A/V Star Wars: Resistance

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Lego creations of the ace ships from the series.

 

So, they just cut the livestream of the panel just as they were beginning to talk about season 2. I'm quite upset.

 

Quite the “sneak peak”.


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Spoiler

The season 2 premiere should be accompanied by a ‘Tam in First Order pilot uniform’ figure

 

********. They did the same thing during The Mandalorian panel yesterday. I'm glad I didn't waste my time today.

Edit: I'd check Youtube or reddit for the leaks of the panel. There were several bootlegs for The Mandolorian that were relatively easy to find.

 

At least with the Mandalorian panel they told us that they were cutting it off. This time there was no warning. It was very abrupt.

 

The season two poster

 

Okay, so I sort of...missed Resistance when it first came out.

After a lackluster initial trailer, the truth is the show just dropped off my radar. When it eventually kicked off in the midst of gaming's big 2018 fall release cycle, there were simply too many other things I was eager to get into. Compared to the allure of ancient Greece or the Old West, Resistance fell by the wayside. By the time I remembered the show was a thing again, I was pretty far behind, far enough that I decided to stave off a watchthrough until the season was over and I could tackle it all from start to finish. (In my opinion, half hour series tend to work better that way, anyway.) So with so much Star Wars coming out of Celebration this weekend, I figured it was as good a time as any to catch up and knock out Resistance Season 1.

First off, let me be honest up front: this is not a show I wanted. When Rebels ended, given how much promise those last few minutes of "Family Reunion – and Farewell" seemed to offer for the characters and stories I'd come to love, jumping away so suddenly to an entirely new series about a bunch of complete unknowns was no small letdown. Further, I'm just not the biggest fan of this particular era in general, for a number of reasons. And everything I was hearing from both friends and marketing materials was that this was a show really geared toward a noticeably younger audience. Not as much as something like Forces of Destiny, but definitely more so than its predecessors. Long story short, this show had its work cut out, but I promised myself that I'd go in with an open mind and give Resistance a fair chance.

So right off the bat, I'm all in on the series' simple yet solid one premise. Spies. Covert ops. Valuable but neutral territory caught between the bigger powers, fighting in the background over a locale that straddles the line between high-speed tourist attraction and seedy shadowport. Bring it on. A much harder sell was what seemed as if it'd be the series' secondary plotline: young hot shot wants to be the very best (like no one ever was), and has to juggle his new mission with the chance to be a racer. Thankfully, that didn't really go anywhere, and for the most part, the show overall did an good job staying committed to its core premise, even as it occasionally branched out on character-driven and world-building tangents. Unfortunately, that also meant that the Aces that were so heavily featured in early promotion were basically just background noise.

Let's talk about the visuals. In short, I love the new art style. It's quite the departure from the last two big shows, but the cel shading adds a very cool new flavor to the environment and a hand-drawn charm that does right by the cast in every scene they're in. If Rebels was Star Wars through a Pixar lens, watching the new art style in action calls to mind the similarly beautiful visuals of Breath of the Wild, The Dragon Prince, or gen:LOCK, good company for any new 3D property to be in. Character designs look great, full of distinct little details and personality that are immediately readable at a glance. Plus the sheer amount of model diversity...good stuff. The painted skyboxes remain top notch, and I'm impressed with the ever-tricky addition of so much water to the series. Distinct from the art style, on the other hand, the actual animation itself was a pretty mixed bag. Some parts appear to have naturally progressed from Rebels, growing continuously more fluid, while other elements—like some character run cycles, for example—look even more stilted than the early days of The Clone Wars. I also don't care for the numerous instances of comedic cartoon deformation, or Kaz's old fashioned "sneaking" animation, but that's more a matter of personal preference.

As Star Wars settings go, the Colossus is a cool addition to the franchise. Reminiscent of the Wheel in some ways, the station feels like it was built for/from an RPG guide. It's remarkably alive and detailed for its "small" size, packed with more assets than I'm used to seeing in a first season. The nature of the community also offers a nice, built-in explanation for why the backgrounds tend to be full of familiar faces without resorting to early installment shortcuts like pallet-swapped Maketh Tuas, or that Gran at Jabba's doing his best General Kenobi cosplay. Yeager's shop and the more vibrant Tower areas are cool, but I think it was that first walk through the buzzing open-air marketplace that really helped sell me on the platform as the series' home. Z's tavern was also really well realized from the start—not as homey as the Oyu'baat, not as hostile as Chalmun's. I think I actually lit up when I saw the handful of arcade games off in that side alcove, too; I love bar games, and fiction never seems to want to include anything that isn't drab pool. The decals, helmets, posters, and all the little personal items littered around the bar, as well as the station at large, gave the place a surprising amount of character and history.

I realize I keep coming back to how good the 3D asset work in this show's been, so forgive me just a few more words on it. I really enjoyed seeing such a variety in the human characters, and even moreso in the aliens. Most importantly Buggles, who is spectacularly adorable. But there's also fat Rodians, cheery Nikto, Mirialans with new skin color...entirely new races like the Gozzo and Chelidae, and unexpected appearances from Bothans, Gilliands, and that one species from Bounty Hunter whose name I can never remember. And everyone has tattoos, jewelry, rags and goggles and tools—all these little accoutrements that give everyone in this place a sense of real living. The design of characters like Pyre almost feel lazy by comparison, though I think the show finally broke through my mental barrier of seeing FO stormtroopers as weird and wrong through sheer exposure. Add to all that the diverse and typically slick look of all the ships, and I'm pretty damn pleased with how much the creators brought to the table on this front.

Moving from sights to sounds, I unfortunately found the music in Resistance to be pretty lackluster. There were a few good uses of old pieces, but I never came away from an episode with a desire to hunt down a new track, something I'd done frequently during TCW and Rebels. Nothing really stood out enough to be all that memorable. Voice-work, on the other hand, was pretty great across the board. Scott Lawrence and Nazneen Contractor were particularly enjoyable in their roles as Yeager and Synara, consistently making every scene with them a pleasure to listen to, and it was great to see—er, hear—Sumalee Montano getting more Star Wars work. In addition, Suzie McGrath and Christopher Sean did a fantastic job with what I believe are their first ever voice roles. (Correct me if I'm wrong there.) The rest of the sound design is pretty standard Star Wars fare, which gets no complaint from me.

Now, the writing. The writing in Resistance is pretty middle of the road. Not terrible, not great. Adequate, if a bit simple, though with the intended demographic being a bit younger this time around, I can't really fault them for that. Twists tend to be fairly obvious, you can more or less understand a character in their entirety in the first five minutes of meeting them, everyone's constantly using kid gloves even when it stops making sense...and the season's big Colossus reveal was cool but not exactly shocking. Which is...ehh, fine. Younger target demo, I get it. Character-specific writing is largely decent, but reflecting back on the season, I'm really left missing that level of intimacy and heart that Rebels had. Where I was in love with the Ghost crew fairly quickly, Resistance's cast hadn't managed that same level of affection even by the end of the finale. Neeku was really hit or miss: he made me laugh a few times, I won't lie, but he also elicited no small number of eyerolls and sighs. Less was more. The overabundance of slapstick gags from everybody? That's up there, too. At the opposite end of the spectrum, "The Platform Classic" featured far more mature writing than I'd come to expect from the series at that point, both in the subject matter and how it wasn't just dealt with in an unrealistically tidy way for a needlessly cheap happy ending, but rather one that would be truly earned in time. I was genuinely impressed by that one.

Ultimately, the biggest issue I had with the writing—and it pains me to say this—has to be with Kaz. He just doesn't really work for me, not in the role they've given him. He's a good dude, don't get me wrong, and I by no means hate him. I just cannot fathom why, in-universe or out-, it was decided that this is the guy who should be entrusted with this mission. He's just not a good spy, not a good soldier, not even all that good a pilot really. I feel like the writers might've been going for a character cut from the same cloth as Zayne Carrick, but rather than someone clever and competent but cosmically unlucky, mistakes were made along the way and instead we got complete incompetence just barely kept afloat by unbelievably good luck. Try as I might, I can't say I love it, though I did see moments of potential that could really be grown out in future seasons, especially in the last three episodes.

All in all, despite several hurdles I brought with me when I went in, I came out of Season 1 with a largely positive feeling toward the series. While it had its issues, and I'm concerned for how the events of The Last Jedi might affect things, I'm nevertheless looking forward to what Season 2 might bring to the table.

 

Think we will get to see a force user in this season? A Rey cameo, or in FO perspective scenes, Kylo Ren or a KoR members.


Speaking of this show, it is still not my cup of tea. Part of it is that I don’t have much enjoyment in the ST era. Though I am keen on having a series that deals with Luke’s Academy/Snoke/FO background, the present day ST of underdog new Rebs vs Mark II Empire is lacking in appeal to me. I’ll still watch season 2, but I do wish this show was given a different direction.

Instead of Kaz being an inexperienced/dumb Reistance rookie just 6 months before TFA, have him be someone who join the group several years before TFA. Allowing more time for him to grow in the role. Giving the possibility of decant time jumps if needed (which Resistence is restricted if the rumor that IX is 1yr after TLJ is true) and fleshing out the New Republic more.

On the topic of the New Republic, it still bothers me that we got a star who’s home is hosnian prime but besides the 1st episode with those t-85 xwings, Kaz hologram father, the New Republic was left to just references.

Then once again we have to see the New Republic destroyed with practically no appearances of it.

 

Edit: sorry for double post, iPad issues.

 

The resistance panel showed the premiere episode of season 2!

 

neat, new TIEs. They look like a combo of Interceptors and Bombers. The X Wings are interesting, maybe The Colossus picked up a few more New Republic pilots. AND LMAO BUGGLES MADE THE POSTER!

 

Did they say/confirm in the panel that (a) it will be remaining on Disney XD and/or (b) any premiere date for Season 2 mentioned? I think I read that item a was confirmed, but it would be nice to hear it straight from the horse's mouth so to speak.

 

So only on DVD and not Blu Ray? The show was available in HD y'know.

 

That listing has got to be a mistake... some sort of internal placeholder that somehow got mistaken for the real thing. I can't imagine Disney would release the standard-def DVD without a simultaneous Bluray, and even the standard DVD wouldn't be priced quite that low. I'm not even convinced the release date is accurate - 8/20 and we haven't had an announcement on the official site yet? (though Disney has an unfortunate habit of proving me wrong on such predictions so I guess we'll see).

 

I'm desparate for news on season 1 release. Can't wait to pick it up!

 

Why, have you not seen it?

 

I hope us in the UK will get it !

 

I do hope there is more resisting in this season of resistance

 

yah it could be a goof somewhere down the line but I have seen just DVD releases for a few smaller audience genre types, Orville and Strange Magic off the top of my head are recent shows/movies that only got a DVD release and not HD physical (but could buy it online in HD).

 

Not to mention one a little closer to home.... Freemakers season 2.

 

Wow, color me stunned to learn that releasing anything on standard-def DVD and not Bluray is a thing in this day and age, least of all a Star Wars project. Disney+ will presumably have the HD episodes available to stream but at the risk of revealing my secret identity as a card-carrying Luddite, I'd still rather have physical media if possible. Ah, well. Maybe down the road at some point.

 

If true, once again shows just how little Disney thinks of SW: Resistance. I mean, just look at its time slot.

 

I didn't think people still bought Blu Ray releases, and that the fad was dying?