Wait. If Ezra and Zeb are the brothers, Hera is the mom, Kanan is the relaxed dad that gets stern when he needs to, and Chopper is the generic grumpy uncle/cousin no one likes... What's Sabine?

I wouldn't call Kainen the "relaxed dad", just one that is a little less focused on the fatherhood side of things. And I'd say Chopper is more the younger brother, but a nephew or niece works too. Given Ezra clearly fancies Sabine, that obviously hamstrings a brother / sister dynamic between the two of them so I'd more put her as an older cousin to him.

I don't know about where you come from, but where I am, that's no longer considered normal to fancy yer cousin.

I don't particularly like being mocked. Historically it has not been uncommon at all for cousin's to marry and no-one batted an eyelid when Charles Darwin or Albert Einstein married their cousins. And it is still perfectly legal through pretty much the whole of the Western with the exception of the United States. And it's not only legal but also pretty common through much of the Middle East and Asia. The reason it's illegal in most of the USA is because the USA had a big eugenics movement and there were popular fears about racial degeneration. (True). USA is not the whole world. In fact, due to something called the Founder's Effect a certain degree of cousin inter-marriage helps establish beneficial mutations in a population (look it up if in doubt).

Bascially, just because people in the USA have a particular 'received wisdom' (with very limited scientific support) doesn't mean they should mock people from elsewhere in the world who don't share their prejudices.

I apologize if I insulted you: I assure you, that was not my purpose. I completely understand that there has been much cousin marriage in history, I just wasn't aware that they still continued the practice. Being as I live in the US, I'm not used to it.

And my point was that most people in the US aren't used to it, which is a large audience. Likely enough, kids won't care, but if parents start really thinking about it, they might just switch the channel (she honestly seems too much like the rebellious sister, which, considering how Ezra acts around her, would be unacceptable in the US, and hopefully in most other countries). Inter-family relation is weird in the US, so viewers in the US would be put off by that. If the cousin role is fine elsewhere, then they won't mind, but the US has it's fair share of viewers. I'm just saying they should watch where they step, because this whole family idea could get really bad really fast.

I feel like I should point out that even if there's definitely a family metaphor at work here, the crew of the Ghost isn't really a family. Not even in a sense of Ezra and Sabine being adopted children. They aren't cousins, they are crew members. So there's literally no reason for any sort of taboo at work here (except in the sense of no fooling around at work?)

I think we need to lighten up a bit. I don't think anyone in the last few pages has purposely tried to offend anyone. Star Wars fans hail from many different cultures and so what is acceptable to one may not be to another. Speakers should try to be understanding of outside sensibilities, but readers as a default should also translate posts with the most positive viewpoint and not just assume the worst.

Different topic. Ralph McQuarrie art influence. I know it was announced from the get-go there was a McQuarrie influence, it's very old news to us, and anyone who has seen his art will have noticed the obvious thefts already - early Wookie, early R2D2, etc. But, watching a second time I noted some other less obvious easter eggs. Walking through town was at least one alien borrowed from McQuarrie's Tatooine scene and a hapless survivor sitting against a hut in Tarkintown was none other then an early Han Solo . The early Han Solo also makes an appearance in the next epsiode aboard a shuttle .

Anyone else notice some not-so-obvious McQuarrie steals?

Anyone else notice some not-so-obvious McQuarrie steals?

Yeah. In the episode "Droids in Distress" there is another 3PO unit in the back of the "Star Tours" bus based on McQuarrie's concept art for C3PO.

I just bought REBELS 2 days ago.. I really enjoyed it and thought it really captured the spirit of Edge of Empires. I was just disappointed because it ended in what felt like the middle of the story.. I dont get Disney XD so I cant watch the episodes. I'm just gonna wait untill the season comes out on DVD.

The Star Destroyers are definitely concept art, which has been noted for their longer necks. I also feel the TIE's are disproportionate, since their wins seem smaller than they ought to be (looking at my X-Wing Miniatures as a reference).

Also, as a side note, I liked how they said Zeb was a rare hairless Wookiee, which was part true: He's a rare, concept-art Wookiee with no hair!

I wonder if this celebration of McQuarrie just after George sells the franchise is Filoni's way of telling us who the real genius behind Star Wars is...

I wonder if this celebration of McQuarrie just after George sells the franchise is Filoni's way of telling us who the real genius behind Star Wars is...

No more so, I think, than Dark Horse's The Star Wars comic. With artwork inspired by early artists including McQuarrie, I think the Rebel's nod is more an homage.

I wonder if this celebration of McQuarrie just after George sells the franchise is Filoni's way of telling us who the real genius behind Star Wars is...

For the art? Sure. Are you saying McQuarrie had a say in scripts? I've never heard such. He's a piece of the puzzle for sure, but Star Wars is of course much more then just the look and feel.

I wonder if this celebration of McQuarrie just after George sells the franchise is Filoni's way of telling us who the real genius behind Star Wars is...

For the art? Sure. Are you saying McQuarrie had a say in scripts? I've never heard such. He's a piece of the puzzle for sure, but Star Wars is of course much more then just the look and feel.

I don't think Ralph McQuarrie had any say in the scripts for Rebels. He passed away on March 3, 2012 due to complications of Parkinson Disease.

I wonder if this celebration of McQuarrie just after George sells the franchise is Filoni's way of telling us who the real genius behind Star Wars is...

For the art? Sure. Are you saying McQuarrie had a say in scripts? I've never heard such. He's a piece of the puzzle for sure, but Star Wars is of course much more then just the look and feel.

I don't think Ralph McQuarrie had any say in the scripts for Rebels. He passed away on March 3, 2012 due to complications of Parkinson Disease.

I think they are refering to all the work he did in pre-viz for the original movies back in 1977. WEG used a lot of that material to create new things, like pre-viz images became the Z95 Headhunter and such... Zeb is from that same batch of pre-viz work.

 

I don't think Ralph McQuarrie had any say in the scripts for Rebels. He passed away on March 3, 2012 due to complications of Parkinson Disease.

We were referring to the movies ("Star Wars" not "Rebels" above). It was speculated above that RM was the "real genius" behind Star Wars instead of GL. I was responding that RM didn't have anything to do with the story, only the look and feel, unless someone had other information.

Take away RM and Star Wars doesn't look nearly as cool. Take away GL and Star Wars becomes a cool scifi art book (a la Chris Foss).

My review of Rise of the Old Masters which premiered tonight on the XD app:

https://onesaga.wordpress.com/2014/10/20/rebels-rise-of-the-old-masters/

Yancy

Which was less about skill and more about sheer audacity. Which is Han Solo all over.

Never thought about it this way, but you could make the argument that Han gets most of his $#!^ done through advantages rather than successes.

"It's not my fault... IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

Why is changing Kessel a good thing? Because Peanut Shape Kessel was from the mind of KJA and anything that distances Star Wars from that two-bit hack is a good thing.

Sorry, you've lost. My logic is impeccable.

The penguin's got a pretty good point.

The more KJA influences that can be stripped away and burned to ashes from the Star Wars franchise, the better.

I will defend KJA in many arenas... "Star Wars" is not one of them.

Yeah, it's time to make that break up official.

It's not you, Kevin. It's me. I've changed as a person and I think I need to start seeing other writers.

I think we need to lighten up a bit.

Did you just call me fat!?

Well I enjoyed that. We got to see the Inquisitor at last. Also, Chopper is a complete arse and Zeb is not much better!

I think if one considers the implications of the Stormtroopers looking like buffoons, the reason behind the descision is clear. The Stormtroopers are supposed to be the elite of the Empire and yet our small band of Rebels consistantly makes them look the fools. How skilled and talented must these characters be to pull this off? Quite adept indeed. As far as Kessell is concerned, I think if the background (i.e. Sky) had been rendered darker (overcast, or black or even a dark red atmosphere) it would have changed the mood of the scene and given it more of a desolate, 'end of the line' feel which is really what Kessell represents, a barren rock at the end of an impossible hyperspace jump in the middle of nowhere space. Without the EU, ideas of Kessel don't exist. It was an obscure reference in Episode IV to illustrate how fast the Millinium Falcon was and how good a Pilot Han Solo was. Ultimately they failed to make it look like a desolate slave pit where prisoners were sent to disapear.

My nine year old Son Loves the Show, and I certainly look forward to watching every new episode with him. They are doing a very good job of creating characters I want to care about and watch grow and develop. Ultimately that is the purpose behind these stories. Nobody cares if a planet in the middle of space explodes if there aren't a million voices crying out and are suddnely silenced.

I think if one considers the implications of the Stormtroopers looking like buffoons, the reason behind the descision is clear. The Stormtroopers are supposed to be the elite of the Empire and yet our small band of Rebels consistantly makes them look the fools. How skilled and talented must these characters be to pull this off? Quite adept indeed.

It's also a matter of the relative and subjective definition of "elite."

Stormtroopers shown conducting complex assaults (Tantive IV, Hoth) are usually show as being pretty impressive, hitting hard, pushing forward, and not letting overwhelming defensive fire or casualties slow them down at all, just push, push, push. That's something that takes real training and discipline. Add in their above average gear and support and that's certainly a definition of "elite."

When pulling basic guard duty, or civil defense patrols, or police-like ops, or other mundane missions, not so much.

So... as a front line shock and awe assault force (you know... storm-troopers) they are quite elite, because that's what they are trained and equipped to do. As a rear echelon guard force... not so much, but then that's not what they are trained and equipped to do, so what do you expect?

There's several real world situations where even the super-elite units like US Navy SEALs have taken on missions outside of their portfolio and got their tails kicked by comparatively super-non-elite forces simply because the SEALs were out of their element. So it happens...

I'd also imagine that the best and brightest aren't being sent to duty on Lothal.

It's also a matter of the relative and subjective definition of "elite."

Reminds me of an old joke.

Q: What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class at medical school?

A: Doctor

Even if those stormtroopers are the best and the brightest, I'm sure being assigned to a back water planet for guard duty would be demoralizing. They just don't care about keeping their skills up to snuff. So when something comes up that tests their training, they'll be rusty and forget their training in the moment and look like fools. Now, if these same stormtroopers still look like fools after having their butts handed to them for a while, then we'll have more valid reasons to drink the hater-aid on dumb stormtroopers.

So... as a front line shock and awe assault force (you know... storm-troopers) they are quite elite, because that's what they are trained and equipped to do. As a rear echelon guard force... not so much, but then that's not what they are trained and equipped to do, so what do you expect?

I can get on board with this. In game terms Stormtroopers should have skills in such things as Cool and Ranged since they are trained to be assault-oriented, shock, STORMtroopers. Thus, they aren't trained in skills such as Perception and Vigilance and will make poor troops when guarding a station or bunker as opposed to assaulting it.

It's also a matter of the relative and subjective definition of "elite."

Reminds me of an old joke.

Q: What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class at medical school?

A: Doctor

I thought the punchline to that joke was "Dentist"

It's also a matter of the relative and subjective definition of "elite."

Reminds me of an old joke.

Q: What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class at medical school?

A: Doctor

I thought the punchline to that joke was "Dentist"

No, it is Doctor. He may have graduated last in his class, but he still graduated.