Star Wars Rebels

[Brickadeer]

I liked Spark. What I didn't like, though, is the Ezra-gets-captured-and-rescued-part. I think that escaping from an imperial Star Destroyer was much too easy. Another thing I don't like is that the Stormtroopers seem to be even less able to hit a target than the battle droids in TCW.

[Daimar]

Its a shame, that "Spark of rebellion" was so short. When they announced it I thought, that it would be 98 minutes, like the Clone Wars movie, and not, hardly 43 minutes.

[Brickdoctor]

Some further thoughts that weren't in the blog review:

I [also] don't think enough time was provided towards developing the Empire. This is a new show in a part of the timeline that I think most of the casual fanbase is unfamiliar with. If I were a casual fan, I don't know that I would be able to understand where this episode even took place in the timeline! We see the Empire, but other than that, nothing familiar from any of the movies shows up.

I loved how the music has been used in this show. It's got plenty of cues from the OT that are used pretty subtly, so you get the feel of the action through the familiar music, but it doesn't seem intrusive. In particular, I liked the six introductory notes that were repeated whenever it was hinted that Ezra was Force-sensitive, but never hitting that Binary Sunset moment until he found the holocron.

[Savage Oppress]

Episode 2 of Star Wars Rebels, Droids in Distress, comes on tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST on Disney XD. It will be on Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Itunes, Google Play, and Netflix tomorrow.

[Starrocks923]

Episode 2 of Star Wars Rebels, Droids in Distress, comes on tonight at 9:00 p.m. EST on Disney XD. It will be on Amazon Instant Video, Hulu, Itunes, Google Play, and Netflix tomorrow.

Read the last page, it was(And still is?) free on iTunes since last week.

"Rise of the Old Masters" sure has been screened for critics quite a lot. It's the episode after next week's episode, "Fighter Flight".

Fighter Flight is going to be a filler episode about stealing fruit and a TIE Fighter. Rise of the Old Masters has a surprisingly dark plot twist halfway through, and gives us our first real look at the Inquisitor"s favorite trap...

Edited October 13, 2014 by Starrocks923

[TeufelHund]

Boy Stormies are bad shots. In the last episode a dozen in a row shooting down a corridor couldn't hit the big purple dude. I swear they have more chance of hitting themselves than their opponents.

[montgocloud]

Episode 4, "Fighter Flight," is now on the Watch Disney XD website and app. Here is my review:

Overall, this episode was much weaker than the previous ones, but it still had some redeemable elements. But let me get this episode's weaknesses out of the way first:

1. Having a balance of action and comedy is about as hard as bringing balance to the Force

For the most part, I thought that the first couple of episodes balanced these pretty well. The action was light and fun but there was still a sense of danger. Unfortunately, "Fighter Flight" throws this out the window. The comedy is played up here to an extreme degree, leading to a lack of tension.

2. A one planet galaxy

I'm so confused as to why the Rebels always return to Lothal. It made sense in the last episode: they had a deal to trade the guns to Vizago (by the way, not to digress or anything, but I love that in episode 3 the Rebels knew the risk of doing business with Vizago again but did it anyways. It makes them seem much more desperate). But here, there's no reason. Just move on! Seriously, if Agent Kallus just surrounded the planet with a bunch of Star Destroyers, then he'd have the Rebels caught immediately.

3. Whatever happened to that TIE?

Did I miss something? Zeb gives Ezra a knowing look at the end when they claim to Hera and Kanan that they destroyed the TIE. Why would they grin at each other if they aren't hiding something? What are they hiding? Where is the TIE? It kind of seems like the writers left off the punchline to the joke.

4. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

I found myself screaming at the characters in my head a lot during the final action sequence of this episode. When Ezra frees the prisoners and they leap off, why do they immediately get up? HIDE IN THE TALL GRASS! THEY WON'T SEE YOU! And then Ezra stays on top of the Imperial Troop Transport! WHY?! JUMP OFF AND HIDE IN THE TALL GRASS!

5. Ezra and the Force

Now that I've pointed out everything this episode did wrong, it's time to list its strengths. For one, Ezra's learning of the Force is handled brilliantly. It's very similar to Luke's natural development. He struggles to focus, but he is steadily continuing to grow in his discipline. The sound effects are also a welcome addition.

6. Relationships

"Fighter Flight" goes in the logical direction of building on Ezra and Zeb's relationship after the events of "Droids in Distress." Much like Luke and Han, they aren't particularly fond of one another until they experience things together: they save one another a couple of times, exchange a couple witty lines, and realize that they're actually alike. They put their differences aside and become friends. If only the prequels could have done this instead of having the characters simply scream, "Hey, we're friends! Remember that one thing we did that the audience didn't see where we displayed our friendship? Man, oh man, that was a good time! I'm glad we say we're such great friends but we don't show this through our actions!"

7. Comedy... sometimes

This isn't a particularly big point, but as I stated before, most of this episode is comedy. Some of it is actually chuckle worthy though. So I thought I should mention that there were moments where I laughed.

[Artanis I]

Boy Stormies are bad shots. In the last episode a dozen in a row shooting down a corridor couldn't hit the big purple dude. I swear they have more chance of hitting themselves than their opponents.

It is ruining it a bit for me. They may as well just throw their guns at their opponents, they have just as much chance of hitting let alone killing them. It's especially weird after recently watching Legolas land every single shot he takes in LOTR...

I was very happy to see some familiar faces in this episode.

[Robianco]

I watch the second episode last night and I must admit that the whole scene with Zeb and the Stormtroopers was embarrassing... They were getting shots off at point blank range as he ran towards them and they missed completely.

Even as he lifted one by the throat the others couldn't hit him. He also battered around 8 of them and another 8 or so were still there... they must have cloning machine with them as there was only around 7 or 8 of them to begin with.

I'm enjoying it though. I agree with Brickdoctor on the placement in the timeline though. I think the only time I got the sense of the Empire being remotely 'new' was Ezra looking up at the Star Destroyer in the beginning of the first episode... Like it was something he hadn't seen before. I'm hoping the familiar face at the end of the episode means we'll be seeing him in a future set and maybe the chance of a Tantive IV set.

Is Flighter Flight available to view if people have seen the fourth episode?

[Starrocks923]

Is Flighter Flight available to view if people have seen the fourth episode?

Yes, Fighter Flight is on WatchDisneyXD app and website. Rise of the Old Masters is expected to be on WatchDisneyXD as soon as Fighter Flight has aired on TV.

The reason I mentioned Rise of the Old Masters is because it is the episode that Lucasfilm screens to critics. It was also screened at NYCC.

[Venkefedo]

I'm enjoying it though. I agree with Brickdoctor on the placement in the timeline though. I think the only time I got the sense of the Empire being remotely 'new' was Ezra looking up at the Star Destroyer in the beginning of the first episode... Like it was something he hadn't seen before. I'm hoping the familiar face at the end of the episode means we'll be seeing him in a future set and maybe the chance of a Tantive IV set.

The Empire isn't new, tho... it's been in charge for 14 years. The only "new" thing is it's extending its reach across the galaxy, taking more direct control of various systems. Part of that is explained in A New Dawn, with Kanan heading further & further away from the Galactic Core as the Empire extends its reach. It's a fairly recent arrival at Lothal in the show, it seems, tho its effects had been felt for awhile (hence Tarkintown).

I'm sure we'll see more of that ship... Ezra's 14, Leia's 14, it's bound to happen, having two Ahsokas involved in a mission with hormones & tempers raging (I imagine Ezra might echo Luke's first reactions to Leia in the hologram, only there's no danger of Lucas deciding a few years later to make them siblings... but his personality probably will have her reacting to him more like she initially does to Han). The Rebel Alliance isn't even a thing yet, and while I'm not really in favor of the Ghost crew being the main inspiration for it (could be worse... it could be Galen Marek forming the Alliance at the Emperor's behest!), being an inspiration/influence for it isn't a bad thing. I loved R2's decision to join them, and Chopper's fairly downplayed acceptance of him (ie, Chopper stopped being curmudgeonly toward him).

I hope they ease up on the "large groups of stormtroopers firing at the heroes with zero cover and missing all the time" stuff. It's tough enough arguing with folks that the stormies' aim in the movies isn't as bad as most people claim, but so far Rebels has gone above & beyond the entirety of the OT. One can only use "they're heroes, they can't get killed by enemy grunts" excuse so many times before it looks ridiculous... and it's already crossing that line.

I hope they explain the Imperial Academy more...and especially that they introduce another non-Imp Academy for pilots/crew somewhere in the Outer Rim. They've got the opportunity to return "the Academy" to what it was before the EU came along, into a flight school training aspiring spacefarers in the ways of piloting & running ships. That's one bit of the deleted Anchorhead scene I loved, it firmly established the Academy as a non-Imperial place--since the idea that Biggs or Luke would join the Imperial Navy just to get off Tatooine was so ridiculous. People gave high praise to Dark Horse's "Darklighter", but that whole story hinged on the fact that they left out the one part of the deleted scene that pointed to the Academy being non-Imperial (ie Biggs planning to jump ship & join the Rebellion rather than waiting around to get drafted into the military), just so they could have Biggs in an Imp uniform (with a cape!) and flying TIEs before joining the Rebellion.

Sorry, that's my pet peeve and the mention of "the Imperial Academy" in this episode got me thinking about it again.

[Robianco]

I'd not read A New Dawn so I wasn't aware of the timing and where exactly Rebels takes place.

Interesting that they've made Ezra the same age as Leia and Luke are (although I'm assuming Luke will remain hidden on Tatooine) with the Tantive IV making regular appearances.

I'm assuming then that Rebels is only set around 5 or so years before A New Hope? That would make me think that Bail is aware of several rebellious factions and looking to organise them in some way... maybe his interest in this group is down to intel that there is a Jedi amongst them. If they're keeping any kind of realistic timeline the Rebel Alliance that attacked the Death Star looked to have been organised for several years with the existence of at least 2 bases (Dantooine and Yavin) and the fleet of fighters they have.

I always thought that Biggs appearing with the cloak looked a bit silly as he was the only one wearing one in those comics (I think?).

[Brickdoctor]

The Empire isn't new, tho... it's been in charge for 14 years. The only "new" thing is it's extending its reach across the galaxy, taking more direct control of various systems. Part of that is explained in A New Dawn, with Kanan heading further & further away from the Galactic Core as the Empire extends its reach. It's a fairly recent arrival at Lothal in the show, it seems, tho its effects had been felt for awhile (hence Tarkintown).

The exact time the Empire's been in control and how much the show specifically addresses it isn't as important as the more general fact that there are no cues in the episode to tell us where it's placed in the timeline. We all know it's supposed to be during the Dark Times, because we've followed the show through its development, but I doubt the same can be said for the casual fan*. There're no familiar characters, no mention of familiar plot points other than the existence of the Empire in general, no background information given for context.

It's great if Rebels expands the now-newly-empty EU — don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everything has to be connected to the movies — but this is the premiere episode we're talking about. It needs some background information to tell viewers what's going on relative to the familiar stories, to establish a starting point for why they should care about the show and its plot (and its characters).

*Which of course begs the question: does the casual fan even care about this, or is it only us serious fans who even notice the fact that the storyline placement of the show wasn't indicated in the first episode? (and we know its placement) That's not something I can really judge, being firmly in more serious side of the fanbase spectrum.

[Venkefedo]

I'd not read A New Dawn so I wasn't aware of the timing and where exactly Rebels takes place.

Interesting that they've made Ezra the same age as Leia and Luke are (although I'm assuming Luke will remain hidden on Tatooine) with the Tantive IV making regular appearances.

I'm assuming then that Rebels is only set around 5 or so years before A New Hope? That would make me think that Bail is aware of several rebellious factions and looking to organise them in some way... maybe his interest in this group is down to intel that there is a Jedi amongst them. If they're keeping any kind of realistic timeline the Rebel Alliance that attacked the Death Star looked to have been organised for several years with the existence of at least 2 bases (Dantooine and Yavin) and the fleet of fighters they have.

I always thought that Biggs appearing with the cloak looked a bit silly as he was the only one wearing one in those comics (I think?).

It's officially set 5 years before ANH, yes (thus Ezra is the same age as Luke & Leia--but you're correct in thinking Luke should stay on Tatooine, still living his boring life; even a cameo by him would feel cheap--Beggar's Canyon is about the most exciting thing he ever experienced until getting attacked by Tuskens & meeting Ben!)

I also think Bail's investigating other groups; it's important to remember the Alliance's first victory against the Empire is the mission that saw them steal the Death Star plans, which probably only happened hours at most before ANH began. Many have argued over "first victory"... I tend to think of it as "first pitched battle", while in the months/years prior to that the Alliance lost every major engagement with the Empire, and only "won" in missions that weren't meant to be battles, hit-and-fade attacks, harrying shipping convoys, basically larger-scale versions of what the Ghost crew did in the premiere with the stolen blasters & food. For all we know, Dantooine was the first Alliance base, abandoned for several weeks/months before they moved to Yavin. They can get a base set up (and abandoned) pretty quickly, as we saw in ESB (Hoth was such a new base for them, they hadn't adapted the T-47 speeders to the cold when Han asked! And they were also still scouting for life around their base, not something that would've happened had they been there for months). The Alliance only really has to be around long enough for word to spread to the boonies, which should happen pretty quickly. Gossip travels faster than light! And for teens hating the Empire and wanting to do something about it, any word indicating resistance would be pounced upon. I think it's entirely realistic for the Rebellion to have only been in existence, in its Alliance form, for about a year, maybe two. As such, I think it's plausible for Rebels to end with the formation of the Alliance--tho it's also possible they'll keep it running right up to the beginning of ANH, in which case I fully expect the Ghost and any surviving crew to be involved in the theft of the Death Star plans... it's an obvious and cheesy end for them, whether they survive or not, but it would then tie the crew's exploits very closely to the movies.

I don't know if it's Kanan that's got Bail's interest, I'm thinking it's more just the fact that they're a small but, so far, incredibly successful group.

[montgocloud]

Another week, another Rebels episode! Episode 5, "Rise of the Old Masters," is much better than "Fighter Flight." It takes its time to develop Ezra and Kanan's relationship a bit more while still providing a fun action romp. Highlights include a pretitle scene reminiscent of Luke's training with Yoda, a bare knuckled fist fight between Kanan and a Stormtrooper, and the introduction of the Inquisitor. If the show keeps up this level of quality, I think fans are in for a treat.

[Tariq j]

I watched Droid in Distress a couple of days ago. And the Stormtroopers are clearly bad at fighting!

Still, I have yet to see Fighter Flight. Looking forward to the upcoming ones.

[Darth Punk]

I watched Droid in Distress a couple of days ago. And the Stormtroopers are clearly bad at fighting!

The only stormtroopers who can shoot well are too busy disabling sandcrawlers on Tatooine.

[PromocjaLego]

Yesterday I saw the first episode and Star Wars Rebels is very good.

[Mr Man]

I still can't get over how ridiculously bad those stupid wobbly lightsabres and solid drawn on lasers look. Correct the damn things in the films, don't make you animation look like crappy effects from decades ago, it's almost as bad as those pathetic points on the ROTS lightsabres.

[montgocloud]

I still can't get over how ridiculously bad those stupid wobbly lightsabres and solid drawn on lasers look. Correct the damn things in the films, don't make you animation look like crappy effects from decades ago, it's almost as bad as those pathetic points on the ROTS lightsabres.

While I agree that maybe the show shouldn't utilize the OT Lightsaber effects, please, I repeat, please, do not "correct" anything else from the original films. It's insulting. It replaces the work tediously done by others and takes away some of the charm. It's kind of like when Lucas completely reshot the Death Star battle in Episode IV using computer animation. All of the model builders' hard work was thrown away to make way for some magnificent late-90s CGI.

[Jedi-Bendu]

Another week, another Rebels episode! Episode 5, "Rise of the Old Masters," is much better than "Fighter Flight."

I think 'Rise of the Old Masters' was the best yet.....and I liked al of them.

This one was so good, I'm thinking of getting [spoiler ALERT!!!!]

the TIE Advanced set because the Inquisitor is included.

[montgocloud]

I think 'Rise of the Old Masters' was the best yet.....and I liked al of them.

Yeah, I totally agree. So far, I'd rate the episodes:

Spark of Rebellion: 8.5/10

Droids in Distress: 8/10

Fighter Flight: 7/10

Rise of the Old Masters: 9/10

Edited October 23, 2014 by montyofmusic

[Brickadeer]

I wouldn't rate any of the episodes as high.

This band of rebels is thrown into situations it shouldn't be able to deal with, whether it is boarding and escaping from an imperial Star Destroyer or whether it is escaping from a secret prison that functions as a beacon to catch Jedi that may have survived.

I didn't like the Inquisitor's "futuristic" lightsaber. Rather, Rebels should have stuck to the old-fashioned OT lightsaber style, which means one normal lightsaber per force wielder.

All in all, Rebels is fun and entertaining, and it leaves plenty of room for improvement.

[montgocloud]

I wouldn't rate any of the episodes as high.

This band of rebels is thrown into situations it shouldn't be able to deal with, whether it is boarding and escaping from an imperial Star Destroyer or whether it is escaping from a secret prison that functions as a beacon to catch Jedi that may have survived.

I didn't like the Inquisitor's "futuristic" lightsaber. Rather, Rebels should have stuck to the old-fashioned OT lightsaber style, which means one normal lightsaber per force wielder.

All in all, Rebels is fun and entertaining, and it leaves plenty of room for improvement.

I'd argue that the Rebels' escape from the Imperial Star Destroyer is just as plausible as Luke and co.'s from the Death Star in Episode IV. There's a certain suspension of disbelief one has to have when watching the show. It does cross this suspension unfortunately, but I don't think the ISD escape is one of those times. I think I was so enthralled by the inventive action sequence that I didn't care how plausible it actually was.

And on the topic of lightsabers, I really think that the Inquisitor shouldn't have a lightsaber. Rebels has a problem that carries over from the prequels: the Sith shouldn't have lightsabers. This is how I see it: Obi-Wan calls the lightsaber the "weapon of a Jedi Knight" and the Emperor mocks Luke's lightsaber in Episode VI when he says, "take your Jedi weapon." The only reason that Vader has a lightsaber is because it's a carryover from his days as a Jedi. He modifies it to be red because it's unique and intimidating. But then in the prequels Lucas gives all of the Sith lightsabers, even the Emperor. And they're all red. It ruins everything.

Well, now that I think about it, it would kind of make sense if the Inquisitor had a lightsaber, even with my OT purist logic. The Inquisitor is clearly fascinated with the Jedi teachings and customs. But it shouldn't be red. And it shouldn't have a ridiculous spinning function. How often is that spinning function actually useful? What if the Inquisitor was fighting, accidentally turned the spinner on and chopped his head off? If he's locking lightsabers with someone and turns the spinner on, would that push the other person's lightsaber away? Or is the power of the spinner not strong enough for that?

I'm clearly overanalyzing this.

Edited October 24, 2014 by montyofmusic

[Kintobor]

Well, now that I think about it, it would kind of make sense if the Inquisitor had a lightsaber, even with my OT purist logic. The Inquisitor is clearly fascinated with the Jedi teachings and customs. But it shouldn't be red. And it shouldn't have a ridiculous spinning function. How often is that spinning function actually useful? What if the Inquisitor was fighting, accidentally turned the spinner on and chopped his head off? If he's locking lightsabers with someone and turns the spinner on, would that push the other person's lightsaber away? Or is the power of the spinner not strong enough for that?

I'm clearly overanalyzing this.

I think the Inquisitor having a spinning lightsaber is more or less following the Rule of Cool. I also like how it's able to switch between the single bladed and double bladed lightsabers. It makes his whole dialogue with Kanan all the more interesting, seeing how he's probably so obsessed with Jedi culture and lore that he would know how to operate multiple lightsabers and styles (of course, I could totally be wrong here, and dual bladed lightsabers may be able to go single bladed, it's been awhile since I've actually watched any of the movies. ). It appears he doesn't actually have any connection with the Force, either, which I think is good in terms of his character. At least that's how I see it.