Star Wars fans already seem to feel that the franchise they know and love is in good hands with J.J. Abrams at the helm. One of the bigger problems with the Star Wars prequel films was that the writing got a bit stilted. If Abrams’ handling of Star Trek is any indication, the new Star Wars could be the richest one yet.

One indication that Abrams is handling his responsibility to the franchise with teh respect it deserves is what he left out of the new film. Apparently there were several blatant references to the original Start Wars trilogy within the new film. Some were left in, if they felt appropriate. But some were cut to avoid the feeling of a cheap trick reference.

Abrams says:

“… we’ve obviously had a lot of time [during the development process] to talk about what’s happened outside of the borders of the story that you’re seeing. So there are, of course, references to things, and some are very oblique so that hopefully the audience can infer what the characters are referring to. We used to have more references to things that we pulled out because they almost felt like they were trying too hard to allude to something. I think that the key is—and whether we’ve accomplished that or not is, of course, up to the audience—but the key is that references be essential so that you don’t reference a lot of things that feel like, oh, we’re laying pipe for, you know, an animated series or further movies. It should feel like things are being referenced for a reason.”

“Laying pipe” for an animated series? That one little passing comment alone might start a whole line of questioning. But Abrams holds fast to his notion that this film, and those to follow it, should be treated with the same respect that other hallowed mythologies are.

“That, to me, has been the constant struggle: to make sure that none of these things are treated like either they’re a museum piece and we’re trying to honor them or they’re gratuitous and thrown in because, well, it’s a Star Wars movie so you’ve got to put these things in. Everything has got to be essential to the characters in the film.”