Star Wars Rebels

[CaptainCrunch]

The helmets look similar, I wouldn't be surprised if they were death troopers.

[CaptainCrunch]

Wookiepedia has confirmed that they are death troopers and will participate in the battle of Atolon

[GreenLantern]

Neato, they were pretty bad ass in Rogue One.

[Regulator75]

I want to watch that video... Must resist the darkside...

[CaptainCrunch]

I remember in the old EU there were so many different types of Storm Troopers beyond the normal guys, and the Snow Troopers and Sand troopers.

There were imperial guards in normal storm troopers but red because Camo means nothing. There were swamp troopers, and space troopers and Nova Troopers and dark troopers and riot troopers.

I just like the idea that troopers are troopers are troopers with some minor modifications to the armor. But the death troopers are kind of like the Navy Seals of stormtroopers so they have a 50% hit rate and aren't as easily distracted by pebbles.

The one thing that I liked about TFA is even though I hated the helmets the new storm troopers seemed way more lethal and moved like well trained soldiers.

[CaptainCrunch]

Some things that I picked up from the trailer.

We see Space Troopers, in the EU they were just leathal, they were like a Starfigher suit.

I do believe those are death troopers.

It almost looks like Ezra is talking to Mon Mothma.

We see Sabine, but is she in charge of the Mando's?

Good to see Rex doing something, he's been really silent for a long time this year. I'd still love to see the return of Commander Cody on the Imperial side, I think it would be a really interesting story to see Cody and Rex coming face to face.

No sign of Kallus in the preview, is that an ominous sign?

Its interesting that Thrawn says that this has been rehearsed, we know he's spent the season basically collecting intelligence and studying the Rebels. I get the sense that the Imperials are going to kick the crap out of this rebel cell because he knows exactly what they're going to do.

I'm hoping that the episode ends with Thrawn reporting to the Emperor.

[CaptainCrunch]

Major spoilers about the future of Rebels and Star Wars TV as a whole

Spoiler!

[GreenLantern]

Right.. and didn't the First Order blow up the entire Republic in TFA? So now all that would be left is the First Order (that wasn't at Starkiller Base) and the Resistance?

[CaptainCrunch]

Season 3 came to an end with a combination of a bang and a whimper. While we did see the demise of two characters in the series, we didn't see the death of a core character even though the show tended to tease us a couple of times.

It seems that Thrawn is as smart as we think he is, he allowed Kallus to sneak off to make a Fulcrum transmission then used that transmission plus the heading of Admiral Sato's fleet to triangulate the Rebel base. At the same time we saw Thrawn beat the holy hell out of Kallus, who's only response was a heroic quip "You talk to much".

The Rebels who were fairly confident in their abilities were preparing to launch an attack on the Tie Fighter factories on Lothal, but quickly found themselves on the defensive as a massive fleet supported by two Inderdictor Cruisers jumped into the system and engaged the now massively outgunned rebel fleet under the commands of Admiral Sato and Admiral Dodonna. At this point the Rebels effectively trapped went their separate ways to get help.

Ezra was told that he needed to get away from the blockade and call for help. Meanwhile Kanan went to the desert to get the help of Bendu a mystical force creature.

This episode could really be split into two episodes (well it was. The space battle and the ground battle) In the space battle it was clear that the Rebels were outgunned by the Imperial Fleet and were promptly trapped and grounded. As a side note, the animation in this battle was incredibly well done and while the battle was chaotic, there was a symmetry to it that was really nice to watch.

In order for Ezra to escape they needed to get rid of one of the Interdictors, and this is where the Empire actually failed Thrawn. You see, Thrawn actually respects the Rebellion and mused that they would try to do something unpredictable. To Combat that he decided to hold the line and count on Imperial training and discipline to carry the day. Unfortunately that hit the skids due to Admiral Konstantine who has been in and out of the show since day one. A career opportunist and a somewhat incompetent leader, he decided that he wanted the glory and moved his Interdictor out of position to attack Admiral Sato's carrier. Sato then sacrificed himself ramming the Cruiser and killing Konstantine and allowing Ezra to escape, while the Rebellion retreated to the planet surface.

Ezra promptly contacted Mon Mothma who told her they couldn't risk the rest of the Rebellion, and maybe they weren't ready to go on the offensive. This reflects the feeling that the Rebel Alliance which was still fragile and in its infancy was too cautious to be an effective Rebellion and weren't truly desperate yet. Ezra then went to Mandalore to beg for help.

Meanwhile Kanan confronted Bendu and asked for help. I think he was surprised, when Bendu angrily mused that he wanted no part of this war, and that he was the rock in the middle of the river and it would be better if the Rebel's basically pissed off and left his planet alone.

Its funny because Star Wars fans have this definite feeling on morality and the force. That the Light will always fight the darkness, however that's not always the way. Just like the Mortis Arc where you had the Father who kept the balance, Bendu seems to be very much a creature of dark and light in balance, and because of that, the fates of mortals and ordinary lives are really of no concern to him and the force at large.

Meanwhile Ezra reached Mandalore and reunited with Sabine who wanted to help but her people were spread thin fighting a civil war against Clan Saxton, however in the end a compromise was reached and Sabine was allowed to take volunteers to help.

This is where the action reverts to a ground battle. At the Rebel base they managed to fire up a generator and after about 40 years of waiting we finally saw what the full firepower of an Imperial Star Destroyer looked like as the Imperial fleet released a awe inspiring barrage against the Rebel base.

Now, this is where there was a neat bit of story telling without dialog as they flipped between Thrawn watching the Bombardment and Hera watching the attack on the shields, and you felt like Thrawn was the unstoppable force and Hera the unmovable object. But we did see Hera flinch while Thrawn stayed resolute, and just as the shields were about to fail, Thrawn called off the attack and sent in his ground forces leaving Governor Pryce to maintain the blockade.

With the Rebel's trapped they decided to defend their base by mining the approach, and at first it was effective until Thrawn played his hand and sent in an actual attack using AT-AT's. At this point the battle seemed hopeless, until Hera heard from Ezra that they were going to attack the last Interdictor, which would allow the Rebels to escape.

At this point with nothing left the Rebels decide to toss the coin of fate and evacuate, but Thrawn showing his excellent feel for the Rebels headed them off at the Ghost and demanded their surrender or their deaths. At this point two things happened.

First of all, we saw Bendu who manifested himself as a massive storm, and it was clear that he wasn't picking sides as he attacked rebels and Imperials alike, it was interesting because Bendu stated that he wasn't the Dark and he wasn't the light and that he bought death. Why was this interesting? Because for those of you that played SWTOR when the Sith Emperor was resurrected on Yavin 4 (The future base of the rebels) he said something similar after watching the Rebels and Sith fight a bloody war that fed him, his last line upon his resurrection was the same "I bring Death". It might mean nothing but it was interesting.

Again this sequence shows the difference between the Rebels and the Imperials and the Rebels fled in their ships and took a chance in the storm while Thrawn attacked the Storm and actually beat it. However there was a minor but important moment when a Rebel transport loaded with supplies was destroyed pushing the concept that the Rebels were about to lose everything.

Meanwhile in Space the Mandolorians joined the battle and space walked onto the Interdictor and destroyed the Gravity Well Generator and destroyed the ship and we saw Governor Price watching helplessly as the Rebels escaped, once again Imperial Incompetence thwarted Thrawns plans. Meanwhile tired of hearing Kallus's jibs she orders him thrown out of the Airlock, which was the break that Fulcrum needed and he overpowered his guards and escaped on an escape pods.

Realistically the Imperials won the day, but the overall crushing victory that Thrawn wanted but make no mistake Ezra was right when he said that the Rebels had lost everything. They looked like a demoralized and crushed bunch who had also lost one of their better Admirals, and they were headed for a new base on Yavin 4. Meanwhile Thrawn encountered Bendu who before doing the Ben Kenobi thing, told Thrawn that he could see his demise.

I thought this was a good episode to end the season, because frankly it really echo'd Empire strikes back in that the Rebellion had taken a major step back and are in no shape to be a military force. I thought that the writing was solid and it almost felt like Kanan was going to be the sacrificial lamb in this episode when he told Ezra that he really had nothing more to teach him. Meanwhile we finally saw Thrawn in action, only to be outdone by circumstance. First of all with the incompetence of Pryce and Konstantine, and of force of nature in Bendu.

Some stray observations

They've done a nice job of making Kallus a sympathetic heroic person. He went from a bully and possible war criminal to a truly heroic character who risked his life and as Kanan said everything to help the Rebels. Now if they could shave those sideburns in the off season that would be nice.

I honestly thought that Kanan was going to die after his talk with Ezra, and they really teased it when he was blown off of his speeder by Bendu who actually seemed determined to kill Kanan. Its clear that Bendu was no light side of the force creature, he represents the balance of darkness and light.

I'm sad to see Sato go, he wasn't a major character but he had some nice moments throughout the series, but this clears the deck to add some of the Rebel leaders from Rogue one next year.

I want to restate that I just loved that Bombardment scene with the camera going between Thrawn and Hera. I thought that was the best pure character scene in the series so far and it was such a small thing.

I was cursing under my breath that Mon Mothma was willing to sacrifice two rebel cells and somehow thought she could negotiate for fair treatment of the prisoners. At that point I heard Peter Griffin's voice in my head muttering "Um can we maybe get a man in charge here".

The animation overall was gorgeous, when the first Nebulon B was destroyed it was stunning.

I loved the quip by Zeb about designing a shield that you can't walk through. But in every Sci Fi book or movie that I've seen the science seems to be the same. They can stop fast moving projectiles and energy weapons, but not slow moving objects.

By moving to Yavin 4 I think that we've established that we are a short time away from the Death Star, and my feeling is that our Rebels are going to go back to their attempts to find out what the Empire is up to.

Thrawn will surely be back next year, he was effective as a battle field commander and this was a smashing victor for him, but he was undermined badly and Pryce is probably going to have an uncomfortable meeting with Tarkin. Pryce not only lost the blockade through indecision and watched the Rebels escape without firing a shot, but she also basically allowed a valuable source of intelligence in Kallus make his escape.

Now we wait for next year.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Right.. and didn't the First Order blow up the entire Republic in TFA? So now all that would be left is the First Order (that wasn't at Starkiller Base) and the Resistance?

Was it actually the whole Republic though, I doubt the Republic was all in that one little system. But they did blow up a sizable fleet and took out the seat of government.

You also get a sense that there's more to the First order then just those at Starkiller base and one Star Destroyer.

I don't expect that either side is a galaxy spanning organization, but the one thing is that clearly while the Republic government is probably gone. The first order leadership for the most part in Hux, Snoke and Ren still exit.

[GreenLantern]

I thought it started off great and I fully expected Mothma to show up with some X-Wings and save the day in act 2, but I was wrong. Thinking about it now it makes sense because isn't the first time they all decide to come together for a coordinated attack what we see in Rogue One? So next season we should expect to see them still separated? Or was that just their first major coordinated victory and we can expect to see them come together by the end of season 4 with some other smaller victory?

I thought episode 2 was a slight let down, having Bendu be the reason they are 'saved' and messing up Thrawn's plans was a little frustrating and felt slightly lazy. Overall it was an entertaining finale but definitely falls short of what we got last year.

If season 4 is in fact the last season I hope to see some big leaps and not have as many filler episodes.

[CaptainCrunch]

Bendu to me was a factor in Thrawn's plans but he really wasn't the reason that it didn't go completely the way that he wanted.

Pryce and Konstantine completely screwed up his plans.

I remember in I think season one when Tarkin called in those two imperial officers to talk to them about their failures and then had the inquisitor execute them.

There's no doubt that the Rebellion took a major step back last night. Materially they lost everything that they had gained over the last couple of years. The Y-Wings that they stole, The Nebulon B frigates, the escort carrier they also lost at least a hammerhead.

This is a two rebel cells that are in no shape to do anything at all.

I would expect that there is logically going to be some resentment between Rebel Cells next year because of Mon deciding not to show up.

I can imagine on the Imperial side we will see Pryce next year but she won't have much authority because she not only was a lousy on scene commander but she let an invaluable prisoner escape because she got upset.

I mean I don't disagree with you, I thought the Bendu stuff while interesting was a bit of a leap in terms of allowing Kanan and his group to escape, but he cost himself a valuable Force asset in the process.

If next year is the last year, there's a lot of things that need to happen or be explained.

1) You my friend are the last of your kind - the exchange between Vader and Tarkin. We have three force users that we know of and we know the fate of Kenobo. But what are the fates of Ezra and Kanan and were they with the Ghost during the events of Rogue one

2) Thrawn - We didn't see him in any of the OT movies, but you'd think that a Grand Admiral would at least be involved. We also saw Bendu telling him that he saw his defeat

3) X-Wings - We haven't seen any yet. We also know that the Rebels are out capabled on the fighter side with the arrival of the Defender. A-Wings and Y-Wings have really been outclassed.

4) The final fate of the Mandolorians - I wonder if we see Bobba Fett next year?

There's more as well. I assume that at some point we'll see the construction site of the DS. It would be kind of cool if the events of Rogue one were shaped by the Rebel series.

[GreenLantern]

I guess they need to bridge how Hera got from where she is to being involved with Scarif in Rogue One. So maybe the season focuses on them recovering from this defeat and mending rifts caused between cells.

It would be neat to see it end with some sort of sacrifice that sets up the events of Rogue One. Maybe it ends with them getting the info about the Death Star to Mothma so that they can recruit Jyn Erso, now that would be a neat way to end Rebels.

And somewhere in there we need to see the demise or fall of Kanaan and Ezra because we obviously can't have them around for the events of the OT. I hope they don't cop out and just send them into some distant exile planet in the end.. something about it's better for us to hide than be corrupted by the dark side or some nonsense.

There were parts in this finale that I was completely enthralled and they had my full attention and other parts where they lost me and I felt it was a cop out. Overall I am still happy.. but just a bit let down I guess. But maybe that is how we are supposed to feel, exactly how the Rebels feel.. Damn you Mothma!!

[CaptainCrunch]

I was thinking about this last night, but the Thrawn that we're seeing is a lot different from the Thrawn in the legends EU.

The Thrawn in the legends EU was extremely smart and analytical, he used art in order to study his opponent and beat them. He came up with innovative strategies on the fly "Using cloaked ships to fool planets into surrendering". He didn't suffer fools but he handed out praise and recognized innovative throught. He didn't do the physical dirty work, he let his body guards (Noghri) do the work for him.

Ok, this Thrawn is different, but I'm not saying he's bad thought

He still studies art to understand his opponent and come up with his strategy. But I don't think he's that innovative, he seems to rely on overwhelming numbers and fire power. He was worried that the Rebels would come up with an innovative strategy, but the Thrawn in the EU never allowed the Rebels time to come up with a strategy because he put them on the defensive. When they beat him it was usually a fluke occurance.

However unlike the Legends EU, he has a temper, he grabbed a officer by the throat when the officer laughed at his art thing. You look at the fight with Kallus, the Legends Grand Admiral Thrawn would have sent the Noghri's in to capture him, instead Thrawn wanted to prove that he was physically better then Kallus, maybe because Kallus had pulled the wool over his eyes for so long.

As well Thrawn is a sadist who needs to assert domination and humiliate his foe. Look at Kallus, he basically tied him up and tortured him and gloated over his defeat. He didn't need any information from Kallus, he'd triangulated where the Rebel base was. He really didn't need any information on ship types or defenses, he had 6 Star Destroyers and 2 inderdictors, there was really nothing that could beat him fire power wise. Instead he wanted Kallus in chains, and then he kept him on the bridge during the battle not for information, but so Kallus could know who had beaten him in every way.

Oh the Thrawn in the EU was always concerned about his men and resources, maybe because he didn't have a Empire behind him. But he wasn't a butcher of his own men, instead using things like the demented clone Jedi to make them fight better. However in Rebels he sent those scout walkers into an area that he knew was going to come under fire or be mined so he could nail down the enemies location before sending in the AT-AT's.

[GreenLantern]

it’s a great connection to ‘Rogue One.’ We knew the film would be out by this time, and we wanted to start integrating the continuity of everything, which means there will be more of that stuff in Season Four.”

Some of that “stuff” includes the return of both Saw Gerrera, the “Clone Wars” character who made the leap to live-action in “Rogue One” before debuting on “Rebels,” and Mon Mothma.

“You’ll get much more of an insight into seeing how that relationship breaks down and breaks apart,” Feloni said, before adding that Season Four, “might be possibly, possibly, possibly when you get to see an X-wing.” It will also feature Mandalore, a planet featured so prominently in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.”

“The longer we’ve gone with this series, the more it just has occurred to me that ‘Rebels’ really is, in a lot of ways, going to finish ‘Clone Wars,'” Feloni said. “It’s going to give us an ending for so many things that I didn’t get to finish. That was never intentional, that was never the goal. But it’s kind of worked out that way. Some of these characters have come into it, and I think that’s a good thing in way, that they’re kind of a partnered series, while exactly explicitly connected, there is a shared story path for many characters it it, which I think is a good thing.”

http://www.cbr.com/star-wars-rebels-...e-saw-gerrera/

Also apparently Vader was supposed to kill Maul in Rebels but they decided last minute to go a different direction.

I've got to groan a bit when they talk about finishing off Clone Wars with Rebels.. I don't want to see that. I want to see closure for these characters and this arc, don't just turn this into Clone Wars 2.0. I do get excited with the increased references to Rogue One though, so maybe I am a hypocrite. I feel like Rebels job was to set up Rogue One now, which sets up the OT, which sets up the NT.. etc..

[zukes]

I hope that season 4 is actually a before and after Rogue One. That somehow after Vader captured Princess Leia he bails for a bit a just annihilates Phoenix Squadron. Unlikely, I know.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

http://www.cbr.com/star-wars-rebels-...e-saw-gerrera/

Also apparently Vader was supposed to kill Maul in Rebels but they decided last minute to go a different direction.

I've got to groan a bit when they talk about finishing off Clone Wars with Rebels.. I don't want to see that. I want to see closure for these characters and this arc, don't just turn this into Clone Wars 2.0. I do get excited with the increased references to Rogue One though, so maybe I am a hypocrite. I feel like Rebels job was to set up Rogue One now, which sets up the OT, which sets up the NT.. etc..

I think they've done a pretty good job of it with most of the clone wars characters not being super game changers in the series.

Even in the end it wasn't like Ashoka was front and center in the rebel cell.

I still would love to see Rex running into Cody at some point, like the old civil war story of two brothers caught on opposite sides of the conflict.

[GreenLantern]

Oh snap, forgot about Ahsoka.. ok I guess I hope we do see some of that lol.

[CaptainCrunch]

Art work for season IV



The helmet on the jet pack looks an awful lot like Sabine's pattern., there's also a Death Watch Helmet and a Protector helmet (might be Fenn Rau's)
and a bunch of Clan wren helmets.

That's not ominous at all.

[photon]