Full Series Darth Maul in Star Wars Rebels

What do you think of this then?

 

I can't speak for him, but IMO that's all well and good in a samurai movie and it's very much grounded in realism. Had all duels in Star Wars been realistic, I'd see no problem. But this fight is an anomaly as no other fight I can think of played out like this. So when you go from establishing a fight in the SW galaxy between two opponents as being such a choreographed affair, switching it up to something realistic and having Maul go out so quickly makes him look like a punk, because that fight and how it played out will naturally be compared to what came before.

Had the fight in TPM, AOTC, ANH, etc. played out so realistically too, then this fight would not be out of place. And nobody would have a problem with it.

They took a gamble in modeling the fight off a samurai fight, and for some it paid off and for some it's disappointing. And for me, it's disappointing. Such a quick, realistic fight is all fine and good for a Samurai movie, but with SW the expectation is for something else, because they've only ever shown overly drawn out sword fights, and when they throw such a curve ball after surely knowing where expectations would be set, it was a let down for me. And it seems like they knew it would be for some.

Even for the people that do like it, it has led to some erroneous assumptions. E.g. that Maul isn't what he once was and that Obi-Wan has trained and become significantly stronger. That theory can only arise because they are still looking at the fight with the expectation that if Maul were more powerful, we would have had a more familiar, Hollywood style sword fight.

However Dave said that he modeled it through the lens of a samurai film and that real sword fights, even between two highly skilled swordsmen, would end very quickly. So it doesn't sound like he intended to downplay Maul's abilities at all, even though that's an unintentional side effect of diverging from how SW fights have been previously been conducted.

 

Yeah. His story has to end at some point. It was extended post TPM. Let the guy rest in peace. He had a good run. He can live on via other franchise media, ala his comic series.

 

Filoni did a lot of mistakes, they started by the end of TCW, and they continued through Rebels (Rebels is a mess to me, really all over the place. My kids do not connect with it. I only watch some episodes online). Further, bringing Maul back to life has been a big mistake, and for commercial reasons they kept him alive way too long. They knew killing him was well overdue.

So having said that I think this episode was well done. Probably the best of the series (may be because it has nothing to do with Rebels). I watched the recon video and it really felt they have thought this through (and they almost did acknowledge their mistake, "we brought him back to life, we had to end it" Filoni said)

So this really was not a Rebels episode to me, but an episode to fix the wrongs of bringing Maul back. And I like how they did it, by showing how a sith consumed by hatred can became a pathetic character. He really had learned nothing. And that is how he dies. At the same time they made Kenobi transition really well, showing the natural evolution from his last appearance as a general to the wise jedi/mentor Alec Guiness embodies in ANH.

The execution was well done. Recon covers a few important points. It is really hard to cover this in 20 minutes of an animated cartoon. So they really focused on the critical stuff. There is no noise on Tatooine. And why make the fight last longer? What purpose will that accomplish? This fight was only to make Maul die, so let's do it quickly. And a short fight conveyed exactly where each character was, one at the bottom of his pathetic journey, the other one, enlightened, driven, with a purpose, above mundane things. And the voice of Kenobi was incredible, really superb execution. And the lines as well. There was a lot of risk in bringing Kenobi back, but credit to them, the character was very well executed

My only critic to this episode is that they had Maul speak before dying when he was probably cut deep in the chest. Either lungs and/or throat were severed. But well, it is a cartoon. They made him live with no intestines, hips or legs, and do acrobatics like nothing, I guess one last sin is admitted.


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I'm pretty sure I read that one of the planned Clone Wars episodes had Obi-Wan facing off against Maul again. Obi-Wan wounds Maul, the green mist leaves his body, and that causes Maul to go insane again. Either Maul escapes at that point or Obi-Wan has pity on him. So, Maul would've lived but would've gone AWOL out of insanity.

 

That was fake information.

 

I think this was the best episode of Rebels.

Once Maul let go of his hate, he could become one with the fate. Obi-Wan was not going to lose and risk Maul finding Luke.

 

I was initially quite shocked at how short the encounter between Obi-Wan and Maul was, but reflecting on it it made sense. IMO, it was a good way to subvert expectations and fit with the characterization: Obi-Wan has spent the better part of the last 18 or so years in the desert in solitude honing his skills to a zen-like perfection, whereas Maul is a bitter old man searching for relevance in a galaxy that has long discarded him. So Obi-Wan was in a perfect state of mind to confront Maul and win.

RIP Maul. 1999 - 2017. You had a good run you ol' bastard.

 

I think I need not respond to your strawman and TaradosGon already said what there is to say.

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From what we know of the unreleased arcs of TCW, Obi-Wan and Maul's only meeting after The Lawless was in Proxy War, the third episode of Son of Dathomir, when Obi-Wan and his fellow Jedi battle the allied Maul and Dooku.

In the next Maul arc, Siege of Mandalore, Obi-Wan and Anakin would have a small role, but would be called away to rescue the Chancellor at some point, leaving Ahsoka to confront Maul.

 

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I think my reaction covers most of the fans thought watching Maul find peace.





"Sympathy for a Devil"

Die in Peace Maul.

 

Freddie Prince Jr about Maul fans
https://twitter.com/RealFPJr/status/843629884823945217

 

KENOBIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Nothing about this episode was to "fix the wrongs of bringing Maul back", that was a decision made by Lucas, who created this entire fantasy universe. LFL gave us a rich story about not only Maul, but the culture he was torn away from. They also showed the viewers that a journey of hate and revenge doesnt pay off, which is important. In the end, the character did serve a purpose, especially for younger viewers, because many of them may not have seen the downfall of the Emperor or the redemption of Anakin Skywalker yet...

 

While I've appreciated the additional shades provided to Maul across both Clone Wars and Rebels, as well as Sam Witwer's performance, I still think the resurrection of the character turned out to be a needless miscalculation.

After all of the buildup, Maul's final confrontation with Kenobi disappointed me not because of its length, but because it felt inconsequential. I've long rejected the idea that Maul and Kenobi should be longtime rivals, even though the duel itself here was admirable in it's execution. Nevertheless, I've always seen Maul and Kenobi as two combatants whose paths crossed at exactly the right time, culminating in the duel on Naboo.

As to his use in Rebels, this season had been suggesting a tug of war over Ezra between Maul and Kanan, but that narrative bore few fruits. A cleaner way to feature and quickly dispose of Maul in Rebels might have been to have him kill Ahsoka in last season's finale, and then to meet his end at Vader's hand. Yes, it's fan service, but given that the use of Maul in this season had minimal significant impact, it would have been a just end to the character.

Or I'll just continue thinking that Obi-Wan killed him on Naboo.

 

Thing is we have already witnessed multiple long duels with Maul and Kenobi, so having them take this sudden approach felt refreshing.

Maul being alive at this point was getting rather silly and to be honest, he should never have been brought back from the dead to begin with (this is coming from someone that loved most of his episodes in TCW) Maul being brought back to life and being kept alive for so long just felt like a marketing policy and while I like the character, I feel like the writers are incredibly biased towards him when it comes to most of the other villains.

Anyway I think it was a big mistake not having him duel and be killed by Vader in S2, I would have welcomed a longer fight this time since it wouldn't have been done before. I felt Mauls story was a drag this season so was just relieved see it get wrapped up.

 

Honestly, my headcanon is that Sidious didn't spare Maul on Mandalore but electrocuted him to death. Just because that's really where his story arc stopped being interesting. Son of Dathomir was good but that was the end of it.

 

Strawman? I was seriously curious as to what you thought about how that scene went down in that movie. Star Wars has always referenced Kurosawa. This Rebels episode is no different. But TaradosGon brought up some good points.

 

Yeah, Maul's narrative in The Clone Wars had some intrigue in learning about his history on Dathomir, but even then I never bought into the idea of him as a leader, rallying several underworld organizations to his cause. I prefer his weaponized utilization in TPM strictly as an attack dog.

 

I do too. But of course people complained profusely about that too, which I think is why they expanded on his character in TCW and Rebels.

 

It would have been even more refreshing imo if Maul had fought another opponent like say Boba Fett. I agree that his death was necessary but it could have been handled far better than that.

 

Given how Ahsoka and Maul's arcs turned out in Rebels (both were introduced in a finale, both were set up for an emotional confrontation in the early stages of the following season, both appeared sparingly during the season after that and then both had the aforementioned emotional confrontation near the end of the season), their status as the biggest characters "introduced" in TCW and the fact that they were both central to the Siege of Mandalore, I wonder if they were both meant to die in that finale, and when that didn't happen, Filoni decided that one of his "missions" for Rebels would be to bring their character to some sort of closure.

 

I tried to edit my previous post, but I can't find the button. Is there some sort of time limit?

They didn't want to dispose of him "quickly", they wanted to end his story right. Your proposal is an insult to Maul's character, Ahsoka's character and reeks of good old fridging.

They're biased toward him because he allows the writers to explore that thing that people likes to say about the Sith and other dark-siders, that behind the posturing and power, they are pathetic cowards and sad, pitiful people, which is hugely ironic considering how Maul used to be portrayed (and how he's still portrayed in the new comic series). It's hard to explore that with Vader, what with the mandate now being that he's an invincible Juggernaut who slashes rebels by the dozen and wins at every turn.

Three episodes, each one a logical step on his final journey, is a drag? Even poor Ahsoka didn't get that kind of attention and forethought in season 2, randomly appearing throughout the season before we really got into the meat of things in episode 17 and the finale.

 

I do not think Maul should have survived season 2. The whole point of that was to get the holocron into Ezra's hands. And the season 2 finale teased that one must think like a Sith to access it, which Ezra was able to, suggesting he was very close to the Dark Side. But then... Season 3... He doesn't seem very close at all, that holocron has served little purpose beyond being manipulated by Maul to lead him to Obi-Wan, which wouldn't have happened obviously had Maul died in Season 2.

And now in Rebels Recon, they even describe Ezra as having matured and wanting to take responsibility for putting Obi-Wan in danger, and he clearly has shown no intention of helping
Maul.

It's like Season 2 was foreshadowing a story we never got because Maul survived, and instead of exploring the whole Ezra thinking like a Sith thing, they use it as a plot device to lead to Obi-Wan.

IMO, they should have had Maul trying to turn Ezra and using him to get to the holocron. But then have Maul sensing something and saying something like "he's near." And sending Ezra on ahead to activate the Temple. Vader confronts Ezra and nearly kills him, Maul shows up behind him and they exchange typical witty banter, like.

"Oh, has the Emperor become so desperate to rely on broken things. I've endured much waiting for this day." - Maul

"Even a rat can survive disaster" -
Vader

Have them fight and have Maul die.

Then they could have condensed Ahsoka's bit to running up and slicing his helmet open when he's distracted with trying to deactivate the weapon or turning his attention back to Ezra. Or save Ahsoka's confrontation for Season 3.

But with the holocron in Ezra's hands and him showing that he could access it, I feel like Ezra should have been struggling much more with his anger in S3 and that should have been a focal point of the season between him, Kanan, Bendu, the rest of the heroes, etc. Not derailing most of Ezra's stories and making them about him and Maul, and spending two episodes just building towards confirmation that he's alive and on Tatooine, before an anticlimactic letdown of a conclusion (imo), and hardly touching on where S2 had left Ezra and hardly acknowledging that he has access to Sith teachings or that the holocron had deemed him worthy of such knowledge, and instead using the Sith holocron as a guide to Obi-Wan and Maul's story.

I'm not a big fan of the show in general. For it being more serialized than TCW and ostensibly focusing on a core crew, I feel like OT and TCW "legacy characters" carry much of the show, with me largely not caring at all about the core crew.

And I feel like S2 strongly laid the groundwork for a cool potential story with Ezra that instead got ditched for Maul and Obi-Wan resolution, when after TCW I felt that was settled and that instead Sidious revealed himself to be the one who was going to deprive Maul of the destiny he felt was his.


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Son of Dathomir is ridiculously vague and unexplained at points, but it suggests that Talzin may have been providing guidance to Maul as he built up his powerbase. It wasn't all his initiative.