Up until now, hard facts about
Star Wars: Episode VII have been thin on the ground. Other than details about the crew, the only official information we've received is that it's a Star Wars film set some time after
Episode VI. In early 2014 principal photography will begin, and all of this will change. As the months go by we'll see a steady stream - nay, flood - of details hitting the web. In this age of immediate and ubiquitous information, it can be hard to remember just how different things used to be. In the late 1990s an internet connection was possible, but very rare (in New Zealand, at least). As we bore down on the release of the first prequel film, we relied on other sources for our information: snatches of television news items, unsourced rumours in the pages of
Cinescape magazines, and the word of your best friend's sister's boyfriend who had spent the morning loading up the fledgling
StarWars.com website on his brand new i-Mac.
This lack of information could be frustrating, but it also helped foster an enormous sense of anticipation around the film. Say what you will about the prequels, but it's hard to deny the excitement that accompanied the first Episode I trailer when it hit theatres. Fast-forward to 2005, and things had changed considerably. By the time Episode III hit theatres, the web was saturated with details of the film. Footage, photographs, and most major plot points were available on-demand for anyone who wanted them. I immersed myself in all of this, but realised (all too late unfortunately) just how much this stripped away the mystery and excitement surrounding the film's release. It became clear than when it came to details, less was more.
With this in mind, I've decided to try and stay as spoiler-free as possible for Episode VII. It'll be a challenge, especially given the number of Star Wars-related websites, forums, and YouTube channels I frequent. Some information will be unavoidable - the casting, for example, and anything contained in the trailers (I'm not missing those for the world). But outside of that, I'm hoping to stay as ignorant as possible about what the film will contain. We'll see how long my resolve lasts - how strong my clicking-finger can be as my mouse hovers over that link proclaiming "FIRST LEAKED EPISODE VII ON-SET IMAGES" - but I can only hope I have what it takes.
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