Had a look, had a search, and I was frankly shocked and discombobulated that there was no sign of an existing thread. For shame.
Anyways, on with the show.
For those unaware, Star Wars Rebels is an animated series which airs on Disney XD, and is initially set five years before The Battle of Yavin. It's also officially canon. As canon as a large gun mounted on a tank but spelt incorrectly.
And do you know? It's pretty damned superb.
It follows the exploits of a small Rebel cell, the crew of The Ghost; Hera Syndulla (daughter to Cham Syndulla, first met in Season 1 of Clone Wars), Kanan Jarus (Jedi), Garazeb 'Zeb' Orelius (bit of a goon, Lasat), Ezra Bridge (Padawan to Kanan), Sabine Wren (actual Mandalorian, former Empire Cadet, all round bad-bottom) and C-1OP (aka Chopper, aka the besterest Astromech ever).
So far, we're just over the half way point with Season 3 - and we've seen some cameos in Rogue One.
Story wise, it mostly charts how the Rebellion operated pre-Yavin, and it's starting to weave old EU characters into the new canon, as well as bringing back some old favourites (replete with the voice acting skills of their actual actors. So when Lando turns up, it's the still-bafflingly-charming Billy Dee Williams, and Season 3 sees Grand Admiral Thrawn. Yep. That Grand Admiral Thrawn).
For those who haven't indulged yet, off you pop. You can get it pretty cheaply on DVD, and through iTunes as well. Go on. Quickly now.
The show had a slow start - certainly wasn't as good coming straight off from the Clone Wars. But after a couple of episodes, it really got going, and continues to impress me
Spoiler:
I saw the new episodes last night. Having not seen Rogue One yet, I can't really comment on how Saw Guerrera stands up in this, although compared to his actions in the Clone Wars, he seems pretty spot on.
Really though, I'm more interested in this knowledge of the outcome between Vader and Tano that Rebels has teased, as well as the soon to be duel between Kenobi and Maul. Now that should be a finale!
When it finally ends up on Netflix (which will be never probably) I'll be able to watch it. But until then, I'll just have to hear about the episodes second hand.
I wouldn't mind owning them, but TV shows are not cheap these days, nor are they often complete
Yeah, definitely worth buying, series 1 is good, series 2 escalates to fantastic and the current series is approaching mind-blowing.
Spoiler:
I cannot wait for the final showdown between Maul and Kenobi, that's been overdue for quite some time. I do hope though that it's strictly those two, there's too much history there for Kanan and Ezra to be getting involved as well without cheapening it.
And as for Thrawn, damn, he's killing it! It's great to have a villain in Star Wars that isn't just swinging lightsabers around, and Lars Mikkelsen's voice work is chilling. Really hope he doesn't get killed off at the end of this series like the Grand Inquisitor was in S1, he's too damn good.
Looking forward to a better look at post-Clone Wars Mandalore coming up, should be interesting to see how it's changed over the years, and bonus points if Sabine gets to actually do something meaningful! )
Saw Gerrera was great, seeing him go from Clone Wars to R1 was good enough but filling in the gap with Rebels is even better. I like that they're laying the groundwork for other Rebels cells as well, there were some pretty impressive fleets in the last trailer so hopefully this series will see it them come together as a proper Rebel Alliance in time for an epic space battle...
I cannot wait for the final showdown between Maul and Kenobi, that's been overdue for quite some time. I do hope though that it's strictly those two, there's too much history there for Kanan and Ezra to be getting involved as well without cheapening it.
And as for Thrawn, damn, he's killing it! It's great to have a villain in Star Wars that isn't just swinging lightsabers around, and Lars Mikkelsen's voice work is chilling. Really hope he doesn't get killed off at the end of this series like the Grand Inquisitor was in S1, he's too damn good.
Looking forward to a better look at post-Clone Wars Mandalore coming up, should be interesting to see how it's changed over the years, and bonus points if Sabine gets to actually do something meaningful! )
Saw Gerrera was great, seeing him go from Clone Wars to R1 was good enough but filling in the gap with Rebels is even better. I like that they're laying the groundwork for other Rebels cells as well, there were some pretty impressive fleets in the last trailer so hopefully this series will see it them come together as a proper Rebel Alliance in time for an epic space battle...
Spoiler:
I think it will just be those two facing off, judging by the fact that the background looks completely empty and in the middle of nowhere (Tatooine?) - Maul would have hunted Kenobi down personally, without anyone following him to interfere. That's my theory anyway.
Also, Thrawn is meant to survive the fall of the Empire after Episode VI if I am not mistaken, as he leads the Empire's remnants against the New Republic, so don't worry about him dying
Even so, killing him seems like such a waste, both in terms of character potential and the fact that the aftermath of the events in Return of the Jedi will have to be rewritten
But you're right - anything could happen at this point
It's really good, but definitely started slow. There are a number of good episodes in the first season, but the first season finale is where the show really found its footing and became legitimately good, IMO.
Is this the cartoon that had a blind jedi dude leading some kid in a cave full of spiders to get something and it turned out the spiders weren't bad or something?
Haven't they already re-written a lot of Post-Jedi stuff in various novels that have been coming out since TFA? Pretty sure one of the recent ones detailed how the remnants of the Empire starting becoming the First Order, but I've not read it so I might be wrong.
Spoiler:
Leaving him alive and active when the show wraps up does kind of cause the problem of wondering where he is while the rest of the Imperial leadership are incompetently handling Scarif/Yavin/Hoth/Endor ect.
There are a few ways he could be written out without literally killing him, but one way or another I reckon he'll be gone next series if not this one, which is a real shame but probably considered 'necessary' just to keep the canon straight.
Frazzled wrote:Is this the cartoon that had a blind jedi dude leading some kid in a cave full of spiders to get something and it turned out the spiders weren't bad or something?
That's the one!
Paradigm wrote:Haven't they already re-written a lot of Post-Jedi stuff in various novels that have been coming out since TFA? Pretty sure one of the recent ones detailed how the remnants of the Empire starting becoming the First Order, but I've not read it so I might be wrong.
Spoiler:
Leaving him alive and active when the show wraps up does kind of cause the problem of wondering where he is while the rest of the Imperial leadership are incompetently handling Scarif/Yavin/Hoth/Endor ect.
There are a few ways he could be written out without literally killing him, but one way or another I reckon he'll be gone next series if not this one, which is a real shame but probably considered 'necessary' just to keep the canon straight.
Spoiler:
I believe Thrawn was fighting in the Battle of Endor, but like you said, a lot of the stuff has been rewritten, so I have no idea at this point. I'm sure they'll find some way to keep him relevant, since I think they know that he's not the kind of character you'd give up on easily; he doesn't have a single bad scene in the show, and the execution of his character is simply fantastic. He might even replace Vader as Star Wars' best villain at this point
I really like Rebels having originally caught it by accident while watch tv on holiday. Season one was mixed but season two rocketed alone, not caught up with season three yet.
Never bothered with Clone Wars, is it worth catching up with?
Clone Wars has some great stuff, some bits you can take or leave depending on how much of a Star Wars fan you are and some that's just crap, the good thing is that unlike Rebels it's a series of multi-episode stories rather than one serial one, so you can easily work through the best bits rather than watch all hundred-and-something episodes. There's a lot of call backs to CW in Rebels, so it's worth watching for that alone (if you think Rex is cool now, he's even cooler in his Clone Wars prime!)
Here's what I'd call the essentials:
Spoiler:
Series 1: Rookies
The Hidden Enemy
Hostage Crisis
Series 2 Holocron Heist/Cargo of Doom/Children of the Force
Landing at Point Rain (Read- The D-Day episode of Band of Brothers, but with Clones)
Grievous Intrigue/The Deserter
The Mandalore Plot/Voyage of Temptation/Duchess of Mandalore
Bounty Hunters (Star Wars Does The Magnificent Seven)
Series 3: Clone Cadets/ARC Troopers
The Citadel/Counter Attack/Citadel Rescue
Series 4 Darkness on Umbara/The General/Plan of Dissent/Carnage of Krell (the best thing ever to come out of the Prequel era, utterly brilliant storyline)
Kidnapped/Slaves of the Republic/Escape from Kadavo
Brothers/Revenge
Series 5 Revival/Eminence/Shades of Reason/The Lawless (Darth Maul and Obi-wan at their very best, the reason why their showdown in Rebels is going to be so awesome)
Sabotage/The Jedi Who Knew Too Much/To Catch a Jedi/The Wrong Jedi (Ashoka's best CW arc)
Yeah, Clone Wars actually had ANAKIN, not a poorly directed actor playing Anakin. If anything, the Prequels should have been this:
Ep1 - The Sage begins - basically Phantom Menace & Attack of the Clones rolled into the same movie and cut out all the crappy parts. Meet Anakin at around 12-13 yrs old, stuff happens, Clone Wars begin. The overall story should center around Obi-wan.
Ep2 - The Clone Wars. nuff said
Ep3 - Revenge of the Sith. The Clone wars end. If you fixed the stuff prior to this, then RotS really doesn't need much change.
Basic point here is that the best part of the Prequel era is the actual Clone Wars I really wish it were easy to see Rebels if you guys are saying it is even better.
Side note: most of the "Rey's parents" theories come from the Clone Wars/Rebels shows. My favorite is the one in which Obi-wan has a child 9that he doesn't know about) with Satine of Mandalore who turns out to be Sabine from Rebels. Post Return of the Jedi, Obi-wans ghost tells Luke to find his long-lost daughter. Luke does, and they fail in love and have Rey.
So Rey can be the daughter of Luke, granddaughter of Obi-wan AND inherit the title of Mandalore. Seriously this needs to happen, but is probably too much to ask.
In general, I agree with how the prequels needed to be paced. There's a lot of execution problems with the prequels, but the core structural issue is that the Phantom Menace doesn't end with the newly elected Supreme Chancellor coming in to chase off the Separatists from Naboo with the Clone Army.
Frazzled wrote: Clone Wars had Anakin Skywalker. This alone makes it cause spontaneous bouts of diarrhea and involuntary eyegouging.
It literally, absolutely literally could not be good. Literally.
He has a great and convincing voice actor, as well as convincing dialogue and actions, so much so that you can see elements of Vader in him. Forget the prequel films - The Clone Wars has a proper Anakin Skywalker in it
Galef wrote: When it finally ends up on Netflix (which will be never probably) I'll be able to watch it. But until then, I'll just have to hear about the episodes second hand.
I wouldn't mind owning them, but TV shows are not cheap these days, nor are they often complete
It might be there eventually as Netflix has a deal with Disney for its animated pictures and Marvel movies. This could eventually expand to include Star Wars.
Frazzled wrote: Clone Wars had Anakin Skywalker. This alone makes it cause spontaneous bouts of diarrhea and involuntary eyegouging.
It literally, absolutely literally could not be good. Literally.
He has a great and convincing voice actor, as well as convincing dialogue and actions, so much so that you can see elements of Vader in him. Forget the prequel films - The Clone Wars has a proper Anakin Skywalker in it
See I actually thought that one of the series' worst problems was Anakin. He's as annoying in Clone Wars as he was in the prequels and he was almost always a drag on episodes. The best Clone Wars episodes were often the ones that barely had him at all and instead focused on the Clones, Obi-Wan, or even Ashoka who ended up being a decent and enjoyable character by the time she left the series (and he was great in her time on Rebels).
Paradigm wrote: Clone Wars has some great stuff, some bits you can take or leave depending on how much of a Star Wars fan you are and some that's just crap, the good thing is that unlike Rebels it's a series of multi-episode stories rather than one serial one, so you can easily work through the best bits rather than watch all hundred-and-something episodes. There's a lot of call backs to CW in Rebels, so it's worth watching for that alone (if you think Rex is cool now, he's even cooler in his Clone Wars prime!)
Here's what I'd call the essentials:
Spoiler:
Series 1: Rookies The Hidden Enemy Hostage Crisis
Series 2 Holocron Heist/Cargo of Doom/Children of the Force Landing at Point Rain (Read- The D-Day episode of Band of Brothers, but with Clones) Grievous Intrigue/The Deserter The Mandalore Plot/Voyage of Temptation/Duchess of Mandalore Bounty Hunters (Star Wars Does The Magnificent Seven)
Series 3: Clone Cadets/ARC Troopers The Citadel/Counter Attack/Citadel Rescue
Series 4 Darkness on Umbara/The General/Plan of Dissent/Carnage of Krell (the best thing ever to come out of the Prequel era, utterly brilliant storyline) Kidnapped/Slaves of the Republic/Escape from Kadavo Brothers/Revenge
Series 5 Revival/Eminence/Shades of Reason/The Lawless (Darth Maul and Obi-wan at their very best, the reason why their showdown in Rebels is going to be so awesome) Sabotage/The Jedi Who Knew Too Much/To Catch a Jedi/The Wrong Jedi (Ashoka's best CW arc)
To add to this if you have access to Netflix or are able to find them elsewhere, Give the following episodes from Series 6: The Lost Episodes a watch: - The Unknown/Conspiracy/Fugitive/Orders -The Lost One/Voices/Destiny/Sacrifice
The other 2 arcs in the season (An Old Friend/The Rise of Clovis/Crisis at the Heart and The Disappeared Part I & II) are ok, however the former focuses on Padme, space politics & espionage and banking and the later is focused heavily on Jar Jar. Admittedly it's probably the best of the Jar Jar arcs (probably because Mace Windu get's about half the limelight too and is a badass) but that isn't saying much.
However the other 2 arcs (especially the first one) are must-watches. If you're watching or planning on watching Rebels I'd definitely recommend watching the The Unknown/Conspiracy/Fugitive/Orders arc at the very least.
Yeah, I can't say enough good things about Rebels. They're willing to do terrible things to their mains, have their mains do terrible things to others through pique or fits of temper, and generally just do a wonderful job portraying their characters. Many moments are simply jaw dropping, generally involving Kanan.
In general, their treatment of post-Jedi force users is nuanced and subtle- I really hope that episode 8 takes some of its cues from them. You really start to see ask what the difference is between good in the eyes of the Jedi and truly good actions- which is always a great thing.
Side note: most of the "Rey's parents" theories come from the Clone Wars/Rebels shows. My favorite is the one in which Obi-wan has a child 9that he doesn't know about) with Satine of Mandalore who turns out to be Sabine from Rebels.
It's been very soundly confirmed by the story group that Sabine is not the daughter of Satine (it's just coincidence that their names sound similar). Her mother shows up in a couple of episodes' time, when Sabine returns to Mandalore WITH the darksaber - she is not Satine, because Satine is very clearly still dead (see clone wars for this arc) and her mother is clearly NOT a pacifist.
and the fanboy snoke theories also blow ... (Pablo Hidalgo has a coffee mug that says "and your snoke theory sucks, too").
There's callbacks to TCW in Rebels (certain events are mentioned) and even more so with Saw in the season return.
Elements of the old EU have been put into the new lucasfilm canon (no more G, A, B, C, elephant, Moose, dishwasher canon of old where ONLY "G" canon counted. There is only ONE canon, going forward, and all of the new stuff counts.). The Interdictor cruisers from the old West End rpg, the B-wing origin from that rpg as well (certain details changed, but it WAS still built on Shantipole by a mon calamari engineer - not Ackbar, but I believe he WILL be placed in charge of the rebels B-wing program now they have them). Hell, there's so much taken from the old concept art by Ralph McQuarrie and Joe Johnston - let alone old action figure toys ...
The best thing about Rebels is very little Anakin. He might have been less annoying in TCW than he was in the movies, but the character is still a prat - and one prone to bouts of domestic abuse (TCW season 6, Clovis arc).
Maul is even voiced by the same actor from TCW - Sam Witwer, who also did the voice for Starkiller in the Force unleashed games. Clancy Brown also turns up here and there in the series (not voicing Savage, Maul's brother, but another character, the former governor of Lothal).
It's been very soundly confirmed by the story group that Sabine is not the daughter of Satine (it's just coincidence that their names sound similar).
Her mother shows up in a couple of episodes' time, when Sabine returns to Mandalore WITH the darksaber - she is not Satine, because Satine is very clearly still dead (see clone wars for this arc) and her mother is clearly NOT a pacifist.
I've always assumed Sabine would be revealed to be Bo-Katan's daughter (which would actually explain why her name sounds so much like Satine's)
I tried with Rebels but it was just painful to watch. I really disliked the animation style, it's very lacking compared to Clone Wars. Ezra looks like some sort of reject bin Muppet and their design on the Wookies was beyond awful.
Silly question, but do you know which season you tried?
As others haven't unfairly noted the first season was a little bit hit and miss, but definitely ended strongly.
If you're up for giving it another spin, see if you can lay your hands on the DVD or BluRay and have yourself a binge.
Like a lot of modern telly, I find the narrative flows best when binge watched.
Now....Clone Wars and Anakin.... I feel that series did the right job of showing his descent. He wobbles from confident, to outright arrogance - and there's hints that due to the chaos of the Clone Wars (which ultimately corrupted the Jedi Order, hence when Palpatine seized power people actually believed his schtick) he was never properly trained, and there wasn't time to calm him down with meditation or whatever to help re-centre himself.
And it has moments of serious brutality you wouldn't expect from a kid's show (Anakin igniting his lightsaber through a hostage's chest, for instance)
Honestly, I really like Anakin in Clone Wars, especially his dynamic with Obi-wan and how that developed. When Obi-wan says 'You were my brother, Anakin' on Mustafar, it means nothing going by the films because aside from the first 10 minutes of ROTS you never see any evidence of that comradeship or bond, they just tell is it's there. But throw in a few series of Clone Wars and you can see what he means, they really are friends and brothers by the end of it, and trust each other completely.
Likewise, at times in CW you get to see Anakin as the real hero we're told he can be, and particularly in some of his scenes with Ashoka you get the feeling that he genuinely is on the path to becoming an older, wiser Jedi worthy of the role of Master. It makes the betrayal in ROTS actually mean something and become tragic, which the films spectacularly fail to do. You can see the path he's on already as well, while in ROTS it's just 'bam, you're angry so you're a Sith now'.
I've long said the main issue with the prequels is that, quality aside, they wasted too much time on Episode 1, leaving far too much to be compressed into Episode 3.
Clone Wars if not outright rectifies that, it certainly mitigates it pretty well.
You also get a much better sense of just how much work Palpatine put into his plans. I mean.....wow. Machiavellian doesn't even scratch it.
And when he has that showdown with Maul? Just superb!
I like Rebels far more than Clone wars as Rebels is a lot darker and there are less 'kiddy' moments and it isn't dragging its feet as much. My only major complaint about Rebels is that Ashoka SHOULD have died but instead is now living as a shape shifting space owl...thing. Who died and made her the Sorceress from MOTU?
First season, I tried to endure the first 3-4 episodes but it was really bad. I know that Clone Wars took a bit to warm up a bit both with the writing and animation, but I could at least sit through the early episodes and it had some redeeming qualities, with Rebels I didn't find anything enjoyable in the slightest. Whoever did the character design and visual direction for the show needs a serious beating.
I love just about everything Star Wars and it should't take effort for me to enjoy something in that setting, Battle for Endor was pretty bad... but Rebels is one of the two great disappointments of my fandom, eclipsed only by the Star Wars Christmas Special and that's some serious gak.
Side note: most of the "Rey's parents" theories come from the Clone Wars/Rebels shows. My favorite is the one in which Obi-wan has a child 9that he doesn't know about) with Satine of Mandalore who turns out to be Sabine from Rebels.
It's been very soundly confirmed by the story group that Sabine is not the daughter of Satine (it's just coincidence that their names sound similar). Her mother shows up in a couple of episodes' time, when Sabine returns to Mandalore WITH the darksaber - she is not Satine, because Satine is very clearly still dead (see clone wars for this arc) and her mother is clearly NOT a pacifist.
Yeah, because Luke always knew his father was Darth Vader. Just sayin' It is entirely possible that Satine gave up her daughter because A) she couldn't tell Obi-wan about her & B) she needed to focus on her political stuff So Sabine's "mother" we see in Rebels may not really be her actual mother, just the woman who raised her.
But I grant you, Sabine is the weakest part of the theory. And she really doesn't look like Rey, or rather Rey doesn't look genetically related to Sabine, nor does Sabine look related to either Satine or Obi-wan (brown eyes and dark complexion) but that could easily be because of the animation style. It would still be cool if Rey was somehow connected to both Obi-wan & Luke, and not just another "chosen one"
Back onto Rebels, I am wondering if we actually will get a final showdown between Obi-wan & Maul, or if time has changed Maul. I am not sure how I feel about the 2 of them just sitting by the fire chatting.
So, some things. Ok, so, the initial season. Well, yeah, it starts off really pretty darned poor, including typical 80's cartoons comic relief bumbling villains. However, relatively quickly, the show figures out what it wants to be and those bumbling comic relief villains are... How we shall we say? Resolved as a problem. Permanently.
From there, it gets better and better. And it makes me very happy in a lot of ways that they're bringing back a revised and refined EU into canon. Whether it's THRAWN or even Malachor from Knights of the Old Republic 2.
I cheered a little bit when I saw the TIE Defender pop up. If they introduce Captain Pallaeon and Admiral Zaarin, I'll be very happy. - It'd also be a way to exit the series for Thrawn. Zaarin makes a break for it (helped by the rebels) with the TIE Defenders, and Thrawn leaves to track Zaarin down.
Oh, and Kyle Katarn and Jan Ors...
And Mara Jade. And Talon Karrde. And Coran Horn.
Ok, I think that's me... Bring all that into canon and the rest of the EU can go hang.
Maul is even voiced by the same actor from TCW - Sam Witwer, who also did the voice for Starkiller in the Force unleashed games.
Clancy Brown also turns up here and there in the series (not voicing Savage, Maul's brother, but another character, the former governor of Lothal).
Damn, really, ol'Pruneface voices Maul? Turns out when he's not doing that single screwed-up-face expression he calls acting and sticks to voice work he has some actual range
Paradigm wrote: Honestly, I really like Anakin in Clone Wars, especially his dynamic with Obi-wan and how that developed. When Obi-wan says 'You were my brother, Anakin' on Mustafar, it means nothing going by the films because aside from the first 10 minutes of ROTS you never see any evidence of that comradeship or bond, they just tell is it's there. But throw in a few series of Clone Wars and you can see what he means, they really are friends and brothers by the end of it, and trust each other completely.
Likewise, at times in CW you get to see Anakin as the real hero we're told he can be, and particularly in some of his scenes with Ashoka you get the feeling that he genuinely is on the path to becoming an older, wiser Jedi worthy of the role of Master. It makes the betrayal in ROTS actually mean something and become tragic, which the films spectacularly fail to do. You can see the path he's on already as well, while in ROTS it's just 'bam, you're angry so you're a Sith now'.
Agreed. His interactions with his Clone battalion and Rex in particular also help flesh Anakin out into something resembling an actual human character with a mix of positives and flaws(or positives which can become flaws in the right circumstances).
Rebels is pretty decent. To be honest I wish it focused a little more on the actual rebels and their rebellion, but then Disney couldn't sell spinning-double-bladed lightsaber toys, and I suppose the standard "whiny teen wrestles with selfishness then becomes a better person" narrative that all kid/family show protagonists have to go through does make more sense in the context of a pseudo-Padawan wrestling with the Dark Side than it would for a non-Force user(or at least, it can be covered in a way that isn't quite so grim, since when you think about it without the Force angle Rebels would be a story about mentor figures using child soldiers to conduct terror attacks ).
Fwiw, Season 2 and early Season 3 bring in the wider Rebellion rather significantly. Season 1 is really the only one that makes the series feel like some silly 1 ship vs the Empire thing.
Yup, and as shown by the B-wing, Bail/Leia and the Hammerheads and the Wedge/Hobbie defection stories, they aren't afraid to take what was EU stuff and modify it to fit the new story.
Season 3 isn't too bad. Thrawn isn't much to speak of to start with (the EU one people remember is 30+ years older, after the Empire has fallen. This one is newly promoted to Grand Admiral, and the Empire is still at its peak.). He's yet to show what a "masterful" tactician he is, although there have been clues that he IS playing "the long game".
When he was introduced, though, they did include a nice callback to the old EU Thrawn. There was a shot of him standing in front of an artwork, with lizard creatures in it - and the composition of the shot made it look like the lizards were sitting on his shoulders (the way his Ysalamiri did in those books). That was about the only callback to that version of the character.
The actor who voices him (Lars Mikkelson) is the brother of Mads Mikkelson who played Galen Erso in R1.
I wasn't really into it at the start as it did feel a bit too sugar coated and kid friendly but as it's progressed I've really started to enjoy it. It's really begun to come into it's own.
I've been trying to watch Rebels for ages. This has probably been answered before but is it worth watching? And is the Lucas level of sugar coating kept to a minimum?
Definitely worth giving a go, it's very much in the spirit of the original trilogy aesthetically and thematically, the writing is consistently good and the cast are all cool characters. Animation is very slick, especially from series 2 onwards, and if you ever watched Clone Wars there's plenty of continuing arcs and characters from that.
If you can't get on with the start of the first series, skip ahead to around episode 6, it really picks up from there onwards and by series 2 has really hit its stride.
Those stupid inquisitor lightsabers. I thought it was great to see someone using a regular lightsaber but with a different style of combat, more akin to fencing. It was a dynamic way of differentiating a character without resorting to a lightsaber gimmick, and then they gave them to worst gimmick I've ever seen in Star Wars.
Those stupid inquisitor lightsabers. I thought it was great to see someone using a regular lightsaber but with a different style of combat, more akin to fencing. It was a dynamic way of differentiating a character without resorting to a lightsaber gimmick, and then they gave them to worst gimmick I've ever seen in Star Wars.
The show is aimed at children after all. It was the same with Clone Wars. They move towards more interesting stories and there's always the kid friendly theme floating around (stuff doesn't get too dark, the dilemmas are usually less complex, and the dialogue stays on the simple side) but you can still enjoy it quite often even if it's supposed to be for kids. It's not like the rest of Star Wars is that intellectually demanding.
Yeah, it wasn't a good start. Spinny death helicopter sabers. About as ridiculous as Grievous' spinning lightsaber arms in ep3.
The inquisitors were also not Sith (as some fans seemed to erroneously believe - because they worked for the empire and had red bladed sabers) and though they were tasked with hunting down remaining jedi, against any reasonably competent force-wielder, they were going to come a-cropper (but stealing force-aware babies was more their speed) because they all had too much ego to work together properly.
Ahsoka wasn't technically ever more than a padawan (she never got to do her trials, let alone pass them) but had enough skill to show this. They were just Vader subcontracting because he couldn't be everywhere.
Looking forward to the darksaber/mandalore story coming up, though.
And the Maul/Kenobi resolution ( and we know sorta how that's going to end, and it's not going to be with Kenobi glowing all blue-white and transparent).
You're going to love the part where they can use them as a set of helicopter blades and fly/hover using them.
That said.... don't judge the show solely on the blades. It looked as if that was in part for disney marketing as they wanted to release a new version of the "Build your own Lightsaber kit" that was just the previous one with a different paint job or slightly different moulds.
Helicoptering aside, the Inquisitor's lightsabers being able to spin like that does make some amount of sense. Given that they lack the reflexes of a Jedi/Sith, having the blades spin gives them a reliable way to deflect incoming saber/blaster attacks without really having to be that proficient at any of the traditional saber forms.
Though to be fair, the Inquisitors in series 2 that actually do the flying thing are a bit of a joke anyway, as soon as they come up against someone reasonable competent in lightsaber combat it doesn't go well and really they are classic bumbling cartoon villains. The Grand Inquisitor in series 1 is brilliant though, party down to Jason Issacs' voice work but also because they managed to take a setting where Vader is a thing and still make a guy who isn't Vader just as threatening and terrifying. Much like Thrawn, you have an Imperial who is competent, dangerous and genuinely more powerful than the good guys he's facing down, which is a nice change from the string of useless governers, admirals and captains we're used to.
Yeah, Rebels does villains really well for the most part.
I still haven't seen Rogue One - I must catch it sometime...
I did catch Trials of the Darksaber today. I enjoyed it a lot, but there seems to be a single scene that was meant to be a lot larger, but was cut out due to time restrictions.
Spoiler:
It's the bit where Bendu is disturbed by Sabine. A conversation between those two would have been great! Alas, not to be, at least for now...
It's a cracker, and really builds on Saw's character, doing over the double episodes 40 minutes what Rogue One simply couldn't.
I'm kind of hoping we might get similar cameos from other Rogue One peeps
Oh, Mon Mothma and Leia have shown up already (as has Bail Organa). There will be more crossover stuff to come. The LSG (at least Matt Martin, Leland Chee and Pablo Hidalgo ) said as much in an interview on Starwars.com a couple of days ago. It was ostensibly to talk about the "easter eggs" they put into Rogue 1, but they did mention there was stuff in it that resulted from seeds planted in both TCW and Rebels years ago and that we can expect to see more of that.
Saw and Jyn had been separated for about 5 years at the point of Ghosts of geonosis.
I have to say, that Darksaber episode came off a lot better than I was expecting. And if Sabine getting a proper storyline means Ezra takes backseat for a while, so much the better.
LordofHats wrote: Episode recanonizes the Mandalorian War XD Wonder if that means Revan will end up canon again too.
The finale episodes of season 2 demonstrate that, some version at least, of Knights of the Old Republic 2 happened. Not exactly as in the game, but pretty darn close.
So I'd say that it's highly likely that some version of Revan is canon.
He ALMOST became canon in The Clone Wars before Lucas pulled the plug (after they'd done a model for him and everything).
It wouldn't surprise me if we saw it or elements of it (if not the whole thing) get used now that Lucas isn't around, assuming Disney doesn't mind him turning up.
It's LUCASFILM controlling the SW continuity btw, NOT DISNEY. Lucasfilm is the 'L' in the Lucasfilm Story Group. It's not the DSG, after all.
If the story group want to bring Revan in, they will (because there are many gaming nerds in that group).
Disney has no say in it. You might have noticed a lack of Disney logos to either Rogue 1 or ep7? Yeah? They (LFL) may be OWNED by Disney, but the movies AREN'T disney movies.
After having just watched Twin Suns (the Kenobi vs Maul episode), I must say they (as in Disney and their Star Wars outlets) over-hyped it way too much.
Unfortunately to me it ended up feeling like a filler episode and a pretty weak end to a story arc that's been building across the season. Not sure if that's because of the over-hype or not.
I know the episode couldn't be too big and over shadow the finale episodes (especially since it's the last episode before the finale arc), but even then it felt weak next to episodes like Secret Cargo and Through Imperial Eyes (especially Through Imperial Eyes). Also the stakes being low because we know Kenobi has to survive any conflict between him and Maul with no real major injuries probably didn't help either (and I suppose why they went the way they did).
Also at the end of it all Ezra for like the 6th time now apologises to Hera and Kanan and says he's learnt his lesson and he belongs with the rebels and won't try and go solo against there wishes and blah de blah de blah.
/rant.
On the plus side though this episode didn't do anything that goes against Kenobi's character and Maul had some decent moments.
I've not seen anything in that episode barring the showdown between Maul and Kenobi, but
Spoiler:
I absolutely loved it. It makes sense that Kenobi won't be jumping, flipping about, doing fancy stuff etc etc.
Maul is blinded by hatred, desperate for this fight, but Kenobi has been ready for this the whole time. In fact, I do very much like the fighting in it. Even though there's only three strikes made, the positioning is perfect.
Kenobi prepares to use form III, like he normally does, and Maul is ready for this. But then he switches to a form IV stance, the style Qui-Gon used. Maul has fought both types, and knowing he beat Qui-Gon, he attacks in exactly the same way he did to Qui-Gon. His style is identical, his lunge the same. Yet Obi-Wan knows this. He deliberately switches to the IV stance to provoke Maul into the attack, but still uses his normal form III style. Kenobi has Maul right where he wants him, and end the fight cleanly and without emotion - the Jedi way.
It could have been longer, but it makes absolute sense that a blinded and incoherent Maul vs a collected and prepared Kenobi would end like this.
A lot of the hyping was of fans, and Maul could have been milked a lot more, but as a conclusion, it's certainly solid.
But I don't envy the Rebels crew having to tie up the loose ends left by Clone Wars rather abrupt end.
So far, the episodes I've seen have done it quite seamlessly, with old characters returning in ways that no only make sense, but leave enough of a narrative gap to be explored further in other media.
It actually calls to mind a duel between Samurai (at least in pop culture), the 'fight' is in the positioning, footwork and stance, then resolved in a matter of blows. Kenobi had years to think this through, and he states that he knew Maul was coming, Maul on the other hand is further into madness than he's ever been. It's not a fair fight by any stretch. While it would have been awesome to see the two take each other on one last time in an epic showdown, this almost deliberate anticlimax works just as well.
And of course now that's wrapped up, nothing stands between Disney and a Kenobi/Vader film set between RotS and ANH...
As I said, I think most of my disappointing is coming from Disney hyping it up. With how large of a moment the marketing was making it out to be you'd think it'd be a bit more climactic. It works fine from a character stand point (perfect for Kenobi, though I think Maul could have done with being a bit more savage), it's just marketing made it out to be more than it was.
Over and above it's plot strand, I've realised that that episode just tied the saga together for me. From clever use of Kenobi's message in Revenge of the Sith, to seeing (and indeed hearing) the older version, it bridged a gap I hadn't actually noticed was there. Tied up an on old, pre-Rebels plot strand, and brought us closer to A New Hope's story.
Over and above it's plot strand, I've realised that that episode just tied the saga together for me. From clever use of Kenobi's message in Revenge of the Sith, to seeing (and indeed hearing) the older version, it bridged a gap I hadn't actually noticed was there. Tied up an on old, pre-Rebels plot strand, and brought us closer to A New Hope's story.
Just really wonderful stuff!
Yeah, I quite enjoyed it. It actually managed to make me feel sorry for Maul.
There is a certain tragedy to Maul's final demise for any long-term Clone Wars/Rebels fan. The series did a fantastic job of taking him from 'that pretty cool guy in Phantom Menace' with really nothing to him beyond a double ended lightsaber and making him one of the most impressive, complex and arguably even relatable villains in all of Star Wars. Considering how in less competent hands his return could have been just a gimmick to boost ratings, it's a pretty remarkable achievement.
Twin Suns definitely marks the end of an era, and one of the best Star Wars stories ever told.
On an unrelated note, anyone know when we're getting the last couple of episodes on Sky in the UK? We've not had any since Twin Suns.
I like so much of this trailer, happy to see Bo-Katan back.
Also since Rebels last season re-canonized the Defender Ive been happy, and then the teaser earlier this week for Battlefront 2 showed the Raider Corvette and now that's canonized and its good. Love those two ships.
Bo Katan returning was teased a little late last year (Dave Filoni leaked it also).
(Katie Sackhoff mentioned recording dialogue and returning to a familiar role).
Ah. The only SW trailer that matters IMO. Forget that Last Jedi stuff. You can already pick what the plot of that is "The Jedi must die because as long as we exist so will the Dark Side blah blah blah." Spare me.
Forget that noise, let's get back to Rebels, and Thrawn, and TIE Defenders, and Manalorians.
Finale finally aired in the UK.... in a word, awesome. In two, awesome awesome.
Nothing in it quite as epic as the showdown at the end of S2's last episode, but as a whole package it's probably a better pair of episodes. Some of the best battle sequences in CW/Rebels, and Thrawn just slays it throughout, so glad he's returning next series.
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