A New Hope Emerges In New STAR WARS REBELS Extended Trailer

Aside from two teaser trailers, one full trailer and a handful of behind the scenes vignettes describing the main characters of The Clone Wars replacement series, Star Wars Rebels has remained mostly vague about what the new series will be like, leaving it up to the fan speculation on how good of a show we will be. Will it be as great and serious as the underestimated Clone Wars series, or will it be more akin to the Star Wars Holiday Special? From the new extended trailer, it seems Rebels is really trying to capture the vibe of the original trilogy while also sprinkling some originality over the overall all storyline.

Rebels sees a group of outcasts who were hurt in some way by the Empire. Sharing their pain as a common bond, they decided to act against the Empire, committing what many citizens of the galaxy may consider terrorist threats since they still have not fully opened their eyes to the oppression the Empire has placed upon them. Through their actions, however, they are sparking the rebellion we all rooted for in the Original Trilogy. In the new extended trailer, we hear Obi Wan’s message from Revenge of the Sith telling the other surviving Jedi to remain hidden, as a new hope is on the horizon. Not knowing about Luke Skywalker’s destiny, the small group of troublemakers take it upon themselves to be that new hope.

Star Wars Rebels looks and feels different from The Clone Wars. Its visual style is cleaner and more “rounded” compared to the sharp, blocky look of its predecessor, inspired by the old marquee Thunderbirds television series. The look is also taken from old Ralph McQuarrie artwork. The story and characters are also inspired by Lucas’s original Star Wars screenplay, most recently used in the successful Dark Horse limited comic series The Star Wars. Check out my old article showing how Rebels borrows from Lucas’s original screen play here.

The series itself, for the most part, is an original idea. We’ve already seen how the Rebellion could have started, at the end of the first Force Unleashed game, but it has since been made non-canon like the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, now called “Star Wars Legends.” Rebels will be a new, detailed, canon experience, especially since it will last around 3-5 seasons. With most of the team behind The Clone Wars working on Rebels, we can rest assured they will be careful to really tie this new adventure in Star Wars lore to the original trilogy as well as the latter series did. I’m expecting big things from Star Wars Rebels, especially since it is a placeholder while Disney finishes the next installment in the cinematic story, Episode VII!

SOURCE: Star Wars