Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens

[Lord Revan]

Something that came to me has it been confirm that Captain Phasma is female or is that just assumed because the actor is a woman? Though I'll admit that hiring Grewdoline Christie for the role is good argument that character is suppose to share the actors gender (seeing as it's alot easier to find men that are that height then it's to find women).

[Borgholio]

The theatrical poster has been revealed over at the OS: Star Wars.com

Luke isn't anywhere to be seen on that poster. Interesting...

[Mange]

Also, a new trailer has been confirmed for tomorrow's ESPN’s Monday Night Football. Hopefully it'll be released online later tomorrow for those of us not living in the US.

[Anacronian]

Bigger poster.

Death Star-like structure in the background - Starkiller base?

I must admit that I'm more and more curious about the abilities of Rey's staff.

[The Romulan Republic]

I find it interesting that Rey's staff is paralleling Kylo Ren's lightsaber. Is that hinting at a connection between the two of them?

[Borgholio]

I find it interesting that Rey's staff is paralleling Kylo Ren's lightsaber. Is that hinting at a connection between the two of them?

It could just be the artistic design of the poster. Both the saber and the staff split the poster down the middle, marking the divide between the light and the dark sides.

[Lord Revan]

hmm I wonder what that alien in the poster is suppose to be, looks a bit a like tall and "young" version of Yoda's species but probably isn't.

[Mange]

hmm I wonder what that alien in the poster is suppose to be, looks a bit a like tall and "young" version of Yoda's species but probably isn't.

It's probably Maz Kanata (a female pirate, Lupita Nyong'o's character).

Also: Spoiler

If that's the Starkiller, then it's huge!

[Borgholio]

I hope they didn't go for yet a third "death star".

[Anacronian]

Starkiller base is a base capable of destroying an entire star system.

http://www.starwars.com/databank/starkiller-base

Apparently made out of an ice planet.. so i guess it's freaky huge.

[Adam Reynolds]

Luke isn't anywhere to be seen on that poster. Interesting...

Spoiler

He apparently doesn't show up at all in the film until the end. It seems to be something of a Fisher King vibe.

I hope they didn't go for yet a third "death star".

Spoiler

All indications are that it is. Though it apparently is slightly weaker. We're back to Superweapons R US

If some of the spoilers are true, a lot of the plot ideas in this film are loosely similar to bad ones from the EU. I wonder if they will end up much better due to the fact that they are in the film format.

[Lord Revan]

if they have resources for it would make sense for the First Order to build DS style Super weapons as they don't have the manpower and resources of the Galactic Empire to fall back on from what I've gathered (aka they're alot weaker then the Empire at their prime and big reason they're a threat at all is that the New Republic in the process of disintegrating)

[Esquire]

Hmm... it seems like that would only be true if (a tad ironically, given this board's history) Starkiller actually does work off a technobabble trick instead of though raw firepower. If the First Order had the crews for a planet-sized battlestation and enough industrial power to sterilize a system without cheating somehow, an equivalent volume of Star Destroyers would be a much more effective tool to overthrow the Republic. Again. Stupid uninventive writers.

[Boeing 757]

The emphasis on superweapons can hardly be blamed on Abrams or the the old EU. I blame G.L. and the makers original trilogy for setting that precedent. It is a brain-bug that Abrams seems to have garnered from A New Hope and is applying it liberally to NuTrek and this new set of SW films. I guess that this thing resembles the Death Star in order to hark back on a New Hope. Not saying that I like that, but I can understand what they are trying to do to make it feel like the Original Trilogy....

[Adam Reynolds]

I find it interesting that Rey's staff is paralleling Kylo Ren's lightsaber. Is that hinting at a connection between the two of them?

Spoiler

It is possible that they are actually brother and sister. I have doubts about this one, but is has been suggested. It is also oddly suggested that she isn't Han and Leia's daughter but he is their son. Presumably she kills him eventually.

This would be another poorly liked story idea from the EU.

Hmm... it seems like that would only be true if (a tad ironically, given this board's history) Starkiller actually does work off a technobabble trick instead of though raw firepower. If the First Order had the crews for a planet-sized battlestation and enough industrial power to sterilize a system without cheating somehow, an equivalent volume of Star Destroyers would be a much more effective tool to overthrow the Republic. Again. Stupid uninventive writers.

That is only true if it is a battle station like the Death Star. Indications are that it isn't. Spoiler

More specifically, it is apparently a Galaxy Gun like device located on a planet. It has the range to fire upon other star systems. Though it is apparently not as destructive as a full Death Star. One is fired at Maz Kanata's castle and there are survivors. While such a fortification would obviously be hardened, it is still odd that something that small would actually survive.

[Boeing 757]

If this thing can literally blow up a whole star-system, I wonder though why Palpatine's engineers didn't think up of it when they began to draft ideas for terror weapons. Is this weapon a new progression of already established technology, or is it a new innovation for which the means of building it were not available to the Galactic Empire?

[Batman]

Couldn't the DS1 already do that? I means sure, the only thing it 'immediately' did was blow up the planet, but wouldn't the wreckage spreading throughout the system at fractional c speeds pretty much ruin the system anyway?

[Boeing 757]

Couldn't the DS1 already do that? I means sure, the only thing it 'immediately' did was blow up the planet, but wouldn't the wreckage spreading throughout the system at fractional c speeds pretty much ruin the system anyway?

Yes, that should cause a good deal of damage to any unshielded worlds in said system unlucky enough that were hit by the wreckage.
And even though nothing in canon has stated as much, a fully charged superlaser blast being fired into a sun-like star might also bring about a supernova.

[RogueIce]

A supernova would pretty much destroy everything in the system utterly, I imagine. Blowing up the planet at least leaves behind space rocks that can be used later.

[Adam Reynolds]

Where is it that people are getting the idea it destroys solar systems? Spoiler

From what I have seen, it doesn't even fully destroy planets. It hits Maz Kanata’s castle and people survive(including most of our heroes). It isn't destroying entire planets. All indications are that the threats at this point are actually smaller than in ROTJ. The problem is that the heroes are less skilled as well.

[Anacronian]

Where is it that people are getting the idea it destroys solar systems?

From the description on Star Wars the Force awakens official website: http://www.starwars.com/databank/starkiller-base

An ice planet converted into a stronghold of the First Order and armed with a fiercely destructive new weapon capable of destroying entire star systems.

Also since Starkiller base is described as an "Ice planet converted to a stronghold.." I guess the pictures we have seen of the new order is actually from the surface of the Starkiller.

[Boeing 757]

That is one big cannon though. I will be disappointed if something so big as that could not even blow up a castle.

[The Romulan Republic]

Just a thought: Spoiler

Maybe they didn't fire at maximum power. I mean, if you want to level a castle, blowing up the planet is a tad excessive.

Or maybe the reason its so big is not for power, but for range? If its built out of a world as said in this thread, I'm guessing its not mobile, and hence has to be able to fire across interstellar distances to be worth much as anything other than a very costly fixed system defence weapon.

Edit: Added spoiler warning.

[Boeing 757]

Interesting: reputedly it bears many similarities with Centerpoint Station. I wonder whether they borrowed that idea straight out of the EU.

[The Romulan Republic]

I was thinking along the lines of the galaxy gun, but yeah.