Star Wars Rebels - Season One (Spoilers)

[Jesse James]

This is on the WatchDisneyXD App, and I watched it over the weekend...

There are spoilers here if you're waiting for it to be on TV or can't watch it so beware, more or less.





I did NOT like this episode as much as the previous one.  There was some darkness with the implication that the weapon they were after does nasty things to living beings, but the idea a simple rifle can shoot and bring down a walker?  Kinda lame.

Likewise, how'd the Empire have and use these on Zeb's species, but now need prototypes to mass produce them?  They had them before, and used them to put down a species more or less!

I felt like the pacing was a little goofy, and 3PO and R2 were really crowbarred into it IMO.

I did like I guess why they were there, and where they ultimately wound up, and how there are more to the rebellion (and more powerful groups obviously) than our main characters.

I didn't loathe this episode by any means, but it just wasn't as good as I was hoping. 

I liked the Capt. Rex cameo though, and I'm all the more happy I own a Starspeeder toy sized to action figures.

Oh, one more thing, the alien animation is thus far a good deal more redundant than it was in TCW...  I know that's a thing the animators try to overcome as a series goes on but it's been way too noticeable so far.  They really need to diversify their alien character library they can go to.  The Aqualish all wearing the same jacket is getting old.

[Jeff]

I haven't watched "Droids in Distress" yet, but I guess you can download it for free on itunes now too...  might have to try that when I get home tonight so the kiddos can watch it over and over even when we're away from wi-fi.

[Jesse James]

For me, it had its moments, but it wasn't as good as the first show was...  Perhaps it was the first show's hour that made it better.  I will say the pacing of Droids in Distress is not right in some way.  A half hour is such a short time to do stories like this, and it shows sometimes. 

[Jeff]

I downloaded "Droids in Distress" from iTunes and watched it on the plane ride to NYC.  Not a bad episode, but like Jesse said really fast pacing.  Probably would have been a whole TCW episode to find the weapons, another to steal it, and a third to deal with the weapons and return the droids.

Fun to see R2 and 3PO... definitely carried the whole "R2 gets to know and 3PO is clueless vibe" of ANH.  Also interesting to think Bail was using R2-D2 to spy on the empire occasionally.  A fun episode, but fast for sure.

[Jesse James]

OK, it's aired now...

I'm a lil more annoyed, to be honest, about the "little things"...  The nits to be picked, if you will.

The "rifle that brings down a walker"...  Then Jayson at Yak pointed out to me on Twitter the AT-DP almost seems more powerful than an AT-ST...  I'd argue it's less diverse (in armament), so I think the AT-ST's job description is simply different, but the main cannon?  And the designation?  I agree...  So the "one shot from a rifle topples it" idea does annoy me some.

Likewise I saw Dave Filoni in an interview basically saying Stormtroopers are idiots because they're "conscripted", which that notion alone bothers me...  Stormtrooper, as a term, denotes an elite status.  You're not a Stormtrooper because you were picked at a lottery.  You're one because you wanted to be, or exemplified the qualities to be one. 

Filoni's comparison was against Clones, who were born/bred to be troopers...  But why do the OT troopers need to be so dumb?  I appreciate the thought, but they've become the battledroids of the OT era, and I don't think that jives.  At all.  Regular army?  I can buy...  to an extent. 

Rebels should really try to avoid this in the future IMO.  It's all for the laugh but makes the episodes a little more "hollow" as someone said to me tonight.  And I agree.

The AT-DP changes scale at various points, so take the toy for what it is.  Some make the toy look pretty damned accurate, others make it look about 2/3 what it should be for some reason.  May have been the perspective or something.

The Hasbro Stormie Transport is going to be nothing as cool as the model in the cartoon I'm afraid.    Totally aside from tonight's episode of course, but I wanted to say it.

Ezra's "outburst" to save Zeb became something of a debate for my friend and I, and I didn't mind it...  I saw it as possibly even a little tinge of darkness (emotional outburst) in him, but nothing controlled or intentional?  Though he has sort of shown he can intentionally do things he's somehow picked up somewhere along the way on his own.

There are ample cool accessory pieces I wish I had, in every episode, and they're just so cool but will go unmade by Hasbro.  Those days are done.    2007-2009, it could've happened!  #LongLiveYularrensBitchingTableAccessory

The Starspeeder(s) being highlighted as a thing was fun...  The inclusion of the old school captain, even better.

And I like Chopper a lot, and I don't know why.  I like the noises he makes I guess.  I'm weird.

[Phrubruh]

>>The Starspeeder(s) being highlighted as a thing was fun...  The inclusion of the old school captain, even better.

Over at EndorExpress, we found out that Paul Reubens did the voice for Rex in that episode. I just wish Rex was malfunctioning a little.

[Diddly]

I gave this a watch the other night... wasn't too bad, but I kind of unfairly find myself comparing it to Clone Wars so far. The pace was much, much faster as has already been mentioned, but I felt like they did a good job balancing the action and the talking. Mainly I guess it doesn't feel like these guys are "rebels" as much as they are "guys trying to make their way in the universe, but they just happen to be stealing from Imperials." I did like how they threw in Organa/3PO/R2, and the Star Tours easter eggs were fun too.

One thing I noticed is that it seems more cartoonish than Clone Wars... the colors seemed brighter, and the scene in the Starspeeder where Chopper and Ezra are flailing around seemed to have a bunch of animation, more so than the typical flips and stuff we saw in Clone Wars.

[Nicklab]

"Fighter Flight" is now available for viewing via the Disney XD app.  And in this week's episode we get a good look at the modern take on the Imperial Troop Transport.

I really like the sound and music on the show so far.  The sound effects draw heavily on sound library from the OT.  The sound of the TIE Fighters is so dead on right.

The relationship between Ezra and Zeb seems to be developing, albeit it is a bit cliché.  And the one merchant who knows Ezra?  That at least helps to flesh his character out a little bit.  But what I'm really wondering is when we're going to see Kanan training Ezra.

[Diddly]

Has anyone been watching? Just marathoned the last three episodes, and so far a whole bunch of "meh." The latest episode with Ezra in the Imperial training center was pretty good though. Again I feel like the show isn't about "Rebels" per-se, but "bandits who cause minor annoyances to the Empire."

Best parts of the show? The music and the vehicles. I LOVED the TIE Fighter transport. Such a shame we'll never get anything in toy form.

[Jeff]

We watched the latest two episodes on-demand last night.

Kids loved the Ezra-in-Disguise episode.  I guess there's some book series coming out with the cadet Ezra met being the main character?  Probably going to pick those up for the boys since they're into those young reader books now.

They didn't care for Out of Darkness as much, probably because it focused on Hera/Sabine though.  They were all LOLing at the Zeb/Chopper/Ezra fixing the shuttle stuff.  The 4-year old especially loves Chopper's tricks on Ezra.

It's funny how each and every episode has some portion that makes me think, "Jesse must hate that".     Couldn't help but thinking about it when they were talking about these kids getting ready to be Stormtroopers...  same with some of the other "kid physics" the show uses on the Empire (like the TIE flying sideways in atmosphere without the wings being ripped off a few episodes back).

[P-Siddy]

I caught up on the last two episodes and while interesting, just some odd plot things.

In "Rise of the Old Masters", they go into the cell where Luminara is and Kanan looks off to the right while talking to Ezra but doesn't notice the cryonic capsule that holds her dead body?!  Plus, I'm assuming that Luminara was a hologram before revealing that she is actually dead.  And the fight with the Inquisitor... he had the lightsaber to Kanan's neck and decides to talk instead of striking him down?  Only in the movies, I guess.  I don't really see the benefits of his double-bladed lightsaber or the spinning feature.  I think it would have been nice to see him take out some Jedi first before Kanan and Ezra meet up with him... to establish his bad-assery.  Instead, we saw this fight and, well, I wasn't impressed at all with him.

With "Breaking Ranks", does that mean Disney can go back and ret-con all the Jango voices as Stormtrooers in A New Hope ("Close the blast doors")?  I always felt that civilians were put in the ranks as Stormtroopers and maybe clones were phased out once the Jedi were gone, so this episode supports that.

Otherwise, it's fun-watching.

[Jesse James]

I've been watching, but it's definitely not The Clone Wars.  It's not even The Clone Wars in the first season, actually.  I'm with you guys on a lot of the comments...  The ships are great, locations are great...  Characters, they're not so great.  Hera's interesting and Chopper is good.  I can't say I like Kanan, Ezra, Zeb (he's so-so, not as bad as the others), the Inquisitor, etc.

Children becoming Stormtroopers?  Wow that's reaching.  Are they in school for 3 years for this?  It'd have made more sense if they were trying to establish that as some kind of "Hitler Youth" type of camp for teenagers getting them ready for a life in the military...  That's not out of the realm of possibility by any means and I even can see it working in the established storyline.  Maybe the officer was just being encouraging to say, "You'll be Stormtroopers!", like that's their goal but they may not make it.

The cube thing to get out of a pit though, lame...  and do all those kids have the force to jump like that?  Lame.

I thought the side-story of why Ezra was there was good though.

I'm with Diddly on the way they feel like just a group of guys being a pain in the ass on one planet too.  I feel like there are real Rebel cells going on at this same time.  This group is really ultimately nothing...  and I'm going to probably stick with that in my little Star Wars universe.  They don't really do much, or accomplish anything. 

This show is just not that good though.  It's not horrid by any means, but it's far more aimed at kids than TCW was, and it's not got the writing that backed up TCW episodes for some reason.  I'm having a hard time putting my finger on what's missing I guess, but it's definitely missing a bit.

Oh, and the Inquisitor is lame.  He falls right in with TCW's inability to deliver menacing villains.  Tartakovsky was the master in that regard.  Lucas didn't even deliver anyone menacing but the Emperor.  He was as inept with using the sub-villain characters properly too.

[Jeff]

A few people PM'd me this week asking where my boys and I watched "Out of Darkness" since it hadn't aired yet, so I thought I'd share...

I'm not sure how the other cable/dish providers work, but Comcast/XfinityTV posts most of the DisneyXD animated series episodes on-demand the week ahead of the air date, including Star Wars Rebels. 

For example, "Out of Darkness", the 11/10 episode of Rebels, was posted for viewing on 11/4. That's how we watched it on Wednesday night.

[Matt_Fury]

I'll stick with DirecTv and Sunday ticket! 

[Scott]

I've watched all of them now and I agree with the sentiments around here...meh

I think a large part of it is us not knowing the characters.  Just imagine if this actually was about Han/Chewie/Lando and Boba?  I liked the Prison one with Luminara and it was really creepy with the mummy of her and all.  Otherwise I'm not sold yet

I will say the scoring and planets we've seen are pretty kick ass...love all of the Williams and McQuarrie nods all over the place