Star Wars Rebels Season One (spoilers)

[B.J.]

I must have missed something, where are y'all seeing these?

There's a podcast after each Rebels episode airs called Rebels Recon, they put a bunch of S2 concept art at the end of the recent one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xggYEpemcck
8:52~9:16

Thanks!

And yeah, it is cool that they're using the original A-Wing concept art, but it does seem a tad early to me to bring that particular ship in. My impression was that it was a relatively new ship for the rebels in ROTJ. Eh, I'm sure it'll look good! Maybe it's an earlier model?

 

[Reverend]

Darth Vader has only spoken briefly in a hologram and then later walked wordlessly out of a shuttle. I don't think they're in danger of overusing him anytime soon.

Still, it makes sense he would be on Lothal now. That's a lot of Rebel uprising to account for. Looking forward to the offworld action season 2 will bring for our heroes - still no word on when we'll see that.

Vader's probably only there for Kanan and Ezra, especially since they killed his Inquisitor. The rebellion is more Tarkin's concern.
That said, this may be the point where Vader's priorities shift from hunting down the last Jedi to crushing the rising rebel alliance, as the first time we saw him in ANH he was chasing down a rebel ship, presumably at Tarkin's behest.

I just wish they'd cast his voice better. Granted, Stephen Stanton is the same actor who played Tarkin in The Clone Wars, but he's just not as effective in the role as Peter Cushing was. I wish they'd gone with Wayne Pygram, who played Tarkin briefly in Revenge of the Sith and who, of course, was a magnificent villain as Scorpius on Farscape.

You may have answered your own question there. Pygram was only cast as Tarkin because he sort of looks like Cushing (in heavy make-up) and his voice is perhaps a little too recognisable as Scorpius. Also, to expect Stanton to equal Cushing is as unfair as expecting Taylor to equal Guinness.

I for one would like to see Mara. And if other Clone Wars characters can return then I hope to one day see Maul again.

Sure, if they bring Sam Witwer back. He's a really superb voice artist. And it seems likely they would, since Kenobi, Tarkin, and Ahsoka have the same voice actors as on TCW (though Yoda doesn't).

^Nothing against Tom Kane, but I'd say getting Frank Oz to play Yoda again is hardly a mark against 'Rebels'.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

And yeah, it is cool that they're using the original A-Wing concept art, but it does seem a tad early to me to bring that particular ship in. My impression was that it was a relatively new ship for the rebels in ROTJ. Eh, I'm sure it'll look good! Maybe it's an earlier model?

Well, if you consider the "Droids" series even remotely valid in your headcanon, then the R-22 Spearhead was a near-identical precursor to the A-wing, which itself is generally assumed to be designed after ANH:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/R-22_Spearhead

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/RZ-1_A-wing_interceptor

While we're at it, the big spaceship design has already been seen in TCW as a medical transport and other background ships:

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Pelta-class_frigate

Neat, I hadn't realized that the "comm tower" was basically the front part of the Consular Cruiser design from TPM. Also, all the ship artwork is slated to be in episode 201, so we will most likely be treated to these new ships right at the start of the new season. Keen.

Mark

 

[Reverend]

As far as I'm aware the idea that the A-wings were a new advanced design is an EU invention based purely on the observation that they didn't appear on Yavin or Hoth. There's no reason why they can't have been around a while, even if it's just a few years prior to ANH. Personally I rather like the idea that their design looks rather like a true successor to the old Jedi Starfighters, while the TIEs are a cheep, no frills knock-off.

The same could be said of the X-wings since they never looked like they were supposed to be as brand spanking new as the EU made them out to be. There's no reason why they couldn't have been around in the last days of the Clone Wars.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Oh, for sure - one of the things about Star Wars is that its narrative doesn't at all depend on techie stuff like what a blaster is or who can blow whom up with their spaceships. IMO, compared to Star Wars, Babylon 5 et al., spaceships, guns, etc. are just sorta THERE as part of the background tapestry supporting whatever the characters are going through. It leaves so much wide open to interpretation, far more than the average sci-fi franchise.

That said, it's nerds like us that revel in interpreting this stuff, so I like thinking that pretty much everything the rebels use is pre-existing (or based on stuff that is) and that very little was purpose-designed for them. There's more than just Kuat out there making everyone's spaceships, and it's a big galaxy. I'd like to see more rebels using captured TIEs, etc., but our heroes IN Rebels seem to excel at stealing Empire hardware in this first season!

Mark

 

[FPAlpha]

As far as I'm aware the idea that the A-wings were a new advanced design is an EU invention based purely on the observation that they didn't appear on Yavin or Hoth. There's no reason why they can't have been around a while, even if it's just a few years prior to ANH. Personally I rather like the idea that their design looks rather like a true successor to the old Jedi Starfighters, while the TIEs are a cheep, no frills knock-off.

The same could be said of the X-wings since they never looked like they were supposed to be as brand spanking new as the EU made them out to be. There's no reason why they couldn't have been around in the last days of the Clone Wars.

If you go by hardcore canon, i.e. only the official movies and nowadays TV shows (of which Rebels is the only one that is current canon) there is little if no explanation so you can speculate all you want.

However old EU clearly stated all this across various sources and it said that the X-Wing is a rather new design that was a contender for the new main fighter for the Empire but they went with the TIE and the engineers stole the plans for the XWing when they defected to the Rebellion.

As to their looks it's easily explainable because of the Rebellion's low ressources. Keeping them in visual top condition wouldn't exactly be a top priority.

The A-Wing is an even newer development by Jan Dodonna post Battle of Yavin.

 

[Christopher]

If you go by hardcore canon, i.e. only the official movies and nowadays TV shows (of which Rebels is the only one that is current canon) there is little if no explanation so you can speculate all you want.

According to the press release last April, The Clone Wars is counted with the movies as one of the "immovable objects" of SW canon. So that makes two canonical TV series, TCW and Rebels -- as Ahsoka's appearance in the latter confirms.

 

[Ithekro]

The A-wing kind of gets bounced around the timeline a lot. It is suppose to be a newer fighter for a long time. Then the LucasArts game X-wing came out. In that game, the Rebels have A-wings before the Battle of Yavin. The R-22 Spearhead mentioned above sort of covers that, making the designation "A-wing" more a code name or pilot speak that its official name. Perhaps they will mention were they got their fighters once Hera's group meet Pheonix Squadron.

It is the B-wing that is pretty much kept as being built after ANH with the help of Akbar. It is designed to give the Alliance a fighter with a lot of firepower to deal with Imperial capital ships, as the Clone Wars era Y-wings were just not cutting it anymore.

(I'd forgotten about the Old Republic frigates)

 

[Reverend]

As far as I'm aware the idea that the A-wings were a new advanced design is an EU invention based purely on the observation that they didn't appear on Yavin or Hoth. There's no reason why they can't have been around a while, even if it's just a few years prior to ANH. Personally I rather like the idea that their design looks rather like a true successor to the old Jedi Starfighters, while the TIEs are a cheep, no frills knock-off.

The same could be said of the X-wings since they never looked like they were supposed to be as brand spanking new as the EU made them out to be. There's no reason why they couldn't have been around in the last days of the Clone Wars.

If you go by hardcore canon, i.e. only the official movies and nowadays TV shows (of which Rebels is the only one that is current canon) there is little if no explanation so you can speculate all you want.

However old EU clearly stated all this across various sources and it said that the X-Wing is a rather new design that was a contender for the new main fighter for the Empire but they went with the TIE and the engineers stole the plans for the XWing when they defected to the Rebellion.

As to their looks it's easily explainable because of the Rebellion's low ressources. Keeping them in visual top condition wouldn't exactly be a top priority.

The A-Wing is an even newer development by Jan Dodonna post Battle of Yavin.

Yeah, like I said it was an invention of the EU with no basis in canon. What's your point?

The A-wing kind of gets bounced around the timeline a lot. It is suppose to be a newer fighter for a long time. Then the LucasArts game X-wing came out. In that game, the Rebels have A-wings before the Battle of Yavin. The R-22 Spearhead mentioned above sort of covers that, making the designation "A-wing" more a code name or pilot speak that its official name. Perhaps they will mention were they got their fighters once Hera's group meet Pheonix Squadron.

It is the B-wing that is pretty much kept as being built after ANH with the help of Akbar. It is designed to give the Alliance a fighter with a lot of firepower to deal with Imperial capital ships, as the Clone Wars era Y-wings were just not cutting it anymore.

(I'd forgotten about the Old Republic frigates)

^Which only highlights the fallacy of the old EU ever being "canon". There were constant contradictions, retcons, rationalisations and all that stuffy nonsense about "tiered canon" jiggery pokery. Honestly, the best thing to come out of the Disney buyout so far is their clearing the decks continuity wise.

Anyway, as for the A-wing (and the X & B-wings for that matter) it never struck me as terribly likely that a supposedly rag-tag band of rebels would have access to cutting edge hardware. Or for that matter that there could be any significant technological advances in a galactic culture that had supposedly been around for over twenty five millennia.

If those are truly new designs and not simply Old Republic surplus, or donated from some system's private militia, then a far more likely scenario is that the Rebels got their hands on some old manufacturing infrastructure (maybe some forgotten foundry world or droid run fabricator station) and used it to start building new custom designs based on existing tech.

We'll see what happens in season 2, but I won't be surprised if Ahsoka's new A-wing squadron is a project cooked up in secret by Organa. Sort of flies in the face of the whole "Alderaan is peaceful, we have no weapons!" thing, but I suppose that was always going to be the official line.

 

[kirk55555]

I liked the finale. The fight with the Inquisitor was cool, as was seeing adult Ashoka (I hope we get a few episodes with her next season). Vader arriving at the end, even though he just walked by breathing, was awesome. I don't expect that we'll see much with him, but that's to be expected. While this first season never really felt like a must watch for me, I did think it ended up being solid and hopefully its a good foundation for an even better second season.

 

[Cutter John]

I'm hoping the Y-wings will turn up soon. Just going by references from back in the day (The Star Wars Sketchbook, The Art of...etc) I was always under the impression that these older, reconditioned ships were the rebels first fighter. The X-wings came along later when the Incom design team defected to the rebel cause.

I guess I can live with the A-wings for now. At least structurally they don't seem all that different from the various Jedi fighters.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

If the A-wing has flight characteristics in universe relative to the X-wing similarly to those established in the LucasArts games, then the A-wing would have been ideal for the Death Star trench run in EpIV, an even better choice than the X-wing, unless an A-wing can't carry proton torpedoes, and this would be the only reason why it might be unsuitable for that mission.

 

[CorporalClegg]

This was really, really fun. I cheered when Fulcrum was revealed

Me too. I literally cheered. Out loud. I was like a little kid.

 

[Cutter John]

This was really, really fun. I cheered when Fulcrum was revealed

Me too. I literally cheered. Out loud. I was like a little kid.

While it was great to see her, I think I got more of a thrill out of the Blockade Runners coming to the rescue.

I've always been a spacecraft fan.

 

[ALF]

Sure, if they bring Sam Witwer back.

How prophetic!
http://makingstarwars.net/2015/03/s...r-wars-rebels-season-2-and-who-he-is-playing/

Still waiting on any news about when Season 2 starts. The press release style info for Celebration:

"This April, attendees of Star Wars Celebration Anaheim will witness the global premiere of Star Wars Rebels season two, which continues the epic adventures of the crew of the Ghost and further reveals the early days of the rebellion against the Empire. Fans will be the first to see the first episode of season two following an encore screening of the series' two-part season one finale."

How long could they possibly make us wait? Would season 2 start during/just after Celebration? Or could it take until October? The way it's worded (and maybe this is simply what I want to happen) is that season 2 rolls out in May or June, right after Celebration. We get new Rebels episodes (double that of season 2 according to FPJ) all the way up until The Force Awakens.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I apologize if this has been posted before but this video is actually very informative.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xggYEpemcck[/yt]

 

[Christopher]

While it was great to see her, I think I got more of a thrill out of the Blockade Runners coming to the rescue.

I've always been a spacecraft fan.

I'm not that huge a fan of Star Wars spaceships, but there was a nostalgic impact to seeing that ship design that I first saw when I was 8 or 9 years old. Here's an approximate transcript of what I said to myself when that scene occurred:

"Oh! That's a Blockade Runner. ...That's another Blockade Runner. ...That's a third Blockade Runner!"

Sure, if they bring Sam Witwer back.

How prophetic!
http://makingstarwars.net/2015/03/s...r-wars-rebels-season-2-and-who-he-is-playing/

I'm disappointed I won't get to hear his fabulous Maul characterization, but he's bound to be a better Palpatine than Tim Curry was. Nothing against Tim Curry as an actor, but he just doesn't sound anything like either Ian McDiarmid or Ian Abercrombie. From that clip, it sounds like Witwer can do a pretty good Palpatine impression. And he wasn't even really trying there.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Mike Stoklasa is the best Emperor voice!
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTpWzg4aiEU[/yt]

 

[Wadjda]

I apologize if this has been posted before but this video is actually very informative.

Silver lightsabers for Ahsoka. Suck on that mister only 3 colors Lucas.

 

[Beagleman]

Well we already had purple and wasn't Ahsoka's shorter "Tanto" lightsaber kinda yellowish?