Wookiee Radio 12: Detours With Jenn Hill & Todd Grimes

On this episode of Wookiee Radio, we welcomed guests Jenn Hill, and Todd Grimes who are the producer and director of the cancelled Star Wars television show Detours, as well as a documentary called Rogue 39 about the making of the Detours show.  We start off the discussion by asking the pair where the idea for the show originated, and what the premise of the show was to be.  Jenn and Todd explained that Detours was meant to be a show that would explore the back stories of the various characters, both main and background characters, in a comedic fashion.

We talked with Jenn and Todd about how they got involved in the Detours show, and then delved a bit into the story of how the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney ended up being the death of the show.  We interrogated Jenn and Todd about how much they knew about the sale beforehand, how long it took after the sale for Detours to become a casualty, and how they felt during the transition to Disney.

We then move on to discuss the documentary Rogue 39 that Jenn and Todd made about the making of Detours, and talk a bit about the production of the show.  Jenn and Todd tell us how much of the show was scripted versus how much was ad libbed, talk about the show being more story driven than just simple skits, and describe what the recording process was like with the actors on the show.

Next, we talk about how much help the duo received from Dave Feloni, and how much free reign they had on the show versus how many limitations they faced.  We ask Jenn and Todd about some of their favorite characters, and talk about the reasons behind Jenn and Todd’s decision to make a documentary.

We then move on to talk about the reactions that Star Wars fans had to the show, as well as any confrontations Jenn and Todd may have experienced with some less than enthusiastic fans.  After that, the conversation moves on to some of the rare Detours swag that has been produced, some of Jenn and Todd’s favorite moments while making the show, and the current projects that they are both working on.

We finish off the episode with Jenn and Todd telling us that there is still some slight hope that Detours will some day see the light of day, and that they don’t have any bitter feelings about the fate of the show.