Star Wars Episode VII: 30 Essential Elements

"I have a bad feeling about this"

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

A bar scene

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope

Why It's Essential: More than just being a public scene filled with unknown quantities, and even more than being just a cool throwback to that most iconic of moments in the Mos Eisley Cantina, a bar scene would be the perfect moment to showcase the eclectic mix of intergalactic species from all over the Star Wars universe. Not to mention it would allow for some nice cameos of existing species we already know.

Amputations

Why It's Essential: Thanks to the neatly contrived way that lightsabers instantly cauterise any wound, amputating limbs is about as bloody as Star Wars gets without the need for any actual blood. And when it’s not some poor villainous scum at a bar getting his limbs lopped off, it’s usually the losing Jedi in a lightsaber duel, which has a dehumanising effect, beginning a gradual descent to become more machine than man.

Authority (and rebellion)

Stormtroopers (and Clone Troopers)

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Force-choking

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Scoundrels

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Space smugglers

Force Ghosts

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Tatooine

Why It's Essential: Not only does the remote world of Tatooine help to provide context to the galaxy large by being the planet farthest from the bright centre of the universe, but it holds a great deal of significance to the key players in the Star Wars universe, being the original home of Anakin, Luke AND C-3PO. A return to this barren landscape would be a great link back to the preceding films.

Chewbacca

Romance

Why It's Essential: Incestual complications aside, every good epic saga needs to have a love element to round things out. The constant squabbling between Han and Leia paved the way for a classic mismatched romance between the two, while Anakin’s feelings for Padmé upped the stakes in the prequels, so we need another new couple to root for. Just make sure that we get some better romantic dialogue this time though. No more “haunted kisses becoming a scar”, thank you.

Long odds

Why It's Essential: Han Solo might not want anyone to tell him the odds, but that’s only because, in every Star Wars movie, they are so slim that there’s practically a mini space-miracle in every act. And that’s part of the joy – it’s a universal theme of each episode that the little guy has to overcome outrageous odds to become a hero and save the day. It’s just not fun if the challenges are easy…

John Williams themes

Why It's Essential: As much as everything else that’s great about the Star Wars world, the soundtrack to the entire saga consists of some of the greatest, most-epic music ever set to film. Happily, John Williams is back for Episode VII so, along with the main theme, we should expect some marvellous set-piece themes to match newer compositions Duel Of Fates and Across The Stars for their magnificence.

Yoda

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Why It's Essential: As aliens go, this little green man is one of the most iconic, proving to be a wise old mentor in the original films and an acrobatic warrior in the prequels, but ultimately his death feels a little anti-climactic. With a ghostly appearance at the end of Return Of The Jedi , there’s no reason why the backwards-speaking Jedi Master can’t play a fan-pleasing role in this new film.

Strong female roles

A galaxy in need of repairs

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Why It's Essential: One thing that set apart the prequels from the originals was a new, shinier visual tone, thanks to slick spaceships and affluent cities. It made sense to see a prosperous galaxy before the Galactic Empire ran everything down, but ultimately it felt too far removed from the Star Wars we already loved which had the charm of worn-in worlds and random space-junk. A return to that look and feel would be most welcome.

Traps

Why It's Essential: Continuing on the theme of long odds, every Star Wars film to date has contained some kind of trap, whether it’s being stuck in a trash compactor or being lured towards a fully-armed and operational battle station. Seeing our characters escape and survive in certain danger is part of the fun in proving how resourceful they can be. More importantly, it gives the opportunity for one character to yell “It’s a trap” at the most obvious moment possible.

Han Solo

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Why It's Essential: The original space scoundrel and roguish hero, Han Solo has always been the coolest character in the saga, which is quite some feat considering that a lot of the others wield awesome lightsabers and can CONTROL THINGS WITH THEIR MIND. Come Episode VII, Solo is presumably married to Leia with kids, but we suspect he still has a dry sense of humour and plenty of caddish courage left in him.

Dark Side

Huge creatures

Franchise Appearances: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return Of The Jedi

Obi-Wan Kenobi

The Skywalkers

Droids

Millennium Falcon

Why It's Essential: While the original characters will be back looking a lot older than we last saw them, the Millennium Falcon will still look like the same bucket of bolts as she always did and you can bet that she’ll still be the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy. After all, just like all the best loved features in the Star Wars world, she might not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts.

C-3PO

R2-D2

Why It's Essential: For all the focus on light and dark sides of the Force, moral corruption and er... Trade Federations, this plucky little droid really embodies the true spirit of Star Wars, bravely putting himself in danger to help the cause against all odds. Also, we have a strong suspicion that, if we could understand his beeps and whistles, he'd turn out to be the smartest character in the whole saga.

The Force

Lightsabers

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader

Why It's Essential: For all of its faults, one thing that the prequel trilogy established is that the Star Wars saga is primarily about Anakin Skywalker. The whole franchise became a story about the rise, fall and eventual redemption of one powerful Jedi. So the very fact that this film is "Episode VII" suggests that it has to be a continuation of Anakin's story, even though it means him coming back as a Force Ghost.