GLORIOUS ICONOGRAPHY

And then there’s all the fan buttons the movie’s hitting. The Millennium Falcon! Stormtroopers! Han! Luke! Leia! Chewie! C-3PO! R2-D2! If JJ did nothing else, they could have brought back those elements and been on the right track. Those icons are the reasons we fell in love with Star Wars in the first place – we’ve seen movies without (most of ) them, and there’s no doubt that Star Wars movies work better with the screech of a TIE Fighter or Han Solo being, well, Han Solo.

Because Star Wars is unique. People love the Lord Of The Rings and Marvel movies, but they live Star Wars. For millions of people, the original trilogy transported them to new worlds, and completely immersed them in a galaxy that may never have existed but always felt incredibly real – opening the door to big screen sci-fi in a way nothing before or since has managed.

So look beyond the inevitable merchandise overload – this is, after all, as much a capitalistic endeavour as an artistic one – and believe the hype. For kids it’s a chance to visit worlds unlike any they’ve seen before, for adults (and you get the sense this is who the movie’s really been designed for), this is the opportunity to be transported back to watching the originals when we were kids.

Just picture yourself in that cinema in December, the opening bars of John Williams’ theme kicking in (don’t worry too much about the lack of the Twentieth Century Fox fanfare), and the words of an unfamiliar opening crawl scrolling up the screen. Just remember how you felt when the Millennium Falcon swooped in that first teaser, or Han Solo told Chewie they were home – then multiply it by approximately 3,720. The Force Awakens, it’s calling to you. Just let it in.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in cinemas on 17 December.