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.

No, they're right. It's a very old joke and the punchline was "Dentist". Someone has changed it at somepoint to move it from a joke to an "insightful" comment about relative success.

Depriving the rest of us of one more way to poke fun at dentists.

EDIT: So are we done talking about the cartoon, now? It seems to be all essays on Stormtroopers. The only post actually about the show since the last episode actually aired seems to be mine.

EDIT: So are we done talking about the cartoon, now? It seems to be all essays on Stormtroopers. The only post actually about the show since the last episode actually aired seems to be mine.

I just saw rise of the masters the other day.

Rise of the Old Masters was a really good one. It just annoyed me that Ezra was positive Kanan wanted to dump him off on another master, when obviously he just wanted to give him a better master. I mean, really, who do they think we are, little kids?

Oh, wait.

Rise of the Old Masters was a really good one. It just annoyed me that Ezra was positive Kanan wanted to dump him off on another master, when obviously he just wanted to give him a better master. I mean, really, who do they think we are, little kids?

Oh, wait.

Ezra is both young and lacks the insight of all those little facial expressions we get to see Kainen make or the little scenes he has when Ezra isn't there at all. To a young child - especially one without parents - looking up to an older person who he thinks of as special, like a Jedi, then yes, I think this is reasonable. He probably doesn't imagine Kainen has all these self-doubts about his ability to teach. He just sees someone who doesn't want to. I think it's pretty believable.

Characters without flaws are no fun.

The bit about Luminara's preserved body being a beacon/trap for surviving Jedi was dark and brilliant. I was very impressed.

What exactly were they doing with her body to achieve that? They seemed to have her body in some sort of preserving chamber / ice-box and they seemed able to generate the effect of her 'presence' themselves.

My guess is that they were keeping her body frozen at or very shortly after the moment of her death and somehow running current through her brain or similar to provoke neurological activity or re-run some memories so that the Jedi could sense 'her' in some manner. I'm leaning to the former - she is dead (we know this) but because she is frozen / suspended so close to death they are able to run a few volts through her brain and create "echoes" on demand. She seems sad when Kainen finds her, and also aware of him on some level as she looks at him then returns to her body. I think she knows she is dead.

As you said - dark.

Well, when you put it that way, it makes sense. It's just one of those things where I shake my head and place it in my hands.

But hey, I'm not saying it ruined the show. It's still wonderful.

The bit about Luminara's preserved body being a beacon/trap for surviving Jedi was dark and brilliant. I was very impressed.

What exactly were they doing with her body to achieve that? They seemed to have her body in some sort of preserving chamber / ice-box and they seemed able to generate the effect of her 'presence' themselves.My guess is that they were keeping her body frozen at or very shortly after the moment of her death and somehow running current through her brain or similar to provoke neurological activity or re-run some memories so that the Jedi could sense 'her' in some manner. I'm leaning to the former - she is dead (we know this) but because she is frozen / suspended so close to death they are able to run a few volts through her brain and create "echoes" on demand. She seems sad when Kainen finds her, and also aware of him on some level as she looks at him then returns to her body. I think she knows she is dead.As you said - dark.

Probably a sith technique. Sith force ghosts around their burial place seems common.

The bit about Luminara's preserved body being a beacon/trap for surviving Jedi was dark and brilliant. I was very impressed.

What exactly were they doing with her body to achieve that? They seemed to have her body in some sort of preserving chamber / ice-box and they seemed able to generate the effect of her 'presence' themselves.My guess is that they were keeping her body frozen at or very shortly after the moment of her death and somehow running current through her brain or similar to provoke neurological activity or re-run some memories so that the Jedi could sense 'her' in some manner. I'm leaning to the former - she is dead (we know this) but because she is frozen / suspended so close to death they are able to run a few volts through her brain and create "echoes" on demand. She seems sad when Kainen finds her, and also aware of him on some level as she looks at him then returns to her body. I think she knows she is dead.As you said - dark.

Probably a sith technique. Sith force ghosts around their burial place seems common.

A Sith did it then ran away seems to be far too common a justification for things in this setting. Some days they seem to be approaching Harry Potter levels of do-anything-magic. I prefer the setting to have a touch of the inexplicable to hint at deeper mysteries, than to go full-on sorcery. Electrically stimulating her brain seems a lot more sinister and unnerving to me, to be honest.

I thought the whole bit of Ezra misunderstanding Kanan's reluctance to be his teacher was perfectly in keeping with both of them. Kanan's probably gotten used to playing things close to the vest over the years, and Ezra's undoubtedly got issues from living on his own as a street rat (notice how quickly he bonds with Hera who is pretty much the Team Mom).

Kanan obviously wasn't ready to be a teacher at that particularly moment, and probably got ahead of himself by having Zeb and Chopper there as "distractions" before Ezra had gotten the basics down. But since his own training got cut short (according to Wookieepedia he was 14 when Order 66 happened), he doesn't really have the deeper understanding of those basic elements (note his not understanding what Yoda's "do or do not, there is no try" phrase really means at the start). Then you've Ezra who wants to impress his mentor and prove that he's worth training, and when Kanan seems to give him the brush-off after a disastrous first training session... yeah, I can see where Ezra's coming from, as he's wondering if he's just a failure as a student based on Kanan's demeanor. In contrast, you have Kanan blaming himself for screwing up that initial training session with Ezra and nearly getting the poor kid killed.

I still think Kanan is due to bit it at the end of the season, probably at the hands of the Inquisitor, setting up a season-long story arc for Ezra to resolve his desire for revenge with what he's been taught of the Jedi Code while still coming into his own as a post-O66 trained Jedi.

and then there is the Deal with ezra's parents that we don't know the story of but I can see where Ezra did something that he thinks brought the empire down on his parents.

Very impressed with that last episode, it really propelled things and I guess calling it a kiddy show seems pretty short sighted in this light...

Everybody gets to see these a couple weeks before I do...

Did anyone see the rerelease of the Pilot epi. w/ Darth Vader?? I missed it.

AND THE VOICE ACTRESS OF SABINE IS STILL HOT!!

Everybody gets to see these a couple weeks before I do...

Me as well. Just watched the latest with Ezra and Zeb and the fruit. I wait for it to show on DXD.

The Darth Vader scene is on youtube. It is right before the opening scene of the pilot. I'm wondering if we could see a young Mara Jade join the empire...

I found a site that does the episode 1 wk in adv. so I am already on the next epi.

The bit about Luminara's preserved body being a beacon/trap for surviving Jedi was dark and brilliant. I was very impressed.

What exactly were they doing with her body to achieve that? They seemed to have her body in some sort of preserving chamber / ice-box and they seemed able to generate the effect of her 'presence' themselves.My guess is that they were keeping her body frozen at or very shortly after the moment of her death and somehow running current through her brain or similar to provoke neurological activity or re-run some memories so that the Jedi could sense 'her' in some manner. I'm leaning to the former - she is dead (we know this) but because she is frozen / suspended so close to death they are able to run a few volts through her brain and create "echoes" on demand. She seems sad when Kainen finds her, and also aware of him on some level as she looks at him then returns to her body. I think she knows she is dead.As you said - dark.

Probably a sith technique. Sith force ghosts around their burial place seems common.

A Sith did it then ran away seems to be far too common a justification for things in this setting. Some days they seem to be approaching Harry Potter levels of do-anything-magic. I prefer the setting to have a touch of the inexplicable to hint at deeper mysteries, than to go full-on sorcery. Electrically stimulating her brain seems a lot more sinister and unnerving to me, to be honest.

Well given that her sarcophagus looks like the sith ones...

My review of next week's episode, Breaking Ranks: http://onesaga.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/rebels-breaking-ranks/

My review of next week's episode, Breaking Ranks: http://onesaga.wordpress.com/2014/10/28/rebels-breaking-ranks/

Your review pretty much mirrors my feelings about the episode. It was very well done and leaves me looking forward to the next, which is what you want in any series.

My guess is that they were keeping her body frozen at or very shortly after the moment of her death and somehow running current through her brain or similar to provoke neurological activity or re-run some memories so that the Jedi could sense 'her' in some manner. I'm leaning to the former - she is dead (we know this) but because she is frozen / suspended so close to death they are able to run a few volts through her brain and create "echoes" on demand. She seems sad when Kainen finds her, and also aware of him on some level as she looks at him then returns to her body. I think she knows she is dead.

Geeze - that gives me a tangental great idea for a game: The Pirate Planet from Doctor Who. In a nutshell the planet Zanak has been hollowed out and fitted with engines and makes intermittent hyperspace jumps, materializing around them, sucking them dry of life energy and rescources before displaying the supercompressed,shriveled husks in a trophy room.

Why? Zanak ravages these planets to power the Time Dams that keep the evil queen Xanxia in stasis a few seconds before her death. In short, billions die to keep Xanxia immortal.

Now, you'll have to strip all the Time Lordy, Tardisy story parts out (along with the Key to Time arc), but the general idea is pretty solid. Make it a planet-sized ancient Sith artifact that has been keeping the architect alive for centuries.

This is what Dave Flioni said about that moment. Basically what we are seeing is a hologram of Luminara's last moments, and Kanan is sensing the essence of her body through the Force which is why he keeps saying that there is something "off."

Dave Filoni: Literally, what you see in that hologram, is her sitting, waiting to be executed. It’s a recording of that event. So when they walk in and see her, they’re actually standing where the Inquisitor was standing [when it was recorded]. And so when she walks up and looks at them kind of distantly and not very friendly, she’s looking at the Inquisitor and that’s what the recording is of. Then she steps over into that chamber and obviously she gets killed there. It’s really wicked when you think about it. The material of her body is the essence that Kanan is somehow sensing through the Force. But he knows there’s something off about it. But since he didn’t really know Luminara, he doesn’t really know. That’s one of the interesting things about death and then the dark side and all these different ways you can use the Force. The sensing of people is one of the biggest dilemmas, I think, in all of Star Wars, because people want to use it like a metal detector. I am very, very certain that it really just relates to how much you know somebody and intention of threat. You take those two things and combine them. So of course when Obi-Wan arrives in the Death Star, Anakin knows about it. Obi-Wan’s intentions are fairly clear, what he wants to do. He even, I think to some degree, knows he’s going to face Vader. And they knew each other so well, they were so close. It’s like a battering ram.

This is what Dave Flioni said about that moment. Basically what we are seeing is a hologram of Luminara's last moments, and Kanan is sensing the essence of her body through the Force which is why he keeps saying that there is something "off."

Dave Filoni: Literally, what you see in that hologram, is her sitting, waiting to be executed. It’s a recording of that event. So when they walk in and see her, they’re actually standing where the Inquisitor was standing [when it was recorded]. And so when she walks up and looks at them kind of distantly and not very friendly, she’s looking at the Inquisitor and that’s what the recording is of. Then she steps over into that chamber and obviously she gets killed there. It’s really wicked when you think about it. The material of her body is the essence that Kanan is somehow sensing through the Force. But he knows there’s something off about it. But since he didn’t really know Luminara, he doesn’t really know. That’s one of the interesting things about death and then the dark side and all these different ways you can use the Force. The sensing of people is one of the biggest dilemmas, I think, in all of Star Wars, because people want to use it like a metal detector. I am very, very certain that it really just relates to how much you know somebody and intention of threat. You take those two things and combine them. So of course when Obi-Wan arrives in the Death Star, Anakin knows about it. Obi-Wan’s intentions are fairly clear, what he wants to do. He even, I think to some degree, knows he’s going to face Vader. And they knew each other so well, they were so close. It’s like a battering ram.

So that's not just her coffin, but her execution chamber/method. That's pretty dark... It looks like she's frozen, but at the same time, her features look like she's spent some time rotting... Maybe they didn't plan on keeping her body preserved at first? In any case, it's nice to hear that's a hologram. I was wondering if it was some sort of fake or if it was her spirit - Hearing it's a hologram, it makes more sense as to why she didn't try to warn them...

I finally caved and watched the episodes online. I have mixed feelings about ise of the Old Masters. While I liked it in and of itself I was disappointed by the implication that they were bringing Luminara back for Rebels only for it to turn out she was long dead and nothing but a corpse used as bait. Luminara was one of the characters I had hoped they would do more with in The Clone Wars but they never did much with her after early Season 3, and her returning as an occasional Rebels character would have been great IMO.

I was also hoping that they would eventually use her to provide some explanation for why Barriss fell to the Dark Side, either by using the story as a lesson to someone else, and explaining that she knew when the fall began but realized what was happening too late, or by confronting a Dark Barriss. I doubt I would have ever been happy about Bariss' fall but I would have hated it a lot less.if the had explained what she saw that caused her to fall rather then just have it seem like she randomly decided the Jedi were evil. Even Anakin's fall was handled better then that.

Now, you'll have to strip all the Time Lordy, Tardisy story parts out (along with the Key to Time arc), but the general idea is pretty solid. Make it a planet-sized ancient Sith artifact that has been keeping the architect alive for centuries.

All? Surely not ALL?

There has to be a scene where a large eccentric gentleman lures a guard away from his speeder with a trail of sweets. Or a climactic battle between a robot dog and a robot parrot?

At the very least there needs to be the following exchange of dialogue:

"Where did you get those?"

"Same place you do - your coat pocket."

(it's one of my favourite serials and certainly my favourite from the Key To Time arc).