'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' gets the George Lucas treatment
Fans may have been tantalised by the first glimpse at "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", but wait until you've seen it with Hayden Christensen's Force ghost and more CGI aliens than you can shake a gaffi stick at.
Before fans were hotly debating the relative merits of lightsaber crossguards, the biggest controversy to rock the galaxy concerned a certain trigger-happy Rodian and a scruffy-looking nerf herder. While that matter is largely settled -- Han shot first, no matter what happens on the screen -- George Lucas' re-releases of the original Star Wars trilogy, and the questionable plot changes and added special effects, have lived on in infamy.
If you've been on the internet at all in the past few days, chances are you've seen the "="" shortcode="link" asset-type="article" uuid="f04bfbec-2e6d-45eb-a886-346697be463f" slug="star-wars-the-force-awakens-trailer-is-here" link-text="teaser trailer for " section="news" title="Watch the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' trailer here" edition="us" data-key="link_bulk_key" api="{"id":"f04bfbec-2e6d-45eb-a886-346697be463f","slug":"star-wars-the-force-awakens-trailer-is-here","contentType":null,"edition":"us","topic":{"slug":"culture"},"metaData":{"typeTitle":null,"hubTopicPathString":"Culture","reviewType":null},"section":"news"}"> ." And, like every big trailer to do the rounds these days, you've probably also seen it re-created in Lego.
What you may have missed is the work of one enterprising Australian writer/director named Michael Shanks, who's given the teaser a hilarious "George Lucas" treatment. The "George Lucas' Special Edition Trailer" plays like a supercut of the changes made to the remastered trilogy, with a few over-the-top extras thrown in for good measure (six-sided lightsabers and Hayden Christensen, anyone?).
While the quality of Shanks' work on the video is incredibly impressive, what's even more astounding is that the whole parody trailer came together mere days after the trailer's official release late last week.
Check out the trailer in all its glory below. Try and keep count of the rapid-fire references, and let us know your favourite in the comments below. The one that took the cake for me was a blink-and-you'll-miss-it Han shot first gag.
Disney and Lucasfilm's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will be out in theatres in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D on December 18, 2015.