Makes sense, the republic is going to need a professional military after palpatine went down and the republic rose and the stormies would have evolved from imps to pubbies.
Declan
I got a definite Galactica vibe from both the flying scenes and the stormies, very different troopers from those days of boarding consular vessels and bashing teddy bears.
Declan
Speaking as a SW fan but not an EU reader… that sounds like a profoundly stupid story.
Looks cool, but I’m not sure it makes much sense. They were probably flying “under the radar” but in a universe with their technology, that sounds a bit lame.
That’s all fine, I just don’t think it’s any more or less likely to be crappy based on not using the EU. I like parts of the EU, but none of it blows me away, and none of it seems “essential” for telling a good story.
Maybe they’re flying under a force field or something. Who knows?
I’ll go with it.
Reminds me: someone here or elsewhere commented on how the Falcon hadn’t gotten any cool upgrades. I’d strongly caution against any significant advances in technology. They can play with style, which they do, and they can make things bigger and badder, but advancing the technology leads to the same trap Star Trek and SG-1 ran into. You keep advancing your technology to beat the bad guys’ technology, you eventually end up with God-like technology and everyone wonders why you don’t solve all your problems with a wave of the technology we’ve already seen.
A lightsaber with a cross guard might be a good idea but not that one. Slide your lightsaber down that one and it would cut through the little nub emitter and straight on into the user’s hand.
Yeah! It would be better for the emitter to be a crystal flush with the hilt. I guess it’s more for in close fighting when the opponents are face to face with their weapons crossed. Slzzzt! Ow, my eye is gone!
I agree that this design is dumb. And what’s with the rough, flame-like blade? That is not how a lightsabre has looked heretofore. It’s things like this that make me doubt Abrams’ “vision.”
Hear, hear. Reboots happen all the time in Japanese anime and American comic books for that matter. This isn’t Shakespeare. Although “Canon” is a meaningful concept in the US, it’s taken far less seriously in Japan. It’s a sterile, limiting concept.
Well, it’s a reasonable locale to start off in, but I hope in future episodes they won’t feel obliged to stick with the same tired settings. If they’re wise, they will create some spinoff characters and material.
It’s also a good sign that the trailer shows a storm trooper with his helmet off. (I did see that, right?)
I seem to recall that colliding light sabers tended to stick together, so protecting the nub should be doable. I understand though that credible onscreen sword fights are vanishingly rare anyway. And we probably shouldn’t judge the aesthetics until we see longer clips.
Use the force Luke
As I see it the real problem would be wielding such a wide hilt without setting your Jedi robe on fire. Then again maybe the hilt can be turned up or down like a Bic lighter. ETA: Flamethrower!
As a fencer, I say “no it wouldn’t”. Not unless it had a guard below the crystals for the sake of the owner’s hand.
But really, does it matter? It’s how you use it that counts. Darth Maul’s electro-quarterstaff looked good, but that really didn’t help improve Darth Maul or the movie he was in. Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber was weak and flickery and badly rendered on the screen, but Star Wars is still Star Wars.
Style over technology creep.
It may have had some upgrades, I noticed the round sensor dish wiped off during Jedi has been replaced by a rectangular one. Who know what else is under the hood?
Who are you calling creep? 
I suppose it’s possible that they are being emitted from the center of the lightsaber and those little nubs are just guards. An opponent’s lightsaber might go through the top of the guard but still be stopped by the beam inside.
I read it’s a nod to the nitpickers who noticed the round dish got knocked off in whatever movie it was. OMG it’s not there, lame!
Yea that made go huh, especially since the guy wasn’t a clone of Jango. I thought the prequels and Clone Wars show retconned that all the ST we saw in the original movies were still clones since we never see them with a helmet off?
Wouldn’t be the first person to don a Stormtrooper suit to get away with something or other.
“Aren’t you a little black for a Stormtrooper?”