How STAR WARS REBELS Is a Purer Star Wars Than A NEW HOPE


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I was devastated with the cancellation of The Clone Wars and the announcement that any new Star Wars production would be handled by Disney.  To me, that meant no more cartoons with Darth Maul killing Mandolorian Leaders. No more heavy casualties during huge battles.  No more Anakin not being a cry baby.

With the announcement of Star Wars: Rebels, the series that would go in to replace the Clone Wars, most of this proved to be true, mainly because Anakin is now Darth Vader, there won’t be a galaxy scale war going on (at least not yet), and the Clone Wars crew is planning to release a graphic novel based on what would have been Darth Maul’s final story arc (meaning ol’ metal legs is out of the animated world).

What is very interesting about “Rebels” is how they are using old Ralph McQuarrie concepts as inspiration for the look and style of the series. Although I had my doubts, from images and videos released of the upcoming series, I now have high hopes for “Rebels.”
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The art style is clean, the animation looks as good as most CGI films released in theater, the tone feels like the Original Trilogy, and the main villain (aside from The Emperor and Vader), The Inquisitor, seems dangerous.

On February 11th, 2014, a new “Rebels” character was released; Kanan the “cowboy Jedi” who many believe to be the new (old??) Han Solo equipped with a lightsaber. After examining the vignette closely for the past few days, I realized this series is based on much more then just Ralph a McQuarrie paintings, it is a loose translation of Lucas’s first ideas for Star Wars, where one the main characters was Kane Starkiller. Kanan, based on Starkiller, who’s name probably changed due to a ‘Starkiller’ already having been introduced into the saga’s canon in the massively popular but criticized “Force Unleashed” multimedia project.

The Star Wars (emphasis on the “The”), the original rough draft, that would change so much to become Star Wars: A New Hope, had been released recently as a well-received comic mini series through Dark Horse Comics which would be their final Star Wars comic production as they had moved to Marvel Comics.

Spoilers Ahead!!!!!

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In “The Star Wars” rough draft, Kane has two sons, Annikin and Deak Starkiller who are hiding out on Utopao, when a Sith Knight tracks them down and kills Deak while the other two are able to escape. Kane is revealed to be a cyborg with only an arm and his head said to be flesh.

Later in the story, the gang meets Owen, Beru, & Leia Lars, a very different Chewbaca and Han Solo, as well as many other new characters and worlds that haven’t really been explored in the established Star Wars film canon like Alderaan, whom we all still grieved for.

From what I’ve see so far of “Rebels”, I’m saying it is a loose translation of what George had planned for Star Wars in the beginning, give or take a few changes. What I have gathered is:

Kanan is derived from Kane Starkiller and the two sons, Deak and Annikin, will most likely be apprentices or Jedi hiding out with him, only one of them will be a female.

The Sith Knight will most likely be the Inquisitor, who is from the planet Utopao, and he tracked down Kanan and the other two Jedi and killed one of them, setting the events of the series in motion, and giving Kanan a reason to join the small Rebellion.

Other coincidences lie with the inclusion of C3PO and R2D2 being included in the rough draft, only they look very different from what we know them to be now. That being said, R2D2 is replaced by the new little grump astromech named Chopper, and C3PO, who appeared more feminine in his original concepts, will probably be replaced by a female protocol droid resembling Threepio’s original form.

Kanan will have a Wookiee or Wookiee like sidekick, probably a “new” alien that resembles the original idea of what Lucas had for Chewbaca, which I discovered from a screen shot I took from Kanan’s vignette.

Rebel’s is shaping up to be an interesting installment in the Star Wars canon especially since it’s taking from many of Lucas’s original ideas from The Star Wars rough draft.

How do you feel about the conclusions I drew between the original Star Wars rough draft as the upcoming series Star Wars: Rebels? Do you think the show will be a fitting addition in the established Star Wars canon, or do you think Disney will muck it up? Leave your thoughts and opinions in the comment section below.

thestarwars_Doug_Wheatley