Full Series Rebels 2.07 - Wings of the Master - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

Wow. What a beautiful episode. From the Ralph McQuarrie tribute, to Hera's inspiring monologue, the beautiful design of the new planet, and overall story, this has to be one of my favorites.

 

There was more to Kallus's decision to cut Ibaar's rations beyond just being a jerk.

According to the dialogue, this was done specifically to pressure the rebels into coming with a weaker force.

"Oh, they will return. They can't resist helping people in need, which will be the last mistake they make."

In other words, he's been taking notes on Vader's pressure and prediction tactics from "The Siege of Lothal" (and funny enough, Vader may have learned the same tactic from Trench).

 

how dowe know theyre not entering at the poles - in space there's no right way up

 

There is an up in space. The depending on direction of the gravitational field, North is almost always one pole or another (also, poles are typically capped by a cooler region, so any view of a planet through infrared will point out where the poles are). Barring any planetary collision that knocks the axis of rotation sideways, the North Pole typically is up, and the South Pole is typically down (unless you subscribe to the hypothesis of pole shift, in which case north may be down and south may be up). Also, the idea of "zero-G" is also, in physics terms, false. Gravity is always acting on the body, whether the body feels it or not.

 

ok let me rephrase that, how do we know they are always entering at the equator and not the poles? Given that we never view the planet through infared and we dont see the planets spinning on their axis. We are as much going round the sun as we are going over and under it.

 

See this?

This is a magnetic field. All planets emit them, even gas giants like Jupiter. Notice how the field is largest at the equator, and smallest at the poles. There IS up and down. Space is 3D, but that doesn't mean that it's zero-G. The force of gravity is always in application. WE emit a gravitational field, however it's far smaller than Earths. Anything that has mass is effected by gravity. This is universal. If you want to get into really philosophical stuff, you could say that the entire universe is sideways, but that's philosophy, and has really very little effect on the sciences anymore. So, in relation to humans, the way we perceive north as up, and south as down. It's not sideways, and almost no planet spins on a sideways access unless it's been struck by a large celestial body some time in it's history (as Uranus has). Because it is the default, all planets should be assumed to have a north/south rotational access.

 

My point is much simpler than that, it has nothing to with, gravity (which i dont think i mentioned once?) it is that Up and down are relative to perspective. We are accustomed to looking at maps and planets with North being at the top and South at the bottom. So when we see a planet in star wars we assume that we are approaching it face on and that the north pole is at the top of our screen, with the south at the bottom we when we see planetary blockades, the assumption is that they are always around the equator. Theres nothing to say that Blockade runners are not approaching the poles of the planets, given that we dont see the planet rotating on its axis, we dont see it through an infared lens, we dont see its magnetic field, we rarely even see its sun or neighboring planets in the system. We see a spherical planet, surrounded by ships. We are accustomed to viewing north as being at the top and south at the bottom so we assume that the ships surrounding the centre of the planet we see are at the equator, they could just as likely be approaching the planets pole head on, theres no way of knowing from what we see on screen. I am not arguing with the science you have presented me - my original (and only)point is that in a shot of a planet, north might not necessarily be at the top of our screen, south my not be at the bottom and the equator may not be across the centre. I havnt once tried to claim that Gravity doesnt exist or that planets rotate on a sideways axis, just that Up, Down, Left and Right all depend on your view point.

 

My thoughts on the one point blockade - it's the exit/entrance to a hyperspace lane.

 

I personally think Hera shouldn't have got a promotion. Her actions don't warrant her getting it as far as I'm concerned. She is a daring and competent pilot, but that isn't what necessarily qualifies you for command. Hera at the beginning of the episode showed she kind of fails at command. It was her fault they lost the corvette and all its crew plus supplies. The corvette stated simply to her that they were taking too many hits and continuing would lead to their death. She chose to ignore what was obvious and push ahead anyways. A competent leader would have at least called for a retreat before it was too late.

 

Not really, even the most brilliant of leader make mistakes from time to time, including acting rashly in the heat of the moment. What ultimately determines one's true leadership qualities is, do you learn from those mistakes or not?

 

There was more to the Empire cutting the rations , but I disagree that it was primarily focused on the Ghost.

When the Rebels first make the supply run towards the planet Kallus is focused on destroying the supplies not the Ghost, "That cargo will not get past us." . Its only after they make the failed run and they return , that Kallus focuses on the Ghost.

The person from the planet states at the opening of the episode, "The Empire (SIGHS) has doubled our work quotas and cut our rations."

The Empire agent on the ground, " We have cut all remaining rations from the Ibaarian people. There are a few holdouts in the mountains who have been in contact with the rebel fleet."

Kallus, "Have no fear, Commander. Their spirit will break soon enough."

The last time we heard about a system of control used to break spirits is in the Slaver Arc of TCW, "Defiance, will become compliance. When Kenobi realize that he cannot help those around him, his spirit will break, and he will be mine."

It appears as if the Empire is trying to enslave this world and make the population a slave workforce. I feel like this episode should have been a two-part arc as the Empire enslaving an entire world should be more explicit and developed.

 

The trivia gallery is finally up...

 

Darth Kickass
Thank you!

 

No problem! I'd been checking to see if it was up because I thought it curious it had been taken down in the first place. I wonder what they had to correct before they put it out there?

 

Really thought this episode was quite boring... It didn't feel like anything happened. Siege of Lothal was great, but since then I've been unimpressed. Worst episode of the season, imo

 

To each their own, as always, i guess. The plot was not extensive, this was all character stuff for Hera and some really beautiful flight scenes and ship porn with the B-Wing. Count me in.

 

Nicely done.

 

Re-watched this episode and it made me love Hera's character, when she talked about the Clone wars I really really wished she had been that child that Waxer & Boil found on Ryloth, even though I know she's not but still it would have been cool