Ahead of tonight’s mid-season premiere of Star Wars Rebels, Lucasfilm has released a clip from the episode revealing the Rebels debut of Saw Gerrera voiced by Forest Whitaker. The clip gives us a preview of Kanin, Ezra, and Captain Rex as they attempt to rescue Saw from Geonosis.
Star Wars Rebels returns with a special hour-long two episode mid-season premiere tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on DisneyXD.
Just a few hours ago, the mid-season trailer for Star Wars Rebels hit the web revealing Ben Kenobi would not only appear, but come face to face with Maul, the former sith who killed his master Qui-Gon Jinn. Whether it’s through the force or an actual meeting on Tatooine remains unclear.
Lucasfilm Animation has confirmed to Comicbook.com that the actor voicing Ben Kenobi is none other than Stephen Stanton, a veteran in Lucasfilm animation and Lucasarts. It turns out this isn’t the first time he has provided the voice for Ben Kenobi as he voiced the character in the Disney Infinity 3.0 video game Stanton has provided the voices for both Mas Amedda and Admiral Tarkin in the animated series The Clone Wars and most recently voiced Admiral Raddus in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
When Ben Kenobi will make his Rebels debut is a mystery but based on the mid-season trailer for season two, my best guess is that it won’t be until the season (which first teased Kenobi in the premiere) culminates in the season finale.
Star Wars Rebels returns January 7, 2017, on DisneyXD.
SOURCE: COMIC BOOK
(MINOR SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE)
Star Wars Live-action and CG animation collide in the latest promo for the two-hour midseason premiere of Star Wars Rebels. The promo teases the Rebels debut of Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker), the rebel extremist who first appeared in the animated series The Clone Wars and later raised Jyn Erso after the death of her mother and capture of her father by the Empire.
Clone Wars gave us the origin of Gerrera but we didn’t get to see exactly how his extreme methods caused problems for the Rebel Alliance. It seems Gerrera is much to blame for the Rebellions reputation being a terrorist organization as described in Lost Stars. Hopefully, Rebels will color that in for us, as much as a children’s series can.
Star Wars Rebels returns January 7, 2017, with a special hour-long two-episode mid-season premiere on DisneyXD.
SOURCE: DISNEYXD
(SPOILERS FOR ROGUE ONE AHEAD)
In the latest episode of Rebels Recon, the behind the scenes web series for Star Wars Rebels, Lucasfilm story group executive Pablo Hidalgo, teased the second half of the third season of Rebels will connect with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and deal with elements from that movie. Thanks to Rebels Reactions spotting a Toys R Us ad, we now know just exactly what elements of Rogue One will make their way into Rebels. Making his way full circle from animation to film, back to animation is the rebel extremist Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker).
Clone Wars gave us the origin of Gerrera but we didn’t get to see exactly how his extreme methods caused problems for the Rebellion as Mon Mothma mentioned in Rogue One. It seems Gerrera is much to blame for the Rebellions reputation as being a terrorist organization. Hopefully, Rebels will color that in for us, as much as a children’s series can.
Star Wars Rebels returns January 7, 2017, with a special hour-long two-episode mid-season premiere on DisneyXD.
Star Wars Rebels finally made good on their promise to explore the backstory of Sabine Wren this week in the episode titled “Imperial Super Commandos” and it didn’t disappoint. For the most part at least. I was a bit underwhelmed for the majority of the episode that is until the action kicked in and we got an awesome chase scene where Sabine and Ezra were chased by Mandorlians using jetpacks.
Star Wars Rebels finally made good on their promise to explore the backstory of Sabine Wren this week in the episode titled “Imperial Super Commandos” and it didn’t disappoint. For the most part at least. I was a bit underwhelmed for the majority of the episode that is until the action kicked in and we got an awesome chase scene where Sabine and Ezra were chased by Mandorlians using jetpacks.
Ezra’s inclusion in the episode was pretty pointless until he started deflecting laser bolts with his Lightsaber during the chase scene. This episode just didn’t dig deep beyond the crisis of Ezra being captured by Gar Saxon (Ray Stevenson) until the end when it was revealed that Sabine’s mother has joined the Empire along with many other Mandolorians.
While this episode didn’t do anything to advance the main plot of the season, it didn’t feel like a complete waste either as Gar Saxon was still alive at the end seemingly setting things up for a follow-up later on. The Imperial Super Commandos will definitely be back this season and I’m hoping they will play into the larger plot.
The events of the episode also provided for an organic turning point for Fenn Rau (Kevin McKidd) as he opted to join the Rebellion after witnessing Sabine’s honor and integrity when she risked her life to save Ezra who is not a Mandolorian. It felt like a logical move for Rau considering his men were killed by Saxon and his super commandos. With his people gone and other Mandolorians joining the Empire, Rau’s best option was most definitely joining the Rebellion. And as Ezra said, it’s better to have him on their side than to fight what is most certainly a formidable foe for the Rebels.
Overall I thought it was a solid episode that could have been a lot better if it solely focused on Sabine and given us just a little more insight into her past. Ezra’s presence was distracting and took away from the focus on Sabine. Had Ezra been replaced with some sort of McGuffin device, it would have been a lot better. He just didn’t need to be there.
I have to say I was very impressed with the directing this episode. When it was announced Dave Filoni would not be serving as the supervising director it had me concerned. But this episode felt like Filoni was actually calling the shots and it’s clear the former leader has done a fantastic job passing on his vision to new directors who are managing to shine in their own right while maintaining the style and tone created by Filoni.
3.5/5 – SOLID
The prequel era rears it’s head in the latest episode of ‘Star Wars Rebels’.
Sometimes you have to take a step backwards in order to move forward.
Personally, I am not a big fan of the prequels even though there are things I do enjoy about them, however. Battle droids are not one of them. I would even go as far to say that I hate the battle droids. Which is why I was shocked when I found myself enjoying this episode.
Being that this is a kids show, the childish humor that the battle droids bring was necessary as this episode dealt with the adult theme of soldiers dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder. After the Rebels landed on Agomar to retrieve proton torpedoes from an ammunitions depot, they were captured by one of the last remaining battalions of battle droids commanded by a highly intelligent Super Tactical Droid who wanted to play a war game with Rex and the Jedi so that he could finally end The Clone War in the way he saw fit.
The Clone War had never ended for the Super Tactical Droid and as we saw, neither did it for Captain Rex. Once the Rebels played the Super Tactical Droids game, resulting in the Rebels winning due to the old battle droids malfunctioning, the Empire showed up to remind everyone just who won the Clone War. Ezra helping everyone to realize both sides never had a winning chance was fantastic. When both sides came together to take on the Empire, it felt like a fitting end for The Clone Wars series that met its demise before it was able to properly conclude.
Watching the Rebels team up with the battle droids to take on the Empire felt like it bridged the gap between the two eras of the Star Wars saga. If I was a fan of The Clone Wars series, I would feel like I finally got closure for the series in most respects. But as someone who is not a huge fan of the prequel era, I hope this is the last I will ever see it. While the character development was great for Captain Rex and Ezra in this episode, it didn’t do much to advance the story.
7.9 – GOOD
Grand Admiral Thrawn fans rejoice! The brilliant villain is featured heavily this week as he catches Hera when she attempts to retrieve a family heirloom from her home on a now Imperial occupied Ryloth.
Grand Admiral Thrawn fans rejoice! The brilliant villain is featured heavily this week as he catches Hera when she attempts to retrieve a family heirloom from her home on a now Imperial occupied Ryloth.
The episode titled “Hera’s Heroes” kicks off with Cham Syndullah being pursued by a pair of Scout Troopers on speeder bikes right as the Ghost swoops in to rescue him. It’s a fun chase scene that ends hilariously after a Scout Trooper manages to board the Ghost just after Cham makes his way up the ramp to safety. Now surrounded by the rebels, Zeb asks “You didn’t think that through did you?”.
Zeb has been oddly quiet during this season so far. It was nice to have him in the mix even if we only got a quick line or two.
Cham managed to escape barely with his life. Unfortunately, there was a family heirloom that was left behind which belonged to Hera’s mother and she’s not leaving Ryloth without it. Luckily the rebels just acquired the uniform of a Scout Trooper they can use to infiltrate her old home.
Outside of the Syndullah home, a crashed Y-Wing lays in the dirt. Hera reveals this is where she first retrieved Chopper from after it was downed during the Clone Wars. Not much is known about the little punk of a droid but after seeing him depressed as he gazed upon the Y-Wing, it seems like his bad attitude might just be a cover for a painful past spent in battle.
ENTER THRAWN. My favorite thing about him in this episode was that no matter how terrifying he was, the Grand Admiral was equally polite and respectful. Thrawn says one especially interesting line before he leaves Captain Slavin to deal with the rebels. He tells him he must continue conducting an unknown experiment. I think the experiment is actually what is unfolding on Ryloth. Thrawn is not just one, but a few steps ahead of the rebels. I think he knew Hera was coming and was using this as an opportunity to get to know her face to face. Thrawn most certainly recognized Hera the instant he laid eyes on her outside her father’s office, almost like he was waiting for her.
Captain Slavin then sets up a prisoner exchange. He’ll let Hera and Ezra go as long as he turns himself in. Thrawn returns to his ship and watches over the exchange knowing full well Hera isn’t going down without a fight. Hera makes the choice to sacrifice her old family home so that her new family can survive. Thrawn holds back and deliberately lets the rebels escape, not just because he respects the victory they’ve earned for themselves — but he knows how important this band of rebels is to the rebellion and he’s playing the long game.
This week was a step up from the smaller episode that came before it. Overall it was great and gave us the Thrawn we have been waiting to see. The Grand Admiral is taking his time, doing his research and analyzing our beloved heroes so he can inflict the most damage possible on them and the Rebel Alliance. The heroes definitely have their work cut out for them this year.
4/5 – GREAT
Admiral Thrawn finally makes another appearance. After getting teased with him in the premiere it looks like he will be featured prominently in the next episode titled “Hera’s Heroes.” Released in a clip by DisneyXD today, we see that Thrawn has managed to capture Hera. The chilling villain is impressed with The Ghost’s captain as he divulges his approach to war and reveals his knowledge of Hera’s identity and her history.
Star Wars Rebels airs Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on DisneyXD.
Star Wars Rebels continues to flesh out the universe in ways we have never seen on screen before.
Star Wars Rebels continues to flesh out the universe in ways we have never seen on screen before. The third episode of the season introduces us to our old friend Wedge Antilles as he struggles with the choice he made to join the Empire. After Wedge reaches out to the Rebellion, Sabine is chosen to lead a mission to recruit Wedge as well as a couple other pilots.
Last year we were introduced in the new canon novel Star Wars: Lost Stars to several characters in the Empire who weren’t bad people. Some were actually pretty average—just trying to make ends meet to get by in the galaxy. Others were fully committed to the Empire’s cause no matter what but the galactic civil war was a dividing point for many within the Empire. It’s fascinating to see conflicted individuals who serve the Empire as they make their escape to join the Rebellion and that’s exactly what we got in this episode. Fortunately for the Rebellion, they are recruiting some of the most elite Imperial pilots.
Sabine, Wedge and Hobbie were able to make their escape with a little help from Agent Kallus. It was a nice callback to last season and possibly foreshadow’s Kallus’ defection. Kallus has been on the edge since the end of last season and in this episode he seems to be even closer as he goes out on a limb and nearly compromises himself to help the defectors escape.
This was no doubt a smaller episode than the last two. My only issue is that we didn’t get to see Admiral Thrawn again. To say there was a lot of hype going into this season for him would be an understatement. It’s a bit frustrating having him absent for the last two episodes considering we only got but a few scenes with him in the premiere. Other than that, it was a fun and exciting episode that explored how the Empire operates internally and we even got a few good space battles. We also learned a key piece of information in that Fulcrum isn’t just used as a codename to refer to Ahsoka, but actually anyone who is a secret informant for the Rebellion.
Oh and, Wedge quoting Poe Dameron as they were boarding the TIE Fighter to escape was also a nice touch. I can fly anything. We know Wedge, we know.
3.6/5 – SOLID
Wedge Antilles is about to make his debut in the third episode of Star Wars Rebels season three. The episode titled “The Antilles Extraction” will see Wedge and a few other Imperials defect from the Empire with the help of Sabine.
Wedge Antilles is about to make his debut in the third episode of Star Wars Rebels season three. In the clip released by Lucasfilm and DisneyXD today, Wedge is seen on a catwalk inside an Imperial hangar. The episode titled “The Antilles Extraction,” will see Wedge and a few other Imperials defect from the Empire with the help of Sabine.
The Lost Stars vibe is strong in this clip. Along with Rogue One, Lucasfilms focus right now seems to be fleshing out the space between good and evil within canon. It presents unlimited possibilities and it’s extremely exciting.
If you haven’t read Lost Stars you have missed out. The young adult novel follows two star crossed lovers on opposite sides of the conflict during the galactic civil war and intersects with the events of the original trilogy brilliantly.
Wedge’s appearance in Rebels makes his small scene in Lost Stars even more meaningful as (spoiler alert) he was then the one recruiting members of the Empire for the Rebellion.
Star Wars Rebels airs Saturdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on DisneyXD.
Alternate World 