This October, Disney finally opens the curtain on it’s first real foray into their new crown jewel: The Star Wars Universe. Last night, Disney rolled out a 7 minute scene previewing a new animated adventure series. Rebels is set 5 years in between the Skywalker’s saga of Episode III and Episode IV.
The Galactic Empire is tightening its grip from system to system and in the days prior to the formation of the Rebel Alliance, we will be treated to how that Alliance started out simply as a bunch of rebels. Executive Producer Greg Weisman in an interview for Star Wars Insider describes the plot:
We’re going to really show the origins of the rebellion. When our series begins, it’s not the Rebel Alliance yet; we start with a group of rebels. It’ll be really interesting to show the progress of the Alliance forming
More of the plot according to the Star Wars wiki:
It is a dark time in the galaxy, as the evil Galactic Empire tightens its grip of power from world to world. As the series begins, Imperial forces have occupied a remote planet, ruling with an iron fist and ruining the lives of its people. But there are a select few who are brave enough to stand up against the endless Stormtroopers and TIE fighters of the Empire: the clever and motley crew of the starship Ghost. Together, this ragtag group will face threatening new villains, have thrilling adventures, and become heroes.
The footage shows the main protagonist Ezra as he comes into contact with a crew of thieves on Lothal in the process of making off with some Imperial goods. We also see Ezra in “Aladdin” mode helping out a local avoid a small collection of Imperials who are acting like jerks. My take: Following the success of Guardians of the Galaxy this weekend and the well documented fandom of Firefly, I suspect that this “rebellious group of adventurers as the unlikely heroes doing good across the galaxy” will no doubt be well received. The real test for this show will be the fact that it’s the first of the “New Canon” where the 30 plus years of “Expanded Universe” is eliminated. Will fans accept this new canon? I suppose we will see in October when Star Wars: Rebels premiers on the Disney Channel before making the move to Disney XD. 
If you noticed the images posted in this article, it’s clear that Disney is interested in bringing fans back to the series by introducing familiar imagery to try and bring fans back to the original trilogy level of enthusiasm most likely in anticipation of Star Wars Episode VII. As a 37 year old who has grown up from nearly day one with Star Wars in his life, I for one am excited to see a return to the IV, V, and VI styles and story line. I’ll probably be watching in October where I never got into The Clone Wars cartoon series save for the first season that Genedy did.
In case you missed the footage on Disney, here it is in all it’s YouTube glory.
[button type=”button” link=”http://www.slashfilm.com/star-wars-rebels-extended-preview/#more-247264″ variation=”btn-danger” target=”blank”]Source: Slashfilm[/button]Last Updated on January 12, 2019.
