Is This the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Opening Crawl?

ScreenCrush’s WookieeLeaks is a weekly roundup of everything Star Wars! From The Force Awakens, to the upcoming spinoffs and the TV shows, if it pertains to that long ago, far away galaxy, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, a Star Wars tabletop game drops something very interesting, Drew Struzan gets hyperbolic, and J.J. Abrams discusses his new bad guys.

A Opening Crawl, Revealed! Maybe?

If you like Star Wars and tabletop gaming and aren’t playing Fantasy Flight Games’ X-Wing miniatures game, you’re missing out. Or maybe you’re just playing it safe, because this game is like crack and you’ll find yourself scraping the bottom of your bank account to purchase every new model. Anyway, the next phase of figures will introduce ships from Star Wars: The Force Awakens into the tactical fray, but the FFG is going one step further. They’re updating the core game set to reflect the new movie rather than the original trilogy.

And since someone has snapped photos of this revised game box, something new and cool may have been revealed.

First up, here’s an image of the new box, snapped by someone who should be really careful about losing his job in the near future. The cover art looks very similar to the previous edition, but the colors of the ships have been updated to reflect the looks of the X-Wings and TIE Fighters in the new movie. You’ll also note the plug for the film itself in the corner of the box.

Now here’s a close-up of the three ships that come in the core set. Note the blue coloring on the X-Wing and the black coloring on the TIE Fighters, which will differentiate the new models from the original trilogy in a big way.

A look at the back of the box reveals something of great importance – you’ll be able to equip your X-Wing with a BB-8 card. This little thing is going to be huge and we are part of the problem.

However, a close-up of the text on the back of the box is the most intriguing aspect of this whole thing. In italics is this thematic fluff text, common on most modern board games to establish the mood of a game before you get to rules explanations:

It’s a time of uncertainty. Unrest grips the galaxy as the influence of
the First Order spreads, but a glimmer of hope remains in the heroic
forces of the Resistance. As they struggle against the dark might of
the enemy, these brave heroes may yet awaken the skill and strength
needed to forge a new future…

The previous edition of the X-Wing game opened with the classic line “It is a period of Civil War”, as seen in the the original 1977 Star Wars. Since this packaging was not meant to be seen yet, is it possible that the table-setting title crawl that will open The Force Awakens will begin with “It is a time of uncertainty”? And could the rest of that description be a modified version of what follows?

Here Are Some Star Wars Toys You Will Buy

While some of us obsess over our X-Wing miniatures, others will salivate over this photo of Rey and her speeder. Well, technically the toy version of Rey and her speeder, which looks like it accidentally escaped onto a store shelf a few weeks early. Expect every single vehicle glimpsed in The Force Awakens to get a toy version and expect schmucks like us to buy all of them.

Also, someone snapped a photo of three new toys: some alien, some other alien, and BB-8. Oh, God. BB-8 is so cool. And so cute. That thing is going to make so much freakin’ money.

In Which a Legendary Poster Artist Gets Hyperbolic

As you probably know, the legendary poster artist Drew Struzan created a special Star Wars: The Force Awakens poster exclusively for attendees of this year’s D23 convention. It’s pretty. The work speaks for itself and so on and so forth. However, Struzan says that J.J. Abrams showed him a significant portion of the movie and he has some very nice things to say:

…It started about a year ago or more, a year and a half ago. I got a call from J.J. Abrams who I have never met, and he was in England shooting the film and he goes ‘Hi, I’ve always loved the work’ and Blah, Blah, Blah, sounding like you, you know, like a fanboy (laughs) And we were talking along and he just goes ‘…Well, would you?’ and I said ‘…If I was asked.’ And that was the conversation (laughs). By the end of it, there were no other words. So about a year later, we get together and meet and he says we’re using all the original people – John Williams, Kasdan, Harrison Ford’s in it, everybody’s in it and everybody’s writing and making the music and we have to have your art to make it the real thing. So, of course, I’ve got to do it for George and I’ve got to do it for Star Wars. I’ve never worked with J.J before and so we started working on it and he showed me like half the movie and it was just… a wonderful film and I know it’s going to be grand. I got to read the script and subsequently I’ve seen half of it and I can tell you and the fans this, Honest to god, it is far and away probably going to be THE BEST Star Wars you’ve ever seen. … Well it’s beautifully made and it’s a wonderful story.

Those are some strong words, Mr. Struzan. So half of an unfinished film is better than Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back? This quote has been sweeping the internet as confirmation that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is going to be great, but it all seems a little silly. Struzan saying that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is great is no different than Anthony Daniels constantly talking about how the latest movie in the series that pays his mortgage is the best one yet. We admire the enthusiasm, but come on, let’s be reasonable here.

Everything Else

Lucasfilm has trademarked some new Star Wars names, so get researching. Present your theories on how they will be utilized in upcoming movies in the comments below. The best answers will get a no-prize.

In an interview with the L.A. Times, J.J. Abrams emphasized that the new trilogy will explore the shades of grey that exist between the dark and light sides of the Force:

I do think the sort of obvious answer is that the Force has a light side and a dark side. It’s not just one thing. It’s not just that the Force is good, the Force is … it can be a very dangerous thing. It can be a very seductive thing. I think that the story clearly requires a conflict of some sort. And so if people were rejecting the dark side somehow entirely it would be a hard thing to figure out what we would be up against. It was part of the, what felt like an authentic and true inevitability of what might of happened in the years post Jedi.

Lupita Nyong’o says that we won’t see her character, Maz Kanata, in any of the trailers. But Indie Revolver has another image of concept art featuring the character, so the universe balances out once more.