STAR WARS: REBELS (animated tv series) - a general discussion thread — Page 72

I finally finished Star Wars Rebels last night. Since the show ended over 4 years ago, I’m not going to hide any spoilers.

Overall I enjoyed the show. But it’s not without its faults. My biggest complaint, and one I’ve seen from many others, is the rebels’ victories seem too big in some cases which kinda flies in the face of the original opening crawl “Rebel ships, striking from a hidden base, have won their FIRST victory…”. The finale, freeing an entire planet from imperial rule, particularly feels way out of place to be happening before the events of ANH. Likewise, the final summary of certain characters being in major OT battles felt off and/or shoehorned in.

I also don’t love how “common knowledge” the Jedi are among all the other characters. Not that they know Kanan or Ezra. But that everyone knows what a Jedi is and immediately knows they’re Jedi when they see a lightsaber or force use. And that like all the imperials down to the lowest button masher knows. I’ve always been of the opinion Jedi were very rare even before the empire (10,000? 100,000? In a galaxy of billions upon billions? VERY rare) and that the Empire would do everything in its power to hide, bury, obfuscate, belittle, and destroy any knowledge or belief in the Jedi. To the point that the lowly grunts wouldn’t have even heard of them.

My other gripes are mostly just Filoni-isms. He always has to bring in his favorite characters that he created and then he can’t let them go. I thought Ashoka was actually handled pretty well but the Clones shouldn’t have stuck around after their initial couple episodes. And we get it. You’re obsessed with wolves. Stop forcing that into all the media you work on.

Now, with the negative out of the way, I’ll end with the positive. This show NAILS the adventure and fun of the OT. It looks, sounds, and FEELS like Star Wars. It’s almost everything I would want in a Star Wars cartoon.

The visuals in particular are just spectacular. Going back to the treasure trove of McQuarrie and Johnston concept art was absolute genius and a huge benefit to the show. There are some really breathtaking establishing shots throughout the series.

The characters are all likable and engaging each in their own way. Even “standard Disney male hero” Ezra turns out to be a decent character.

I love the mysticism of the Force in this show. It gets back to that “magical space wizard” feel of the 70’s in all the right ways. Even the loth-wolves. Though Filoni might’ve leaned into them a bit too hard because of his personal opinions, I did like the basic concept of how they were used in connection to the force.

So yeah, perhaps it bends continuity a little too far but overall this is a really great Star Wars cartoon!

Finally getting the Blu-ray disc releases of the seasons. Season 1 & 2 are from the same eBay seller. Only purchased Season Two and the same eBay seller had a separate listing for Season One. Played message tag and the eBay seller is sending Season One for free with Season Two. SCORE.
Season Three and Four later.
Of course I enjoy the Ralph McQuarrie inspired designs for everything in this series but wished the aspect ratio mirrored THE CLONE WARS, and most especially OT & PT. Y’know, 2.35:1/2.40:1.

Well, turns out the two seasons I received from the eBay seller were very convincing bootlegs. Except the print quality was low/washed out especially on the disc labels, not the correct case types, single layered for all discs, and burned, not pressed. Not even mad at the seller, just at the laziness of the bootlegger. Got a refund from the seller, left Neutral feedback, and 5 stars for everything. Was only $8.95, and the seller is more displeased with her distributor.
So, I ordered the first three Seasons on Blu-ray disc, pre-owned, from BullMoose.com. Of course with the usual kindly request for the slipcovers. Long time customer but opposite coast.
Fourth season might be tricky to get, more because of the price.

jedi_bendu said:

AdmiralWasabi10191 said:

Of course I enjoy the Ralph McQuarrie inspired designs for everything in this series but wished the aspect ratio mirrored THE CLONE WARS, and most especially OT & PT. Y’know, 2.35:1/2.40:1.

I sometimes wonder what Rebels would have looked like in the letterbox aspect ratio. I think it was purely for budgetary reasons they had to make it 16:9 - less to render and all that. Still, I kind of prefer that for TV since it fills the whole screen.

I prefer OAR. When I get the legit BDs from Bull Moose, gotta be patient to buy Season 4 later, I’ll finally watch the bonus features.
Maybe 1.78:1 was chosen to mirror Ralph McQuarrie’s concept artwork inspiration for the show? I’m randomly guessing.

I really enjoyed Andor, and thought it was the best Star Wars since 1983, so I’ll looking to give this another go, as it is features the ‘birth of the rebellion’ too.
Originally, I did try and watch it some years ago but was put off by some of the more juvenile and trope-heavy early episodes (stormtroopers can’t hit anything, heroes easily do and that type of thing).
But I have been told by a few people that it does improve on that halfway-through the first season, and stories also become more mature and have consequences?
With the new Ahsoka series out soon, possibly with a few characters and from this, I thought I best give it another chance.

Any episode gems to look out for, or episodes to avoid?

Thanks for that, every episode it is then 😃. I’m quite looking forward to it.

In my experience it was all very hit and miss, and gets ‘good’ in the season two finale, and then after in season three when Thrawn arrives. I’m still not convinced that the conclusion with certain animals and certain portals worked for me, but it has its moments.

I recently finished a rewatch of Rebels - a show I hadn’t seen since the original release, and I adored it. I always knew I loved it, and have always been a fierce defender of it whenever people criticized it, but I really, really loved it. All four seasons.

I’m with you jedi_bendu, I really love Season 1, I love spending some time with the crew, go on little adventures with them, they’re my good space friends and I want no harm to come to them. Little lighthearted, often low stakes adventures, really comforting in so many ways.

Season 2 gets more serious but still has that absolute charm, but I think the show manages to pull off the tonal shift from Season 1 & 2 to 3 & 4 really, really well. I didn’t remember a lot of Season 4 before this rewatch and now I remembered why - that last half to me was just one episode! And one of the best ones at that, absolute perfection from “Rebel Assaut” onwards. But I also love to bits one of the most widely criticized ones - “Fighter Flight”. Ezra slowly becoming more selfless and less self-centered (never really selfish), his relationship with Zeb, you know, I just love hanging out with them, could do it for two extra season of the so widely hated “fillers”. I kept an eye out for actual, true filler episodes that add nothing to the overall story and out of 75 there’s maybe two or three, so not a lot, huh?

In all or almost all something is added to the story, either a bit of character development, perhaps a new piece of equipment, meaning you shouldn’t skip any. And you shouldn’t want to, they’re all so delightful. Sometimes lightheartedly delightful, sometimes tear-jerking, full on ugly crying delightful. I love Rebels. Hopeful for Ahsoka.

Back when it originally aired I thought it was kinda bland, and had a few interesting ideas, but was royally pissed off when the first two seasons hinted at Ezra’s darker tendencies only to completely ditch that subplot after the season 3 premiere, and Ezra remains a goody-two-shoes for the remainder of the series. Creatively speaking I found that to be a cowardly move. I also hated how it was always Mission Accomplished with almost no casualties for the Rebels, retroactively cheapening the victories of the OT and painting the Empire as absurdly incompetent, the ultimate insult being how Thrawn is thwarted in the series finale by a whiny teenager.

If it wasn’t obvious by now, I thoroughly dislike Star Wars Rebels because it presents the franchise at its most sanitized, play-it-safe version where everything is smooth sailing fo the good guys.

I noticed a continuity error kenobi says a new hope will emerge but he shouldn’t be feeling this way already look at this clip. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib2v8atzt5c

I_AmNoJedi on reddit made a Mandalorian History Watch List: Clone Wars & Rebels episodes for anyone looking to brush up on their Mandalorian history:
 

 
I thought the above could be of use for anyone interested, or wanting a refresher on here too.