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.