Why you (probably) loved the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer

Earlier this week at Star Wars Celebration, Disney and Lucasfilm debuted the brand new teaser trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While there will always be a few rotten apples who find things to nitpick about, the trailer was met with overwhelming positivity. Under the creative vision of director J.J. Abrams, the trailer instilled a new sense of hope and optimism for the franchise butchered by a pain prequel trilogy. And this is coming from someone who was initially dreading yet another trilogy.

Nevertheless, I came away impressed. But why? What was it about the new trailer that left me revitalized? Was it the sense of mystery that has me intrigued? Was it the impressive visuals? The return of Harrison Ford and Chewbacca? Or was it J.J. Abrams playing the nostalgia card?

I’ll admit, when I first watched the trailer I saw very little resemblance to the original trilogy. Sure, I had friends who said it, but I disagreed. But then I saw an interesting article from Yahoo Movies Editor Brian Raftery. Clearly more observant than me, he noticed quite a few sequences in the new trailer that pay much more homage to the original trilogy than I.

Below are a few GIFs he created that helped show me the light.

The article has a few more similar GIFs, but I think the point as been made. J.J. Abrams is clearly a fan of the original trilogy and it's great to see him inspired by them. Of course, The Force Awakens is still his vision, which means we'll get a few scenes with his signature touch — like that epic zoom in during the Millennium Falcon dog fight.

Or, you know, lens flare.