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STAR WARS: REBELS (animated tv series) - a general discussion thread — Page 70

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This is, I believe, the first time post-release tinkering has happened at Lucasfilm since the purchase. Up until now there’s been no “versions” of anything.

Of course the question now is if his voice work stops at this one scene for Rebels, or if they went ahead and put him in Clone Wars, too.

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I can’t imagine they got McDiarmid to redub (and match the animated lip sync) on six seasons of The Clone Wars. Plus, with how highly Dave Filoni has spoken of the late Ian Abercrombie in the role, I don’t believe he’d go along with erasing that performance.

As far as changes go, this was a pretty “easy” one to make. It’s a single scene, there’s no lip sync to match, and they can even go get Witwer’s blessing if they felt so inclined. It also makes it match up better with Palpatine’s later appearance in Season Four. I don’t love it, but I also understand the inclination to do this.

EDIT: What I could see, though, is them getting McDiarmid to voice Palpatine for the upcoming final batch of Clone Wars episodes coming to Disney+. If they already got him in the booth for that, it’d be easy enough to have him read this one scene from Rebels.

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Broom Kid said:

This is, I believe, the first time post-release tinkering has happened at Lucasfilm since the purchase. Up until now there’s been no “versions” of anything.

The series premiere movie of Rebels had a scene between Vader and the Grand Inquisitor added to it when it re-ran on ABC, and that version is the one on the S1 Blu-Ray/DVD set. I think the standalone Spark of Rebellion DVD release is the original version, but I don’t recall if that got a Blu-Ray release, too.

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Broom Kid said:

This is, I believe, the first time post-release tinkering has happened at Lucasfilm since the purchase. Up until now there’s been no “versions” of anything.

The TFA home video release extended the credits. Plus you could conceivably count the intro changes to the digital versions of I-VI. But yes, this is the first significant tinkering we’ve seen.

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DavidMDaut said:

EDIT: What I could see, though, is them getting McDiarmid to voice Palpatine for the upcoming final batch of Clone Wars episodes coming to Disney+. If they already got him in the booth for that, it’d be easy enough to have him read this one scene from Rebels.

That’s what I was referencing in my post.

Although honestly, if they were willing to pay him for 2 or 3 days of vocal work, they probably could have retrofitted him into the old Clone Wars episodes too. But I agree with you that such a scenario seems unlikely.

RE: the other examples of tinkering: That decision to re-do the fanfares is so weird, in retrospect. I don’t understand why they even tried it, or further, why they thought that edit was a good idea.

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I’m fine with Ian Abercrombie’s performance for The Clone Wars, as nearly all the voices are different then their live action versions. But Tim Curry’s performance on the latter seasons stuck out like a sore thumb.

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emanswfan said:

But Tim Curry’s performance on the latter seasons stuck out like a sore thumb.

Yeah Ambercrombie was fantastic but I’m really hoping they got McDiarmid to redo Curry’s stuff. But I doubt it, it was probably just this quick scene and maybe new material for the new season of Clone Wars.

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Broom Kid said:

RE: the other examples of tinkering: That decision to re-do the fanfares is so weird, in retrospect. I don’t understand why they even tried it, or further, why they thought that edit was a good idea.

I think they had to because Fox was not involved in digital distribution.

TV’s Frink said:

I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.

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CHEWBAKAspelledwrong said:

I think they had to because Fox was not involved in digital distribution.

I understand why they initially pulled the logos - they wanted digital versions up very, very quickly, and hadn’t worked out a better deal with Fox - before buying them outright, that is - what I don’t understand, especially considering their strategy for The Force Awakens and every other movie that followed, is why they thought the Lucasfilm logo needed a fanfare at all, much less the chopped up “Finale” from Empire as that fanfare.

Everything about it just sounded like a thing decided upon, started, and finished in less than an hour before someone hit publish.

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Yeah, I don’t understand why they didn’t just do a silent LFL logo like they’ve done for all the post-Disney new releases.

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I saw fans on Reddit wanting Witwer to overdub Peter Serafinowicz’s work in TMP because Serafinowicz isn’t “part of the franchise.” These fans are dicks.

Of course, you can make up a canon reason for switching actors, say “Witwer is Maul’s voice after Maul lost his lower body to Kenobi.” As for McDiarmid redubbing the lines, I’m glad they got Witwer’s permission.

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So… next question. Does this get any better after S1? Not really feeling this one and the visual downgrade after the last few CW episodes isn’t helping.

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Mocata said:

So… next question. Does this get any better after S1? Not really feeling this one and the visual downgrade after the last few CW episodes isn’t helping.

Yes, the show does get much better. Season two is a bit of an oddly mixed bag of ideas IMO, but it has a really good finale, and the next two seasons are pretty great. The last story arc I would argue is every bit as good as TCW ever was.

Also, I personally think its unfair to criticize the series too much based on the visual downgrade. The Disney XD budget was much lower than what Filoni got from Cartoon Network, and I think they did really well with what they had. If anything I think it adds to the old school OT feel in that they were forced to come up with creative solutions to deal with the lower budget. It’s also worth pointing out that they’re trying to make it all look like the McQuarrie paintings, hence the thin, pointy lightsabers, etc.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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Yeah I get the reasons for the way it looks but it’s still jarring nonetheless. I’ll give them a chance.

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I also found it a bit jarring the first time I watched it, but I got used to it, and I’ve come to appreciate it for simply being a different style than TCW. It can be a bit too “soft” at times, but I simply accept that as a Disney XD restriction. Overall though I do really love that Filoni decided to commit to the McQuarrie aesthetic, and in many ways I think its the mot OT SW-thing we’ve really gotten since the OT. I rewatched the whole series recently, and on the second viewing I even came to appreciate the lighthearted tone of even the 1st season. TCW may be more serious, but I don’t think SW necessarily has to be serious. But, starting with the season 2 finale Rebels does take a much darker turn and the last arc in season 4 is really excellent. It’ll also becomes quite apparent that the budget gets higher per new season.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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I appreciate season 1 as it’s much smaller-scale than we’re used to, showing early operations against the Empire on a local level. But for sure, seasons 3 and 4 are markedly better than 1 and 2; similar to The Clone Wars in that respect.

(And let it be known I like seasons 1 and 2 of both shows anyway)

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”

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Oh I agree. I think a lot of people, me included, had a hard time jumping from TCW season 6 into Rebels season 1, but upon my second viewing I really appreciated the first season as well. I actually like it more than season 2, which, despite some really good episodes, does IMO lack focus. Having the 1st season stay mostly on Lothal, although probably a budgetary necessity, ended up really grounding the series and characters for me. And I think many often forget just how lighthearted the OT, especially ANH, actually was, so I’m glad the show started out like that and then worked its way into more ESB-like territory later on.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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Ships, droids, buildings, and other scenery look outstanding in all the animated series, it’s onty the faces that I find off putting. They take some getting used to.

It will be interesting to see the anime style of the newly announced Visions.

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The animation of the faces is alright for me, it’s just the designs. Whenever I see a familiar alien (like a Rodian or Ithorian) or any pre-existent characters (like Hondo) the difference is way too jarring. Although let us agree that, different artstyle or not, Rebels Yoda looked like ass 😄

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At least it’s not as weird as this guy.

TBH I don’t really mind the Rebels version that much. It’s actually quite proportionate to the original puppet, though that might be what weirds people out. The TCW version is much more cartoonish, but it captures Yoda’s most noticeable features and exaggerates them in an almost caricature-like manner that succeeds in making him look “more” like Yoda. The Rebels version, though not technically incorrect, just seems oddly reduced in comparison.

Star Wars is Surrealism, not Science Fiction (essay)
Original Trilogy Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Beyond the OT Documentaries/Making-Ofs (YouTube, Vimeo, etc. finds)
Amazon link to my novel; Dawn of the Karabu.

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From ‘Jedi of the Republic: Mace Windu #1.’

Rebels Yoda looks positively sexy by comparison.

“Remember, the Force will be with you. Always.”