With the 17th of December approaching like a squadron of TIE fighters on the horizon the Star Wars marketing machine has cranked up a gear and we’re seeing a lot of new footage from The Force Awakens appear.

Also we’ve seen JJ Abrams’ tight ship leaking somewhat as the first images of Maz Kanata and Max Von Sydow’s character (and his name – which has so far not been revealed hence why we’re not revealing it here). Be warned that they aren’t officially released images and so don’t look particularly good – click if you can’t wait. You can find those two images here, and here.

Also last night saw the great John Williams honoured at the American Music Awards, with a-Capella group Pentatonix not being served very well by a strange decision to have them sing the much-loved instrumental music.

They also showed what amounts to our first look at an actual scene – it’s taken from some of the footage we’re already seen but has a good indication of Finn and Rey’s early relationship. The scene is about 0:40 into the video below.

Before the AMAs Disney also issued a couple of new TV spots with some new footage including a well-known face from Return of the Jedi making a reappearance.

Here’s the other TV Spot.

UPDATE: Over the weekend Saturday Night Live delivered a great sketch with Jon Hamm, Emma Stone joining Daisy Ridely and John Boyega in the previously unseen Star Wars The Force Awakens auditions.

 

Not long now to wait…