NY Times - Empire Renewed
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Although “Rebels” looks expensive — Lucasfilm declined to talk numbers — the creative team was clearly aware of working on a budget. “We liked the idea of focusing on a small group of people, in part because it would mean fewer big battles that would cost us a lot of money,” Mr. Filoni said.
Mr. Plunkett, the art director, added, “We avoided long hair, which is not easy on a TV schedule and budget.”
At times, the “Rebels” crew found itself a little too close to the original “Star Wars,” Mr. Plunkett said. The Ghost spacecraft, for instance, initially looked “too on-the-nose Millennium Falcon-flavored,” he said. So the final design shifted toward a diamond shape.
“It’s still reminiscent of the Falcon, but that’s O.K.,” Mr. Plunkett said. “The Falcon isn’t the only pickup truck in the world.”
He credited Disney with influencing Chopper’s final design. “They worried he looked too much like R2-D2, and they were right,” he said. The sidekick droid initially had a round head; now it’s shaped like the bottom of a bucket.
Although Disney and Lucasfilm expect adult fans to watch “Rebels,” the series is very specifically aimed at children. In other words, the tone will not closely resemble “The Clone Wars,” which ran on Cartoon Network from 2008 to 2013 and was at times less a fun animated romp than hard-edge drama. Mr. Lucas famously used “Clone Wars” to comment on whatever was on his mind; multiple episodes explored the global banking crisis. (A Lucasfilm spokeswoman said Mr. Lucas, who is retired and was given a “Rebels” screening this month, was not available for an interview.)
Disney hopes “Rebels” will finally put the five-year-old Disney XD on the map. The channel, aimed at boys 6 to 14 and available in 80 million homes, has lacked a breakout hit, with the somber “Tron: Uprising” a particular disappointment.
“We spoke to Lucasfilm extensively about including more comedy,” said Mr. Marsh of Disney Channels Worldwide. “The comedic element is what’s going to make ‘Rebels’ break through.”
