Observation on new episode, "Gathering Forces"
Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to.....summoning a hellbeast to smite your foes!
How true. And I did like the look of Fulcrum's CR-90 with the blue trim instead of the red.
[SPOILERS]: Star Wars: Rebels - Thoughts?
Oh, there was no PT-hate intended, just noting that it's take on "Star Wars" comes across as different from the OT.
Absolutely. To me, the PT to the OT is kind of like the Silmarillion to Lord of the Rings...a legendary time of which the current inhabitants of the universe (Luke, Han, etc) can barely imagine.
The Ancient Age of Legends... 20 years ago!
You kids...
Oh, there was no PT-hate intended, just noting that it's take on "Star Wars" comes across as different from the OT.
Absolutely. To me, the PT to the OT is kind of like the Silmarillion to Lord of the Rings...a legendary time of which the current inhabitants of the universe (Luke, Han, etc) can barely imagine.
The Ancient Age of Legends... 20 years ago!
You kids...
I hope 20 years isn't an ancient time ago, it's well less then 1/2 my life time.
To be fair, the movies themselves DO set this up to seem far longer ago then it actually was. Part of this could be attributed to repression of past information by the Empire, but you can't repress the memories of those that lived it.
Episode IV examples:
"Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
Han thinks the Force is nonsense, speculates it doesn't really exist, even though the Clone Wars and the Jedi Council existed during his youth.
" Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fort…"
This commander, who probably could have served during the Clone Wars, calls force-using an, "ancient religion". You could say, yep it it ancient, it's been around for eons. Chrisianity, Judaism, Islam aren't called, "ancient religions", since they are still practiced. You could call the Norse religion, "ancient" since it pretty much died out centuries ago even if there are still a few practioners around. Force-using died off around 19 years ago when Motti said this.
It can all be explained away, I agree, but the idea of the prequel story being a long, long time ago was put in there by GL himself. The 19? years ago of the released prequels did turn out to be much less then what was first implied.
Someone said it better here .
Edited by Sturn
Observation on new episode, "Gathering Forces"
Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to.....summoning a hellbeast to smite your foes!
How true. And I did like the look of Fulcrum's CR-90 with the blue trim instead of the red.
The Tantive IV had blue trim in the prequels..so maybe that tells us who fulcrum is...
Well, I think a part of it is that by the time of the Clone Wars, most people in the galaxy had never seen a Jedi, as the order itself numbered around 10,000 Knights and Masters.
And not all those that encountered a Jedi would have known; Qui-Gon kept a pretty low profile during his stay on Tatooine, enough so that most of the folks he interacted with would have no idea he was a Jedi Master. If you don't see a Jedi doing any of the mystical stuff they're alleged to be capable of, and suddenly the government that's just brought stability after several years of uncertainty and war says these reclusive monks were a bunch of frauds... the populace is generally going to side with the government. Not helping the Jedi's case is that (at least in the EU/Legends) there are technological means to replicate various "Force powers" the Jedi "claimed" to have; I suspect there's been a number of professional debunkers that were on Palpatine's payroll to go around and disprove the claims of the Jedi actually having any sort of mysterious powers, much as there are folks that go around debunking psychics and psychic phenomena in today's world.
So folks generally not believing in the Force is understandable, particularly for a hardened cynic like Han was for most of ANH. The Alliance itself mostly adopted the "May the Force be with you" saying as a way of thumbing their noses at the Empire, embracing an "old religion" that had been outlawed by a tyrannical regime.
Oh, there was no PT-hate intended, just noting that it's take on "Star Wars" comes across as different from the OT.
Absolutely. To me, the PT to the OT is kind of like the Silmarillion to Lord of the Rings...a legendary time of which the current inhabitants of the universe (Luke, Han, etc) can barely imagine.
The Ancient Age of Legends... 20 years ago!
You kids...
I hope 20 years isn't an ancient time ago, it's well less then 1/2 my life time.
To be fair, the movies themselves DO set this up to seem far longer ago then it actually was. Part of this could be attributed to repression of past information by the Empire, but you can't repress the memories of those that lived it.
Episode IV examples:
"Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other, and I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen *anything* to make me believe that there's one all-powerful Force controlling everything. 'Cause no mystical energy field controls *my* destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense."
Han thinks the Force is nonsense, speculates it doesn't really exist, even though the Clone Wars and the Jedi Council existed during his youth.
" Don't try to frighten us with your sorcerer's ways, Lord Vader. Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the Rebel's hidden fort…"
This commander, who probably could have served during the Clone Wars, calls force-using an, "ancient religion". You could say, yep it it ancient, it's been around for eons. Chrisianity, Judaism, Islam aren't called, "ancient religions", since they are still practiced. You could call the Norse religion, "ancient" since it pretty much died out centuries ago even if there are still a few practioners around. Force-using died off around 19 years ago when Motti said this.
It can all be explained away, I agree, but the idea of the prequel story being a long, long time ago was put in there by GL himself. The 19? years ago of the released prequels did turn out to be much less then what was first implied.
Someone said it better here .
The thing is the idea of the rise of the Empire, or at least the Jedi Purge being long ago was wiped out as soon as it was stated that Luke's father died in the purge. The purge had to take place, or at least still be ongoing when Luke's mother became pregnant which meant the latest date that it could have ended was around nine months before Luke was born barring something like Luke's mom being put in stasis and the stasis part not being mentioned.
Edited by RogueCorona
The Tantive IV had blue trim in the prequels..so maybe that tells us who fulcrum is...
Observation on new episode, "Gathering Forces"
Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to.....summoning a hellbeast to smite your foes!
How true. And I did like the look of Fulcrum's CR-90 with the blue trim instead of the red.
Hmmm, I did not know that. I'll have to look at the CR-90 in Droids in Distress and see if it has blue or red trim.
EDIT: Ok, finally sat down and re-watched Droids in Distress and the CR-90 had red trim...probably the Tantive IV would be my guess. So I doubt Bail Organa is Fulcrum.
Edited by zathras23Finally saw Empire Day...and finally saw a stormtrooper get clever, blowing the door off the transport and then coming in from above. Was a nice change.
I still miss the gorgeous backgrounds and textures from TCW. Hopefully the show will be a hit and will get a bigger budget.
Don't think the budget plays into it. Probably has more to do with a stylistic choice.
Loved the episode though. Not as keystone as earlier episodes. Looking forward to the second part.
Don't think the budget plays into it. Probably has more to do with a stylistic choice.
Loved the episode though. Not as keystone as earlier episodes. Looking forward to the second part.
Budget plays a little into it. Without a large enough budget you can't afford the team to make all those background elements for each episode. You'll build up the asset library over time, but won't have it early on.
As of yesterday, I'm caught up on this show. I can understand the criticism that Rebels seems a little more dumbed down than The Clone Wars . That's definitely a risk a show runs when it introduces a teen/tween protagonist. However, while Ahsoka was technically the same age as Ezra, as a Jedi raised in the temple she had a level of sophistication that Ezra lacks. Ezra is slightly younger (15 vs. 18), more-powerful and more brash take on Luke Skywalker circa A New Hope . Ezra and Luke's origins are pretty much identical; orphans, living on a rural planet who reluctantly stumble into a crisis larger than their own petty concerns. Given the amount of violence in the show, if Rebels is guilty of anything it would be a lack of originality, not making a show for lil' kids with tiny baby brains.
Rebels carries on the same visual style of TCW. Everything is slightly stretched and exaggerated for artistic purposes, the same as TCW, but nothing is unrecognizable. The Ghost is a neat-looking ship and reminiscent enough of a WW2 era bomber to feel like it belongs in this universe. It's nice to see Ralph McQuarrie art being tapped for the look of the show.
I like that the show is gender-balanced, with a female Mandalorian and a pragmatic Twi'lek, but Chopper is quickly becoming my favorite character. He's cute but unlike Artoo he's also a complete bastard with a mean sense of humor.
If I have one major criticism it's that Rebels lacks the visual 'punch' of TCW. If the show is going to focus primarily on one planet in the Outer Rim then that planet really needs to shine. Lothal just seems kind of... bleh. The real life Great Plains have a sort of stark beauty to them but trying to translate beauty into a show is tough. The capital city feels like a poor-man's Mos Eisley, sort of gray and uninteresting to look at. The action scenes are primarily the Ghost doing barrel rolls to evade TIE fighters and the protagonists shooting at Imperials then running away.
I think this is a good show but it has a ways to go before it hits the great later seasons of The Clone Wars . It has no previously established characters so it will have to succeed all on its own.
I enjoy Rebels but: I feel there is less sophistication in the stories, plot, and emotion or it feels as if it is meant for kids by way of dialogue and plot, but the level of violence is the same as TCW. Which is odd and sort of jarring. But I enjoy it nonetheless.
I like the series as well.
Looks like Rebels will be short-lived:
http://www.theforce.net/story/front/Rumor_Lucasfilm_Planning_PostROTJ_Animated_Series_161156.asp
This don't bode well IMHO. Honestly, the main thing I like about Star Wars is not the story so much as the world building. The story is fine, don't get me wrong, but what keeps me coming back is all the background detail and the "lived in" world. That's how George made SW different from practically everything else.
They aren't going to have time for that if they're pumping out new short story arcs.
Looks like Rebels will be short-lived:
http://www.theforce.net/story/front/Rumor_Lucasfilm_Planning_PostROTJ_Animated_Series_161156.asp
Internet rumors as of now.
Rebels could be canceled next year for all we know. Everything is subject to change. Enjoy it while it's on.
Were it a normal tv series Id point out how most series like to get at least 4 seasons in. That puts em around 100 episodes, the number liked by 3rd parties looking to run it in syndication...
This is star wars though....
If true its not suprising. By then they'll know if the new movies are good, or just ambitious but rubbish. If they are good, running a new series based on the current product makes a little better business sense...
Three seasons is the "magic" number for a cartoon series to go into syndication, you get a fourth or more if you have the ratings for it.
Out there is full of super hero tv series aimed for "adult" people. Could not they do something similar for SW?
Plus, we all know by season five that we'll all be, "****, how long is it going to take this crew to destroy the Empire? Come on guys!"
Actually, if they've got a definite end-point for the series, I see that as a good thing.
There's been a number of TV series over the years that wore out their welcome, becoming franchise zombies simply because the networks won't let the show die. Simpsons is a prime case of this, as a lot of older fans have simply walked away from the show since it's pretty much recycling material over and over and over.
If there's a definite end-point in mind for Rebels, that gives Filoni and his crew a framework in which to tell their stories, and cuts down on the chances of "well, we can do this in a later season" as they'd be aware of just how many seasons they'd have. This approach actually worked pretty well for Avatar: The Last Airbender, with the series have three books in which to tell Aang's story. The Legend of Korra had a similar approach (starting with just one season, then getting three others) and thus they know there's a finite time to tell the stories they want to tell.
Being 3 years before Battle of Yavin sets the end date pretty solid.
There's been a number of TV series over the years that wore out their welcome, becoming franchise zombies simply because the networks won't let the show die.
For me, this explains Supernatural quite well.
There's been a number of TV series over the years that wore out their welcome, becoming franchise zombies simply because the networks won't let the show die. Simpsons is a prime case of this, as a lot of older fans have simply walked away from the show since it's pretty much recycling material over and over and over.
Fox and the voice actors have said many times that they'll keep doing The Simpsons until it stops making money. Even though the older fans have walked away, they've been able to gain new followers. The show has the advantage that you don't need to know any of the history, as all the stories have occurred to the characters in the same year of their life, again and again and again.