Star Wars Rebels Review: Iron Squadron + Rebels Recon. What Did You Think?
Rebels is back after ANOTHER week hiatus to give us “Iron Squadron,” which reintroduces us to yet another Legends aspect. This time it’s the famous ship of one Dash Rendar…THE OUTRIDER! Can this “Iron Squadron” episode match the quality of the fantastic previous episode? Does Dash Render make his first canon appearance? Let’s find out!!!
SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!!!
What Worked for Me:
- The Outrider
I was in 8th grade when the massive Shadows of the Empire event was happening. I knew that there was a new Star Wars movie happening, but the massive launch of everything that came with that story was a big deal for me. I knew that the Outrider ship and it’s pilot were Han Solo replacements, since the story took place between ESB and ROTJ, but I have a certain fondness for those characters and that era. Seeing the Outrider on screen was a special treat. Yes, the Outrider was in the ANH special edition and I always thought it was cool that George Lucas put it in there. Same thing with seeing it on Rebels. Sadly, No Dash Render in sight…that we know of anyway. The Iron Squadron consists of three Ezra-like kids, but who knows; maybe one of them adopts the name of “Dash Render?” Never know (I know I am stretching).
- The space battles.
The way the ships move in animation is really impressive. I know that I have been a broken record about this all season, but it really made the episode for me. The weightiness of the ships’ movement reminds me of the films and IMO, that is an extremely hard task. The more space battles, the better, is what I say! Extra battles really could have helped this episode, but more on that later…
- Chopper vs. R3
I have no idea why, but I really liked these two bickering droids going at it in this episode. People who read these reviews know that I am not a Chopper fan and I was surprised that I liked this so much. Maybe I love those cone-head droid designs? I don’t know, but it was cute seeing those two fight and work together.
What Didn’t Work for Me:
- Too much of the episode takes place in the Outrider cockpit.
As much as I love the Outrider, this episode was somewhat of a drag to get through. I love space battles a lot, but it seemed that there was WAY TOO MUCH talking in cockpits to make this episode entertaining. Mart Mattin floating around in a busted Outrider seemed like an eternity for me. Yes, I am being dramatic when I say that, but that’s what it seemed like at the time. I just wanted to keep pushing the story and the action forward.
- Thrawn is…planning something…I think.
We all know Thrawn is up to something. What that is just has to drawn out in other FILLER episodes, I guess. There are those two dreaded words again: FILLER EPISODES! And that is exactly what this episode was. I love this version of Thrawn, but I pray that we won’t get too many more episodes of Thrawn essentially testing the Rebels. He’s already let them escape in previous episodes and we need to see him to step up soon without it becoming redundant. I have faith that will happen though.
Quick Hitters:
- It’s good to know that triangle waffles are essentially the hot pockets of a galaxy far, far, away…
Yeah…this episode wasn’t my favorite by any means. This is probably the worst of the season, sadly. Luckily, it’s not terrible, it’s just not up to the high standards to which I hold this show. Obviously, Iron Squadron isn’t done in the overall story of Rebels and I’m sure they have they bigger role to play coming up. This was just a means of getting them involved.
As always, I look forward to reading your responses of what you all thought of the episode!
Paul
You can follow me on Twitter @Hermann22
You can follow my Star Wars podcast @Blastercanonpod
Also the latest episode of Rebels Recon has been released. Tell us what you thought about the episode in the comments section and check out StarWars.com’s new video Rebels Recon #3.07: Inside “Iron Squadron”.
What was that??? I think season 2 had some bad episodes but I think this was the worst of the entire series. I mean seriously how can you have the Outrider without Dash, or Thrawn turning up to the battle only to have him let them getaway. But I think the ultimate crime of this episode was the poorness of that space battle. A dozen Ties, plus bombers plus two carriers and a light cruiser and all they chose to do was disable the shield’s and leave him to float??? I was hoping Constantine had some great plan up his sleeve but he hinged everything on a single mine… I’m sorry but as a big fan of S3 so far, this was terrible!
well that was extremely disappointing. i mean sato’s nephew and the lost boys from hook? is that where we’re at now? and once again thrawn does diddly squat. stop teasing me and let the big boy do something that matters already, because its for damn sure the other imperial officers are grossly incompetent and extremely nonthreatening. its amazing the empire came about at all with these idiots at the wheel.
Garbage episode.
This show has mostly been lame and it’s only getting worse.
A bit dissapointing but Im a Star Wars whore. Hopefully things will heat up soon.
Star Wars is visual heroin.
This was a visual sleeping aid.
Ugh, what’s that smell.
I got bored watching the episode, so I came here to read the comments; nothing important seems to be happening. Still running in the background; can we get back to the Bendu and Maul, or at least have Thrawn do something of consequence?
That is Gah-bage! The worst episode of the season!
The outrider was a cec yt-2400, I didn’t pick up on THIS yt-2400 being referred to by name. It’s like stating that any yt-1300 is the falcon.
Yep.
Agree – I think the ‘Outrider’ bit is wishful thinking, since it wasn’t actually referred to by name as such…
Oh, look: The Neutrinos.
For the first time ever, I have seen what I consider filler. Zzzzzzz-fest to the max.
I like the 70’s hairstyle for the Mart character, not so much the fact that he looks like a playmobile character.
The music continues to plagurize John Williams 80’s back catalogue, but this episode I also picked on some of Horner’s Wrath of Khan.
I loved the space battles, but otherwise it was a bit dull to be honest and I don’t understand what Thrawn could be plotting. Its not like he’s even probed the Rebels that much for tactics, but instead appears briefly to let us know he’s still about.
Just watched the episode and…. hated it.
> Umm, Disney, where is the Grand Admiral Thrawn I’ve been hearing so much great things about? So far he seems like an “Act Smart, Know Nothing, Do Nothing” character. So far, his portrayal is like, let’s say, a big Mac; advertised as a delicious burger, but turns out to be a slop of shit not resembling the advertised product in any way ( not that I am into burgers or fast food, hate ’em ).
> Again, the rebels take no casualties at all. I mean, what was the Empire waiting for when the Rebels had to escape without the boy? He was alone! It was the perfect time to take a prisoner and use him as a bargaining chip.
> The Empire is the largest Power-holder in the Galaxy, yet it seems to be ran by the biggest of idiots. I mean, have them actually inflict some damage on the rebels, kill the annoying kids, or say, orbitally bombard a planet. Just do anything to justify the rebels’ cause against the Empire.
> Actually, where is Maul? I mean, watching Maul on his journey to find Obi-Wan would be way more interesting than watching Rebels save a bunch of f*cking 9 year-olds for no reason. I mean, the YT-2400 was in a very bad condition, the kids were useless. I understand that one of them was the nephew of Sato, but what is 3 children against the fate of the entire galaxy?!
I got into Rebels in season 3, yes, this is the very first season I am actually arsed to watch, and only because of the hints to the Ancient Sith Empire, and of course Thrawn, but I am very disappointed so far.
“Umm, Disney,”
LFL makes story content, not Disney.
Here we go again.
Disney still have a say, even if LFL generally decides the direction. Why do you keep on with the implication that Disney has zero influence? It’s most bizarre.
“> Again, the rebels take no casualties at all. I mean, what was
the Empire waiting for when the Rebels had to escape without the boy? He
was alone! It was the perfect time to take a prisoner and use him as a
bargaining chip.
> The Empire is the largest Power-holder in
the Galaxy, yet it seems to be ran by the biggest of idiots. I mean,
have them actually inflict some damage on the rebels, kill the annoying
kids, or say, orbitally bombard a planet. Just do anything to justify
the rebels’ cause against the Empire.”
Worth remembering that it’s a kids show and with that in mind I’m not sure how appropriate mass carnage would be.
True, you’re right that it’s a kid’s show, and I see where your are coming from, but then again, it’s thrawn we are talking about. Grand admiral frickin thrawn! Possibly the most hyped character ever in star wars. Everyone was waiting for his grand appearance in rebels, and the confirmation of his canonisation, but this… this is just utterly underwhelming
They could show a ship blow up with people inside. They’ve done it before. and Clone Wars was a “kids show,” too. Plus this show airs at 9:30 so they should get a little lee way.
I actually wonder how many kids watch this say your average Star Wars fan who has seen Revenge of the Sith. I mean do you think there is anyone there watching this who hasn’t seen Revenge of the Sith?
I suspect at least 50% of the audience are fans, but I think fans underestimate how many kids do actually watch. It’s like those of us born in the 70s who struggle to understand why the prequels has a legion of fans, but we forget that there are loads of young adults who knew Star Wars as kids with Phantom Menace onwards, while those too we were already consuming as adults.
Why show the outrider without dash rendar?! I loved shadows of the empire I think it should be canon. We have almost no stories set between ESB and ROTJ. I wish that game was remastered for new consoles. I hope he makes a comeback in canon like thrawn
1. That wasn’t the Outrider, just the same design. More than one type of ship. Also, Dash is lame and a Han Solo wannabe.
2. We will get stories setbetween ESB and ROTJ one day. Shadows should not be canon because it is frankly not very good.
3. It would take more than remaster to fix those now-dated controls.
4. None of that negates his liking of the character and desire to see him brought back in some form.
i would like to see xizor come back at least since the black sun is already canon.
I don’t have a problem with that as long as they don’t make him a rival to Vader. That never felt right to me.
Vader would have smoked him in a heartbeat. I get that what they were trying to do is saying that Vader had to outsmart him, since he couldn’t really kill him because there Emperor needed him, but it never really worked for me, either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg
This is up there with that episode centered on Chopper last season as one of the worst in the series. If it comes later on that Mart and the others will play a bigger part in the Rebellion, then there might be some redemption but I highly doubt that. I personally hope we never see Iron Squadron again. Hoping that the mid-season finale picks things up soon.
In his limited time Thrawn has been a bit of a let down so far. Maybe he is just a character that is better on page.
“In his limited time Thrawn has been a bit of a let down so far. Maybe he is just a character that is better on page.”
To be honest, I never quiet understood the obsession with him in the first place!
The Thrawn Trilogy was totally “in tents” – he showed us what imperial ruthlessness was all about.
“This show is getting worse all the time…”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pqn3zMghf4A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpE_xMRiCLE
I enjoyed this one. It had some good visuals and I liked how the children weren’t all that effective against the empire. Also, the Thrawn/Commander Sato moment was cool.
Total garbage. I thought this was one of the weakest shows of the entire series and yet more filler.
Still, I’m sure the kids liked it.
Since it’s made for kids? Yeah, probably.
this episode was the strongest point for your argument to date. this felt like a saturday morning cartoon.
Yeap. It did. The serial story episodes with the Jedi narrative tend to be the most grown up.
“Cause this is FILLER! Filler night!”
With as many cool and interesting plot lines as this season has set up (particularly Maul + Obi-Wan) there is no excuse as to why this’ shows creators are gainfully wasting their time on random shit that no one cares about.
I actually thought this episode was better than the last few, Although the whole Chopper vs whatever new droid they encounter, only to become friends at the end, plotline is getting stale, I still found myself enjoying it (can’t really say why I just liked the idea of that other droid being really protective of his ship (that he can’t really get fixed). I liked how the “Outrider” was kind of run down inside, it was a nice way to show a starship since most of the time they are well kept in the SW universe (or at least not leaking and spewing smoke out the pipes).
I thought the “kids” were all interesting… I just waiting for all these strays the Ghost keeps picking up to join together for some kind of battle royale. Anyone think we will get a glimpse of the Ghost or some kind of Rebels tie in in Rogue One?
Thrawn is becoming seriously overrated. I mean, did he not expect the Imperial he sent to deal with the Rebels to win? And then what if he had? I don’t like that his plan seems to depend on chance so much.
And OF COURSE the imperial commander he did send has to come up with some kind of complicated scheme to destroy the Ghost. Instead of just blowing them out of the sky, he decides he is going to wait until both ships are perfectly lined up so he could kill two birds with one bomb? I knew the second he suggested doing it it wouldn’t work.
The image of the Imperial ship coming out of the smoke was pretty sweet though. i guess he was in the upper atmosphere of the planet… or do you think the show is too kiddie to even care?
Finally, an episode where Ezra and Sabine going into danger alone actually made sense. See if kanan died, at least they could justify sending in Ezra because of his Jedi powers. One thing that really bothers me is how this show totally copped out on kanan’s blindness. I mean, he was manning the turrets and blasting TIEs at the beginning of the episode.
Only just managed to watch this episode. Didn’t care for it one bit, and that’s saying something since I consider myself easy to please. Humorously, it’s episodes like this that remind me I’m not totally accepting to everything LFL throws at me.
Let’s hope the next one picks things up a bit, still loving S3 as my favorite so far!
Did they actually call it the Outrider?
Absolutely agree with the things that didn’t work. Even the cool space battles i had a boring story sensation. This season the story doesn’t seem to move forward. They are entering too much characters for me. And the preview of the next episode seems the same.