So where does that leave me now?
My overall impression after watching the trailer was positive. I liked the trailer, and it made me want to watch the movie when it came out this Christmas. Having done this, it did its job as a trailer well.
Episode IX has a difficult task to accomplish. Overall, it needs to heal the rift between fans, and bring the betrayed disillusioned fans back into the fold. To accomplish this, it needs to simply tell a good action adventure story involving the struggle between good and evil, and have the good triumph because of its goodness.
More specifically,
1. It needs to find a way to honor the original trilogy and the character of Luke Skywalker (Luke is a violent hobo. Han is a deadbeat who abandoned his son. The victory of Endor was meaningless.)
2. It needs to repair some of the more destructive decisions that TLJ made. (Luke is dead. Snoke is dead. Rey is a nobody. Kylo is a tempermental child. Po and Fin are pointless failures.)
3. It needs to restore and fulfill some of the long story arcs laid down by The Force Awakens, ignoring most of what happened in TLJ. (Luke is not dead. Rey has an important backstory. The vision of the lightsaber held essential clues to the past and the future. Luke has been playing the long game on Achtoo that is finally coming to fruition. Leia is an effective general caught in a difficult situation but she holds the hearts and minds of the resistance and of everyone who yearns for freedom and peace in the Republic.)
Now, in watching the trailer, I find that they have addressed many of those elements. Not perfectly, but at least seriously.
Here, we see that Rey is back, she is confirmed as our main hero and that she is a Jedi. Something has changed and she is no longer the uncertain Force user she has been previously. She wears the saber, rather than carrying it. It is ready to be used.
But which saber is it? The last lightsaber she had seemed to be torn apart in the force-grip struggle with Kylo Ren. This one looks like it is the same hilt repaired. Notice, the silver and black longitudinal striping.
So, Rey has taken Luke's broken saber and put it back together, just as, presumably, she has taken the broken Jedi Order, using the sacred texts she rescued from the Jedi Temple on Achtoo, and put it back together. Rey appears here with a restored saber and a restored Jedi training.
I think this is a subtle acknowledgment of a concern among the fans. Rey has done the work necessary to restore the saber and make it work properly. We all saw that it was broken, we knew that Rey took the pieces, and that this restoration must have taken careful study and detailed reconstruction. What we're saying is that this work is a representation of the work that she needed to do to advance her Jedi training. It is a representation that things have changed over the year since we last saw her.
Rey is breathing hard, in this scene. It's another reference to the past. This is hard work. She is listening, feeling with the force, she can tell that something's coming. She calms her breathing.
"We've passed on all we know," Luke says in a voiceover.
Again, the obvious reference to training. The knowledge has been passed on to her, it is accomplished. Luke has done this, but he says "we", suggesting that others were included in her training as well. Whatever happens next, one argument for the Mary Sue is gone.
"The thousand generations live in you, now." Luke's voice continues.
The thousand generations is a direct reference to Obi-wan Kenobi's speech to Luke on Tatooine, "For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic." We've done two things here: first, we've given respect and a proper call-back to A New Hope and the Original Trilogy, tying this movie back in. This is a continuation of that arc. Second, we've remembered the important elements of that first film, Good vs Evil and the medieval mystic knights that were the Jedi.
It's also a reversal of the claims of TLJ. The Jedi Order hasn't been destroyed; it continues in Rey.
The scene moves and shows us three things: The newly drawn saber, a blaster pistol strapped to her side, and the blob of light which will resolve itself into a pursuing craft, as the camera pulls it into focus.
The saber she has drawn prompts the question, "will she ignite it? It was broken last time we saw it?
But next, our eye is drawn to the pistol. Why would a Jedi wield a pistol, something that Kenobi and many other Jedi and Sith both disdain? But this is the same one that Han gave her on the Millenium Falcon. It's not identical, though Rey may have made some modifications to the barrel
These elements of her history are being pulled together to form who she is now. And it is further pointing out that she is a new kind of force user.
"But this is your fight." Luke concludes. Fade to a card that reads "Every Generations Has A Legend" This is the same message that appeared in a trailer for The Phantom Menace. So we're referencing the prequel trilogy here as well.
In a spinning location shot we move to the side and hear the characteristic sounds of a Twin Ion Engine, as a TIE style ship moves briefly into view, trailing a billowing cloud of sand. This is clearly an enemy, and a reference to the Imperial enemies of old.
Rey is galvanized to action and ignites her saber. Not only does it work but it is blue, just as it was when it belonged to Luke. Rey is poised for action
Jump to a pair of gloved hands, holding the controls. Not sure who this is, but we've characteristically seen Kylo Ren wearing black gloves similar but not identical to this. Of course it's perfectly reasonable for Kylo to pick up a new pair of gloves, or it could be someone else. The controls are not identical to Kylo's old TIE fighter, these being D grips while the old one was a joystic with a thumb stick. So, it could be Kylo with some new gear, or someone else entirely.
Rey begins running away from the ship and at the last minute hurls herself into the air, leaping over it.
We get a good look at the TIE Interceptor-style ship, with the red paint reminiscent of the First Order. This is not identical to the Silencer that was identified earlier as Kylo Ren's personal ship, but I tend to think it is the same.
We never see where she lands as we fade to the next card. "This Christmas"
Leia's Theme plays in the background as a ship traverses a rocky landscape toward the lights of a city built on three distinct levels.
Jump to Kylo running through a red-tinted woods, his lightsaber ignited as he body slams an opponent to the ground.
A First Order stormtrooper accompanies Kylo's assault.
A mysterious pair of hairy hands, not human but not entirely Wookie appears to be repairing Kylo's broken mask/helmet that he smashed in TLJ. This appears to be another signal that JJ Abrams is repairing things that RJ broke in the previous installment.
IN the next scene Poe, with a blaster, and Fin, with Rey's staff appear in the rocky desert. This is something I've been waiting for, something that should have happened in TLJ but was broken: Fin and Poe together on a mission, both appearing competant and getting the job done.
BB-8 and Dio-9 as the cute robot trope is passed along in the next film.
Jump to Chewie in the cockpit of the Millenium Falcon with an unidentified figure in the second seat. In the reverse shot, that person is revealed to be Lando Calrissian, apparently having a great time as the Falcon jumps to hyperspace.
Card: "The Saga Comes to an End"
Jump to another desert scene as a sand skiff, reminiscent to those on Tatooine at the start of Return of the Jedi. This further suggests that the film is set on Tatooine, rather than Jakuu.
The sand skiff is pursued by what appear to be Troopers on speeder bikes and eventually jet packs as it thread's its way through explosions. In the next shot, the occupants of the skiff are revealed to be Fin, Poe, and Threepio, unexpectedly. Again, this is further promise that Fin and Poe will be getting their adventure time together.
In a very blurry fly-by, a ship crosses the sun and appears to fly in front of the command tower of an imperial star destroyer, and down the length of its upper deck. One of its engines is on fire and trailing smoke and flame.
Fade to a pair of hands, (Leia's?) holding one of the medals awarded to Luke, Han, and Chewie at the end of New Hope. Jump to Leia embracing Rey tightly as a single tear rolls down Rey's face. A tear for whom, exactly?
Luke's voice over, "We'll always be with you."
We finally see the entire team assembled: Chewie, BB8, DIO, Rey, Poe, Fin. and they are off to complete some mission. Yes! This is what we've been waiting for the entire trilogy. We've been introduced to these characters, seen them work independently, and now it's time to bring them together.
In the reverse shot we see a windy shoreline and the remains of something immense out in the water. The outline is reminiscent of the projector dish of one of the Death Stars that housed its super weapon. Rey is carrying something in her right hand.
Luke: "No one's ever really gone."
Fade to black as we hear Emperor Palpetine cackle in the background.
The black changes to the title card, revealing the true title of the film for the first time: The Rise of Skywalker. and then, December.
