Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matt Senreich, joined by their collaborator Todd Grimes, finally unveiled footage and details on the upcoming new animated series Star Wars: Detours at Star Wars Celebration VI today.It was noted that this series takes place in-between Episode III and IV, with a completely comedic take on the Star Wars world. The focus was on the mundane – what do these characters do in their downtime? As Grimes put it, “Where do Gamorrean Guards grocery shop? Does Darth Vader do online dating? The answer is yes. We answer all these things.”
A ton of footage was shown, beginning with a long trailer. As far as the show’s style, it’s CGI animated, but the characters are very exaggerated, Chibi/super deformed style – Folks like Princess Leia and Admiral Ackbar are very small, with large heads. And Leia’s trademark hair buns are HUGE!The quick-cut trailer had a lot of gags that felt very similar in tone to what Robot Chicken does (though less adults only than that show can get). Gags included Boba Fett making up an elaborate lie to a girl about how he’d called her but she must not have gotten his message, Admiral Ackbar trying a ton of variations on what his catch phrase will be – It’s a frappe!” -- before finding the right one, and Obi-Wan getting a terrible response as he tries standup comedy and then using the Force on the audience, as he intones, “That joke was hilarious and you all liked it.” ” We also saw Jar Jar Binks walk up to Dexter Jettster and ask why everyone hates him and Dexter asking Jar Jar how honest he wants him to be.
Among my favorite of the gags shown were two Stormtroopers recreating a famous Luke and Leia moment, as they attempt to swing across a chasm in the Death Star. “For luck” says one to the other and they fist bump. As they swing across, the door on the other side slams shut and they hit it, plummeting down… only to land a few feet below on what seems to be the vast tunnel below. “It’s a matte painting!” exclaims one of the Troopers. “They haven’t finished…
Besides the trailer, several other clips were shown. In the series, the Death Star is being built, under the pretense that it’s a giant mall. As Green pointed out, if you’re building something the size of a moon, “people are going to know!” so that’s the cover story. “George was insistent that there be an IT guy,” Green noted, of the staff we’ll meet on the Death Star.
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As for Darth Vader, the Detours producers joked that given that this was a relative time of peace in the Galaxy, Darth Vader is a bit restless. As Senreich put it, “He’s the guy cutting ribbons at the supermarket. He’s got nowhere else to be right now. He’s got nothing to do.”The relationship between Vader and the Emperor looks to be a version of the very funny one seen on Robot Chicken, with Seth MacFarlane again voicing Palpatine. A clip was shown in which Palpatine tries to cover up to Vader that he leaked a story to a TMZ-like show called Galaxy Rumors and we see that Palpatine has made a lot of calls to this show, including exclaiming, “I totally saw the Emperor dancing the night away with three Twi'lek models!” Joel McHale voices the host of Galaxy Rumors seen in this sequence with Mass Effect’s Jennifer Hale voicing Major Steel, an imperial officer who will be a frequent presence on the show.A lot of time will be spent on Tatooine on the series, including familiar locations like the Cantina and the Lars homestead (though interestingly/curiously, no footage of Luke was in anything we saw today). A scene was shown of Han and Chewbacca inside the Falcon on the desert planet – with Grimes noting that in the show, “They’ve been together so long, they’re kind of like an old married couple.”And indeed, that was their dynamic, with Han coming home late, to find a furious Chewbacca sitting in front of foot he made for them. When Chewbacca growls at Han as he walks across the Falcon, Han replies, “Of course I have sand on my boots! It’s Tatooine! Nobody asked you to vacuum!” Finally, Chewbacca yanks the Dejarik table up and under his arm and storms off outside, with Han pulling up alongside him in the Falcon, swinging open the canopy and saying, “Come on Chewie, get in the Falcon!”
It was noted by Green, Senreich and Grimes that the Falcon in the show was completely based off the original toy version we all had growing up – hence the canopy opening up and the removable table, plus, Green revealed, there’s a lightsaber training droid hanging on a string.
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Another major element in the series is Dex’s Diner, which gives an Alice or Cheers vibe to the proceedings, as characters come in and out. We saw a scene with Leia set here, who Green noted was a 14-year old who’s mad at the world, doesn’t know who her real parents are and sick of the decoys accompanying her everywhere to happen. As Green put it, “This is a bitch waiting to happen!” The voice of Padme on Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Catherine Taber voices Leia and all her decoys here.In the clip we saw, Dexter dots on the bratty Leia and her decoys, with Leia proclaiming, “This is my favorite food. I only eat here,” only for a commercial to come on for a rival restaurant starring Leia, in which she says the exact same thing. Dexter looks appropriately shocked and we then see that Han and Lando are sitting eating at the counter eating and Han says, “That kind of betrayal is shocking!” Replies Lando, “Hey, business is business! They probably got to her right before Dex did!”In a very fun reveal, we were told Billy Dee Williams was reprising the role of Lando for the series, along with Anthony Daniels as C-3PO and Ahmed Best as Jar-Jar. Detours head writer Brendan Hay (a Daily Show alum) and producer Jennifer Hill joined the panel, as more writers and cast members were revealed.
The impressive writing staff for Detours includes many Robot Chicken alums, including Dan Milano, Tom Root, Zeb Wels, Doug Goldstein, Breckin Meyer and Kevin Shinick, plus David Goodman (a Family Guy alum who worked on that show’s Star Wars parodies) and Simpsons alum Michael Price. There are also writers from The Venture Bros., Pinky and the Brain, Regular Show and Spongebob SquarePants involved, not to mention someone with a ton of geek TV cred – Jane Espenson, who’s written for everything from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Battlestar Galactica to her online comedy Husbands.
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As for casting, Chuck’s Zachary Levi will voice “Biff Tarkin,” Grand Moff Tarkin’s son, while Breckin Myer and Donald Faison (the latter of whom also joined the panel) will play the two Stormtroopers seen in the trailer. Star Wars: The Clone Wars' Dee Bradley Baker will also voice characters on the series, including an old Clone Trooper who's none too happy with the modern Stormtroopers. Behind the scenes footage also revealed the voice cast includes Abraham Benrubi (ER), Cree Summers, Nat Faxon, Grey DeLisle and two folks who got a lot of applause: Felicia Day and Weird Al Yankovic. Green himself was seen voicing Salacious Crumb, who turns out to have an upper crust, eloquent speaking voice, when not maniacally laughing.Regarding the presence of Jar Jar Binks on Star Wars: Detours, Green chuckled, "The places Jar Jar goes… will make you love Jar Jar." Added Hay, "Or at least you’ll hate him for new reasons!"
The final footage shown today was about as humorously out there as you can get. We were told how Donald Faison’s stormtrooper really wants to be a mattress salesman, as a clip was shown (written by Jane Espenson) in which that aforementioned Stormtrooper sings a parody of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream” about mattresses.
Suffice to say, if the only Star Wars material you want to see is deadly serious, this show won’t be for you. But if you’ve enjoyed the Robot Chicken Star Wars parodies and take note of the impressive group of people creating this show, Star Wars: Detours looks to be a very funny and entertaining take on a very beloved universe.
There is no exact date (or network) revealed for Star Wars: Detours yet, but given how much near-complete footage we saw today, I'd say "sometime in 2013" is a safe bet.
