Star Wars Rebels Review: “Warhead” + Rebels Recon. What Did You Think?

Star Wars: Rebels returns after the back-to-back two-parter to a normal one and done-in-22-minutes story. I have been somewhat critical to the format of 22-minute non-two-parter episodes of Rebels. Is this episode any different? It’s an episode featuring Zeb, so…anything is possible. Is this episode just a means to an end? Let’s find out!

 

 

SPOILERS BELOW!
What worked for me:

 

  • AP-5

 

I have been adamant of my love for AP-5 and I was wonderfully rewarded with his presence in this episode. Since the other members of the Ghost Crew go out on some kind mission without Zeb, it’s only Zeb, Chopper and my boy AP-5. He is the perfect balance between exposition and comedy. This episode, IMO, gives us even more reason for AP-5 to show up. I found myself laughing out loud a number of times about how blunt he is. We need more of him and less of Chopper.

 

 

  • Imperial Infiltrator Recon Droid

 

We have seen this droid design in Rebels before, and originally it comes from the early designs of C3PO by Ralph McQuarrie. His designs are timeless and it doesn’t matter what era or version you use of McQuarrie’s. They can be used in Star Wars at anytime and they all fit and look amazing. It was clever of the writers to allow this innocent and harmless looking droid to transform into a death machine.

 

 

Just like the Imperial Probe Droids, these Infiltrator Recon Droids carry a self-destruction device, this particular one being a Proton “Warhead.” I don’t think the Probe droids are packing those, damn! I hope to see more of these droids in the future (or even a toy, Hasbro). Even in “death mode,” I thought this droid design was awesome.

 

 

  • Thrawn’s reckoning is coming.

 

A lot of us have been waiting for Thrawn to drop the hammer on the Rebels this season and it’s looking like it’s about to happen. We know this is happening from the latest Rebels mid-season trailer also, but the end of this episode shows that our Rebels are in deep trouble…and that makes me kind of excited. Does that make me an awful person?

 

 

 

What didn’t work for me:

 

  • Zeb

 

Zeb is not the worst character in Rebels, but my patience for him is wearing thin. That’s mainly because he’s played as the “big, dumb guy” of the group. AP-5 points this out so many times, it seems almost as if the writers are admitting to us how ridiculous he is. The ironic thing about Zeb is that I loved the 2 episodes that featured him and his people, as well as the episode where Kallus and Zeb mimic the film Enemy Mine. This episode, however, only manages to show the weaker side of his character, prominently featuring his bumbling idiot persona. Zeb is obviously WAY better than this and I wish we could abandon that side of him and depict him as more of the great leader/warrior that he is.

 
Quick Hitters:

 

  • I love the homage to ESB with this opening shot of this star destroyer dropping out droids to recon the galaxy.

 

  • It’s been cool seeing more Landspeeders that look like Luke’s in the show. We don’t get them that much in the films.

 

I thought this episode did a good job of pushing the overall narrative forward while having a fun one-and-done story. If it didn’t set up that Thrawn is going to be dropping all hell on the Rebels soon, then I think this would have been a mediocre episode. Can’t wait to see what Thrawn has in store for these Rebels!

 

As always, I look forward to reading what you all thought of this episode!

 

Paul

 

Follow me on Twitter @Hermann22
Follow my Star Wars podcast on Twitter @Blastercanonpod
Follow my Marvel podcast on Twitter @Marvelnewscast

 

 

rebels

 

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 #3.12: Inside “Warhead”.

 

 

 

+ posts

41 thoughts on “Star Wars Rebels Review: “Warhead” + Rebels Recon. What Did You Think?

  • January 15, 2017 at 12:36 pm
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    I thought instead that everyone considers Zeb dumb, while he isn’t. I’m sure that, if anyone else was there, would have acted very similarly.
    Overall I was surprised by this episode. I was expecting an average filler, but no, this episode is connected to the overall story.

  • January 15, 2017 at 12:47 pm
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    The best thing of this episode is Kallus.

  • January 15, 2017 at 4:27 pm
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    Solid episode. I wonder what stress-release Kallus uses….he’s gotta be feeling the pressure man.

    • January 15, 2017 at 9:29 pm
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      extra long showers? 😉

  • January 15, 2017 at 6:12 pm
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    Great article, and good observation on Zeb – agree 100% – It’s time the writers s__t or get off the pot w/ Zeb: Either he’s cannon-fodder-to-be, or it’s time to start treating him like a valued contributor, instead of falling back on the ‘big, dumb guy’ crutch as they did here…

    Overall, liked the episode – it treads close to the filler borderline, but the Fulcrum & Thrawn scenes helped keep it from crossing that border; AP-5 & Chopper are fun too (wouldn’t mind seeing these guys run into BeeTee & 0-0-0 on an away mission sometime!)

    (Summoning my best Ned Stark) Thrawn is coming…

  • January 15, 2017 at 6:28 pm
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    The episode was OK… I liked AP-5 but I am hoping to see K-2SO in Rebels sometimes…he’s probably the best droid character in Star Wars universe and I can’t believe we only get to see him in one movie. Rebels is the place where we could see more of him…

    • January 16, 2017 at 5:08 am
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      Road trip to Jedha in season 4…? (If they’re crossing paths w/ Saw G. now, why not?)

  • January 15, 2017 at 6:48 pm
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    In my opinion one of the worst episodes. The first minute and the last one are the best parts.
    The setpieces are forced and ridiculous.
    AP-5 probably has the worst voice for a droid in the entire galaxy.
    Love the McQuarrie design.
    Nothing more interesting

  • January 15, 2017 at 8:09 pm
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    This episode was absurd as hell. I know this is a kids show but that doesn’t mean you can go that lazy at writing and allowing characters act like total dumbasses. The whole imperial strategy has no sense at all since their infiltrator droids aren’t capable to blend in properly and act like someone harmless. Oh, but fortunately we got someone stupid enough to take a completely unknown droid that fell from the sky to the rebel base just for boredom’s sake. But the worst is that the whole incident happens without being informed by Zeb to ANYONE in the rebel base! Even the rebel droids don’t have the common sense to ask for help when the imperial droid becomes a threat.. Better let’s skip the silly part when they manage to send the warhead back to space and blow the star destroyer away…

    • January 16, 2017 at 3:29 am
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      It’s a kids cartoon.

  • January 15, 2017 at 8:36 pm
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    positives: for maybe the first time all season we have a true thrawn like moment.

    negatives: the rest of the imperials still feel like bumbling saturday morning cartoon villains being outwitted by slightly less dumb heroes. i mean they accidentally blew up a star destroyer. come on now. yes its a kids show but as a part of canon i have to treat it as i would anything else they do.

    • January 16, 2017 at 2:27 am
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      Never had him pictured for the type to carry a side-arm, though. In the books, he has muscle (Noghri bodyguards) to do that sort of thing; looks as though (from previews) he’ll also be a student of the martial arts…interesting

      • January 16, 2017 at 3:44 am
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        thats true. i wonder if he’s going to get into a tussle with the rebels personally.

    • January 16, 2017 at 6:10 am
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      I totally agree with you..and I hate that “it’s a kids show” excuse. The clone wars was a kids show and that was a hell of a good show.

      • January 16, 2017 at 6:35 am
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        idk. clone wars had the luxury of a more diverse age range on cartoon network than disney XD has and i’m beginning to think that its part of the problem.

  • January 15, 2017 at 8:49 pm
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    This episode seemed somewhat like filler but there were good elements:
    – Thrawn’s Ruthlessness.
    – Kallus’s cleverness.
    – Some of the cool shots like that ESB homage.
    – EXD-9’s designs.
    – AP-5 is blunt and funny and very similar to K-2SO.
    – All of the Zeb jokes were funny but I wish they weren’t wasting the character.
    – EXD-9’s ship was cool like a Star Wars Lunar Module of sorts.
    – The Imperial technician’s reaction to the countdown.

    There were many blunt elements as well. But Trials of the Darksaber looks so freaking badass with some long needed ancient canon history it looks very promising.

  • January 15, 2017 at 9:07 pm
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    I liked that this episode had some bearing on the overall plot of the season. Thrawn is starting to track the rebels down. However, if the characters (on either side of the conflict) had acted differently, the plot could have turned out differently.

    -The Empire “locked down” the droid’s memory, so why didn’t they do the same to it’s countdown clock?
    -Why didn’t the Empire send out the droids one at a time (or in smaller groups)? That would narrow down the search easier.
    -Why did Zeb take the droid back to the base? He sees that it doesn’t “look Imperial” and immediately trusts it. That’s stupid.
    -Why didn’t Zeb warn Kallus that he was sending the droid back? For all he knew, he could have been on the Star Destroyer that he blew up.
    -Why was the rest of the group SO INSISTENT that Zeb stay behind? There are other people at Chopper Base.
    -Why was no one else at Chopper Base? Zeb, AP-5, and Chopper are fighting a gigantic killer robot, and no one notices? Were they ALL doing that drill?
    -Why did the Empire make the droids combative? Why not make it so that droid immediately returns to its pod once it finds a Rebel base?
    -Why not outfit the droid itself with a long range transmitter, or at least a transmitter that can relay messages to the pod? That way, the droid can send the info to the Empire straight away.

    • January 15, 2017 at 9:18 pm
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      stop asking perfectly logical questions. 😉

    • January 16, 2017 at 3:25 am
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      It’s a 23 minute kids cartoon.

      • January 16, 2017 at 3:56 am
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        its also an interconnected universe. i’m with you about tone and even the stories they make being aimed at kids, but they still need to make sense in the universe.

        • January 16, 2017 at 5:02 am
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          Look. They have 23 minutes. Let’s put aside the kids cartoon. They have to tell a story in 23 minutes. Now, they could do arcs. But they’re not. This is their choice. So they’re not going to answer a series of complex “Shouldn’t it work like this?” questions, they’re going to try to make an entertaining story in..23 minutes. It’s basically a Star Wars sitcom at this point. For good or bad. Whether your like it or not. That’s what Rebels is.

          • January 16, 2017 at 6:26 am
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            “star wars sitcom” is a great way to put it.

          • January 16, 2017 at 6:17 pm
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            It’s what it is. I know you guys get all pissy with me when I say “HEY it’s a kids cartoon” but this is the route they’ve taken, they don’t seem to be deviating from it.

            I could easily be just as upset as you guys are. 10 years ago I’d probably be crawling up the wall about it. But you know what? It’s a fun Star Wars romp every week, I’m not going to complain.

            I see the glaring short comings, but if I pay attention to them, I can’t enjoy it.

          • January 17, 2017 at 1:50 am
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            How dare you enjoy fun Star Wars stuff! How dare you!!!!!

          • January 17, 2017 at 7:08 pm
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            There are some here who believe accepting a product that doesn’t meet your expectations is stupid. I just lower my expectations based on what is delivered. If I thought Rebels was outright bad I wouldn’t watch it. It’s good. Has moments of greatness. I’m fine with that.

        • January 16, 2017 at 6:02 am
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          In Empire, they sent out tons of probe droids, just like they did here.

    • January 16, 2017 at 6:07 am
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      Lmao you’re right! If you really think about it them not warning Kallus is really messed up. Wow. He could’ve died.

  • January 16, 2017 at 1:02 am
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    If you don’t like Zeb, I will fight you.

  • January 16, 2017 at 1:18 am
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    I’m really sick of these filler episodes…for f*** sake, there don’t have to be 20 episodes if you can’t make them all count. It’s not fun shredding a story arc into every 5th episode….
    I really liked the show, big fan… I just lost interest with this season

    • January 16, 2017 at 3:24 am
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      i don´t think everyl Scooby Doo, Flintstones, Buggy Bunny, Simpson, South Park , Super Heros in general cartoon “count”. That´s impossible. SW universe is not so big, it´s very small really, and if you go too far, people will say “this is not SW”

    • January 16, 2017 at 3:28 am
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      I like the filler. Why does everything have to apply to the over all story line?

      • January 16, 2017 at 3:49 am
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        i wish they did more of what clone wars did and go deeper into the lore while taking a break from the main storylines.

        • January 16, 2017 at 5:02 am
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          It’s all about the arcs. And they’re not using them. Which sucks, and limits the scope of the show in a lot of ways.

        • January 16, 2017 at 5:10 am
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          Agree! Thought Bendu would be a conduit to that end, but hasn’t yielded as much as I thought…

  • January 16, 2017 at 12:57 pm
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    So we got the two parter in the UK last week, but now rebels has disappeared from the uk schedule. Nothing this weekend and nothing next. Looks like we are getting short changed again.

  • January 17, 2017 at 7:56 pm
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    Not a good episode. I’m actually kind of bored with most of Season 3 so far. I keep waiting for something more meaningful to happen. I wish they would shorten the seasons so that they could focus on telling a more intriguing and cohesive story.

  • January 18, 2017 at 12:41 am
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    “What didn’t work for me:

    Zeb”

    I actually rather liked it. Yes, he’s often portrayed as the “bumbling, slightly goofy brute” in the gang. But ultimately it was his plan that saved them from destruction (granted, his decision to bring the innocent looking droid into the base was directly responsible for putting them into danger).

    His plan was quite clever, but had the unattended side-effect of making Thrawn’s job easier…

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