‘Star Wars Rebels’ Bits: Darth Vader, The A-Team, And Lightsaber Development
The animated seriesStar Wars Rebelspremieres on the Disney Channel tonight (at 9 ET/PT) and will then bounce to Mondays on Disney XD, beginning October 13. The show is set in the period between episodes three and four — so betweenRevenge of the Sithand the originalStar Wars— and features some original trilogy vibe as it tracks the rise of the Rebellion.
It sounds like we’ll see (or at least hear) the return ofDarth Vaderin the show — something that has been hinted at and rumored for months. And it seems as ifJames Earl Joneswill be back to voice him. Below, check out that info, along with all theseRebelsbits.
StarWars.comtalks toSimon Kinberg, one of the producers ofStar Wars Rebels. The interview begins with the original offer that brought Kinberg into the Star Wars fold, goes to his first meeting with George Lucas, and then goes into detail about many aspects of the show. One amusing quote about the early development linksRebelsto a somewhat unexpected old TV show:
USA Todayhas this video in whichDave FiloniandJoel Arondiscuss the process of developing the animated lightsabers for Rebels, which might not be quite as easy as you’d assume.
We know that much of Rebels was inspired by the artwork of Ralph McQuarrie, , andCG supervisor Joel Aron also looked at the original Star Wars, in particular the film stock and lenses used on the movie, to create animated sabers that look more like what we see in that film than in the prequels. Aron and his team even went to sound designerBen Burtt, who hasone of the original props used in the 1977 film.
Filoni says,
What it is is a rod that’s wrapped with a reflective tape, and the rod actually spins. If you look at the old movies, in the original VFX tests you’ll see there are actually wires that came out the bottom of the lightsabers. Those wires powered the motor and made the rod spin.
Get more info via this video:
Here’s a newRebelsclip, fromThe Wrap, in which Sabine Wren and Hera Syndulla run across some dangerous creatures. This clip premiered at WonderCon, but now you may all see it.
USA Todayhas another clip — which comes with a spoiler warning — in which Jedi Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) engages in a lightsaber duel with the Inquisitor (Jason Isaacs). Filoni callsthe Inqusitor an “evil version of Sherlock Holmes,” and Isaacs explains,
In the same USA Today piece, Filoni talks about wanting to haveJames Earl Jonesback to provide the voice of Darth Vader. He says,
We have a nice history of honoring the great legacy characters,… It would be a shame never to have Darth Vader in the show, I’ll say that much.
That’s a small quote, but it says a lot. Why even mention it if things weren’t moving forward?
Meanwhile, here’s a video featuring some discussion of the development of the Empire forRebels.
The same USAToday piece also reinforces the idea thatRebelswill connect to other films in the Star Wars series, saying “As part of a new generation of Star Wars projects, Rebels will tie in with future stories including next year’s Episode VII movie.”
In keeping with the run of videos, check out a set of red carpet interviews from the premiere of Rebels. Filoni and Kinberg show up, as do the show’s voice actors. There may not be a lot of new information here, but if you want to see the personalities of some of the creators this is a good way to do it. [viaRebel Force Radio]
Finally, fans noticed that the announcement for Rebels season two omitted the name of season one exec producerGreg Weisman, who was an EP on the show along withDave Filoni and Simon Kinberg. NowNewsaramahas confirmed that Weisman has left the show. We don’t have further details pertaining to his departure.
