SWNN Review: Star Wars Rebels: In the Name of the Rebellion + Rebels Recon
Rebels returns for yet another two-parter with “In the Name of the Rebellion” and the return of Saw Gerrera! I saw a lot of mixed reactions from fans last week regarding the season premiere episodes and I have to say that I wasn’t surprised. The show seems to split fandom down the middle (at least where I am looking, anyway). Can Saw Gerrera unite this fandom together with his presence on the show?
SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!
What worked for me:
- The return of Saw Gerrera
I am a BIG fan of Rogue One. I was blown away by how much I loved it. It favors in my top 4 Star Wars films ever, and I don’t say that lightly. One of the many reasons I loved that film was because of Saw. Last season, Saw’s two-part episode appearance was fun, but this two-parter really dives into how radically different he is compared to the mainstream Rebel Alliance. There is an intense scene where Saw and Mon Mothma go at it via hologram. It’s also heartbreaking when Sabine and Ezra find out that Saw truly is mad. Saw’s extreme measures wreak havoc in so many ways and that’s what these two episodes are about.
- The animation
I complained in the last review that the previous episodes’ scope seemed small and it hurt them. Hate to do a total 180, but this week’s animated locations looked fantastic. Yavin 4 was on point and the new planet Jalindi looked incredible. The chase in the clouds on Jalindi with the Tie Defenders was another “wow” moment. Looked and felt like Star Wars to me.
- The Rogue One connections
The writing for this episode stood out to me and I think it’s because of how well it tied into Rogue One, while at the same time not trying to force the issue. It’s a balancing act that writers need to do, and it’s not easy. The story in these episodes shows how powerful the connection between the Jedi and Kyber really is. Ezra hears the giant crystal singing to him like his lightsaber crystal did. We also see Saw get that much closer to finding out the truth of the Death Star. Great stuff!
What didn’t work for me:
- How Did Saw get a U-Wing?
This is as minor as it gets, but I really would like an explanation!!! Are they the Ford Escorts of the GFFA??!?!?!
Quick Hitters:
- (Hawt) Kallus going for his full beard. Keep trying, dude.
- I could watch an entire series centered on the Two Tubes characters. I am not kidding.
- Y-Wings > everything.
If you couldn’t tell, I LOVED these two episodes. I almost wished that these were the first two premiere episodes rather than last week’s. Doesn’t really work story wise with Sabine. Either way, the season is off to a great start. Let’s see if the series can keep this momentum going!
Let me know what you all thought!
Also check out StarWars.com’s Rebels Recon #4.1 and #4.2: Inside Heroes of Mandalore, Parts 1 and 2
Paul
Follow me on Twitter @Hermann22
Follow my Star Wars podcast @Blastercanonpod
I felt this episode ruined the mystique of the Death Troopers. In Rogue One, they apparently communicated with another through chirpy-clicks. That suggested that they may not have been entirely human. But in this episode, they’re simply chatting in English. Thus, they did not come off as unsettling as they did in the movie. Plus, these supposedly deadly elite troopers got easily shot down by Saw, Ezra and Sabine. It was interesting to hear that one of the Death Troopers was a woman.
As for the U-Wing, I believe it’s described in the RO Visual Guide book that they’re transport vehicles originally designed for civilian use. (This would explain how Saw and Two Tubes were able to easily dock theirs at the spaceport.) The Rebellion managed to get several of them, upgraded their engines, and put in front blaster cannons. Otherwise, U-Wings sound like they’re the equivalent of a cargo helicopter or UPS delivery truck. If this is the case, it may not be out of the question to see unarmed, commercial delivery versions of the U-Wing pop up in other places of the Star Wars universe — perhaps we could see some in a space dock in the Solo movie.
Gotta agree about them tarnishing the Deathtroopers, the main one in particular sounded really, really camp. Other than that, an excellent couple of episodes, so much better than the Mandabores!
It was a female Death Trooper.
Ooops! That would explain it then!
They provided a in-story reason for why the DT didn’t went in full blast-them-out-of-existence, though, and they were bested by a trained force users, a mandalorian warrior and a battle-hardened rebel trained by Anakin Skywalker.
I do feel you on the scrambled communications turned into plain english, but that’s the same reason why most aliens (in this, but in TCW was the same thing) speak english when, in the movies, they mostly use their own languages – but this has less to do with SW and way more to do with a larger problem (studios don’t want subtitles in this kind of thing because younger childern wouldn’t be able to read them, people don’t like to watch movies with subtitles and so on).
However, I quickly told myself that the english-speaking thing (with the DT) was because I was hearing them from THEIR point of view (or… point of hearing, I guess) and it was fine 🙂
I really hope I don’t come across as pompous, but some of us on this thread REALLY need to look at these CARTOONS differently than the films. They are made for kids primarily…..but adults can enjoy them for what they are (kids cartoons in SW universe) I think because these cartoons are CANON…..this is making some of us WANT to view these cartoons like they should be comparable to the cinematic movies. My critical analysis goes out in an escape pod when I watch these SW cartoons.
I agree with this article, episodes 3 & 4 were MUCH better than 1 & 2. They are not perfect, because I’d still love to see what it would be like if they killed Ezra off immediately, but thankfully we did get a little better pacing and even dialog.
Also agreed about Two Tubes — he got perfect rendering and voice in Rebels. I hope he’s alive following Rogue One, they didn’t show if he made it out.
They need to make a standalone movie –
Two Tubes Are Better Than One: A Star Wars Story.
much, much better this week. when they are focusing on the formation of the rebellion the show is at its best. in particular, getting to see saw in action and his confrontations with mon mothma were great and so much better than his crazy old man routine in rogue one.
two minor but related gripes(nit picks really): why did hera need kanan to guide her through the fog via the force? do they really not have scanners that can do that? we have that irl, its a little thing called radar. then there was the death trooper scene were they couldn’t find ezra in the smoke. i would think(hope) that such elite troops would have some form of visual enhancement like infrared or night vision in their helmets. having them defeated as easily and bumblingly as normal stormtroopers hurts their appeal and menace.
For the cloud-scene, I thought the same, especially for those TIEs – do they not have scanners?
For the smoke scene and the death troopers, I found it cool, since it resembles scenes like from Jurassic Park II, where a monster is hidden and takes out a group of people, one by one, but this time, the monsters were the rebels 🙂 – I understand your point, though.
What bothered me most is that in the end the imperials evacuated the ship without telling the star destroyer – they until the very end believed, everything was fine on that cargo (except for a group of rebels on board).
Sorry to spoil your optimistic review but this episode was terrible, if we say that the previous one had many mistakes then got many more
Plus points:
Return of Saw Gerrera and his conflict with Monthma, it would be nice to see Saw trying to lure rebellion personel to his side and aid him in his campaing futher widening the gab between him and Alliance
As mentioned in the article the graphics were nice
I have no problem with the plot closing to the Death Star(kybercrystals, saw and Krenic, but it has to make sense]
Minus points:
The episode began already weird, the rebel squadron returns from their patrol and everyone makes it look like they were totally defeated and wiped out, seconds later we learn that actually no one was killed only the fighters were slightly damaged so no big damage at all
The death troopers, yes the empire’s most elite soldiers who in Rogue One defeated elite rebel veteran commandos and killed several main characters, what have they become? Laughing stock, in this show they differ in nothing from poor Stormtroopers(who can shoot in R1 or comics only here are dummier than B1 battledroids) except from black armor and fancy voices(or not any longer so only armor). These elite special forces which are according to the visual dictionary highly trained and biologickly uprgraded are defeated easily by 2 ,,children,, and one warrior. Several facts, the standart Stormtrooper helmets can see through smoke, so the Death trooper helmets must be capable of this as well and according to me they could do even more(see through walls-thermal vision, enhanced targeting, see your comrades livesigns and so on, these abilities are normal equipment for nowadays military regular soldiers so elite soldiers in star wars could have them too), they don’t hold any formation and cover each other(like in R1) and they get pick off by people who have no night vision equipment so from now I guess the rebels can see in smoke and soon they will fly and fire lasers from their eyes like the superman. This episode complely ruined any coolnes R1 brought back into Imperial military after 3 seasons of rebels ruined it.
How can 1 U wing(a transport) destroy a cruiser?
The cybercrystal destroyed an ISD but the shuttle shields kept it intact, of course
I know it is a kids show but they want to make canon with it so they should hold some rules and basic principles. In the whole rebel series there are 5 or 6 episodes worth watching rest is not worth the time. The Death troopers and TIE Defenders were legendary now they are no different from TIE fighters and Stormtroopers. And after episode 1 and 2 when Sabines mother and brother should have died, but have survived by a ,,miracle,,(cough plot armor ) I don’t believe they will kill off the Ghost crew maybe if they took the Emperor with them(joke), it will be the Thrawn sadly who will be defeated :(((.
The only thing Rebels crew and its director can make good are the trailers, but when it gets into the episodes then it is dissaster. They should have never made a kids cartoon in this era.
It’s so cute that Hera wears a pair of Kanan’s boxer-briefs on her head, while Kanan dons one of Hera’s maxi-pads over his eyes. If that ain’t love, I don’t know what is.
Great, now I can’t unsee that… 😀
Haha.
It’s unforgivable how pathetic they made the death troopers look!
It’s a kids cartoon…relax. Need to watch these with younger eyes. #forgivelucasfilm Btw, I watched the Lego Freemaker Adventures and if this show bothers you at times….don’t watch that one.
its canon, therefore any criticisms are appropriate. btw, clone wars was a “kids show” and it blows rebels out of the water. give kids a little more credit.
You’re totally confused about the subject and compare the incomparable. I love Freemakers, but that show is like Robot Chicken for kids, just for fun. Rebels aims to be considered canon, and therefore must be judged on a completely different level.
Why have you deleted my coment?
Sorry to spoil your optimistic review but this episode was terrible, if we say that the previous one had many mistakes then this one turned the universe upside down.
Plus points:
Return of Saw Gerrera and his conflict with Monthma, it would be nice to see Saw trying to lure rebellion personel to his side and aid him in his campaing futher widening the gab between him and Alliance
As mentioned in the article the graphics were nice
I have no problem with the plot closing to the Death Star(kybercrystals, saw and Krenic, but it has to make sense)
Minus points:
The episode began already weird, the rebel squadron returns from their patrol and everyone makes it look like they were totally defeated and wiped out, seconds later we learn that actually no one was killed only the fighters were slightly damaged so no big damage at all
The death troopers, yes the empire’s most elite soldiers who in Rogue One defeated elite rebel veteran commandos and killed several main characters, what have they become? Laughing stock, in this show they differ in nothing from poor Stormtroopers(who can shoot in R1 or comics only here are dummier than B1 battledroids) except from black armor and fancy voices(or not any longer so only armor). These elite special forces which are according to the visual dictionary highly trained and biologicly uprgraded are defeated easily by 2 ,,children,, and one warrior. Several facts, the standart Stormtrooper helmets can see through smoke, so the Death trooper helmets must be capable of this as well and according to me they could do even more(see through walls-thermal vision, enhanced targeting, see your comrades livesigns and so on, these abilities are normal equipment for nowadays military regular soldiers so elite soldiers in star wars could have them too), they don’t hold any formation and cover each other(like in R1) and they get pick off by people who have no night vision equipment so from now I guess the rebels can see in smoke and soon they will fly and fire lasers from their eyes like the superman. This episode complely ruined any coolnes R1 brought back into Imperial military after 3 seasons of rebels ruined it.
How can 1 U wing(a transport) destroy a cruiser?
Sorry but the forth season is no different from the previous ones and the high hopes that I had that this tv show could leave with a grace are gone. They shouldn’t have created a kids show in this era of star wars.
Did we see the acquisition of shuttle Tydirium at the end?
This show makes me feel like I’m watching someone play a video game with the god mode cheat on. We are literally at 10’s on thousands of Imperials killed, 2 Imperial Star Destroyers, a cruiser, a base, 2 Tie Defenders and several tie fighters and not even one background rebel killed in the first few episodes. I thought it was bad before, it really takes all the thrill away.