Clark Cradic writes...

Wanted to let you know I'm pumped for Star Wars Rebels! :) Can't wait to see it! I know you and the rest of the cast and crew shan't disappoint.

Alex Marcy (Aldrius) writes...

So Greg, today I was privileged enough to get to see the Star Wars Rebels premier at Fan Expo in Toronto. This was actually a pleasant surprise for me as just before I left for the convention I checked the website and saw that they were advertising the premier. Obviously, as a fan of pretty much every show you've ever done I was excited.

So at 1:30 today I got lined up for the premier. Fan Expo is actually fairly well organized so I managed to get in the theater in a timely manner. Immediately I noticed Steve Blum chatting with some people in the front. I knew I was in the right place right away. The way they were seating people, I got a nice seat in the third row very close to the front.

After about 10-20 minutes Mary Franklin came up and introduced herself, handed out some prizes to some people in the audience and then Steve Blum came up. He told us about going to see the first Star Wars film in 1977 and despite how he'd been involved in a lot of Star Wars projects, this was the first one that really struck him in the same way Star Wars did back in the 70's. Afterwards there was a quick pre-recorded message from Dave Filoni, which was cool.

As the premier began I was pretty struck myself. There was no opening and the show jumped straight into the action. I actually knew nothing about the show prior to this except that Vanessa Marshall was in it (due more to lack of time, not lack of interest).

Everything just felt so fresh really. The show's focus on a good ensemble cast was nice, and I liked that pretty much all of them were... well, rogues. None of the characters are exceptionally soft or generous or kind. They have good ends, but the means they achieve those ends at this point at least seems to be a little shady.

I also enjoyed the action. The empire felt very threatening and callous (calus? not sure on the spelling) was a cool bad guy. And the main cast were a good unit. The audience FREAKED THE HELL OUT when Kanan pulled out his lightsaber. And laughed really hard at the 'hairless wookie' bit. (So much so I couldn't hear any of the dialogue for about 30 seconds afterward)

Voice acting was really cool. I liked Ezra a lot. I thought Vanessa Marshall was great. Steve Blum was great. Everyone really fit their characters, it was awesome. Looking forward to seeing more.

Had a lot of fun at the convention and seeing such a great premier was just the cherry on top.

btgr writes...

In Star Wars Rebels, what other actors did you considered casting for the role of Kanan? Freddie Prinze Jr. recently claims that back in 2010 he almost gave up on acting because he had a bad experience working with Kiefer Sutherland on 24.

btgr writes...

I thought up a Star Wars Rebels drinking game in order to celebrate the famous Han Solo line "Don't get cocky":

1. Take a drink everytime someone acts cocky (Two drinks for Ezra Bridger)

2. Take a drink everytime someone smirks (Two drinks for Sabine Wren) &

Someone told me this one:

3. Take a drink everytime someone fails due to overconfidence (Two drinks if they are a darksider)

btgr writes...

Would permission be required from you, if Seth Green and Michael Senreich wanted to use Chopper, Kanan, Ezra, Zeb, Sabine and Hera in their animated comedy series "Star Wars Detours"?

Kelley writes...

1) Do you ever grow tired or weary of writing and working on only super hero type of shows? I'm assuming working on this new star wars series must of been a breath of fresh air for you?

2)When it comes to the projects you create and produce how do you pick the correct voice director for the project? Do you have a process you go through or that type of thing out of your hands?

Richard writes...

What is you're favorite starwars space battle and why?

Dave Newman writes...

Hi Greg,

I want to ask you a question in regards to Star Wars: Rebels. I've very much enjoyed previous shows you have worked on such as Gargoyles, Spectacular Spider-Man and the various productions you have worked on for DC Entertainment and I'm interested in checking out Rebels later this year.

My problem is that I'm worried that not being an ardent Star Wars fan may stand me in poor stead to watch Rebels. I've watched the six big screen "episodes", the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series and the later Clone Wars movie and the first season of that Clone Wars series. Enjoyed almost all of them but can't say I'm a massive expert on the show. I can name and identify the main characters but couldn't run off the names of all the bounty hunters beyond Boba Fett without risk of error or tell you what the bald guy who works for Lando Calrissian is called, for instance.

My question is; what am I best advised to watch or brush up on in preparation for Rebels so that I'm not TOO behind, or is it being produced as a show that new fans can step aboard with and now be too confused?

Thanks for taking the time to read my question, look forward to your answer. All the best of success to you with this show and all the projects you work on.

Ta!

Dave

Alexandra Harenberg writes...

I have been following the updates about Star Wars: Rebels, the new television series premiering on Disney XD in November, for a long time now; and I am very excited about the release. The fact that you, Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg, Steve Lee, Stewart Lee, and all the other awesome people at Lucasfilm and Disney are producing this new series is wonderful. I was hoping for the return of Star Wars after the Clone Wars was canelled!

My question for you, Mr. Wiesman, concerns one of the main characters of Rebels: Zeb Orrelios. When I heard the directing team would be using Ralph McQuarie's original design for Chewbacca, I was totally excited. But it was only after I saw Zeb's completed look that I was blown away.

So here is my question. Are you going to explore his particular species (what Wookieepedia has defined as a Lasat) even further? I have been attempting to imagine what a female of his species would look like, and I will probably be designing concept art for a female Lasat soon enough. Also, are you going to give Zeb Orrelios a love interest at some point in the season? I have been thinking, and I believe that would prove to be an interesting element in the storyline.

One final question. I read that the series was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki's art. Is this true? Because, either way, I definitely can see it in the designs.

Thank you so much for your time, Mr. Weisman. I will be keeping up to date with the show!

~Alexandra

Anonymous writes...

The "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" video game series (in which the major events takes place during the the last three years before Episode IV) showed how the Rebellion started, thanks to the unintentional parts of Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, as well as the efforts of the games' protagonists Galen Marek/Starkiller and his supposed clone (due to lack of evidence to fully support that he is actually a clone or his real self in the second game). Will the events of "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" video game series be canon in the Star Wars Rebels timeline (even though the TV series will start in 5 BBY)?

I'm A Fan writes...

Hey Greg! I've watched and absolutely adore the work you've put into both Spectacular and YJ. You're an amazing producer who definitely respects the franchises that you have worked on and deserve more than second-season cancellations :P

Fan appreciation out of the way:

1) How is creating Star Wars Rebels' story and characters compared to YJ's and Spectacular's, considering those were in alternate continuities rather than part of official canon?

2) (If you're allowed to answer this) How much input is there from the higher-ups in Disney/people in control of the Star Wars franchise for the show? (I'm saying this because I was disappointed with Ultimate Spider-Man, also controlled by Disney, which had many good names attached to it, but ultimately felt forced and plainly interfered with by corporate executives who wanted the show to pander to kids.)

I'm looking forward to rebels and hope you have enough creative freedom to work your magic! Thanks for answering!

J.J. writes...

Hey Greg, have a few questions on the business side of things:
You've said that Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. insist that Young Justice is NOT cancelled, just not picked up. Even if they do pick it up how would that work?
1. You've obviously moved on to work on Star Wars: Rebels along writing Your Rain of Ghost series. If they were to approach you on continuing the show would you be able to? I mean you've said that you and the production team created a bible of sorts for future story lines and character arcs, so you wouldn't have to start from scratch… but that is a lot of work.
2.Would you continue on doing Star Wars Rebels while someone else worked on the show?(The Goliath Chronicles) Or would you still be allowed to juggle both shows? (As unrealistic as that sounds)
I ask this because unlike Spec-Spidey, which was cancelled for legal reason, YJ had no real reason to end. I'm sure most of us would have been more than content with a continuation of the comics set during season 3.
Lighter stuff:
3. Now that you've finished Spirits of Ash and Foam, are you planning out and writing book 3 currently or are you waiting on the sales numbers on the first two books to get the go ahead and get seriously started?
Thanks for the time. Don't have Disney XD so I'll have to wait to catch Star Wars: Rebels online.

Wookiehunter writes...

Is it possible, that Rebels doesnt end at the beginning of a New Hope and will go further to tell us more storys?

simone writes...

Do you think if I call cartoon network on a regular and complain about how unfair they are for taking down YJ before we was able to have a 3rd/4th/5th season but yet they have all these other shows like bakugan still coming on.? Im not trying to down play them but seriously. ?! Why that play all the time but yet there is never a rerun of YJ .?? It came on on Saturday and Sunday morning. ..that's it.! I wouldn't blame the ratings if its so low.. who really wakes up at 8 or 9 to watch that show (could have came on at 10, not sure since it been so long) unless they know it was going to play that time.?

And that's another thing.. how is anybody suppose to know is there was gonna be another season if y'all don't advertise it.? I realized that y'all didn't do that for the 2nd season or if you was gonna have one (unless I looked it up on Google or something). There was times were I didn't know if a show was coming on that Saturday morning and I would have woke up for nothing ... just upset and sad.. I think that's another reason why y'all did not have that many ratings... we never really knew when it would come on unless we look it up. Please answer ... I really wanna know

Richard writes...

What was you're favorite star wars space and why?

paulo oliveira writes...

Hello!
I am the responsible for the official star wars fan club in Portugal and I wonder if is it possible to Mr Greg Weisman grant us an interview.Could be by e-mail?
Best regards:
Paulo Oliveira
http://swccpt.blogspot.com

Feedback writes...

I haven't played YJ:Legacy yet (med school, *sigh*), but I've been a little disappointed in all the bad reviews for the game. I have a couple of questions regarding the game. (Sorry if they seem a little long, but I had to get my point across before each question.)

1. Did you get to view the finished product in its entirety?

2. The game was lower priced and clearly wasn't supposed to be viewed as a full-fledged console game, but instead as a lower-priced shorter companion game for fans of the show. Do you think the negative reception has been due to people expecting too much??

3. Can you estimate the game's costs??? With 70k units sold plus Steam sales and DLC, I'm assuming it's made a little under 3 million in revenue. The game obviously has a lower budget than most, and it seemingly had 0 marketing and advertising. Do you know if it is profitable? Is Little Orbit happy or underwhelmed with sales? Considering it's a small company with its first console game, it's hard to pinpoint what their expectations were.

4. Assuming Little Orbit doesn't follow up with a sequel, what hope is there for a continuation in the Young Justice franchise?? Is there a possibility for another game, another comic, a film?

5. Side-note: I hope Star Wars is coming along sweet! And I REALLY hope I'm not bothering you next year about why the big wigs canceled my new favorite show.

Zer0C00l writes...

Greg! What's going on, man? Happy New Year and all that good stuff. Before I say what I say... please let it be known that I'm not trying to offend you or anyone in any kind of way.

Cool?

So I hear you got a new gig. Congrats! I knew you would. Now here's the thing, bro. I'm a bit worried about Rebels and I need you to set my fears aside. Can you do that? Can you promise the same Weisman QUALITY? Will YOU be leading the ship of Rebels? I know you have partners. You always had team mates from past shows. But YOU were always the head writer. The one with the series bible. The million index cards all over. That was YOU. Everyone else worked under you.

I ask this mainly because of a recent show that totally turned me OFF in a big way. The show was HORRIBLE. What show? That would be "Ultimate Spider-Man". Have you seen this? Greg, I tell ya, I was looking forward to this. I was. Why? Because of the name Paul Dini. Paul Dini! OK?.

Dini is an incredible writer. A huge force that most of his credibility came from working on the DCAU aka the Timmverse. Namely... "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker". Just incredible stuff all around. So when I heard he was apart of this show, I was like, wow, I need to check this out. I knew he had partners but why would that matter when he's writing tons of scripts and is part of the writers room?

Yeahhhh. Basically, Greg, it's clear as day that he's not in charge of anything there. He's there in name only. His partners (Man of Action) are obviously running things. Every episode that I watched (stopped after episode 7 or so) was so over the top and ridiculous. A true insult to even little kids who watch it. The show is SO dumbed down and tries too hard to be funny. There's nothing worse than forced "humor".

My point? IF the talented writer isn't leading the pack then the show will never be what it could be. I just want to make sure that's not going to be the case for "Star Wars: Rebels". I'm about to invest a whole bunch of money to get into the Star Wars universe. Believe it or not, growing up, I never really got into the Star Wars craze. I didn't. I've seen the movies when I was little but don't really remember much. I went to the movies to see Episode One and that was all right. I just never really gave it a proper chance. I feel I can get a better enjoyment out of it today, though. I'm actually looking forward to it.

Just know, I'm mainly doing this for YOU. To fully get myself well versed in the Star Wars universe and prepared for Rebels. I'm going to buy the complete saga of Star Wars on Blu-ray and then I will pick up the CGI Clone Wars animated series as well. I want to be ready for this.

That's why I need to know, Greg, will Rebels be another "Ultimate Spider-Man"? or will it be the QUALITY of a "Young Justice"? Who's truly in charge? Who's the head booker? I hope it's you and I hope Rebels will be everything it can be and should be.

May the force be with you, man.

-ZC