When the powers-that-be at Disney & Lucasfilm decided
that they wanted to set "Star Wars Rebels" in that time period
between the prequels and the original trilogy, executive producer Dave Filoni
knew that this new Disney XD animated series was going to be tough to pull off.
"Look, it's one thing to do what we did on 'Star Wars:
The Clone Wars.' That animated series was set between 'Attack of the Clones'
and 'Revenge of the Sith.' So we had a wealth of material to work with,"
Filoni explained during a recent phone interview. "We could make use of
characters that had previously appeared in the prequels. We could pick up story
threads from those two movies. It was a rich, rich vein to explore."
"Whereas with 'Rebels' … Going into this project,
once we decided that its story should begin four years before the events
of 'A New Hope' … Well, my biggest
fear as we began developing this show is that I didn't want to repeat what
George (Lucas) had already done," Dave continued. "I mean, I didn't
want us inventing another Luke Skywalker. Luke is the chosen one. Luke is the
son of Darth Vader. So given that 'Rebels' is set in the particular time period
in Star Wars history, I wondered how we could tell a story with this new
animated series that would be truly unique and — at the same time — not
duplicate what George had already done with the original trilogy?"
"Star Wars Rebels" executive producer Dave Filoni. Copyright
Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved
To solve this vexing story problem, Filoni put his head
together with Simon Kinberg (i.e., the writer & producer of "X-Men:
Days of Future Past") and Carrie Beck of the Lucasfilm Story Group. And
eventually these three found themselves circling back around to Order 66, that
infamous directive that Emperor Palpatine issued as the Clone Wars was drawing
to a close. Which then resulted in the slaughter of all but a handful of Jedi
Knights.
"In 'Revenge of the Sith,' we saw Obi-Wan and Yoda
escape that purge. But what if there had been other Jedi Knights who had
slipped out of their robes and stepped into the shadows just as Order 66 came
down?," Dave said. "That's how we came with the character of Kanan
Jarrus for 'Rebels.' He's a survivor of the Emperor's Jedi purge. But just how
old was Kanan when Order 66 came down? How far along was he in his Jedi
training?"
"That's what I think is cool about Kanan, makes him
different from any of the other Jedis that we've met before in the Star Wars
universe. Kanan's sarcastic, he uses a blaster and — to avoid being hunted
down by the Galactic Empire — Kanan's kept his Jedi past a closely guarded
secret," Filoni continued. "In fact, the only reason that this cowboy
Jedi finally broke out his lightsaber in 'Star Wars Rebels: Spark of
Rebellion,' the TV movie that we used to launch this new animated series, was
because Ezra put in Kanan in a situation where he had no choice but to reveal
that he was a Jedi Knight."
Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved
"And who is Ezra?," you ask. Well, again —
plugging back into what had already been established in the Star Wars universe
(i.e., That — besides Luke Skywalker — there had always been kids who were
born in the galaxy who could wield the Force. And the Jedi Knights had been
finding these kids throughout their entire history and then training them up at
their Temple) — Dave, Simon and Carrie wanted to explore the idea of what
might happen to a Force-sensitive kid like this when there are no Jedi Knights
left to train them.
"Ezra Bridger is this 14 year-old kid who's been
growing up on his own in the age of the Empire. He's been stealing to survive.
And while Ezra knows that he has some strange abilities, they're raw,
unfocused, instinctive," Filoni said. "It's only when Ezra gets
together with Kanan that he finally tries to harness this ability. But given
that Kanan is out of practice, it's been so long since he regularly wielded the
Force … Well, he's not exactly the greatest teacher for Ezra."
"Which — again — I think is something different from
what we've previously seen in a Star Wars story," Dave enthused.
"Ezra's this kid who gets found by a Jedi who's kind of lost his way. Who's
out of practice when it comes to wielding the Force. And I just like the idea
that — within this story — Kanan could, by teaching Ezra, then become the
Jedi that he could have been or was supposed to be but couldn't because
everything fell apart after Order 66 came down."
Copyright 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved
Okay. Now that Filoni & Co. had two compelling characters
that they could then build "Star Wars Rebels" around, the next big
question was: What would this new animated series for Disney XD look like? To
answer that question, Dave reached all
the way to the very beginning of this franchise. Back to 1975, to be exact.
Which was when George Lucas — as he was struggling to get a handle on what the
characters & the world of "Star
Wars" might look like — hired conceptual designer & illustrator Ralph
McQuarrie.
And as any Star Wars history buff will tell you, those
concept paintings that Ralph churned out over the course of 1975 had a huge
impact on the franchise. They not only helped George zero in on what Darth
Vader, R2-D2 and C-3PO should look like, they also influenced the way that key
scenes in these films were shot. More to the point, it was these images that
helped convince 20th Century Fox executives to actually fund production of 'A
New Hope.' And then when you factor in that Ralph McQuarrie's concept paintings
established the "used future" look which eventually became the visual
motif of this entire franchise … The contribution of this one conceptual
designer & illustrator to Star Wars canon is immeasurable.
"And the really great part is that George didn't
actually use all of the ideas that Ralph came up with. Which then left us free
to fold some of McQuarrie's leftover character designs and vehicles in 'Star
Wars Rebels,' " Filoni enthused. "Take — for example — Zeb
Orrelios. The look of that member of the Ghost's crew was heavily influenced by
Ralph's original design for Chewbacca. Likewise Chopper. Those expressive arms
that come out that droid's head were originally features that Ralph had proposed
for R2-D2."
Ralph McQuarrie's original concept painting for the cast of "A New Hope."
Please note that — in this early version — Luke Skywalker's role was to
be played by a teenage girl. Copyright 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd.
All rights reserved
"But it's not just Ralph McQuarrie's character designs
that we're making use of on 'Star Wars Rebels.' If you look at the concept
paintings that Ralph did for the original trilogy, there's this distinctive way
that he would paint the moons and the planets in the sky. And Kilian Plunkett
— who's the art director on this project — and I really want that more
illustrative look to be part of this animated series," Dave continued.
"So we did some extensive study at the Lucasfilm archives and really
looked at Ralph's paintings up-close. We then created these digital brushes
that kind of emulate Ralph's hand and painting techniques and pencil lines. And
give that we now use those brushes on all of our digital models … Well,
that's why I like to say that the overall look of 'Star Wars Rebels' is a
homage to Ralph, that his spirit is still very much alive in this new animated
series."
Speaking of being alive … Given that — in "Return of
the Jedi" — Yoda tells Luke "When gone am I, the last of the Jedi
you will be," one has to wonder what's eventually going to become of Ezra
& Kanan. Especially since — on the wake of last week's episode, "Rise
of the Old Masters" — the Inquisitor (i.e., the Pau'an that Darth Vader
has tasked with hunting down all of the remaining Jedi in the galaxy) is now keenly
aware that this reluctant master and his rebellious apprentice are out there
somewhere.
"Yeah, given that we plan on adhering to Star Wars
canon with 'Rebels,' I think that's going to leave a lot of fans on edge. Make
them wonder about what eventually happens to Kanan & Ezra," Filoni
smiled. "Given these two characters are out there wielding the Force just
four years before Luke connects with Obi-Wan Kenobi … Well, that then sets up
a lot of questions that now need to be answered. Like just how strong the Force
is during this time period?"
Copyright 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved
Well, if you'd like to get some answers to those questions
and/or be brought up to speed with this new chapter of the Star Wars saga,
Episode 4 of "Rebels" — "Breaking Ranks" — airs tonight
on Disney XD at 9 p.m. ET/ PT. And in "Breaking Ranks," you once
again get to see something that was designed for the original trilogy but never
quite made it on-screen.
"The Scout Walker that we use in this episode is
actually a Joe Johnston design. It was an Imperial vehicle that they were
thinking of using in the original trilogy but eventually opted to go with a
more sophisticated design for that craft instead," Dave concluded.
"And since 'Star Wars Rebels' is set a few years before 'A New Hope,' I
decided that we could use some of Joe's earlier designs for vehicles that
eventually led to the final look of that film. That way, the vehicles in 'Star
Wars Rebels' could then be seen as the Version As of what appeared in 'A New
Hope.' Rather than have us straight up repeat the vehicles that had appeared in
that movie."
This article was originally posted on the Huffington Post's Entertainment page on Monday, November 3, 2014