Can anyone point to another story in which a similar group of protagonists exist, let alone fights the Empire?

The only thing that I could see that makes them "cliche" is "this describes every Star Wars RPG group I've played in."

Does Firefly count?

Admittedly for them the war is technically over but the movie showed there was still resistance!

Starchaser the Legend of Orin?

Luke alike character the Han character is more mercenary with a love interest in a captured human female similar droid, the feisty daughter of a noble don't remember the rest except for the sword thats apparently psionic in nature!

Hmm I wonder if the Last Starfighter would work in a Star Wars game...?

Is Power Rangers excluded on grounds the Empire never lasts long enough to be relevant?

I'm not sure if you are referring to the OT characters or the characters in Rebels (which is what we are talking about).

As far as Firefly, other than the fact that it is a disparate group of characters on a ship, there really aren't that many parallels if any at all.

Firefly has several additional things in common, the most obvious being the Force-user/River, Alliance/Empire, Shepard (mysterious past)/Kenobi, the difficult-to-express romance of the captain (Mal/Solo), the butt-kicking sidekick of a non-white race/alien species (Zoe/Chewbacca). I'm sure I could find more, but that's not the point.

When Star Wars has parallels with non-Star Wars, I'm more accepting. When Star Wars keeps recycling internally, it gets far less interesting to me.

As far as Firefly, other than the fact that it is a disparate group of characters on a ship, there really aren't that many parallels if any at all.

Old religious figure/former warrior mentors kid? Yep. Book is a 75% parallel of Ben. Even dies before the big fight, and has continuing lessons to teach the hero.

Hot dame from life of luxury hangs out with Farmboy and aids his quests, and prooves surprisingly tactically competent? Yup. Inara Sera.

Merc with heart of gold along for the ride? Yup. Jayne. Even learns to be a hero.

Psionic Kid key to defeating the empire? Yup.

I'm sorry, but we were talking about Rebels not Luke/Han/Leia.

I can kind of see where the idea Firefly crew might be a lot like what some Rebel cells would become if the Rebel Alliance lost but really you can draw vague connections like that between most hero groups if you analyze them enough.

I mean analyze it enough and the Independence War in Firefly was much like the United States Civil War in space without the slavery issue. A similar claim could be made about the Clone Wars except in the Clone Wars a lot of the big businesses were on the side of the secessionists. By that logic Rebels will be in a similar era to that that Firefly took place in. But that doesn't mean that the two series have to tell anything close to the same story just because they have a few points in common.

Wow, lots of hate here. Personally, I think Rebels looks like FFG's Star Wars RPG Show. I completely agree with Doc, they seem like a typical RPG group.

I'm just glad we are getting new Star Wars stuff!

I'm also glad that most of the EU is going bye bye! I can't believe people are complaining about cliches after years of putting up with Timothy Zahn's drek. Mary Sue, cardboard cutout characters that never change. (That's right, I said it!)

I was really, really looking forward to Benedict Cumberbatch playing Thrawn...

Well if they can rewrite the Marvel Universe so Tony Stark can be blamed for building Ultron then why not rewrite Grand Admiral Thrawn as the nemesis for the next three star wars movies?

A Chiss Grand Admiral in charge of the Imperial Remaint's response to the New Republic... and we haven't even addressed what the Sith are doing either!

Sorry back to Rebels... when i first heard about that series it sounded like it was from the viewpoint of those native to that world, now it sounds like they've backpedalled by having two force sensitive characters... well at least I like the concept of the other four characters even if I had hoped they'd focus a bit more on the world they start on...

@Grimmshade: It's not hate from me, just some (mild) disappointment. The shown shorts so far look a bit too generic for me, especially when the bad imperial guys seem to follow every possible movie cliché.

Like in the clip showing the Lasat where a Stormtrooper jumps him so that he and his fellows can take him alive. Why not whip up the blaster rifle and stun him?

Nooooo, we attack him one after another so that he is not inconvenienced and do not shoot him from point blank in organised fashion. Makes me cringe. Hell, even the droids from Episode I were scarier. Dumb as bread as a single one, but their army routed the Gungans.

So I'll wait and see what the first few episodes look like. If Mr. Weisman works his magic and gives us his usual great stories and characters i'll be happy to later on buy them on DVD/BR. His Xanathos in Gargoyles was IMO a very good card carrying bastard.

I hope to see such characters again.

But if the Empire is portrayed in the far too often brutal and stupid scheme i'll simply quit. Good guys winning because the bad ones are more stupid than the heroes is not interesting for me.

Segara - I agree that if it is terrible I will not bother watching it (especially since I will have to buy it from Amazon).

I just am trying to go into it wih optimism for the things I like that I see, rather than the things I am skeptical about (I personally would have like zero Jedi, but a force sensitive could be fine.)

Well if the rumors are true then the first few seasons probably will be Spunky kids vs. the Short Speederbus Battalion...

But as you may recall, that was season I-II of Clone Wars as well. I expect no different here. It'll be all "Skyguy" this and "Roger Derpy Derp" that for season one and two, then the viewer feedback will be sufficient that the production leadership will go ahead and approve things grow up a little in the name of ratings.

Just an odd side note, the actor voicing the kid is an actual male kid. So he'll grow up a little and his voice will change. Usually that's a good sign that the director is willing to try and have the show grow up a little too. If they wanted this to be Ewok Adventures the series the sequel, they'd have cast a woman to voice the kid...

That last sentence reminds me of how Riley from The Boondocks is voice-acted by Regina King...

Well if the rumors are true then the first few seasons probably will be Spunky kids vs. the Short Speederbus Battalion...

But as you may recall, that was season I-II of Clone Wars as well.

Which I'm afraid of.

I just won't be able to buy light hearted happy go lucky if that's the attitude. Things were pretty grim for the Rebels before Alderaan and Yavin, so it need not be a dark downer weekly, but if it's just flying around bombing a target and flippant each week, I'll tune out quickly.

In defense of Clone Wars, the Jedi had resources and could afford to be a bit more cavalier.

I will be giving Rebels a fair chance: I'll watch it when it's on, listen to the writing and voice acting, and take it for what it is. Given that I'm a big Disney fan, and am keen for more material to help me plan future SWR stories, I'll no doubt become enthralled.

There's always a chance with something new that it'll fall flat; but that's no reason to give up on those who try. I'm just hoping that they keep the time period in mind and don't make it too happy-go-lucky/corny (I mean, we all know that Disney can make grittier shows - this is perhaps a time when they should be looking to do so again).

and don't make it too happy-go-lucky/corny (I mean, we all know that Disney can make grittier shows - this is perhaps a time when they should be looking to do so again).

Yeah. I'll give it a chance, but if it's as slapstick as Hulk Agents of Smash or the current Avengers cartoon, then I'm not going to watch.

Same. Star Wars OT was certainly funny in some instances (two of my favourite parts were: when Han booted Chewie down the vents, saying, "I don't care what you smell!"; and when Leia and Han have their little spat in the Hoth corridor - "I'd just as soon kiss a Wookiee." "I can arrange that - he could use a good kiss!"), but it also had an abundance of dark moments - which is what part of me fears they will lose in trying to appeal to an exclusively younger audience.

Well its the usual problem with cartoons. The senior people ( including the flanneled one himself) are still of the "only children watch cartoons" mindset. They forget that the parents of today were part of the anime generation and spent our nights in college staying up late and watching cowboy bebop, and see animation as simply a stylistic choice.

Dis/lucasfilm see Rebels as a way to sell action figures and Lego sets, until they find out they can also sell everything from car accessories to adult t-shirts to stack upon stack of blurays. All they gotta do is change the target demographic from children, to everyone.

I can draw parallels between many characters in and out of Star Wars. Just about everything is a rehash these days. As the saying goes "It's all been done before." It really comes down to whether or not the rehashing is entertaining. Does it hold my attention? The only way to find out will be to watch it and then judge. Trailers and such are just small samples and are usually out of context.

It is a cartoon on a kids network (Disney XD is "Aimed primarily at male pre-teens and teenagers 6–15 years of age, its programming consists of original first-run television series, current and former original series and made-for-cable films from sister network Disney Channel, theatrically-released movies, and live-action and animated programs from other distributors.") so I expect some Keystone Stormtrooper action and such. That's not a deal-breaker for me.

Also, the show designers learned a lot from The Clone Wars, so I expect they will bring that experience with them. So ultimately I will watch it an decide then.

However even in season one, the Malevolence arc for example, they didn't shy away from killing clone troopers. The arc I mentioned had droids cutting open escape pods to expose the troops inside to space. So, while they had some kid sensibilities, they also had some adult ones as well.

Reminds me if I ever get far enough to run this again I have got to include the revelation that there was two of those built (Malevolence) and I wonder how the Rebel Alliance would react if the Separatists in control of that offered it to them?

I've actually just started to watch The Clone Wars on Netflix. This should be interesting.

I thought TCW struck a wonderful balance between the child/adult demographic. I watched it weekly with my son from (his) age 8-14, and we've enjoyed it all the way (we're excited to start on The Lost Missions tonight!).

Dave Filoni has my trust. Also, TIE fighters. Weekly.

If rebels can hit the Walking Dead level of consistency - meaning some episodes that are really good, some episodes that are a chore to get through, but overall it's reasonably entertaining if ultimately forgettable programming. It's exactly worth the hour (or in this case, half hour) that I'm putting into it.

I started giving Season 1 Clone Wars on Netflix another try. It still makes me cringe at times (thrusters going through a huge nebula is faster then going around it using hyperdrive?!), but there is some adult stuff in there to grab ahold of such as what BlastedSamo said above.

Funny thing about The Clone wars is that the episodes weren't produced in Chronological Order.

You can find the official order list here.

http://www.nexusroute.co.uk/the-clone-wars-chronological-order

I started giving Season 1 Clone Wars on Netflix another try. It still makes me cringe at times (thrusters going through a huge nebula is faster then going around it using hyperdrive?!), but there is some adult stuff in there to grab ahold of such as what BlastedSamo said above.

Last episode season 1. You'll probably enjoy it.