Why We’re Still Not Done Talking About ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’
The deleted scenes are finally here you guys.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
We teamed up with Disney to celebrate Star Wars: The Force Awakens being released on DVD and Blu Ray this week
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Note: this article contains spoilers for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. You have been warned.
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It feels like only yesterday I was dressed as Rey, dancing with Chewie to a very un-canon mega-mix in the foyer of Village Eastland, awaiting the midnight premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Yet here we are ready to do it all again, and all I have to show for the past few months is a new Star Wars tattoo, a reasonably screen accurate Rey costume in my wardrobe, five Rey action figures (and counting) and a hankering to spend some serious alone time with the Blu-ray bonus features.
The relief that The Force Awakens turned out to be better than we could have hoped meant a new Star Wars era unfolded before us. My brother and I pored over every available book, from the Visual Dictionary to Rey’s Survival Guide, in an attempt to fully understand this newly expanded universe.
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It’s Okay, There’s Plenty Here To Tide You Over Until The Next Film
While production has begun on Episode VIII and we’re full steam ahead towards Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, fans, critics and armchair commentators alike still have plenty to say about The Force Awakens.
WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam (who reviewed The Force Awakens for this very site) reckons part of The Force Awakens’ enduring appeal was the way the filmmakers tapped back into what made the original trilogy so special. “The chemistry between the characters was strong,” he says, “and there was an engaging mix of levity and laughs, and some touching scenes, from characters old and new. It’s clear that Abrams took us back to physical props, sets and costumes.”
This was something that also won over Good Game’s Gus “Goose” Ronald. “It was a wonderfully surreal feeling watching a modern day film that also managed to feel like something pulled directly from my childhood,” he says.
“Like many Star Wars nuts out there I had more than my fair share of fears during the film’s production, but the moment I heard ‘Rey’s Theme’, and saw real sunlight on the face of real actors –and puppets!– I was ready to give my adult life over to Star Wars. And after my fifth viewing, that feeling has not changed.”
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The Rise Of The Next Generation
Crucially, Abrams retained the spirit of the first films without their less-than-perfect politics. The diversity of this new Star Wars universe wasn’t lost on TV presenter and DJ Faustina Agolley.
“I was overwhelmed with emotion when I saw John Boyega filled the screen,” she recalls.
“There were tears in my eyes because in that moment I knew what it meant for him, his family, all the people that gave him a chance in his career — in an industry where so few chances are given to people of African descent — and I also know what it meant for the wider audience, especially for people of colour, that they were invited in to share in the story more than ever. John’s involvement in a film series that’s so culturally significant, so influential, meant that history was being made. I still get goosebumps thinking about it!”
The Force Awakens also provided a poignant shared experience with a new generation of potential Star Wars fans, as I discovered every time a five-year-old girl spotted me in my Rey costume (yes, I wore it to nearly every screening; it really needs a wash).
Singer and DJ Simona Castricum relished the chance to experience the film with her young son. “We both cried when Han was killed,” she recalls. “We reached for each other and hugged tight and shed some tears. It was a special moment.”
That shared generational experience was something comedian Justin Hamilton was moved by, too. “Seeing the kids at the cinema enjoy this new film made me aware that while the characters on the screen are passing the baton to a younger generation, we too as an audience are doing the same thing in the real world,” he says.
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The Deleted Scenes Are Finally Here
Naturally, in this interim between films, there is plenty of time to comb over the plot details, SEVEN deleted and extended scenes, and Easter eggs of The Force Awakens extras, occasionally to tin-foil-hat levels.
Comedian Adam Richard offered us a conspiracy theory about a certain moment in the film. “There’s a scene that echoes one in the original Star Wars (there are many, but I’m only really concerned with this one) where a bunch of planets are destroyed by the upgraded Death Star (now running iOS 9.3), Starkiller Base,” he says. “Was it a coincidence that the planet we see destroyed was the only one that looked like the CGI matte painted metropolises from George Lucas’s prequel trilogy? Was this a not-so-subtle note from J.J. Abrams saying ‘I’m wiping out that whole prequel’? Even if it wasn’t, that’s how I’m taking it.”
And without spoiling it, I can say that #StarWarsForceAwakens has the BEST final shot of any Star Wars film. Wow. — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) December 15, 2015
Gripped by The Force Awakens’ cliff-hanger ending, he wonders: “Is Luke going to be the some kind of mentor to Rey that Ben was to him? Or will he be more like Yoda? Or considering his failings with Kylo Ren, will he shun her altogether, and send her off to meet some other heretofore unknown Jedi!? I’m too excited.
“Will she manage to wrest Ben from the dark side? What about Captain Phasma? Will we get to see under Gwendoline Christie’s helmet? And who is this creepy Snoke character? This is how I felt when I was a kid. I wanted to know all of these things. Will Rian Johnson’s Episode VIII have a moment to rival Darth’s revelation to Luke in Episode V? We can only hope.”
“You don’t really own STAR WARS unless you own it on VHS.” — unironic comment made to me because sometimes *life is beautiful and perfect*
— Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) December 16, 2015
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Own a piece of history by taking home the global phenomenon: Star Wars The Force Awakens, available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital.