New Star Wars animated show "Rebels" coming fall 2014

I think it is worth keeping in mind that the Sith Lords take those names after they join the Sith, so it makes sense that they'd pick something that is (supposed to be) intimidating.
Kallous appears to be his surname, so that explanation doesn't work in his case.

 

Well, again, it's not like this franchise is meant to be all that serious or plausible. Lucas basically created Star Wars because he couldn't get the movie rights to Flash Gordon and wanted to do something in the same vein. And Flash Gordon has villains with names like Ming the Merciless, Wolfang, and Count Malo, and princesses with names like Aura and Desira, plus Undina for an aquatic princess and Fria for an ice-kingdom princess. Not to mention geographic regions like the forested Arboria, the icy Frigia, etc.

So it's just a question of where you set your expectations. Clearly the show is keeping the franchise's pulpy roots intact. But that doesn't mean we can't joke around about it.

 

Meet the Inquisitor, the Empire's Jedi Hunter

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xBpZSVzqtfU[/yt]

 

I like the Inquisitor a lot more than I did when his character was first announced ("So...Darth Maul crossed with Asajj Ventress, only in an Imperial uniform? Meh.") and thus far I'm enjoying most of what I'm seeing about the new show's voice talent.

 

Yeah with that voice he suddenly has much more of a real presence now.

 

Still not the biggest fan of the Disney (TV) animation style for the Star Wars universe, but then I didn't care for The Clone Wars (characters or animation) when it was new.

 

Yeah it's Disney-style animation... but it's also Star Wars, which automatically makes it much cooler.

And personally I'm glad to be rid of all the sharp angles and extreme caricatures of the TCW character design. It worked fine for that show, I guess, but I don't really see how it's the "ideal" style for everything SW in the future, or better than Rebel's more traditional style.

 

I don't understand what's meant by "Disney-style." Different Disney-produced shows have a wide range of different design and animation styles -- for instance, compare Phineas and Ferb to Kim Possible.

 

Well I think the assumption is it's the general style seen in Disney animated movies (and I do admit, Ezra does look an awful lot like Aladdin).

Still though, looking at all the Rebels characters again, I don't see what the big deal is. They just look like pretty standard animated figures to me.

 

Yeah, I'm not seeing it either. It's not *that* far removed from TCW's style, which was semi-derived from Tartakovsky's style, This is just a little more conventional, with a dash of Ralph McQuarrie.

Incidentally, does anyone know what other Greg Weisman produced show used more conventional "Disney" style character design? Gargoyles. Don't see many people complaining about that show's look.

 

If some stormtroopers bang their heads together, or a formation of them knock each other over like bowling pins, that will be Disney-esque and I'll be getting pissed.

 

As long as the scripts are good and the dialogue is competent and entertaining most of the time that's probably the concern of most fans who are going to bother to watch Rebels in the first place. There are some who want nothing to do with a cartoon of the Star Wars universe and I respect their personal tastes and choices, but after watching The Clone Wars become one of the greatest and most impressive animated television series of the past one or two decades I'm not about to ignore the existence of the new show.

TCW often had stories that were just as good as if not superior to those of some of the live-action movies. I trust Dave Filoni.

It's this. You more or less nailed it. Many in the fan community hold this view and I see it expressed with similar words on an almost daily basis.

That said, the tips of the hat to Ralph McQuarrie designs and other callbacks to the films and The Clone Wars (both televised and comic books) gives me a lot of hope that this show will be visually impressive albeit different from what came before.

 

Yes, exactly. Disney has no monopoly on that 3D design style. Most 3D animated human characters look kind of similar, unless they go for rather drastic caricature like in The Clone Wars or Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, or for a cel-shaded look like Iron Man Armored Adventures.

 

The Rebels prequel novel, A New Dawn, is one of the excerpts included in Del Rey's new 2014 free sampler. It also includes excerpts for the other upcoming books.
I already read the excerpt, and it mostly focuses on some Imperial characters who I haven't heard off, but there is a tiny bit with Hera.

A there is a short description at the end of excerpt that says the book will tell the story of how Hera and Kanan first met and ended up working together.

 

The Phineas and Ferb Star Wars Special is next weekend and while I'm only peripherally curious about it I'm wondering if they won't have some kind of preview of Rebels.

 

What are the callbacks to the comic books?

 

Well, apparently....

Spoiler: About a Building That Will Be Seen in REBELS

a mountainside fortress-like structure that will be seen in at least one episode of Rebels is the same structure depicted in current or very recent Clone Wars graphic novels about Darth Maul and his return. The exact same location, right down to the shapes of the surrounding rocks. It's one of the ways the new series is supposed to tie into the canonical events of the TCW period.

 

Oh, I thought you meant the Clone Wars comics from between 2002 and 2005.

 

Hey, who knows: there could always be shout-outs to older comics like those. Decanonized or not they could pick and choose elements from older written stories and recycle them in a new setting.

 

The Information Superhighway is teeming with Star Wars news/spoilers, I saw a lot of Rebels love over the weekend. There's a very shaky video of the Wolfpack unboxing a Star Wars Rebels Visual Dictionary for a podcast that causes seasickness with a potential frigate-load of spoilers for the series including new ships and villains.

On new villains:

Spoiler: new rebels baddie

His name is being reported as “Cikatro Vizago,” which roughly translates into “Scarface” — a fitting name for a gangster — in French and Spanish, according to Underworld. It appears that Vizago is a Devaronian like Kardue’sai’Malloc who appeared in A New Hope.
He's described in the visual dictionary as a “Lothal Kingpin” whose catch-phrase is apparently, “Business is all that matters.” Sounds like a bounty hunter?

On release dates/titles:

Spoiler: Rebels S01E01-S01E02

The premiere may be called "Spark of Rebellion."
Makingstarwars.net suggests it will air Sept 30 on Disney XD. They have a screengrab of something indicating it.
The DVD of this 2 part opener has been proactively listed for sale on a french amazon website for Oct 22nd."

On old faces:
The flavor of good guys' support here is exciting and the book features

Spoiler: old faces

heaps of Bail Organa.

Coupled with a near-confirmation of

Spoiler: old faces

Lando

as well as a description from someone who either saw an extended clip or the whole thing including

Spoiler: old faces

a holographic recording of Obi Wan explaining to the Rebels what the long term plan was... to go into hiding essentially.

In the book I was quite surprised to see

Spoiler: old faces

Ugnaughts! but they did not appear to be on Cloud City. Maybe they are native to Lothal?

My thoughts on cooleddie74's spoiler about the building:

Spoiler: mystery building

an imperial detention facility, named Stygeon Prison. Personally, I would like to think this is where Darth Maul meets his end, on screen or on page, doesn't matter. It appears that there will be so much going on in Rebels, who has time for Darth Maul?