Category: Feature Articles

Star Wars Rebels’ cast is the show’s great strength. Every character has their own layers, depths beyond the stereotype they might be pigeonholed into if it were a different show. Nowhere is this better seen than in the relationship between Kanan and Hera and who the leader of the rebel group is. The assumption is, looking over the crew of the Ghost, that Kanan would be their leader. He is, after all, a former Jedi who has been living in the rougher part of the galaxy for years, a cunning warrior experienced in the dealings of the Rim and with the Force on his side. In practice, though, Hera is the one not only calling most of the shots, but also keeping the team from flying apart due to mistrust, differences and the simple friction of five (six counting droids) beings rooming together and constantly in each other’s faces.

Take the case of Ezra’s tutelage in the larger galaxy. Despite Kanan’s good intentions, he is still a rough and tumble man completely unaccustomed to being a teacher, much less a Jedi Master. There are times where he simply doesn’t see or know how to help Ezra with the questions he has. In those instances, Hera is usually the one to step in, as she does several times during “Vision of Hope”. She is the nurturing and encouraging maternal figure that Ezra very much lacked in his life until crewing aboard the Ghost, urging him to not give up on hope, even with setbacks like the betrayal of someone he trusted, and stepping in when an enemy tries to goad him, helping him to avoid edging toward the dark as he had at the end of “Gathering Forces”. Read More

Bringing an established character into a show has a twofold benefit: first, and foremost, is to give the show extra publicity, but second is to shine a new light on characters from the show’s ongoing cast by having them interact with a more well-known or famous entity. In the case of Rebels, in the first season to this point, we have appearances by Darth Vader (in Spark of Rebellion’s primetime cut), C-3PO and R2-D2, Bail Organa, Luminara Unduli (of a sort), Yoda and, in this week’s episode, the one and only Lando Calrissian.

As with Frank Oz’s return to his role as Yoda, having Billy Dee Williams back to play his most memorable role is a treat. But how much is too much? How many appearances from elsewhere can Rebels sustain before it becomes more about what guest will show up next than about the characters who are ostensibly the main cast? Just how far will suspension of disbelief stretch that all of these characters we already know just happen to have run-ins with the crew of the Ghost at some point? Read More

Ben: Let’s be clear about something: Star Wars fans can be cynical. The old guard has been around long enough to know better than take marketing hype and pre-release buildup at its word. The Phantom Menace, Revenge of the Sith, The Force Unleashed, The Clone Wars, none of it has ever fully lived up to the standards nostalgia and the original trilogy have given most of us. Even the good stuff, books, comics, video games, whatever they might be, aren’t bulletproof, because they all have to walk the fine line between appealing to nostalgia and striking out into something new. On top of that, the Disney purchase has raised that standard even higher. Nothing done in the post-Lucas era could ever stand up beside the greatness of ESB, could it?

So what happens when a show like Rebels comes along? Rebels had a terribly hard row to hoe right out of the gate, aping elements of the original trilogy while doggedly knitting in elements from the prequels and TCW alike. “It’s too cartoony”, some say, “it’s obviously being made for kids.” “It’s not enough like TCW,” others grumble, “it’s too light and not mature.” Another complaint heard a lot is “It’s beating Star Wars into the ground, all Disney cares about is money.” Read More

With “Gathering Forces” ended, we are at the halfway point in the season for Rebels and will be taking a break from our regular articles for the next few weeks as the show takes a holiday hiatus. In the meantime, let’s look back at what the show has done in its short time on the air to this point, what worked well and what can be improved.

Rebels has done a number of things well in its first half, but the one that stands out is characterization and character development. Ezra began the show as a loner, only out for himself, and has turned into an enthusiastic and altruistic Jedi apprentice, albeit one with secrets still coming to light, just taking his first steps into a larger world and dealing with the temptations of the dark side and the ramifications of his own bitterness and anger. Kanan started as much more “cowboy” and little “Jedi”, a practical and cynical man focused on damaging the Empire however possible, and through teaching Ezra has begun to rediscover a more mature, spiritual side buried in the years he spent living on the run. Sabine’s surface persona as a bubbly, art-obsessed teenager hides a deeper intelligence and pain, a multilingual Imperial Academy student who left the Empire to live as a rebel for reasons we have yet to see. Zeb is gruff and unfriendly, driven by his peoples’ deaths at the hands of the Empire, but also warms to his comrades and treats Ezra like a little brother or nephew. Hera is the one holding the group together, but even she has things she does not tell everyone, including the identity of their supplier and contact Fulcrum. And these examples only cover the main cast. Read More