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Tag: Justin Ridge

Executive Producer Justin Ridge Talks Season One Finale of Star Wars Resistance

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Now that the first season of Star Wars Resistance is in the bag, executive producer of the series, Justin Ridge, sat down with the fine folks over io9, to discuss the season finale and what to expect in the future from the series.

There are some very intriguing answers given to a few of the questions, but be warned that SPOILERS lay ahead. If you haven’t seen the season finale of Star Wars Resistance, I would highly suggest that you don’t continue reading. Come back after watching it.

io9: Why make it a twist that Neeku may not be sending everyone to D’Qar as Kaz had asked?

Justin Ridge: Well, we thought it would be fun to add a little something to the end just to make our heroes a little uncertain as to whether or not they’re actually going to get to their goal when we get to the beginning of season two. They were in a crazy hectic race to get out of there at the very end. Even for someone as smart as Neeku, it’s difficult to put in the coordinates. So, yeah. we just thought it would be a fun beat [to say] “Oh no. I hope we actually get to where we need to go!”

io9: D’Qar is obviously where The Force Awakens ends and The Last Jedi begins, so it’s pretty pivotal. I know you can’t say if they arrive there—but if they do, do you know when specifically they do in relation to the movies?

Ridge: We totally know but I don’t want to spoil it.

io9: How early was it decided Tam was going to defect to the First Order and why her?

Ridge: Early on we knew for sure that the end of season one was going to overlap with what happens in The Force Awakens and that we needed some sort of internal conflict in Team Fireball with Tam and Kaz. [Tam] just made sense for us with her background and her family. Her grandfather working for an Imperial factory back in the day, her viewpoint towards the First Order is different from Kaz and Yeager. So when it comes to the end of season one, when she’s given the chance she feels betrayed. Kaz and Yeager didn’t talk to her. They weren’t truthful with her. And all this accumulates to her choosing to go into the First Order.

You can continue reading the interview at io9 right now!

About Star Wars Resistance:

Star Wars Resistance was created by LucasFilm Animation’s Dave Filoni, who served as an executive producer on the last animated show, Star Wars Rebels.

“The idea for Star Wars Resistance came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots,” said Filoni. “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.”

You can catch Star Wars Resistance every Sunday night at 10:00pm EST, on Disney Channel.

So You Think Star Wars Resistance is for Kids…?

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Star Wars Resistance - Station Theta-Black Preview

Star Wars Resistance has been a little controversial to say the least, since its debut on the Disney Channel last year. Older fans of the franchise have had less than kind words to say about the show, while younger fans seem to love it (kind of like every version of Star Wars released to date).

In a new article by Cinema Blend, the site sits down with Star Wars Resistance executive producer Justin Ridge to talk about how the show just might be edging closer to the Star Wars that adult fans want, and the misconception of animation being created just for kids.

“It’s exciting, to tell you the truth. I think the show is fun because we’re kind of giving a little more of a lighthearted tone. Because I think we definitely want younger audiences to really be into the show, but we definitely don’t want to exclude the older fans. We want to stay true to Star Wars and what has come before us. So even though it’s lighter in tone and has a little more comedy, we definitely have a lot in store that I think older fans are really going to enjoy.”

The site also asked Ridge about his thoughts on how adult fans perceive Star Wars in its various animated forms.

That’s a battle that’s gone on for a long time. I think a lot of people have viewed animation as a whole as something just for kids, which I disagree. Animation, I think even Brad Bird said, animation is a medium. It’s not a genre. It’s just a different way of telling these stories. So I think that’s for people to just kind of accept and be like, ‘We’re telling really fun stories with these characters and it happens to be animation.’ Hopefully they can get past the way that we’re telling the story and just really get into it.

What are your thoughts about the show? Is it just another bit of kid-friendly media that leaves adult fans out in the snow? Or are you enjoying it like every other iteration of Star Wars? Leave your thoughts in our easy to use comment section below!

About Star Wars Resistance:

Star Wars Resistance was created by LucasFilm Animation’s Dave Filoni, who served as an executive producer on the last animated show, Star Wars Rebels.

“The idea for Star Wars Resistance came out of my interest in World War II aircraft and fighter pilots,” said Filoni. “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.”

You can catch Star Wars Resistance every Sunday night at 10:00pm EST, on Disney Channel.

Dave Filoni Creatively Overseeing Future Star Wars Animation Projects

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Dave Filoni

Last night’s Star Wars Rebels season 3 premiere was another typically fantastic addition to the franchise.  The show came on and went off like every other episode, but with one distinct difference!  Dave Filoni is no longer listed as the Supervising Director.

How is that you say?  Wasn’t he at Celebration Europe a couple of months ago, giving fans the lowdown on season 3?  Well it seems the move is not a demotion.  He is not going anywhere.  Justin Ridge has taken over the Supervising Director slot, and Filoni has moved into more of a creative overseer (think George Lucas, to the Clone Wars).

The move gives Filoni more control over the story and concepts, without having to worry about the day-to-day grind of getting each show out.

In fact one Lucasfilm employee tweeted the following after the news was released, to ease the minds of fans…

Dave is still just as involved as ever – overseeing all aspects of Star Wars Rebels production as Executive Producer and occasionally directing episodes.  In many ways, mentoring Justin and moving him into the role as Supervising Director has made it possible for Dave to be even more immersed in the writing and story structure of the show as well as creatively overseeing future animation development. Justin started with Lucasfilm Animation on the first season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars and worked with Dave before that on Avatar: The Last Airbender, so they’ve been working together for quite some time.

One key element to take away from the tweet above is the “overseeing future animation development”.  It has been rumored that Rebels was always going to be a three year type of project.  This is season three, so…

Now comes the chance for lots of fan speculation, on what the next project, or projects will be…  Leave your thoughts in the comment section below!