Rusting Millenium Falcon?

Yes, there it is. The inimitable wail of Chewbacca, everyone's favourite Wookiee? Check. Han Solo's handsome, weather-beaten coupon? Uh-huh. And is that really an Imperial tie fighter crashed into the Tatooine sand? Oh, it is!

I'd advise anyone who isn't into Star Wars to stop reading now. The following will mean nothing to you, poor fools. But for those of us who grew up with - but didn't quite grow out of - the adventures of Han, Leia, Luke and Darth, the last week has been a particularly pleasurable tease.

JJ Abrams, you see, director of new Star Wars film The Force Awakens, has released a short trailer giving a behind-the-scenes peak at the eagerly-awaited addition to the franchise. And here's the thing. It was good. Really, really good. Full of tantalisingly familiar sights and sounds from the first three films. And, crucially, not a Jar Jar Binks in sight.

Fans of the original movies are a long-suffering lot. We thought our enjoyment of the franchise was a given until, in 1999, its creator George Lucas went and ruined it all with three awful prequels. They may have made millions at the box office, kept Ewan McGregor in work and lightsabers and ensured a whole new generation know who Yoda is, but the magic of old had been brutally killed off by an over-reliance on special effects that now look rubbish, and a script so bad even the computer-generated characters seemed embarrassed. I can't imagine what Sir Alec Guinness, aka Obi-Wan Kenobi, would have made of them, though, of course, he famously described Star Wars as "fairytale rubbish" and mistakenly called Harrison Ford "Tennyson". Ach well.

There really is nothing worse than that sinking feeling when you realise something you love has been tarnished. Re-makes of classic films are invariably pointless and depressing - Psycho, Arthur and The Wickerman spring to mind - while it takes a particularly special band or musician to come out of retirement and genuinely rekindle the greatness. Kate Bush and Kraftwerk just about pulled it off recently, but I'm struggling to think of others.

Perhaps my excitement at seeing the new Star Wars trailer can only lead to disappointment. Perhaps the real magic of the first three films was created because I first lapped them up as a child, when simple stories of good and evil made sense.

Regardless, I'll be queuing up with the rest of the nerds when the new film hits cinemas in December. Let's just hope the force is with it.