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Star Wars Rebels Speculation: Will Sicemon Be The Rebels Home Planet?

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George Lucas was a hoarder, he never threw out a good idea. One of the striking things is how often concept art was recycled and influenced future designs in Star Wars. After seeing the Star Wars Rebels concept art from Celebration Europe II and reading the recently released book by J.W. Rinzler, The Making of Return of the Jedi, I wonder if a planet that was originally conceptualized for Revenge of the Jed i will finally be realized on the small screen in Rebels.

Sicemon appears in the February 24, 1981 rough draft for Revenge of the Jedi; it is a grassy planet that figures into the plot of the rough draft, but much like Had Abbadon which is also mentioned in the rough draft it would not make the final cut.

On page 23 of The Making of Return of the Jedi, Rinzler summarizes the following part of the rough draft script which may be the first mention of the system containing Sicemon.

“At the Hutt spaceport, the Falcon blasts off, but is seen by Imperial stormtroopers. Han says, ‘Boy, it’s great to be behind these controls again.’ Luke tells him, ‘Alright, hot shot, head this bucket toward the SICE system.’ They make the jump to hyperspace.”

Later on page 24 Rinzler describes how the Falcon lances on SICEMON on a vast grass plane where, “In the distance, giant flying whales glide around the city.” It is on Sicemon that Han and Luke meet with General Madine to plan a mission and it is here that Luke finshes his training by constructing his own lightsaber.

What makes me curious about Sicemon in particular is the concept art that is included in The Making of Return of the Jedi and how closely it resembles one of the high-resolution concept art images released for Rebels.

The concept art of Sicemon also features vehicles transported by gigantic flying creatures. These giant creatures made me think of the Neebray of the Kaliida Nebula that appeared in The Clone Wars Season One, Episode Three “Shadow of Malevolence.”

Could Sicemon serve as the home planet of the hero characters in Rebels? The tan/brown coloration of the planets grassy plains and mounds could certainly be a match for the planet that we saw from space in the Rebels teaser trailer.

It is very easy for the imagination to run wild, for example;

Sicemon a remote planet in the Sice system is not a major player in the Clone Wars because it’s lack of strategic importance, but it soon becomes just another planet for the still young Empire to bring under it’s subjugation. While establishing Imperial dominance an accident occurs, a TIE fighter crashes while on patrol and local youths are blamed for causing the accident. Falsely accused the youths soon realize that any hope for a fair trial is wasted and seek to escape. Sneaking onto and stealing a ship in the local spaceport, they fleeing from the small Imperial fleet in orbit. As wanted criminals of the Empire our young heroes have no choice but to stay moving aboard the Ghost and seek to bring about the destruction of the corrupt Empire that has forced them from their homes, their families and their friends.

What do you think?

Concept art for Rebels released at Celebration Europe II

From page 27 of The Making of Return of the Jedi

From page 17 in The Making of Return of the Jedi. “Concept art by Johnston of the rebel base, or perhaps Jabba’s palace, now located on a grass planet (or possibly a grassy plain on Tatooine), which would be called Sicemon, late 1980. That is, ideas and places at this point in Lucas’s creative process sometimes collided.”

From page 26 of The Making of Return of the Jedi. “Concept artwork (detail) of a Sicemon taxi by McQuarrie, circa fall 1980.”

Page 27 of The Making of Return of the Jedi. “BELOW LEFT: Concept artwork of ‘flying taxis’ on the planet Sicemon, by Nilo Rodis-Jamero, early 1981; other concepts featured whale-like transports, while this one opts for turtle-like.”
“INSETS: Johnston concepts of fling bird-like taxis (in one, the droids are on the ground with Chewie and Luke, who waves, perhaps to Han aboard the taxi), early 1981.”