Continuity Nod / The Force Awakens

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• In the first teaser, the camera focuses on a Stormtrooper that stands a few inches shorter than the rest of the squad. That's right, he's a little short for a Stormtrooper.
• The distinctive "chattering" of the Imperial probe droid from The Empire Strikes Back can be clearly heard in the teaser, just as Finn is seen looking off into the distance. Curiously, probe droids are not present at all in the final film.
• When BB-8 is escaping in the opening, a little alien pokes its head out of the sand to look at him passing by, which is modelled after the first alien that popped up in the Mos Eisley Cantina in A New Hope (an Arcona named Hem Dazon).
• The Millennium Falcon, while otherwise unchanged in appearance, has a new, rectangular-shaped radar dish. It lost the old one, remember?
• When first catching sight of the Falcon, Rey dismisses it as "garbage". Quite similar to how Luke Skywalker described it as "a piece of junk".
• When Finn is using the Falcon's quad guns to shoot at the TIE fighters chasing him and Rey, the targeting computer is presented in the exact same way as it was in A New Hope, complete with long-outdated computer vector graphics. The First Order's TIE Fighters reuse the same aesthetic as the TIE Fighter targeting computers from A New Hope, but are more advanced looking in technology.
• After being completely absent from the prequels, we get to see a ship (specifically, the Millennium Falcon) traveling through a hyperspace tunnel again, as opposed to just jumping into it.
• Once again, Chewie threatens to throttle someone who is trying to help him.
• In an easy-to-miss moment, the Lightsaber training remote is found by Finn on the Millennium Falcon, which he just tosses aside.
• The Falcon's Dejarik board makes a brief appearance when Finn accidentally turns it on.
• A character runs into a pair of Stormtroopers chatting about a new speeder model on a planet-destroyer station.
• Kylo Ren's mask shares similarities in design with Stormtrooper helmets, Darth Vader's mask, and Jedi Master Plo Koon's mask, as well as Darth Revan's.
• Along similar lines, Starkiller Base's primary weapon is something of a mix between the Death Star of Episode IV and the Star Forge of Knights of the Old Republic, mixed with the Galaxy Gun in its ability to shoot planet-destroying, hyperspace projectiles.
• Darth Vader's mask is half-melted, as Luke gave his father a Viking Funeral at the end of Return of the Jedi.
• Luke is wearing the same outfit he wore in Return of the Jedi, but in shades of white rather than black.
• A part of Rey's staff resembles Darth Maul's lightsaber as well as Darth Plagueis' staff.
• Maz Kanata's castle features numerous flags at the entrance, including those of Pod Racers, the Mandalorian skull symbol, the Broken Horn, the Ohnaka Gang and Ziro the Hutt's tattoo, as well as the real-life fan/charity organization the 501st Stormtrooper Legion.
• While checking the supplies she raided from a downed Star Destroyer, Rey pulls out an old-school Rebel Alliance pilot's helmet.
• While discussing Finn's defection, Kylo mentions that clones might make better Stormtroopers than conscripts raised from infancy.
• Meilooruns, a fruit introduced in Star Wars Rebels, are served in Kanata's castle.
• During an argument, Leia sarcastically asks when Han trying to be helpful has ever actually helped — then cuts off his objection to that with, "And don't say the Death Star."
• During the cantina scene and early attack on it, SCORPIO appears to have survived as long as she'd like.
• Finn mentions that Stormtrooper helmets are designed to filter out smoke, but not poisonous gas. This hearkens back to the boarding scene at the beginning of A New Hope where Stormtroopers use smoke grenades to provide cover during their entrance.
• Kylo Ren and Rey butt heads and grapple with each other's lightsabers, much like Anakin and Obi-Wan in their duel on Mustafar.
• The Millennium Falcon was originally described as a piece of junk; she's first encountered here as the property of a junk dealer.
• Captain Phasma's distinctive chrome armor calls to mind the flashy starships of the Naboo. This is no coincidence; as the Visual Dictionary reveals, it was made from the hull of Palpatine's ship from his time as senator.
• C-3PO seems to have caught on that you can expect nothing but trouble from "princesses."
• When Poe is brought to the Star Destroyer, a Mouse Droid can be briefly seen and heard.
• While Kylo Ren is interrogating Poe in the Star Destroyer, the whirling/whirring sound of the floating interrogation sphere that Vader used on Leia in A New Hope is heard.
• In the very beginning of the film when Poe talks to Lor San Tekka about getting the intel to General Leia, the man recalls that he knew her as "royalty", even though she hasn't used her title as Alderaan's princess for a long time.
• The assault on Starkiller Base's thermal oscillator conduit is a clear homage to the Death Star Trench run from A New Hope. Poe closes the s-foils on his X-Wing to get through a narrow crack that leads to Starkiller Base's thermal oscillator conduit, similar to how Wedge Antilles got through a narrow passage inside Death Star II to get to the main reactor in Return of the Jedi.
• At one point, Finn calls Chewie a "thing." The First Order may include more women, PoC, and non-humans than the Empire but it still retains a little Fantastic Racism.
• The destruction of the Finalizer's hanger control room is very similar to the destruction of the Executor's bridge.
• Droids are now pulled up into X-Wings from below, instead of lowered from above, just like the old Naboo Starfighters.
• Han Solo still has problems with running up smuggling debts with gangsters, and still winds up trying to talk his way out of them.
• Supreme Leader Snoke's hologram projection is much larger than he presumably is in real life, much like Emperor Palpatine appearing as a Huge Holographic Head before him.
• The Resistance, as the successor organization of the Rebel Alliance, still uses their "starbird" insignia and similar orange flightsuits.
• Finn's stormtrooper code is the same as the cell number that Leia was in during A New Hope.

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