Saga Favorite Trailers

Now that Star Wars is going through all its classic trailers, I've decided to look back at them myself, and consider both first impressions as well as how they represented the final film.

The Episode III trailer is far by my favorite. We pretty much know what has to happen, but this trailer just gets us more amped up. Things really take a turn when Palpatine goes evil. Despite giving away what happens in a nutshell, it still doesn't take away from the impact of seeing it onscreen, and even continues the tradition of everyone looking dramatically at Vader. Nice touch.

 

No question about it.



The music, Ben talking about the past slowly leading up to the "yes master?-RISE" and then a quick sequence of **** that was about to get down. Epic.
This trailer really made me want to see the movie desperately, even though I wasn't a huge SW fan at the time.

EDIT: SlashMan: About your post, you refer to the actual trailer for epIII, not teaser right? That trailer was also great from my point of view, but some people disliked it because it revealed too much. And I'd have to agree. Even though we knew everything that was supposed to happen, the trailer just reveals a bit too much in a sense of how it all played out. The teaser, on the other hand, shows just bits and pieces and that works better imo.

 

Yeah, I was talking about the trailer itself, not the teaser. Though in all honesty, sometimes the teasers do create more hype by the "less is more" philosophy. For Revenge of the Sith, I thought both were magnificently done (though you're right, it did reveal a lot, especially with Palpatine).

 

Easily my favourite:



Just imagine seeing that in 1979, after SW had blown the world away two years earlier. Not a word spoken until the voiceover at the end, just the familiar characters in totally different scenarios.

Also like the fact that the VO refers to it as "the continuing Star Wars Saga" - back then, the structure could have gone in completely different directions. Ongoing James Bond-style series, the 12-part 'Adventures of Luke Skywalker', the nine-episode trilogy of trilogies. There wasn't really an obvious end in sight, and why would there be?

 

Of all the OT trailers, this one is my favorite. You notice that, while it shows quite a lot, you get only about a one second view of Yoda, and no shots of Ben.

 

I remember when I saw this the first time, when they ran it before "The Incredibles". After it was done, I let out a perfectly audible, "Whoa!" No one shushed me. In fact, one lady turned and smiled at me. I figure I just spoke for the audience at that point.

Oh, and this is one of my favorite trailers, period.

 

That teaser trailer *is* ... AMAZING.

I love how it's constructed like a piece of music.

There's sort of an overture, a main melody, a bridge, another bridge, and then that glorious end section, plus a final coda.

It's very chthonic, too. "Lord Vader ... rise". And all that dramatic, evil, insinuating imagery. Then the second round, which is just a furious blizzard of action and anger. Anakin looks particularly menacing with his "He-Man" style in brief glimpses of him hacking, slashing, and strangling; even his embrace of Padme looks a bit scary or desperate.

It's almost my choice, but...

The first TPM trailer -- the trailer that announces the return of Star Wars, in effect: the rebirth of an entire saga -- calls to me.

As does the theatrical trailer for ROTS. Lordy, that thing is a real work of art.

They REALLY knocked all the prequel trailers, including those tone poems for TPM, out of the park.

Maybe I would pick that TPM tone poem -- the "Shmi" one -- above everything, in a way. It's very poignant; and even a bit dark.

Sorry about the quality:



Don't look back
Before you go
Eyes forward
Choices to make
Dreams to realize

Don't look back
Before you go
Know the truth
Learn to let go

Don't look back
Before you go
Before you leave
Me


That is such an incredible rendition of the Force Theme by John Williams (for the leaving scene) -- moves me every time.


And what about those lines of Shmi's? So interesting -- the tension that is created by the sudden use of the word "me" at the very end makes for a surprisingly-stark end.


That's what I mean about dark. There's a private anguish to Shmi's narration. The imagery takes on even more of a plangent, otherwordly quality. Makes the saga even more epic.


This one-minute tone poem, so beautiful in its concision, beautifully encapsulates the emotional core of the prequel trilogy, and the entire "tragedy" of Anakin Skywalker.


And I know I've sort of cheated and written it out and broken it up a certain way, but I like how there are three verses, of not-quite-equal length, with each getting a little bit shorter and more to-the-point, leading to that final word which slices like a knife.


It's so lyrical. Who says there's no intrinsic literary value to Star Wars, eh? After that, at least, hopefully ... no-one.


And this little gem of a trailer/spot really shows off the understated beauty of Lucas' direction. This is what exists underneath all the pyrotechnics: poise, dignity, restraint.


I gotta hand it to the people who put those tone poems together. They did a great job with all of them.


Especially this one.

 

I appreciated what they were trying to do with the "tone poem" spots. It was a good attempt to try something different from the standard trailers & commercials.

Here's the one I think is best:

Notice how when he says "the corrupt", we see Palpatine, a quick hint for those in the know what's coming.

 

Never seen that one before, thanks!

 

It is interesting how Palpatine is shown at that part. It makes it seem like Maul is slagging off his own master. Or maybe Maul doesn't actually know that Sidious is also Palpatine?

Good choice. That one would be my second choice. I do like the dark, lascivious tone of it. It definitely gets you excited to see the film, I think, with its ominous narration, and the dramatic way it closes on Maul himself (associated there with the Empire -- that's the music used for the Empire in ANH).

But to return to mine for a moment...

I just noticed, at 0:28, that Shmi clasps Qui-Gon's hand in return. In the finished film, Qui-Gon puts his hand on Shmi as she watches Anakin trundle off to his room for the last time, but the gesture is not reciprocated. Fascinating, then, that there's more than one version of this suggestive little moment.

 

The ROTS teaser trailer is the best trailer ever. It hit home that this was the movie that we were waiting for and the end of the saga as we knew it.
The teaser trailer for Episode 7 is going to have to be amazing to top it.

 

The first teaser for Episode I, "Every Generation has a Legend...". Cue the SW music = Goosebumps.

 

With the exception of a couple, particularly the one I posted above, I'd have to say that overall, the PT trailers were considerably better than the ones for the OT (and this is coming from someone who prefers the OT over the PT). I think a fair bit more effort and creativity was put into them.

 

I think that's because, in the case of ANH, they weren't really sure what they'd be promoting and had little to work with, given how far behind schedule it was. And the others just followed the standard routine for trailers of the period.

 

I think it's kinda strange. The OT had better movies. But the prequels had better novelizations AND trailers.

 

Yeah, I don't think there's any real mystery to it - there's just a far greater emphasis in recent years on having trailers be designed to sell their audiences on the film than there was at the time of the OT. It might be interesting to trace the exact evolution.

Ironically, I think the end result of trailer evolution in general has been making them so formulaic that they're almost worthless.

 

Absolutely. I love that 1979 ESB trailer, but the rest are just bog-standard that look like trailers for just about anything - apart from the earliest SW one which is kind of clueless and funny because they didn't know what they had on their hands, and the earliest ESB one, which has a heap of Ralph McQuarrie artwork due to the lack of actual footage.

With the PT, LFL and the marketing people really knew which buttons to push. The 'Breathing' teaser for AOTC deserves a mention:

 

Although I consider Ep 3 teaser the best one, there is one more that I think is above them all.
AOTC Forbidden love.

Breathing, romantic music theme accompanied by Padme's and Anakin's scenes, then Duel of the Fates and more serious clips from the movie. I love those clips with lightsabers, Kenobi's and Dooku's and as the music becomes more prominent, the trailer ends with Anakin decapitating Tusken warrior.

 

I agree. When I went to see the 3-D version of TPM, they ran trailers for "Wrath of the Titans" and "John Carter", and I couldn't tell the difference between them. And, when I went to see "Iron Man 3", I couldn't distinguish five of the six trailers they ran.

Another reason I appreciated LFL's attempt with the "tone poem" spots.

 

My favorite for the PT is the "Breathing" trailer. I remember seeing that one before Monsters Inc. and I was so hyped afterward I couldn't enjoy the movie .

My favorite period is the McQuarrie concept art trailer. In '79 you would've been like "Wait, is the sequel going to be a cartoon?" and then at the end you get all of those hero shots of the actual characters. It's great.

 

I remember seeing that before! Seeing the shot of Luke's blue lightsaber is particularly fascinating, and helps to show why they changed it to green - you can barely see it against the sky.

 

I have a soft spot for the combined SE trailer of ESB and ROTJ simply because it was the first time I saw Star Wars footage in a theater and it blew me away and got me so excited for ANH which I was seeing.

 

^^^
Ah, how could I forget the original SE trailer?



I actually went to see Independence Day largely for the purpose of seeing this trailer (as luck would have it, there was also an old trailer for 2001: A Space Odyssey - the cinema was screening a restored print). Should have walked out before the feature.

First new SW footage on the big screen since 1983. "See it again, for the first time." Great stuff.
Then the SE was released a year later, and all hell broke loose...

 

I'm amazed that no one has mentioned the TPM trailer yet. If you can, erase all your knowledge of anything but the OT and the EU to 1998, and check it out. The galaxy feels so open. It was so cool to experience.

And of course the SE trailer where it starts with the TV screen playing the Death Star battle, and the X-Wing comes flying out as the announcer says that a whole generation who have only seen it on the small screen will be able to experience the real thing (well, for some values of "real" ).