Rebels Star Wars: Rebels

[Solidus]

Good news for the film this summer. It will give me my fix until the show fully starts. Everything sounds great so far!

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

I never saw much of the Clone Wars so they'll have to try extra hard to recapture and hold my attention.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Isn't the whole point to distance this new franchise from the old one?

Granted, the show was fine – far as I know – but it was still very prequel trilogy heavy.

 

[Dark_Lord]

New Jedi character announced. Video at the link below.

First look: 'Star Wars Rebels' rustles up a cowboy Jedi '

Freddie Prinze Jr. voices the character of Kanan on the upcoming animated series 'Star Wars Rebels.'

Freddie Prinze Jr. was born to play a Jedi. He even has the scars on his face to prove it, the result of some lightsaber fights as a 4-year-old rough-housing with friends.

As an adult, the actor is voicing the character of Kanan, a gunslinger full of bravado and the Force who's one of the new main players in the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels. The show debuts with a one-hour special on Disney Channel in the fall before moving to half-hour episodes on Disney XD.

"For people who are around our age and a bit older, Star Wars is in our DNA," says Prinze, 37. "I've heard 'May the Force be with you' about as many times as 'Hey, how you doing?' "

Rebels takes place 14 years after the last of the movie prequels, 2005'sStar Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, when the evil Emperor enacted "Order 66" to wipe out all the Jedi in the galaxy, sending the likes of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda into hiding.

Since then, Kanan has been on the down-low, too. He keeps his lightsaber under lock and key and brandishes a blaster instead to avoid the attention of the Empire, especially the Inquisitor (a Sith villain) and his Stormtroopers. But Kanan gets his Force-ful groove back with his crew on the spaceship The Ghost and fights back against the imperial menace.

"He's been forced to shove a massive part of his life under the bed, so to speak," Prinze says. "Is he living a lie? At a certain point, the lie kind of becomes the reality. And to suddenly be forced back into your Jedi ways, it'd be a bit of a challenge for him. And pretty awesome, too, when you can see what a Jedi can actually do."

Executive producer Dave Filoni describes Kanan as a "cowboy Jedi." And unlike the stoic knights of his order in the Star Wars mythos, his banter is as sharp as his blue lightsaber strokes.

There is some melancholy, too. Kanan lived through the attempted extinction of an entire culture when Order 66 came down during his formative years, and he's massively affected by it, says Prinze.

"He definitely has seen more than what a young man should see. And what he had to see was pretty much the worst thing you would have to witness."

USAToday.com

 

[Doc Ock]

I like the design.

 

[OnTheAir]

More from USA Today:

'Rebels' begins new direction in 'Star Wars' universe

Brian Truitt, USA TODAY

More than 35 years after a bunch of outer-space flyboys hopped in their X-Wing Fighters and destroyed the first of two Death Stars, the Rebel Alliance is finally getting a Star Wars origin story.

In an animated TV version, no less.

Star Wars Rebels, launching this fall on Disney Channel with a special one-hour telecast before moving to its home on Disney XD, takes fans back to a time before there was Jek Porkins, Wedge Antilles and, of course, Luke Skywalker. Viewers will be introduced to the rebellion's early days when the leader Kanan and his ragtag group aboard The Ghost are fighting Imperial Star Destroyers.

Rebels is the first original Star Wars on-screen content released since Disney's $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm in October 2012. It also begins a new era for the franchise with upcoming video games, Marvel Comics titles and Star Wars: Episode VII, director J.J. Abrams' kickoff of a new movie trilogy (due in December 2015).

Rebels acts as a bridge between the prior two sets of movies: The show is set in the period between the events of the last Star Wars movie prequel, 2005's Episode III — Revenge of the Sith, and the introduction to George Lucas' universe in 1977's Star Wars, the fourth "episode" (now subtitled A New Hope) that kicked off the original trilogy.

That first movie opened with Darth Vader on a mission to crush the fledgling Rebel Alliance. Rebels will show why the Empire comes after them as hard as they do while having the good guys employ guerrilla tactics vs. shady arms dealers, war lords, intergalactic Mafioso and an army of Imperial Stormtroopers.

"In the original movie, you see a bunch of guys in orange jumpsuits running around and not know who they are," says Freddie Prinze Jr., who voices Kanan. "This is the start of it: the sacrifices that those orange jumpsuits made and the families those orange jumpsuits lost and the hatred that you would have for somebody who would literally kill your wife and child because they wanted your property."

The Empire has taken hold of places such as the frontier planet Lothal in order to recruit folks as soldiers or build vehicles of destruction. And Vader has tasked the Imperial Inquisitor to search every corner of the galaxy and make sure the Jedi are gone for good.

The Inquisitor's a physically imposing threat, says Rebels executive producer Simon Kinberg, "but what's really terrifying is his ability to read people, understand their fears, prey on those fears and almost twist their perceptions so that they don't totally have control over themselves any more."

Kanan's crew is a capable bunch, though, down to their resident astromech droid C1-10P, nicknamed Chopper. Instead of a sweet, loving, innocent droid like the fan-favorite R2-D2, Chopper's "a grumpy, grouchy, more adolescent-behaving robot," says Kinberg.

"He's cantankerous because he acts like a grumpy old man most of the time," adds Prinze, who's given the translation of Chopper's bleeps and the bloops so he can respond to the character honestly in the recording studio.

"We know specifically what he's saying about us, and if he's saying it under his breath or directly in our face. He's very outspoken, I'll leave it at that."

While he worked mainly in the prequel era as supervising director of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni says a lot of the new show leans toward the quick-witted dialogue of characters in the original trilogy as well as the design aesthetic of the older films.

As Abrams' movie gets closer, Filoni feels a lot of eyes in pop culture watching everything happening in the Star Wars universe after the Disney/Lucasfilm merger. And while there have been some changes, he says, "we're still telling very strong stories and using our beloved characters in ways that are very true to them."

Creating a canon with Rebels is an exciting yet daunting opportunity for Kinberg, who's also a consultant on the Episode VII film.

"The only thing I can imagine it would be like is if I was a priest or a rabbi and I got to write a new book of the Bible," Kinberg says. "That would probably be a similar, surreal, religious experience."

What he's experienced so far in the new Star Wars approach is a focus on character and humanity rather than effects and technology.

"The tone will shift from story to story, and from movie to show to game, but what's consistent is a reverence and love for the underlying material and a real passion for expanding the world," Kinberg says.

"For an audience who maybe didn't grow up with it the way we grew up with it, (we're) trying to give them the same experience that we had when we saw Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back for the time in movie theaters: Blow their mind and immerse them in a way that they become lifetime Star Wars fans."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/...rs-rebels-franchise-future-tv-movies/4802803/

 

[Solidus]

Great stuff, kinda a Kyle Katarn type character. A mix of Han/Luke.

 

[Octoberist]

The shows gets more amazing with every news scoop!

 

[Hordakfan]

Sounds awesome man and who also wants Disney to do Indiana Jones the animated series too?

 

[mr. peasant]

Sounds awesome man and who also wants Disney to do Indiana Jones the animated series too?

Speaking of Disney animation and Star Wars... found some pretty cool fanart by Deviantart artist, Ralph Sevelius:

 

[James]

Kanan looks great!

I'd pay good money to see a Kanan VS Cad Bane showdown.

 

[Lobo]

^Agreed, and Kanan definitely seems a Luke/Han hybrid. I've loved everything I've seen about Rebels so far. Especially the Inquisitor's design

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Very interested in how they handle Jedi in this show. Full confidence in Filoni and Weisman!

Also like those Disney drawings above. Is that a subtle nod to "Once Upon A Time?"

 

[James]

^Agreed, and Kanan definitely seems a Luke/Han hybrid. I've loved everything I've seen about Rebels so far. Especially the Inquisitor's design

Me too. Between this and the remaining episodes of Clone Wars coming to Netflix, it's all very exciting!

 

[roach]

Kanan sounds like my Star Wars RPG character Reb Dorian...i wonder if I can sue?

 

[Bim]

Me too. Between this and the remaining episodes of Clone Wars coming to Netflix, it's all very exciting!

Today has been a very cool day t:

 

[GamerSlyRatchet]

New interview with Greg Weisman.

 

[Hunter Rider]

Kanan, the Han Solo of Jedi, I like it!

 

[TheAQU4M4N]

I am really hoping Wiseman brings Keith David to voice Inquisitor or Crispin Freeman both have collaborated with him in the past. I'd love if Sam Witwer came back as well down the road.

 

[antsman41]

They sort of cheated with TCW, but they really can't for this show... meaning all of the main cast 'the good guys' will have to die by the end.

 

[OnTheAir]

From tvguide.com:

First Look: A New Recruit for Star Wars Rebels


Feb 14, 2014 10:55 AM ET
by Rich Sands

Star Wars Rebels



The Force will soon be strong with this one. Meet Ezra, a charismatic teenage con artist who is one of the main characters in the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels.


Premiering with a one-hour special this fall on the Disney Channel before moving to Disney XD as a weekly series, Rebels bridges the gap between the two Star Wars movie trilogies. Set in the Outer Rim territories in between Episodes III and IV — also known as 2005's Revenge of the Sith and 1977's A New Hope — the show follows the genesis of the rebellion that ultimately leads to the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia. Fourteen years after the massacre of most of the Jedi knights in Revenge of the Sith, the Galactic Empire has consolidated power and its despotic intentions are no longer a secret.


When we meet Ezra, he has little interest in becoming a revolutionary. The suave teen has been living on his own on the planet Lothal and is just starting to learn how to use his mysterious new powers. "To survive, instinctively every now and then when he's in a jam he uses the Force," exec producer Dave Filoni says in the exclusive preview video below. "He doesn't call it that. He doesn't know that's what he's doing. He thinks he's got some abilities that are a little strange every now and then, but they help him out. It's instinctive, it's reactionary."


As Darth Vader and Co. begin to expand their grip on the Outer Rim, Ezra will be drawn into the burgeoning rebel alliance. "With Ezra we see how a kid is reacting to this imperial rule," Filoni tells TV Guide Magazine. "That becomes a big question: What is imperial rule like? We've seen it in the movies with a big rebellion that ends up blowing up the Death Star, but do we just assume that when the Empire took over in Revenge of the Sith it was seen as a bad thing? I would challenge that. It wasn't this terrible thing that came in and was cruel to everyone all at once. It was slow to build its power base and spread out, and then we get to see the rebel alliance it affects, and the repercussions of that tyranny."


Ezra is played by Taylor Gray, who starred in the Nickelodeon series Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures. "I'm excited to voice the role of Ezra in Star Wars Rebels but I'm even more excited to be a part of the Star Wars legacy," Gray says. "I can't wait for fans new and existing to come together and see the next chapter in the most legendary tale known in the galaxy."


Filoni chose Gray for the role because his voice wasn't too contemporary. "I don't want to sound like I just went down to the local mall [to cast the role]," says Filoni, who also oversaw the previous Star Wars animated series, The Clone Wars. "There's a rawness to him that feels very authentic. Taylor really seems to be able to occupy the character in this time period of the Star Wars universe. He's a real kid who's out there in the galaxy."


For those hardcore Star Wars fans who might be groaning over such a young protagonist — and Filoni knows you're out there — have no fear, Ezra will be mentored by Kanan, a Jedi who survived the Emperor's purge and is part of the rebel movement. (Freddie Prinze Jr. voices the cowboy-like character.)


Tune in to Disney XD on Monday, Feb. 17 during Kickin' It (6/5c) and Lab Rats (6:30/5:30c) for the premiere of two new teaser trailers for Star Wars Rebels.


http://www.tvguide.com/News/Star-Wars-Rebels-Ezra-1077773.aspx

(there is a video included in the link)

 

[OnTheAir]

 

[James]

They sort of cheated with TCW, but they really can't for this show... meaning all of the main cast 'the good guys' will have to die by the end.

Not necessarily.

 

[Spider-Gnome]

Not necessarily.

True. For all we know, they could be setting up characters for Episode VII.

 

[James]

True. For all we know, they could be setting up characters for Episode VII.

Could be! I actually hadn't thought of that. I mean, it's a big galaxy, there's a million different ways to work a character's story so they logically don't appear in the OT.