There's actually a long tradition in US entertainment of military and political authority figures with Southern accents. General Hammond in Stargate SG-1 had one. Charles Napier made a career out of playing hard-nosed authority figures with his Kentucky accent intact. There was Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove -- just a major, but the commander of his bomber crew. And of course we've had a number of real-life presidents with Southern accents -- Johnson, Carter, Clinton, etc.
It's not about authority figures it's...you know what, it doesn't even matter. Like an ambitious social climber with an outsider complex and is justifiably resentful towards the snobbery of the Imperial elite that look down their nose at him because of where he comes from, socially. Indeed, if we're casting the Imperial "establishment" as Brits then for obvious reasons his Australian accent actually works quite well in underscoring this.
You suggested it would sound "weird" to American ears to hear an officer speak with a Southern drawl. But it's actually not that uncommon. I get what you're trying to convey here, but that particular example doesn't really fit. Granted, if it were a science fiction film about some futuristic interstellar empire, it probably would come off a bit strange to have its officers speak with Southern American accents. If anything, they'd probably sound British.
And the season comes to a close. Lots of spoiler ahead. Spoiler Both Rebel cells take heavy loses of ships and people. None of the Ghost crew are lost, but Commander Sato is gone. General Dodanna's suppose to have the largest fleet in the area, but most of it is destroyed by Thrawn's Star Destroyer fleet and the two Interdictors. If Konstantine wasn't a glory hound, Thrawn might have won completely. Governor Pryce was almost useless, but without the Interdictors there really wasn't as much she could do to stop the remaining Rebels from jumping out. So a lot of the buildup from this season in terms of preparing for the Lothal attack has been wasted, likely as planned by Thrawn. The attack on Lothal is a no go at this time. Not after the losses the Rebellion suffered. Three Nebulon-B frigates, several corvette sized ships, transports, and their Light Carrier. Many A-wings and Y-wings. Only taking out the two Interdictors and damaging maybe one Imperial Star Destroyer in the process. The only real solution I see to the Lothal attack, aside from a small infiltration raid to blow the TIE Defender factory up, is to get X-wings and B-wings to do the heavy work. Still don't know what the Bendu is. It is one with the Force now...or something else? Even Thrawn is puzzled. At the very least, Thrawn survives. But with the threat of cold defeat looming in the future. The surviving Rebels of Dodonna and Soto's forces are regrouping at Yavin with the Ghost. With Soto gone, I suspect that leaves the opening for Hera's promotion to General by the time of the Battle of Scarif. The Rebellion will send aid to repay Clan Wren in their own civil war for Mandalore. And Agent Kallus joins the ranks of the Rebellion officially. We'll likely find out a bit about next season at Star Wars Celebration in three weeks. Where they go from here is unclear. Save of course eventually to the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One.
I called two things that were right Spoiler Thrawn surviving (only to spite the naysayers who said they'd kill him off, I wouldn't have minded if he died) and Sato dying
I wonder if we'll see Dantooine and Yavin next season Deathtroopers in this episode seemed like they were just there for the cool factor, they served no purpose
More or less the Death Troopers were there to give Thrawn some credit. Had he had Stormtroopers with him, people would ask why the heroes didn't just take him, stormtroopers suck. Death Troopers are far better than Stormtroopers, so the question doesn't really come up.
This couldn't have happened any other way, so I'm not even a little surprised. Thrawn did everything he could to set the stage for this and he finally raised the curtain on this plan. There's also the fact that the "New Hope" crawl implies that the Battle of Scarif is the rebels' first REAL victory against the Empire, which means that the Rebels have been getting their asses kicked in every major engagement and otherwise count their successes as quick hit-and-run attacks or acts of sabotage. The operation on Lothal is supposed to be a major commitment of forces, and I kept thinking "All of this is before Scarif? I know they're going to lose, it's just a question of How Bad?"
I think overall this season has been a bit of a failure. After the weak departure of Maul last week, I feel we have had too many repeat battles and close escape episodes, with lots of filler in between. Overall, with the exception of Sabine, the main characters have not really progressed a great deal. Spoiler On another forum yesterday I predicted Sato, Yavin 4 and Kallus going to the Rebellion. I am a bit disappointed that there were no real surprises and that's what we got. We all knew what was coming with Kallus. Sato isn't, in my opinion, developed anywhere near enough to the extent that I am going to care about his death, same for Konstantine. The Bendu going? What a waste. He's barely done anything....albeit I don't think he is dead. Plus, I thought the Rebels were supposed to suffer a major defeat? Granted they lose a few ships and had to move to another base, but all the main rebels once again escaped and they really didn't lose that much in terms of ships and strength. So it wasn't really a major Thrawn victory. It was more like a barely won battle. Plus, to be blunt, how many episodes this year have been space battles with Imperials? Every other episode seems to have one, which usually takes up most of an episode, so it's becoming old hat. Shame. A lot of this season seems a wasted opportunity to me. Last year's finale was such a ride and set up so much that this episode, and indeed the whole season, just feels like an anti-climax and therefore is frankly a disappointment. Given the claim the other day that the fourth season is the last, hopefully they're saving the big stuff for next year and we get no more filler or repetitious content. But then, as I always say, if the kids like it, that probably matters more than my opinion.[/quote]
Overall the finale just shows they are good at doing standalones like the darksaber training episode or the Kallus-centric one, but they are really terrible at doing season long arcs or at resolving them or killing long term characters.
My favorite bit was Kallus's little smile as the elevator doors closed on him and the Stormtroopers. I knew right there what the next shot would be. On the other hand, I had trouble remembering where all the lead characters were. When Ezra told Chopper he was going to find help, I thought for a moment that he was going to recruit Hondo instead of Sabine. They lost the commanding general of Phoenix Squadron and one of their key bases. Sure, from our perspective as viewers of a television show, Sato was a more minor character than the Ghost crew, but by in-universe standards, it was the other way around. Phoenix Squadron is badly weakened now, as is Dodonna's group to a lesser degree. They also lost Fulcrum as an asset within the Empire, which is a major intelligence setback. And all their months of planning for the liberation of Lothal have come to nothing. So yes, I'd say they've suffered a major defeat on a number of levels. It's not like killing characters is some kind of basic necessity. It is a kids' show, after all. Sure, conventional wisdom is that killing main characters can give a sense of raised stakes, but if we've gotten to the point where the audience expects it as routine rather than being surprised by it, then it's kind of lost its impact anyway. Besides, I think the SW franchise has more than met its quota of lead-character fatalities within the past year. That said, though, I was wondering for a moment if Rex would survive the battle. I thought that if anyone was going to be killed off for the sake of raised stakes, he was the most likely candidate, the old soldier who's had his day and is making one last sacrifice to save the others. But maybe that's too much of a cliche.
^^I'll be genuinely surprised if Rex ever gets killed on the show. After all, Filoni has really taken to a fan theory that Rex is the Rebel soldier on Endor with the white beard, who was known as Nik Sant in the EU. I find it far more likely that'll somehow be made canon than Rex being killed.
I'd call that a major defeat. Four large rebels ships lost? Several smaller warships, lots of fighters, and some of their transports. They got away with I think three or four smaller warships and a pair of medium transports, plus the Ghost and the Mando ships. They had far more than that even before Dodonna arrived. The Rebellion lost a lot of ships for such a small starting force. That's maybe half the total Rebel fleet right there. Gone. The rest of it was at Scarif save what looked to be Home One which is probably still getting refit for war.
The full episode guide is up now, instead of monday http://www.starwars.com/tv-shows/star-wars-rebels/zero-hour-episode-guide General Dodanna's voice actor was actually in ANH, but he didn't play Dodanna he dubbed over a 'General Willard' Hes the guy who meets Leia when she first arrives at Yavin. Ezra's space suit is from the Republic, it has the logo on the shoulder Oh wow, the Dornean Gunship model used in Rogue One, was actually revamped from the model used in this episode.