This week we get to know some true Rebels, get a new look at TV Rebels and see youngling Rebels in training. Let the theme music begin…
| There’s A Rebel In All Of Us |
Why do we love Star Wars? This incredibly well done Target Ad for Rogue Friday (this years major merchandise release) gives us a profile of a few inspiring fans.
| Will Darth Vader Be In Rebels Season 3? |
It was big news when the latest Rogue One trailer came out and we got to see the live action Darth Vader in action again. He had a few appearances in Star Wars Rebels: Season 2 (which, by the way, was just released on DVD and Blu Ray) including the gut wrenching season finale.
So will we see him in Season 3? Star Wars Rebels creator/producer (and incredibly captivating guy in general) Dave Filoni had this to say:
“You know, I’ve kind of gone on this course, which is pretty, pretty direct about certain things ’cause I don’t like to tease people along and then have them be disappointed. So it’s really an elected decision to not have Vader around because, as we get closer to A New Hope, I want him to serve as that story.”
Vader is a busy guy, so he delegates.
“I know it sounds funny. I don’t wanna fill in every hole. I don’t know what we benefit from that. As much as you need to say, okay, this is a major point in his life when he’s confronted by his former apprentice. That is worth doing. Him chasing the rebels of the Ghost crew around is never something that really interested me. Mainly because I didn’t think they could survive it for very long. And now that I have Thrawn, it’s more interesting to me to setup this completely different kind of villain that’s gonna play a long game against our guys that they’re not typically used to.”
Thrawn makes his debut on the season premier of Star Wars Rebels: Season 3 on September 24. Here’s a quick teaser released this week:
| ILM VFX Reel |
Each January, when the Academy begins the process of nominating movies for Oscar, visual effects candidates send in a reel explaining the process of how the effects for their movie was created. This week, Industrial Light and Magic released its reel for the effects they created for The Force Awakens. These shorts show the relationships between practical and digital effects as well as the layers and detail that go into modern CGI. That’s why there are so many names in the credits!
| Season Of The Force |
Still lingering with us like an Indian summer, the Season Of The Force has yet to leave Disneyland. Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy launches today.
But don’t expect it to stick around long. The park is going through a major transformation right now with the Diamond Celebration décor going out and Halloweentime coming in with a 3-day window. Season of the Force is obviously a lower priority and soon to move to Yesterland.
| Jedi Training Academy: Trials Of The Temple |
Tomorrowland Terrace will continue to host the Jedi Training Academy when Season of the Force is gone. Here’s a look at what is one of the most popular rope drop destinations.
| Merchandise In The Park |
Here are some of the more interesting things we found this week:
Star Trader
Launch Bay
Star Wars Halloween Pins
These little beauties popped up at the Main Street Emporium this week with the new Halloweentime merchandise.
| Star Wars Land Construction |
And last, but not least, here is our weekly look at the progress of Star Wars Land. Located in what used to be the backstage area of the park. This new land will have entrances from Critter Country, Frontierland and Fantasyland. Below is an interactive graphic of what the area looked like before, and what we expect the layout to look like when complete. Click in the middle and swipe left or right to see before or after. The after will be referenced in the following construction photos.
[beforeafter]
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I’ll refer to the areas in the photos by the geographic location in the aerial photo and the future development in the interactive graphic. We’ll start in the north and go clockwise through the development.
In the north part of the site where a mound of dirt collected from grading and being used to fill in different elevations now, has been nicknamed the dirt star. This is closest to the N on the photo and the future site of the Millennium Falcon attraction.
Just east of that, where the Disneyland Rail Road is being routed, a large retaining wall is being constructed. On the other side of this wall, the DLRR will make the turn into the Toontown Station.
Right behind the Fantasyland Theater, on the east of the photo, a wall outlines the DLRR route.
Nearby, an arch is where the SWL entrance from Fantasyland will have the DLRR cross overhead.
The next set of photos is approximately the middle of the aerial photo and in the graphic is Fantasmic Backstage. This maze of walls will come off the Rivers of American to an area where the showboats can be stored and serviced. In this area also will be the entrance from Frontierland.
Attached to this is the new turn for the River. We can see the tip of Tom Sawyer’s Island and the walls starting to form the turn in the river.
Moving around Tom Sawyer’s Island, we are now seeing the walls come up on the other side and leading toward the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country.
Those walls around the river will end leading to a walkway from Critter Country under the Hungry Bear Restaurant where the bathrooms currently reside. The path leading to those restrooms was recently re-routed to permit demolition of the old stairway. It’s now cleared to make way for the new path to SWL.
The road traversing through the middle of the site lined with green fence is what remains of the old backstage access road. Part of the development is constructing a new backstage access road that will run along the perimeter of the west fence. Utilities have been run underground along this route and should be filling in soon.
Also in this area west of the old access road is the beginning of the show building for the Battle Escape Attraction in the graphic. Excavation began recently and this week steel beams were laid over one end of the hole in the ground.
That’s our tour of SWL as it looks this week. Thanks for joining us. I hope the graphic and photo help outline where these structures are and how the project is developing.
Check back Monday for more updates on the Disneyland Photo Update.
| As always… |
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