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

I'm not an Empire fan. I just thought it was silly.

 

Rebel scum.

 

Yeah, it was.

Stormtroopers were turned into a comic relief in Rebels, which personally I don't like. They're using them in pretty much the same way they were using Battle Droids in TCW. But while with Battle Droids the jokes worked, thou not always, with Stormtroopers its just plain stupid and annoying.

Its also creating weird scenes, when for example in this particular episode, the Ghosts are surrounded in the sewers by around eight Stormtroopers and they're portraying this situation as something serious. I'm sorry, but Ezra alone is capable of taking down eight Stormtroopers without any difficulties, not to mention the whole Ghost crew together. You can't have more than three seasons of portraying Stormtroopers as incompetent and at the same time portray them as a serious threat when it suits you. The Ghosts are portrayed as so skilled and capable in the show, while the Stormtroopers are pretty much on the level of B-1 battle droids, that I wouldn't have problems believing at this point if the Ghosts went against 200 Stormtroopers and won.

 

Yeah I know, didn't notice it in my first watching. Had to turn on the subtitles because I didn't understand what he said at the end, then I saw he said that.

 

Well this episode was fantastic. Easily one of the best episodes of Rebels. The story, action, editing, sound, and music really came together in this episode. I was particularly impressed with the cinematography and shot composition.

Spoiler

Stealing the Tie Defender was wonderfully staged and executed. I also loved how the humor of the Loth Cats was well incorporated and led perfectly into introducing the Loth Wolf and the mystery surrounding it. The inclusion of the Loth Wolf elevated an already excellent episode into pure magic. That's what Star Wars does best.

 

so regarding lothal, I betcha anything

Spoiler

Due to the new TIE defender elite, the alliance are going to acquire the x-wings and are going to come into play to go toe to toe with the TIE Dye's and that the scenes we see with the x-wings and tie fighters dogfighting in the trailers are going to be the alliance's attempt to destroy the facility there on Lothal.

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Spoiler

I think Thrawn just firing at the Defender with his pistol is a deliberate reference to the movie Patton.


JH24

 

Decent, but a step down from last time I think. Nice seeing fighter action, but there were some annoyances.

Spoiler

Stormtroopers unable to deal with some cats? And then deserting their post to chase them for, what, miles? Especially after we got some actually threatening Imperial forces last time...egh.

Though on the flip side, Sabine flubbed an opportunity to just strafe Thrawn into oblivion.

 

Overall a good episode

Spoiler

It was really good to see Thrawn again in the flesh
I actually laughed when those two stormtroopers chased those cats
You have to hand it to Sabine and Ezra for lugging that hyperdrive
The Wolf was bigger then I thought, but interesting none the less

 

While yes it was dumb, it was still pretty funny though

 

people are speculating that the two stormtroopers are really tag and brink or blink or whatever his name is.

 

Loved the episodes. Still tired of the bad guys being used as comic relief/incompetent. At least they're still badass in the overall lore. Still would be nice to see them taken seriously though...

The wolf is very curious. Almost certainly ties in with Filoni's comments about using the Force in weird ways this season. I know it's not literally Ahsoka, but I feel like it's connected to her in some way.

 

I'm still surprised how Thrawn send in three trained pilots against a Defender. He knew he was sending them to their deaths but he did it anyway; they never stood a chance. It's unsettling how little the lives of lower ranked Imperials matter. I mean, even trained pilots with experience and lots of flying hours are considered disposable. I understand Thrawn wanted to see the capabilities of the improved Defender, but there would always have been the next test model.

It again shows the darker and more calculating side of his character. Lives don't matter, they're simply a statistic on the road to getting results.

It's a chilling thought, and definitely made an impact on me during this episode. (Which is a good thing story wise)

 

I think the Loth wolf is some kind of Bendu for Lothal, a manifestation of the Force which is a peculiarity of the planet.

 

In the Rebels Recon, the voice actor for Ezra, Taylor Gray, mentioned the connection the planet Lothal has to the Force, so it could be something similar to Dathomir. Ahsoka could be harnessing the planets power, and manipulating the wolves as a mystic / shaman. I look forward to seeing more, as I enjoy when the Star Wars Force mythos is explored outside the Jedi / Sith.

 

Excellent episode. Loved the stuff with the TIE interceptor and the animation done on Lothal was outstanding.

 

Spoiler

Didn't really like this- after a good episode like Occupation this felt really weak to me
+ I liked the visuals like the dogfight with tie defender- the wolf was also pretty cool design-wise
+ Lothcats are adorable but it feels they went bit overboard with them- and seriously that joke with stormtroopers was pretty dumb- they actually run after them so that they leave their posts and entire base?! And Rebels have now proven that if lothcats and stormtroopers fight 2 versus 2- lothcats win..... Why rebels don't train lothcats then when they are so effective?

- I don't really like this overly mystical stuff in my Star Wars and that whole wolf sequence was pretty insane really.... this feels like Dave Filoni's personal fanfic more than serious canonical storytelling.... sure Star Wars has supernatural and mystical stuff, but still not in this manner- For example Luke sure saw Ben's ghost on Hoth- but Han still had to rescue him- no mythical wolf or anything delivered him to safety. Why Ezra gets this special treatment? It seems Ezra has specialty what comes to bonding with animals- he would be more in his element in another franchise than Star Wars, like How to train your Dragon or Pokémon etc.... maybe Ezra actually leaves the rebellion and goes to collect all 150 Loth-animals...
- I would have been ok if Ezra sees the wolf no one else does, and he follows it to mysterious temple or something, but that it actually delivered them from one place to another and knocked out Sabine and emptied her all memory of it.... this felt out of the place and actually pretty stupid plot device and shoehorning of Dave Filoni's favorite animal as some sort of old god of Lothal.... It was not a bad idea but it felt out of place and a bit forced to me.

Spoiler

I think it felt exactly like that deus ex machina- perfect example of deus ex machina in fact, that was the term I was looking for when I said it felt out of the place. It came from nowhere and saved the heroes in mythical way

 

you can't really argue deus ex machina on the wolf because they've dropped hints about it in previous seasons and it appeared throughout the episode rather than being a last-minute out of absolutely nowhere appearance. It seems clear that Filoni planned for them since the beginning, and judging by the trailer we'll see more of them.

 

I must have missed all of those. Is there some convenient list of examples somewhere?

 

All that I can remember are the cave paintings in the Jedi temple and Ezra saying "Loth-rat, Loth-cat, Loth-wolf, run. Pick a path and all is done." back in season 1.

 

Sabine has one on her shoulder pauldron for season 1