J.J. Abrams talks about 'Star Wars'

Posted Friday, May 3, 2013 at 3:01 PM Central

by John Couture

It must be that time of the year. There's just something in the air. Oh yeah, it's this Saturday.

No, I'm not talking about the Kentucky Derby, although this Saturday does mark the 139th annual running of the biggest horse race of the year. No, Saturay is May the 4th, aka Star Wars day.

It's the one day where it's ok to leave the house wearing your Jedi robes and carrying a lightsaber and not have to worry about the neighbors passing judgment on you. It's also the unofficial day that fans of the legendary franchise get together to celebrate all things Star Wars.

Because if the Internet is anything, it's a place to capitalize on the geekiness of trivial, made-up holidays, and funny felines. With that in mind, there tends to be a run-up of stories and strange Star Wars accounts each year during the first week of May.

This year is no different, although the Empire strongly discourages it.

That video was created by the official site StarWars.com as was the official "microsite" for May the 4th. This year's May the 4th is naturally extra special because it's the first one since the announcement both of the Disney acquisition of LucasFilm and the release of new, upcoming feature films.

You may recall the news that J.J. Abrams is set to direct Star Wars: Episode VII and that Disney currently hopes to have the film ready to debut in a stacked 2015. Well, J.J.'s other space franchise, Star Trek, is welcoming its second film into theaters this month and that means that we should get a few more Episode VII answers as J.J. hits the press junkets.

Perhaps to head off part of that, or simply to have a bit of fun, Simon Pegg, one of his stars of that other franchise, sat with J.J. and they discussed Star Wars and the differences between the two franchises in a criminally too brief interview.

The two biggest things that I took from that interview is that J.J. is truly a Star Wars first fan and that I hope he finds a way to write Pegg into the film. We already know that he's a huge Star Wars fan.

I don't know about you, but hearing this interview has me more jacked than ever for Episode VII.