Star Wars Rebels "Spark of Rebellion"

[Jayson]

Watched Spark of Rebellion today. It is a fantastic entry into the series and return to the classic feel of Star Wars. The characters, music, effects and story are on par with the best of The Clone Wars. I can't wait to watch more. I'd love to see it in a theatre presentation.

[Jeff]

Watched it today with one of the boys.  Really well done.  Not sure I'm a fan of the animation style, but the story was pretty good and it seems a lot kid friendlier than Clone Wars.  Clone Wars started out so mild, but just got darker and darker as they lost kids but kept the adults.  And no "Skyguy" and "Snips" cringe-worthy dialogue for the most part.

[Nicklab]

I liked it.  There's a clear line between the artwork of THE CLONE WARS and REBELS.  That kind of continuity is a good thing.  But there was a clear shift in tone in the characterizations, pacing and even the music cues. 

The Empire is clearly an oppressive force.  That overhead shot of the Star Destroyer passing over Ezra's tower established that in a hurry.  Although I think some of the officers in Lothal looked a bit too buffoonish.  That, and the Stormtroopers continue to be incredibly poor marksmen.

Ezras introduction to the crew of the Ghost was alright.  The speederbike chase was cool.  The good stuff for me was Ezra and his slow discovery of his Force abilities.  Like Ezra sensing Kanan through the Force, and the music associated with that.  There was also the opening of the holocron.  That along with the message from Obi-Wan tied a lot of things together in a big way.

[Jesse James]

Just a reminder that the show premieres tonight at 9:00 on Disney Channel, and the show moves to DisneyXD in the following weeks.  It's just the one-hour premiere tonight for the regular Disney Channel though.

I really enjoyed the show on the WatchDisneyXD App last week, and I really have to agree that I think fans are going to dig what they saw.

Like Jeff, I wasn't sure on the animation of the characters themselves...  some look a lot better than others to me, but the settings and ships?  They're gorgeous.  Just really impressive looking.  Something about the human characters in particular annoys me though, and I prefer the TCW animation style over this, but the settings and vehicles blow the Clone Wars away IMO.

I'm excited to see future episodes though.  The story was impressive and immersive.  You instantly started to care about the characters, and so I really give it a positive review.  Even the wrist-blaster thing the kid has, it's not nearly as weird as I thought it would be.

[I Am Sith]

Watched this this morning with the boys.  Love all the throwback designs that are making their way into this show.  I agree with others about the human/alien animation being subpar compared to TCW, but the ships and locations more than make up for it.  The boys are very excited about this series especially since TCW is no longer on.  Can't wait to see where this goes...

[Dave]

Watched this with the kids over the weekend. 

I thought the story, pacing, etc. was great.   The kids all loved it too, and I'm glad its kid oriented.

I really dug the music cues that they "borrowed" from ANH.  Mostly as Ezra was discovering his force abilities.

Agree that the animation isn't as cool as the prior two Star Wars cartoons, but I'm more in to the story and characters than the artwork.

[EpicGon]

I liked how they showed the interior of the star destroyer.

And they explore the perils of space travels like the scene of descompression where some
stormies and personal were swallow by space.

Kallus survived that and another risk clinging over the abyss.

As these scenes are fast,a nd for kids, they donīt tell us much on "how the agent managed to survive", but is
like a bit of information about what is consider in the imperial survival training.

[Nicklab]

I liked how they showed the interior of the star destroyer.

And they explore the perils of space travels like the scene of descompression where some
stormies and personal were swallow by space.

Kallus survived that and another risk clinging over the abyss.

As these scenes are fast,a nd for kids, they donīt tell us much on "how the agent managed to survive", but is
like a bit of information about what is consider in the imperial survival training.

Nice little nod there to Aliens, don't you think?

[EpicGon]

Hi Nicklab, I havenīt seen aliens, but indeed lots of influences from major films are soon to be unveiled.

Perhaps the narrative of the series will get even more complex as the animation team explores the sources
from drafts and also EU.


I think for Kallus survival and similar situations (a guy holding from a column, a broken wall in a vacuum tempest)
there lack details, and maybe one of them could be the use of a repulsor lift device inside their belts.

SW never needed to explain technology, cause always the movies accepted it for granted, but
in times of realism in cinema, they could give a glimpse on that. Cheers


 

[Nicklab]

Hi Nicklab, I havenīt seen aliens, but indeed lots of influences from major films are soon to be unveiled.

Perhaps the narrative of the series will get even more complex as the animation team explore the sources
from drafts and also EU.


I think for Kallus survival and similar situations (a guy holding from a column, a broken wall in a vacuum tempest)
there lack details, and maybe one of them could be the use of a repursol lift device inside their belts.

SW never need to explain technology, cause always the movies accepted it for granted, but
in times of realism in cinema, they could give a glimpse on that. Cheers

Really?  OMG, Aliens was just a masterpiece of sci-fi and action films.  One of James Cameron's best films, without a doubt.   That airlock in the floor of the Star Destroyer and the decompression looked a lot like the scene onboard the Sulaco in Aliens.  At least to me it did.

[Jayson]

Vader's back - with the voice

[McMetal]

Late to the party, as I missed the initial airing, but caught up last night finally. I liked it...didn't love it, but mostly that was because I found Ezra's character to be really annoying. I'm tired of street smart punks. It would be refreshing to see them have a kid who actually acts like a kid for a change.

That aside, the action was pretty solid and I liked the rest of the characters, esp Hera and Sabine. It will be a crime if we don't get an unmasked version of her in the toy line. I loved all the vehicles, the AT-DP and proto-speeder bikes, etc, the Ghost was really cool as expected (love the interior cockpit done in the Falcon motif) and that new Imperial Transport is begging to be made.

I do find the animation style less appealing than Clone Wars, mostly in the realization of the human characters. The backgrounds and other elements looked great though. (Ugh, terrible job on the Wookies though, IMO, they looked like they were made of chocolate)

Also agree this is more of a true kiddie tenor than the darker stuff from the Clone Wars. I don't have a problem with that, as long as it doesn't get too silly or nonsensical.

Overall, a very worthy effort and I look forward to seeing where they go from here out!

[Nicklab]

Vader's back - with the voice

Why do I get the sneaking feeling that this special scene that's only going to be on the ABC showing of "Spark of Rebellion" wasn't included on that DVD that's on sale at WalMart?   

Part of me was really skeptical about that DVD release.  First of all, because the format is DVD and not BluRay.  That was actually the reason why I didn't by it when I saw it at WalMart last week.  And then this additional Vader scene gets tagged on, too?

[SnTrooper]

^That DVD is for kids and people that need it NOW!NOW!NOW! I'm sure the Vader version will be included in the complete season when it is released next year.

[Nicklab]

That DVD is a CASH GRAB if I ever saw one.