An Old Hope

As this article explains, the trailer for the next Star Wars movie has appeared online. Of course, this isn't a movie, strictly speaking, but pilot for the animated series, originally planned for television but instead released theatrically under the assumption that even after the prequels, geeks will shill out another ten dollars each to view what will probably be aired a few months later.

That said, you can expect to see us at the theater on opening day. But such is the way of things.

Yes, George Lucas (iD&Di: .46) hurt us. Most grievously with Episode 2, an abysmal display which all but destroyed our hope for the franchise. Episode 3 was a little better, more in tone with the Clone Wars animated series than the movie preceding it: a blessing, to be sure.

And Star Wars is more than a franchise: it is The Franchise. It opened a door to a new kind of movie, a new kind of fan. It changed us from awkward, lone outcasts into awkward outcasts swinging glowing plastic lightsabers at each other: a subtle improvement, but a step up, nonetheless. Without Star Wars, there would be no Lord of the Rings movies (fitting, since without the Lord of the Rings, there would almost certainly be no Star Wars, but that is a conversation for another day).

So, how is this new trailer? The animation is stylized after the last animated series, which we greatly enjoyed. Expanding to three dimensions does not suit the character designs, however, at least in our opinion, though we may feel differently after we've seen the movie. The vehicles and droids, on the other hand, look exceptional.

The content also gives us hope. We found the conceit behind Jabba's inclusion inspired, and are fascinated to see how things play out.

But if there's one thing we've learned over the past nine years, it's to be cautious with anything George Lucas is involved with. That goes for you, too, Indy.

We can't help it though: for all that has happened, for all we've seen and all the disappointments, the prospect of new Star Wars still excites us.