This week I sit down with David S. Goyer and Mohen Leo to talk about Vader Immortal.
And we show you how blah, bleh, bleh...
That.
All that.
That’s that. That’s it!
That’s what, we’re doing it.
Wooo!
This is The Star Wars Show.
From the Lucasfilm headquarters in San Francisco, here’s your hosts, Andi and Anthony!
Hello and welcome to the first ever…114th episode of The Star Wars Show!
And what a celebration do we have planned for you this week!
Oh there’s gonna be confetti, clowns, big sheet cake.
Aw man.
None of that is in the episode this week, it’s just a normal episode isn’t it.
Yeah.
Cool.
But at least there’s news!
Just a big sheet cake of news.
New York Comic Con is taking place this weekend, and while there may not be a film or TV Star
Wars panel present during the show, Star Wars.com will have a panel celebrating the launch of
Our Star Wars Stories.
The panel is set for Friday, October 5th from 1:45 to 2:45 and will feature host Jordan
Hembrough, a few guests from the series, as well as Matt Martin from the Lucasfilm Story
Group to discuss the series and hear your Star Wars Stories.
There are also panels planned for Hasbro Star Wars, a Lucasfilm Publishing panel, a Disney-Lucasfilm
Celebration of female writers, as well as a women of the galaxy discussion.
For more information for all the Star Wars related panels coming the NYCC check out StarWars.com/SWS.
If you’ve ever wanted to bring a little bit of Darth Vader’s home into your own,
then you might want to consider grabbing LEGO’s brand new Vader’s Castle set.
This set contains 1,060 pieces and 5 minifigs including Vader, bacta tank Vader, two royal
guards, and an Imperial transport pilot.
The set retails for $129.99 and is available exclusively on Amazon.com for preorder beginning tomorrow.
Finally this week, Star Wars Resistance debuts Sunday on the Disney Channel with a one hour special.
Earlier this week Lucasfilm set up an exclusive screening of the debut for a few lucky fans,
and wouldn’t you know it, The Star Wars Show was there, making content for the internet,
as we do with this program.
Please enjoy this content.
Tent if you’re a cool hip teen.
Please, enjoy this tent.
I don’t know.
It’s quality tent, fam.
Now that you say it that way.
Welcome to Lucasfilm.
I am super excited to be able to introduce the first three episodes of Star Wars Resistance
to everybody in the audience.
[Cheering]
You’ve got something special.
I see it.
[Cheering]
I thought it was really cool.
I was really impressed.
That was really funny.
I’m hooked on Kaz and his goofiness.
That’s how I was when I was in my 20s.
I love Neeku.
He’s just a fun and adorable character.
He’s awesome.
Neeku does not disappoint.
I like Torra and Tam.
I’m hoping that the female characters will have a lot of space.
I cannot wait for more to happen.
I was excited to see the New Republic and the Resistance together.
That’s something that is not really on the books.
It will be exciting to see what is it that these people were doing.
I like the idea of having the opportunity of seeing the relationship of Poe and Leia.
So you actually get to see that.
It was nice to see familiar species that we haven't really seen in the new movies.
This is gonna really bring in a new generation.
The animation was beautiful and I really loved it.
It's time to start the big race.
The voice of the racing, the big announcer was the same guy as Fodesinbeed from the podrace.
Isn't that super cool?
It’s like super cool.
I’m sitting down now with David S. Goyer and Mohen Leo from ILMxLAB.
I’m very excited.
Ya’ll announced Vader Immortal last week but let’s take my energy down for a moment.
And for anybody who isn't aware yet, what is ILMxLAB?
What have you all been up to?
ILMxLAB is Lucasfilm’s immersive entertainment division.
And that means that we’re really trying to create experiences that allow you to step
on the other side of the screen and become part of the stories, to step into the stories
that we tell.
And so we’ve done that with virtual reality experiences like Trials on Tatooine, Droid
Repair Bay, and Secrets of the Empire, which David also worked on.
So you announced last week at Oculus Connect.
That was a crazy experience.
I mean, as somebody like me that’s behind the screen, it’s unnerving to step out on
a massive stage in front of thousand of people.
It also brought me back to feeling like a kid.
Being 11 when I stood in line for A New Hope and being able to say to everyone, guess what,
we’re about to launch this amazing thing with Vader.
And for me personally just to be able to write for Vader.
It’s just been a dream come true.
And what made you want to put this on the Oculus Quest and bring it home?
The first time we got to try the prototypes all of us were just blown away by how different
the experience is when you don’t have a cable come out of the back of your head.
And what we really wanted to do was tell a story from the ground up, is designed for
VR, and that puts you at the center of the experience.
Where you’re the hero of the story effectively.
So the ability to move freely, to wield a lightsaber without worrying about being coiled
up in a cable.
I think all of us for a moment, we put our hands on the Quest for like, yes this is a
great device for this story.
You are like intertwined with Vader’s castle.
You were a VFX Supervisor on Rogue One.
Yep.
This is your third bite of the apple…
Yeah.
[Laughing]
...with this castle.
What is it like for you to walk around in this thing that you had helped sort of design and realize.
It was really cool because when we started talking about this project that was during
the production of Rogue One.
And so I was on set of the actual castle and I would get phone calls from San Francisco
going, oh can you scan this? can you take photos of this?
Because we want to do a VR experience based on this location and I basically came over
to the VR side of things.
And it’s really cool to revisit that now.
Vader is almost a very limited resource in a way.
Yeah.
Are you scared a little bit?
Like if we use too much Vader, is there not enough Vader left?
We had a lot of conversations about how much one should interact with him.
Because you don’t want to become too familiar with him.
You don’t want him to feel mundane in any way.
And so there’s been a lot of push and pull in terms of what’s the right amount of Vader
interaction with you.
We did a test where we decided to have Vader walk out and make eye contact with you.
And so I could tell you the first time he walked out and I wrote it, I was involved
in it, and I wasn’t listening to anything he was saying because I was so intimidated
that it was just like, okay.
We had to recalibrate everything.
So you’re working with this massive character, you’re in the Star Wars galaxy, how did
you sort of work alongside the other teams with Lucasfilm to make this happen?
And is this something that we could sort of consider, I don’t wanna throw down the word
but I’m gonna throw down the word.
Is Vader Immortal canon?
Vader Immortal is canon and um…
You have to wait because there’s a large siren that we play.
Pssshhh.
[Laughing]
We still are working really closely with the Lucasfilm story group.
It’s an ongoing active relationship with them.
And I can tell you that some of the things that we developed for this story are already
filtering into other stories and other mediums.
Can you tell me when Vader Immortal takes place?
In between Revenge of the Sith and before A New Hope.
It’s an interesting period in his life that hasn't really been explored all that much.
So we don’t have en exact date for the Oculus Quest yet.
We know it’s next year.
Yes.
Do we know when Vader Immortal is coming out in relation to the Oculus Quest?
Episode I is coming out at the same time.
It will be a launch title for Oculus Quest.
Excellent.
Well, David, Moehn, I am very excited.
Thank you so much for sitting down with us.
As we talked about earlier, Star Wars Resistance debuts this Sunday, and with it a brand series
of shorts entitled Resistance Rewind and Bucket’s List, where you’ll learn even more behind
the scenes facts about the episode.
That, plus episode guides and more can be found on StarWars.com after each brand new
episode airs.
Check them out on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram beginning on Monday, October 8th.
And as always, remember to like the video, subscribe to the channel, follow us on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram and make sure to get 8 hours of sleep each night.
Thanks for watching, and may the Force be with you.
I’m not very good at getting 8 hours of sleep every night.
I need at least 8 or I can’t function.
If she doesn’t get 12 or 15 hours of sleep she is a grouch.
[Laughing]
I’m like a cat.
15 to 18 hours of sleep, otherwise.
A minimum of 21 hours of sleep.
21 hours of sleep.
Or I just can’t function.
[Laughing]
I think I get an average of 4.
I’m just tired all the time.
Really?
Yeah.
Really?
Mhmm.
So this is you tired?
You know what it is, family.
[Laughing]
It’s a victorious sponge of news.
It’s parfait week here at The Star Wars Show.
[Laughing]
I’ll tell you what.
I showed up two weeks ago it was bread week.
Bread week is tough.
Oh, you should see me.
8 hours of sleep.
Wooo!
Then, then I really got energy.
Oh my.
Yeah.