Star Wars: Resistance (The next animated series)

By Desslok, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Oooh, some details of the next series: https://io9.gizmodo.com/star-wars-resistance-is-the-next-lucasfilm-animated-ser-1825546331

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After Star Wars Rebels came to an end earlier this year, we knew the next chapter of Star Wars animation was close, and now we know exactly what it is. And it’s extremely exciting. The new chapter in Lucasfilm’s world is leaving behind the age of the Rebellion to tell a new saga set in the run-up to Star Wars: The Force Awakens .

Announced by Lucasfilm today, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Rebels producer Dave Filoni’s next project will be Star Wars Resistance .

Set in what is described by the company as an “uncharted time frame prior to The Force Awakens ,” the “anime-inspired” Resistance will follow a young pilot named Kazuda Xiono, recruited by General Leia Organa’s burgeoning Resistance for a top-secret surveillance mission to survey the growing power of the First Order. The series will focus on Kazuda and a cast of ace pilots, but will also feature familiar faces from the sequel trilogy in the form of BB-8, Poe Dameron, and Captain Phasma, with both Oscar Isaac and Gwendoline Christie reprising their respective roles for the series.

According to Filoni—who will executive produce the series alongside Rebels veterans Athena Portillo and Justin Ridge, as well as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ’ Brandon Auman—the series will focus on the high-flying, high-speed adventures of the galaxy far, far away’s daring pilots:

The idea for Star Wars Resistance came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots. My grandfather was a pilot and my uncle flew and restored planes, so that’s been a big influence on me. There’s a long history of high-speed racing in Star Wars , and I think we’ve captured that sense of excitement in an anime-inspired style, which is something the entire team has been wanting to do for a long time.

No other details were revealed about the series, although we should mention there were zero mentions of Jedi in the announcement. Then again, that didn’t stop Star Wars Rebels , did it? Maybe a few more familiar faces could show up...

Star Wars Resistance will feature a voice cast alongside Isaac and Christie that includes Christopher Sean, Suzie McGrath, Scott Lawrence, Myrna Velasco, Josh Brener, Donald Faison (a big Star Wars fan, we should note, especially Rebels ), Bobby Moynihan, Jim Rash, and Rachel Butera.

Star Wars Resistance will premiere on the Disney Channel this fall, before transitioning to its regular home on Disney XD.

Edited by Desslok

So that’s why Donald Faison was at the Rebels finale event.

Sounds like it could be fun.

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“anime-inspired”

As an anime fan myself, this is a completely opaque statement. Inspired by which anime? The bright colors in that picture, if it reflects the proposed visuals, somewhat looks like the colors seen in a Studio Ghibli film, but that still doesn't explain what they mean.

Overall, I wasn't particularly enamored with Rebels , and though I liked it more, The Clone Wars was only good about half the time. The large-scale battles are the weakest aspect of those shows (because the moving parts necessary to make them interesting is expensive), so it's not looking too hopeful.

Wish they had kept the art style for continuity purposes, but that’s my OCD talking. I’d really like for them to explore the much older tales someday too. Star Wars Legends has a good ring to it... and could be an Old Republic canon story....

1 hour ago, Desslok said:

the series will focus on the high-flying, high-speed adventures of the galaxy far, far away’s daring pilots

FFG rubbing its hands at all the new xwing models its gonna be selling.

Cool! I think that it's a good move to explore what happened in the long interim after Episode VI and before VII. Not unlikely to see more of what happened with Luke and Ben Solo as well.

Definitely sounds like fun. :D

I’m on board. The combo of anime-inspired visual styles and a focus on starfighter pilots gets the wheels turning on my head.

I suspect Gundam might be a good analogue, though probably not quite as grim in tone. Gundam is animated, but there’s still an emphasis on realism. Everything feels like it operates accordig to blueprints, characters may ham it up a but but won’t take absurb pratfalls or jump 20 feet in the air if you startle them, etc.

And, ****, I’d definitely watch a show like that. Actually...

Now, I’d probably go with a slightly brighter, cleaner art style, but I think this drives home the idea that “anime-influenced” can fit pretty comfortably within Star Wars without feeling out of place.

I don't really care what it is, if Filoni's at the helm I will gladly jump on board.

6 hours ago, Khazadune said:

Wish they had kept the art style for continuity purposes, but that’s my OCD talking. I’d really like for them to explore the much older tales someday too. Star Wars Legends has a good ring to it... and could be an Old Republic canon story....

I agree that Star Wars: Legends is a cool name, but they won't use it. Could you imagine the fanboy confusion between Star Wars: Legends the TV show, and Star Wars Legends (the old expanded universe stories)?

What about Star Wars: Heroes of Legend?

2 hours ago, Edgookin said:

I agree that Star Wars: Legends is a cool name, but they won't use it. Could you imagine the fanboy confusion between Star Wars: Legends the TV show, and Star Wars Legends (the old expanded universe stories)?

What about Star Wars: Heroes of Legend?

Not bad! Let’s pitch it!

Just a note that, if it's airing this fall, they've been working on it for at least a couple years already, and only the merest whisper of a hint has escaped the mothership. Impressive...most impressive.

I am in as long as it as WEDGE!!!!

He would be the Obi-wan of the Pilots!

Only Rebel with 2 Death stars painted on the side of his ship

13 hours ago, Khazadune said:

Wish they had kept the art style for continuity purposes

To be fair, the extent of our exposure to the art style is one promo shot with an X-Wing and BB-8.

That said, the art style - from the one promo shot - looks very much like this:

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And I'm okay with that!

5 hours ago, Funk Fu master said:

I am in as long as it as WEDGE!!!!

He would be the Obi-wan of the Pilots!

Only Rebel with 2 Death stars painted on the side of his ship

Unless Wedge has changed his name to Kazuda Xiono, you’re probably out of luck there.

1 hour ago, Nytwyng said:

Unless Wedge has changed his name to Kazuda Xiono, you’re probably out of luck there.

He can still make an appearance as a mentor, quest-giver or cool old guy.

21 hours ago, Swordbreaker said:

Overall, I wasn't particularly enamored with Rebels , and though I liked it more, The Clone Wars was only good about half the time. The large-scale battles are the weakest aspect of those shows (because the moving parts necessary to make them interesting is expensive), so it's not looking too hopeful.

I doubt they will have much in the way of "large scale battles", because if it's pre-Awakens, then the First Order isn't actively attacking people really, at least not large scale yet. That's what happens in Awakens, when the FO stop hiding and take their fight to the Republic. So it would likely be small engagements that nobody heard of, or lots of person-person fighting.

4 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

I doubt they will have much in the way of "large scale battles", because if it's pre-Awakens, then the First Order isn't actively attacking people really, at least not large scale yet. That's what happens in Awakens, when the FO stop hiding and take their fight to the Republic. So it would likely be small engagements that nobody heard of, or lots of person-person fighting.

When I said "large-scale battles," I meant anything larger than a lightsaber duel. All the vehicle battles and mid-sized firefights (and larger) were poorly choreographed and boring. Or just stupidly written.

3 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

When I said "large-scale battles," I meant anything larger than a lightsaber duel. All the vehicle battles and mid-sized firefights (and larger) were poorly choreographed and boring. Or just stupidly written.

In which show? Rebels or Clone Wars? I thought they were decent most of the time, though both shows didn't hold my interest beyond a few seasons, but that's mostly due to some of the writing they did and story development that annoyed me.

1 minute ago, KungFuFerret said:

In which show? Rebels or Clone Wars? I thought they were decent most of the time, though both shows didn't hold my interest beyond a few seasons, but that's mostly due to some of the writing they did and story development that annoyed me.

I mainly remember some of the dumb battles from the Clone Wars. One particular battle where a group of clone troopers had to hold a defensive position against an oncoming force of droids, and the writer's idea of 'defensive position' was to have the clones stand practically shoulder-to-shoulder in a line out in the open and shoot at the droids. It doesn't require a lifetime in military service to apply basic common sense.

Just now, Swordbreaker said:

I mainly remember some of the dumb battles from the Clone Wars. One particular battle where a group of clone troopers had to hold a defensive position against an oncoming force of droids, and the writer's idea of 'defensive position' was to have the clones stand practically shoulder-to-shoulder in a line out in the open and shoot at the droids. It doesn't require a lifetime in military service to apply basic common sense.

Except there WAS a time in military service where that was the correct strategy :D But I know what you mean.

For me, well I won't go into why CW annoyed me, but with Rebels, it was an episode where Kannun

gave the sith holocron to that alien for safe keeping, and then the very next episode they go get it back


I mean, WHY even bother doing that?! It felt like the meta-plot had a huuuuge rewrite between episodes and they were like "....crap, ok we need that thing back, like right now" Though honestly there were a lot of little things that irked me with that show, that piled up to me no longer wanting to watch it. But the action set pieces generally weren't the issue for me. I mostly considered those serviceable, though I was joking with a friend of mine that we should start a drinking game with CW, for the number of times they had a scene obviously forget the Jedi could do things like Move, and instead just chase someone who is only a few feet away from them, instead of you know, just Moving them back towards the protagonists, or Moving the object they stole out of their hands and back into safekeeping. :D *Anakin chases guy for 5 minutes, who consistently stays only 10 feet in front of him* "Curses!! If only I had a way to reach across long distances and grab things!!! Curse my tiny human arms and total lack magical grabbing powers! Oh look, we're now in the new set location for the plot, I guess I will be able to catch him now!" :D

OT: Might be interesting, and to be honest, I'd prefer if they went away from the computer animated style of the previous shows. I personally found it frequently Uncanny Valley, and if they are going to soften up the design with some traditional looking animation, I'm all for it. I'm sure it will still be done digitally, it just won't look as digital, and I'm fine with that.

11 minutes ago, KungFuFerret said:

OT: Might be interesting, and to be honest, I'd prefer if they went away from the computer animated style of the previous shows. I personally found it frequently Uncanny Valley, and if they are going to soften up the design with some traditional looking animation, I'm all for it. I'm sure it will still be done digitally, it just won't look as digital, and I'm fine with that.

I don't think the art style they chose for Rebels was a good idea. Ezra's the worst, especially in the face.

18 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

I don't think the art style they chose for Rebels was a good idea. Ezra's the worst, especially in the face.

Eh, I mean, I don't have a problem with the overall aesthetic of it, I just think the way they were animated, in movement and facial expressions were sometimes so inhuman it just tweaked my brain. I found myself focusing more on how they walked like stick figures, instead of the story going on. I think if they had put more effort into making them more fluid I would've been fine with it. But on a weekly show, that's hard to pull off.

Edited by KungFuFerret
1 hour ago, Swordbreaker said:

One particular battle where a group of clone troopers had to hold a defensive position against an oncoming force of droids, and the writer's idea of 'defensive position' was to have the clones stand practically shoulder-to-shoulder in a line out in the open and shoot at the droids.

Well, it's kind of a "meme" throughout, nobody really takes cover unless it's part of the story. There are a hundred memes like that, eg: pick any situation where a nemesis shows up and hasn't even drawn a weapon yet, gives a little monologue about his dastardly plans, and only when he finally arms himself do the good guys act...meanwhile they could have shot him up and saved themselves the bother.

I'm just saying don't be too picky about the memes you reject when there are others you might accept that are just as dumb IRL.

14 minutes ago, whafrog said:

I'm just saying don't be too picky about the memes you reject when there are others you might accept that are just as dumb IRL.

True, but we all have our "bridge too far" when it comes to the suspension-bridge of disbelief :D

I've always tried to curb that part of my brain when watching things, and remember that the Rule of Cool trumps logic 9/10 times, but I usually can't ignore it when they ignore their own establishing rules for said Rule of Cool.

The example I always use is, let's say a film is based on Mars, and they take screentime to establish how things are lighter than normal for the protagonist, and the character revels in their newfound strength, picking up things previously beyond their limits. Then, at the climax of the film, we see them desperately trying to lift their love interest (likely a woman wearing next to nothing, who only weighs 100+lbs IRL, and thus only 30ishlbs on Mars), but is unable to lift her up, due to apparently a sudden case of Earth Gravity or whatever. THOSE kind of logic bombs are where I just say "No sir! Nope! I call shenanigans! Good day to you!!" And flounce out of the room in a huff. :D

Though having worked with Veterans' Affairs for 10 years, I am very aware that people with military backgrounds, have a low tolerance for getting military stuff wrong. Like ribbons on their uniform being completely wrong, not moving in proper military advancement columns, etc. It makes me chuckle to hear some of my co-workers ranting the next day at work, about how some film just totally messed up this military thing or whatnot.