Interview with Vanessa Marshall and Tiya Sircar #StarWarsRebels #DisneyInHomeEvent

If new and old Star Wars fans aren’t aware yet, the awesome new Star Wars Rebels is going to air tonight, 10/13 on Disney XD! I am incredibly excited to show it to my kids! Again.  We caught the Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion movie when it aired last week on Disney but like me, my kids want some more. They love the fight scenes and what really warmed my heart is the fact that my middle son said his favorite character was Hera. Three awesome male characters to choose from and they do get the most action and my son chooses the pilot. To be fair since we are naming space shows with awesome pilots, my son also thinks that ‘the redhead guy’ is the leader in Firefly and that he is the coolest.  So I guess he likes pilots? I choose to believe that its because she is an awesome female character and role model.

Hera (Vanessa Marshall) and Sabine (Tiya Sircar) are both pretty awesome. They are the type of characters that I want my children to see. Neither of them are the typical ‘female’ vapid characters who only exist to build the male character’s background or sympathy with the audience.

Question: How did it feel playing such strong female characters?

Vanessa Marshall –  Well, uh, you know, Hera is the leader and, and while she is fierce, she’s a great fighter and a great pilot, she’s also very nurturing, and she sort of plays a maternal role, uh, within the crew.  And I think she sets a really great example, and I think she does a lot of mentoring to Sabine.  Now, I will also say pathetically as a Star Wars fan, she is a Mandalorian.  So I personally bow down to her character. Right.  Getting back to Hera.  I do think it’s really wonderful that Star Wars Rebels embodies two female characters that we all can aspire to act like them whether we’re adults or children or even little boys or little girls.

Vanessa Marshall – I’ve said before that the empire universally oppresses all races and all gender to where it sort of neutralizes elements.  These aren’t good women or good female characters.  They’re all good people.

Vanessa Marshall –   So that we’re not even thinking in terms of gender or Class. So while they are strong, female characters, it’s also kinda cool that there’s this different element that even transcends those distinctions.

Tiya Sircar – And not to get too, you know, well, social commentary on you, but — you know, there are, in my own personal opinion, there are so many female personalities that  well, for better or worse, you know, they may be famous not for a specific skill or talent but just famous for the sake of being famous.  And maybe not for the right reasons — if you know what I mean. Which I think you do — because you’re all nodding.

Tiya Sircar – So, it’s such an honor you know, and it makes me cringe, I don’t have kids, but it makes me cringe to think like all little girls are like this is what they have to look up to and to aspire to be, and it’s worrisome for me.  So, to me, it’s such an honor to get to play this female character who, you know, Sabine’s a teenager and yet she is so intelligent and not even concerned about the superficial stuff whatsoever.

Vanessa Marshall –  Right.

Tiya Sircar – She’s never taken a selfie in her life, you know.

Vanessa Marshall –  Exactly.

Tiya Sircar – If she knew what that was, she wouldn’t be interested.  So I think it’s amazing to get to play these two smart women.  They are right there alongside the guys, beating up the bad guys. You know, I hope that young girls and young boys, I mean can aspire to be like these characters, because they’re fighting for the greater good. They’re doing the right thing and they’re just like really smart and savvy about it while they are doing it.

Vanessa Marshall – Definitely.

Tiya Sircar –  maybe they might replace some, some other stereotypes out there.

I hope they do Tiya. I hope they do. Some of those stereotypes definitely need to be replaced and who better to do it then amazing Star Wars characters?

I love how nurturing Hera is to the rest of the crew and you can see it has been her and Kanan from the start from the way she doesn’t take anything from him. She calls him out on his moping and his ‘gotta be strong’ act. I like characters that do that and I dont know but I bet that Vanessa Marshall is like that in real life. She seems like a person who would be the calm friend. The person who you call at 3 am.

When I saw the screening, I was able to do some fun events including being taken captive by the rebellion. What choice did I have but to join them? I want my own cool outfit though.  They all have really nifty suits. We got to ask about their outfits and someone mentioned how Sabine is the only one who wears a helmet. She asked what the significance of that was.

Question: I love Sabine’s character, because she’s very multidimensional.  Like she’s out there shooting and fighting with them, but then she’ll like be gone over doing some technical stuff, like shutting down the field and all of that stuff.  One thing I notice about her character, she’s the only one that wears a cover over a face. Do you know if there’s a significance to that?

Tiya Sircar – Well, she’s Mandalorian, so that’s like Mandalorian armor, the full thing.  The only difference is that, I think she’s probably the only Mandalorian that has armor that’s been graffitied.

Vanessa Marshall –  Mm-hmm. Hot Pink.

Tiya Sircar – She designs her own.  Yeah she actually like sort of, embellishes her armor, but, the significance of the helmet is that she’s a Mandalorian and that’s full Mandalorian, like, warrior armor.

I think she looks awesome in her armor. Each character brings their own background, own bias, to the table and I love how well rounded each of them are. If you have not seen the show yet it should be on your list.  They both told us that their favorite character was Leia because of course. I laughed so much that Vanessa said Chewie.

Vanessa Marshall – Well, you know we both love Princess Leia, because she’s a strong female character, but I also don’t wanna forget Ahsoka from the Clone Wars.

Tiya Sircar – And I have a soft spot for Han Solo, but who doesn’t?

Tiya Sircar – But as inspiration, Leia.

Vanessa Marshall – You know, it’s hard to choose. I sort of believe that I love Chewie, but I think that’s born on the fact that it was my first action figure that I got. But, you know, in terms of things that have really touched my heart, I would say Leia.

I just wanted to share this tweet with y’all because you know, it really was the best comment ever.

Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion is like #StarWars & #Firefly had an animated baby. Best comment ever #StarWarsRebels #DisneyInHomeEvent

— Generations of Savin (@genofsavings) September 28, 2014

 

Star Wars Rebels, the series premieres 10/13 on Disney XD at 9PM EST/PST. You can also purchase it everywhere on DVD starting Oct. 14, 2014 (it is available today on Walmart)