General Star Wars Animated Series

Yeah, it's weird to me too that people keep insisting there was a Second Jedi Purge.

What happened with the Knights of Ren isn't a purge. It's a school shooting. The Jedi Purge had a premeditated, heavily-crafted thoroughness to it that "Kylo Ren stabs a bunch of people and sets the school on fire" lacks.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 14th 2018 at 10:08:47 AM

Well Luke’s Order was decimated & aside from the students Ren took with him (which they keep going back & forth if there actually around) there’s nobody else left mentioned.

So it kinda is a purge, just a more heat of passion one.

Edited by slimcoder on Aug 14th 2018 at 9:07:43 AM

However, Luke said he only had a dozen students. "purge" is too strong a word for six or so people being killed by their peers.

I just watched the final arc for season five, and it's another strong story, though it was so obvious that poor Ahsoka kept making mistake after mistake... going into the cell alone, taking the obvious bait and leaving the cell, going on the run, being seen with Ventriss, and totally not putting two and two together and realizing that it was Bariss who framed her by sendingt her to the munitions plant. But all that can be excused based on who Ahsoka trusts and what motivates her. She's young, she's idealistic, and she's fought her way out of worse. Only this time it's her own peers and government after her.

The whole thing plays nicely into the lack of trust Anakin has with the Jedi Council in episode 3, setting up his discontent with them and giving him a strong reason to be angry with them over how they treated Ahsoka. At least Obi-Wan and Plo Koon seem genuinely remorseful when it's over. Mace is a jerk and even Yoda fails the home team this time.

Random thoughts: Ventriss continues to be far more interesting on her own than she was serving Dooku. It's good to see Tarkin again, even though he's a vile individual. The new voice actor for Palpatine is disappointing in that he sounds nothing like the previous actor. And some of the "these Republic officers will soon be part of the Empire" visuals are very heavy handed. The officers are essentially wearing Imperial uniforms, and the trial venue looks like the interior of the Death Star.

And this is the first time the clones have felt like villains, with the exception of Rex. There's nothing overtly sinister when Ahsoka goes to the prison and leaves her lightsaber, but there's a certain uneasiness about the whole thing from that point on. The clones have always been solid and dependable up to this point in the series, so it's unsettling to see them on the other side, even though we all know we're heading for order 66.

Bariss was fairly obvious as the most likely villain, to the point my 14 year old watching with me figured it out halfway through the story. We hadn't seen her for several seasons, and after she made the holo-call to Ahsoka sending her to the munitions plant, it was blantantly clear that it was her behind it all. But still, it was a smart choice to show yet another Jedi fall, as further indication of just how the order is being corrupted by the war.

After being less enthused than usual with the first three story arcs of season five, it feels like the last two are a return to form for the series. I'm looking forward to season six.

Edited by andersonh1 on Aug 15th 2018 at 7:28:41 AM

Well yeah... Tim Curry kinda has a really distinct voice.

True! He certainly does.

In general, I like how the back half of the show builds Anakin's growing disdain for the Jedi Council. From the moment he bonds with Captain Tarkin over their mutual distrust for the Jedi's leadership in the war, we see him sliding more and more from Jedi Knight/Master Skywalker to Republic General Skywalker.

We also see him clash with the Council more frequently. And, in season six, even his relationship with Padme turns briefly violent, as his jealous tendencies run horribly out of control - thus setting the stage for the day he will one day crush her throat for a betrayal that exists entirely in his imagination, killing her in the process.

The show did a great job with Anakin's descent. By seasons five and six, he is legitimately scary rather than inspiringly heroic.

Is that what happened? I noticed that his voice seemed really off but couldn't quite place my finger on it.

Onwards to Rebels

So I'm four episodes into Star Wars: Rebels now. Did not like Ezra at first; he seemed very much like the obligatory obnoxious Kid Hero viewpoint protagonist that the show must have because it's a kids' show. But I'm giving him a chance, because I thought that way about Ahsoka too and she grew on me.

Also, he's Aladdin.

Like. No joke. Not a funny or wacky observation. Not "slightly similar". He is 100% Disney's Aladdin, from start to finish of his character. He is, in every way, unapologetically and blatantly Aladdin. Force Sensitivity aside, there is literally nothing about this character that isn't Aladdin, and even that can just be considered a setting-appropriate substitute for the supernatural assistance that his Genie is meant to provide.

He's so blatantly Aladdin that I'm actually wondering if Sabine is some secret Mandalorian princess just because he likes her. I mean, her name's one letter off from "Satine" and it's been like twenty years. She could totally be the daughter of that one Deathwatch person who was Satine's sister. It would explain the similar name.

All that aside, I do like the Rebels crew. Even Aladdin's started growing on me once we were past his intro two-parter, and I can give him a pass for being obnoxious in that. He's the kid viewpoint character, so his intro pretty much has to be about how he's the coolest and most awesomest kid ever and they should totally take him with them to justify his continued presence in the show. He's much less annoying in the third and fourth episodes, in which he is now allowed to just be one of the crew.

Kanan being a Jedi is pretty sweet. I was kind of expecting him and Zeb to just be a knock-off Han and Chewie, so Kanan's lightsaber and holocron were a pleasant surprise. I like this idea that he's a Jedi who survived Order 66 and got Obi-Wan's message to never come back. It makes Yoda and Obi-Wan's return to the Temple into less of a Shaggy Dog Story to know that at least one person out there got the memo.

Chopper is annoying and I hate him.

Hera forms the Team Mom role opposite Kanan's Team Dad and she performs adequately in that. I don't have a lot of thoughts about her at the moment. She seems right now to be pretty much at the baseline expectation of acceptable leadership, no more, no less.

Sabine is awesome and I love how she painted her Mandalorian armor. That is such a rebel thing to do. She's a Mandalorian badass-archetype but also an artist, demonstrating much like Satine before her that Mandalorians don't all need to wear the same hat.

I'm liking this crew. It definitely seems to not be the same kind of show that Clone Wars was, with emphasis on a small band of "antiheroes" who are really just slightly grumpy versions of regular heroes instead of on the ugly brutality of war. But I'm still looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Also, I'm terribly amused by the dynamic wherein R2-D2 is a dedicated agent for the Organas and C-3PO is a hapless tagalong who has no idea what they're actually doing. That is so utterly true to their dynamic in "A New Hope". It's a long shot, but I really hope we get to see R2 interact with Darth Vader in this show, because I really want to see how he reacts to the knowledge that his astromech droid who he vouched for and encouraged critical thinking in during the Clone Wars is now a loyal soldier working to destroy everything he's built.

We never really got a Vader/R2 showdown in the original trilogy on account of their relationship having not been a thing that exists when those movies were made. But now the prequels and Clone Wars exist, so the absence of some sort of confrontation between R2 and Vader is a profound omission. This show would be the perfect place to rectify that.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 15th 2018 at 1:06:25 PM

01x05 - Rise of the Old Masters

I spent like half this episode going, "What? No!" because they were like, "Luminara Unduli is being held captive at the Spire! We must rescue her!" I was pretty f*cking sure she was killed on Kashyyk during Order 66. Pretty sure!

Then they got to the Reveal and I was like, "Oh. Well played, show. Well played."

Also, nice to see the Spire again. Though I think it was harder to escape from during the Clone Wars than it is during the Imperial age. That shit was a desperate military campaign that took everything General Skywalker and the 501st had to offer, and they still needed the goddamn Republic fleet to come bail them out. Here, a handful of dipshit smugglers get in and out like it's nothing.

Man, the Separatists were way better at securing an installation. This Inquisitor dude tries to be all scary and shit, but can't even handle one rogue Jedi and his unofficial padawan when they're caught in a trap explicitly designed for this exact purpose. Dude's all hype.

His twirly-saber is pretty cool, though. While, at the same time, a profound demonstration of the Empire's lack of grit. BACK IN MY DAY, Sith Lords twirled their double-bladed lightsabers by hand! No wonder this trap failed! Lazy Inquisitor's gotten compliant! Dooku or Ventress would have been handing over their heads to Palpatine right now.

Grievous wouldn't. Grievous fails hilariously at everything he touches. He's, just, the worst. Right now, I rank this Inquisitor dude as Grievous-level.

01x06 - Breaking Ranks

This episode clearly takes place in the Cube. Clearly. Which is a pretty nice repurposing of the thing, showing that the Empire isn't 100% Republic stuff. I mean, it shouldn't be. Palpatine was running the Separatists too, so there's no reason that cool Separatist stuff shouldn't be incorporated into his new Galactic Empire.

Between this and the Spire, even though the tone is completely different, it is clear that the people who made this show were either directly involved in Clone Wars or have, at least, watched it and taken notes. Which is good.

That said, this episode seemed very familiar. Thre's an Avatar The Last Airbender comic called "Private Fire". Sokka joins the Fire Nation army under the guise of "Wang Fire" and, after some misadventures, winds up earning a name for himself in absentia as a Fire Nation war hero for taking on the Avatar.

The events that transpire are very different and in the outcome, it's a different recruit that winds up earning renown for pretending to fight the protagonists, but they still reminded me a lot of "Private Fire". Though some of that may have to do with Dante Bosco, the voice of Avatar's Deuteragonist Zuko, lending his highly recognizable voice to the character of Jai Kell.

I'm a little surprised and kind of disappointed that neither of the cadets that Aladdin brought in on his scheme sold him out. It felt like the stage was set especially for Kell to pay him back in kind after Aladdin sabotaged him in the second run through the Cube, but no. He's just like, "Water under the bridge! Let's do some treason!"

Just a further demonstration of the complete tonal difference, i suppose. If this were Clone Wars, that kid would have stabbed him in the back in a heartbeat.

I'm also kind of surprised that the Empire still uses those stun rifles. I figured they'd be too bloodthirsty for stunning.

01x07 - Out of Darkness

Sabine raises legitimate concerns about being kept in the dark about who this group actually is and what they're doing. But then she and Hera get Trapped by Mountain Lions and spent twenty minutes having pointless action sequences against wildlife for no reason, and that convinces her to shut the f*ck up and stop being concerned. For some reason.

Meanwhile, the rest of the crew sucks at their jobs.

This one was super dumb.

Luminara did die on Kashyyk, but that was in Legends. In the new canon, I believed she was captured and executed later, likely for the purpose you saw here, to lure in other Jedi.

The Spire was not seen in The Clone Wars (although it would have been, as it is in the Son of Dathomir comics, adapted from TCW scripts). You're probably thinking of the Citadel.

You're right, I am thinking of the Citadel.

Did Boba already kill Bane by the time of Rebels?

We don't even know if that's still canon.

EDIT: Wookieepedia does has it in Bane's behind the scenes section, not in his biography. So it's not canon until someone makes it canon.

Edited by BadWolf21 on Aug 15th 2018 at 5:40:40 AM

Hey Tobias where are you watching Rebels, legally if possible? The official Disney app only has season four.

One of my favorite little things about the characters in Season 1 is how Zeb initially appears to be one kind of character type in the first few episodes and then turns out to be very different the more Ezra learns about him. It gave me an appreciation of the character that only got better as the series went on.

Edited by KnownUnknown on Aug 15th 2018 at 8:13:56 AM

Netflix didn't have the show and, as noted, Disney only had season four. So I had to turn to Amazon Video.

Yeah Zeb is surprisingly deeper than I expected him to be.

Also, Chopper is your Lord and Slayer, meatbag. Take back what you said and sing his praises.

Also also, since you like Kanan you may wish to check out the novel A New Dawn, which details how he and Hera met.

Also also also, he has a comic which details how he survived Order 66 and stuff.

Edited by TheAirman on Aug 15th 2018 at 12:52:35 PM

Another thing I appreciate is how in addition to showing how the war has had deleterious effects on the Jedi order as a whole, we also see other Jedi who fall from the light due to involvement in the war, namely Pong Krell and Barriss, making Anakin's ultimate fall not as much of an anomaly.

Another thing on my Rebels wishlist: Naboo.

That's another area where, because it wasn't a thing when the original trilogy movies got made, we never really got to see any follow-up from the prequel era. Naboo is Emperor Palpatine's home planet and the place where the Clone Wars sort of started, in a sense. Geonosis is the official shot that started the war, but the Trade Federation blockade of Naboo was the birthing ground for a lot of things that would become that war.

It's also Luke and Leia's ancestral home. Far moreso than Tattooine, on account of the parent who lived there actually liking the place.

I really want to see how Naboo has fared in the Imperial age. Has Theed prospered or suffered under the rule of the Emperor they helped create? Where are the Gungans today? Is there still always a bigger fish? These are questions that need answers.

I will suggest you not get too invested in seeing old planets in Rebels. They tend to stay around backwater planets in the Outer Rim, thanks to the show’s premise.

01x08 - Empire Day

Nice bit of worldbuilding and some development for Aladdin, which is cool. I really like that Senator in Exile dude and his troll-broadcast. We've seen him in other broadcasts before. Everyone resists in their own way.

I wonder if he's that Fulcrum dude that was mentioned in the otherwise pointless previous episode? My money's on Obi-Wan, personally, but this guy actually has a presence in the show so it could be him. It's presumably going to be someone we're supposed to recognize. The whole point of keeping a character's identity secret is so that the audience can go "WHOA, IT'S THEM" when the unmasking is done.

I really liked Sabine running the blockade. This dipshit Imperial Officer honestly thinks the Rebels are going to stop because he held out his hand and pointed some guns at them. Just another show of how complacent the Imperial military has gotten in twenty years of peace. Rex would have fired on that shuttle without hesitation.

Huh. I wonder how Rex is doing? He didn't have to shoot his general during Order 66, after all. Although that might have been kinda funny. Palps gives the order to execute Order 66 and Rex promptly caps an unsuspecting Anakin Skywalker in the back of the skull. WHOOPS. SORRY, BOSS. MIND CONTROL PROGRAM CHIPS DON'T UNDERSTAND CONTEXT.

01x09 - Gathering Forces

Sabine's doing that obnoxious Anime Love Interest thing where she's suddenly super invested in forcing the protagonist to make good choices with his personal life just so that he can have someone to bounce his aloofness off of. Bleh. I really don't care about whether or not Aladdin forgives Tseebo for...for what, exactly? Not singlehandedly fighting off the entire Empire?

This forced conflict is dumb.

Nice to see them returning to the Mountain Lion Asteroid to give that episode some purpose in the show. But it's still so irrelevant that they could just as well have skipped that episode and just said, "There's an asteroid nearby that is full of dangerous monsters," and I wouldn't have batted an eye. It's Star Wars. Every asteroid is full of dangerous monsters.

The Inquisitor does get to put in a much better showing in this episode than his last. I love that Kanan's entire plan was to just feed him to wolves and hope for the best. XD

Aladdin demonstrates the profound flaw in the Sith's M.O. Like. Inquisitor's all gloating like, "Give in to the anger," and then Aladdin does give into the anger and summons a bear, and the Inquisitor has no idea what to do about that. Man, that whole "I feel your hatred" shit that Sith like to do is basically just empty posturing. They never have a plan for what to actually do if the Jedi's just like, "Okay! Force Lightning in the face! HAHA OWNED YOU."

"I feeeeeel your raaaaaage. Give into it. Surrender to the Dark Side and—why is there a knife in my throat?" "...because I gave into my rage?" "Dude, what the f*ck?! What kind of Jedi are you?!" "YOU WERE THE ONE WHO SAID IT WAS A GOOD IDEA!!!" "I DIDN'T MEAN TO STAB ME, YOU IMBECILE! You're supposed to kill your FRIENDS." "Why would I kill my friends?! I hate YOU!" "You're not doing this right! Look, go stand over there and kneel back down in frustration. We are doing this again until you join my side."

In seriousness, though, this two-parter seemed to be trying to endear me to Aladdin, but having him act like a total prat all the time is the wrong way to go about it. It's pretty much the problem with Kid Hero Viewpoint Characters. Indeed, not acting like an angry teenager who's totally full of herself is what made Ahsoka such an unusual and interesting variation on the archetype. Aladdin pretty much barrels face-first right into that archetype at full speed.

And that resolution is just kind of confusing. Like. Aladdin totally gave into the Dark Side there, right? Kanan even gave out a big "No!" exclamation, so he was clearly doing something wrong. But we're not going to talk about it? Pat on the back, "Good job, you saved our lives," the end? This is how Darth Vader happened.

I don't know. This two-parter had promise, but once it wandered off from Empire Day to dive into Aladdin's History of Teenage Jerkishness, it wasn't great.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Aug 16th 2018 at 9:57:51 AM

We see Naboo a few times elsewhere-in the books, Leia visits the planet a couple years before the Battle of Yavin under the guise of relief aid, because like much of the galaxy its people are being overworked to the breaking point to feed the Imperial war machine. On the surface Naboo does not look much different, but its industry has been expanded, and its moon is just one step shy of a disaster area due to overmining-to say nothing of the horrid worker conditions. We do not see too many Gungans on page, but they are still around in their own cities.

Gungans are visible in the celebratory shot of Naboo at the end of Return of the Jedi, though you have to pause the shot to find them.

01x10 - Path of the Jedi

Oh, good. This episode's actually following up on Ezra totes succumbing to the Dark Side briefly in the last episode. I figured the arc was over. My bad. Anyways, Kanan's all, "You lack discipline and focus!" and I'm like "Wow, it's almost like he's way too old to start training now and has only been doing this for like a week." I don't like Aladdin much, but I'm totally on his side right now 'cause Kanan's acting like he's a Padawan learner who spent his formative years in the temple being educated in the Jedi ways.

Kid's a street rat. You only found him 'cause he and Abu stole your apples and gave them to street orphans.

In any case, the Jedi training stuff here is pretty cool. The obvious visions in the obvious vision cave are obviously visions, but actual trained Padawans fall for this shit all the time so one can hardly blame Aladdin for mistaking them for real.

I love how his second set of visions features everyone on the Ghost talking about how much they don't like him as a person, and that flips the switch in his head that this is an illusion. And the cave know's it's busted so it's like, "Shit. Um...okay, I got this, it's cool...." and just doubles down on the Inquisitor killing everyone.

You overreached, spooky cave of evil. You overreached.

In any case, this episode was definitely a step up from the last. Exploring Ezra's fears and concerns as a Padawan alongside Kanan's fears and concerns as a Master through the lens of the Standard Issue Spooky Jedi Vision Cave was neat. The surprise appearance of f*cking Yoda clinched it. I do like Kanan's arc of uncertainty in himself and his ability to teach. I don't know if it's right but I kind of get this vibe off him like he never actually completed his own training. Like, maybe he was a Padawan himself when the Jedi Purge happened, not a Knight.

I mean, the Purge was twenty years ago and he doesn't look very old. Like, 30-40 range. He could totally have been a Padawan at the time. Probably not a Temple Youngling though because they all met a tragically so very avoidable fate.

And then Ezra got a kyber crystal! I totally heard the Legend of Zelda "Item Get" music in my head when that thing floated down to him. And now Ezra has a lightsaber. And... it's a janky-ass over-designed piece of crap. 'Kay.

Honestly, who put a random kyber crystal in the ceiling of this temple? BACK IN MY DAY, all the younglings had to go to that ice cave on Ilum to get theirs! Lazy padawans with their video games and their boom box music.

Kanan was still a Padawan when Order 66 happened, yes. And he didn't keep up his training at all while in hiding.