Well, here’s your new animated series: Star Wars: Rebels, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope just as heavily speculated. It’s helmed by Dave Filoni, Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg and will be coming in Fall 2014.
The action-filled series is set between the events of Episode III and IV — an era spanning almost two decades never-before explored on-screen. Star Wars Rebels takes place in a time where the Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy and hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights as a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking shape. Details about the show are a closely guarded secret at this point.
The show will debut with an hour-long special on the Disney Channel before moving to Disney XD for the duration.
With the first episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles debuting later this month, I was able to chat with the show’s writer, Michael Price, about the upcoming episode ‘The Phantom Clone’ and see what sorts of fun adventures await us and Master Yoda. In addition to writing the previous two standalone LEGO Star Wars specials, Michael Price has been a long time writer and executive producer on The Simpsons, having won several Emmys for his work on the show.
‘The Phantom Clone’ is the first of three specials that comprise The Yoda Chronicles, and will premiere on Cartoon Network on May 29th at 8 PM (ET/PT). Price takes us behind the scenes of the show in this exclusive interview: (more…)
While we’ve known that the first LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles special has been coming out in May for several months, StarWars.com finally has announced the series, and revealed the first special’s name: ‘The Phantom Clone’, airing May 29 at 8 PM (PT/ET) on Cartoon Network.
The official site points out that while we’ve had LEGO Star Wars specials in the past, The Yoda Chronicles is first to really introduce new main characters just for the shows, in this case: a clone, Jek 14, who has been “enhanced” by the Force. ‘The Phantom Clone’ and the other two future The Yoda Chronicles specials are produced by Wil Film ApS and written by Michael Price, who wrote the hilarious previous LEGO Star Wars specials, The Padawan Menace and The Empire Strikes Out.
The Yoda Chronicles looks like it will be a full LEGO Star Wars franchise, with guide books coming out from DK, and LEGO building sets coming out in August, and this past May the 4th saw the release of the associated iPad/iPhone game. Check out the show’s trailer below. (more…)
It’s hard to believe that I have worked at Lucasfilm almost eight years, and this is the first time I have ever gotten to draw a TIE fighter.
Just doodling, or a hint at this nebulous new show?
EDIT: Filoni also released a different sketch of a TIE on Twitter:
Note that this TIE (though incomplete) has its wing struts at a slightly different angle (which, if using the regular hexagonal wing shape, would have the wing panels touch the ground at a point rather than a bottom edge). Did he realize his goof on the original TIE design and stop with the sketch… or is this a new TIE design?
TheForce.Net heard back from Lucasfilm on the post-Return of the Jedi animated series supposedly leaked by a laid-off LFL employee on the IMDB boards. “This is something we’ve never seen before,” Lucasfilm spokeswoman Tracy Cannobbio told TFN’s Eric Geller in an email.
The treatment, which sketched out an all-new post-movie galaxy, was picked up by several fansites and blogs over the weekend.
UPDATE: In a shocking (not) turn of events, Lucasfilm has denied this. But hey, we don’t mind fan fiction, so the original entry and pics remain below:
A TFN reader spotted this treatment for Star Wars: Reclamation today on the IMDB message boards. The poster claims to be an ex-Lucasfilm employee, but obviously nothing about this is in any way verifiable.
The Reclamation treatment lays out a Star Wars story set about 15 years after Return of the Jedi. It features mostly all-new characters, but the description of Leia Organa is, shall we say, very interesting:
A post-Emperor universe where Han and Leia aren’t even together? Where at least Leia’s ancestry is kept secret? Where there are Jedi who survived the purges but no mention of Luke Skywalker? Although at least one of the other character descriptions is rather curious…
As always, I am deeply skeptical about this whole thing, but it’s certainly food for thought – even if it does turn out to be nothing more than a rejected pitch, an attempt to troll gullible EU fans or just someone’s cleverly-presented fanfic.
Like I’ve said before, it’s time for Expanded Universe fans to get used to the idea that something like this – by which I mean a post-ROTJ that’s completely different from the one in the books and comics, not necessarily this specific setup – might actually be what happens in the sequels. Chances are that, yes, this instance is a big old fake. But the possibility that the sequels will give us a new post-ROTJ universe is very real.
“At this point, I am involved in some early production discussions and exploration of what we’ll be doing with Star Wars animation in the future, which is really exciting for me and I have some friendly faces around me, of course, that are helping me on the project. So it’s a transition time, as I’ve said before, and I think it will lead to an exciting time and hopefully I’ll see things grow again.”
So no details, and clearly very early days yet, but at least it’s some further confirmation that a second show could eventually come into fruition.
Meanwhile, LucasArts, ILM and Lucasfilm Animation aren’t alone in suffering layoffs: Looks like Disney itself is facing a massive reorganization, according to Variety.
It’s been about a week since the DVD release of LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out, and we’ve got a couple clips for you, as well as the highlights of several reviews of this 22-minute special. Above, Luke and Leia share an awkward moment in ‘Sister’, while below, Luke runs into trouble of a different sort: giggling groupies. Also, we’ll check in with what reviewers are saying about the DVD, which came out on March 26.
Here’s how The Empire Strikes Out is stacking up:
The Morton Report calls it a breezily entertaining treat, but cautions that at 22 minutes and no special features, the only bonus is the LEGO mini-figure of Darth Vader with medal.
Scifi Mafia gave it 5/5 stars with “The writing is awesome, and the comedy is the perfect amount of gag and poking fun at Star Wars and LEGO alike. We loved it. It’s great fun for the whole family.”
While LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out is a lot of fun to watch and re-watch (I still have it on my DVR from when it first aired on Cartoon Network), the lack of any extras (besides the exclusive LEGO Vader mini-figure) makes me hesitant to trade up for the DVD, while first special, LEGO Star Wars: The Padawan Menace did have some additional material on its DVD/Blu-ray combo release. Still, if you haven’t checked it out, or you’re looking for something fun for the whole family with Star Wars, this will definitely entertain you!
And remember, there’s more LEGO Star Wars coming this year: three specials of The Yoda Chronicles, also by writer Michael Price, with the first coming May 29.
Out today on DVD is the second LEGO Star Wars special, The Empire Strikes Out. Full of humor and voiced by some of our favorite Star Wars stars, like Anthony Daniels, Sam Witwer, and Brian Blessed, the story is set post-A New Hope, with Luke dealing with his newfound fame as a Rebel hero, Darth Vader dealing with a new rival (hint: see picture), and the Rebels taking a side trip to Naboo.
The program was originally aired on Cartoon Network last September, when we got a chance to chat with writer Michael Price about it and the first special, The Padawan Menace, and was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Television Production for Children.
If you’re looking forward to more LEGO Star Wars animation, you’re in luck: three specials of The Yoda Chronicles, also by Michael Price, will be part of Cartoon Network’s 2013-2014 season. Recently on Twitter, Mike Price revealed the release date of the first special: May 29, as well as a guest star voice actor: Billy Dee Williams.
The DVD of The Empire Strikes Out comes with an exclusive Darth Vader with medal mini-figure. While the first special, The Padawan Menace, was released in a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, this release is DVD only. Huh? Maybe combo packs are too confusing for some consumers.
Club Jade is a group of (mostly) female fans who love Star Wars - particularly the Expanded Universe novels - and other things of that nature. You can also follow us on Twitter, Tumblr or Facebook!
Well, here’s your new animated series: Star Wars: Rebels, set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope just as heavily speculated. It’s helmed by Dave Filoni, Greg Weisman and Simon Kinberg and will be coming in Fall 2014. 
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Out today on DVD is the second LEGO Star Wars special, The Empire Strikes Out. Full of humor and voiced by some of our favorite Star Wars stars, like Anthony Daniels, Sam Witwer, and Brian Blessed, the story is set post-A New Hope, with Luke dealing with his newfound fame as a Rebel hero, Darth Vader dealing with a new rival (hint: see picture), and the Rebels taking a side trip to Naboo. 
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