Full Series Rebels: Season 1 Discussion Thread

It finished last night in New Zealand. I suppose three and a half weeks after the States is not too bad, although they got my hopes up with the simulcast of Spark (five months ago already; yet on the other hand, it seems like an age ago).

Allow me to say, thank the Creator (the Christian one, not George) that Ahsoka survived Order 66. I was so happy when I saw the news, it overcame my annoyance at having her return spoiled. I was fourteen in 2008, so, to a degree, I have grown up alongside Ahsoka. I recall Dave saying that George was always 'Ahsoka dies', whereas Dave himself was 'Ahsoka lives'. Thus, there is a silver lining to George's surrendering of creative control (I am largely reconciled to the whole Disney/new films/de-canonisation affair now anyway). I noted on the main site the irony in the fact that had the Council not betrayed Ahsoka, she would still have been a Jedi and likely been killed when Order 66 was issued. She provides a welcome link to the Prequel era, which has not featured much in the new line of Star Wars material.

I also greatly enjoyed the appearances made by the droids, Lando, Tarkin, Vader (briefly), and Yoda. Yoda has clearly learnt a lot from Qui-Gon, to be able to stretch his presence across the Galaxy (which also explains "Long have I watched him" from ESB).

Now, while the characters we know and love are great, I do actually like Rebels and its characters (as I say, I am reconciled to the New Order now). I have enjoyed the sense that Kanan, who was never more than a Padawan, is just stumbling his way forward together with Ezra, making it up as he goes along. The relationship between those two is key, although the other crew members are also very important. Ezra's attempts to flirt with Sabine, and his jealously apropos Lando, have provided great hilarity.

The only real character development was made by Ezra, Zeb (regarding his attitude to Ezra), and Kanan. Kanan, for instance, was effortlessly outclassed by the Inquisitor until their final battle. Nonetheless, we have seen tantalising hints at the pasts of the Ghost's crew, for instance, Sabine's time at the Imperial Academy on Mandalore and the genocide of Zeb's people. We also know from A New Dawn how Kanan and Hera met, but we know precious little else. This was an introductory season; no doubt we shall learn more about their history in season two: frankly, we had better.

I thought the scene between Chopper and Ezra in the penultimate episode was adorable. I was rather shocked when he pushed that droid (to its death, I thought at first) out of the Ghost, but, yes, we should have seen that coming.

It is a shame that we learnt precious little about the Inquisitor and his motivations before his demise. That is especially so given that he was responsible for the unquestioning yet brutal murder of two bumbling yet well meaning Imperial officers, to the horror of the Minister and even a hardened (and genocidal) ISB agent. That was indeed one of the most brutal deaths I have seen on a show designed for children, on a par with burning Geonosians to death in TCW and sucking the air out of the Earth Queen's lungs in The Legend of Korra. Indeed, even in ROTS, we do not actually see Dooku's head get separated from his shoulders.

Someone said to me, apropos the writing of this season, that Stormtroopers are not "'that' incompetent". "Have you watched the films", I replied. Even so, the ease with which our heroes outwit the villains is very much of a children's show. For instance, it really should not be as easy as it was in Fire Across the Galaxy to steal a ship of that size. Also, the Galaxy seems sparsely populated, especially given that Lothal is important enough to merit the attention of a succession of increasingly important Imperial agents. Likely, that is because of the animation, which again raises the question why they do not simply use whatever graphics technology they used in, for instance, seasons 5 and 6 of TCW. There can be no doubt that the animation of this season has been greatly inferior to TCW's. The facial expressions and lip movements have been very good, however.

What else was good? The voice-acting was flawless, and the music was great. I love the three innovative lightsabres, and I was very impressed by Ezra's sabre. Lightsabre fights are always enjoyable.

Overall, then, season one of Rebels was by no means great but it was good, and it has laid a foundation for what could become a great series. If it is anything like TCW, each season will be better than the last. That concludes my brief (or not?) yet somewhat disjointed reflections on season one.

 

But your part about George being in the she dies camp is wrong she lived past TCW even with George in Command and if George really wanted her dead she would have died.

 

Say what? George and Filoni went back and forth over her dying, with George very much being in the "she must die" camp. I believe it has been said so in interviews.

 

I cannot imagine Dave was wrong on that point, even if George did agree to a compromise (Ahsoka's resignation). Throughout the history of Star Wars, George has been more than willing to accept others' input into the story. Initially, after all, George intended Obi-Wan to survive ANH. However, since the series was aborted, we never learnt her ultimate fate until now. I had hope, however.

 

Lothal is home to important TIE-fighter production facilities, hence the ISB-Agent I guess. (...who, I may add, seems rather low ranking). When he is confronted by a Jedi, he calls the Inquisitor. When the Rebels still prevail, Tarkin enters the scene to get the situation under control and to get more info on the Rebels. When this fails, and when the Inquisitor dies, Vader is called. I think this is a relatively logical escalation; not perfectly logical, but ok.

 

I agree with that reasoning, and in fact I had doubts when I wrote the sentence. Presumably, the Sith spent a lot of effort training the Inquisitor. Even so, while the procession may be defensible, it still feels rushed. Tarkin explained the system's importance, but I never 'felt' it; it seems very much like a backwater. However, that may just be a matter of misperception on my part. Kallus, the Inquisitor, and Vader were all introduced in Spark (or at least the extended version thereof), after all.

 

Well, IIRC, Inquisitors are not Sith. They are kind of like people that loves the Dark Side and learns and studies and embraces the Dark Side, but less from an ambition to rule, but more from a desire to understand.

And it shows: The Inquisitor in SWR was certainly a brainiac; he reads the description of all Jedi Masters and memorize them all, enabling him to guess correctly who Kanan's master was.

 

It certainly feels like backwater, and Tarkin explicitely said so iirc. The TIE production is new there, so even if this world has some industrial meaning (or will have it soon), it is not yet important politically, much less culturally.

 

What I meant is if George wanted her dead and was not moving on the subject she would die.

 

That sounds like Lucas. I mean this is the man that changed the name of pre-established planet due to it just sounding like another planet.

 

According to this Lucas in this article he didn't seem fixed on any one specific ending, but one had to have come up to explain her absence by ROTS. Seems Filoni made an elaborate plan to keep Tano alive, was basically lets kill off everyone else but her, throw in Bariss as twist. Seems it was Tano's popularity as well that kept him from killing her off, which is understandable, but I would say of course yeah she was a personal favorite character of his. What I don't really get was that even all this "ending" for Tano in Season 5, she was to have come back again in season 7,lol.

http://www.ew.com/article/2013/03/14/star-wars-clone-wars-dave-filoni/2

 

I'm trying really hard to get through Star Wars: Rebels and its Disney flavored dialogue feeling like I enjoyed it. I can't help but compare Rebels to the amazing quality that was the Clone Wars animated series, and feel disappointed that this falls so incredibly short. The animation looks great, shows real promise on the surface, but the characters are so juvenile, plot lacking much substance, and dialogue so poorly crafted and simple minded, I can't fall in love like I wanted to. I really want to enjoy this show as much as I did Clone Wars. Please Disney, please hire better writers. I know this show is on the Disney channel, and the dialogue only needs to appeal to children, but it's a slog to get through an episode without frowning.

 

All the writers are the same ones from TCW...

 

From what I gather, Dave Filoni has pretty much the final say on Rebels - Disney have little input (presumably, their minds are on the ST)

 

Disney in general is pretty hands off on Subsidiaries as long as they are not messing up.

As for dialogue, Pixar manages to pump out movies all the time that can appeal to Kids and Adults so.....

 

The problem is Disney has nothing to do with it other the Advertising so don't blame Disney also a lot of the writers are the same from TCW.

 

I dont know, weren't Kinsberg and Weiseman placed in by Disney. Disney owns Star Wars/Lucasfilm, even if they have some independence, they have something to do with Disney ultimately no matter what, and have the final say as its their show and money:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/a...-rebels-emulates-the-trilogy-of-old.html?_r=0

 

Lol @ that comment regarding what Lucas said about continuity....

 

Yea, and obviously Disney has a big influence and say, I dont know why some doubt it, that is odd.

 

Well, there's this:

Some control is necessary, because Bob Iger has been pushing for "massively multi-media projects" which leverages many channels together. The "Rebels" project had been planned from the get-go to be pushed through multiple channels. These channels are owned by Disney, not by Lucasfilm.
As to Disney's influence on Rebels: Remember that all projects -- especially projects that will tie-in to many assets of a multi-channel company -- needs to be presented to the management first to be greenlighted. So, in the beginning, the concept arts, the concept plot, the general storytelling method and/or framework must be presented.
That, I believe, is the part where Disney provided some input.
The way I see it, the establishment of the Lucasfilm Story Group is the signal to Disney that "yes, give us general direction, and we'll build the universe ourselves". After this particular announcement, I honestly never see any mention of Disney having additional input w.r.t. the "Rebels" project.
(Of course, nobody's perfect, so if anyone has additional news releases concerning Disney 'direction' of Lucasfilm, please do post).

 

Watched the final episode yesterday (recorded and had to catch up), overall I am surprised how much I enjoyed the series and will definitely be watching series 2. I wonder if Vader will only be around briefly or if he'll be taking over the Inquisitor's spot in the show longer term, although I suppose they could go back to just Agent Kallus as the main bad guy. I do wish they'd make the Imperials less comically bad at for example shooting, have the characters get wounded occasionally rather than multiple tunnels where even I could hit someone yet the Stormtroopers just severely damage the air surrounding their targets constantly.

Guess I should go and watch the Clone Wars finally now.... if only they'd release a 1-6 box set in the UK.

 

Apparently if you order the BD from North America it works in the UK.

 

Now are there really fan girls that look like that dressing up at these conventions or are those likely paid models in those stormtrooper outfits?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/28/a...-rebels-emulates-the-trilogy-of-old.html?_r=0

 

Here's the bottom line, if Rebels wasn't oriented for a younger audience than TCW (G rating vs. PG), than Disney wouldn't air it on its channels. Considering Disney now owns Star Wars properties as a whole, it doesn't take a genius to understand that Rebels wouldn't exist if it wasn't on some Disney owned channel. You think Cartoon Network, who saw to the end of TCW, would've picked up Rebels?