Is the new Disney cartoon show Star Wars: Rebels more than a Star Wars cartoon? Is it worth your time, and why does that one guy have a little soul-patch beard? For answers to these questions and more, here’s a look at the first five episodes of Rebels, and what they say about why we care about tie-in media and the rising interest in Star Wars thanks to the forthcoming sequels.
NO Spoilers yet, you will be warned later!
Occasionally resembling a moving painting, Star Wars: Rebels looks lovely. And it should; most of the show’s aesthetics are directly lifted from the 1970’s Ralph McQuarrie concept paintings which helped shape the look of the original film before anyone touched a camera. So, to say the same thing again, but cynically; Rebels takes its look from the sloppy-seconds of discarded Star Wars-stuff and successfully crafts an inoffensive and market-tested product which works subliminally off of recycled nostalgia. (Even if the target audience—whoever they are, kids?—are unaware of the nostalgia.)
Judging the inherent quality of any tie-in media like Rebels is a tricky critical conversation to have because the thing being examined is always working from a deficity of legitimacy. It’s not fair to compare tie-in media to its more legit “cousin,” but we can’t help it. If the Star Wars movies are like horses, then Star Wars: Rebels or The Clone Wars are like ponies. Sure, they’re cute, but they’re not real horses.
Somewhere in the backs of many of our minds “tie-in” equals “substitute.” If we can’t get real Star Wars movies, then we turn to the books, comics, and cartoons to get our fix. Obviously, tie-in media isn’t always like this and more often than not, exceeds expectations (which are usually low) and becomes its own thing. Keeping this related just to Star Wars, I’ll be the first to admit my initial feelings about The Clone Wars were a bit harsh, and I think it turned out to be an important and vibrant part of Star Wars that was actually capable of doing things the films never could do. As anyone who loves tie-in fiction knows, this is exactly why it can be great; making things you love about a fictional world more vibrant without competing with the original thing itself. Still, no matter how “good” The Clone Wars was, not even its biggest fan would suggest its theatrical release deserved an Academy Award nomination, as we all know the first Star Wars movie does. Ponies do not usually spontaneously turn into horses.
If you’re reading this you probably like Star Wars, so you probably hate it when Star Wars gets “ruined.” Funnily enough, what we talk about when we talk about Star Wars getting “ruined” is also the history of Star Wars itself. The entire franchise started out because George Lucas wanted to remake/ruin Flash Gordon. Then, before there was even an Empire Strikes Back, Alan Dean Foster wrote a book sequel called Splinter of the Mind’s Eye (which saves/ruins the Force) followed by a screenplay which was re-written/ruined a few times by different people, and then directed by Irving Kershner who saved/ruined it from the things that George Lucas put in that tried to ruin/save it. We don’t even need to get to Jedi, the Christmas Special, the 1997 Special Editions, or the prequels to further prove how much Star Wars being “ruined” is an uneasy part of its history.
So, is Star Wars: Rebels ruining “real” Star Wars, for real? The answer is a swift and simple “no,” and that’s because the show is inoffensive and because it doesn’t count as real Star Wars.
WAIT! If you’re strong with the Force (meaning you read the Internet as much as I do) then you know that indeed and in fact Star Wars: Rebels does count because along with the six films, the new films, The Clone Wars, and the new novels, the Lucasfilm Story Group says this is “really” part of the larger canon, and everything else is “Legends.” And yet, just because the Story Group wants to call a pony a horse doesn’t make it true. My mind can make me believe that Rebels is a sequel to The Clone Wars, but I can’t make myself believe it counts. It’s a cartoon, it looks different. It’s really close and it sounds right (which is hugely important) but by sheer virtue of the fact that literally every character is a wise-cracker and makes overt winky-references to existing classic Star Wars dialogue, means the illusion that this is “really” Star Wars is cracked from the beginning. To put it another way, Star Wars: Rebels is too pandering toward its source material, which makes it likeable, but doesn’t make it “count.”
SPOILER ZONE: Brief summaries of the first five episodes of Star Wars: Rebels below.
The first real episode, “Spark of a Rebellion,” is making no bones about having you think of Ezra Bridger as a Skywalker-esque figure. He’s a lonely kid with no family and no purpose. He quickly meets up with a scrappy crew who all fly around on a Millenumm Falcon-ish freighter called “The Ghost.” This motley crew includes a muscle-y alien with a temper named Zeb, who has an Australian accent and is taken directly from Ralph McQuarrie designs for a less-hairy Chewbacca.
Then there’s Sabine, who wears a pink Boba Fett/Mandalorian armor get-up and who likes explosions. Hera is the super-funny Twi’lek pilot of the Ghost, who also acts as the voice of reason. Then, there’s Kanan, who has a soul-patch, and a ponytail and is a Jedi in hiding, because he survived Order 66 when he was like super-young. This gets revealed at the end of the episode as the gang frees some Wookiee slaves.
Ezra has blue hair and is resourceful. If you think of his character being exactly like Aladdin in the first 30 minutes of Disney’s Aladdin, you won’t be confused. His character is that straightforward. Oh, the’ve also go a cute droid named Chopper, who actually is inexplicably cute in an R2-D2 way without actually being R2-D2. (Would I think Chopper was cute if Chopper came first? There’s no way to know. See why it’s so hard to figure out if this show is good or not?)
“Droids in Distress” is the second episode of Rebels and it features a “walk-on” role from C-3PO and R2-D2. This episode establishes what looks to be a repeating plot of the show: the gang intercepts a shipment of something and tries to redirect it. In this case, it’s a big shipment of super-evil Rifles which have been banned by the Senate. These rifles were also responsible for killing all of Zeb’s people, so he’s feeling even more Hulk-Smash than “normal.” C-3PO and R2-D2 at first seem to be working for the Empire, but at the end of the episode, it’s revealed they’re really working for Bail Organa, who we all remember fondly as President Santos Jimmy Smits. The weird implication here is that Jimmy Smits has ordered R2-D2 to gather intel about “the Rebels,” implying that the Rebels on Rebels aren’t part of the real Rebellion yet. This show takes place about five years before regular Star Wars (A New Hope) so I guess it’s claiming that freelance Rebels like these guys are the true “spark” that establishes the later organized Rebellion in the films. Hopefully, this means the gang will end up actually meeting cool Rebellion characters like Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar later in the series.
The third episode, “Fighter Flight,” is borderline unwatchable mostly because of how totally boring it is. Ezra and Zeb have to go get a special kind of fruit for Hera, but when they can’t find it, they have to steal a TIE Fighter and fly it around awkwardly. Notably, this episode reemphasizes one reason why the Empire is so evil: it shuts down certain shipments of fruit. Like The Clone Wars, Rebels has a super-strange problem: it’s a kid’s show that’s trying to deal with dark gritty stuff about government takeovers. If you were making an Indiana Jones cartoon and it featured Nazis, you probably wouldn’t show them killing people, but instead, knocking over fruit stands a lot, which is basically (other than enslaving Wookiees) the most evil thing the Empire appears capable of in this show.
Things finally get a little cool in “Rise of the Old Masters,” as the crew of the Ghost attempts to rescue Kanan’s old Jedi Master; Luminara Unduli. This serves double-duty as a Star Wars-conflict and a character conflict since Kanan is really hoping to pawn off Ezra as faux-Padawan to Master Unduli. The only problem is, she’s totally not alive at all and the bad guys used her spirit or body to lure the good guys into a trap. This introduces the Inquisitor into the mix, who is a hit-person for the Empire who also sports a lightsaber which he can make spin around all fancy. At this point we know nothing about the Inquisitor, but definitely count me among those who think he is a lame, phoned-in mash-up of Count Dooku and General Grievous. Seriously, why not just have Darth Vader? I mean, wasn’t it Darth Vader’s job to mop up the remaining Jedi?
The Darth Vader I know wouldn’t farm out the kill-the-rest-of-the-Jedi memo to some jerk with pointy teeth. Plus, Vader had a secret hit-man in the form of “Starkiller” in The Force Unleashed and the Emperor has Mara Jade at this point, right? Wait, neither of those count now, so that means Starkiller and Mara have been replaced by the far-less-interesting Inquisitor in the secret-hit-person department.
I get that the Sith like having secret apprentices, but even as that goes the Inquisitor isn’t really acting in secret (he wears the Imperial insignia on his outfit) and it just seems like he’s created so he can be an action figure. Again, having Darth Vader on this show in the role of the Inquisitor would make the show 100% better. Vader’s a real horse, the Inquisitor is the pony, but worse because there’s literally no reason for creating a new character who serves the same purpose as another but who is less cool.
Still, with the appearance of prequel-era badass Luminara Unduli (you remember when she fought like crazy in Attack of the Clones, right?) this episode was the best of the bunch so far.
The most recent episode is “Breaking Ranks,” and it is almost as boring as “Fighter Flight.” In fairness, this episode reminded me of a few episodes of season one of The Clone Wars, where there’s an unbelievable amount of focus on the Clones and how they feel about being in the war. Here, we see the training of Stormtroopers, which from the perspective of a big Star Wars fan is cool. Look! The Empire did stop using Clones! They started training regular people! Weird! Here, Ezra has infiltrated some small training academy of other teenage boys, and we learn that the training of Stormtroopers is almost as hardcore as the Empire’s big-bad-plans to knock over fruit stands on random planets. Again, this isn’t the show’s fault—we’re on the Disney Channel here—but if you’re worried about Stormtroopers being “ruined,” they certainly aren’t helped by this episode.
Still, with all that, I believe in Star Wars: Rebels. I think it might be setting up more fulfilling storylines that challenge the boundaries of what it appears to be: a kid’s show that creates Star Wars buzz through careful marketing. But, unlike other Star Wars tie-in-media of the past, Rebels has a weird obligation to do-no-harm to the rest of the franchise. It’s been placed on a canon pedestal superficially, which means its behaving the way any young thing would when thrust into the spotlight. It’s being careful. It’s playing it safe. It’s a cute little prancing pony.
These Rebels are part of Star Wars now, and they’re not ruining it at all. But—apart from rocking one inexplicable soul patch— they’re probably not going act-out any time soon and continue to be cute, adorable, and careful version of Star Wars. The only trouble is, we can’t wait for the real horse.
Ryan Britt is the author of Luke Skywalker Can’t Read: A New Geek Manifesto, forthcoming from Plume books in Fall 2015. His writing has appeared with The New York Times, The Awl, VICE, Tor.com and elsewhere.
I actually think Rebels does a fantastic job – of capturing the feel of a group of friends playing the old West End Star Wars RPG, which is set during this same period. I recognize the same humor and hijinks that ended up in the games I played with my friends. I don’t think it’s anywhere close to being ruined; if anything it’s closer to the way I remember enjoying the series.
Ok i get how you are trying to dwon play your interest in the show, but it really comes off as a debi downer. I have been pleasently surprised at the show so far.
On Vader your #1 criticizm- at some point between Sith and Hope (ep3-4) Vader had to shift from Jedi hunter to strong arm of the empire. to point to another sci fi series, the universe is big, i mean like really really big, you can’t imagine how big it really is. So Vader can not be everywere at once and it would make sense that the empire would have specialists to deal with a potential jedi problem.
Vader would have hunted down as many of the real threats of the jedi order that survived order 66, so with a few exceptions (obi/yoda) the empire would assume that the jedi left are not on the same power scale that Vader and the Emperor are, thus not nearly the threat. Boots on the ground are needed more than anything.
AS of yet, there has been nothing in the inquisitor and his ilk, but i imagine the backstory is inevitable to find out who, how, and why he was trained.
Another thing is Kannan get lumped into a Jedi Knight catagory by many people. Truth is he was a padawan when order 66 happened. His master died allowing him to escape. He has never completed his training. Knights are supposed to the step between regular Jedi and Masters. Kanan has sent 10 years hiding his force powers fro those around him, so n many ways Kanan is probably not much more powerful than Luke pre Yoda.
I will say this, the show has set itself up to grow. I am eager to see how they find and fill in gaps of the universe many of us would like to see. Where the movies have shown the glorified Heros, this show is more focused toward the every man hero.
I am enjoying Rebels quite a lot. The characters are simply drawn, but in a way that makes them accessible. If you have to have a house visual style, you could do a LOT worse than using McQuarrie as your touchstone. Some of the plots are simple, but again, that makes the show accessible. The stolen TIE fighter episode was not a weighty one, but it had quite a bit of humor, something that other parts of the extended Star Wars universe often lacks, and lacks to its detriment. It has all the strengths of the Clone Wars, but without the moral ambiguity of having Anakin (aka, young Hitler in training) as a hero. Right now, the show does have some derivative moments (and the droid episode was full of them), but in time, like Clone Wars, I have confidence it will grow into its own thing.
One of the good things about Star Wars is how many media it appears in. You have movies, books, cartoons, comics, games, toys, etc. Something for everyone. I myself think that is a strength, not a weakness.
(My thought on Senator Organa asking R2 keep an eye on rebels was not that Organa was part of the ‘real’ rebellion yet. I took it as him having rebel sympathies, but not yet being part of an official movement. So R2 is not part of the official rebellion looking for freelancers. Instead, I think that there are many rebellious people out there, but as yet no movement has formed.)
Unlike the films, which adults and kids can enjoy, the cartoons are specifically for children (and I, as an adult watch it anyway), and I think they lack some edge and big picture I look for in a Star Wars story. I’m willing to stick with it to see if/how it fills in gaps between films. I hated Clone Wars at first, but by the end of it I think it actually repaired some of the issues of the prequel films. We’ll see if Rebels means anything to the larger story, or if it’s just a side trip. It is akin to an RPG (I play the FFG Edge of the Empire version). It’s a story about the background people at the Mos Eisley cantina, at the edges of the big picture. I think it will succeed if it gets it’s DNA as much from Firefly as it does Star Wars.
From a target audience perspective, this show is hitting it out of the park. My son is 5, and he absolutely loves the show. I was 3 when Star Wars came out, got my mom to take me to see it in the theatre. The joy I felt at that time, is the same joy I see in my son while he’s watching. I am also looking forward to paying a ridiculous amount of money for the Lego sets to build the Ghost with my son.
Is it a bit formulaic and slow? Sure, from an adult point of view. However, it is showing character definition and building. Each week the group is improving as a team, and as a “family”. The Empire characters are fairly anonymous, but they always have been (excluding the Sith).
Star Wars Rebels is meant for kids. Adults want to claim it, especially adults who need a fix until SW7 hits theaters, but it’s simply not meant for adults.
To all adults reading this comment: Be patient. Skip Star Wars Rebels and wait for the movies. To any children reading this comment: Dive right into Star War Rebels. Its tailor-made for you!
I’ve enjoyed the show, but I totally agree that the “Inquisitor” was a big misfire. If they could incorporate Bail Organa and C3PO and R2D2, they could have Darth Vader involved somewhere. Though I think that Organa’s comments to C3PO and R2D2 seem to imply that he is already working with the REAL rebellion, so maybe Vader is focusing more on them, leaving the Ghost crew to second-rate bad guys. I don’t know. The show is fun, but it’s not quite at the level of the best of Clone Wars. Still just getting off the ground, and I have enjoyed it, so I’ll wait and see what else they have in store for us. Hopefully more 3PO and R2D2. The crew of Ghost are a little TOO derivative for me.
Am I the only person who thought Rebels Episode 1 was reusing the cast of Titan AE? I’m not in love with it so far. Hopefully it can start to generate weightier content the way Clone Wars did.
@1 You know, I had had a reference to the West End games and roleplaying in an earlier draft of this essay, so I think we agree!
@2 Sorry I came off like a debbie downer! Didn’t mean too, but I hear you.
@5 You’re totally right about the target audience=hitting it out of the park. Fair play!
@6 You’re onto something, but I can’t help myself in wanting to claim it. Maybe I’m not really an adult? :-)
I don’t think we could disagree more. Fighter Flight was a bit pointless, but if we can’t have TCW, this is a good show, far from ruining SW
@6 – I know it’s for kids, but that just means adults can enjoy it after adjusting their expectations.
I agree that the inquisitor is kind of lame compared to Vader, or even Dooku.
I’d like Hera to have more screen time; she’s cool and hasn’t really had much spotlight yet.
Zeb is meant to be Australian? I thought he was some sort of British.
I’m Australian myself, and I have never heard anyone talk like that.
I want to like this show, because it’s the first really widely available canon story to come out of Star Wars since it was freed from Lucas’ stranglehold. There are things to like about it. Sabine and Hera are both cool. But there are other things that just make me groan. A laser slingshot? For Pete’s sake. Also, it would be nice to see the Empire being a bit more of a legitimate menace. As it is, they’re like that guy in every old kung fu movie who walks down the street pushing over fruit stands and insulting old people. Making your villains ineffectual and toothless, something to run circles around instead of fear, is generally a bad idea.
They weren’t training little stormtroopers, they were trying to find the force-sensitives. Actual training would supposedly come later. (You know, sharpshooting and the like, since only Imperial Stormtroopers could be so precise.)
There is one good reason to use the Inquisitor instead of Darth Vader: he can possibly die, eventually. Knowing Vader is effectively immortal due to the later films reduces the suspense. That being said, there really ought to be more Vader in this.
@ryan
Other material that has been published/leaked makes it clear that a) the Inquisitor isn’t hunting Jedi, he’s hunting force-sensitive youth like Ezra. The Emperor is either killing them or training them, which leads is to b) the Inquisitor is not THE Inquisitor, but AN Inquisitor, and their Order, perhaps this exact Inquisitor, will feature prominintly in the movie sequels.
Vader hunted Jedi post order 66, but he’s not hunting down every force sensitive child born in the wide galaxy all by his lonesome.
I’m having a hard time with this one. From a non-specific character perspective, SWR is just too Saturday morning cartoonish for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big SW fan and remember seeing previews in the theater for Episode IV when I was about 7 years old. CW was darker, more dramatic, and more tuned to older viewers. Granted SWR is still ‘new’ but I find it too much bubble-gum oriented. I’m not an aniamtor but CW had a better graphic look to it. The characters in SWR seem to be too blocky and flat. CW had much more depth and feel. Again, this is all my opinion but I would set the recorder for CW and with SWR…I have to pass. For me this is sad because its always good to get my fix of SW in any form but Rebels is just too grade school for me and for several other of my seasoned SW buds. I’d like to see CW return but doubt that will happen. $ are more important to the corporations and they’ll do anything to get a younger audience involved to sell more toys…we miss you Ahsoka Tano and even you Cad Bane. May The Force be with you…
I think you have to look at this universe through the eyes of its megafans because in the end we are the ones making lucas the big bucks, we’re the ones that buy every new copy, see the movie in theatres 15+ times each, buy the merchandise, play the star wars computer games, read the novels, read the comics, i mean star wars might as well be real as their are millions of people who spend more time thinking about star wars than real life. Do you really think the average person watches enough star wars to make lucas rich? No way in hell. But those of us who are part of this group have seen episodes 4 5 6 at least 100+ times each and episodes 1 2 3 as many times as was tolerable. In the end this is like sending a fashion designer to comic con or an intellectual nerd to a fashion show. Both of them wouldn’t see the inherent value in the other. I know this for a fact in one direction at least: and that’s as nerds we don’t give two shits about sports or fashion and we think everyone of those people should be put to work doing something useful and have their salaries go to help starving children.
It doesn’t compare to The Clone Wars, but the later seasons are actually pretty great!