The LEGO Star Wars games are some of the fondest childhood memories for many Star Wars fans, myself included. You didn’t have to be big on LEGOs to enjoy this light-hearted rendition of the Star Wars saga. The aspect of this franchise that I enjoyed the most was the fact that none of the characters spoke. Up until a few years ago, all LEGO characters communicated in grunts and mutters. To me, this was the most endearing part of any LEGO experience: classic Star Wars dialogue being expressed in grunts. So when I heard the characters talking in LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I wasn’t sure how to feel. Whether it was a video game or an animated TV short, LEGO Star Wars characters followed a golden rule of speaking without words. It became the signature storytelling style for all their games, including Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and Batman. That changed in 2012 when LEGO Lord of the Rings became the first LEGO game to feature spoken lines. Dialogue and sound effects from the movies were reused in cutscenes and gameplay.
This didn’t take away from the game’s goofy antics, but it gave it a more cinematic feel. From then on, LEGO games followed new style. Grunts and yells were replaced by actual words and phrases. Some games used dialogue from the films they adapted, like The Hobbit. Others, such as LEGO Marvel Superheroes, even wrote their own lines with new voice actors (leading to some insufferable fart jokes). With LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the horizon, developer Traveller’s Tales is sticking with that trend. This will be the first LEGO Star Wars game to have dialogue, so to me, it feels a little odd. Should they keep traditional LEGO dialogue? Or carry on the new trend of recycling lines from the films? It’s a fair point both ways. “It is oddly freeing to have no dialogue to have to follow,” remarked David Collins, voice director for LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. You could say LEGO Star Wars III helped set the new trend in motion. It was among the first LEGO games to bring in the original voice actors for its characters.
However, it did so in the original LEGO Star Wars fashion: grunts and shouts in the characters’ original voices. That was a key part of the charm of LEGO games. You play in the world of Star Wars, but it’s a different experience from the story. You already know the story and can follow it without understanding the characters. Instead, you play a wackier version of that story where there is no dialogue and you destroy everything in sight. That whimsy is heavily rooted in the nonsensical grunts of each cutscene. Seeing your favorite characters in such a goofy format gives you the freedom to play however you want. That’s what makes each LEGO game so much fun. With that in mind, a lack of dialogue isn’t altogether crucial to the free-spirited fun of LEGO games. Traveler’s Tales is fully capable of making an ingeniously comical game out of The Force Awakens while using dialogue. You get a little closer to the original story, but it’s still the classic LEGO treatment.
From what I’ve seen of the game so far, it’s every bit as light-hearted as the games before it. Besides, there’s really not too much that can take away from the whimsy of smashing LEGO bricks left and right. There are certain advantages to having dialogue as well. LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens features six brand new missions that serve as the backdrop to The Force Awakens itself. One mission entails Han Solo and Chewbacca’s capture of the dangerous rathtars we see in the film. Admittedly, scenes like that will need some dialogue. Unlike the original film, we haven’t seen these stories yet; we’ll need some verbal explanation (even if it’s not in Harrison Ford’s voice). We still get a few puns in there, such as “Wookiee Cookies,” but dialogue can indeed enhance the LEGO game experience. Should LEGO Star Wars games have dialogue? There are good reasons for and against it, so it really boils down to preference. I prefer to stick to the endearing grunts of the old days, but dialogue isn’t all bad either.
As long as there’s a lightsaber to swing and bricks to smash, that’s good enough for me. LEGO The Force Awakens promises to carry on the tradition of free-spirited gameplay, combining the action of Star Wars with the levity of LEGO. It feels odd hearing actual words coming from the characters, but it doesn’t stop the laughs LEGO Star Wars is known for. Would you like to be part of the Fandom team? By Graeme McMillan, The Hollywood ReporterThere has been another awakening, it seems.To celebrate Star Wars Day, TT Games, Warner Bros Interactive, and Lucasfilm has released a new trailer for the upcoming Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens, teasing the all-new stories set to debut in the game. Wondering how the Rathtars came to be on Han and Chewie’s ship, or what Max Von Sydow’s character was up to before he met with Poe Dameron at the start of the movie? Now, finally, you can find out.The six new adventures available in the game are:Related: ‘Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Unveiled, Will Feature New BackstoryAdditionally, the new trailer reveals that the game features voice acting from Daisy Ridley, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Domhnall Gleeson, Gwendoline Christie, and Max von Sydow, each reprising their Force Awakens roles with all-new dialogue exclusive to the game.
THR talked to Graham Goring, lead story designer at TT Games, about the process of adding to Star Wars mythology, the importance of background characters, and how surreal it can be to work with your childhood heroes.Just to clarify: Is that really Harrison Ford saying the words, “Don’t forget the wookiee cookies for Chewie?”That is Harrison Ford saying 'wookiee cookies,’ yes. He came in, and said the lines as written. He didn’t balk at 'wookiee cookies,’ bless him.The characters in Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens are actually voiced by the actors who play them in the movie, which is unusual for the Lego Star Wars games, at least. Was this all recorded during the movie shoot?This was all done afterwards. Everyone came back to record their lines. There’s a lot of cache in putting out a Lego game, you cannot underestimate that, but I also imagine lots of lawyers talking and pushing out contracts to make it happen.It is kind of crazy that, basically, everyone is back to reprise their roles.
If you’d told me ten years ago that I’d be writing dialogue for Han Solo, and it would be performed by Harrison Ford, I’d be all, 'get out of town and keep going out of town in very strong terms.’ Related: New ‘LEGO Star Wars’ Series Gets Premiere DateDid you know that would be the case while you were working on the game? I imagine it would be daunting, to say the least.It is slightly paralyzing because you realize, that’s an awful lot of responsibility on your shoulders. But in terms of how the cast falls into place, you’re not always sure who’s going to be saying these lines — and then it turns out to be, oh, it’s everyone from the movie. That’s a moment where you think, I’m really glad that everyone at Lucasfilm was looking at this script and giving it the a-okay before we record things. I would hate to go into the recording sessions and hear, “I don’t think these are called 'Rafters,’ I think they’re called Rathtars.”If ever there was a time when you’d want to rework everything right up until the last moment…
They all kind of make it their own in the [recording] sessions. For example, with Anthony Daniels, it’s Anthony Daniels doing C-3PO. Nobody knows C-3PO better than Anthony Daniels, because C-3PO has always been Anthony Daniels. So, I would meet him before the sessions and we’d do rewrites because he knows the character best.They’ve been playing the characters onscreen, so they all tweak it to be more like the way that character would speak. Even if it’s all signed, sealed, and delivered when we go into the session, there’s a little bit of leeway there.Talking of things being daunting, you’re adding to Star Wars canon with this game…Well, it’s not really canon. If you watch the movie, it’s not like they’re not little Lego people. I think the word canon is a strong one to use.Related: Watch the Lego Version of the ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ TrailerStar Wars mythology, perhaps? You’re getting to tell new stories for characters who have only appeared in one story so far — and, in some cases, barely.
You have more screen time for the Crimson Corsair or Lor San Tekka, Max Von Sydow’s character, in these new adventures than in the actual movie.It’s not as if Force Awakens has a massive cast. If we’re going to do six new adventures, then really, once you’ve done four of them, you’ve used up the main cast of characters, so you do have to look elsewhere. I really like that — when I first saw Star Wars, I was really interested in these background characters that were only on the screen for a few seconds. I thought, I’d really love to know more about them.And really, poor old Max Von Sydow. He pops his clogs pretty fast in the movie, so I think it’s great that you get to spend a lot more time with him in particular, and there are all these cool background aliens, I think it’s lovely to be able to explore the expanded galaxy of characters that they have.How did you decide which new stories to tell? Was this something that Lucasfilm offered up, saying, “these are characters that we’d like to see more of…”?
We’ll have been working on this game for about 18 months by the time it actually comes out, and we always knew this extra content would be in there. Luckily, we have a great working relationship with Lucasfilm, so they were happy to tell us, “These are questions people will have, these are background stories that you can tell in this game.” It was amazing that we get to tell those stories first in a lot of those cases.It was mostly up to the design department when it came to coming up with stories for the new adventure levels. For example, we knew about the Rathtars [in the movie], but I’m not sure who approached who when it came to wanting to do something with them. The design team would bat it back and forth and I would write dialogue, add a lot of jokes, and generally make sense of the level for the players.Was there a lot of oversight from Lucasfilm when it came to the dialogue?In terms of, not originating characters, but getting to put words into characters’ mouths where they didn’t get to talk a lot in the movie, like the Crimson Corsair, I had a remarkable amount of freedom.
It’s kind of gobsmacking to get to shape these characters that — like me with the original — there will be kids who watch the new movies and think, 'oh, that’s my favorite character, even though he’s only onscreen for half a second.’Because it is Lego Star Wars, we’re given a surprising amount of latitude, in the same way that, if you play in free play mode, you can play as Han Solo in parts of the game where he’s dead — spoilers, by the way. It really does help that we’re the “Lego one,” because we have the freedom to be funnier — but the actual movie is really funny as well. A lot of dialogue that I write for the levels really does fit in with what people expect from Star Wars, in terms of being a bit of snark, some back and forth.Related: Lego Unveils ‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ TeaseIt helps that the Lego Star Wars games are affectionately funny, as well. It’s not mean humor, it’s approaching something from the point of view of “We love this, even if parts of it are silly.”
With Lego games, it’s always a case of laughing with, not laughing at — making jokes about stormtroopers can’t hit the side of a barn, for example. I don’t know what the test scores are for a pass in the stormtrooper academy, but I can’t imagine that it’s terribly high.Which character was the most fun to write for?And Rey was lovely to write for — I love the fact that they’ve gone for a female lead in The Force Awakens, as they have for Rogue One, I think that’s fantastic. I think the casting of Daisy Ridley was perfect. C-3PO as well, that was something that you never believe could actually happen — getting a phone call saying, 'Could you give Anthony Daniels a call? Here’s his personal phone number.’ There’s no aspect of this that hasn’t been amazing.And which of the new adventures is most likely to appeal to the hardcore Star Wars fan looking to learn more about the new galaxy the movies exist in, as of The Force Awakens?The Lor San Tekka one is interesting, because that’s leading directly up to the start of the movie, but for me, the Rathtar one is a favorite.