While I was in Los Angeles last week, I had the chance to visit the Disney Channel building and get a sneak peek at the first episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. I was geeking out for my entire family because we are all Star Wars fans {even my 3 year old twins!} but I knew my 8 year old son would be the most excited. He loves anything that has to do with LEGO and Star Wars so this would soon be his favorite show.
Set between the events of “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi,” the action comedy series follows the Freemakers, a family of sibling scavengers who operate a salvage and repair shop in space. The series will also feature familiar characters and locations from the filmed Star Wars saga.
I sat down to watch the first episode and was instantly lost in this familiar world. I loved meeting a new family and of course, I enjoyed the LEGO humor. I knew that this was going to be a show that we could sit down as a family to watch and enjoy!
We had the chance to also interview Bill Motz and Bob Roth, the creators of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. It was such a fun chat and I’m excited to share some fun facts about the show with you!
LEGO STAR WARS – THE FREEMAKER ADVENTURES – Press day. (Disney XD/Todd Wawrychuk)BILL MOTZ, BOB ROTH
- Bill Motz and Bob Roth weren’t able to talk about the show they were creating for over a year!
- There are 2 LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures available now! You’ll be able to choose from the Star Scavenger or the Eclipse.
- Creator Bob Roth remembers seeing the original Star Wars in theaters in 1977 as a seven year old and coming out of the theater knowing what he wanted to do when he grew up.
“I remember in 1977 when my brother came home and said we’re going to the movies tonight. I’m playing outside and didn’t want to go to a movie. No, no, we’ve got to go. There’s a movie, it’s better than Star Trek. Which I was like, nothing’s better than Star Trek.”
“He said no, no, trust me. We’re going to go. And then the TV happened to be on and a a trailer on. I remembered seeing the trailer. Okay, this actually maybe is better than Star Trek. We went and it was a magical memory. I walked in there, seven years old not knowing what I wanted to do with my life. What seven-year-old does, right? That’s not a problem but I walked out of there going, oh I totally know what I want to do with my life. I want to give other kids the viewing I had right now.
It’s just huge joy bursting out of me. And I did. I had my brother to thank for that. And you know the beauty of it is, is that my brother is not with us anymore. And I always will have the memory of that night. He gave me Star Wars.”
- Fear was the biggest challenge in making this show. Bob and Bill were working on another show and decided to leave the show to create LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures.
“To be honest with you, it was intimidating because this is a partnership between Lucasfilm and LEGO and the Disney Corporation. We were just like, that is overwhelming you know. We’ve worked for Disney before and there’s stuff that we just knew.
We thought what if we screw it up? And you know, what if we make this thing that’s not good? And look, I hope we entertain families and fans but I don’t want to let us down. And so we honestly, it was just really kind of moment where we were like, do we want it?”
- The animation for the show are done in Denmark. Bob and Bill do a lot of Skype calls with the studio there and act out scenes.
- The first season and beyond is planned out for LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures.
- They want the main message of the show for kids to be that “You can face things that you think are overwhelming, things about yourself, about your circumstance and you can get through it. And you can be a hero even to yourself and you can just get through it. life is hard but you can face it and get through it”.
- Bob has kids that are 12 and 14 while Bill has kids that are 18, 21 and 24. All of the kids have definitely had an input on the show! Rowan is based on Bob’s 12 year old son and Zander is based on his 14 year old son.
- You’ll notice that Rowan has a lot of characteristics of a kid that has ADHD and Bob shared that his son was diagnosed with it. He liked the idea of the hero of the show being a kid that had ADHD.
- Bill and Bob want you to walk away feeling that “It’s fun. You know what I mean? We struggle all the time with a lot of serious heavy things. Every episode, even our darkest episodes are fun. They’re fun and funny and you know there’s joy in all of them.”
LEGO STAR WARS – THE FREEMAKER ADVENTURES – Press day. (Disney XD/Todd Wawrychuk)BILL MOTZ, NICOLAS CANTU, BOB ROTH
I so enjoyed chatting with both Bob and Bill and I immediately had to share with my friends and family my thoughts about LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. Here’s what I shared over on Facebook.
I loved watching the first episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures for so many reasons (LEGO! Star Wars! Disney!) but when I saw Rowan, the 12 year old main character, I couldn’t believe how much Hayden was like him. I mean, the mannerisms, the jumping from one task to the next, his brother and sister having to repeat themselves and so much more. After the screening, one of the producers shared that Rowan was inspired by his son who has ADHD. Ah, YUP! Hayden received his diagnosis last year and that is exactly how he is. The producer shared that he wanted to create a character that had ADHD and was the hero of the show. As a parent and as a Star Wars fan, I LOVE that kids like my son might see themselves in Rowan and not feel like they are left out, behind or like something is wrong with them! LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures is definitely a must-watch show!
LEGO STAR WARS – THE FREEMAKER ADVENTURES – Press day. (Disney XD/Todd Wawrychuk)NICOLAS CANTU, BILL MOTZ, BOB ROTH
LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures premieres Monday, June 20 at 10:00 a.m., ET/PT on Disney XD!
Disclosure: Disney provided an all expenses paid trip to Los Angeles including travel, accommodations and activities. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’d love to talk to artists like these especially since I love Legos.