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'I got my heroes back': Why the new 'Star Wars' trailer made me cry

The new "Force Awakens" trailer transports CNET's Tania González to her youth in Mexico, where she and her brother turned broomsticks into lightsabers and her dog played the role of droid "Arturito."

Tania González
3 min read

Matthew McConaughey isn't the only one who teared up while watching the second "Force Awakens" teaser. I got plenty emotional too.

My excitement started the moment I hit Play after seeing the link tweeted from the official Star Wars account. I wasn't sure what to expect from the second teaser, released Thursday, but it's safe to say it exceeded my expectations.

"Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" lands in movie theaters in December. Picasa

The trailer does a very good job building up momentum and giving a collage of images significant to the story -- from the burned mask of Darth Vader to the familiar and very missed faces that appear at the end of the almost-2-minute video.

What finally brought tears to my eyes was that last scene, with Han Solo and Chewbacca. Seeing them after so many years, with Solo's face visibly weathered by time, really did a number on me. I was flooded with memories from my childhood and instantly remembered why I became a lifelong "Star Wars" fan.

Many years have passed since the first time I saw that blue font reading: "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." It has been 25 years, to be exact. It was 1990 and I was living in Ensenada, Mexico. There was no HD, I had a TV with no remote and I saw the film on VHS, but the whole thing just blew my 8-year-old mind.

At the time, I had no idea what a green screen was or what complex special effects or costumes and makeup entailed. Everything just seemed so real. I got hooked on the characters and the inner struggle between the good side and the dark side, the "magical power" called the Force and that amazing universe of diverse creatures and technology.

The adventures of Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, C-3PO and R2-D2 became an important part of my childhood, allowing me to free my imagination beyond the boundaries of our own solar system. Those characters became a part of my happy-memory vault.

I didn't have a room filled with "Star Wars" posters, but I had the full VHS collection -- a very big deal in Mexico at the time -- and I remember having a blast with my brother as we pretended broomstick handles were lightsabers. (We made the appropriate sound effects, of course -- swing and swoosh!)

Anything could be turned into a lightsaber or a blaster pistol. My whole backyard turned into Tatooine, my laundry room was a nonmoving sandcrawler, and my brother became a Tusken Raider, a Jawa or Obi-Wan Kenobi. I always was Luke or Leia. My dog, Tiger, often played the role of R2-D2, better known in Mexico as "Arturito."

Not having my heroes in the second trilogy was strange. It was hard to conceive of "Star Wars" without them. It wasn't the same.

The upcoming "Star Wars" movie's strongest pull, for me, is that I'm getting them back. I'll be able to see them again on the big screen after many, many years. Years that passed for me and for them.

So, why did I cry when I saw the second trailer? Because I got my heroes back, because I get to see what happens next and because I felt like an 8-year-old girl who was able to travel to a galaxy far, far away without leaving her couch.

What was your reaction to the trailer? Share your thoughts in the comments section or send me a tweet. And may the Force be with you.

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