Tag: Rebels Revisited

The ideas of parallelism and the end of a story referring back to a way it began are, of course, hardly new or innovative concepts. Many great books, films and other forms of media close much the way they open, be it visually, thematically or even straight-up repeating themselves. A few weeks ago, I was make aware of a superb (and lengthy) article/essay that speculated on the circular storytelling model that united the Star Wars film saga into one united narrative. Whether you agree that such a pattern was George Lucas’s intention or not, the idea of parallelism is riddled through the Star Wars universe, a franchise where references to past material is expected far more than a wholly original concept.

When Kanan was captured, it meant that the Ghost crew had a decision to make: leave Kanan in the hands of the Empire, laying low somewhere until the pressure brought on by Grand Moff Tarkin blows over; or come up with some way to track him to where they are holding him and stage a daring Death Star-style rescue. It was a test of loyalty for the entire crew—loyalty to Kanan measured against loyalty to their mission; loyalty to their crew measured against loyalty to the greater good of Lothal, the sector, even the galaxy as a whole. Read More

Ben: Rebels has been a show made up of character moments and slow burning plots thus far. Many episodes have avoided doing any action that seemed massive or important in the long run in favor of dropping hints about things outside of their scope and giving us character moments and development. This storytelling strategy has been paying off in recent weeks as a number of those hinted plots have started to tie together in close succession, each one bringing more drama to the characters we have gotten to know without seeming overwrought or premature.

The storytellers have, in essence, been playing poker with the audience. Each week they play a hand, laying small bets, a plot point here, a character moment there, while teasing a much larger pile in their corner of things yet to come. From time to time, they have raised the stakes, pushing more “chips” into the pile, but not going so far as to exhaust their entire stash of hints and ideas, or to push the audience into giving up the game. Teasing a story out is a hard line to walk for any show; say too much and the drama fizzles early, say too little and the audience gets frustrated and bored. Read More

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