Feel the Force Friday: More Rebels Clips, Filoni Interview and More!

Welcome, Dork Siders; to the very first edition of Feel the Force Friday! We’ll be winding up each week with a brief review of all the Star Wars news from the previous six days and providing a glimpse at what’s to come.

The folks over at IGN released an all new clip from the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels this morning. This clip is actually a shorter version of an exclusive look at Rebels that was first shown at Disney‘s Star Wars Weekends earlier this summer. It features a great scene of astromech droid Chopper taking orders from Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus.

Enjoy the new clip of Star Wars Rebels, featuring the voice talents of Vanessa Marshall and Freddie Prinze, Jr.:

Disney XD has also provided a new thirty second teaser for their upcoming animated series, focusing on the young hero Ezra Bridger. You can enjoy the new clip; released this week and featuring the voice talent of Taylor Gray, below:

There was even more exciting news about Star Wars Rebels this week, as Dave Filoni sat down with Germain Lussier of Slash Film for a revealing interview. Filoni spoke in detail about the characters from Rebels and how their story would fit into the larger Star Wars timeline, the pressures of working with Disney, the difference between Rebels and The Clone Wars and why the new series needed a villain who wasn’t Darth Vader.

When asked about working with Disney and if that put any added pressure on his job, Filoni was quite forthcoming:

"“I don’t think there’s any added pressure. Pressure to me was creating a Star Wars film, then sitting alone in a theater with George Lucas and showing it to him, the guy that created the word “Wookiee” and R2-D2. That was pressure. This now is just responsibility. People look to me more than before even for answers because I work with George so closely. Everything I do on this show is based on what he taught me and on my reactions. My editing style, the visual language I bring to it. I’m trying to maintain a legacy and I feel very strongly about being entrusted with that legacy. So I don’t see pressure that way.”"

On the subject of Star Wars Rebels‘ new villain The Inquisitor and how he differs from Lord Vader, Filoni had this to say:

"“… I’m sure Vader is involved in hunting down Jedi all the time. I’m sure that right after the Clone War, when the remnants are very visible and the Jedi are all trying to figure out what happened, that he was luring them into traps and wiping them out several at a time.”“At the point we are, so many years later, they are so few and far between that I don’t think he would follow up every lead. Because one of the things that’s muddled the whole operation, in my mind, is kids being born that can use the Force. The Emperor and Vader don’t really want them around either. But they’re so unnotable, you needed a group of hunters, attack dogs. And so we have an Inquisitor that goes out and hunts these guys down. Now if he was to hunt a guy down, let’s say he’s somewhere on Tatooine and he runs into Obi Wan Kenobi, probably the Inquisitor won’t survive that. But if he did, he would call Vader up and go “You better get out here.”"

Filoni also expressed his excitement for the future of Star Wars films and the possibility of directing one himself:

"“I mean, if I were to get an opportunity like that A, I wouldn’t turn it down. B, I would see it as a great honor to do it. And I would apply all my Jedi knowledge to doing it as best I can. When I see these spin-offs happening, I’ve got definitely more than a few ideas of things that I would love to see finished and some things that makes them, I think, personally great stories.”“So right now I am focused on Rebels and I’ve got a brilliant crew working on that. And I’m excited for Gareth and you know what he’s gonna do. I’m excited for Rian and J.J. and what they’re doing. It’s kind of nice to have other really big head creatives working on Star Wars now. I can definitely empathize with them, with the pressure and the struggles. And, you know, I’ve got Simon working with me and he’s been fantastic. So we’ve got this great community of creatives now for the first time in Star Wars.”"

For the full interview with Dave Filoni, visit the Slash Film page here.

More NEWS from the Dork Side:

The folks over at Shotglass Digital have just posted the latest episode of Rebel Force Radio, featuring hosts Jason Swank and Jimmy Mac. This week, the duo pays visits to both Rancho Obi-Wan and Skywalker Ranch to talk with Steve Sansweet, Pablo Hidalgo and Dave Filoni himself! You can download the latest episode of RFR from iTunes here.

The official Disney XD UK channel at YouTube has recently posted a full version of the new Star Wars Rebels title theme, written and arranged by series composer Kevin Kiner. You can listen to it here.

Earlier this week, Disney C.E.O. Bob Iger spoke about the company’s plans for an increased Star Wars presence in their theme parks. DSOTF has a full report here.

Keep your navicomputers coordinated right here at DSOTF for more Star Wars news and updates! MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU, Dork Siders!