darklordoftech said:
I love that Droids in Distress is lightsaber-free.
I actually didn't even notice that, and didn't miss it.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
Droids in Distress
I've watched this episode twice now and simply love it. The story allows us to explore Zeb's past and motivations while also planting the seeds of the future Rebellion.
The environments in this show are just killer. They're drenched in that real Star Wars feel that the Clone Wars approached at times but never to this level. When I watch this series it feels like I have a window back into this world that I haven't had since the OT.
I just LOVE the little nods and attention to detail that's prevalent throughout this show. I've always held a special affinity for the more esoteric Star Wars projects. So I loved it when that little Wookiee in the premiere sounded just like Lumpy from the Holiday Special.
And my heart raced when I saw Captain Rex, who was voiced by his original performer Paul Reubens no less!
I also love that they're using the original Joe Johnston Walker design. I like to think of it as a nod to the Star Wars newspaper strips where it first officially appeared.
The only thing that would have made this episode even better would have been if at the end when they reveal the droids master, that it was Mungo Baobab! But I understand that they wanted to use the droids to connect the crew with the future founders of the Alliance.
Overall another great episode and I can't wait for the next!
I have to say that the animation looks great in the screenshots you posted. I didn't like what I saw before, but this has me a little more hopeful about it. Now I just need to wait a few years before I get around to seeing the show....
I quite liked Droids in Distress. I think the show's shaping up to be something nice.
Droids in Distress was great!
Tobar's first three screenshots show exactly what makes the environments so great, and I think it's that they're all composed like a Ralph McQuarrie painting. The stormtroopers by the transport especially. The ring of symbols around the circumference of the docking bay is right out of old Star Wars concepts, too, and are part of what go into making the show "feel" like Star Wars.
I still get excited to see stormtroopers and star destroyers every time they pop up.
It was awesome to see Rex from Star Tours, and I loved how he dropped his shades in a "deal with it" fashion after telling off the Imperial chick for her droids. Not to mention the concept Threepio and Artoo next to the final Threepio and Artoo being a cool moment.
Also, no Jedi. Not one lightsaber. Kanan and Ezra were basically normal dudes the whole episode (except Ezra's Force jumps and push). It strikes me that Kanan doesn't like to use the Force at all, really. I mean, they had the big reveal in the premiere, but they had to do it there. But there's no frivolous (or even meaningful) Force usage from him. Even when he's on the Ghost with just his friends. He opens doors just like the rest of us.
I'm digging Hera and Kanan's relationship. No drama, no tension. It's just there and it's just normal. Sabine is even cool, though I wish she wouldn't wear the Mandalorian armour around so much. I think it would be cool to make it a quest item for her or something, something of her heritage to discover. As it is now, I feel like she would stick out like a sore thumb. Though I suppose without the helmet (which only goes on in combat situations) her armour looks pretty unremarkable.
I'm glad we're starting to get into some of the character motivations, too. I was rolling my eyes watching the previews when they gave Kallus the same weapon as Zeb because it felt not-Imperial, but having seen the episode it makes sense now, and I don't feel like it'll be a thing he uses often. Speaking of weapons, I'm a little surprised nobody mentioned that the disruptor rifle is straight out of Star Wars Galaxies.
Also neat to see Bail Organa again. Definite callbacks to ANH with him and Artoo. Like Tobar, I was wondering if we would see Mungo Baobab here, but alas. I liked his interaction with Kanan a lot. Secretive, rebellious, cautiously organizing, some old Jedi talk thrown in, wink-wink style. It reminds us that there is hope elsewhere in the galaxy and that people weren't just waiting for Luke to come along and save them.
The weightless animation is still a thing, sure, but I do feel like characters in Rebels have more natural motions, if that makes sense, than characters in The Clone Wars. It feels like there's a more realistic weight and momentum to their movements. The last Force jump Ezra did looked more like a Force jump than anything in The Clone Wars.
Just a bit of a nitpick: Animation describes movement while the look of something would be described by art, or design, or art design. Something along those lines.
Also, I'm super jazzed to rewatch the first episode/movie with the Vader scenes. James Earl Jones as Darth Vader once again? Count me in!
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You're right of course, animation is the movement of the characters and stuff, which is actually fine for the most part - the closest to describing what it is that bothers me about the look of the show is probably "rendering" - the whole thing looks like a cheap video game. Plus the design of some of the characters is pretty uninspired.
No kidding on the design. It looks like they pretty much just ripped off the OT and plagiarized that Ralph McQuarrie guy. ;)
Harmy said:
You're right of course, animation is the movement of the characters and stuff, which is actually fine for the most part - the closest to describing what it is that bothers me about the look of the show is probably "rendering" - the whole thing looks like a cheap video game. Plus the design of some of the characters is pretty uninspired.
Yeah. I feel like a lot of the look of things is a bit blurry or smeared or otherwise "low-rez"... a lot of stuff seems to kind of blend together in certain shots.
However, I'm chalking a lot of that up to budget concerns and I assume that, as it was with The Clone Wars, the look of the show will improve over time.
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Literally the only thing I'm not liking at the moment is some of the high octane animation sequences because they don't seem to have the right 'weight', and the actual models and textures seem quite cheap.
Otherwise I'm actually quite impressed with what they've managed to accomplish. They are telling a story I assume is 10+ years before ANH, and they are doing it quite well for multiple age groups. Sadly though I'm hoping for a dark ending to the series, giving reason for these characters not being in the OT, but I doubt that'll happen.
It's leaps and bounds above the Clone Wars, but I still miss the 2003 Clone Wars. That so far is seemingly unbeatable.
If I'm correct, it's five years after ROTS, so you're just about spot on with your guess of ten plus years.
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It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
Erik Pancakes said:
It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
If that's the case, why does Obi-wan look so young?
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
NeverarGreat said:
Erik Pancakes said:
It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
If that's the case, why does Obi-wan look so young?
Okay, I haven't actually seen the show, but after doing some quick reading, isn't his only appearance as a hologram recorded around or just after ROTS? So the message is something like 13 years old by the time it shows up on Rebels.
Erik Pancakes said:
It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
Dammit! I knew it was either this way or the way I said. I took a gamble.
timdiggerm said:
NeverarGreat said:
Erik Pancakes said:
It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
If that's the case, why does Obi-wan look so young?
Okay, I haven't actually seen the show, but after doing some quick reading, isn't his only appearance as a hologram recorded around or just after ROTS? So the message is something like 13 years old by the time it shows up on Rebels.
Yeah, the hologram featuring Obi-Wan is the one he records when he and Yoda break into the Jedi Temple to warn any survivors away.
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Tyrphanax said:
Erik Pancakes said:
It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
Dammit! I knew it was either this way or the way I said. I took a gamble.
timdiggerm said:
NeverarGreat said:
Erik Pancakes said:
It's actually set 5 years before ANH, not 10.
If that's the case, why does Obi-wan look so young?
Okay, I haven't actually seen the show, but after doing some quick reading, isn't his only appearance as a hologram recorded around or just after ROTS? So the message is something like 13 years old by the time it shows up on Rebels.
Yeah, the hologram featuring Obi-Wan is the one he records when he and Yoda break into the Jedi Temple to warn any survivors away.
Ah, that makes sense.
You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)
New interview with Executive Producer Dave Filoni.
Here's an excerpt:
Q: The characters in “Star Wars Rebels” seem to be operating in their own space separate from the “Star Wars” world we know. We see Obi-Wan in a hologram (in the movie) and that’s pretty much it. To what extent are we going to see other characters that we know?
A: Something that I think is very important to the future of “Star Wars” is to take what has traditionally been the Skywalker family timeline and (stretches his hands to the sides) go way over here and way over here. … It is such a rich universe, and there are other possibilities with so many characters.
We were pretty confident that we could create this crew, and people would get invested in following this little family unit, even though they’re not involved in the bigger goings on in the films. … It just gives you more dimension to the galaxy, and breadth to the tale. For our money, we don’t really ever need to cross over with it. We can create our own little thing over here.
Q: Everyone making “Star Wars” is under one roof now. To what extent are you talking to the people making other properties?
A: Quite a bit. It’s a new thing at Lucasfilm to have multiple “Star Wars” projects happening at one time, especially cinematically. There were always books and comics and video games and we’d collaborate with different groups. But this is on a tremendous scale. We always have to watch what we’re doing, and think 30 years down the line. “Is there an implication for that?”
It’s really fun. It’s fun to work with a creative story team. We didn’t have a story team before. It was George. It’s great to have ideas to bounce off people, to give opinions on. And to see other people deal with the pressure – the weight of what it means to take on “Star Wars.”
Going WAY back, I like how Tobar points out the visuals of "Droids in Distress." Utterly beautiful stuff, which I gushed all about in my review of the episode:
http://echenry.com/review-star-wars-rebels-droids-in-distress/
Concerning what Filoni said in the interview, I really like that they're not TOO focused on crossing-over with the characters from the feature films. Seeing R2, C-3PO, and Bail was fun, and I'm sure we'll see more cameos here and there, but probably not something that will become a staple with the show. Focusing on new characters is a definite step forward for Star Wars.
I just like that now, we have some characters that can actually SURPRISE us. With the Clone Wars, I knew every single time how it would come out. Obi-Wan's little romance with Satine? It had to end. Anakin and Ahsoka? It had to end. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, and all the other characters from the films could only develop as far as they came in RotS, and that wasn't very far at all. So overall, there weren't many compelling character moments in the show.
But with Rebels, every second is something totally new. I see new characters developing, and I get to learn more about them with each passing moment. It's fantastic.
aalenfae said:
Going WAY back, I like how Tobar points out the visuals of "Droids in Distress." Utterly beautiful stuff, which I gushed all about in my review of the episode:
http://echenry.com/review-star-wars-rebels-droids-in-distress/
Concerning what Filoni said in the interview, I really like that they're not TOO focused on crossing-over with the characters from the feature films. Seeing R2, C-3PO, and Bail was fun, and I'm sure we'll see more cameos here and there, but probably not something that will become a staple with the show. Focusing on new characters is a definite step forward for Star Wars.
I just like that now, we have some characters that can actually SURPRISE us. With the Clone Wars, I knew every single time how it would come out. Obi-Wan's little romance with Satine? It had to end. Anakin and Ahsoka? It had to end. Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, and all the other characters from the films could only develop as far as they came in RotS, and that wasn't very far at all. So overall, there weren't many compelling character moments in the show.
But with Rebels, every second is something totally new. I see new characters developing, and I get to learn more about them with each passing moment. It's fantastic.
Excellent points all around.
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Really nice and informative behind the scenes talk about Rebels:
Very cool! I feel really encouraged hearing about Disney a) listening to the fans and b) consciously not messing up.
And Filoni's comments about making Star Wars for kids and including comedic elements was spot-on.
Incredible interview. Definitely worth the time. Disney really cares.
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I just want to see Vader slaughter Ahsoka Tano in cold blood!
Ahsoka: "Master I know there is still good in you...remember me? i'm your padawan!"
Vader: "Die!"
Aksoka decapitated
Vader: "All too easy..."
That doesn't sound much like any Vader I know of....
I could see Hayden saying those words as he cries like an emo female dog.
