Hi All!
I thought this can be a good place to discuss episodes of Star Wars: Rebels which has now premiered in the United States with a one hour “movie” on DisneyXD – viewable through their web player with cable subscription. Weekly episodes start 13 October.
Who all has watched “Spark of Rebellion” so far?
I’ve seen it and throughly enjoyed it, it’s about time the clone wars ended.
Just finished watching it…I felt it went a little too quickly by things. Would have wished for the “lightsaber moment” to have been something a bit bigger, especially with how Kanan acts in A New Dawn. However, I really liked the action and it was a fun watch. Felt very SWsy and old-school. Looking forward to further episodes and learning more about all the characters.
Yeah I enjoyed it. Watched it with my daughter (the two of us watched all of the Clone Wars over the past year) and she enjoyed it too.
I’m still not 100% sold on the art style and like Halc said, it felt a bit rushed at points. Good jumping off point for the rest of the series though.
as much as I am not a fan of the cgi-animation of both this and the Clone Wars, this was pretty solid. What I did like a lot was the attention to detail. The lightsaber bladfes in Rebels more emulate the effects from the original trilogy than the prequel trilogy. The flicker a bit and aren’s a constant glowbat of color like the prequels showed. I do think that the reveal of Kana to be a Jedi was not played up to massive effect, but then again, it’s a bit hard for modern audiences to deal with ‘Oooh, jedi are super rare’ when they’ve been swarmed with them for the past forever.
Maybe I’m not the only one that remembers, but the original clone wars cartoon was a lot cooler, and was released in ‘real time’, between episodes 2 and 3, with the second ‘season finale’ leading directly into Revenge of the Sith. That sort of thing made a lot more sense for the kids, who wouldn’t be expecting the tragic (for the jedi) ending that the Order experiences…but then again, we have to keep reminding ourselves that we, the existing fans, are not their only demographic. they’re trying, much as we are, to get new fans hooked.
I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Really hope they flesh out the characters well and evolve Ezra (worst choice in names) into a likeable character who isn’t a combination of Han and Luke. He’s stupidly cocky but also naïeve and the way he is right now bugs me.
Also as a bit of trivia I loved that the shanty they visited to give the food to people is called a ‘Tarkintown’ a really nice echo of 'Hoovervilles" from the depression era.
I want to believe that this show is targeted at all fans and not just kids. Excited to see what the next episode brings!
I’m a HUGE fan of the Gendy series. I guess none of that is canon, but it’s still fantastic Star Wars and animation. Really great stuff.
Definitely, especially since there’s a whole generation of fans (TCW group) that in some cases have not even seen the OT and if they have just don’t see Luke/Han/Leia as being that cool. There’s definitely an old school SW vibe going on.
What I’m most interested to see play out is how they develop episode after episode focused on this single group of characters. TCW would break away from Anakin/Obi-Wan now and then, but apparently Rebels is going to focus on the Ghost crew in the way the OT focuses on the trio. 15 episodes to go, I guess!
Agreed, also did you notice the first time Ezra gets his hands on the lightsaber, he plays with it for a bit and then when deactivates it and his hand sort of “jerks” a little bit, like Mark Hamill in ANH (from them swapping out the prop with a blade to the prop without the blade and it not being held in exactly the same position)?
It’s very subtle, but made me go “huh”. Don’t think I every saw them do that in the prequels or TCW.
Watching episode 3 at the moment, one question for the imperial nerds: can TIE Fighters hover… In an atmosphere?
Originally, I don’t think TIE Fighters had any form of repulsor-power that would allow them to hover in atmosphere. Of course, with all this new stuff everything we knew is wrong! heh.
I’ve seen the tv movie and the first ep so far and i quite enjoyed them, they are a good start to what I hope is a long series. Mainly because the potential for EU characters and even some unresolved stories from Clone Wars like Ahsoka and Maul. Even Galen Marek could eventually have some screen time considering the importance of his actions in the formation of the Rebellion.
Edit: I just finished watching the Art Attack short from Rebels and in it Sabine sprayed what i’m guessing was the rebellion symbol on a tie fighter. Something i don’t understand though is that in The Force Unleashed, it’s shown that they take Galen Marek’s family crest as the symbol for the rebel alliance.
The events of TFU take place 3 years after Rebels so i’m a little confused as i thought TFU is considered canon.
No, TFU is not considered canon…not at all. None of the games are, and I think TFU itself was considered even “less” canon than other games. It basically did it’s own thing 
Right now, the only things that are actually canon are the movies, Clone Wars animated series and Rebels. New novels and comics coming out will also be considered canon
Ah ok, thanks for the info. Dissapointed though, I loved how the Rebellion was formed in TFU
What does everyone think of the Inquisitor now that we’ve had three episodes with him as a clear villain? Cool, good lightsaber battles?
PS - read an article that suggests Hera’s secret contact is…ASHOKA. Total rumor.
I like the inquisitor to a point. Love the idea of him being an Utapau but I dislike his armor and I just can’t buy the spinning lightsaber thing.
I mean the cross saber foolishness from the trailer is hard enough, but atleast those crystals would still be aligned to a point. I just can’t wrap my head around how a cohesive beam generated through a lightsaber crystal matrix could exist to the point where it could spin the created blades around itself.
Also his armor, I feel is very TOR Sith Warrior (lvl 15-25). I always want an “Inquisitor” to look like Jeric, you know really dangerous looking robes and the like. What he wears now is just comical.
All that said I think he has potential as a foil to Kanaan.
Man I hope not. I couldn’t stand her in the Clone Wars and I actually enjoy rebels so I hope they don’t try to wedge her in there. I mean just let her be dead and die a valiant and noble death.
So Just have one thing to say about the latest episode… LANDO!
Am I the only one who is disappointed with just how much of a caricature is made of the Empire? They’re depicted almost entirely as a nasty, evil, but largely incompetent government.
Sure, I accept that the ISB dude is a dick - but the average Imperial officer doesn’t need to be. Nor would half of these people have realistically made it through the academy - far too many elementary mistakes even for a planetary force that I imagine wouldn’t be anywhere near anyone’s first choice. However, the arrival of Tarkin shows that the ‘Rebel cell’ (really? There’s less than ten of them. And they’ve not done all that much damage to justify a Grand Moff coming to deal with it) is considered a real threat. So wouldn’t that justify for a stronger force?
Well…I understand your comment but…the Empire is the bad guys, the villains. You can humanize them at points (like they did at points with some Separatists on TCW and I’m sure they’ll do with Imperials over time…it’s only been 14 episodes), but at the end of the day fascists are fascists. “It’s just a job” was disproven at Nuremberg.
Regarding how the troops are bad at their job, Pablo Hidalgo actually answered that question during one of the Rebels Recon behind the scenes videos. He said that there’s a range of troopers. There are great stormtroopers, but they’re probably on Coruscant or Alderaan. Does Lothal get the top recruits from the Academy? Probably not.
And the “Rebel cell” is small but supposedly contains a Jedi. I think Tarkin shows up more for show than force (at least in the beginning). He doesn’t think Kanaan is a real Jedi, but has to prove that to the people in order to calm disorder.
And the Lando episode was great. Super great!
Also, at it’s core it’s a kids show (despite how dark that scene with the inquisitor in the last episode was). It’s probably (considered) easier for a kid to grasp “these are the good guys, these are the bad guys.”
Muddy the waters too much and you may confuse your target audience.
Quite true. The Clone Wars are super kiddy in the first season, too. I don’t think it’s fair to compare Rebels Season 1 to Clone Wars Season 6.
Oh man that scene was dark. I kinda liked those buffoons when I saw the inquisitor walk behind them I honestly gasped. I think it’s about to get a bit more gritty now that Tarkin is in the mix.
Ok so I don’t want to let any spoilers out because I know not everyone has seen the most recent episode but I have to say something about it. It was to this point the best use of the majestic score of John Williams that I have heard outside of Empire Strikes Back.
I was so up and down emotionally with the episode because the music made me be that way. I was on the edge of my seat, then I was triumphant, I was pensive and scared, I mean the whole gauntlet of emotions in a 30 minute episode. So well done. One of my favorite episodes so far aside from the one with Yoda in that weird temple under the mountain.
I get that saber battles need to be cinematic and all; but always with the giant rooms with many levels of thin catwalks?
Is everyone that’s building something in the Star Wars universe contracting the same architect with a fetish for tight rope walking?
Let’s talk season finale.
What an episode! Awesome lightsaber duel, Ashoka, Vader! All around great piece. I think we’re starting to see the show take shape.
A review I read mentioned how double bladed saber versus dual wielded sabers seems like the next step before the cross guard saber in Ep 7. I thought it was great. Super fun. And I’m excited to see grown up Ashoka in action next season.
I have a feeling they may end up down playing her part a touch. A fan favorite like that could easily end up stealing the show from the new cast of characters.
I don’t think she will be in ever episode, but the last Rebels Recon video suggested she will come in and out regularly. At least more than brief premiere/finale appearances. Same with Vader, who I suppose is the new villain now that the Inquisitor is surprisingly dead…
Oh man when Tarkin came down the ramp and said the Emperor had a solution to replace the inquisitor I knew it had to be Vader. Even still when I heard the first breath a did a fanboy squeal and got this stupid smile on my face.
I dont really care for Ashoka, I’ve been told she becomes more tolerable as the Clone Wars went on but I guess I never got that far. I honestly had the same issue with Ezra (still hate the name) but he seemed to grow up quickly and get passed that phase to me.
I actually read the Rebels novel and it really fleshes out Kanan and Hera. Its also a pretty good adventure. I’d really like to see their relationship develop. I also want to see Kanan discover that Vader is Anakin and see how that goes.
Also a question. So do they some how retcon these characters to fit into the OT or do they kill them off? Personally I’m in the camp with Harrison Ford “Just kill him off”
Well, it’ll certainly be interesting to see Ashoka meet Vader…Yeah, she’ll die in that fight.
Well, just like in real life dictatorships, the people who are going to get ahead aren’t going to be the idealists, or the freethinkers; it’ll be the bastards who agree with, or are willing to fall in line with, the Empire’s racist, supremacist philosophy, or the ones the Emperor can easily manipulate, It would not surprise me if the ones with talent, but a freethinking mindset all had “accidents” courtesy of higher ups like Tarkin.
I also read the novel and very much enjoyed it. I’m not sure I’d like Kanan’s character as much if I didn’t know the backstory. He’s a bit of a douche otherwise.
Yea…gotta happen eventually but hopefully they take a lot of time building up to it. For example, does Ashoka even know Vader is Anakin? I doubt it.
But if they do meet, do you think we’ll see a glimpse of Vader’s later turn back to the light at seeing his old apprentice again? (spoiler alert?)
Let’s see if we can get this thread going again!
What are people’s thoughts on season three so far? I am a fan of Thrawn, but overall I think the season has been slow. There have been a lot of one off filler episodes (like Warhead) and while the latest with Sabine training to use the dark saber was interesting, it still feels like a delay tactic.
The entire reveal of Obi-Wan and the path to “destroy” the Sith was fantastic. And it shows that Kanan/Ezra are not meant to destroy the Sith (which we already knew), and it will be interesting to see what happens to those two as they cannot stay on the board forever.
Warhead was filler, but I did like the Sabine-episode as she’s a character we really haven’t delved into much over the years.
I’ve generally enjoyed this season and the little cat-and-mouse game going on. There are a few big threads running (Thrawn, Mandalorians & Sith/Maul stuff), meaning the end of the season will be huge.
Agreed! The Maul v Kenobi battle should be epic. These things always build up to huge two part finales, but this seasons seems to have more filler than others. Alternatively, perhaps I am less starved for Star Wars content these days and thus setting a higher bar.
I suspect this season will end with Maul v Kenobi and Mandalorians v Thrawn. Skeptical they take out Thrawn after only one season, but the last two season villains have died so…