Last Jedi Trailer

[darth_mcbain]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhZJOvnYvWA

Not sure what to make of this. Visually looks very striking, but not sure which direction they're gonna be taking this movie. Of course, its just a teaser and thats kind of the whole point - don't give too much away.

Nevertheless - finally happy to get a little taste of the new movie. Excited!!!

[Captain Untouchable]

Ugh, such a great tease. So little context, but so many tiny clues to dissect the bajeesus out of. You know your audience too well, Lucasfilm. :love

I find it interesting that [Rey in particular, and also Luke, are dressed in grey. Not the light colours of the prequels Jedi, not the dark colours of the Sith, but something in between. Not necessarily suggesting a "Grey Jedi" situation per se, but Rebels and Rogue One have been opening up the idea that the light/dark Jedi binary is not the only way of looking at the Force - be that Bendu, Whills, Witches of Dathomir, etc.

Paired with Luke's line in the trailer about the Jedi needing to end, I get a sort of sense that there might be a "shades of grey" vibe here. Not necessarily in terms of being both light and dark, but perhaps in the sense of not dealing in absolutes the way the Jedi/Sith do. Force users allowed to feel a fuller range of emotions, etc.

Then again, Luke's voice in the VII trailer was a decoy, so maybe it means nothing. Or maybe I'm just hoping Luke will go all Oliver Queen and decide to become "something else".] :lol

[Crusader]

The Jedi need to end ... losing and start making the republic great again. ;)

[Figrin D'an]

"First comes the day
Then comes the night.
After the darkness
Shines through the light.
The difference, they say,
Is only made right
By the resolving of gray
Through refined Jedi sight."
―Journal of the Whills, 7:477


That quote prefaced The Force Awakens novelization, and I think is the key to the direction of the new canon.

I think it's possible the books we see in the new trailer are either the Journals of the Whills themselves, or simply the original teachings of the Jedi that Luke has collected in his 30 year galaxy-spanning search. Luke has likely come to realize that most of what the Jedi Order believed and practiced by the time of the Clones Wars was completely wrong, and that those corruptions of the original teachings are the reason that the galaxy continues to find itself in torn apart by Dark Side influences, be they the Sith, the Empire, the First Order, whatever Snoke is, etc.

This journey to a greater understanding of the true nature of the Force (or perhaps a return to it) is something that's been a slow build that we can see as far back as the Prequels/Clone Wars, with Jedi like Qui-Gon Jinn figuring out tiny pieces of it, helping Yoda to start to see more of it and undertake his own journey, then Yoda passing some of the teaching on to Obi-Wan. (Perhaps even Ahsoka's journey is linked here in a way yet to be revealed). However, all of them were still unable to completely break free from their "modern" Jedi indoctrination, so to speak, so Luke's own training and learning was still very flawed. I think Luke may have started to realize this a bit after Anakin's redemption, but probably the true catalyzing moment will end up being Ben Solo's betrayal and the destruction of his new Jedi order. At first, Luke wanting the Jedi to end is simply him going through the emotional phases of realizing that a lot of what he has dedicated his life to has been a lie, and that the Jedi way is very much responsible for the repeated cycle of darkness, and he simply wants the cycle to end. But (and perhaps this will be much of what The Last Jedi will cover), Rey is different and special, and Luke determines that she could become something more, and perhaps be the way to break the cycle by letting the Jedi die and have something new rise from the ashes.

My primary concern... there were a lot of ESB-type notes in that trailer, and I don't want another safe, original trilogy redux film. This needs to be as ambitious and fresh as possible, while still being Star Wars. I'm probably over-reacting here, since this is just a hype-machine teaser trailer.

[Captain Untouchable]

I wonder if the Mortis arc from Clone Wars has anything to do with it.

What's interesting is that Mortis is that the concept of "balance" is portrayed as a Father, with the dark side and light side as his Son and Daughter. If you follow that metaphor through, then balance isn't about stopping the darkness, or showing favouritism to one "child" over the other. It's about helping them to coexist despite their differences, and "loving your children" whether you agree with them or not.

We seem to have surrogates for that Father / Daughter / Son trinity in the new movies, in the form of Luke, Rey, and Kylo Ren. If it's actually Luke who is supposed to fulfil the prophecy (something the Season 3 Rebels finale implies), then having him care for and nurture both Rey and Kylo, trying to help them come to terms with each other, to coexist despite their competing philosophies, and take on that role as a paternal mediator instead of a strict advocate for the light side? Not only does that resonate with what Lucasfilm already showed us in Clone Wars, but it's also seems like the kind of larger message that Disney might want to try and convey in this day and age: that the "right answer" is not to eliminate everyone whose viewpoint is different/opposite to yours, but rather to find a way to coexist.


As for ESB concerns... I don't know how much of them are Empire notes, and how much are just middle-of-the-trilogy notes. Episode II split the main cast as well: Anakin/Padmé instead of Han/Leia on the one hand, and Obi Wan instead of Luke on the other. Episode II also featured a large-scale ground battle, a lightsaber duel where the main protagonist lost a hand, and the romantic duo finally admitting their feelings for each other. On the one hand, the idea of the same events/conflicts happening over and over again in an endless unbroken cycle is a very Star Wars notion, so it makes sense for some of those familiar beats to be hit in the same sort of places. On the other hand, Clones and Empire are in no way "the same movie" even with those repeated themes, so them being there isn't necessarily cause for concern.

[Maggewetok]

I noticed that same thing in the last quote that Luke states about the Jedi. I know the Jedi Code has been revised several times over the years and it makes sense that this generation would need to adapt local feelings about acceptance. I don't mind standing for something and I think being a Jedi in that galaxy - being me - I would stand for what is right and not argue with Kylo about his feelings, but of course not allow him to abuse the galaxy because of his. Perhaps that's what being a Grey Jedi is. :)

It's going to be interesting to see how Rey adopts this mode of thinking and code that Luke's obviously changed his own thinking to.

[MarcJiron]

It's going to be interesting to see the Organifi results on https://www.agilebuddy.com/my-organifi-green-juice-review how Rey adopts this mode of thinking and code that Luke's obviously changed his own thinking to.


I think the last jedi looks like it could be one of the best.

[darth_mcbain]

New trailer... https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q0CbN8sfihY?

Looking good!!!

[Atreyu]

Wowee :eee





Leia :cry

[Figrin D'an]

I think this new trailer has a fair amount of misdirection in it.

Regardless, it looks promising. I'm hoping there is more to Luke's "raw strength" statement than simply the implication that Rey and (presumably) Kylo are somehow more powerful than prior generations. I really don't want Star Wars to go down the road of ever-escalating levels of power to try to keep people interested. There's plenty of other content out there that does this already (some well, some hilariously poorly).