Star Wars Rebels

Started by Shogunn2517, August 05, 2014, 10:33:03 AM

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HarryTrotter

''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

Gotta tell ya, I got excited watching that trailer, especially when you-know-who showed up.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

BentonGrey

Hmm...that looks pretty decent for the most part.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Shogunn2517

Quote from: Silver Shocker on January 06, 2017, 01:45:33 AM
Gotta tell ya, I got excited watching that trailer, especially when you-know-who showed up.

Sabine's mom?

Silver Shocker

That depends, is Sabine's mom Bo-Katan? Cuz she's supposed to show up in Rebels too. Though the stuff with Sabine in general does look pretty cool.

Spoiler
I am of course talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi  :thumbup:
Who sounds like he has a new voice to make him sound more like Alec Guiness. Well, we know whatever happens, he's not going to die in this show, so maybe Maul's not making it out of this alive?
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Shogunn2517

Quote from: Silver Shocker on January 06, 2017, 02:47:28 PM
That depends, is Sabine's mom Bo-Katan? Cuz she's supposed to show up in Rebels too. Though the stuff with Sabine in general does look pretty cool.

Spoiler
I am of course talking about Obi-Wan Kenobi  :thumbup:
Who sounds like he has a new voice to make him sound more like Alec Guiness. Well, we know whatever happens, he's not going to die in this show, so maybe Maul's not making it out of this alive?

Yeah, I know I was joking..

But you are right.  I saw an casting update about it and it's pretty spot on IMO.

Silver Shocker

So I looked it up, and Obi Wan Kenobi will be voiced by Stephen Stanton. He voices Tarkin in both Clone Wars and Rebels, and voices the protocol droid who talks like Alan Rickman. In addition to playing a few different characters in Clone Wars, he also played Obi-Wan in a fan film and the video games Battlefront II and Empire At War. So clearly he has some experience playing Obi-Wan.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

BentonGrey

He certainly sounds the part in that little snipit. 
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Silver Shocker

This week on Rebels: Saw Guerrera, Clone Wars references, and...

Spoiler
~We gotta Death Star! We Gotta Death Star! We Gotta Death Star! We Gotta Death Star! And Ya Know That We Got It! Death Star!~
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Shogunn2517


HarryTrotter

After 40 years,we now know...that SW characters have use the toilet sometimes.And what was with that song?
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Shogunn2517

So, that last episode.....  Made me feel quite a few emotions.

Spoiler
The long awaited rematch of Darth Maul and Obi Wan Kenobi was needless to say hyped up like crazy, they built the tension up for weeks and through the whole episode and while they stood off against each other and then.... 1.6 seconds later(yes, i timed it), it was done.

Not sure if I'm upset by it.  I couldn't imagine much more being that authentic, but man that was quick.

But the last scene when Obi Wan visited the homestead... it kinda give me the feels.

Overall good, but just made me feel a type of way about it.

Talavar

Quote from: Shogunn2517 on March 20, 2017, 12:00:10 AM
So, that last episode.....  Made me feel quite a few emotions.

Spoiler
The long awaited rematch of Darth Maul and Obi Wan Kenobi was needless to say hyped up like crazy, they built the tension up for weeks and through the whole episode and while they stood off against each other and then.... 1.6 seconds later(yes, i timed it), it was done.

Not sure if I'm upset by it.  I couldn't imagine much more being that authentic, but man that was quick.

But the last scene when Obi Wan visited the homestead... it kinda give me the feels.

Overall good, but just made me feel a type of way about it.

I really enjoyed this most recent episode. 
Spoiler
They really nailed classic Obi-wan, and having him put down Maul in a quick flash of moves felt like something out of Kurosawa, rather than the overly showy lightsaber fights that don't go anywhere of the prequels and Clone Wars.  And as a hater of Maul's resurrection, can I get a hallelujah that he's gone for apparent good?  Obi-wan put him down like the punk character he was.

HarryTrotter

Wow,this is the first time somebody complained about showy fights.Really does take all kinds.:)
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Shogunn2517

Not much of a complaint... more of a "well damn"

Silver Shocker

Quote from: Spade on March 20, 2017, 02:40:05 PM
Wow,this is the first time somebody complained about showy fights.Really does take all kinds.:)

Not sure if you mean on this forum or in general. If it's in general, then I'd guess you're not familiar with the Mr. Plinkett reviews? The idea is apparently "overly choreographed" means it's too unrealistic to be compelling. Or rather, that it wasn't an acceptable substitute for a lack of dramatic imperative (which IMO, Clone Wars and Rebels were better at than the Phantom Menance anyway). A lot of people also complained that Yoda fought in the prequels, flips and all. I know people complained about that back when the films came out. Though as Honest Trailers pointed out, they might have gotten the idea for the flips from the Dagobah scenes from Empire Strikes Back, something that amuses me, and I imagine, makes Prequel haters spout steam out of their ears like a kettle.

Spoiler
As someone who does like Darth Maul, I have no complaints about the way this went down. I'm just surprised I didn't see it coming.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

HarryTrotter

I havent see the review,but too unrealistic?Really?
Lets face it,two old guy gently poking each other wasnt really that exciting.
I complained about New Hope.Now I will hand over my geek badge and lazer gun.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Silver Shocker

Actually funny thing, the guy who does the review, literally refers to the Vader vs Obi-Wan fight in a New Hope as two old guys awkwardly flailing at each other. His argument is that it's till superior because we care about the characters and the story.
Personally I've never drank that particular Kool-Aid. It's possible to do visually interesting fight and interesting story to go with it. Look no further than the Luke/Vader fight in Jedi.

And yeah, I loves me the original trilogy, but the fight in A New Hope looked pretty weak, regardless of their age and with regards to their supposed skill level. The light saber fights in Empire and Jedi were much more visually using what the special effects guys were able to do at the time . And in the case of Jedi, Luke's aggressive attacks lacking grace or style fit his emotional state and the tone of the scene.

The fight in this episode of Rebels fit the tone of the scene as well.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Shogunn2517

Season 3 Finale of Rebels...

IMO, it was quite good.  Not as good as season 2's finale(which had much more emotion), but this finale had many of the elements we appreciate in Star Wars.

Spoiler
Where season two was focused on the Force-centric side of Star Wars, season three was focused on the "wars" side of Star Wars a full-scale air, space and land Battle of Attollon.  The Empire would win the battle, but thank's to Admiral Sato's sacrifice and Mandalorians(btw, a little goofy that like a half dozen dudes can destroy an entire starship).  Kallus was finally revealed, captured and joined the rebels.  Also said towards the end that the Rebels were headed to Yavin, which would fit the Ghost being apart of the Rebel fleet in Rogue One.  In all, it was entertaining, but now I can't help but to wonder about season 4.  This season's big bad was Thrawn.  Prior to that it was a combo of Inquisitors, Kallus and a few others.  We haven't seen Ahsoka or Vader since the end of season 2.  Will Thrawn remain the big bad?  Or will there be a new pursuer?  Krenic?  Ozzel?  Veers?  Or someone else from EU/Legacy like Daala or Jerec?  I'm sure we'll see more characters from the films blended through.  Cassian Andor, General Merrick, Crix Madine, Carlist Reeekan  perhaps.  Still can't imagine why Boba Fett hasn't popped up yet.

I like what the show is doing.  It's focus is deliberately blended the elements of Star Wars that fans like and I for one appreciate it.  Glad we got another season.  Hope to see it catch up to Year 0.

HarryTrotter

I mostly agree.
Spoiler
Thrawn is pretty awesome;after a whole season of letting them escape.Im not really sure why he decides to channel ESB,instead of just nuking the whole place from orbit,but whatever.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Podmark

Quote from: Spade on March 26, 2017, 09:19:16 AM
I mostly agree.
Spoiler
Thrawn is pretty awesome;after a whole season of letting them escape.Im not really sure why he decides to channel ESB,instead of just nuking the whole place from orbit,but whatever.

Spoiler
He was under orders to take the officers alive, nuking the planet is kinda counter intuitive to that.

I liked the finale. A couple points on the season as a whole:
Spoiler

I've really liked the development of Kallus over the show. In season 1 and most of 2 he was just this semi-competent Imperial who lost so often to the Rebels that he couldn't really be taken seriously as a main threat. That was kinda necessary while they were building up the main cast and a more fun adventurous type of story telling. I didn't care for the character all that much. But towards the end of 2 they had that episode with him trapped on an ice planet with Zeb and that really fleshed him out and I was hoping they build on that this season. Very happy with how that turned out, and looking forward to him joining the Rebels, that should be a cool new dynamic.
I would have also been happy with a sad death at the hands of Thrawn.

Quite pleased with Thrawn's portrayal. They correctly kept his involvement limited for most of the season, lest he lose too often to be taken seriously (like Greivous in Clone wars, and Kallus). He never quite hit the level of awesomeness I was hoping for, but I loved his personality and demeanour. He was also physically competent which I think is new to the character.
If it wasn't for that meddling Bendu and that idiot Konstantine he would have won.
Probably the bit of the finale that has stuck with me is Bendu's final words to Thrawn "I see your defeat. Like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace." I'm a big fan of Thrawn, I half want him to just win, so I'm really curious how he goes down.

I was hoping for a bigger story with Maul, something more like his Clone Wars Mandalorian story line, but I was satisfied. I actually (half-jokingly) called his 2 second one hit KO prior to the episode, but what I really liked was how he reacted to dying. How he learned that Obi-Wan was protecting the Chosen One and that he hoped Luke would avenge them. Bringing Maul back to life was pretty ridiculous (I loved the spider legs) but I really liked how they fleshed out his character and he gave Clone Wars a nice shot in the arm. His use in Rebels was interesting. He was less evil monster and more tired warrior. His end seemed to really bring that into focus, I think he wanted to die there and bring all the pain to an end.

To me the big disappointment was with how the show handled Kanan's blindness and Ezra's flirtation with the Dark Side. Both of those were done with in the first episode. Part of that was the time jump between seasons, but I feel they dropped the ball on both. Kanan played mostly as if he still could see. We barely saw him learning to use the Force to overcome his disability. I really wanted a long story arc where he had to come to terms with what happened and learned to be a new kind of hero - but maybe that was too much to hope for from a kids show. It also made me think of Netfix's Daredevil, where all his body language shows that he's blind. I didn't see that in Kanan.
Ezra's Dark Side brush was just too short. They could have milked that for most of the season, and really played him off of Kanan and Maul.

So season 3 was alright for me. Some good stuff, a lot of okay stuff, nothing really bad. The show never quite reaches the levels I'm hoping it will, not on a consistent basis, but I like it.
Next season I'd like to see the Inquisitors again. Unless I missed something there should be a few more out there. Also hoping they get back to Ashoka, I was a bit surprised they didn't pick that up already. A few more returning characters would be nice (Boba Fett and Cad Bane come to mind), and maybe a little romance.
And more Thrawn.
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HarryTrotter

#141
If we are already taking about the next season,and missed opportunities of Clone Wars...Durge.Hes a bounty hunter,why not?
Or considering the Empire at War inspiration of this season,I wouldnt be surprised if Tyber Zahn shows up next.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Shogunn2517

Spade,

Actually, last I checked the Zahn Consortium has been placed in the official canon.  Even though Tyber Zahn has not.  Actually, now to mention it, the "underworld" of Star Wars has taken a bit of a backseat in the series, particularly over the last few seasons.  I mean, we've gotten Hondo and he's been a constant.  Again, no Boba Fett.  No Black Sun.  No Jabba the Hutt.  Or any other Hutt really.  It would be nice to see some other Clone Wars figures show up.  Like an older Jaybo Hood.  Or other figures from Kanan/Caleb's past.

And isn't Ventress still alive?

Quote from: Podmark on March 26, 2017, 06:43:41 PM
Quote from: Spade on March 26, 2017, 09:19:16 AM
I mostly agree.
Spoiler
Thrawn is pretty awesome;after a whole season of letting them escape.Im not really sure why he decides to channel ESB,instead of just nuking the whole place from orbit,but whatever.

Spoiler
He was under orders to take the officers alive, nuking the planet is kinda counter intuitive to that.

I liked the finale. A couple points on the season as a whole:
Spoiler

I've really liked the development of Kallus over the show. In season 1 and most of 2 he was just this semi-competent Imperial who lost so often to the Rebels that he couldn't really be taken seriously as a main threat. That was kinda necessary while they were building up the main cast and a more fun adventurous type of story telling. I didn't care for the character all that much. But towards the end of 2 they had that episode with him trapped on an ice planet with Zeb and that really fleshed him out and I was hoping they build on that this season. Very happy with how that turned out, and looking forward to him joining the Rebels, that should be a cool new dynamic.
I would have also been happy with a sad death at the hands of Thrawn.

Quite pleased with Thrawn's portrayal. They correctly kept his involvement limited for most of the season, lest he lose too often to be taken seriously (like Greivous in Clone wars, and Kallus). He never quite hit the level of awesomeness I was hoping for, but I loved his personality and demeanour. He was also physically competent which I think is new to the character.
If it wasn't for that meddling Bendu and that idiot Konstantine he would have won.
Probably the bit of the finale that has stuck with me is Bendu's final words to Thrawn "I see your defeat. Like many arms surrounding you in a cold embrace." I'm a big fan of Thrawn, I half want him to just win, so I'm really curious how he goes down.

I was hoping for a bigger story with Maul, something more like his Clone Wars Mandalorian story line, but I was satisfied. I actually (half-jokingly) called his 2 second one hit KO prior to the episode, but what I really liked was how he reacted to dying. How he learned that Obi-Wan was protecting the Chosen One and that he hoped Luke would avenge them. Bringing Maul back to life was pretty ridiculous (I loved the spider legs) but I really liked how they fleshed out his character and he gave Clone Wars a nice shot in the arm. His use in Rebels was interesting. He was less evil monster and more tired warrior. His end seemed to really bring that into focus, I think he wanted to die there and bring all the pain to an end.

To me the big disappointment was with how the show handled Kanan's blindness and Ezra's flirtation with the Dark Side. Both of those were done with in the first episode. Part of that was the time jump between seasons, but I feel they dropped the ball on both. Kanan played mostly as if he still could see. We barely saw him learning to use the Force to overcome his disability. I really wanted a long story arc where he had to come to terms with what happened and learned to be a new kind of hero - but maybe that was too much to hope for from a kids show. It also made me think of Netfix's Daredevil, where all his body language shows that he's blind. I didn't see that in Kanan.
Ezra's Dark Side brush was just too short. They could have milked that for most of the season, and really played him off of Kanan and Maul.

So season 3 was alright for me. Some good stuff, a lot of okay stuff, nothing really bad. The show never quite reaches the levels I'm hoping it will, not on a consistent basis, but I like it.
Next season I'd like to see the Inquisitors again. Unless I missed something there should be a few more out there. Also hoping they get back to Ashoka, I was a bit surprised they didn't pick that up already. A few more returning characters would be nice (Boba Fett and Cad Bane come to mind), and maybe a little romance.
And more Thrawn.

Like a lot of what you said and just a few things to touch on:

Spoiler
I didn't really see Thrawn's inclusion as him at a constant loss as much as some.  I saw Thrawn in this season play chess.  Or (Spade) playing a real life Empire At War game.  Setting pieces, learning his opponent, suring up his base and ultimately attacking.  That's Thrawn.  And you pegged it right, from the voice acting, to the look to demeanor, that's EXACTLY how I saw Thrawn in my minds-eye 20 years ago.

Also about Inquisitors, the names were "Fifth Brother" and "Seven Sister".  I would imagine(and I actually GMed a game using the motif) that there's at least 5 more Inquisitors for them to use.  Perhaps Inquisitors we know like Jerec or Tremayne outside of the "Brother" or "Sister" Inquisitors.  I don't think the Grand Inquisitor from season 1 went by that numeration.

Podmark

Shogunn:

Spoiler

Ventress unfortunately was killed in a canon novel. I was quite disappointed to learn that but from what I've heard it was decent conclusion to her arc.

I'd really like if they used some of the characters from the Kanan's comic.
Get my skins at:
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my Google page

BentonGrey

Has anyone else had a huge problem with Mandalorians running around all over the place in this show?  A) When I was a Star Wars fan back in the day (we walked five miles to school, up hill both ways!  In the snow!), the Mandalorians had been wiped out in the Clone Wars.  That was more or less the established canon, and Bobba Fett was interesting because he was a survivor and a mystery.  B) It makes no sense for a warrior culture to survive in the Empire.  It doesn't fit the setting.

I'm slowly catching up here, but I find that my issues remain.  It just doesn't quite fit for me.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

HarryTrotter

We even had Mandalorians in Legacy,way after Clone wars.So Bobba definitly wasnt the only one who survived.
''Even our origin stories have gone sour.''
Jon Farmer

Shogunn2517

Well, this thread has been dead for about a year, but I'd figure with the series closing out, I thought I'd come back and share some thoughts, about the finale, the season(particularly the last 5 episodes) and the series overall.

Spoiler
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good closing.  It tied up loose ends and storylines of different characters.  It was nice to see characters from back as far as season one show up and take part in the end.  Vizago, Mart, Hondo, Ketsu, Gregor and Wolf.  I also like how THEY were the ones fighting the Empire and not the Rebel Alliance, if anything for the sake of preserving continunity with the Battle of Scarif being the Rebellion's first victory like ANH said it was.  The drama was high.  It was real "Star Wars".  The ending, of course it gave me quite a few questions.  Although Dave Filoni did confirm that BOTH Ezra AND Thrawn survived the hyperspace jump with the Purrgil's.  Where they went, who knows.  Apparently, Ahsoka returns and joins with Sabine to go search for Ezra AFTER the Battle of Endor.  And even though he dodges, I have to imagine the next Filoni series will be with Sabine and Ahsoka in a post ROTJ environment searching for Ezra. There were also the others we saw too.  Although we know that Zeb and Kallus survive the war, but what they did during the war remains unknown.  Same with Sabine.  Did they stay on Lothal?  It'd explain their absence. But did they stay with the Spectre crew?  Did they join the rebellion?  Chopper and Hera of course were in the Battle of Scarif and Endor.  It was also nice to see(hear rather) Gilad Pellaeon get "canonized" in this episode as well. 

Lastly, Jason Sydulla... I guess that's one Star Wars question I've never wanted to ask to have been answered.

Now, the last 5 episodes of this season, IMO were probably more impactful than we've seen of anything Star Wars recently.  There was more content and plot devices in this final bit then probably the entire series.  More specifically:

Spoiler
TIME TRAVEL

It's been pretty hotly contested over the last week, Star Wars introducing such a major science fiction device into the universe.  It introduced it, but they made it in such a way that it seemed insular and purposeful and not completely accessible.  I mean, I suppose it should have made sense, given what we've known about Star Wars for the last 37 years, that Jedi actually can see the future, that they have the ability to have a greater connection to overall events in some sort of way.  But with Ezra saving Ahsoka from Vader, which lead to the last scene from season 2 that we saw.  But clearly, Ezra knows he can't change things that happened, whether it was with his parets or Kanan.  As far as the last three, we saw Lothal rebel against the Empire.  The Emperor show himself as he would look to most people, without the hood and the Darth Sidious visage.  We FINALLY after 35 years see Royal Guards DO something.  It was pretty much nothing, but it was at least SOMETHING.  Again, though nothing's confirmed officially, but the word is "Star Wars Resistance" has been copyrighted and could be the title of the Sabine/Ahsoka series.  But these last few episodes, however you feel about them were VERY revealing.  If not a little frustrating.

As for the series overall, IMO I think the second half of Clone Wars was much stronger and darker, but the series itself had it's highlights and lows as well.  It was good to see the how the Rebellion start in official canon.  It was good to see how the Rebellion works.  The battles and the climaxes in the series were a lot of fun and well done.  the characters that were introduced and reintroduced were refreshing.  From the Mandalorians, fringers and Imperials.  It was nice to see characters from the movies show up in the series from Leia, Lando, Wedge and Saw.  Ezra like Ahsoka earlier on in their respective series were VERY annoying.  It's obvious the character(s) were written to give the younger audience a perspective to relate to.  The series had a lot of lazy and too convenient plots(particularly at the end), which slowed the show down as much as they were annoying.  But it gave us "Star Wars" what we know as classic "Star Wars".  I was afraid with Kanan being a Jedi and Ezra being his "Padawan" made me fearful the series would come off too Jedi-centric in a era and setting that I thought should be focused on a different war.  But overall, and what the ending emphasized is that the series is less about "Rebels" and more about Ezra and the Spectre crew.  As long as I keep that in mind, I can be okay with it.

Silver Shocker

#147
Quote from: Shogunn2517 on March 06, 2018, 07:37:57 AM
Well, this thread has been dead for about a year, but I'd figure with the series closing out, I thought I'd come back and share some thoughts, about the finale, the season(particularly the last 5 episodes) and the series overall.

Spoiler
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good closing.  It tied up loose ends and storylines of different characters.  It was nice to see characters from back as far as season one show up and take part in the end.  Vizago, Mart, Hondo, Ketsu, Gregor and Wolf.  I also like how THEY were the ones fighting the Empire and not the Rebel Alliance, if anything for the sake of preserving continunity with the Battle of Scarif being the Rebellion's first victory like ANH said it was.  The drama was high.  It was real "Star Wars".  The ending, of course it gave me quite a few questions.  Although Dave Filoni did confirm that BOTH Ezra AND Thrawn survived the hyperspace jump with the Purrgil's.  Where they went, who knows.  Apparently, Ahsoka returns and joins with Sabine to go search for Ezra AFTER the Battle of Endor.  And even though he dodges, I have to imagine the next Filoni series will be with Sabine and Ahsoka in a post ROTJ environment searching for Ezra. There were also the others we saw too.  Although we know that Zeb and Kallus survive the war, but what they did during the war remains unknown.  Same with Sabine.  Did they stay on Lothal?  It'd explain their absence. But did they stay with the Spectre crew?  Did they join the rebellion?  Chopper and Hera of course were in the Battle of Scarif and Endor.  It was also nice to see(hear rather) Gilad Pellaeon get "canonized" in this episode as well. 

Lastly, Jason Sydulla... I guess that's one Star Wars question I've never wanted to ask to have been answered.

Now, the last 5 episodes of this season, IMO were probably more impactful than we've seen of anything Star Wars recently.  There was more content and plot devices in this final bit then probably the entire series.  More specifically:

Spoiler
TIME TRAVEL

It's been pretty hotly contested over the last week, Star Wars introducing such a major science fiction device into the universe.  It introduced it, but they made it in such a way that it seemed insular and purposeful and not completely accessible.  I mean, I suppose it should have made sense, given what we've known about Star Wars for the last 37 years, that Jedi actually can see the future, that they have the ability to have a greater connection to overall events in some sort of way.  But with Ezra saving Ahsoka from Vader, which lead to the last scene from season 2 that we saw.  But clearly, Ezra knows he can't change things that happened, whether it was with his parets or Kanan.  As far as the last three, we saw Lothal rebel against the Empire.  The Emperor show himself as he would look to most people, without the hood and the Darth Sidious visage.  We FINALLY after 35 years see Royal Guards DO something.  It was pretty much nothing, but it was at least SOMETHING.  Again, though nothing's confirmed officially, but the word is "Star Wars Resistance" has been copyrighted and could be the title of the Sabine/Ahsoka series.  But these last few episodes, however you feel about them were VERY revealing.  If not a little frustrating.

As for the series overall, IMO I think the second half of Clone Wars was much stronger and darker, but the series itself had it's highlights and lows as well.  It was good to see the how the Rebellion start in official canon.  It was good to see how the Rebellion works.  The battles and the climaxes in the series were a lot of fun and well done.  the characters that were introduced and reintroduced were refreshing.  From the Mandalorians, fringers and Imperials.  It was nice to see characters from the movies show up in the series from Leia, Lando, Wedge and Saw.  Ezra like Ahsoka earlier on in their respective series were VERY annoying.  It's obvious the character(s) were written to give the younger audience a perspective to relate to.  The series had a lot of lazy and too convenient plots(particularly at the end), which slowed the show down as much as they were annoying.  But it gave us "Star Wars" what we know as classic "Star Wars".  I was afraid with Kanan being a Jedi and Ezra being his "Padawan" made me fearful the series would come off too Jedi-centric in a era and setting that I thought should be focused on a different war.  But overall, and what the ending emphasized is that the series is less about "Rebels" and more about Ezra and the Spectre crew.  As long as I keep that in mind, I can be okay with it.

[obligatory grumbling about internet spoilers when Canada got the show a week late moving on]

I was quite satisfied with the way this series wrapped up. It reminds me of Deep Space Nine's finale (a series I resented finished rewatching and a personal favorite) with a threat defeated, some tragic but poignant casualties and a nice coda to show where many of these characters ended up. This is, I guess I should say was, a show that like the 2012 TMNT and The Walking Dead, I want to really like ALL of the time instead of about HALF of the time. But it stuck the landing where it counted by having the back half of the final season be nothing but the good stuff.

Spoiler
Kanan's tragic death was moment that, like Negan's debut in Walking Dead, in my opinion was so well done that me having it spoiled did little to mitigate from its emotional effectiveness. Having Ezra tempted to undo it only to ultimately accept it as final was a very good way to add poignancy and develop his character. I was joking that Ezra was becoming Bran Stark from Game of Thrones and that ended up being more true than I knew with him literally peering through time to learn things the audience was aching to get closure on. Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine, befitting the character and actor absolutely stole the few scenes he was in. Never before have found this "Evil Sorcerer", as I've taken to calling him, more terrifying than when he haunted Ezra and Ahsoka in that time chamber. In a show full of callbacks to Clone Wars (more on that later) I especially like how they found a way to present Palpie as, well, Palpatine in a way that genuinely played like a proper "reveal" of him as the Emperor/Sidious as if this and the show it's a follow up to were one continuous story without simply relying on knowledge of the rest of the franchise. (indeed, the Prequels did the same thing despite it being common knowledge in the EU) Like tying James Earl Jones' Vader To Matt Lanter's Anakin via Ahsoka, it felt very appropriate and was a moment I was genuinely expecting and hoping to see since the first time we saw the Emperor in this series.

QuoteI also like how THEY were the ones fighting the Empire and not the Rebel Alliance, if anything for the sake of preserving continunity with the Battle of Scarif being the Rebellion's first victory like ANH said it was.

I actually didn't even think about that until I read your post but that's a good point. Pretty impressive.

The returning guest stars was a nice touch. I particularly enjoy Hondo so I was glad he showed up and had a decent role. He seemed a better fit in this just because the writers didn't struggle to make him a credible but fun and harmless antagonist like he was in Clone Wars. Here he had more of a Quark-like harmless scoundrel energy.

I actually did wish Zeb had more to do. I was glad they had that last scene with him and Callus but I was hoping for more. Though I was expecting Zeb to get the short stick. In a show full of characters with meaningful long-term story arcs, he was the character who largely stayed the same. At least he got to take out Ruhk. That was pretty sweet.

Pelaean cameo was great. While it's been said many times before I think it bears repeating: Thrawn was really great. Well cast and well written, he even had a really awesome theme music (which is certainly a Star Wars tradition) The thing that consistantly impressed me about Thrawn in this is in some series' you have characters who we're told are brilliant strategists but they don't actually come as all that brilliant. Stryka and Obsidian from Transformers Beast Machines are probably my go-to example of that. But with Thrawn it's the opposite. Nobody in the show has to keep telling  us that he's incredibly intelligent because it comes through what he says and how he speaks and carries himself. I also liked seeing Ezra react to his art collection.

The way they wrote out Thrawn and Ezra was pretty well done. I'm not entirely convinced that Sabine's search for Ezra will the focus of the next show. I think they might do what Rebels itself did and relegate leftover plots from Clone Wars as a secondary element a new cast and show stumble upon. I could be wrong though. It's all in the Filoni's hands. The implication that we might follow the Rebels cast into the post-RotJ era EA Battlefront II/Shattered Empire style is an intriguing one. Old Woman Ahsoka in the time of the First Order?

I was also very happy and pleasantly surprised to see the Mortis Gods come up again. That whole concept was promoted as being important when it happened in Clone Wars and yet while that arc was a good one it didn't really amount to anything other than a pre-Maul Sam Witwer villain and some really fun fanservice, and I always wondered if they were going to do anything with it again. Sure enough it managed to get some use here. I also was pleasantly surprised to see the space whales of all things get payoff. That episode was still the poster child for "Why isn't this show better" but it's nice to see it pay off in a big way in the end.

Ezra, like Ahsoka, was a character I didn't mind as much as others but whom I did enjoy seeing develop and mature. To me that's positive of having such a character, which makes it much more disappointing when other shows don't have such growth.

And indeed. We have Jacen (apparently it's spelt that way as a deliberate nod to the pre-Disney EU character). Possibly the first ever half-Twilight offspring. Which considering their role in the Star Wars mythos, kinda surprising it didn't come up MUCH earlier. Apparently it's a human looking kid with green hair, that's kinda lame. On that note, this show really was just Firefly with a Star Wars skin, wasn't it?

Ball's in Fioni's court now. On that note, has Filoni confirmed whether Cad Bane's dead or not? Because I'd really like to know.
"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa

Shogunn2517

Yeah Thrawn though...  :thumbup:

It's almost not exactly how I would have imagined him, but actually much better.  Like going back to when I read Heir to the Empire, it's pretty much what I was reading coming off the page.  The way he looked, sounded, the way he acted and all the things he did was EXACTLY what I thought it would be before I knew what it could be.

Additionally:

Spoiler
As much as I would love to have it my way and have the new series take place in the Classic Era, if they went with a Sabine/Ahsoka team up series in a Post-ROTJ/Pre-TFA era, I'd definitely watch and thoroughly enjoy, mostly because those two characters are probably two of the better characters from BOTH series.  I could easily see them carrying a series.  Alas, who knows.  I gotta imagine they would come with a new cast of characters in some form or fashion like they did for Rebels from Clone Wars and have some characters from the previous series bleed in and guest star from time to time.

Also, now it could possibly seem an entire Heir to the Empire-lite series can actually still happen now.  Thrawn's absence in the GCW now makes sense.  He could return in a post-Shattered Empire/Aftermath era like he did in the Zahn trilogy.  And maybe other Legends characters could follow #crossesfingers

Something else a lot of folks I don't think caught on to, even from Star Wars Explained and other reviews, is about the Purrgils.  You SS might not have minded them so much, but there was a lot of blowback online from them being used more or less as a lazy plot device and stretching credibility.  And I see what they mean.  After they jumped while holding on to Thrawn, I have to imagine that going into a vacuum, detectors on board the Star Destroyer would sense this and the windows would automatically be covered with durasteel, which I suppose would amputate the tentacles, freeing Thrawn... But more than that, something else they didn't pick up was that the Purrgils don't HAVE hyperdrive in their internal organs, but they actually are the source of the technology itself!  After they were discovered, sentient beings reverse-engineered their ability to enter in a pocket-dimension and created the technology on their biology.  But I do like how like almost no episode was just "filler" episodes from the series.  Even the stuff we thought was just throwaway stuff played back into it.  Like with the Mortis Gods.

Hopefully, by the next series we can see MORE Legends characters brought over to Canon.  STILL patiently waiting for Revan, Exar Kun, Ulic Qel-Droma, Dash Rendar, Xizor, Kyle Katarn, C'Boath, Mara Jade(though those latter few might be a little problematic for continunity).   

Looking forward to what Filoni comes up with next!

Silver Shocker

Quote from: Shogunn2517 on March 14, 2018, 04:59:39 AM
Yeah Thrawn though...  :thumbup:

It's almost not exactly how I would have imagined him, but actually much better.  Like going back to when I read Heir to the Empire, it's pretty much what I was reading coming off the page.  The way he looked, sounded, the way he acted and all the things he did was EXACTLY what I thought it would be before I knew what it could be.

It wasn't that surprising that Thrawn turned out so well considering that Filoni was a Thrawn fanboy. He made that clear from the early days of Clone Wars when he adapted the "Thrawn Maneuver" for a space battle in one of the first arcs of the show, admitting that in the web featureless that accompany each episode.

Quote

Additionally:

Spoiler


Something else a lot of folks I don't think caught on to, even from Star Wars Explained and other reviews, is about the Purrgils.  You SS might not have minded them so much, but there was a lot of blowback online from them being used more or less as a lazy plot device and stretching credibility.  And I see what they mean.  After they jumped while holding on to Thrawn, I have to imagine that going into a vacuum, detectors on board the Star Destroyer would sense this and the windows would automatically be covered with durasteel, which I suppose would amputate the tentacles, freeing Thrawn... But more than that, something else they didn't pick up was that the Purrgils don't HAVE hyperdrive in their internal organs, but they actually are the source of the technology itself!  After they were discovered, sentient beings reverse-engineered their ability to enter in a pocket-dimension and created the technology on their biology.  But I do like how like almost no episode was just "filler" episodes from the series.  Even the stuff we thought was just throwaway stuff played back into it.  Like with the Mortis Gods.



Spoiler
I had not heard what other fans thought fan outside of this thread so I didn't know lots of fans thought it a deus ex machina or what have you, but I'm not terribly surprised. But your explanation that the windows would have locked down actually makes perfect sense. As far as explanations of they Thrawn and Ezra survived, that makes as much sense as anything. As for Purrgls jump to hyperspace, it reminds me of how the space travel in Futurama was explained to work.

"Now you know what you're worth? Then go out and get what you're worth, but you gotta be willing to take the hits. And not pointing fingers, saying you're not where you want to be because of him, or her, or anybody. Cowards do that, and THAT AIN'T YOU. YOU'RE BETTER THAN THAT!"
~Rocky Balboa