WesternAnimation Much better than I thought it would be!
I've heard some not-so-great stuff about the series, but I was pleasantly surprised.
Don't be put off by the Lighter and Softer tone as the series certainly becomes more dramatic and has higher stakes later in the seasons. In many ways, it can be more fun to watch than The Clone Wars because of this.
The characters are fun and interesting, each with their own backstory and motivations. Hera particularly was one of my favorite characters as the awesome Team Mom of the Ghost Crew.
I wasn't the biggest fan of the animation at first, but I got used to it after a while.
Overall, a fun Star Wars TV show which really shouldn't be so underrated.
WesternAnimation New dawn for Star Wars TV
Rebels is a great show, you just have to be patient. The farther we go, the better it gets!
Sound familiar?
When The Clone Wars got canceled and it was announced Rebels would be taking up the spotlight, it automatically gained a bit of hate from fans who predicated it would be a total screw up and would lose the 'continuity' with some doomed interqueal-itis... but many people remained hopeful of it's potential awesomeness.
The animation style got ragged on because of how different it looked. It's smoother. Much of it is based upon Ralph Mcquarrie's original trilogy concept art, and everything's design is far closer to A New Hope. The characters hair and the layout was a little strange at first, but it's gotten so very good, and it's become a new style definitive for Rebels.
The first season started out slow, and it seemed it was sealing it's fate as meh at best. But it slowly began getting better and better, and the lead up to the finale was the best yet. The whole season, I think, was wrapped up nicely and tied with a bow in the finale.
It's very fun to watch, and even more fun if you can spot all the callbacks and continuity nods the series seems to be favoring, but that's great. It creates an amazing story, and it looks like it's just going to keep getting better and better!
Rebels is a new dawn for Star Wars TV, and it's beautiful!
WesternAnimation A spark that catches fire
Star Wars Rebels starts off slow. There's no doubt about that. But, just as a fire takes time to get up to speed, this is one show where you need to give it that time.
One thing that you can't do in Rebels is skip an episode. Not. One. This is because the series is very fond of continuity nods and calling back to previous events. Some more basic episodes at the beginning turn out to be game changers later on. Whether it's through objects, planning, or character development, nothing in an episode is wasted, even though it mightseem that way.
It's true, this is a slow way to go about things. But it pays off big time in the end. Things feel like a cohesive story, rather than disconnected episodes, and the elements introduced at the beginning make it all the more awesome when the all come together.
In many ways, this season was made for its finale. Everything introduced up to the final three episodes of the season were building towards that moment, and it does not disappoint.
Assorted Sapients, Star Wars is back, and better than ever.
WesternAnimation Mitigated impressions
First, the positive: Kanan and Ezra's struggles to overcome their respective traumas to function as master and padawan, and Kallus' whole ark were excellent developements, well-written and credible. The Inquisitors were also a good addition, as Vader, powerful as he is, can't be everywhere in the galaxy at the same time. Speakin of Darth, his intervention in S2 to catch a pair of saber-wielding Force-users doesn't seem too far-fetched either. After that, however... Why are Thrawn and Palpatine featured there? The story seems like a too narrow setting for such characters, and the discrepancies between book!Thrawn and his show version makes one wonder about the existence of discussions between Filoni and Zahn. Another bummer: S3 and 4 are choke-full of Deus Ex Machina moments that really stretch the suspension of disbelief, even in the Star Wars lore: convenient time-travel via alternate dimension, teleporting loth-wolves, space whales attacking the enemy fleet but not your city, over-incomptent Imperials... So, all things considered, not a bad show, but I'd rather rewatch Avatar.