I imagine that most Star Wars fans are especially pleased with the latest trailer for this winter’s new installment in the series.  I much preferred Skywalker’s voice-over to the closing shot of Han Solo and Chewbacca’s “we’re home” moment (especially when the screen goes dark and the voice-over continues).  But it’s the first scene that ignites my imagination.

The slow pan of the landscape with the Imperial Destroyer is a great reminder of context, something that reminds you of the high stakes of The Return of the Jedi.  And even though it’s a wide shot, it’s the kind of subtle moment that the prequels never seemed to master.  It often felt like the prequels were all about something I can only call a “flash-forward callback.”  There were a number of scenes, shots, and lines of dialogue that were meant to be obvious nods to the original trilogy (like the last shot in Attack of the Clones).  Those things never manifested into cool moments for me because they never really worked my imagination.  In fact, they almost dulled the significance of the moments they were simultaneously looking forward to and calling back.  But some kind of speeder coasting in front of a downed Imperial Destroyer?  That’s brilliant.