TV Discussion Rank the four (or more) Star Wars animated series

Same here, though I’d place a number of Visions episodes at the top.

 

True, but I think there's some nostalgia coloring the perception of Ezra in hindsight. Even in Twilight of the Apprentice, he's such a klutz, and insanely gullible. On Malachor, Ahsoka starts reading this ancient alien text on an obelisk, and he goes and touches it. Despite Ahsoka yelling at him not to touch it, at the top of her lungs. And then they fall an insane distance, almost to their deaths. After which a bunch of tragic stuff happens.

With Kaz, yes, there are fewer galactic stakes, there's no Jedi training, there are no interactions with the great evils of the galaxy. But that show was just getting started, and I imagine there was a slow-burn story plan for it. So it's just really hard to compare the two.

I also prefer Rebels, on a number of levels, and mostly appreciate Resistance on an aesthetic and world-building level. But I really do get similar vibes from him and early Ezra. Only Ezra was pissier.

 

There are absolutely clear comparisons between Ezra and Kaz, hence the great bits I mentioned in Rebels mostly didn't really include Ezra as the focal point. He of course did improve immensely over the show but Kaz was chosen to be a Resistance spy for some reason despite being absolutely useless at being any semblance of a spy. Ezra was a kid and acted like a kid and so he had to grow up but he was a padawan and so was a choice for training because the field was obviously very limited post-Order 66. Kaz was put in a position of importance to be a spy and so went about it in the worst possible way. He was just an awfully written character. So basically, choosing him to be a spy was just the worst possible selection available aside from his idiot sidekick. Had that show continued, he might have gotten better but the show didn't continue and so he didn't progress.

 

Resistance was also to small scale for my liking. Anytime it touched on something slightly big like it’s subplot on Starkiller base it just doesn’t lead anywhere. And maybe some people like a plot that’s self contained. But Resistance cared about basically just the platform, Rebels cared about basically just Lothal and I guess Phoenix Squadron. TCW has both as it was anthology. So one episode could be a galaxy killing virus another could be R2 and 3PO getting home. Bad batch is basically all the clones. And I guess the galaxy as Hemlock wants to run some eugenics cloning program on basically the whole empire as he pointed out in the episode the Summit.

I think I prefer the middle stakes of all the clones and one planet.

but I can see the appeal of both ends.

 

Yes, that was the fatal flaw of Resistance. Choosing Kaz as a spy simply made little sense.

Re-watching Rebels now, and I'm struck by how wonderfully McQuarrie it all is. The character animation is not my favorite, but all the wide-shots on planets, and the space battles, are really beautiful. The Ahsoka show is clearly taking inspiration from that style, and it's really working for me.

 

But also they didn't even finish their own smaller subplots. For me, the most interesting plot/character arc was the character Tam who defected to the FO to be a pilot. She was obviously conflicted about it as things went on and she saw the FO maybe wasn't as great as she thought it was and overall she was on a collision course with her former friends and colleagues. But then the show just ended as it was getting interesting.

As a side note; I had to look up the character Tam's name because I couldn't remember and looking at the cast of actors there's quite a few recognizable names for such a forgettable show: Lucy Lawless, Elijah Wood, Steve Blum, Sam Witwer, Matthew Wood, Phil Lamarr, Gwendoline Christie, Dee Bradley Baker, Oscar Isaac, Anthony Daniels, and the man himself, Dave Filoni.

 

Klutzy tendencies granted, but in that scene I got the impression that Ezra was lured in, sort of a One-Ring effect.

 

Dave Filoni plays countless stormtroopers in both Rebels and Resistance. Sadly I think he’s to busy to do it now for Bad Batch. I miss being like oh that stormtrooper is played by Dave Filoni the best running cameo in Star Wars animation.

 

Steve Blum also played a lot of the voices of the Stormtroopers in Rebels.

 

I finished my Rebels rewatch last week, and it's probably still tops for me in terms of its overall arc and the strength of the Ghost crew. That being said, watching it all in totality, it's very clear the series has a villain problem, in that nobody truly feels like a consistent threat from start to finish. Naturally, Thrawn is still TBD heading into the Ahsoka series, but I was generally underwhelmed by him. I think I would have preferred for the Grand Inquisitor to be the main foe for the duration of the series.

In addition to Twilight of the Apprentice and Jedi Knight, I'd add Legends of the Lasat and Trials of the Darksaber as some of the best episodes from any Star Wars series. Both are really strong examples of character development and world building.

 

I personally have Trials of the Darksaber ranked as my #1 all time favorite episode of Rebels.

 

I think either thrawn should have been introduced from the start or the grand inquistor should have stuck around. It’s ironic you would think the bad batch would have the same problem as they switch villains half way through season 2. But I feel it works much better.

 

1. Rebels
2. The Clone Wars
3. The Bad Batch
4. Resistance

 

I assume unless something goes horribly wrong this season my rankings will stay the same. This thread reminded me I still need to watch YJA