San Diego Comic Con 2014: Super Sized Star Wars Recap
By Daniel Berry
This year’s San Diego Comic Con will be coming to a close today and it’s safe to assume that Star Wars fans can stop to catch their breath. We here at DSOTF have had a busy time keeping up with all of the exciting news coming from the event this week but we’ve decided to compile all of the tastiest tidbits into one giant sized recap, just for you. Consider this post to be the creamy center of the Twinkie that has been our coverage of Comic Con.
Star Wars Rebels
Star Wars Rebels cast members Freddie Prinze Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Steve Blum, Tiya Sircar and Taylor Gray having fun during a shoot for TV Guide at San Diego Comic Con 2014. Photo posted by @SMGFPJFanx.
Lucasfilm made it very clear that there would be very little discussed about Star Wars: Episode VII at Comic Con this year, instead turning their focus to the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels. There were several new clips from the show revealed this week, including the brand new extended trailer. In addition, the official Star Wars site unveiled three clips that were shown first as SDCC exclusives. We’ve included those clips below.
The first Comic Con exclusive clip featured a deeper look into the plot of Rebels, titled A Look Ahead:
The second SDCC exclusive clip featured the series’ villain The Inquisitor in action, facing off against Order 66 survivor Kanan Jarrus. Entertainment Weekly was the first to feature the clip Kanan vs. The Inquisitor, shown below:
The third and final SDCC exclusive clip from Star Wars Rebels featured characters Ezra Bridger and Zeb Orrelios making a daring escape, all the while having fun in We’re Even:
The entire main cast of the new series was present at this year’s event, appearing together for the first time ever during Thursday’s The Heroes of Star Wars Rebels panel. Lucasfilm‘s Dan Brooks posted a liveblog of the panel over at the official Star Wars site. TheForce.Net‘s Justin Bolger also posted a full live audio recording of the panel, which you can find here.
Onstage during the panel were Rebels Executive Producers Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg, as well as Rebels cast members Freddie Prinze, Jr., Vanessa Marshall, Steve Blum, Tiya Sircar and Taylor Gray. The panel was hosted by David W. Collins.
Directly following The Heroes of Star Wars Rebels, Mike Ryan of Screen Crush caught up with Freddie Prinze, Jr. for a fun interview.
IGN‘s Daemon Hatfield and Eric Goldman then caught up with Dave Filoni, Vanessa Marshall and Freddie Prinze, Jr. for an interview on Thursday.
On Thursday evening, Lucasfilm Animation held an exclusive advance screening of the first episode of Star Wars Rebels. There were around 1,000 lucky attendees for the premiere and according to Twitter, the show is fantastic. We’ve included two spoiler free reviews of Thursday’s premiere for you. The first, from Amy Ratcliffe at IGN. The second, from Pete Morrison of Rebels Report.
On Friday, Clevver Movies‘ Dana Ward sat down with Rebels Executive Producers Dave Filoni and Simon Kinberg for an in depth discussion about the show.
Finally, HitFix spoke with the amazingly talented Steve Blum about his voice for the character of Zeb Orrelios, his love of Star Wars and what it means to have the support of the fans. You can watch a video of that interview here.
Del Rey Books
Star Wars Rebels actress Vanessa Marshall performed hosting duties during the Star Wars: A New Dawn panel on Friday. Photo posted by @DelReyStarWars.
The second day of SDCC brought the Star Wars: A New Dawn panel, presented by the folks at Del Rey and hosted by Vanessa Marshall. There to discuss the future of Star Wars fiction were A New Dawn author John Jackson Miller, Del Rey editor Shelly Shapiro, Lucasfilm senior editor Jennifer Heddle, Rebels executive producer Dave Filoni and Lucasfilm Story Group‘s Pablo Hidalgo. Star Wars: A New Dawn will give readers some backstory to the characters of Hera Syndulla and Kanan Jarrus, both from the upcoming animated series Star Wars Rebels.
In addition to promoting the upcoming release of John Jackson Miller‘s A New Dawn, the panelists took questions from fans in attendance. Dave Filoni spoke eloquently on the new book fitting in with Star Wars film canon, borrowing ideas from the Star Wars Expanded Universe and his overall excitement at learning more about the characters from Star Wars Rebels.
There was also a big reveal during the panel! Filoni revealed that a previously unannounced novel featuring the characters of Asajj Ventress and Quinlan Vos would be released in Summer 2015.
Lucasfilm‘s Dan Brooks was once again on hand to give us a complete rundown of the panel, which you can read on his liveblog. Justin Bolger was again able to provide a complete live audio recording, which TheForce.Net has posted here.
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics reveals the new miniseries Star Wars: Princess Leia during their Cup ‘O Joe panel at SDCC. Photo posted by @mercedesmvalle.
Marvel officially announced their first three Star Wars titles since acquiring the license from Dark Horse, at their panel on Friday evening. Star Wars: Princess Leia will begin in March and include a five issue miniseries focused on the adventures of Leia Organa. Two monthly titles; Star Wars and Star Wars: Darth Vader will each focus on the events immediately following The Battle of Yavin.
Dan Brooks from Lucasfilm sat down with Marvel writers Jason Aaron, Kieron Gillen and Mark Waid to discuss all three of the new Star Wars comic book series. Check out the interview here.
Brian Truitt from USA Today also caught up with Star Wars writer Jason Aaron and reports on their conversation here.
Hasbro Toys
Star Wars fans eagerly wait for the Hasbro Toys panelists to reveal new products at SDCC. Photo posted by @vinylmationworl.
Thursday’s events also included Hasbro‘s Star Wars panel. The toy company revealed exciting new action figures, games and more. You can read a detailed synopsis of the panel on Dan Brooks‘ liveblog. Rebel Scum also posted a fantastic photo gallery of the new Star Wars merchandise on display at the Hasbro booth. Check that out here.
There was so much more Star Wars at this year’s Comic Con that it’s difficult to fit it all in, even with a super sized recap. There are a few more things to touch on that are of particular interest to fans…
Filmmaker Kevin Smith appeared onstage at SDCC on Friday, to promote his new film Tusk. Smith was recently invited to the set of Star Wars: Episode VII by director J.J. Abrams and he shared his experiences with an attentive Comic Con crowd. He also gave a lengthy interview with IGN‘s Roth Cornet, which you can watch here.
To hear an emotional Kevin Smith recount his steps from his Episode VII set visit, check out this hilarious live video that Cinema Blend posted yesterday:
WARNING: This video contains language and subject material that is NOT suitable for younglings. Kevin Smith stories are typically NOT for the faint of heart or easily offended. That being said, enjoy:
Well Dork Siders, that’s about all we can manage to give you with the amount of strength we have left. This week has been a ride, that’s for certain. If you missed our breaking coverage of all the SDCC Star Wars goodness, go back and check out our posts:
If you have any San Diego Comic Con 2014 stories to share, please leave us a comment below. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU!