Looking at TPM’s teaser with unknowing eyes is “not an easy challenge”. The first image we see of the Naboo swamp is all too familiar now. Back in the day, I wonder how many fans speculated that perhaps we would see an earlier Dagobah revealed to be the home world of Yoda? But beyond speculation of what planet is what, this isn’t really a teasing trailer… its an exposition trailer. “Every Saga Has a Beginning… Every Journey Has a First Step” will always be one of my favorite movie taglines regardless of anything else and yet that is the crux of the trailer right there. “HEY GUYS THIS IS A PREQUEL COME SEE YOUNG ANAKIN SKYWALKER.” There’s no real emotion. It’s all excitement. It’s a montage of weird looking CG aliens and fight scenes. It’s a statement. “Here’s everything we wished we could have done before and can do now.” It’s “hey guys, it’s going to be different this time.”
Compare that to the two teasers for TFA. The point of these teasers was nostalgia. It was here’s what you loved and what you’re getting back. The final third of the first teaser is one shot of the Millennium Falcon doing Millennium Falcon things. And while it opens with the now iconic “There has been an awakening…” there’s very little dialog. The second teaser relies on the rehash of a familiar line and then a single new line where Han sums up what a fan could be feeling in that moment- we’re home. The TPM trailer is line after line of out of place dialog that seems to give the spark notes of the story before we’ve even bought our tickets. Now, yes, in a way that’s the point of a trailer when you need to sell a movie. But Star Wars sells itself. Capture the heart of Star Wars and the fans will follow. Something that TFA seems to understand and what TPM did not. Even the music choice is telling. TPM is filled with recognizable themes that start and stop as abruptly and the cuts between clips. TFA trailers use the themes more purposefully, letting one theme dissolve into the next.
Then you have the theatrical trailers. These are the trailers that are supposed to tell you what you’re in for. Once again the TPM trailer is a mess of lines and exposition. Darth Maul’s only line in the whole film is in the trailer! And so are most of the lines that became quotable. Now, there’s no way to know at this point just how much TFA has followed suite. But the tone just feels different. TPM wants you to know what you’re about to watch. The excitement is for the knowledge, the exposition. Not the magic. TFA wants you to remember the magic. Every line we hear from Han reflects how that trailer wants us to feel, and not in a way that’s forced (ha… get it?). But in a way that understands what fans want. The TFA trailers have dramatic beats. They have moments of punctuation. Of meaning. Almost a narrative unto themselves. TPM’s trailers have only a basic structure and are mostly just spectacle. Sound familiar?
