Rebels: Spark of Rebellion debuted this evening on the Disney Channel. Here we have StarWars.com’s episode guide and their latest series, Rebels Recon, above. It has a preview of the next episode (which is now streaming on WATCHDisneyXD.com, I hear) at the end!
In the meantime, here’s your discussion entry. (Spoilers for Spark of Rebellion only, please!)
After being depressed over details from the Clone Wars TV how, I can say I felt really good after watching the Rebels movie. I needed some good vibes and I think this was the kind of Star Wars I have been looking for. I don’t mind the animation or how the Wookies looked, the characters were fine, and it wasn’t too dark or too kiddy. It was in a nice middle where I like my space adventures to be. I look forward to seeing the next episodes for this experience.
Con: Ezra’s character model still looks less “real” than everybody else.
Pro: Basically everything else.
Side note: Stormies can’t get no respect.
There’s more Imperial swag in this show than others and that’s pretty good.
I’m really glad about how much more mature this premiere was than the TCW mini-movie shown in theaters. I think it’s a great sign.
Yeah… I didn’t almost fall asleep during it! So that’s a good sign.
It’s definitely a better start than TCW movie. I actually quite enjoyed it. I was worried about it focusing on a younger audience that TCW, but I think they did a pretty good job emulating Episode IV’s tone.
A couple of quibbles: Mentioning both “A New Hope” and “Spark of Rebellion” in dialogue: *Groan*
Also, stormtroopers should definitely be portrayed as ineffective, but not reach battle droid levels of incompetence, which I felt they did in this episode.
BTW, the next episode is already up at watchdisneyxd.com.
I liked it overall, although the ending seemed a bit rushed. Also, it’s really exciting to finally get to see ISB.
it’s hard to pick a favorite character, but i think Zeb is my choice. so did Dunc fall alseep or not?
Not only did I not want to fall asleep during, I already said that above. James, honey, read. ;)
Some other thoughts:
The character design is basically ‘walking plastic action figure’ but I am okay with this. It’s probably worth noting that my dislike of TCW character design dates back to me hating that specific puppet look since (I’m pretty sure) before I even knew Star Wars existed. (Well, certainly long before I was into it.) Thunderbirds was rerunning somewhere in the early-mid 80’s. USA Network? They ran a lot of random ’70s kids stuff back then.
Some of the dialogue was fairly heavy-handed – particularly the first Kanan/Hera exchange in the cockpit. Granted, it is a kids show and I have met this fandom, so I get why it’s needed, but… Hopefully that smoothes out.
Still, I was slightly less annoyed by having to cover it after watching the thing, also a good sign.
Definitely encouraging. I liked it better than most TCW episodes. The dialogue was almost snappy for Star Wars, more Firefly than AOTC. I always felt that somehow, someway, the TCW managed to capture the worst of awkward SW character interaction, as if that was a SW legacy that needed to be baked into the show, like the SW specific screen wipes. Rebels does manage to capture the best of the original trilogy’s feel and marrying it to 21st century dialogue is promising. My wish list includes less cartoonish Empire villains and a bit less stiff character models, but I think this show has huge promise to show us how the Republic became the Empire and I hope it proudly bridges the movie eras.
Oh, BTW, kudos to Kevin Kiner. There are many great musical moments in the movie, with both new and old themes scattered throughout. The score definitely elevated everything going on onscreen. Also, if you haven’t heard interviews with him online, definitely seek them out. He sounds like a very interesting and immensely talented guy.
I quite liked it. I thought the characters were fun and interesting, it had some great action sequences (speederbikes, woo!!), and it felt very Star Wars. Some of the dialog at the beginning was a little heavy but after that it picked right up. Kanan is a bit of a blank slate for me right now but I adore everyone else.