Via Thegaurdian.com:

George Lucas sold his billion-dollar baby to Disney exactly two years ago and it feels like there’s been a Star Wars-related announcement almost every week since. From JJ Abrams reuniting the original cast and taking the helm of Episode VII, to cult directors Gareth Edwards and Rian Johnson signing up to expand the franchise in unexpected directions, Disney has been laying track for new projects at lightspeed, convinced that what the universe has been crying out for is more Star Wars, and lots of it.

Every new Star Wars spin-off is guaranteed attention from hardcore fans, but as the first official chunk of Disney-curated content since the regime change, Star Wars Rebels has been scrutinised more than most. Set during the relatively unexplored period between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, the animated series premiered last month to 6.5m viewers worldwide – unusually high ratings for children’s programming. (In the UK, new episodes screen every Thursday afternoon on cable channel Disney XD.)

Star Wars Rebels opens with the classic image of a Star Destroyer filling up the screen, and the universe has the same grimy, lived-in feel of the older movies – all the dings, dents and dust streaks lovingly recreated by state-of-the-art computer animation. Similarly, the familiar soundtrack and iconic sound effects are soothing throwbacks to the original trilogy, while the production and character designs deliberately evoke the 1970s Star Wars concept art by the late, great Ralph McQuarrie.

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