UPDATE: Star Wars Rebels Review: Ghosts of Geonosis + Rebels Recon. What Did You Think?
Rebels took a break for a number of weeks and in the meantime, Star Wars fans were treated to our first stand-alone film that strayed from the SKYWALKER Saga (that’s right, you heard me) in Rogue One. Of course, Rogue One featured the Clone Wars veteran Saw Gerrera, and he makes his return to animated form in these episodes. Does his appearance offer anything interesting? Can this season of Rebels keep its momentum going after a solid outing in the first half of season 3? Read below to find out!
SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!!!
What worked for me:
- Saw Gerrera
I can’t talk about Saw Gerrera without mentioning Rogue One as well. I LOVED the character in the film and thought it was really cool that Forrest Whitaker returned to voice him. Maybe he likes being a part of the greater Star Wars canon? Maybe it’s good money? Both?!?!??! Either way, it’s awesome. Whitaker dialed back his raspy voice when compared to the film and it’s obviously on purpose for something to come. Saw’s overall design on the show is consistent with his design in Rogue One and it really translates well into animated form. For those wondering if Saw is still that unhinged Rebel radical…don’t fear. It’s there in plain sight and it’s honestly disheartening. You can see Saw means well, but his life has been full of torment and anger, to which he has freely given himself over.
Saw doesn’t play with throwing his weight around to the other Rebels and the seeds of being waaaaaay more extreme than the other Rebels are planted. I expected Kanan to take this guy out at one point, but in the end Ezra accused Saw of being no better than the Empire, which brought Saw to his senses. It was nice to see Saw have some heart, and I only want to see more of this character. He’s unpredictable and a GREAT actor is backing him up. I’ll take what I can get, but I would LOVE a comic series based on him and more appearances in animated form.
- Geonosis and getting to the bottom of what’s going on:
If you have read the Darth Vader comics, you might already know about the little survivors of Geonosis: a Queen giving birth to half-bug, half-droid babies….yeah, it was weird, but awesome (see below). Anyway, we don’t get that in this episode, unfortunately, but we do get a survivor from Geonosis that shows up and tries to kill off our main characters. Saw has been tracking the bug and he knows that it has crucial information about the Empire. The end of the episode was, dare I say it, kind of disturbing with the way Saw was handling the situation.
The bug tried to kill the rebels, and was successful in in killing Saw’s team…the casualties of war, right? It was nice to see that the race of Geonosians haven’t been completely destroyed, as the bug has the queen egg. Lord knows I love those Geonosian queens! I have to say, the animation for the Geonosian looked great. Rebels animation is just KILLING it this year in how sharp it looks. It can’t go unpraised…speaking of that….
- The atmosphere created in the show and overall animation:
This episode did a great job of creating an unsettling atmosphere for most of the episode that kept it’s mystery heightened. Hard to pull that off in an animated show for kids.
I found myself (once again) coming away really impressed by the landscape and animation of this episode. I know we haven’t gotten a TON of different settings in Rebels, but shots like the one above look fantastic and it sure beats staying on Lothal 90% of the time.
What didn’t work for me:
- Nothing DIDN’T work for me. I really loved this two-part story!
Quick Hitters:
- Steela….those who have seen the Clone Wars knows how much of a bummer this is.
- New Troopers that don’t show up in the other films so people can complain about it! Yay!!!
- Look how nutty it would have been if Rebels went this route. Below are pics from the Clone Wars episode “Legacy of Terror” and Darth Vader issue 4:
I thought these episodes overall were a solid outing. We were given great characters, great atmosphere and an action packed ending. Rebels works best in hour-long chunks, IMO. I keep finding that my favorite episodes tend to be the ones that are essentially an hour long movie. I want more Saw Gerrera in this show. His uneasiness would be a GREAT addition to the series. Sadly, I doubt Whitaker would do that, but hopefully he’s not opposed to showing up here and there.
As always, I look forward to reading your thoughts on this episode!
PS: You can check out my review on Rogue One with the Blaster Canon podcast, which is found on iTunes.
Paul
Follow me on Twitter @Hermann22
Follow my Star Wars podcast on Twitter @Blastercanonpod
Follow my Marvel podcast on Twitter @Marvelnews
UPDATE!
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 #3.11: Inside “Ghosts of Geonosis”.
for me, it was the most boring episode of all 3 seasons; 45 mins of walking and talking about a secret, mysterious project we all know what it is and another imperial officer getting her butt kicked despite seemingly having every advantage in her hand.
I agree. A two-part episode was a total waste of time. They could use it for something far more exiting!
Was she Sloane? I don’t think she was, but her name wasn’t mentioned.
Her name is Brunson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyecCOo3vFE
I wish it was Sloane. Its been great reading the canon novels and seeing her show up throughout. I really don’t see why the didnt just make this captain Sloane, She already has a history with the Rebels from the Kanan comic + she is a major imperial officer (when all the canon is looked at)
Eh. Even if Sloane probably may or may not make an appearance in Rebels (depending on how the plot unfolds in Rebels), let’s just be happy to see another woman POC in Star Wars canon; i’m more interested in seeing how Brunson’s character develops in the coming episodes.
We ‘all’ don’t work at Lucasfilm Story Group, you know; were just viewers watching how things unfold, even if it doesn’t go the way we planned.
Because Sloane is capable and awesome. Bunson couldn’t capture the Ghost, almost lost her cruiser, lost two TIEs and an entire squad of jet-troopers.
I don’t like they idea that a villian character is good because they always “win”. Yes Sloane is successful and capable, but it doesn make her invincible. Again, if it was her it wouldnt have been a terrible victory; she was facing a rebels squadron (which she stumbled on by chance) which contained 2 jedi, a skilled Mandalorian, and arguably one of the best piolts in the Rebllion.
Well, the Empire doesn’t reward failure with any sort of logic. Sloane would have been buried and demoted.
BUT, either way there’s a canon conflict with Sloane. Urban Acolyte pointed it out on YouTube – he also thought it was Sloane but reviewed A New Dawn.
Check Wookiepedia – Sloane is promoted to the commander of the Star Destroyer Ultimatum at the end of A New Dawn, so she wouldn’t be commanding a light cruiser (those things suck lol) in an empty area of space.
this was suppose to be a big two part saw episode. instead we 45 min of the cutesy alien with the funny nickname trying to protect the egg show. and who vets new ship captains for the empire. every time a new one shows up they crash or blow up within 5 minutes
Well it is Rebels after all…
I’m still hanging onto a little hope for Star Wars Underworld or something like it.
The writers decided to sneak in a quip about sand getting everywhere (delivered by Sabine) and it was glorious. Oh, and the episode was solid, I guess.
they’ve really been dialing up the prequel quips this season.
It’s pretty wizard.
– Pomojema
I’m pretty triggered.
If they go to Naboo at some point I’ll be happy as hell.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f66832e3bc12f07da6c150607df74c643ceaab12502f46fd14ea636da3d2f7df.jpg
Lmaoo
It’s worth watching a few episodes at the beginning and the end, that’s it the rest is dull filler.
was that the shield generator they later use on hoth?
They only took the core, so I doubt it..
I think it is going to be used two protect chopper base; we see in the trailer Star Destroyers shooting at the shield.
It quite possible they could use it in hoth; it seemed to me the core generate the sheild (whihc they took) but the larger structure amplifys the shield distance
Though nothing spectacular, this was a good episode. It seems we are seeing more of Saw’s character pre-Rogue One; also great to see Steela in the hologram and one of the many reasons Saw is acting the way he is.
Also, great to see more of Geonosis and the aftermath of how the Empire effected it; it seems Klik-Klak is one of the many survivors.
That what really annoyed me. It sounded like a geonsian but the pitch was increased greately
I think they were trying to make them…”cute”
Its the same sort of thing they did with the battle droids, it’s just a stylistic choice.
Come on A New Hope, where are youuuuu?
Saw is seen with his oxygen mask as early as 15 years before R1 as he had it on the video screen when Lyra contacted Saw to help them at start of R1.
Ugh. How are they gonna explain that one?
I read his health waxes and wanes.
I guess I could buy that.
Hey, I wouldn’t wear that sh*t either if I was on a mission. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
By George, you’re right! Huh…good eye!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/803f5563369f41e2297d572593d60942c833b35e74568114e3313bef7b1faad9.png
OMG is that a pirated screenshot?!?!?!?!
T R I G G E R E D
Guilty as charged. 😉
rebels recon clip is that K2SO?
It doesn’t look anything like him, so I wouldn’t assume so.
No, but it is a robot based on an early Ralph McQuarrie design concept for C3PO. 😉
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/be105f84c8fab73bd95b1b362dd8919661716db52fe3d51a134a11ecc017d65d.jpg
I wonder if Chopper was based a little off that early R2?
The way he seems to be leaning back and flailing his little arms around looks familiar.
He is. That was something that was noted on the first episode of Rebels. Filoni has used a metric-f*ckton of McQuarrie’s old, unused material for Rebels. GL never tossed anything in the trash, and Lucasfilm has been mining that vault like crazy lately for the show, books, comics, and Rogue One. R1 had a LOT of those old concepts from early SW drafts.
I wasn’t that keen,don’t see why it needed two episodes.Always good to see Rex though.
A two episode would have been better for Visions and Voices.
Im really disapointed with what they did with Saw, which is nothing. They allowed him to “learn from his mistakes at the end” which doesnt match up with Rogue One (he essentially toutures Bogi).
Further I believe it is said by Pablo that he stuggles to breath in Rogue One because he was exposed to the geonsisan insceticide but that didnt happen + I though they were going to show how he lost his legs (they even had a bomb hit his legs) but they didnt.
Im sure they will have him appear again in the future, but they reallly need to have him go through something traumatic ; we have two years until he is “crazy” and legless
Not a lot at all seemed to happen,a rather dull episode.I imagine Saw will be back later for the accident in the next season or whatever.
Lol, weird that we’ll now all be waiting for the “Saw gets messed-up bad” episode.
TBH I wouldn’t be that bothered if Saw never showed up again. I would take a Cassian Andor episode,with K2-SO though.
Yeah, Rebels seems generally afraid to move the story forward. I mean especially with character deaths, cannon-character introductions and tie-ins, game-changing battles, and clear steps toward connecting into ANH and R1. Ahsoka notwithstanding, although most people believe she’s still alive in some form…
She clearly is not dead-dead. They would have confirmed it by now + the are hinting she is returning in some form (“Ahsoka Lives?”).
I was upset she wasnt hinted at in the mid season trailer (I knew she would be an end of season reveal), not that obiwan vs maul isnt exciting but weve seen the fight alot in the clone wars (I think now it been 5 times in canon). Ive be waiting for the Ahsoka storylien all season and nothing. If she isnt returning to Rebels, Im fine with that, but just tell us that and hint of were we will see her in the future.
Yeah that threw me off too.
I liked it, wonder if we’ll someday see how Saw got those mechanic legs. This is what I liked about him in R1, he goes to extreme lengths for his cause, losing limbs and everything. Just like Anakin..
Back to episode, only thing that’s raised my eyebrow, was the extreme jumping done by Kanan. I know it’s a cartoon, and we see other characters doing some extreme physical stuff (Sabine in one of those eps they infiltrate an Imperial compound).
Combined with the bridge levelling, I’m extremely curious how they’re going to explain the abscence of him and Ezra in the OT. Luke being the only hope et all.
Whatever happens, I still think the Story Group is going to explain it on a technicallity, “they aren’t Jedi in terms of the Jedi, but another type of Force User”. That way, Luke will still be the last of the Jedi, because he’s the last one being trained by people from the old Jedi order.
Last thing, the lighting in the caves was awesome. This show has some great animation.
Only hope =/= only jedi, it means the only hope of defeating the Emperor and Vader.
Luke (and Leia) are the only people who can bring Anakin back to the light. Remember it’s Anakin who ultimately defeats the Emperor. Kanan and Ezra would have fought Vader to the death (probably theirs). I highly doubt they could have taken on both at the same time, especially considering how fast the Emperor took out the Jedi coming to arrest him.
Yes, you’re right. I only now realise that I typed “only hope”, instead of “the last of the Jedi”, as Yoda states.
“When gone I am, the last of the Jedi you will be.”
No idea why I typed the only hope..
Yoda explains this in TESB. If my memory serves me well, Ghost-Obi Wan says, as Luke leaves Dagobah, “That boy is our last hope…” to which Yoda responds, “No. There is another.”
Now of course everyone thinks he is referring to Leia as the ‘other’, but in fact, he is referring to Ezra!
You heard it here first, folks!
hahaha
http://jakarta.coconuts.co/sites/jakarta.coconuts.co/files/styles/article_header/public/field/image/luke_skywalker_nooooo.jpg
Nice tip of the hat to ‘Ender’s Game’ there, w/ the alien queen surviving in the end…
…or a certain Vader comic. 😉
Word. Think we’re seeing the history of that Queen before her birth; the battle droids are in abundant supply, it would seem (!)
Excellent pair of episodes that began to tie so many elements together from the films, novels, comics, and The Clone Wars. What this shows, despite a few whiny “I Hate Disney” fanboys out there, is that the Lucasfilm story group is playing the long game, and doing it well. That patience on their part is beginning to bare fruit, and it’s quite exciting if you’ve bothered to pay attention over the last 15 years or so.
I liked the episodes. It was fun to hear the ‘sand’ reference from Sabine and Zeb, and Rex saying that Kanan was ‘no Skywalker’ had me chuckling! (Even though that jump across the tunnel was outrageous… but oh well).
My only issue was with the decision to save that queen egg. Given the history of this species, they are obviously much too dangerous to let live (building weapons of mass destruction, a race of killers, butchering each other for sport) there aren’t any redeeming qualities about them. (Unless you want a cheap labour force?). However, I know this is a kids show, and they are obviously championing tolerance and peace!
Well, they needed that queen in the Vader comic to come from somewhere. 😉
Good point! Haha
The queen in the Darth Vader comics actually is the same one from The Clone Wars. The only issue is that she doesn’t have a natural womb due to her injuries in the years before. This Geonosian egg most likely won’t have that problem, meaning that the race could eventually repopulate give or take a few generations (which is to say that we could see a few of them come the Sequel Trilogy era).
– Pomojema
Hmmmm…not according to Pablo Hidalgo it isn’t (the one from TCW). He tweeted about it last night.
I see – “Karina The Great” is a title shared between multiple Geonosian queens.
– Pomojema
¯_(ツ)_/¯ Hey, I don’t make this stuff up. Besides, the timelines don’t add up one bit, and the story group has said that they are different, so I’m going with them on this one for obvious reasons.
…Yeah pretty sure genocide is never okay. Like NEVER.
That was kind of the point of the episode too, in case you happened to miss that.
And if you’re trying to think of examples when genocide IS okay, I’ll save you some time. Never.
We’re not talking about human beings, here. This is a fictional species of insect that kill each other for fun. And they designed/built the Death Star. I don’t see anything good that they bring to the galaxy far, far away.
(For the record, click-clack was easy to like, and I did feel empathy towards it. Even though it almost killed Sabine and Zeb)
And just because the show writers are trying to make a point, doesn’t mean I have to agree with it. Personally, I would have sided with Saw. I’ll bet some of the other Rebels would have too, if they knew what used to orbit Geonosis.
Star Wars has got way too much subtext to treat genocide so lightly my friend.
This isn’t just space battles and things blowing up for fun.
I can tell you’d have sided with Saw – in the fictional Star Wars universe… But the real question is, would you side with him in real life?
If you answer yes, you may well have missed the entire point of Star Wars.
…Before we start debating pragmatism over ideals (I’m not done yet buddy!), let’s acknowledge the fact that a single egg hatched by the sole survivor of an entire species is hardly a threat to the Galaxy. Let’s also acknowledge the fact that you’re blaming an entire species for what is likely the actions of just the Geonosian government and some corporations (forgive me if my knowledge on the details of Geonosian politics is a bit vague). I suppose all the humans of the Galaxy should also be wiped out then? I mean, the Empire is basically a human-supremacist Fascist government, who not only built the most dangerous part of that thing that ‘used to orbit Geonosis’ but they also paid for the whole damn thing.
Were the humans working for the Empire portrayed with any redeeming features?
Does that mean all other humans are just as bad?
Who decides what these ‘redeeming qualities’ are btw?
Would the Empire have the same idea as the Rebellion of what’s ‘redeeming’?
I’m not trying to start a sh*tstorm here by the way, just considering the sorts of issues we face in the real world throughout history, under the comfy facade of the fictional universe we all love.
…That’s the point of Star Wars.
“Let’s also acknowledge the fact that you’re blaming an entire species for what is likely the actions of just the Geonosian government…”
On that, the entirety of the Geonosian society was involved in the construction of DS1, even engaging in massive fights to the death in bloodletting games (millions at a time) for the opportunity to work on the DS. There are no “innocents”. Just FYI.
Other than that…you are overthinking everything else to such a degree that it’s not even fun to bother discussing it much further. I’ll let you two continue on that note.
Thanks for clarifying that detail about the Geonosians. Point still stands though.
Anyway I guess your idea of fun’s different than mine. I love analysing films and discussing politics, and I think Star Wars is full of interesting moral thought experiments that are rarely acknowledged.
I agree that it is. I just also happen to think that you are misunderstanding his point of view, and perhaps barking up the wrong tree. You two are coming to the exact same conclusion, only from a different direction.
Mainly, I just find it entertaining that we have a bunch of grown adults in here, with some well into their 40’s and even 50’s, arguing over the name of a damned alien who was named by a teenaged character in a show aimed at 7-9 year olds. I’m not ragging on it…I just think it’s hilarious when you sit back and think about it.
No sh*t, we’re all guilty of it! 😛
I’d prefer to be discussing themes and subtext than character names and ship designs though. I think we all have a vested interest in the kinds of ideas and moral undertones that one of the biggest pop culture franchises of all time is encouraging the next generation of people to think about.
Don’t get me wrong it doesn’t all have to be peaches and roses and everyone lives happily ever after, sometimes it’s good to be challenged once in a while. Saw’s an interesting character for this very reason. It’s great that Disney/Lucasfilm are continuing to explore these issues meaningfully through storytelling just like Lucas did, and we shouldn’t be ashamed to talk about it. It’s art after all!
Doing the right thing isn’t always easy. That is why you fail.
I fail, because I have a different point of view?
Wiping out an entire species b/c you judge them unworthy of life is a point of view I consider wrong, so I was making a joke.
Settle down, Francis. That was the point of the episode, to show how messed up the empire was in conducting that genocide, as was touched upon in the novels leading up to this.
This is precisely, exactly my point. 😉
Clearly there are ‘redeeming qualities’ about the Geonosians, as with every sentient species.
Genocide = bad.
Genocide-committing good guys = bad guys.
You don’t judge an entire species by the actions of a few.
Well to be honest, I’m judging this species by the actions of their ENTIRE species. Even click-clack was dangerous, trying to kill the Rebels (although you could argue it was in defence of the egg, I suppose…)
Very well. Lets choose forgiveness for this race. BUT! If they rise up and annihilate everyone in Episode IX, the galaxy’s blood will be on the hands of pacifists like yourself! 😉
May the Force protect us!
Like I said, doing the right thing isn’t easy.
I really liked this episode! It ties TCW, Rebels, and Rogue One together really well, and Saw’s characterization was very interesting. I was genuinely surprised with how dark they took his character, so I’m glad they had the balls to go there. As for advancing the overall plot of the season, I like that the rebels are starting to catch on to what the Empire is building. All around, it’s a good way to start the season back up.
Yes, you could definitely see the seeds of what Mom was referring to when she mentioned that the Rebellion and Saw had parted ways due to his methods. So many sweet connections in this one.
Seriously… as a PT hater I got to admit they are making me slowly accept their existence with their brilliant attempts at tying it all together. Things like Rex being in the Clone Wars series and then Rebels. Now Saw and Rogue one and Bail Organa.
I makes me wish those films could have lived up to everything that surrounds them. What incredibly era it was… Oh well. At least I’m softening a little nearly 18 years later 😛
The PT had a lot lot great stories at their core, but their execution wasn’t the best. But you’re right…it’s nice to see them finally brought together with the new and existing story lines in a good way.
The LF story group is playing the long game here…and it’s fun to be along for the ride.
Clone Wars did that for me. I started to really enjoy PT elements over the course of the series, it’s only when I watch the films again that I realize, “Oh yeah, this version of Anakin sucks. I forgot. back to Clone Wars for me!”
Let go of your hate.
I liked the episode overall, some nice touches and references. I liked the irony of the continued death-star drawings by the geonosian but the Rebels of course have no clue. Still I wish they could lay off the constant nick-names like click-clack.
Well, the target audience of the show…9 years olds…seems to like them. So the names are fine.
A good episode overall (see how much better it is when they extend a Rebels arc to 2 episodes?)
But I didn’t buy Saw’s irrational need to kill the Geonosian egg, or his sudden realization later that maybe Click-Clack and the Geonisians should live-on. He needs to get extreme and stay extreme, right? And where was his gang that you see on Jedha? And the prosthetic legs? I guess I was expecting to see him closer to Rogue One Saw. Oh well, that’ll be left for future episodes. But we have a lot of ground to cover.
We’re still a couple years out from R1 Saw. As mentioned earlier, they are playing the long game here.
Patience.
A couple of years doesn’t really say ‘long game’ to me. In fact they’re saying that ALL of that stuff happened to him in a relatively short period, which kind of undermines his character to me.
Long game in terms of the entire story of SW…not just Saw. But why not a relatively short period? Hell…an awful lot happened to Han, Luke, Leia, and Vader over the course of a short period in the OT.
There were a lot of threads coming together in this episode, ranging from the PT to the OT…some set up several years ago when the LF story group took the reins. That’s the definition of a long game.
Mixed view on the story. It was okay but didn’t really have any pay off. Just felt like a way to get Saw into the show.
Tie Bombers
Surprisingly, the thing that worked least well for me was Whitaker. Really wasn’t feeling him as a voice actor in this; I didn’t buy him as ruthless, and didn’t buy him as dangerous. Working in animation is a special skill set for an actor, requiring a degree of exaggeration without allowing the performance to become absurd – just don’t feel Whitaker pushed the performance far enough, which could be down to either him or the direction.
I would agree with your take on his compassion/calmness in this episode, but I’m willing to bet Saw is on the cusp of ‘losing it’. This is likely a setup for a future episode(s). He’s going to lose them legs some how!
In the next episode’s preview, it was pretty cool to see McQuarry’s C-3PO concept art being used. Looks great in animation, actually kinda stunning.
😉
http://disq.us/p/1f3qufo
Has no one mentioned the awesome Captain Reah Sloane Cameo??? That was my favorite part of the whole episode.