May the Fourth Be With You: Seven reasons to get excited about JJ Abrams' new ...

IT'S May the fourth (as in May the Fourth be with you, geddit?) - the most significant day in the Star Wars calendar.

All around the world the Star Wars freaks and geeks will be polishing their stormtrooper armour, putting new batteries in their lightsabres and plaiting their hair into Princess Leia-style cinnamon bun ringlets.

Cinemas are showing the original three films back-to-back at marathon screenings today and in coming weeks and months there will be Star Wars Burlesque shows (The Empire Strips Back no less) concerts and conventions.

But this year the faithful have more than usual to be excited about with solid details of the first of the new Star Wars movies coming to light. But wait, we've been here before, right? Fans went into ecstatic, hyper-stellar overdrive when the prequels were announced what did we get? Jar-Jar bloody Binks, that's what. So why should we care about Episode VII? Here's why:

1. THE GANG'S ALL HERE

The smartest thing producers did was to announce that the beloved trio of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) would be back for the first sequel, set 35 years after the events of Return Of the Jedi.

The chemistry between the three was one of the highlights of the first movies and made stars of all of them - with varying degrees of longevity. Hamill and Fisher, having quickly dropped off the A-list radar, might be grateful for the pay check.

And even the mighty Harrison Ford, who went on to become one of the biggest stars of the '80s and '90s but has endured a lean trot of late, will be relieved at no longer having to answer the inevitable questions about slipping back into the space smuggler's well-worn boots. Also confirmed to return are bickering droids, R2D2 and C3PO and everyone's favourite Wookiee, Chewbacca.

2. NEW FACES

Rather than going for a galaxy of megastars, the cast of the new movie has a fresh look about it, with established actors from quality movies. Details are sketchy-to-non-existent on who plays who, but Adam Driver from TV's Girls and Aussie movie Tracks is said to be playing an as yet unnamed villain (Darth Sackler perhaps?).

Joining him will be John Boyega, previously best known for the low-budget science fiction film Attack the Block, Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson, who played Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and more recently appeared in the rom-com About Time, and American Oscar Isaac, who appeared in the Coen brothers' Inside Llewyn Davis.

Little-known Brit Daisy Ridley is the only new female part known so far and Swedish veteran Max Von Sydow is also on board. And one more notable addition ...

3. ANDY SERKIS

The King (Kong) of motion capture performance, Andy Serkis, has also been announced as a key cast member. Whether he will be live acting or strapping on the Lycra and dots to bring to life a fantastical new character in the same manner he did with Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy or chimp-turned-revolutionary Caesar in the Planet of the Apes is unclear. Either way, it's all good.

4. ALL PART OF THE PLAN

Star Wars mastermind George Lucas has been talking about a trilogy of Star Wars sequels for decades, having supposedly conceived idea while working on The Empire Strikes Back.

He put the idea on the backburner in the '90s when he decided to make the prequel trilogy instead and it was only resurrected in 2012 when the Disney studio bought the franchise rights from him for a mammoth $4 billion dollars. How much Disney uses of the original treatments for Episodes VII, VIII and IX remains to be seen, but the good news is ....

5. GEORGE LUCAS ISN'T WRITING IT

The visionary Lucas is a man of many talents - but it's fair to say that writing dialogue isn't one of them. Even as far back as the original Star Wars, Harrison Ford is said to have told Lucas: 'George, you can write this s--- , but you sure as hell can't say it.'

One of the problems with the prequel trilogy was that nobody took a similar approach to the rather risible dialogue that blathered on about midi-chlorians and trade blockades.

It reached its nadir in Attack Of the Clones with Anakin Skywalker's declaration to his beloved Padme: 'I don't like sand. It's rough and coarse and it gets everywhere. Not like you. Your skin is soft and smooth.'

Writing duties this time have gone to the four-time Oscar nominee Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote The Empire Strikes Back, and ....

6. J.J. ABRAMS

Thanks to his TV work on Felicity and Alias and movies such Mission: Impossible 3 and Super 8, Abrams has established himself as one of the most talented and in-demand directors of his generation.

The writer-director and all-round pop culture aficionado (yes, nerd) has already shown his flair for rebooting a moribund sci-fi franchise, knocking his Star Trek remake and its sequel out of the park.

And yet he has always said he was a Star Wars kid, so imagine what he's going to do with this one.

He said in an interview last year that he thought Episode VII should be a return to the 'space western' spirit of the original trilogy and then in a statement last week: 'We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud.'

You can just bet he will.

7. SPIN-OFF CITY

The new movies and the sale of the franchise to Disney mean not only the continuation of the adventures of Luke, Han and Leia - and passing the torch to a new generation - but also the potential for spin-offs and stand-alone adventures.

And we're not talking cheesy cash-ins like the infamous 1978 Star Wars: Holiday Special, about which Lucas supposedly said: 'If I had the time and a hammer, I would track down every copy of that program and smash it.'

Nothing is confirmed yet but rumours continue to swirl of a stand-alone Boba Fett film as well as movie featuring a young Han Solo and Chewbacca.