Star Wars Rebels Season One (spoilers)

[DarthPipes]

Greg Weisman is leaving the show after the first season.

Maybe for once he wanted to leave a show before it was pulled out from under him?


Okay, this had some merits and some potential. The story was okay, although I still find it odd that they're focusing on such peripheral characters when it would be so much more interesting to follow characters like Bail Organa and Leia, Vader and Tarkin.

There were some parts of the design work I liked, such as the propaganda posters and grafitti in the town on Lothal (?). But a lot of the time, I found myself thinking, "This would look so much better in 2D animation." The textures on the characters are way too smooth and plastic, which is especially problematical for anything involving hair. I could hardly watch Ezra because of those rubbery blue pseudopods on his head that writhed around with minds of their own, looking more like some kind of alien starfish parasite feeding on his brain than anything resembling hair. Just a really, really bad character design, at least for 3D. (And why was Obi-Wan so babyfaced?)

I wasn't crazy about the overly mobile and bouncy character animation either. It was kind of jarring in the scene where Kanan explained the Force to Ezra -- Prinze's voice was this solemn monotone, but Kanan was animated as moving around in a very lively fashion that clashed with it completely. The animation on the free-fall sequence in the corridor was reasonably good, though -- although they made the perennial mistake of showing people "swimming" through air, which doesn't work since air is a lot less dense than water. The most they could do is rotate around their centers of mass, not really propel themselves forward significantly.

I also didn't think much of the music, which apparently is still by Kevin Kiner. I often wished he'd use more of Williams's themes in The Clone Wars, but this is a "be careful what you wish for" situation, because now he's doing nothing but variations and pastiches on Williams motifs, and it feels very derivative and lazy. And it's often off-putting when a familiar theme is used for the wrong thing, like when Obi-Wan's leitmotif was heard in the dogfight sequence or when "Leia's Theme" from ANH was used for the Wookiee family's reunion. Not to mention that cue I've heard in one or two of the previews/shorts that's a pastiche of the basket chase music from Raiders of the Lost Ark, which isn't even in the right universe! It's way, way too imitative and unoriginal. I wouldn't mind hearing familiar themes used when they're appropriate, like Obi-Wan's theme for his Holocron message or the Imperial March for the Empire or Vader (although I still find it odd when that motif is used in anything set before TESB), but there should be more original themes for original characters and situations.

So I'm interested enough to keep watching, but there's a lot about the execution that I don't like.

I totally agree with you about the music. I know they're going for the original trilogy there and I understand it but it came across as overkill and unoriginal. Just like Kanan's wooden explanation of the Force, copying that from Obi-Wan in the original trilogy and adding absolutely nothing new. Embrace the nostalgia but don't revel in it, which is what I felt like the pilot did too often.

 

[davejames]

I actually found the animation to be surprisingly good overall, with some shots (particularly on the planet) appearing just as detailed and atmospheric as anything from TCW. And a lot of the ship maneuvers and space battles were as dynamic and cool to watch as anything we've seen before as well.

The only thing that really stood out of course was the jarringly bad design and animation of the Wookies. Not really sure what they were thinking there (unless they were actually trying to make them look like the old Kenner action figures!) And yeah, Ezra's hair is way too shiny and plastic looking, but that doesn't bother me too much.

As to the story, I thought it was a decent introduction, if not as exciting or enthralling as it could have been. The characters do seem a bit one-dimensional at the moment, and the dialogue a bit too obvious and simplistic. But I expect as we learn more about these characters and get more comfortable with them, that will change.

Mostly it just felt like the episode was trying a little too hard to please, and throwing everything at the screen at once and skipping as quickly as possible from one big action sequence to another, without spending enough time to properly establish a setting or build up suspense. Hopefully in future episodes the storylines will be a bit more focused and take a bit more time with that kind of thing.


Oh, and the giant white Disney logo in the corner was distracting and annoying as hell. Hopefully when it switches to the other channel the logo won't be quite as bad.

 

[davejames]

Okay, this had some merits and some potential. The story was okay, although I still find it odd that they're focusing on such peripheral characters when it would be so much more interesting to follow characters like Bail Organa and Leia, Vader and Tarkin.

Yeah as much as I like the idea of exploring a whole new group of SW characters and expanding the world a bit more, I can't deny that it would be MUCH more exciting to follow those iconic characters instead.

Or at the very least have Vader as a more central presence on the show. Even if he's just hanging out on his Star Destroyer and dispatching others to chase after these rebels, it would still feel like we were at least somewhat close to the larger story. And not so completely cut off from it.

And it would also make these new characters seem a lot more central and important to that story as well, and not like just a bunch of random rebels no one's ever heard of before.

 

[sojourner]

I disagree about showing us characters we've seen before. I think using all new characters for this show does a lot for the "small universe" problem Star Wars has had since the original movie came out.

It's refreshing to see that other things happen in the Star Wars universe that don't involve the same 8 or so people.

Not everything has to tie into the Skywalkers.

 

[Skywalker]

This is why when I first heard about Rebels I'd wished that they'd decided to focus the show on Luke, Leia, Han, and the gang in the period between ANH and TESB, similar to how TCW had focused on Anakin and Obi-Wan and their own core cast of characters (plus Ahsoka) between AOTC and ROTS. That's an era that was barely touched on outside of the old Marvel comics and a couple of novels here and there, which obviously would have been all tossed out anyway.

It could have focused on Leia rising higher in the Rebel hierarchy and working to turn more worlds toward the Rebel cause, Han learning how to handle his new responsibilities in the Rebel military while also dealing with the consequences of snubbing Jabba, and Luke taking his first steps toward becoming a Jedi. R2-D2, C-3PO, and Chewie would all be there, too. Heck, even Obi-Wan could occasionally appear as a Force ghost. Pretty much the only character the show would be missing is the requisite youth figure (i.e. Ahsoka/Ezra), and granted, I'm not really sure how to fit such a character into this particular concept. Alas...

EDIT: Bah, ninja'd by sojourner. I agree that using new characters also has merit, but at the same time they kind of feel ancillary to the larger story.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

One of the biggest problems I had with the first episode was that they tried to compress too much story into too short a time slot, which had the effect that it treated many important story elements way too shallowly. There was plenty there to fill in a time slot twice the size.

But that's just one of many problems. Another problem is that we seem to have, in our main brat, a character who evidently exhibits greater telekinetic Force ability than young Luke or even young Anakin, which is simply ridiculously contrary to the parameters of both the OT and the PT.

This is a squandered opportunity. The biggest missed opportunity, as far as I'm concerned, is that it fails to move me to subscribe to XD to support it and the other shows advertised, none of which I'm interested in (fart jokes, really?). This is clearly a show not aimed at me. In the fullness of time, I will watch it, but I won't pay any more to watch this than I did to watch The Clone Wars. Sorry Disney, if you want me to pay more, you'll have to try harder. Much harder.

 

[davejames]

Well yeah, ideally I would have much rather seen a Han, Luke and Leia show set right after ANH. But for whatever reason Disney or the producers didn't want to go there.

And I do like the idea of expanding the SW universe a bit more. I just think it would be better to tie these characters in a little closer to the main story of the OT. Since it clearly IS the most important story in that universe.

 

[Masiral]

I actually much prefer the idea of focusing on brand new characters. Sometimes, The Clone Wars suffered from a lack of stakes: Anakin and Obi-Wan are never in any real danger, they have to be in Episode III; Dooku and Grievous can never be truly defeated until Episode III either. If it focused on Luke, Han, and Leia, I imagine we would get bored watching them narrowly escape Vader's clutches week after week.

 

[Reverend]

I disagree about showing us characters we've seen before. I think using all new characters for this show does a lot for the "small universe" problem Star Wars has had since the original movie came out.

It's refreshing to see that other things happen in the Star Wars universe that don't involve the same 8 or so people.

Not everything has to tie into the Skywalkers.

I don't disagree, but so far at least they haven't done a stellar job introducing the main cast. TCW had the advantage that almost the whole cast were already established characters. SWR has to start from scratch and I think it's getting the show off to a rocky start.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I caught some of this on regular Disney last night. I couldn't get past when they were being chased by four TIE fighters and everyone on the ship was acting casual, having conversations, and such...no sense of urgency or danger whatsoever.

 

[Christopher]

Well yeah, ideally I would have much rather seen a Han, Luke and Leia show set right after ANH. But for whatever reason Disney or the producers didn't want to go there.

The post-ANH period is the focus of the new Marvel SW comics that are coming out, though. There's a general SW series, a Darth Vader series, and a Leia miniseries (hey, why only a mini?). And since everything is supposed to be canonical now, that means you can't have a show covering the same period (at least until the next time they decide that the tie-ins weren't really canonical after all).

 

[Set Harth]

The animation on the free-fall sequence in the corridor was reasonably good, though -- although they made the perennial mistake of showing people "swimming" through air, which doesn't work since air is a lot less dense than water.

TCW did this too IIRC.

Another problem is that we seem to have, in our main brat, a character who evidently exhibits greater telekinetic Force ability than young Luke or even young Anakin, which is simply ridiculously contrary to the parameters of both the OT and the PT.

Just like Kajin Savaros. Spark of Rebellion came off like a cross between Coruscant Nights and A New Hope. This was particularly noticeable when Kallus somewhat prematurely referred to Kanan and Ezra as master and apprentice.

I couldn't get past when they were being chased by four TIE fighters and everyone on the ship was acting casual, having conversations, and such...no sense of urgency or danger whatsoever.

I guess TIE fighter pilots are really bad shots too.

 

[davejames]

The post-ANH period is the focus of the new Marvel SW comics that are coming out, though. There's a general SW series, a Darth Vader series, and a Leia miniseries (hey, why only a mini?). And since everything is supposed to be canonical now, that means you can't have a show covering the same period (at least until the next time they decide that the tie-ins weren't really canonical after all).

Yeah I know, but it still seems like a wasted opportunity. Nothing against comics, but an animated series could do a much better job capturing the feel and style of the OT. Previous comics, like the recent post-ANH Dark Horse run, have always had a problem with that for some reason.

 

[Mr Light]

I enjoyed the pilot a great deal. The animation looked really good and the only place where it looked like corners were cut (compared to Clone Wars) was the level of detail on the Star Destroyer and the Wookies.

I didn't find Ezra to be annoying at all. Unlike Ashoka in her first appearance.

If I had a complaint it's that the story was rushed through way too quickly. They escaped from a Star Destroyer, then immediately head back, then immediately show up at Kessel... the events didn't have room to breathe. Obviously in the series proper we'll have more time for character development.

And what's the deal with Kanan keeping the tip of his saber disconnected? Like no-one is going to suspect what that is until he puts that tiny bit of it back on? Even Ezra knew it was and he was young kid who grew up long after the Jedi were extinct.

 

[sojourner]

Ezra first saw the sabre as a complete unit in the hidden drawer, so he had an advantage.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I couldn't get past when they were being chased by four TIE fighters and everyone on the ship was acting casual, having conversations, and such...no sense of urgency or danger whatsoever.

I guess TIE fighter pilots are really bad shots too.

They were taken a lot more seriously in the films. Han wasn't casually grabbing a snack when military fighter craft were pursuing his ship.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Those wookiees are going to haunt my nightmares! Were those released when Ezra opened the Hellraiser puzzle box?

On first impression, I found everything seemed to move just a bit too fast, the scenes could've used an extra "beat" or two. Then again, I was up too late watching it so maybe I was just too tired, so I'm not sure if that's my final judgment.

In this episode it seemed that traveling through hyperspace is like dusting crops.

I am certainly not sold on this series but I am interested to see more episodes as I think there's potential for improvement.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I couldn't get past when they were being chased by four TIE fighters and everyone on the ship was acting casual, having conversations, and such...no sense of urgency or danger whatsoever.

I guess TIE fighter pilots are really bad shots too.

They were taken a lot more seriously in the films. Han wasn't casually grabbing a snack when military fighter craft were pursuing his ship.

Though he probably should have. There weren't a lot of chances to eat after that, aside from grabbing something at the Death Star food court on the way to pick up Leia I guess.

 

[Christopher]

And what's the deal with Kanan keeping the tip of his saber disconnected? Like no-one is going to suspect what that is until he puts that tiny bit of it back on? Even Ezra knew it was and he was young kid who grew up long after the Jedi were extinct.

Actually that strikes me as a reasonable safety feature, like keeping a gun unloaded for storage. If anything, I wonder why other lightsabers aren't designed the same way. They're really dangerous instruments that can be turned on by the push of a single button. Anyone who's accidentally pocket-dialed a mobile phone could see what a problem that can be. Detaching the power source from the beam generator when not using the weapon seems like a very sensible idea.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

They need to fix the hair. It looks way too much like plastic.