Posted in: Movies, san diego comic con | Tagged: entertainment, film, Freddie Prince Jr., jason isaacs, SDCC Star Wars: Rebels, taylor gray

SDCC 2014: Star Wars: Rebels Puts Peoples Minds At Ease

Jeremy Konrad writes for Bleeding Cool:

A raucous crowd was shown multiples clips from the upcoming Disney XD and Lucasfilm animated series Star Wars : Rebels on Thursday night, and boy were they ready for it. Joining Executive Producer Dave Filoni onstage were writer Simon Kinberg, and stars Freddie Prince Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Steve Blum, Tiyra Sircar, and Taylor Gray were all in attendance for this special panel.

It opened with a clip featuring a lightsaber duel between The Inquisitor (played by Jason Isaacs) and Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prince Jr.), with Ezra Bridger caught in the middle (Taylor Gray). It was quite an exciting duel, with Isaacs' Inquisitor scoring the most exciting moment of the clip when he demonstrated his twisting lightsaber and his deft skills with said device. The clip got a big ovation.

The panel then discussed the making or the show, noting that this was the first time they had all been on a panel together. Simon Kinberg stated that they always knew that the events of the show would take place pre- New Hope, and it would have the tone of the original films. This seems very important to himself and Dave Filoni, as they also told stories about taking a step back and realizing they were drawing everything they loved as a child, including TIE Fighters.

The cast talked about their love of Star Wars, with Freddie Prince Jr. telling a humorous story about being a kid and scarring his chin playing Star Wars, even going as far as saying that he tries to use his characters force push when recording. They all agreed quite quickly that Vanessa Marshall was the biggest fan out of all them.

In another clip, Ezra is shown running away from stormtroopers, and he is saved by the alen Zeb ( Steve Blum) in a hijacked TIE fighter. This scene got an even bigger reaction than the first, and they do inject a little bit more humor into the scene to be fair. They argue over control over the ship, and end up making quite a mess of things.

Even more talk about how the original trilogy influenced them so much when creating the show, from familiar musical cues, all the way to the humor of those movies we all hold so dear to our hearts. The cast also mentioned here that they loved recording as an ensemble, and all actually taken on quite a few traits of the characters themselves. And they seem to get a kick out of picking on young Taylor, as he seems to bear the brunt of their jokes.

The third an final clip was of Sabine (Tiyra Sircar) and Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall) investigating a hangar that seems to be abandoned. It of course is not and they are chased down and surrounded by creatures.

It is pointed out then that this story takes place during the formation of what is known as the Rebel Alliance. Filoni points out that he thinks the people were tired of war and they just accepted it. It takes time for a Rebellion to form after the Empire took over, since the Jedi are now labeled as traitors to the galactic Empire. The show will deal with some of the oppression of the Empire on its people, and illustrate the reason people had to start fighting back.

A question that really brings out an emotional response from Freddie Prince Jr., he was asked if Kanan intense. He brings most of that to the role itself it seems. Great quote: "There's a fine line because you want to portray a Jedi perfectly………I take it very seriously".

Audience Q&A time!

-James Arnold Taylor will be back as obi-Wan Kenobi (yay!) and will be seen more than you think.

-Chopper the droid is discussed, with them noting that he is pretty stubborn. (Sounds like a droid we already know………)

-Yet another dodging answer as to weather or not Clone Wars characters will be on the show. (Come on people, they will)

-They are taking a lot of inspiration from Ralph McQuarrie, the original trilogy, and something new. They really want people to fall head over heels for these guys.

– Sounds like Rebels is way less expensive than the Clone Wars was because of the centralized location. Less new animation.

-They are going to do their best to create new types of armors and troopers for the show.

-They give high praise to Greg Weisman, saying they would never have gotten the show off the ground without him.

Dave's favorite Clone Wars episodes: the Ahsoka/Chewbacca team-up episodes and the final arc with Ahsoka leaving the Jedi order (I still think she comes back after order 66.).

They then wrapped it all up with a new trailer, which you can see below. Watch for a few familiar faces.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/JYkXif5Q2mA[/youtube]

Jeremy Konrad is the Senior Star Wars Correspondent for Bleeding Cool, and co-host of The Dedicated Server. Talk Star Wars at all hours of the day with him on twitter @jeremyohio.

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