A curiously subdued Star Wars trailer

What lies ahead? an intriguing glimpse of Death Star wreckage in the trailer for The Rise of Skywalker

The first trailer for Star Wars 9, now revealed as The Rise of Skywalker, has a restrained feel. It is as though the director, JJ Abrams, is reluctant to show or giveaway anything about the plot ahead of its December release.

In a counterintuitive way that could be for the best, given the strongly divided reaction the previous installment of the saga generated (I gave Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi a reluctant 50% score). A bolder strategy would be a total pre-release blackout, letting the film take audiences by surprise and succeeding or failing through "old school" word-of-mouth recommendations.

However, such a slow burn approach, given the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on the production, is unlikely to fly with Disney executives.

Abrams has a tough task to pull the sequel trilogy back from the brink after the storytelling dumpster fire that was The Last Jedi. He appeared to diplomatically acknowledge this last week at the Star Wars Celebration event in Chicago, telling an interviewer: "We've taken to heart everything that has come before, and while it's obviously been significantly challenging, it's been a greater opportunity than a challenge."

Mystery with menace: Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver,
is the most interesting new character in the sequel trilogy

There is no compelling narrative to carry the story on from The Last Jedi, and it features a cast of new characters that - two films into the trilogy - have yet to establish anywhere near the commanding presence achieved by the protagonists of the original films. As for the bad guys, they have been left to look ridiculously ineffective, save for the one beacon of possibility - Kylo Ren.

It may be that Abrams has found a way to retrofit a story into the void left by The Last Jedi - or to somehow create a bridge from his own Episode VII: A Force Awakens to this concluding part of the Skywalker saga. As I have previously noted, the core problem with this trilogy stems from the ad-hoc way it has taken shape, in a "pass the parcel" fashion with the story handed over from one writer/director to another, leaving each to mould their own tale "on the hoof" rather than revolving around a pre-planned story arc.

George Lucas, who created the Star Wars universe, was shunted out of the way when Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. He had drafted his own vision of how the sequel trilogy might play out, but this was discarded by the decision-makers who took charge of the current trilogy.

Interestingly, in light of the polarising effect The Last Jedi has had on the franchise's fan base, Lucas was consulted before work began on The Rise of Skywalker; as was revealed by Abrams during last week's interview.

As for the new trailer, the most interesting moment is the scene showing what appears to be wreckage of a Death Star - and my guess it it is the second Death Star, which was destroyed in 1983's Return of The Jedi. There is a belief among some that lead protagonist Rey, played by Daisy Ridley, will swim to the wreckage and uncover a crucial part of the story. The trailer features the menacing laughter of Emporer Palpatine, hitherto believed vanquished at the hands of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, and adds a tantalising possibility to where this final segment of the Skywalker saga might go.

One thing is for sure, for many fans only an appearance by Luke Skywalker will erase the bitter taste of The Last Jedi. Abrams' skillful insertion of Skywalker at the conclusion of The Force Awakens, created one of the series' greatest emotional jolts. Can he do it again?

The jury is out on whether the sequel trilogy can be salvaged. The Rise of Skywalker trailer gives no indication as to what the answer will be.

Video: The Rise of Skywalker official trailer:

Tea towel immortality at a village hall far away

Down to earth: Dougie MacLean, on stage at
Clunie village hall (Photographs by Heather Brain)

You know you're doing well when they put one of your songs on a tea towel, Dougie MacLean told the audience. We and the other 80 or so souls who sat on the wooden foldaway chairs in the tiny village hall, had travelled through unlit countryside and foothills to reach the remote venue on a single-track road in deepest Perthshire.

Our reward was an evening of music and tales from MacLean, who happily mingled with the audience during the half-time interval when tea, coffee, biscuits and bowls of crisps were laid on for free. During the break, MacLean also shared "nips" from a large bottle of The Gael gin - named after another of his tunes - which included the musical notation of the composition on the inside of the label, where it was magnified through the bottle's glass and its rapidly diminishing contents.

Clunie village hall is more often used for "knit and natter" evenings than staging concerts - but there was a good reason why MacLean, who was awarded the OBE in 2011 for services to music and charity, had chosen such an out-of-the-way location to sing his songs.

Earlier we had waited outside for the doors to open. It had been a day of clear blue sky, but as the long dusk settled so the temperature slid to the chill expected in March among foothills leading to the southern fringe of Scotland's Cairngorms mountain range. The thinest reminder of day clung precariously above us, a deepening blue turning to night; while the countryside silhouetted against the remnants of dusky light was all but swallowed by darkness.

Family assist: the stage decorations were
prepared by MacLean's grandchildren

Scattered on one horizon were distant lights of a few homes and farms. The final calls of birds settling in their nests echoed in the still air. The arrival of darkness in this remote spot leaves an outsider slightly disorientated, but not so for a local. MacLean's life and the lives of his parents and grandparents are deeply entwined with this place and the surrounding landscape.

As we were to learn from anecdotes shared between songs, as a boy MacLean had lived in a small house next to the village hall, and it had featured in his youth. He now owns and lives in a former village school a few miles away, where he has his own recording studio. Earlier generations of his family had had been taught at the school.

The landscape that stretches out from the village hall resonates with stories and meaning for MacLean and his family, who have maintained strong ties to the locale. Indeed, members of MacLean's family, including his wife, son and grandchildren, all pitched in to prepare the stage for the evening show, operate the mixing desk, serve the refreshments and look after the small merchandise stall at the door. His mother, now in her eighties, was among the audience.

It was at the entrance to the hall, next to a selection of CDs and DVDs, where a few tea towels emblazened with the lyrics to Caledonia were to be found. Caledonia is a spirited and beautifully uplifting ode that some have suggested is a future national anthem. It wrestles with The Gael as MacLean's most successful composition. The latter is an instrumental, a version of which took off a few years after MacLean's original, when it was prominently featured in the movie soundtrack of The Last of the Mohicans.

Evening to remember: MacLean
met all the audience during the interval

During the first half of the evening, MacLean presented us with a trove of stories and songs from places near and far; from Clunie village hall to Alaska and Australia. His instruments included a didgeridoo, and fiddle, but mostly acoustic guitar. The Gael was played on fiddle, augmented by an instrumental backing track created by MacLean's son. After the refreshment break, MacLean scanned through the request notes he'd encouraged and played, among others, the haunting Broken Wings, and the moving This Love Will Carry.

MacLean has travelled the world and performed on stages large and small, but he has retained a down to earth approach. To see him on a tiny stage in an intimate and personal setting, and share a moment of his time at the interval break as he made a point of meeting every member of the audience, made it an evening to treasure.

Before we knew it, almost three hours had passed and it was time to leave. After we ventured from the village hall into the night, the songs and voice of MacLean, and the love he showed to all, carried us safely home.

Video: Dougie MacLean sings Caledonia at his studio.