Star Wars Rebels Season Four (spoilers)

[Christopher]

I think there's zero chance you-know-who and you-know-who leaving to find you-know-who, will just be left there; I suspect a spin-off series. And I bet it's been in the works for a while now.

Filoni said in an interview that he wasn't thinking about the next series while he was working on the current series; his priority was to wrap up Rebels before deciding what to do next.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/we-tackle-your-burning-questions-after-the-star-wars-re-1823524129

Spoiler

So many people were obsessed with everybody dying [on this show]. I was really bewildered by it because I’ve seen the original trilogy of Star Wars that people like so much and it’s not like a death count type of movie. It’s a rather positive outcome, which I enjoy. I’ve always felt the best stories end and other stories begin and there’s no better way than to take two of my favorite characters and have them ride off into the sunset like I’ve seen in cowboy movies and Indiana Jones. And you just wonder, “What do they get to do? “I always like that in stories. One thing ends another begins, the story continues and that’s a saga.
...
From the final moments of the show, when Sabine goes off with Ahsoka to find Ezra, it seems pretty likely that story could serve as the beginning of whatever Dave Filoni is working on next. However, when asked about his next show after a screening of the finale Friday, Filoni was very noncommital.

“Obviously, it’s intriguing,” he said. “It would probably make a good story... So I don’t know, we’ll have to see. There are so many stories to tell and I’ve been busy finishing this story. To think of another one while I’m doing that, that would just be not right. I have this crazy thing. I have to know what the story is about before I tell it.”

To which the person who asked the question replied, “You know what it’s about. They’re looking for Ezra!”

Filoni laughed. “No, no, no. It’s a bit more than that. So we’ll see.”

So for him, it was more about just showing that the characters' lives went on, because he thinks that's a better ending than just killing everybody. I think the ending of Rebels is more a story seed that's being left there as a future possibility. Series writers do that a lot -- give themselves options, set up possibilities that may or may not get picked up on. Filoni probably has (or had) to have conversations with Kennedy and Hidalgo and the network heads and the toy companies and whoever to figure out what they all want to do as the next show, and how it fits into the movie strategy and responds to the latest marketing trends and whatever. So they probably want to leave themselves a range of different options, rather than fixing themselves pre-emptively on a single path.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

A satisfactory conclusion to the show. Random thoughts:

Spoiler

- Somehow I was expecting more direct linkage to the events of R1 / ANH, but this closes up the Lothal story which was the primary storyline after all. Still, through my mind as I was watching this I was constantly thinking about the NEXT step of KEEPING the Empire off the planet - sure you can blow up a Star Destroyer (Or several! The Ghost crew is directly responsible for the destruction of a good dozen of these behemoths at this point!) but the Empire has unlimited resources not more than a phone call away.

- I guess you can rationalize it that the gang fended them off for a while but then the DS came along, went poof, and made Lothal a secondary target as the Empire geared itself to pursue the open Rebellion. I have no doubt that Lothal would have been on the short list of places for the Death Star to evaporate, but like Dantooine it's far too remote a location to be a suitable place to demonstrate the Empire's power and thus was lower on the list.

- Funny, I always pronounced it "PAY-leon". I musta heard it that way in one of the audio novel readings - the same ones that called it "KOH-rus-KANT".

- Wow, the space whales literally came out of nowhere. While not an illogical thing, they could have done a little more foreshadowing of this besides beating us over the head with just how well Ezra can talk with wolves. And it WAS pretty much only him talking with the whales before, no? How did NotWedge Whatsisface know to find them, let alone talk them into a frontal assault?

- Ashoka came to pick up Sabine in a T-6 shuttle, seen in various episodes of TCW. We aren't given an explanation for why SHE wasn't around in the OT limeline when her help surely would have been useful; in my mind she popped back into the real world at some later point in time than when Ezra came out (as those portals apparently lead, or communicate events from all over the SW timeline) and picked up from there, or that she really was stuck on that planet for quite a while before she could thumb a ride offworld.

- That little piggy guy was such a drama queen. How he went down after getting shot. Also, "They CAN fly..!".

- Palpatine disguising himself makes perfect sense, but who was he trying to fool? They imply it was Thrawn, just in case people don't believe the comics / novels. But surely not Ezra, who saw him in the Void just recently and without the extra makeup. And in any case, was his ascension to Emperor a closed session of the Senate? He showed up there in full melty regalia for all to see.

- All told, this was a pretty bloodless finale for the heroes, with only a lesser-seen clone killed with little consequence or raising of the stakes for the rest of the people there. Hondo got more fired up at the passing of the piggy.

- Palpatine could Force-jimmy Ezra's manacles at a distance! Take THAT, TLJ haters. :P

- On that though, major props to Rebels and TCW as a whole for being able to explore and naturalize so many show-exclusive elements of the Force, in such an organic way that you barely ever hesitate to question just why THESE guys can do really incredible things while bloody murder is screamed when someone does something weird or new in the movies.

- Wherever Ezra and Thrawn (and surely the thousands of crew on Thrawn's ship?) pop out of hyperspace, I'm hoping there's air. Unless the space whales can pass gas into the bridge long enough for two people to head for cover?

- Everyone was so worried about bringing down the Star Destroyers on top of the city, but when the dome leaves, it apparently goes straight up before exploding and doubtless raining firey liberation atop the hapless denizens...

Mark

 

[Tosk]

Great catch, I so look forward to soaking up all these details on a rewatch!

One I like,

Spoiler

in the third-last ep, Ezra sees Kanan's final moments through the portal and later tells Hera that he knows what he has to do now, Kanan has taught him one last lesson. In the finale, Ezra ends up doing pretty much the same move Kanan did, using the force push in two directions held long enough to save the day. It may or may not have been a literal lesson, but I like the symmetry.

 

[Tuskin38]

Odds are the next show is already well on the way. I expect an announcement to that effect to pop up some time around May, with a premier date set no later than Q4 2018.

That seems unlikely. Pablo hinted we might find out what's happening at the next Celebration, which isn't until 2019.

We also have a Live Action series coming in 2019.

Hahahaha! (Something that happens in A Fool's Hope)

Spoiler

Hera's manuever at the end of A Fool's Hope when she spins the Ghost hard and takes out the last Imperial gunship is EXACTLY the same move Han Solo does with the Falcon vs the TIE in the Solo teaser!

According to the Episode guide it was a coincidence, both productions came up with it independently.

 

[tharpdevenport]

A satisfactory conclusion to the show. Random thoughts:

Spoiler

- Wow, the space whales literally came out of nowhere. While not an illogical thing, they could have done a little more foreshadowing of this besides beating us over the head with just how well Ezra can talk with wolves. And it WAS pretty much only him talking with the whales before, no? How did NotWedge Whatsisface know to find them, let alone talk them into a frontal assault?

I hate those things. That was one of the rare things in this series I was hoping to NEVER SEE AGAIN.

Spoiler

- Palpatine could Force-jimmy Ezra's manacles at a distance! Take THAT, TLJ haters. :P

Worse -- through a fucking hologram!

Spoiler

- Wherever Ezra and Thrawn (and surely the thousands of crew on Thrawn's ship?) pop out of hyperspace, I'm hoping there's air. Unless the space whales can pass gas into the bridge long enough for two people to head for cover?

That's going to take several baths to get out.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Worse -- through a fucking hologram!

He did that back in The Clone Wars.

 

[Christopher]

Palpatine could Force-jimmy Ezra's manacles at a distance! Take THAT, TLJ haters. :P

In Empire, Vader strangled an officer to death over the viewscreen.

Spoiler

Everyone was so worried about bringing down the Star Destroyers on top of the city, but when the dome leaves, it apparently goes straight up before exploding and doubtless raining firey liberation atop the hapless denizens...

There was a line establishing that it was safely over the ocean.

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

In Empire, Admiral Ozzel was on the same ship at least. In this case we're presumably a fair fraction of a galaxy away. Same principle, I'd admit.. Range matters not.

Mark

 

[tharpdevenport]

He did that back in The Clone Wars.

It was stupid then and it's stupid now.

It's just as stupid, to me, as Troi sensing emotions through subspace communications.

 

[Reverend]

Spoiler

- I guess you can rationalize it that the gang fended them off for a while but then the DS came along, went poof, and made Lothal a secondary target as the Empire geared itself to pursue the open Rebellion. I have no doubt that Lothal would have been on the short list of places for the Death Star to evaporate, but like Dantooine it's far too remote a location to be a suitable place to demonstrate the Empire's power and thus was lower on the list.

Spoiler

Though we don't know the exact timeframe, it's possible this incident is mere days or weeks prior to RO. So yeah, the Empire suddenly found it had bigger fish to fry. A detail often overlooked is that Lucas's idea was for the events of ANH to inspire about a thousand systems to openly rebel. While I'm sure Lothal would have been on the Death Star's priority kill list (right after Chandrila & Mon Cala) once that was blown up, the Imperial Navy would suddenly have more targets than fleets, most of which could have been much more materially valuable to the Empire. Indeed, between the disappearance of the temple and the destruction of the factory complex, Lothal would have been considered a total loss.

Spoiler

- Ashoka came to pick up Sabine in a T-6 shuttle, seen in various episodes of TCW. We aren't given an explanation for why SHE wasn't around in the OT limeline when her help surely would have been useful; in my mind she popped back into the real world at some later point in time than when Ezra came out (as those portals apparently lead, or communicate events from all over the SW timeline) and picked up from there, or that she really was stuck on that planet for quite a while before she could thumb a ride offworld.

Spoiler

Personally I think she was focused on keeping her promise to go looking for Ezra and spent the OT out searching for clues.

Spoiler

- All told, this was a pretty bloodless finale for the heroes, with only a lesser-seen clone killed with little consequence or raising of the stakes for the rest of the people there.

Spoiler

That death wasn't meant to be a personal loss (after all, a clone dying in battle is nothing new, especially for Rex) it was about a clone dying for a cause they chose, not one they were bred for. Reaffirming the influence the Jedi had on their individuality.

Spoiler

- Everyone was so worried about bringing down the Star Destroyers on top of the city, but when the dome leaves, it apparently goes straight up before exploding and doubtless raining firey liberation atop the hapless denizens...

Spoiler

I think there was a line in there somewhere about the complex being far enough over the sea before it was detonated.

Worse -- through a fucking hologram!

Totally unprecedented!

 

[The Wormhole]

And in any case, was his ascension to Emperor a closed session of the Senate? He showed up there in full melty regalia for all to see.

That likely wasn't preserved for history. After all, in the very same scene he talks about the Jedi attempting a coup as being the cause for his melted look, and in TFA everyone was all "hang on a moment, Jedi were real?"

 

[ALF]

A satisfactory conclusion to the show. Random thoughts:

Spoiler

- Wow, the space whales literally came out of nowhere. While not an illogical thing, they could have done a little more foreshadowing of this besides beating us over the head with just how well Ezra can talk with wolves. And it WAS pretty much only him talking with the whales before, no? How did NotWedge Whatsisface know to find them, let alone talk them into a frontal assault?
Mark

Spoiler

That was a few moments earlier when they were in the command room of the Imperial command sphere. Something about send out a transmission on code zero - this was the frequency that let the space whales know to jump there to Lothal. Wolfe mentions no one uses that frequency anymore... and Jun's kid says that it was part of Ezra's instructions? An easy thing to miss was that apparently the space whales destroyed all the remaining Imperial ships in orbit before they made their way down to the capital city.

Filoni said in an interview that he wasn't thinking about the next series while he was working on the current series; his priority was to wrap up Rebels before deciding what to do next.

https://io9.gizmodo.com/we-tackle-your-burning-questions-after-the-star-wars-re-1823524129

So for him, it was more about just showing that the characters' lives went on, because he thinks that's a better ending than just killing everybody. I think the ending of Rebels is more a story seed that's being left there as a future possibility. Series writers do that a lot -- give themselves options, set up possibilities that may or may not get picked up on. Filoni probably has (or had) to have conversations with Kennedy and Hidalgo and the network heads and the toy companies and whoever to figure out what they all want to do as the next show, and how it fits into the movie strategy and responds to the latest marketing trends and whatever. So they probably want to leave themselves a range of different options, rather than fixing themselves pre-emptively on a single path.

That makes sense. Although you have to wonder if the leads are going to be entirely new characters or established ones from Rebels. The article you shared suggests Dave F does have some ideas or he says "theories" on what happens to everyone in the years to come.

This is the first time Ezra did this, I believe!

Spoiler

Ezra killed two Death Troopers by blaster shot on the bridge of the Chimaera... the first such kill for him, I think.

The final shot of Rebels:

Spoiler

Of Sabine in Ezra's tower overlooking the capital (back to normal again, complete with fishing vessels in the sea) and looking up to see a ship cast a shadow overhead mirrors the first scene we see of Ezra in the tower when a Star Destroyer comes overhead in Spark of Rebellion.

Something that Bendu once said...

Spoiler

Thrawn's defeat: "many arms wrapped around him in a cold embrace." Awesome!

Just a non-spoiler bit here: the animation in this last episode(s) was outstanding. The scenes of Lothal especially looked beautiful and the soundtrack was really excellent and brought the depth these final moments required. Although I didn't see *everything* I wanted to see in the story, it was still very satisfying an ending.

 

[tharpdevenport]

And how exactly does that hologram even work? It's got magical plot-sensing capabilities!

 

[kitik]

Wow, I was absolutely FLOORED that we got to see

Spoiler

a post-ROTJ scene at the very end. I thought we were still years away from seeing anything like that onscreen. Certainly not before Episode 9.

And yeah, you can't have that final scene of Ahsoka and Sabine and then not follow up on it. More story is required.

Though wouldn't it be a shocker if it was a live-action tv show, and not an animated one?

 

[Christopher]

Wow, I was absolutely FLOORED that we got to see

Spoiler

a post-ROTJ scene at the very end. I thought we were still years away from seeing anything like that onscreen. Certainly not before Episode 9.

Yeah, I figured that was the first time we'd seen anything like that onscreen.

Spoiler

I gather it was meant to be about a decade later, so maybe 5-6 years after ROTJ. That's further ahead than I thought.

 

[Marc]

Good thing the EU had been decanonoised otherwise people would be crying foul over Rukh's death.

 

[Christopher]

Good thing the EU had been decanonoised otherwise people would be crying foul over Rukh's death.

It was never really canonized to begin with, despite the publicity. Lucas never considered himself bound by the EU and he contradicted it repeatedly in the prequels and The Clone Wars. The books and comics just adjusted their continuity to fit the changes and pretended it was still all consistent (eventually inventing this whole system of "canon tiers" where some works in the "canon" were more canonical than others). Really, the only requirement over the EU tie-ins was that they all pretend to be consistent with each other. The current Disney regime under the Story Group is the first time the tie-ins have actually been seen as an integral part of the whole in the minds of the people in charge of the films.

Really, it's all just stories and ideas. Stories can borrow ideas and characters from other stories, but since it's all just imaginary, they can take those characters in different directions. Rukh having a different fate in Rebels than he did in the old novels is no different from, say, Harley Quinn following a different path in the comics than she did on Batman: The Animated Series. Nothing to cry foul over, it's just variations on a fictional theme.

 

[JD]

If anybody wants more Rebels, StarWars.com has an article about all of the books, comics, and Forces of Destiny shorts that feature Rebels characters.

 

[fireproof78]

It was never really canonized to begin with, despite the publicity. Lucas never considered himself bound by the EU and he contradicted it repeatedly in the prequels and The Clone Wars. The books and comics just adjusted their continuity to fit the changes and pretended it was still all consistent (eventually inventing this whole system of "canon tiers" where some works in the "canon" were more canonical than others). Really, the only requirement over the EU tie-ins was that they all pretend to be consistent with each other. The current Disney regime under the Story Group is the first time the tie-ins have actually been seen as an integral part of the whole in the minds of the people in charge of the films.

Really, it's all just stories and ideas. Stories can borrow ideas and characters from other stories, but since it's all just imaginary, they can take those characters in different directions. Rukh having a different fate in Rebels than he did in the old novels is no different from, say, Harley Quinn following a different path in the comics than she did on Batman: The Animated Series. Nothing to cry foul over, it's just variations on a fictional theme.

It's a sandbox and that's it.

 

[Reverend]

Random thought:

Spoiler

Ahsoka outlived Vader. That means she could be visited by force ghost Anakin!

Spoiler

I gather it was meant to be about a decade later, so maybe 5-6 years after ROTJ. That's further ahead than I thought.

Judging by the age of a certain green haired individual, it's most likely only 4-5 years.

That likely wasn't preserved for history. After all, in the very same scene he talks about the Jedi attempting a coup as being the cause for his melted look, and in TFA everyone was all "hang on a moment, Jedi were real?"

I tend to imagine that footage (among others) has since been doctored 1984 style.