Here’s how I found the Empire cinema in Leicester Square this evening. There was a procession of disinterested tourists milling through pockets of giddy groups of early drinkers each unaware of the other; one man was singing La Cucaracha to himself in the distance. Somewhere to the south of the Square a hipster crushed a spent cigarette beneath the heel of a self-distressed pair of Van’s and almost became self-aware. It was a typical London afternoon in early now.
None of them knew, however, that coiling between a set of metal dividers queued an expectant mass of quivering geek. They were competitions winners for the most part, some in costume, families, old friends – all politely keeping their distance (this is London, after all) but with an unspoken excitement uniting them. They were among the first in the world to see the opening panel of the 10th annual Star Wars Celebration event and, more importantly, the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
An aside – Just out of shot there was a dude dressed as what can only be described as ‘Darth Elvis’ and upon googling that very name I came across this:
I love the internet and its terrifying alleyways. And do listen to that rendition of Lapti Nek in full, the vocal wobbling at the 26 second mark will stay with you.
But where were we? Right!
I’ve been in the West End of London for my first viewing of each of the Star Wars films since Return of the Jedi (ticket stump here) and so I had to be here tonight to take in the first look at the new trailer for the long promised, once thought impossible, Episode VII.
Now friends. I won’t lie to you. Seeing a Star Wars poster in the hallway of a cinema will always slap me right back to being a kid and this was no exception. Most of us have that memory, that special moment when we realised that in that holy place, when the darkness descended and that single light shone above our heads we were undeniably in the presence of magic. Star Wars was that for me, and it may have been for you. That heady mixture of nostalgia and expectation is the fuel behind Episode VII and the crowd here tonight lapped it up.
The Empire is Disney’s London cinema of choice and they didn’t so much push the boat out as load the boat into an Ion cannon and blast it into space.
So the entrance hall was festooned with appropriate galactic regalia including these fine gentlemen checking tickets and conducting tyrannical administration,
and these two mechanical peasants,
Having not seen a real life Star Wars costume since my trip to Hamleys on a stone cold winter’s day in 1983 I have no problem in telling you that it was quite special indeed. Then our host for the event, National Treasure Warwick Davis, popped out for a quick selfie with the assembled troupe and troops and we were off.
And though the Empire, once filled with the clamour of eager fans was a sight to behold, it was nothing compared to Anaheim, where this was the scene which greeted the new cast and crew of Star Wars.
No doubt you’ll have seen the show for yourselves, and know that it quickly fell into a mass fawning at the feet of the fans whose passion, quite incorrectly, was praised for being the reason that The Force Awakens is only a few months away.
What we did see was a handful of new official shots of our three main characters, with each looking particularly spiffy. We also learned that there is a new planet in the Star Wars sky: Jakku on which most of the action of this new trailer takes place. It looks dry and full of sand. I wonder if its sand, too, gets everywhere?
Then came the moment when casts old and new were united on stage, and I have to issue a formal complaint against Empire cinemas for allowing so much dust to get into the event and for much of it getting in my eyes during this bit.
But it’s all very lovely and in the end we were given a sparkling new trailer, which you can see here, and read our breakdown of which here, but with Carrie Fisher’s wit blowing everyone off the stage and the horrible realisation that applause will soon be a thing of the past as everyone is too busy taking photos with their phones this was an event to remember.
And one image in particular stood out to us. When JJ Abrams and Kathleen Kennedy spoke about the work of the Creature Shop here in London they cut to an image of the workshop. This one, in fact.
Now, in a fit of fanboy-enraging cross-currency let’s look closer Blade Runner style…
Who the heck is that?
Yes, him! Is he a new Yoda-type figure? Or the mysterious villain Uber everyone has been talking about? Or is he just there for the staff to hang their coats on.
UPDATE: We’ve been told this might be Kiran Shah, we’re looking for confirmation…
Who knows? But it seems too deliberate to be a case of misplacing something majorly important.
Star Wars is Back #SWCA pic.twitter.com/ixMRQLmDKW
— John Boyega (@JohnBoyega) April 16, 2015
Not least because it introduced us finally to this new bunch of reprobates (Boyega arguably made the best impression on the panel, seeming at once like the cat who fell headlong into a vat of cream) but also because it proved for the first time that Star Wars really is moving forward, that we are all here at the start of something new.
We’re a long way from these three scoundrels, but thankfully not too far.
I have no doubt that we’ll see more and hear more in the next few months, with another trailer a certainty. But for now The Force Awakens showboat is off, carrying us kicking and screaming all the way. We won’t see the film until December, but until then – keep an eye out for this guy.
Or maybe this guy…
Here are our ten things to spot in the new trailer, given that you’ve probably all seen about a hundred times by now.
