A/V Star Wars: Resistance

any chance the appearance of Supreme Leader Ren (shown in the trailer) will be voiced Adam Driver? the not Domhall Gleeson Hux was distracting for me. Be a great promo for Driver's Oscar push!

 

I just caught up with these two, and yeah -- these are by far the two best in the season. Visually, they're stunning. And Gryff's unexpected role (and ensuing hilarity) in the first and Kaz's very sad -- if temporary -- farewell, and then confrontation with Tam, in the second were really great.

Seriously, Gryff is the most critically underused character on this show:

Kaz: OH HEY GRIFF GUESS WHAT?
Gryff (looking other direction): No.

Someone with a legit sense of humor, can somersault like a badass off the back of a flying animal, and has a long history with Doza and his equally-critically-underwritten break with the Empire -- why didn't they they use this guy a whole season ago? He could have added a lot to the Doza family's background, plus he's not a goof. I'm ok with the show's goofiness, but it often lacks something to balance it out.

I had been under the impression they introduced his brother early so as to bring him back later, but they haven't even mentioned him. Season 1 did a good job building up to that tragic revelation, then entirely dropped it after his brother Marcus's one episode. I did like how they sort of resolved it without Yeager being all "you're totally off the hook". At least he could look at his brother. But then Yeager's entire background and subsequent character development was mostly dropped from the series. For the first half of Season 2, he was just a background character giving instructions from the comm room.

Seriously, this show has a lot of genuinely good characters. They just don't know how to use them.

 

That's one of the bigger annoyances about this series. Even if they didn't know they were being cancelled until half the episodes had been made already, so many of those episodes feel like filler anyway rather than character development. Season 1 had slow but steady progress, with Yeager's background, the First Order moving in on the station, Tam's growing discontent. Now, here we are basically at the end of the season/series and the Colossus is still on the run from the First Order. Most of the cast from the first season was demoted to extra (Yeager particularly) and we haven't seen Poe since then, yet Kaz can at least make some contact with the wider Resistance network.

Maybe now with just three episodes left they'll do something bigger, but it feels like a waste. Hard to tell if the series was held back by the awful sequels or just bad writing in general. Season 1 had some of these problems too but instead of improving things just got worse. I just hope the next cartoon series turns out better.

 

What are the chances of them coming out with a comic sequel series of Resistance? Sort of like the Poe Dameron comics. It is a kid's show and kids love comics anyway, so...they can write a sequel comic that will pick up the threads that were dropped.

 

That would be a fun idea -- I could totally see a comic series about the Aces, or hijinks on the Colossus. Since they only have two more episodes (or three with the second being two parts), I doubt they'll do much with all the characters they introduced this season. The Torra/Imanuel/Venisa story looks like it's going to stay in limbo, unless Venisa comes back in the last episode. Same with Yeager's brother. Same with Kaz's... family... speaking of which, I remember some people in this thread making a joke between seasons 1 and 2 last year, that Kaz's dad probably knew about what Hux was doing and left Hosnian Prime before its destruction with all the other FO loyalists. And speculating that Kaz's family might be not-so-great people. That would have been an awesome Season 2 premise -- Kaz's parents are revealed to be these terrible villains, and Kaz is this innocent bumbling goof. But after a whole season, his parents have been barely mentioned!

 

I just watched the new episode that came out today...

Spoiler

And while I'm glad they're beginning to weave threads back together, and end some completely... this was rather "meh."

Doza decides to officially join the Resistance... which, until a few episodes ago, was something I thought he did last season.

Tam's squadron leader dies, and now Tam is Squadron Leader, and Rucklin is jealous. Ok. At least it's a plot development.

Torra's mother is back, she's cool.

Along with the New Republic pilot from the very first episode, and that Resistance spy from a few episodes ago. Ok.

But Kaz and the Aces are so completely shocked that the First Order shot down... a transport full of "innocent" Resistance recruits? And it conflicts Tam too? Um, did they forget about Hosnian Prime? And I wouldn't call enemy recruits "innocent." I don't know, that just doesn't make any sense.

Also, I think it's past time for a named character on the side of the heroes to die. It's really quite remarkable no one has yet.

 

Not just kids, but younger kids - the intended demographic is 6 to 10 years according to one report I've read. That fact is not given sufficient consideration when adult fans talk about how disappointed they are with this series IMO.

 

Yep. This is a step above the LEGO Star Wars in that regard. To the point that I'm not sure you can take it fully seriously as an accurate representation of what happens with someone like Kaz in canon. The events happen, but is he really this much of a buffoon? I'd like to think not.

Similar to the Freemakers.

IG: @jedisufism

 

I really liked the slow burn feel to season 1 but felt that season 2 lacked any sort of momentum at all. I stopped watching around the midpoint and now I think I’ll just wait for it to go onto D+ and do a full rewatch. Have the last couple of episodes been really good?

 

Good preview, though Kylo sounds funny.

 

What do you mean by saying this is "a step above" lego star wars? The Freemakers is a far more fun and entertaining series and can easily be enjoyed by adults as well as the youngest children. I would bet that a lot of 6 - 10 year olds would think the same of Resistance as a lot of us adult fans: stupid, unlikable characters and boring stories.

 

While "just assume the six to ten year olds agree with us" is certainly one way to mitigate adult fans not taking the target demographic into account when criticizing the show, I'm not entirely sure it's the best way...

 

Meanwhile, here I am 33 and loving the show. Frankly, in terms of first two seasons alone I think it is stronger than rebels and clone wars, and it is a real shame it won't go on to be as long as either of them.

-And for it being a younger kids show....dude, as someone who has a young niece (well, cousin's daughter actually. Not sure what the official term for that is) I have seen young kid shows, and they are not like this.

This is a story where one of the main storylines is about how nice, normal people can be seduced by fascism. If a live action show had the same storyline, there would be tons of articles praising how deep it is.

 

I have a 5 year old, 8 year old and 13 year old. They all love Resistance.

What I meant by a "step above LEGO Star Wars" is the seriousness with which we can treat the slapstick comedy as canon. I dont think Kaz could possibly be truly this goofy, just as a legit canon Freemakers cany be as doofy as they are.

IG: @jedisufism

 

The difference is, though, Resistance is fully canon. Kaz is canonically the way he is on screen.

 

Unfortunately, I don't believe we're getting any Adam Driver voiceover unless it was re-recorded for the episode after this teaser was created.

***

I'm glad others are enjoying the show regardless of your age and while darker/older demographic doesn't necessarily mean better, I think the target Y7 demographic didn't do any favors for me IMO and my enjoyment of the show.

Demographics aside, I understand that when season 2 was written, the writers were probably setting up stories to revisit later, but that didn't happen. So based on the 13 characters below, it feels like, going into the finale, we got storyline payoff concerning 3 out of 13. So as Season 2 comes to an end, it feels like 23% seemed to bear fruit while 76% did not.

1. Nena (the female Nikto engineer)
2. Flix, Orca, or any of Flix's family members
3. Kel or Eila
4. Mika Grey
5. Venisa Doza
6. Vranki (the Hutt)
7. Ax Tagrin
8. Norath
9. Captain Phasma
10. Hux
11. Leia
12. Kylo Ren (per the preview)
13. Poe

 

While it is futile I bet, I fear the finale is way too predicteable. At least when it comes to the fate of Tam Rivora. Remorseful last minute saving the day defection?

At this point I'd prefer them to pull a shock ending on us (like Rebels did so well!) and have the finale erase her doubt and become fully a FO Squadron Leader whereas Rucklin may get doubts all of a sudden and die for it anyway. Or she commits after the Aces vape Rucklin.

Kel, Eila and Mika Grey I expect to head off to the Resistance Base on Baatu to meet Savi who seems to prepare everybody for whenever Rey is ready to teach. Here too I'd say give us a shock: Have the kids or one of them kidnapped by a surprise appearance of a Sith Cultist from Exogol and the other kid and Mika head off into the unknown to look for it on a rescue mission (cue future tie ins regarding Exogol and a Kel vs. Eila rescue and redemption quick tale in another media).

Might it be too much to ask for a surprise cameo in the finale of some fanfavourite Rebels characters? or else a tie in to future yet unanounced animation projects?

I partially suspect the Colossus going to war will drop off civilians on Baatu or another quiet place.

 

Not in my head canon.

IG: @jedisufism

 

That is not true. While canon, nothing is 100% as on screen.

1) A long time ago in a galaxy far far away...

This sets up SW as a retelling of past events. All in every media you get is only a retelling, not the original past. However close it may come to said past is open for interpretation.

2) SW is told in various media each specifically targeted at various audience/viewer/reader groups and especially age ranges.

Therefore as we got in past and present, the same event is depicted by different media different. Young reader novelisation vs. adult novelisation f.e. is just one highlighting the differences. The same story filtered through different media for different target groups can leave out, reduce or expand the portrayed event. For younger audiences violence is scaled down f.e. Just compare kiddie books to adult counterparts, or kiddie shows to adult ones within the same universe. Kiddie books also often reduce security measures and danger levels to the point of it being fairly easy in kiddie books to break in or out of something while in adult books it is an entirely different challenge.

On screen is no excemption to that, especially not animation. Which depiction is canon of a character that had various artists draw him in animation, comics with different styles, etc.?

There is a visual canon, but depictions can vary. We had asian, latina, etc. Aphra and while asian will most likely win out, artists depict the same character different. Heck even different bodytypes depending on artist preferences!

Also some of Lego Star Wars like Freemakers is canon yet their depiction on screen is not to be taken literally!

3) How to make sure what you see is literally canon and not dependant on media, age group or else as noted above:

If something or some quality of something or someone is storyrelevant in a way it can not be removed without changing the story when altering age range, artist, etc. then it most likely seems to be truly canon.

F.e. Kaz clumsy stumbling around might a a fun part of the targeted age group of this animation depiction. Yet if his clumsy stumbling would f.e. be essential to him unwillingly flip a switch by accident that wins the day, it would be very canon.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/star-wars-resistance-ending-lead-actor-proud/story?id=68452372

Spoiler

With all the recent Star Wars hype — from "The Rise of Skywalker" ending a nine-film saga to "The Mandalorian" (and of course Baby Yoda) taking over the streaming world, it's understandable if you missed October's season premiere of another show set in that galaxy far, far away.

But as the animated series "Star Wars: Resistance" ends its two-season run with an hour-long finale this Sunday, the actor who plays lead character Kazuda ("Kaz") Xiono insists fans should not be sleeping on this show.

"Every Star Wars project has a place," Christopher Sean told ABC News. "This show is amazing, and it gives insight into what's happening outside the Skywalker storyline. That fun-loving adventure? That's all there, in our story."

The series finale wraps up Kaz's evolution from goofy spy into burgeoning Resistance hero who once watched the evil First Order destroy his home planet.

Along with a host of droids, aliens and allies including Torra (Myrna Velasco), Neeku (Josh Brener), Jarek (Scott Lawrence) and Captain Doza (Josh Hightower), Kaz spent season two on a series of nail-biting, hyperspace-jumping adventures desperately trying to flee the bad guys.

"This episode really revolves around everyone coming back together and doing the best they can to fight for the resistance," says Sean.

Kaz also struggled with losing his friend Tam (Suzie McGrath), a disillusioned mechanic who defected from the good guys to become a First Order pilot. Lately, she's been having second thoughts. Whether Tam chooses the light or dark path is a question the finale will answer.

Because the story roughly parallels the timeline of "The Force Awakens" film, a few characters have crossed over from the big to small screen, including Poe Dameron (and BB-8), Captain Phasma and General Hux. With Kylo Ren, the series finale features the biggest bad guy cameo yet. (Kylo is played by actor and Skywalker Sound audio guru Matt Wood, a veteran creator of several iconic character voices.)

"To actually have Kylo Ren on the show, I was freaking out," said Sean. "I'm so excited for everyone to see that."

Sean, who recently teamed with the foundation named for late Chewbacca actor Peter Mayhew to provide computers to students with special needs, says there is one thing about "Resistance" he is most proud of.

"The diversity, hands down. We have the first Asian American lead of a Star Wars franchise. We have black female pilots, we have Latina pilots," Sean said. "People come up to me dressed as Kaz, saying, 'I'm so happy I can finally dress as a character who looks like me, a character who has depth and layers, just like me.'"

"That, for me, is everything," Sean says.

The "Star Wars: Resistance" finale ("The Escape") airs Sunday night on DisneyXD and Disney Channel.

https://www.starwars.com/news/christopher-sean-and-suzie-mcgrath-interview-star-wars-resistance

Spoiler

“There is conflict ahead,” Suzie McGrath warns ominously.

The actor, who voices Tam Ryvora on Star Wars Resistance, has watched her character spend the show’s second and final season estranged from her friends aboard the Colossus and training inside the cockpit of a First Order TIE fighter. Now, as we prepare for the series finale this Sunday, McGrath and her co-star Christopher Sean say there are still plenty of surprises and emotional twists to come.

In some ways, joining the First Order is everything Tam has dreamed of, finally granting her the chance to be a real pilot. But the shift from outspoken mechanic to rank-and-file soldier hasn’t been without its challenges. “She joined the First Order,” McGrath says, “but she has not lost her heart or her morality.”

Then there’s Kaz “Kaztastrophe” Xiono, the pilot-turned-spy-turned-Ace. He has spent the entire second season recovering from the shock of watching his homeworld destroyed by the First Order and continuing to fight back, while simultaneously helping his friends aboard the Colossus find a safe place to call home. It’s been an emotional roller coaster for Sean, he says. “I came in just trying to be this leader and the great part about it is Season Two allows for that to happen. Kaz quickly grows into that role. He’s very aware of himself and his team and how important it is to get back to Tam. He’s adamant about getting her back,” Sean says.

“It just makes me so happy that Kaz hasn’t given up on Tam,” McGrath adds. “Because he could have so easily. To see him not giving up on his friend, I think that really is a testament to how far they’ve come in their friendship from the beginning of Season One.”

The pair — who have a distinctly sibling-like chemistry even outside the recording booth, talking over each other excitedly — recently sat down together with StarWars.com to reflect on the ways Star Wars Resistance added to the sequel trilogy timeline, how Kaz and Tam gave us a fresh perspective on the First Order conflict, and drop a few hints about what’s yet to come.

‘A lot of growing up’

Through Kaz and Tam, we have come to understand life in the New Republic from two very different points of view. At the end of the first season, Kaz was far from home and watching through a holo transmission as his planet was utterly annihilated by the might of the First Order. Starkiller Base ripped through Hosnian Prime and the surrounding planets, laying waste to the entire galactic senate and countless innocents who called the system home. The scene, previously witnessed in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, took on new significance through Kaz’s eyes.

Sean says he received the script for the episode the day before shooting, a typical practice to ensure that sensitive materials stay under wraps. “The night before I was really, really focusing on making sure that moment hit,” he recalls. “I read it and read it and read it over and over. For me, it was extremely impactful. Even though we’re all playing while we’re recording and having a good time joking around, I knew in the back of my head I gotta bring it.” He relied on his training as an actor, trying to find the right level of emotion to bring to the moment. “You apply all of the knowledge and all of the teachings that you’ve gotten into that moment,” he says. “I was like, ‘OK, well, it’s supposed to be you lose everything. How does that sound? Now make it bigger.’ You substitute, as well. What would it feel like to lose something you love? You think about that and you get yourself into an emotional state.”

For Tam, the granddaughter of an Imperial factory worker, the First Order meant something quite different — stability, maybe for the first time in her life. It offered comfort in the form of good food, and a guide in Agent Tierny who showed her compelling evidence that the promises Jarek Yeager had been making all had been lies to cover his involvement as a radical with the Resistance, in league with Kaz as a spy himself.

“I think for me things got a lot more serious, the stakes for Tam just skyrocketed,” McGrath says of her character arc. “She’s been pushed into this corner with so many different emotions and feeling betrayed and having to volunteer or fall into the First Order and then dealing with how she is naturally. Wanting to be outspoken and wanting to say her piece and do things her way, but having to really toe the line and take it seriously. We see a lot of instances throughout Season Two where Tam is called up to put her helmet on or let go of her former self, and so I think we see a big journey for her, a lot of growing up.”

The moment Tam stepped aboard the First Order ship, the regime represented hope and a means of escaping a life she was only just learning had been something of a lie. But throughout the second season, we’ve watched the character struggle with conforming to the new status quo and never really losing her compass. “I think we do see that in ‘Live Fire’ when they’re training and she helps Rucklin,” McGrath says. “That just comes naturally to her. We are seeing a back and forth between how she feels, what she thinks is right and humane, and the things she’s seeing. And being part of the First Order.”

The episode is still one of McGrath’s favorites. “It was exhilarating and I loved seeing the two sides training and finally Tam flying and doing really well at it. That felt to me that the character was getting what she wanted. And then toward the end the emotional scenes. We’re heading into the end of Season Two and there’s going to be some really lovely emotionally-led scenes, which are beautiful to play.”

Lessons learned

Walking into the studio to record “The Escape,” the series finale, felt bittersweet, Sean says. “It doesn’t feel real,” he adds, “but at the same time it’s such a beautiful ending. It’s such a beautiful ending! I can’t wait for everyone to watch it. I think we did a wonderful job creating such a strong parallel story to the sequel trilogy.”

“It was amazing to be seeing people who I hadn’t seen in so long,” adds McGrath; most of her episodes were recorded without the Colossus actors in the same session to heighten the sense of separation.

Stepping into the Star Wars galaxy has been transformative for the two actors — “It’s been life-changing,” Sean says emphatically — and an experience that helped them grow personally and professionally. Sean recently started working with The Peter Mayhew Foundation, a charitable organization started by the late actor who originally portrayed Chewbacca.

“The whole team, being there and being a part of the family,” Sean adds, rattling off a long list of people he’s thankful for meeting through the process. From the recording session director Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, to executive producers Athena Portillo, Brandon Auman, and Justin Ridge, to his fellow actors, Sean learned something from everyone. Breaking into an impression of actor Scott Lawrence, who portrayed Jarek Yeager, Sean recalls an early recording session when his excitement over his character’s physical comedy was making him a little too jittery in the recording booth. “Hey Kaz, you’ve got to plant your feet,” Lawrence told him. “Donald Faison, when he walked in and started creating his character Hype, that was amazing. Watching Bobby Moynihan and Jim Rash, Flix and Orka,” he says. “Being able to work with them and watch them was just phenomenal. They’re so funny. Josh Brener and all his ad-libs,” he says, making McGrath chuckle. “And Suzie, she just lit up the room.”

McGrath takes away lessons from Sean as well, she says. “Christopher has taught me that generosity is key. Because the way that he is in the recording studio, it’s just delightful. And it creates such a lovely, positive energy. You would say some lines and catch him looking at you waving, smiling, giving you the thumbs up,” she says, as Sean goes uncharacteristically silent. “It was so nice to get to work with you and see how you are, you know?”

“Thank you very much,” Sean says finally. “That’s really kind. Sorry, I got a little choked up there.”

“The best thing is working with such awesome people and then meeting the fans and watching everyone interacting and seeing how excited they get as the story’s progressing,” McGrath says. “It’s going to be fun,” she adds of the finale. “So get ready.”

 

Have they ever explained how Rucklin joined the First Order?

 

moral conundrums and setting up the finale and lots of space fighting! I really dug it, it's basically part 1 of a 3 part finale.

Where was he during the events of the S1 finale? Anyway, he's a huge jerk so he probably just naturally ended up there. Also I do think they ended up with Elijah Wood who is generally great so they just made him a baddie (also against type to have Wood who is a famous genre hero be a bad guy)

 

Ooooh BigAl you need to see Sin City!

 

So the finale happened