Star Wars: Rebels Introduces Chopper The Droid
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With Star Wars: Rebels starting in the fall 2014, audiences and fans will get an opportunity to watch the first property from the Disney-acquired Lucasfilm, and get to meet the characters who will from the beginnings of the Rebellion. Also: there will be a cute droid named Chopper.
As reported on ComingSoon, the R2-D2-style droid Chopper, aka C1-10P, is a new astromech droid that will serve our new group of teenage rebels well throughout the animated series. Chopper is described as “a lazy, cranky, if ultimately goodhearted.” Chopper is unique and is a hodgepodge of various parts thrown together by the young rebels. The new droid is further proof that Rebels‘ will unfold in the more “lived-in” Star Wars universe of the original trilogy, unlike the slick and glossy world of the prequels.
Producer Dave Filoni describes Chopper as “an essential crew member of the Ghost, tasked with keeping the starship running and operable for its band of heroes. In reality, thanks to his many ‘unique’ upgrades and customizations, no other alien, human, or droid could handle the job.” Chopper was actually based on Ralph McQuarrie’s concept art from the original Star Wars. Check out concept art of Chopper below:
Filoni recently spoke with MoviePilot.de about what fans should expect from Star Wars: Rebels. While The Clone Wars was dark in tone, Rebels will be much lighter and return to the style of adventures featured in the original film trilogy. Filoni explained:
I think that the animation style has most changed. The look of Rebels is more similar to the original Star Wars trilogy, while Clone Wars refers more to the new trilogy. We will see many things that are famous to Star Wars, but have not appeared on screen in a while. Star Destroyers, TIE Fighters, and Stormtroopers — basically the Empire is back and that is a big change, since, for many years, we have only seen the Republic in action. The tone of the series is also different. The Clone Wars got very dark as we headed towards the end of the war and the downfall of the Jedi. Star Wars Rebels brings back the banter and faster pace that the original films were famous for.
It’s also rumored that expanded universe fan-favorite Mara Jade will be introduced in the new animated series, while also appearing in the live-action Episode VII. She was of course first introduced in the Expanded Universe, specifically in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire trilogy. Her involvement would serve part of a new cohesive Star Wars universe Disney is trying to create as they weed through the massive amounts of EU material and decide what is canon and what isn’t.
Rebels takes place between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, a few years before the start of Episode IV. The Galactic Empire is taking over planets in the Outer Rim, and a band of teenage renegades start to sabotage the Imperial stranglehold on Lothal. They do anything they can to undermine the new Emperor’s power and form the very early stages of what will become the Rebel Alliance.
Star Wars: Rebels will air sometime in October 2014. It will premiere on the Disney Channel, and then move to Disney XD.
