Full Series SW Movie Saga Quotes in Rebels

What do you all think of the frequent "homages" paid to the OT and PT in Rebels episodes when characters speak lines directly (or almost directly) from the films?

I haven't kept track of every single instance, but just know that in almost every episode, this happens a handful of times. Some on here may enjoy it, but I personally cringe everytime and feel like it cheapens the actual lines from the original movies (considering Rebels is canon and is happening before any of the OT).

One example is in the pilot, when Obi-Wan appears and references "A New Hope".............up until that point, A New Hope was Episode IV's title, never mentioned once in the canon, and was meant to be left up to the viewer to decide what it actually referred to. It could refer to Luke, Leia, both of them, the new success that the Rebels ended up having against the empire with the Death Star's destruction etc. Slapping it into Rebels and having Obi-Wan originate the phrase lessens its novelty and impact in its prior established canon.

Some other examples come to mind, but I can't pinpoint when they happened or who said them.........it could be as simple as the bad guy (not Vader or the Emperor) using the phrase "Search your feelings........".

I'm pretty sure they ripped off the expression "Great, kid! Don't get cocky!" at some point.

I'll leave it to others to list some other occurrences throughout Season 1, but let's just look at the Season 2 trailer.



As exciting and well-edited as it is, within this 3 minute trailer, I counted 3 distinct OT ripoffs:

1) 53 seconds in ---> subtle, but clear ripoff "Fighter, coming in at..........Mark 3!!!"
This isn't that bad, but couldn't they have come up with something other than Mark 3? Are fighters ALWAYS coming in at Mark 3? From ANH Death Star battle: "They coming at.........3 Marks at 2-10"

2) 1 minute 35 seconds in ----> "The fear, the anger, the hate"
Are we really to believe that every Jedi or Jedi-in training used this lingo because Yoda (and then, strangely in Episode III, Anakin), used it? Again, not the worst of rip-offs, but still distracting enough.

3) Just after #2.........."I haven't sensed a presence like that since............"
Now here, this rip-off is blatantly clear and canon-trashing. This phrase was meant for Vader and Vader alone when he senses Obi-Wan aboard the Death Star in Episode IV. By slapping it into Kanan's lingo in Rebels, as canon story occuring BEFORE Episode IV, it becomes very contrived, distracting and confusing as to why they use the same expression.

The PT was also guilty of this, such as Anakin ripping off Han's line from Episode IV, "This is where the fun begins!" , in the opening dogfight in Episode III.

Since Rebels isn't just a one-off Legends show that can get away with this and claim that it has no lasting impact on Star Wars canon as a whole, this dialogue rip-off trend is concerning.

IMO, ripping off dialogue is not the way to make a Star Wars show feel more like the originals, just as ripping off musical cues is not the way to make the soundtrack sound more like the originals.

 

Frankly if no-one says ''I have a bad feeling about this...'' at some point I will be disappointed. Very disappointed.

 

I agree the quoting and amounts are over done and can be out of place but some of the music usage I like. It is the same Universe after all.

 

In before lock, but maybe you should look at your threads so far and make a new one: Darth Saxman complaint thread ripoffs in new Darth Saxman thread.

 

People are allowed to dislike thing ya know. No need to be snide.

 

LOL ---- but the only thing I ripped off from any of my prior posts was my reference to how the Rebels music ripped off the OT music I looked in the SWTV index thread and didn't see any threads related to this topic.

 

Do we need a thread for every single thing that someone doesn't like though? Cause if so, that's a whole lotta threads. Seems a little unnecessary frankly.

 

"I have a bad feeling about this" is the one and only Star Wars line that should appear in every canon Star Wars story.............kind of like the Wilhelm scream. It's the one classic line that can transcend characters and time periods, to connect all the stories together in a subtle, inside-joke-among-fans sort of way.

 

Don't see it as a problem. The assumption that entertaining references (homages, really) to lines from the OT or PT will have some sort of negative effect on Star Wars canon is a bit far-fetched. As noted before, I think I'd be disappointed if there weren't at least some references.

 

All I can say is: having written Star Wars fanfic, the temptation to reuse a line from the movies is extremely hard to resist, and I've got respect for the way they manage to make most of them work naturally now. (Definitely compared to Season 1 of TCW, where it really jumped out at you when they did it.)

 

Yes, I have a lot of different criticisms about Rebels, but the threads I'm posting aren't about me. I may be starting them, but that's just because no one else has.

Is this really a topic that should never be discussed on this board? It is a general topic, a concerning one, and one that can spur discussion.

When I think of a positive-vibed thread to post, I will certainly do so to break the trend. Apologies that my only threads started on here have been negatives ones.....

 

Yeah... the problem really is of course that one person's homage/reference is another's rip-off. Like I say, ''I have a bad feeling about this...'' is near enough obligatory by now, but having a fighter coming at Mark 3 really won't do that much harm. Perhaps it's just how Imperial pilots are trained, and to be honest how many people are realistically going to remember one minor line from one film and find it all that bothersome? No. 3 in the OP though I do have to agree with, it did seem literally put there JUST to draw comparisons with original films. That said, it was clearly taken out of context for the trailer and might flow a bit more convincingly as part of an actual episode so really not a big deal... yet.

Once every episode is quoting the movies verbatim, then it's a problem. Whilst it's just a trailer being maybe a little too on-the-nose and blatant... I can see it might annoy some but it's not a deal-breaker to me.

 

Yeah, I can't take the first sentence as sincere or without irony. A lot of your threads have been discussed in other places. I really don't see why this deserved its own thread when it can fall under the general rebels discussion thread.....

 

What I dislike is that criticisms aren't ever just discussed and accepted. There's always some that come in and say 'so and so is wrong to not like X' no, they aren't. Not everyone is looking for a debate or a fight either and people shouldn't demand it.

 

That would be true if this wasn't a pervasive issue, but it is. In a 3 minute trailer alone, we had 3 references, one that was a major one. Granted, this isn't happening every minute of every episode, but it is happening enough to be discussed as its own thread, on its own merits.

That's true, and I'm sure there are folks that really appreciate the re-usage (what I deem rip-off) of old lines, even the re-use of Vader's line from Episode IV. It's all fair game if you don't know the movie dialogue very well and/or if you can block out the fact that other characters are going to use those exact same lines in the canon storyline 20-30 years later.

Another example just came to mind: I'm pretty sure at at least one point in Season 1, some Imperial (Tarkin, Inquisitor etc.) said "That's it! The ____ (Rebels?) are there.....", ripping off Vader's line from Episode V. These are the sort of things that a canon storyline shouldn't be doing, IMO.

 

[merging post]

 

I don't think that's entirely fair though Saxman. A trailer is by it's very nature chopped up and punchy and condensed. One reference per minute in a trailer does not at ALL imply one reference per minute in any one episode, especially given only one is really all that blatant. Even if every single one is taken out of the opener, that's a two parter... which by my maths gives us two minor references and one blatant one in around 45 minutes or so. Which is MUCH less significant...

 

Oh, I know jakobitis --- that's why I followed up by saying "Granted, this isn't happening every minute of every episode" --- it's not like the # of re-usages in the trailer will translate to the frequency of re-usage in Season 2. Have 3 in the trailer alone, though, indicates that it may be just as pervasive as it was in Season 1.

Not sure why they are doing this and how it got the stamp of approval. As fans themselves, wouldn't the show's creators be uncomfortable with Kanan saying Vader's line "I haven't sensed a presence like that since..."? Or having other characters say direct, well-known OT lines like "That's it, the ____ are there!" and "Great kid, don't get cocky!"? Why even go there? Don't they realize the difference between re-using "I've got a bad feeling about this" vs. one-off, classic lines from the OT that were never used again?

 

I'm waiting for Vader Vs Ahsoka obligatory "No, I am your master" line

 

Well once is okay. I really don't ever remember the 'Great kid!..." quote ever coming up so if it was used it really didn't make much impact on me at least. And someone announcing they've worked out where the rebels are hiding is kind of generic. "That's it, [x] is/are there" could appear in any number of shows and films and I wouldn't think of SW at all.

 

LOL --- yeah, that would make me break my teeth cringing (and I wouldn't hold it past them, so I'd better watch Season 2 wearing a mouth guard)

It was bad enough in Episode III when Palpatine goes to Anakin "Search your feelings, Anakin! You know......................don't you" Ugh --- cheapened Vader's Episode V moment to make it seem like Palpatine was first owner of the line, and that Vader picked it up from him. Weak (IMO).

 

I did not even have to read the thread to come to this conclusion

If I were you i would not put rip off in the title.

 

Luke said the word "the" in ANH and Kanan said the word "the" in the last episode of Rebels.

When will Disney ever stop the pandering!?!?!

 

I wonder if Timothy Zahn is helping with the writing, given that he put so many movie lines in his novels.

 

Oh the humanity.

Obviously this demands that Filoni needs to go.