Star Wars Rebels Season One (spoilers)

[davejames]

Well Kanan is trying to lie low and keep the fact he's a Jedi a secret, so it makes sense that he'd break apart the lightsaber to not make it so instantly recognizable.

Plus the fact he keeps it in a drawer tells me it's something he's not especially proud of anyway.

 

[Christopher]

^Why wouldn't he keep a dangerous weapon locked away when he wasn't using it? That's just common sense.

By the way, when Ezra took the lightsaber and was looking it over trying to figure it out what it was, do you think they were homaging this moment?

 

[davejames]

Well I certainly got the impression from the prequels and TCW that the Jedi like to keep their lightsabers on their person at all times. And at the very least when they go on missions. Kanan didn't have his on at all at the start of the episode when they were stealing the crates.

And speaking of lightsabers, I thought it was a nice touch that they gave them the same vibrating effect as in ANH. I've really missed that.

 

[Set Harth]

Even Ezra knew it was and he was young kid who grew up long after the Jedi were extinct.

Long after?

 

[JediKnightButler]

This was particularly noticeable when Kallus somewhat prematurely referred to Kanan and Ezra as master and apprentice.

Yeah, how DID he figure that Ezra was a Jedi apprentice? Did he just assume it because Kanan was a Jedi and where there was one, there was probably two of them- or was it because of how Ezra managed to escape from custody on the Star Destroyer (though there wasn't any real special Jedi skills necessary for that, just general Stormtrooper incompetence)?

 

[JediKnightButler]

Even Ezra knew it was and he was young kid who grew up long after the Jedi were extinct.

Long after?

From what I understand, Ezra was born exactly the same year as Luke & Leia. This is set 5 years before ANH and Ezra is supposed to be 14 years old. Luke & Leia are 19 at the time of ANH.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Yeah, how DID he figure that Ezra was a Jedi apprentice? Did he just assume it because Kanan was a Jedi and where there was one, there was probably two of them- or was it because of how Ezra managed to escape from custody on the Star Destroyer (though there wasn't any real special Jedi skills necessary for that, just general Stormtrooper incompetence)?

Ezra had just made a telekinetic Force jump evidently before his eyes, when Ezra jumped completely over a stormtrooper to be on the young Wookiee's side. I don't know how long of a jump it was, maybe 10-20 meters. I wouldn't say Kallus figured out anything, though. Kallus just jumped (ha ha) to a conclusion, based on what he'd just seen.

 

[Christopher]

Well I certainly got the impression from the prequels and TCW that the Jedi like to keep their lightsabers on their person at all times. And at the very least when they go on missions. Kanan didn't have his on at all at the start of the episode when they were stealing the crates.

But he was trying to hide the fact that he was a Jedi. Indeed, I got the impression that even his shipmates didn't know. So it makes sense that he hid the saber until it got to the point that he thought he might have to use it even at the cost of revealing his Jedi-ness. Which he did.

 

[davejames]

Yeah, how DID he figure that Ezra was a Jedi apprentice? Did he just assume it because Kanan was a Jedi and where there was one, there was probably two of them- or was it because of how Ezra managed to escape from custody on the Star Destroyer (though there wasn't any real special Jedi skills necessary for that, just general Stormtrooper incompetence)?

Yeah they did escape from that Star Destroyer WAY too easily.

And can someone explain how exactly you can make paint explode, without some kind of igniting trigger device? Or was there a bomb planted out of view that exploded instead? I'm having trouble understanding what exactly happened there. Lol

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Yeah, how DID he figure that Ezra was a Jedi apprentice? Did he just assume it because Kanan was a Jedi and where there was one, there was probably two of them- or was it because of how Ezra managed to escape from custody on the Star Destroyer (though there wasn't any real special Jedi skills necessary for that, just general Stormtrooper incompetence)?

Yeah they did escape from that Star Destroyer WAY too easily.

And can someone explain how exactly you can make paint explode, without some kind of igniting trigger device? Or was there a bomb planted out of view that exploded instead? I'm having trouble understanding what exactly happened there. Lol

Nanomachines. (Seems as good as any)

 

[Christopher]

Sure, some kind of nanoparticles that get hot or electrically charged when exposed to the right radio wavelength could set off a liquid explosive in the paint.

 

[Mr Light]

<<Long after? >>

We know that the Empire took great steps to erase all knowledge of the Jedi from the galaxy. So a kid growing up entirely in the Imperial Era could only have learned of them from older people who didn't know to keep their mouths shut.

 

[Tom]

Even Ezra knew it was and he was young kid who grew up long after the Jedi were extinct.

Long after?

From what I understand, Ezra was born exactly the same year as Luke & Leia. This is set 5 years before ANH and Ezra is supposed to be 14 years old. Luke & Leia are 19 at the time of ANH.

Yup, Ezra is the bastard child of Anakin Skywalker! He got around a bit in the Clone Wars

 

[Set Harth]

mind = blown

 

[ALF]

Interesting criticism all around.

In total agreement that the writing and pacing was a little clunky at times. Some of the one liners left me feeling a little uneasy but this show is attempting to break new ground - the first canon non-Skywalker story as it were. My first and foremost concern is still Ezra (watched Sparks four times now) and that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to use someone so boring as a lead. I'm sure they did months in not years of focus testing for him. White male - teenager. Again.

Zeb or Sabine as the lead would have been outstanding. I would love the idea of an alien lead, but maybe that was too risky for Disney?

Thinking back to other series' first episode efforts, overall I think this was a strong start in that: they needed 44 mins to introduce all the leads, establish the timeline, establish the motivation for all the characters, establish two locations which have never been seen on screen, introduce the new ship and leave us wanting more. Oh, and introduce two new villains. Was that accomplished in this two parter?

I'd read reviews for two other episodes this season, the next one (Droids in Distress) and episode 5 I believe (Rise of the Old Masters) and those seemed to provide a much more organic story and considerably more impact each. I think this entire season will cover a lot of ground and so far I'm really encouraged.

Wasn't there near universal repulsion from The Clone Wars series' theatrical premiere in popular opinion, which I'd maintained for years would have been better suited to the following Grevious arc with The Manevolence. It's didn't really introduce Ahsoka but it was much more entertaining to watch. I feel that theatrical feature actually did more harm than good to TCW.

If the dialog between Kanan and Hera improves and Ezra can drop his "street rat" flavor for something more heroic we will be halfway there.

PS. Ezra tricks some troopers by telling them that The Emperor is 'his uncle' to escape detention. I suddenly wondered if at this point in the Star Wars timeline, Vader may not even be known to the general population. If only Obi Wan knows that Vader used to be Anakin Skywalker, wouldn't Vader have a strategic advantage operating in the dark as an absolute unknown? I'm asking because I'm wondering if the showrunners have a plan to deploy Vader as an unknown. Think about this - he's been spending the last 15 years hunting down the Jedi, and up until now there hasn't really had a reason to throw his weight around, show up in an ATAT and stomp people's homes into dust. Anyway - just a thought. And if anyone knows for certain that Vader is a household name in this time please let us know. I think it makes more sense to use Vader in this show than The Emperor anyway. He was in TCW continuously (albeit mostly as Palpy).

I'm hoping to hear something about Kanan escaping the temple when Anakin massacred all the kids, though it's more likely he was offworld at the time there is a potential revenge connection to Vader it may foster in Kanan.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

this show is attempting to break new ground - the first canon non-Skywalker story as it were

True.

I realized that Ezra tricks some troopers by telling them that The Emperor is 'his uncle.'

I don't believe that they fell for the ol' Emperor-is-my-uncle. The troopers only entered Ezra's cell when he started coughing.

 

[Christopher]

My first and foremost concern is still Ezra (watched Sparks four times now) and that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to use someone so boring as a lead. I'm sure they did months in not years of focus testing for him. White male - teenager. Again.

You know, that was something I noticed: Ezra doesn't look white to me. He has a brownish skin tone, darker than Kanan's (except in his LEGO minifig, which is much paler). He also has blue eyes, true, so maybe he just has a really good tan, but between the skin tone and the supposedly black hair, he looks ethnically ambiguous or mixed to me. In fact, throw in the large nose and the heavy eyebrows, and he looks very much like another Disney "street rat," Aladdin.

Zeb or Sabine as the lead would have been outstanding. I would love the idea of an alien lead, but maybe that was too risky for Disney?

Honestly, I'm not convinced Ezra isn't some kind of humanoid alien, given that those things on his head look more like Twi'lek or Togruta tendrils than any kind of hair.

I'm hoping to hear something about Kanan escaping the temple when Anakin massacred all the kids.

Apparently he was 14 when that happened and already a Padawan. And Obi-Wan's Holocron warning said "Don't return to the Temple," so I assume Kanan (or Caleb Dume, which is his real name) was away at the time. Source: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Kanan_Jarrus

 

[Reverend]

Yeah, the impression I got from RotS is that they had the Temple rather firmly locked down, so I doubt anyone escaped Vader's initial assault. Even as young as he was, it wouldn't surprise me if Kanan was out on the front lines with his master at the time.

 

[davejames]

Yeah I agree Ezra is probably the weakest link so far. His smartass personality might make sense for a kid who would believably fall in with a group of rebels, but it also feels too similar to every OTHER teenage kid we've ever seen in any cartoon or animated movie. It would have been nice if they had gone for something a bit different there.

Hopefully he'll grow and become more mature as time goes on, like Luke. And won't just be perpetually like this.

 

[Corran Horn]

Yeah, how DID he figure that Ezra was a Jedi apprentice? Did he just assume it because Kanan was a Jedi and where there was one, there was probably two of them- or was it because of how Ezra managed to escape from custody on the Star Destroyer (though there wasn't any real special Jedi skills necessary for that, just general Stormtrooper incompetence)?

Yeah they did escape from that Star Destroyer WAY too easily.

I agree - seems to me there should be more than a dozen or so troopers wandering around an ISD. It has happened in the EU before, though, in the Zahn books.

I enjoyed the show. Ezra's blue-ish hair and everything.

One thing that strikes me about the music - they're using themes from the OT that have nothing to do with what's on-screen. Leia's theme in particular I had heard towards the end. I get that when you distill it down the music is about what you hear and not necessarily what it was meant to mean--it's just something that popped into my head.