STAR WARS: REBELS (animated tv series) - a general discussion thread — Page 26

Droids is too Canadian to be Disneyfied. =P

Tobar said:

When was the last time you watched Star Wars (1977) if I may ask? =P

And how would you say Rebels is more "Disneyfied" than say...DROIDS?

 Answer to first question: Last week.

Second question: Huge difference mostly subtle. but all of the subtle differences stack up. There are differences with the animation, the way the characters look and move, the way they talk (kind of dialogue) and interact, the plot formulas etc. I am not an American which possibly makes me more sensitive to the subtle differences. I can always pick a Disney animation if I catch it half way through on TV, even without looking at the title. Droids cannot be compared because it is so dated now, but I would have to say that compared to CW, this recent effort at animation is rather amateurish and needs a lot of work. Somehow I do not believe the problems will ever be addressed because Disney will remain oblivious to them.

DuracellEnergizer said:

Droids is too Canadian to be Disneyfied. =P

 Hehehe! Well said. ;-)

Tobar said:

The same team that did CW is behind Rebels. Just like CW I'm sure the production values will increase overtime.

 I know people keep saying this, but I always find myself asking "Well why then are they so different?" and "why did the animation deteriorate?" Surely the animation should have improved under Disney. Instead it has taken a step backwards. Hopefully this is just a case of "finding their feet". There is always hope.

I think it's simply a case of trying to look different from CW.

I have to say I like the design of the ship and the audio / music is top notch. Just not a fan of the characters / character design.

Hopefully the overall style will be refined as they go.

Tyrphanax said:

point5 said:

Tobar said:

The same team that did CW is behind Rebels. Just like CW I'm sure the production values will increase overtime.

 I know people keep saying this, but I always find myself asking "Well why then are they so different?" and "why did the animation deteriorate?" Surely the animation should have improved under Disney. Instead it has taken a step backwards. Hopefully this is just a case of "finding their feet". There is always hope.

If we see an improvement over time (which I totally anticipate), then the likely answer is "budget". A lot of times with TV shows, the risk is so great that they begin with a smaller budget and slowly release more and more if the show is successful. That way, if a show bombs in its first season, loss is minimized.

Dave Filoni talked about the Clone Wars being that way, and despite animated Star Wars being a proven formula, Disney isn't stupid (they've run a successful TV channel for over a decade now) and TV is always risky (just think of all the shows you know have been canned and then remember that there are at least two more for each one of those, and probably more).

Star Wars is still in a volatile place right now and they know that a lot of fans are on edge. Rebels exists partly as a peace offering and partly because Disney wants to test the water; it's like a trial run for VII: If people are receptive, then they know what they're doing is good. But if Rebels doesn't work, they can pull the plug with minimal loss by not making a huge investment right away.

You don't get to the top and stay there by taking risks. Especially not Disney. Mark my words, you'll see an improvement a few seasons in.

 I hear what you say, but I find it difficult to understand why so many shows that ARE very popular and have a large fan base do sometimes get cancelled. Fans can write thousands of letters in support, but nothing changes, the show stays cancelled. I am convinced that some executives have no idea what the public wants.

Clone Wars was expensive.

All wars are expensive. ;-P

Clone Wars might have been more interesting if it had followed a squad of clones through the war - ala Band of Brothers. It seems like Rebels might be a bit more like that, a tighter focus on a core group of characters.

time will tell.

Ryan McAvoy said:

Ryan McAvoy said:

Ryan McAvoy said:

Despite everything that looks wrong with this, I'm looking forward to the movie-length first part like nothing else. Because from a certain point of view, it's the first proper* Star Wars movie to be released in 30 years!

(* I choose to define "proper" as it featuring Stormtroopers, the Empire, Rebels, beat-up technology, new young charismatic characters, fun, excitement and everything that the 3 prequels and the Clone Wars movie lacked)

Correction. When they said "movie-length", they actually meant "not movie-length". I'm going back to my default pessimism about this show.

Then after having watched the awesome 45minute (Distinctly not feature-length) first episode...

Tobar said:

Well that was quick! I guess the preview turn out was good:

DISNEY XD ORDERS SECOND SEASON OF STAR WARS REBELS AHEAD OF TELEVISION PREMIERE

Star Wars Rebels will be introduced via a television movie, Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion, premiering Friday, October 3 (9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney Channel in the U.S. and Monday, October 6 (8:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD in the U.S.  It ushers in the series beginning Monday, October 13 (9:00 p.m., ET/PT) on Disney XD in the U.S.  The series will air in 34 languages across 163 countries in over 400 million households.

...so the 45 minute episode I've seen was just a preview of part 1 and tomorrow will be the full-length 90 minute (Spark Part 1 & 2)????

Is it just me or are Disney making this much more confusing than it needed to be. Anybody got anything official on this situation?

Harmy said:

Boy, am I glad I didn't watch it now :-)

From what I can tell (CW was the same way, imdb lists Rebels as such), this is a 30min show. Double that for the pilot and you get a 1h slot, so approx. 45 minutes without the commercials. I think I saw the pilot mentioned as an hour-long tv movie in one of the announcements somewhere as well.

bkev said:

The people who think this early renewal is silly obviously haven't been watching the Marvel movies ;) same business model, different medium. While I question its validity on the whole -- kind of cheapens the movies especially, and makes me feel like I'm paying for a part rather than a whole and being suckered -- I'm not complaining if it gives me more Star Wars!

Going to watch the premiere soon and give my (abbreviated) thoughts.

I don't see how the first instance in 30 years of OT Star Wars done, period, not to mention done well (in movie/tv form) cheapens anything.

Ryan McAvoy said:

Just watched the first part. I'll avoid any kind of spoilers...

First things first, the animation is indeed terrible, amateurish, floaty, overdone, underdone, uninspired etc. However, everything else is soooo right that that first major flaw is quite easy to overlook.

It only took 31 years but finally somebody has made a film/video that actually felt like honest to goodness Star Wars. You care about the characters, the story, the stakes and the drama. It's got blaster shootouts, dogfights, last-minute-escapes and danger. After watching, it seemed easy and obvious: Just take all the good things about the OT and then make a show featuring them. Maybe it just took GL not being in the way to do this seemingly simple thing.

When one of the characters pulls out a certain thing towards the end it felt like something special and epic. I was so pumped by the end that when a certain other character from the OT uttered a certain 3 word refrence back to the OT, I suddenly surprised myself and shoved my fist in the air and shouted "Yes!".

I cannot wait to see more of this show and if the ST is even just a little better than this then I'll be happy.

(Oh and no crawl, there's always fanedits)

You might be missing the point here. Rebels is the crawl. And an apology that's stuffed with nods to the OT, but one that never gets meta or self-referential in that annoying way almost everything seems to be these days. Let's hope it'll stay watchable.

Aside from that, and from your comment about the animation being uninspired (the show on the whole feels very much inspired, it's just that the character animation is lacking), we're in agreement.

One thing that bugged me (aside from the animation) is that the cuts felt a bit rushed sometimes and that they gave some scenes no room to breathe, even though there was a clear need for it, but that's how those kids shows are these days so I wasn't surprised to see this in Rebels. Not a major complaint by any means.

On the whole this is OT Star Wars through and through, in all the ways it should be. Yes, I agree with point5 that it feels modern and very Disney, but it never gets too obnoxious the way some of the worst offenders among shows for kids tend to get. Personally, I found Rebels to be a good mix of the old and the contemporary (and the Disney).

Basically, I went in extremely skeptical and I got converted. And yes, I felt a bit like a kid watching the original Star Wars for the first time again. That's pretty much the highest praise I can give anything Star Wars.

So... yeah. Apology accepted, Disney/Lucasfilm. Just don't get cocky.

A certain pair of droids had better be in the next episode for a good reason...