In a Reddit AMA the other day, Seth Green talked a bit about Detours being held back, and why the show sitting on the shelf might not be a huge deal in the end:
So there’s actually been quite a bit of talk about this, but Detours is just on hold currently. We have 39 finished episodes and around 62 finished scripts. But that entire show was created before the decision to make more Star Wars movies, so our show (which was created by George Lucas) is an animated sitcom in the world of Star Wars, so we had a lot of conversations with Kathleen Kennedy about Star Wars in not just the next 3 years but the next 30 years, and when you’re in as privileged a position as we were to be able to work on Star Wars content with its creator, you get a great sense of responsibility to the whole. I was introduced to Star Wars as a child and it was without any ironic or comedic lens, so I saw Darth Vader as scary, and I saw all of those messages very very clearly. We didn’t think it made any sense, in anticipation of these new movies coming out, to spend the next 3 years with an animated sitcom as 3 generations’ of kids first introduction to the Star Wars universe.
I’ve had a lot of parents approach me in the last few years where they showed Robot Chicken or Family Guy Star Wars before they showed them regular Star Wars. The writers on Robot Chicken and I are seeing this a lot. The same way we were introduced to classic music through Bugs Bunny or Tom & Jerry, kids are taking our ironic interpretations of He-Man or other pop culture icons and never having the opportunity to meet them sincerely. It’s a really bizarre thing to wrap your head around, and because I’ve witnessed it firsthand, it made me more thoughtful about what we were putting it out.
I do feel that Detours is a timeless bit of entertainment. Media distribution is changing so quickly, so dramatically, that can you even imagine what distribution of content will look like in 5 years? In a day and age when Netflix series are nominated for the top accolades TV has to offer, what is to say what it will look like when the new Star Wars movie comes out? So Detours can sit on a shelf until the Star Wars movie comes out without losing any of its lustre, because what we’ve created is very funny, very smart and like I said before, timeless.
Once again, you have to keep in mind that Star Wars itself is also in a big period of flux right now, and that the vision of the franchise when Detours was conceived is not the one that’s playing out now. Patience isn’t just for Jedi: Fans have to calm their grabby hands as well.
Perfectly understandable to bench the show for now: Star Wars needs to be “epic” and “mythic” and “saga-ic” right now, and Detours doesn’t seem to send that message.
I’m still looking forward to seeing more of it, though. Maybe they will indeed go back to it in 2015 as Green seems to be hoping.
I really wanted to see Detours…until I found out it was supposed to be funny. So good riddance.
Not sure how the team that made the great Robot Chicken “Star Wars” episodes could have come up with such a weak show as Detours that appeared to lack basic humor.
Not a fan of this at all.
Aren’t we over Star Wars ‘comedies’ by now?
Detours needs to be Decommissioned.
It looked terrible.
Jeez, tough crowd. I don’t think what we’ve seen is really enough to say it fails at what it was meant to do, one way or the other.
We’ve seen 4 minutes out of what, 792 minutes? Seems a bit presumptuous to think it lacks basic humor.
But I am with this tough crowd in saying that Star Wars spoofs could use a rest and shelving this for now makes total sense. Now, The Clone Wars, that made no sense.
I liked Seasons 1-3 of the Clone Wars, and then abandoned it halfway through Season Gore. Oh, did I say “gore?” I meant “four.” But Satine made less than no sense to me. I mean, that’s almost exactly the way Obi-Wan and Siri fell in love, so now you’re making up a new character to do the exact same thing?