[SPOILERS]: Star Wars: Rebels - Thoughts?

By GM Hooly, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

I don't look at a restraining bolt as a thought control device for a droid. It is a physical device that only acts on the droid when the "caller" unit is activated.

Droids are programmed to follow commands. If I tell a droid hey follow me, most probably will. The restraining bolt could be set up to act with a certain field that would keep the droid form leaving an area. Also if the droid did sometng the owner does not want them to, they can activate the caller unit, and it will shut down the droid. The caller unit can also make the droid do simpl commands like "stop", "come to me", "sit", and possibly roll over...

This is some ancient info here from back in the WEG days and and an old Starlog magazine I have that had some cool blueprints in it.

What people want to do now is up to them, but I don't think this attachment has any real effect on them other than making the "caller" into a universal remote for the droid. Luke did activate the caller on 3P0 in Ep IV when they were in his hovel, it made a buzzing noise and 3P0 popped out of hiding/looking for R2.

And yes, I do feel that a droid could attempt to resist a restraining bolt by making a Resialnce check. 99.999999% of manufactured droids would never have this skill, only Independent droids (broke) droids would, another reason to have their memories wiped regularly.

Why are they not built in?

Why increase overall production costs when you can pass the costs onto the consumer by making them buy an after market restraining bolt?

So the episode showed that droids CAN resist a restraining bolt. It makes me wonder about droids and restraining bolts. Why are they not built in? Perhaps droid brains are created in such a way that a restraining bolt built in would affect the thought process.

If you go by, at least the new canon explanation of restraining bolts , you can program desired actions into the restraining bolt itself if you wanted to, so slapping on some restraining bolts that you set up through your computer onto your droids is probably easier in general for the average joe than popping a droid open and slicing into its brain. It's also probably easier that way to sync multiple restraining bolts to a single caller as well.

That is a very apt explanation Lathrop, i guess i am just expecting a reason why star wars doesn't have an example of the robotic laws or battlestar's cylons. Droids of all types seem fully sentient and sapient, feel pain, and have emotions. They are slaves to most other beings. But, AP-5 clearly resisted the call to turn in Chopper. This suggests free will, and more than just a machine.

Perhaps too much science fiction in my space fantasy.

That is a very apt explanation Lathrop, i guess i am just expecting a reason why star wars doesn't have an example of the robotic laws or battlestar's cylons. Droids of all types seem fully sentient and sapient, feel pain, and have emotions. They are slaves to most other beings. But, AP-5 clearly resisted the call to turn in Chopper. This suggests free will, and more than just a machine.

Perhaps too much science fiction in my space fantasy.

The plight of droids, especially high-end droids with full sapience, is one of the unspoken horrors of the Star Wars setting.

On TCW, Ahsoka was a character I could actually root for without hesitation, because she wasn't the intermediate stage between Little Annie and Darth Vader Butcher of Worlds. And then she had the guts to walk away from the Jedi when they showed their true colors.

At first, Ahsoka really annoyed me...I'm talking about the movie and a good chunk of the first season. "Sky Guy." "Artooie." I never consciously noticed when they course-corrected on the character, but she very quickly grew on me. Watching the character grow over the course of the series was great, but always tinged with a sense of dread, all for the same reason. The best thing about her was that most anything could happen with her, because she was original to that series...which brought the dread, because the most logical conclusion was that she'd die by the series' end, since she wasn't in Episode III. Those expectations made for a great surprise when she walked away. So, when she showed up on Rebels, she was a welcome surprise. But now, that dread is back....

Well, if there was any doubt that Ezra or Kanan does a face/heel turn, they should have been swept away by tonight's episode. There's tension between the two, the line about "Why would you be my enemy?" and even if you ignore the Vader Theme sting at the very end, there was a light, subtle version playing when Ezra was trying to connect with the Knobby White Spiders at the very end.

Also, pretty cool that Spider things make a return:

ffg_SWC22_130-4.png

I do like that in this episode we got a new planet, Atollon. (Executive producer Dave Filoni, Rebels Recon).

Also, pretty cool that Spider things make a return:

ffg_SWC22_130-4.png

That is an awesome pic and it is great they are still finding ways to bring in more things inspired by Ralph McQuarrie..

And here is your new Desktop Wallpaper:

sdc2igbrdodi7wpi3fci.jpg

You're welcome.

I do like that in this episode we got a new planet, Atollon. (Executive producer Dave Filoni, Rebels Recon).

Also, pretty cool that Spider things make a return:

ffg_SWC22_130-4.png

That is an awesome pic and it is great they are still finding ways to bring in more things inspired by Ralph McQuarrie..

Still waiting for some early concept art of Yoda to show up in Rebels. Really sad that it seems Disney is so short of ideas, they have to dig up the stuff George lucas Rejected and put it in their show

I do like that in this episode we got a new planet, Atollon. (Executive producer Dave Filoni, Rebels Recon).

Also, pretty cool that Spider things make a return:

ffg_SWC22_130-4.png

That is an awesome pic and it is great they are still finding ways to bring in more things inspired by Ralph McQuarrie..

Still waiting for some early concept art of Yoda to show up in Rebels. Really sad that it seems Disney is so short of ideas, they have to dig up the stuff George lucas Rejected and put it in their show

Doesn't remotely seem "short of ideas" to me. Seems like a conscious decision by Filoni et al to use the early McQuarrie designs (particularly of hardware) to give a familiar feel while also giving the impression that we're watching a time period that's still a bit earlier than what we saw in the OT.

Edited by Nytwyng

Still waiting for some early concept art of Yoda to show up in Rebels. Really sad that it seems Disney is so short of ideas, they have to dig up the stuff George lucas Rejected and put it in their show

I'm sure there's an element of that, but I think it ended up working out well as both a business and aesthetic decision. Not having to go through a whole new design and acceptance/rejection process also cut down on the time to production.

But it really only works because of the time period Rebels is set in. If they try this stunt again after Rebels is done and if they embark on a new show, it'll be irritating.

Personally, I really like the inclusion of the Imperial Troop Transport. Loved that toy as a kid, and every time I see it on the show, my inner child smiles.

This is not the double-post you were looking for.

You can go about your business. Move along. Move along.

Edited by Nytwyng

So who else thinks the Imperial agent that's been hounding the Rebels is going to do a Heel/Face turn, and become a member of the Rebellion?

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

Still waiting for some early concept art of Yoda to show up in Rebels. Really sad that it seems Disney is so short of ideas, they have to dig up the stuff George lucas Rejected and put it in their show

Not so sad - the exteneded universe has been stripmining old production art for decades now. The Z-95? It was the pencil sketch of the original X-Wing. Victory Star Destroyers? First draft of the Imperial.

Its not so much a "We have no ideas" - the Clone Wars showed that the production team has plenty of that - but more that all this stuff is really cool looking.

So who else thinks the Imperial agent that's been hounding the Rebels is going to do a Heel/Face turn, and become a member of the Rebellion?

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

After the "Enemy Mine"-style episode...yeah, I can see Kallus having a change of heart. Which kind of makes me hope he doesn't...not everyone in the Empire is a Snarling Evil Villain. It could be interesting to see an Imperial antagonist who's a relatively good guy, just doing his job, who also recognizes that the Rebels aren't all heartless terrorists, but still need to be brought in for crimes against the legitimate government.

So who else thinks the Imperial agent that's been hounding the Rebels is going to do a Heel/Face turn, and become a member of the Rebellion?

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

After the "Enemy Mine"-style episode...yeah, I can see Kallus having a change of heart. Which kind of makes me hope he doesn't...not everyone in the Empire is a Snarling Evil Villain. It could be interesting to see an Imperial antagonist who's a relatively good guy, just doing his job, who also recognizes that the Rebels aren't all heartless terrorists, but still need to be brought in for crimes against the legitimate government.

That could be interesting yes, but it's too nuanced for Star Wars. Empire = Bad, Rebellion = Good. Having Good Person in Empire = Does Not Compute. If Evil Person becomes Good, Person must leave Empire. This is the equation of Star Wars. :D

So who else thinks the Imperial agent that's been hounding the Rebels is going to do a Heel/Face turn, and become a member of the Rebellion?

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

After the "Enemy Mine"-style episode...yeah, I can see Kallus having a change of heart. Which kind of makes me hope he doesn't...not everyone in the Empire is a Snarling Evil Villain. It could be interesting to see an Imperial antagonist who's a relatively good guy, just doing his job, who also recognizes that the Rebels aren't all heartless terrorists, but still need to be brought in for crimes against the legitimate government.

That could be interesting yes, but it's too nuanced for Star Wars. Empire = Bad, Rebellion = Good. Having Good Person in Empire = Does Not Compute. If Evil Person becomes Good, Person must leave Empire. This is the equation of Star Wars. :D

True enough. Although the extended series format of Clone Wars and Rebels have allowed them to step outside of the typical Star Wars equation and play with nuance from time to time. Hey...a guy can hope, right? :D

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

I say meteorite or barab ingot.

I am thinking that Vader kills Kanen, grievously wounds Ahsoka, and Ezra turns dark (possibly even becomes Vader's disciple).

And the following season can be about the rest of the crew finding Ezra and trying to turn him back to the light.

That way star wars can keep its reoccurring theme of good turns evil and then evil redeems itself.

That keeps everyone's favorite character alive but getting her teeth kicked in, in process (which answers other half of the populace who wanted her dead).

That also solves the question of "You are the last of the Jedi" considering that Ahsoka is not a Jedi, Kanen is dead, and Ezra turns dark.

Just my thoughts.

Edited by Arrakus

So who else thinks the Imperial agent that's been hounding the Rebels is going to do a Heel/Face turn, and become a member of the Rebellion?

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

After the "Enemy Mine"-style episode...yeah, I can see Kallus having a change of heart. Which kind of makes me hope he doesn't...not everyone in the Empire is a Snarling Evil Villain. It could be interesting to see an Imperial antagonist who's a relatively good guy, just doing his job, who also recognizes that the Rebels aren't all heartless terrorists, but still need to be brought in for crimes against the legitimate government.

That could be interesting yes, but it's too nuanced for Star Wars. Empire = Bad, Rebellion = Good. Having Good Person in Empire = Does Not Compute. If Evil Person becomes Good, Person must leave Empire. This is the equation of Star Wars. :D

I urge you to read the novel Lost Stars.

So who else thinks the Imperial agent that's been hounding the Rebels is going to do a Heel/Face turn, and become a member of the Rebellion?

Also, do we have any direct information about what that glowy thing was they found in the ice cave? Part of me says "lightsaber crystal!" another part says "freaky alien egg thingy!" another says "Evil sith corruption stone going to turn him crazy evil!"

thoughts?

After the "Enemy Mine"-style episode...yeah, I can see Kallus having a change of heart. Which kind of makes me hope he doesn't...not everyone in the Empire is a Snarling Evil Villain. It could be interesting to see an Imperial antagonist who's a relatively good guy, just doing his job, who also recognizes that the Rebels aren't all heartless terrorists, but still need to be brought in for crimes against the legitimate government.

That could be interesting yes, but it's too nuanced for Star Wars. Empire = Bad, Rebellion = Good. Having Good Person in Empire = Does Not Compute. If Evil Person becomes Good, Person must leave Empire. This is the equation of Star Wars. :D

I urge you to read the novel Lost Stars.

The novels allow for nuance that a kids show typically won't.