Star Wars Bits: J.J. Abrams Talks 'Episode VII' Secrecy; Plus New 'Star Wars Rebels' Character Revealed
We've got Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Episode VII and super secrecy in this edition of Star Wars Bits. Below, read about the following:
Here's a video from MoviePilot introducing Chopper, a new droid being created for Star Wars Rebels.
Also on MoviePilot, Dave Filoni did an extensive interview on the show which included a few new details about the show. Here are some highlights.
On the difference between Rebels and Clone Wars:
I think that visually the style is quite different. The look of Rebels is based much more on the classic Star Wars trilogy, where the The Clone Wars was a prequel era series. We will see many things that are famous to Star Wars, but have not appeared on screen in a while. Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters, and Stormtroopers – basically the Empire is back and that is a big change, since, for many years, we have only seen the Republic in action. The tone of the series is also different. The Clone Wars got very dark as we headed towards the end of the war and the downfall of the Jedi. Star Wars Rebels brings back the banter and faster pace that the original films were famous for.
On potential connections with the new films:
It's hard to say at this point. There are so many elements in motion. The stories are very far apart time wise, so direct connections are difficult. They will connect in that they are both parts of the overall Star Wars continuity that we are building.
On the setting of Rebels:
Rebels takes place in the Outer Rim. The audience typically thinks of Tatooine as the place where Luke Skywalker grew up, when the Outer Rim is mentioned. We are on a more civilized planet, and one that profited from the Empire's existence in the beginning. Most of the stories take place on the planet Lothal, which is a grass planet with large monolithic stones on the surface. The look comes from some Ralph McQuarrie concept paintings that were done for the original Star Wars films. We tried to make Lothal look and feel like a planet that would have been in the original film trilogy. It's alien, but you feel like it's someplace that you could visit on Earth geographically. Hoth, Tatooine, and Endor are all like this, so we think it fits in well.
There's much more at MoviePilot.
Next, J.J. Abrams talked to The Daily Telegraph about the secrecy surrounding Star Wars Episode VII and two quotes stood out:
[With the Khan secret in Star Trek] were trying to preserve the unexpected for the audience, but it came across as if we were trying to be too clever. Star Wars is in every way a different animal. It's always been a more open, fan-engaged universe than I've been used to, so I'm sure there'll be some sort of compromise. But it feels to me like there's a purity in not knowing every little thing.
But that compromise doesn't happen at his Bad Robot office:
Are you kidding me? My god. My office... I'm working on the Star Wars script today and the people in my office have covered up all my windows with black paper. I guess they wanted to make sure no one could see what I was doing...It seems rather extreme.
Having been to the Bad Robot offices myself, it's not like Abrams' office is in the middle of a huge space or something. There's glass in front and even so, it would take quite the spy to be able to see around his computer screen. I have a feeling the reason for the cover was guests were likely going to be in the building that day. Still, if there is going to be a compromise between revealing information and keeping the experience pure, they aren't ready to give us anything yet.
When do you think we'll hear some concrete info on Episode VII? What do you think of the info being revealed in regards to Rebels?