Episode VII – The Force Awakens

About 30 years after Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker has vanished. The First Order, the Empire's successor, is led by Supreme Leader Snoke and the dark Kylo Ren; General Leia leads the Resistance. Pilot Poe Dameron hides a map to Luke in BB-8, and the droid ends up with Rey, a scavenger on Jakku. She teams up with Finn, a defecting stormtrooper, and they escape in the Millennium Falcon, running into Han Solo and Chewbacca. Luke's lightsaber calls to Rey, who discovers she is strong in the Force. Starkiller Base destroys the New Republic's capital system. Kylo Ren is Ben Solo, son of Han and Leia, and he kills his father. Rey beats Kylo, the base is destroyed, and Rey finds Luke on Ahch-To and holds out his lightsaber.

1. Cameo007 as a stormtrooper

   The stormtrooper Rey controls with the mind trick to get out of her cell on Starkiller is Daniel Craig, under the helmet and with a British accent.

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2. ReferenceFN-2187

   Finn's stormtrooper number, FN-2187, is the same as the cell where Leia was held in Episode IV.

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3. Behind the scenesThe holochess remade

   When Finn accidentally turns on the board in the Falcon, the pieces are new animation by Phil Tippett and his team, the same animator behind the original 1977 stop-motion.

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4. ReferenceVoices in Rey's vision

   When Rey touches Luke's saber at Maz Kanata's, listen to the vision: Ewan McGregor recorded new lines as Obi-Wan, and Alec Guinness's voice comes from archive audio. The corridor you see is the one from Cloud City.

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5. ReferenceThe Ark in Han's cargo

   On Han's freighter, one of the containers has the number 9906753, the same as the crate where the Ark of the Covenant is stored at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

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