--- title: Watch the Honest Trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens description: Similarities abound between the plot lines of The Force Awakens and its predecessor, A New Hope. canonical: https://time.com/4282640/honest-trailer-force-awakens/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-05T20:19:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:31:23.335Z og:title: The Honest Trailer for The Force Awakens Shows That It's Really Just a Reboot of A New Hope og:description: "Featuring a desert orphan finding a cute droid with top secret information" og:url: https://time.com/4282640/honest-trailer-force-awakens/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Honest Trailer for The Force Awakens Shows That It's Really Just a Reboot of A New Hope twitter:description: "Featuring a desert orphan finding a cute droid with top secret information" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # The Honest Trailer for _The Force Awakens_ Shows That It's Really Just a Reboot of _A New Hope_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 5, 2016 8:19 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Apr 5, 2016 8:19 PM UTC Similarities abound between the plot lines of [_The Force Awakens_](http://time.com/4099514/honest-trailer-star-wars-the-force-awakens/?iid=sr-link2)and its predecessor, _A New Hope_. Or at least they do according to the team over at [Screen Junkies](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOpcACMWblDls9Z6GERVi1A). The YouTube channel released one of their signature honest trailers for the latest installment in the _Star Wars_ series on Tuesday that showed just how alike the two movies actually are. By juxtaposing several of [Rey’s scenes](http://time.com/4116403/star-wars-force-awakens-fan-theories/?iid=sr-link3) from [_The Force Awakens_](http://time.com/4150168/review-star-wars-the-force-awakens/?iid=sr-link1)with footage of Luke in _A New Hope_, the video points out the parallels between the main characters’ respective journeys. **Read More:** [The Honest Trailer for _Star Wars: A New Hope_Gives A New Perspective](http://time.com/4116890/star-wars-a-new-hope-honest-trailer/?iid=sr-link4) “Gear up for a film so desperate to recapture the magic of the first _Star Wars_ it practically is the first _Star Wars_,” the voiceover says. “Featuring a desert orphan finding a cute droid with top secret information who escapes the Empire thanks to the Millennium Falcon, visits a shady cantina, learns about the Force from a tiny alien, watches a man in black kill her mentor then helps destroy a Death Star by deactivating a shield generator so that X-Wings can make a trench run.” Watch the full trailer above. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4282640/honest-trailer-force-awakens/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4282640/honest-trailer-force-awakens/"},"headline":"The Honest Trailer for The Force Awakens Shows That It's Really Just a Reboot of A New Hope","datePublished":"2016-04-05T20:19:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:31:23.335Z","description":"\"Gear up for a film so desperate to recapture the magic of the first Star Wars it practically is the first Star Wars\"","url":"https://time.com/4282640/honest-trailer-force-awakens/","keywords":["Newsfeed","movies","Star Wars topic","honest trailers","star wars: the force awakens","The Force Awakens","screen junkies"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4282640/honest-trailer-force-awakens/","name":"The Honest Trailer for The Force Awakens Shows That It's Really Just a Reboot of A New Hope"}}]}] ```