Japanese version of The Force Awakens trailer shows off new images, new hope

We figured we’d seen the final major preview for The Force Awakens last month, with the reveal of the movie’s full trailer during Monday Night Football. However, Walt Disney Studios Japan has posted the Japanese-market trailer for the film (hat tip to BGR for the news), and it contains several new nuggets of information for hungry fans to chew on.

We see what could be the initial meeting between Daisy Ridley’s Rey and BB-8, the spherical droid who’s already available in toy form. We also get to hear Rey and John Boyega’s Finn character introduce themselves—the first time either character’s name has been heard on-screen.

The most powerful part of the October US trailer was Han Solo’s arresting speech where he confirms to Rey and Finn that the "stories" are true and that all of the otherworldly things they might have heard in tales—the Force, the Dark Side, the Jedi—are all real. The image of the older cynical Han Solo (who when much younger had famously dismissed the Force out of hand as being a "hokey religion") turned true believer hit this old Star Wars fan pretty hard—it was like being told that it’s okay to believe in magic, because it’s real—it’s all real. That moment is also present in the Japanese trailer, but pared down, and without the glorious shot of the Millennium Falcon hammering into light-speed behind it.

But what we get in its place are some more glorious, never-before-seen visuals that made our eyes widen. A squadron of TIE Fighters appearing against a sunset. Villain Kylo Ren standing behind Rey with his light saber at her throat. A few more shots of Leia, both in frame with X-Wing pilot Poe Dameron and alone in profile. A glimpse of a familiar golden protocol droid. And Chewbacca—setting off a remote detonator?

There aren’t many new plot details to be gleaned from the trailer—we likely know at this point all we’re going to know until press screenings start and more info begins to leak—but the additional images and sounds are pushing our desire to see the film into overdrive. Reports from privileged insiders like writer/director Kevin Smith are so far overwhelmingly positive, and although intellectually we know that it would be hard for any film to live up to the expectations being set here, it’s hard not to be just as excited as we were in the spring of 1999, watching the trailers and media run-up to The Phantom Menace. We’ve got a lot of hope, and we’re willing to believe that maybe this time around, we older fans will get the Star Wars movie we’ve been begging for.

"Hope is not lost today," concludes Rey’s narration, as if by way of answer. "It is found."

Listing image by Disney / LucasFilm