticipation. Let's hope that doesn't backfire.

     In other news, it seems that Daisy Ridley has signed on to be in the next two installments of the sequel trilogy. This information was released by Deadline. She was also purported to be the lead in the Episode VII. She will most likely also be the main character in the next two movies as well. I guess that rules her out of biting in in Episode VII. Unless she becomes a Force Ghost. That I doubt because main characters can't die! All the other characters are fair game.

     The next rumor comes from Making Star Wars (I hate those guys). The article describes a man emailing MSW with a story to tell. Apparently, this man was in Black Part, a nature reserve near Pinewood Studios. He climbed a tree to see the filming lot, and he described what he saw:
     "The scene involved a set which looked like ancient ruins but with a hint of advanced technology i.e. the ruins had electronic doors & scrap spaceships. Think of a castle and you’re there. Anyway, the scene involved explosions and Stormtroopers chasing someone. The only dialogue I could hear was what sounded like Han Solo saying 'Run Chewie!' You could hear J.J. talking over the megaphone a couple of times but a Scottish voice seemed to be doing all the talking. I thought he was saying “Dan” and “Chewie” but it could of been 'Han.' Oh yeah, an old flag was draped over the ruins & it looked as though it was red & white."
     Now, this is interesting, but unfounded. The source was anonymous, but I wouldn't be too quick to discredit him. You never know. It's not impossible that a scene like that could appear in Episode VII.
     Now, it doesn't end there. A few days later, Making Star Wars added that Stormtrooper pictures were taken near the set, and that a very familiar faces were in their armor. There description:
     "One other thing! Between takes the Stormtroopers removed their helmets and they each had a protective black head sock on for their hair/ears that went down to their neck. On the far left hand side there was a Stormtrooper who had no head sock on and it looked like he had medium length hair that was styled. There was activity around this one particular Stormtrooper from people on the set. It looked like he was reading from a clip board and had make up artists around him. Not sure who this was but it looked like he could have been shooting the scene without any helmet. I can not say whether it was Harrison Ford but he fit the description."
     Is this a throwback to Star Wars? It seems so. I can imagine a scene in Episode VII where Han Solo grumbles about being forced to wear Stormtrooper armor again for the espionage mission he is about to participate in. That might actually be possible. It is after all, Han Solo.

Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 30

Spoiler Alert (Part 2)

     Above is the image of Warwick Davis. He was in Return of the Jedi, as Wicket the Ewok. He has been persistent with his "hints" to Kathleen Kennedy and J.J. Abrams about him reprising his role in Episode VII. Since he was not announced in the main casting in May, I'd assumed that the team had moved past shooting on the forest moon of Endor, home of the Ewoks. This is because the furry Ewoks have a complicated relationship with Star Wars. First appearing in 1983 for ROTJ, they soon spawned a spin off TV show and three direct-to TV movies. The movies were panned by critics and quickly faded into obscurity. After the prequels were released, many viewed ROTJ as the point when George Lucas started to slip, pandering to children with his cuddly Ewoks. They are considered the low point of the original Star Wars trilogy. Unfortunately, it seems that Warwick Davis has finally secured a role in Episode VII. In a video released on Star Wars' YouTube page, Davis yells at his mother, then gets a call from J.J. Abrams. The worst has been confirmed. There is, however, one saving grace to all of this. He was not a part of the original cast announcement, and may only appear as a cameo role. Perhaps he might not even be Wicket. Maybe he'll be something else. But he will not have a large role. It's not that I don't want him to be in the film; he's not a bad actor, it's just that I don't want the low point in the original trilogy to be the low point in the sequel trilogy.

     According to IGN, principle photography is three weeks from completion, leaving Warwick Davis little time for his small role. The completion of principle photography is really exciting, actually. Think about it: almost all of the raw footage that will become Episode VII is on a computer somewhere. Lucasfilm has come a long way in almost two years. The anniversary of the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney approaches on October 30th. By the three year mark the plot will be known, there will be trailers everywhere, and the rest of the Internet will board the hype train. That is, unless someone leaks all of that footage early...

     Speaking of leaks, a disturbing amount of concept art was leaked via ImageShack, seemingly confirming the huge mega spoiler alert story released by Making Star Wars, according to NukeTheFridge. Oh yeah,

SPOILER ALERT

coughlikeyoudidn'talreadyknowcough

     The concept art looks exactly like the description given by MSW, down to the burned Darth Vader helmet and the crashed TIE fighters. It even shows a female protagonist being embraced by a masked figure, which was mentioned by MSW as Kira (Daisy Ridley) turning to the dark side, Luke Skywalker being the masked figure. Now I'm disappointed. It seems like more confirmation that this rumor is true. I really wanted this to b fake. There's still hope! But I doubt it. The greatest twist ever ruined by spoilers. Another casualty of the Internet, I suppose. I'm sorry for putting you through this. But if you're still here, you can look at all he pictures, I guess. (Sighs).

Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 29

The Star Wars Propaganda Campaign

     This week was a mercifully slow week, giving me time to recover from whatever happened last week (We'll leave it at that). This week still has some interesting things happen, and some exciting information on how the production is going. To begin, Oscar Isaac just finished his last day of shooting principle photography on Episode VII. According to HitFix, the rest of the cast still has another few weeks before production wraps up. But the Oscar Isaac's early departure is cause for speculation. This could mean that Oscar Isaac is just a really fast actor. I don't know how that would work, but there's that. But a more likely possibility is that he simply had fewer scenes. This means he has a smaller role than the other cast. So, one by one, the pieces are falling together This also helps counteract the spoilers from last week that I probably shouldn't dwell on. Moving on.

     In other news, Mark Hamill met up with Carrie Fisher in Los Angeles for dinner. According to Yahoo!, it's for a charity event called Midnight Mission. Taking a break from filming, the two Hamill's beard has been growing to Obi Wan proportions, and is a strong sign that spoilers have no basis in fact (usually). Moving on.

     John Williams has been the center of the Star Wars soundtrack for nearly 40 years, and it looks like his work on Episode VII will begin in full swing in a couple weeks. Making Star Wars (You remember these guys) has reported that John Williams had revealed that he will begin conducting the new score for Episode VII. Now, no doubt this will include the classic "Star Wars" theme that everyone, regardless or not of ever seeing Star Wars, has heard. But what new compositions does Williams have up his sleeve? Each Star Wars movie has its own music that sets its tone. To know the kind of music Williams chose would also be to know the tone of the movie. So I guess we'll have to wait until the music leaks online the film is released.

    Last week, like I said, was a confusing and potentially spoiler heavy week. Maybe due to this reason, signs have been hung around the Episode VII set reflecting a humorous but ominous tone. The photo above was taken by Frank Marshall, who was in Pinewood Studios during shooting. The poster features an imperial officer with blueprints being killed by Darth Vader. The words accompanying this image are:

LOOSE LIPS

BRING DOWN STARSHIPS

Presumably by crushing his face. This is an obvious reference to America's World War II "Loose Lips Might Sink Ships" posters, and it seems funny at first, but then you stop to consider what would happen to someone if they talked, or took a photo in the wrong place. I shudder to think about the horrors that might await those who squeal. Disney will stop at nothing to be on top, and if someone jeopardizes that, there'll be hell top pay. I wonder what would happen to Making Star Wars' anonymous source who "leaked" the spoilers if Lucasfilm discovered them. They would not be in a comfortable position, to say the least. Maybe they deserve it. Who knows.

"Help me."

Star Wars Episode VII News: Week 28

Spoiler Alert

     Today is going to be a bit different. There was a lot of news this week, from "leaked" footage to new locations to Oscar Isaac mocking the Special Editions. All of this is important, but right now we know that this week was something different. Something big happened this week. Something dropped. Now, you should understand that I hate spoilers. They are the most wretched thing ever created. I know that as a fan, being super excited for a movie or episode of something is even better when you don't know what's going on. The second "that guy" comes in and shatters the tension, the whole sense of discovery is lost. You can't ever forget spoilers if you tried. You can't keep them out of your mind while you're watching the movie, and you will never be able to experience the movie for the first time ever. Spoilers ruin everything in my opinion. While researching for this post, I knew what I was getting into, and I did it because skipping over it would overlook a huge aspect of this movie. Since this blog is dedicated to all things Star Wars: Episode VII, you can't pretend it isn't there, that the rest of the Internet won't splash this everywhere, and that it doesn't matter. I regret looking at this leak, but what can you do now? I could be wrong. It could be just a big hoax. But this is so huge that it has been combed over again and again for inconsistencies, and it looks to be truer every second. This is the plot twist to end all plot twists. It is far greater than the Star Wars twist, you know the one about Luke's parentage? Now, if you want to know as little as possible about the plot of Episode VII as possible, and want to continue life as normal. Look away. Leave this page. No one will blame you. If you are like me, and like to go into a movie without knowing the ending, then do not look under the picture. However, if you are such a huge fan that knowing this won't ruin Star Wars for you, then go on ahead.Venture forth. Oh, and spoiler alert.

     Whew. Building tension makes me tired. But anyways, there are spoilers to attend to! Okay, so two things happened simultaneously this week that play a role in this business. First Making Star Wars made a statement that detailed where the character of Daisy Ridley lives. Well, according to them, it seems like an old fallen ATAT walker that is slowly being reclaimed by nature. This setting is on a rocky, desert planet. This seems to be confirmed by the photo taken in May:

     The date is sometime after an intergalactic war in which the ATAT was taken down by forces unknown (rebels?). Ridley's character is is the same position as Luke Skywalker at the beginning of Star Wars: yearning for something greater than a normal life. She is described as the hero. TIE fighters have also been shot down, as well as other Imperial vehicles. Well, this is hardly spoiler worthy, but that's not what's interesting. The very next day after Making Star Wars posted that article, they posted this one. The title is: HUGE RUMOR: STAR WARS: EPISODE VII’S “I AM YOUR FATHER” SIZED MOMENT. You know you're really getting into it now. I continued reading. Okay, so the first clue comes from the picture leaked a month ago on Indie Revolver. Here it is:

     Now, this picture shows us a creepy cyborg thing (known at the time as an "Inquisitor")with a red eye and a cloak holding the mask of Darth Vader, contemplating it. He (it?) is also wearing a very familiar hooded cloak that we haven't seen since Return of the Jedi. One worn by Luke Skywalker. See where I'm going with this?

     Making Star Wars isn't the greatest source. It mentions several images that aren't available anywhere on the Internet that I couldn't find. But, doesn't Luke have his right hand cut off in Empire? SO, bear with me. I don't know how this guy got his sources. I'm not inside his head. But it would make sense, wouldn't it? Anyway, so the basic plot goes like this: A lightsaber is found by a blue alien character. This comes from BadAssDigest, the other principle source for these rumors. So this alien goes to a salvage yard where Daisy Ridley's character, called "Kira", is hanging out with Max Von Sydow, who was cast along with the other main actors. Sydow plays a crazy cyborg who has dementia, but when he sees the lightsaber, he immediately focuses. He remembers the lightsaber. After Kira leaves, he makes a call to a mysterious figure, and says "It's here". Kira then goes out to fight a monster that is terrorizing the galaxy for reasons unknown. She needs the help of Luke Skywalker, so she seeks him out. She travels with a companion, possibly John Boyega to a snow planet like Hoth to find him, and goes to a kind of castle. She thinks she's meeting him, but instead meets a cyborg monster instead. She realizes who he he is, then turns to the dark side, and the movie ends. That's about it. Congratulations, I've ruined your childhood. Luke is evil, I feel betrayed, and now J.J. Abrams is disappointed that his movie's surprise leaked. I can't really explain how all of this information fits, so check out the sources firsthand if you really want to know more. I'm just in shock. I gotta go.