Full Series Rebels 4.06 - Flight of the Defender - Discussion Thread (Spoilers Allowed)

According to the Rebels Visual Guide, that's an anooba:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Anooba

also canine - but longer in the ears and shorter in the muzzle:

 

That may be an Anooba.

I think this season has been pretty weak and far too many characters are being plot protected beyond belief and the same repetitive gags and gimmicks of previous seasons seem worse not better like they don't care, they probably don't but still.

Spoiler

The lothcat's ears when it jumps on the loth-wolf seem like an Ahsoka nod to the audience, as does the color white symbolism, like her lightsabers. We also have the Bendu's eyes being White, I don't if anything means anything or they're just re-using themes and messing with the audience. The whole vanish act disappearing stuff we saw with Bendu doing it to Maul and later Thrawn.

One problem I have with all of this is that Vader and the Inquisitors already TOOK Lothal, so how do these Force beasts or manifestations go undetected. When we last saw the Lothal Jedi Temple it was being corrupted and occupied by the Sith.

 

talk about the star wars version of "eeny meeny miny moe."

 

I got "follow the white rabbit" of Alice in Wonderland vibes from the episode.

Spoiler

If Ahsoka starts transforming into a loth-wolf or whatever like The Daughter could a griffin, then things might be beyond salvaging in neo-canon. Still with Force Ghosts and Yoda, its possible something weird is going on if its not Ahsoka related.

 

I thought this was a pretty good episode until we got to Lassie the Lothwolf. I did wonder if there might be some connection with the wolf creatures in TLJ which appear in the recent trailer. I know they're different species but they look similar.

Given the fairly serious tone of this two parter, the last sequence with Lassie is like Vader wearing a Hawaiian shirt and board shorts.

 

I mean, the LothWolf wasn't really incongruous with the rest of the episode. He showed up several times, appeared suitably mystical, and wasn't really outside of what we usually see in Star Wars.

 

I wonder if Thrawn is taking the whole death prophecy to heart and he's not afraid to die in situations unrelated to the Bendu's cryptic words. Hence the staring down a starfighter with a pistol.

 

They totally wasted BASED, Imperial Ace Valen Rudor.

Vult Skerris has the personality of a cardboard box.

 

Ok, I loved this episode for a number of reason.

The first, of course, was the appearance and performance of the TIE Defender. I will always have a special place in my heart for that ship, as it was the best fighter you could get in the TIE Fighter Space Combat Simulator, and it earned it's reputation well. Shields. Missles. Hyperdrive. Piloted correctly, the thing was unstoppable, and I'm really glad to see they carried forwarded all it's features into it's introduction in Rebels. It's a beauty to fly and beauty to see in flight.

I admit I had been rather curious why the original plan wasn't to just steal the whole thing instead of just the flight data recorder, but I guess they wanted to raise as little fuss as they could, at least at first.

The Lothcats were adorable without being annoying (at least for me). The Lothwolf is intriguing to me. Of course I remember Dave's sketch indicating that it's not Ahsoka that he posted awhile ago, but no matter who or what it is I'm going to be interested to see where they go with it. My interest was especially peaked after I read that the wolf actually said 'Dume' instead of 'Doom', which is what I thought at first. Where does Kanan fit into this? Hopefully we'll find out.

 

Spoiler

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought there was something special involved when the Loth Cat jumped on the Wolf with its ears shaped in a peculiar way. Montrals anyone?

Of course, there's this too that Mr. Filoni sent out on his birthday

 

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Loth-wolf
Skip to 'appearances'...

Mentions in 3 kids books. Anyone read these?
Mentioned in s1e10...
'Pictured' in s2e18...
Actually appears, with magical powers and ability to speak, in s4e6.
Due to appear in s4e7.

Not exactly foreshadowed at all, but not entirely contrived either. Still feels very contrived and convenient though. And it feels very out of place in Star Wars IMO. The most Disneyfied thing in the show since Aresko and Grint, too.

IDK it feels like they introduced Tom Baker's NeverEnding Story character as a plot convenience, wasted the opportunity, and now need to provide a cheap alternative replacement. We'll see where it goes but I'm uncomfortable with the journey so far.

 

We see a depiction of a Loth-wolf being ridden, in art in Thrawn's collection in Season 3, too.

 

Hera calls for Spectre 6, Ezra answers, and then says Phoenix 6 out at the end of the conversation. Is this a mistake or does Ezra go by both Spectre and Phoenix 6 since joining the team on Yavin?

 

Look as long as the wolves don’t magically save Lothal I will wait a bit longer

 

Ah yeah. Suuuuuper Disneyfied.

 

Disney films and shows have had far more gruesome deaths than that, if you were trying to make a point.

 

Not bad but I don’t like the wolves. At least the lothcats are different from anything on earth. I know Filoni like wolves but he should have made them a bit different. Hoping they have a real purpose


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Do we require gruesome deaths, in Star Wars?

 

Ask Owen and Beru, Luke's tauntaun, Grievous, Dooku....

Perhaps a better question might be 'do we require a giant magic talking wolf in Star Wars'?

 

We should ask Aresko and Grint too then, as well as Seventh Sister, or the Mandalorians who got vaporised.

 

This episode was pretty trippy ... here's my recap!

 

It’s not Mortis level Trippy.

 

Sure. I have no issues with deaths in Star Wars or Disney. I never claimed that having brutal deaths negated the idea of Rebels being Disneyfied though, I think that was you. It's not a valid point - Disney has brutality and darkness in their stories just like every other fairy tale pedlar. Aresko and Grint represented Disneyfication by being a Disney stereotype - a bungling duo of moustache twirling villains (one stocky one slender). They would not be the first odd couple villain duo to meet a sticky end in a Disney franchise either.

I could quite easily forgive Tom Baker's character in the last season because it seemed to vaguely fit within the realm of '80s ILM/Henson family fantasy movies. It was a stretch, and obviously tacked on, but it just about kind of worked. I'm not sure about this wolf thing yet. Seems badly misplaced, even more contrived than the Bendu, and lacking the foundation in Star Wars lore that the Bendu had.

...If it turns out that the wolf is Bendu, or just some kind of apparition stemming from some sort of force ghost or something, IDK, maybe that could make the situation better? I don't know how SW walks back from this kind of thing.