S01.E01: Part One - Master and Apprentice / S01.E02: Part Two - Toil and Trouble

[formerlyfreedom]

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A valuable prisoner escapes New Republic custody; a search for answers reunites two old friends.

and

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Ahsoka and Genera Hera Syndulla travel to New Republic shipyards and make an unexpected discovery.

Dropping Tuesday, August 22, 2023, at 9:00 pm EDT / 8:00 pm CDT / 7:00 MDT / 6:00 pm PDT.

[paigow]

All of Ahsoka in Mandalorian and Boba Fett happened before the finale of Rebels - which is the end of Episode 2.

[Guest]

I loved that so much. The Rebels characters worked so well. Lothal looked amazing. I loved Ahsoka and Sabine. Hera and Huyang were both great as the voices of reason. Loved the lothcat and all the nods to Rebels. Like Ryder and Jai. I’m so glad they got Clancy Brown back to play Ryder.

I loved that Baylan isn’t straight up evil Sith but seems to be more complex. 

Morgan is from Dathomir. This show has the best villains.

Ahsoka with a lightsaber continues to be amazing. I am very curious what they are doing with Sabine as a padawan with no or very little force ability. 

In the middle of the first episode I was thinking that it was strong enough that they didn’t have to release the second to pull in an audience but with that ending I am so glad they did. 

Crazy to realize that most of the things in the promos was in these two episodes. 

[magdalene]

"For our friend Ray". Snivels. I don't know the first thing about the animated Star Wars shows.  Basically I am watching this for Ray Stevenson.

I resent that I had to wait til after midnight to watch Mando while this show drops at 6 pm Pacific time. Not fair.

I like the cat and want Grogu to meet her.

[callmebetty]

I just finished Rebels yesterday so everything is fresh. I loved all of it. Clancy Brown as Ryder. Jai. Morgan is an ancestor of the NightSisters. 

Loved that actors added the touches of the characters.  Hera with her hands on her hips. Ezra rubbing his head/neck.

Chopper!!!! His little arm flexes kill me. 

Sabine added a Purgill insignia. 

I could go on. Watching Rebels i kept thinking how much I want Ezra to meet Grogu and Sabine to meet Djarin.  

Can't wait to the next episode. Love the fact they are making this prime time viewing. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by callmebetty

[ybrik]

Really enjoyed the episodes. I really like that this show, Andor and the Mandolorian each have their own feel. While I enjoyed being dropped into this story/world, i do have to wonder if people who hadn’t watched Rebels would enjoy it as much. Should they have added a little more exposition to help those people or would it have been jarring if there had been too much.

i feel this show needs Book of boba fett type flashback because I am curious about Baylen and his apprentice. Also wanting to see what happened with Ahsoka and Sabine. If this wasn’t Star Wars and also Disney, I would almost have thought that Sabine and Ahsoka had a relationship that went further than just Master/Padawan especially with Hera giving off the vibe of the friend trying to help her friends realize they still belong together. 

On a more serious note, I found it interesting Ahsoka mentioning how she walked away from both Anakin and Sabine. Then you include her not wanting to train Grogu and this should be interesting if they explore this more. 

Need more Chopper and his wanting to commit more war crimes. 

Really enjoying all the lightsaber fights. 

[thuganomics85]

Dropping early, I see!  I wonder what made Disney decide to go in this direction?

Curious to see if there will be any backlash since I wonder if it will be kind of hard to follow if one never watched Rebels.  But as someone who did but has still forgotten a lot of it (don't get me wrong: I enjoyed it, but it's just been a while), I mainly thought it worked.  I think it did a good job at establishing Ezra Bridger as someone important to Ahsoka, Sabine, and the rest of the gang, while also conveying the threat of Admiral Thrawn, and why there is this big race to get to their location first.  I do think it was smart to go ahead and air both episodes: not just because of the first episode's cliffhanger, but the first hour being somewhat slow due to all the character introductions and world-building.

Continuing to enjoy Rosario Dawson's take on an older, more jaded Ahsoka, and I thinks she is carrying the show well so far.  Not familiar with Natasha Liu Bordizzo, but she seemed to fit in well as Sabine and worked well opposite of Dawson.  Mary Elizabeth Winstead surprised me: I generally enjoy her, but she wasn't who I initially envisioned as Hera, but I thought it kind of worked.  Could casting all around for those three.

Loved them getting a few returning players to reprise their live action counterparts again like Clancy Brown as Ryder and David Tennant as Huyang.

Definitely bittersweet seeing Ray Stevenson for possibly the last time.  I still remember him first as Pullo on HBO's Rome, but he's always been one of those actors whose presence is a welcomed one, and the movie/television world won't be the same without him.  Already liking his performance as Baylan, and already showing the signs that he won't be a mere one-dimensional threat.

Still find it interesting that the New Republic's potential downfall isn't because they are evil, but because they keep being weighed down by bureaucracy and seem so naive in a lot of ways.  I get not wanting to assume the worst of everyone, but having former Empire guys continue to work at their jobs without even any oversight is.... a choice.

The lightsaber battles were well done.

Lolocats!!

Chopper must be protected at all cost!  Even if it takes him a few minutes to find his tracking devices in his messy little storage space!

Solid start.

[baldryanr]

Fortunately for our heroes getting impaled with a lightsaber isn't nearly as lethal as it used to be.

And yeah, that's quite the assumption about all ex-Imperials being completely indifferent to who's in power, especially since they were in charge for 20 years.  That's an entire generation who grew up without the Old Republic.

Edited August 23, 2023 by baldryanr

[paigow]

Ahsoka & Andor illustrate 2 different post-war approaches to dealing with enemies.

The Post Clone War period saw aggressive de-programming camps...

The post Empire period was more hands off...

Neither plan worked

[Uncle JUICE]

8 hours ago, Dani said:

Crazy to realize that most of the things in the promos was in these two episodes. 

I think this is a really good sign for me as a fan, because it leaves a lot to learn over the next X number of episodes that we haven't seen. 

 

24 minutes ago, baldryanr said:

And yeah, that's quite the assumption about all ex-Imperials being completely indifferent to who's in power, especially since they were in charge for 20 years.  That's an entire generation who grew up without the Old Republic.

This is twice in two series now they've gone to this insane well. I get that Imperials might be of varying levels of war criminals, and that you need worker bees to run the Republic, but jesus, New Republic, maybe NOT at anyplace where there is military crossover, or anything of value, huh? Like can't they just be speeder bike mechanics or teachers or something with less catastrophic consequences if they're actually disloyal? 

My thoughts: this was like watching my daughter learn to ride her bike ten years ago. I was exhilarated, but whenever I recognized that feeling in the moment, like in the sequence on Corellia, I couldn't help the "yeah, but please just don't fall and smash your face into a curb," you know what I mean? Such a good start and god damn it I want all of these lego sets now. 

I don't need this show to be as good as Andor. I need it to be better than Kenobi, and I'll be devastated if it's Boba Fett level bad. I'll be frustrated if it's Mando 3, and thrilled if it's Mando 2 level. I missed these characters so much. And Ray Stevenson was born to play Baylen, what a fucking shame he's no longer with us. 

I also don't want to hear that Dawson's portrayal is no fun. It's not supposed to be fun. Ahsoka, in her life, was a child soldier, then accused of murder / sabotage and kicked out of her order, then her mentor becomes the biggest monster in the whole galaxy while most of her friends (the clone troopers) die after she and Maul destroy the ship they're on...I mean she's been through some shit.  

33 minutes ago, baldryanr said:

Fortunately for our heroes getting impaled with a lightsaber isn't nearly as lethal as it used to be.

Huge pet peeve here. If getting run through a vital organ with a lightsaber doesn't kill someone almost instantly, then what's the point of the lightsaber exactly? THe shit can melt METAL. If you need to incapacitate a character with less than lethal force, it's as easy as don't use a lightsaber to do it. I hated this in Kenobi, too, like REALLY hated it. 

[absnow54]

I never got into Rebels the way I got into The Clone Wars. I watched a few episodes of Rebels, so I recognized most of the characters, but had no idea where that show left off. So with that perspective, I did not think they did a good job introducing this story arc. I found it relied too heavily on watching the last season of Rebels (or at least I assume it did.) They were telling us that these characters had history, but I wasn't feeling the chemistry. I think they should have used the prologue for whatever Ezra's sacrifice was (I only vaguely know the storyline) but I guess they want to save Thrawn's introduction for later.

Another thing I hated was the colored contacts. I know that Hera had very striking blue eyes, but I could have lived with Mary Elizabeth Winstead's natural color. Rosario Dawson's aren't as distracting, but that's another unnecessary detail I don't think they needed.

The other thing I found striking was the score. The scenes were either completely silent and then had very abrupt intense music, and then was silent again. I don't know, The Mandalorian and Andor made making Star Wars shows look effortless, but this one definitely felt rougher, like they made this show to fill the Disney+ lineup, similar to Book of Boba Fett.

I'm going to stick it out, especially if 

Spoiler

Anakin shows up. Is that still a rumor?

but as a non-Rebel viewer, this one feels harder to get into. 

[Anduin]

19 minutes ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Huge pet peeve here. If getting run through a vital organ with a lightsaber doesn't kill someone almost instantly, then what's the point of the lightsaber exactly? THe shit can melt METAL. If you need to incapacitate a character with less than lethal force, it's as easy as don't use a lightsaber to do it. I hated this in Kenobi, too, like REALLY hated it. 

Ahsoka was right there to provide Force healing, and her ship would have medical supplies too.

Now, even though I didn't watch much Rebels, I gave this a try. And really liked it! Was that a Phantom Menace homage with the droid watching Sabine and reporting to Shin? I vaguely remember something similar with Maul on Tatooine.

And a big nitpick. Ahsoka could have won the Corellia fight, but she chose to draw it out and let the bad guy get away. I'm not sure that would stop the enemies running away with the hyperdrive core, but at least it's not letting an enemy come back and cause trouble in the future.

Also, I may be conflating the Force with something that can happen in my own stories, but could Ahsoka peer into Sabine's mind and get the details of the map? I think it's a Star Wars thing, but I'm not sure.

[Eliza422]

As someone who hasn’t watched any of the animated series, I was ok with the plot and how they laid it out. I know both the good guys and bad guys are looking for a big bad, Ashoka and Sabine and the green lady all have history, and Ezra was part of that group. I’ve seen all the live series thus far, so I have a good feel for the post Empire concepts they have been playing with in the shipyard.

I’m sure not all non-animated show watchers will feel that way, but the gist of the plot of THIS show is straightforward so far.

sure, I can tell there is fan service going on, but it’s not really something I need to delve into to understand the main story.

 

This might be what finally gets me to watch all the animated shows! 

[Uncle JUICE]

1 minute ago, Anduin said:

Ahsoka was right there to provide Force healing, and her ship would have medical supplies too.

Also, I may be conflating the Force with something that can happen in my own stories, but could Ahsoka peer into Sabine's mind and get the details of the map? I think it's a Star Wars thing, but I'm not sure.

Agreed on the idea of medical supplies (not all Jedi can Force heal, so I don't want to assume that), but either case, you can get there without using the lightsaber and diluting its power / lethality, that's my point. Minor nitpick, not the end of the world, but it always bothers me. Sometimes a lightsaber can melt a steel door, sometimes it slices a hand off, other times it's basically an epee and barely stings. 

As to Sabine's mind, yes, I think Ahsoka would be able to read it, but only what's there. In other words, I don't think she can go beyond what Sabine 'knows', and since Sabine only saw a cluster of stars and a line, not a starting point that they can use, then I don't think the map view would do a whole lot of good from this perspective. If she'd said "Oh, I know that planet!" then you'd have a chance. Ren could only see that Rey saw the map, for example, in force awakens, he couldn't use that second hand vision to fill in enough details because Rey didn't know them. I think :). 

Also, knock it off with maps now Star Wars. Stop making me think of Rise of Skywalker. 

2 minutes ago, Eliza422 said:

 

I’m sure not all non-animated show watchers will feel that way, but the gist of the plot of THIS show is straightforward so far.

sure, I can tell there is fan service going on, but it’s not really something I need to delve into to understand the main story.

 

This is something that really interests me, the perspective of the non-animated show watcher. I watched the two big ones plus the short ones. I don't think the entirety of Clone Wars is required viewing for this one, but Rebels would be helpful to understand the connections. I'm glad it's not required, though. 

[absnow54]

7 minutes ago, Anduin said:

Also, I may be conflating the Force with something that can happen in my own stories, but could Ahsoka peer into Sabine's mind and get the details of the map? I think it's a Star Wars thing, but I'm not sure.

I want to say the only instances of mind reading was done by Vader and Kylo Ren, and they were only vague interpretations of thoughts and feelings. Luke thinking about protecting his sister. Rey hiding the map with BB-8. It's not a photographic vision though, and I think it's more tied to the dark side of the Force. Although, obviously Ahsoka does not strictly adhere to the Jedi's rules for what is "good" and what is "bad."

[Anduin]

1 hour ago, absnow54 said:

I want to say the only instances of mind reading was done by Vader and Kylo Ren, and they were only vague interpretations of thoughts and feelings. Luke thinking about protecting his sister. Rey hiding the map with BB-8. It's not a photographic vision though, and I think it's more tied to the dark side of the Force. Although, obviously Ahsoka does not strictly adhere to the Jedi's rules for what is "good" and what is "bad."

I was thinking with Sabine's consent, not a proper mindfucking. Still, hopefully the transponder will continue working.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, absnow54 said:

I never got into Rebels the way I got into The Clone Wars. I watched a few episodes of Rebels, so I recognized most of the characters, but had no idea where that show left off. So with that perspective, I did not think they did a good job introducing this story arc. I found it relied too heavily on watching the last season of Rebels (or at least I assume it did.) They were telling us that these characters had history, but I wasn't feeling the chemistry.

As far as the Ahsoka and Sabine backstory, Rebels fans are in the same boat as you. All of that stuff happened between the shows. Ahsoka isn’t really a big factor in the end of Rebels. 

They alluded to a lot of backstory that no one has seen so I am guessing those details will be filled it. 

1 hour ago, absnow54 said:

I'm going to stick it out, especially if 

  Hide contents

Anakin shows up. Is that still a rumor?

 

It’s confirmed. 

1 hour ago, Eliza422 said:

I’m sure not all non-animated show watchers will feel that way, but the gist of the plot of THIS show is straightforward so far.

That’s good to know. Sometimes, I think just knowing there was previous content can give the impression new viewers are missing more than actually are. 

1 hour ago, Uncle JUICE said:

Agreed on the idea of medical supplies (not all Jedi can Force heal, so I don't want to assume that), but either case, you can get there without using the lightsaber and diluting its power / lethality, that's my point. Minor nitpick, not the end of the world, but it always bothers me. Sometimes a lightsaber can melt a steel door, sometimes it slices a hand off, other times it's basically an epee and barely stings. 

With people surviving light saber wounds they seem to base it on the saber being so hot it immediately cauterizes the wound making them more survivable. 

[absnow54]

8 minutes ago, Dani said:

That’s good to know. Sometimes, I think just knowing there was previous content can give the impression new viewers are missing more than actually are. 

Personally, it's because of the sequel trilogy. There was so much supplemental material for that, and it barely bled into the films, so you ended up with stellar exposition like "Somehow, Palpetine returned." 

I think most of the Star Wars shows have done a good job standing on their own (with the exception of Book of Boba Fett, which turned into Mandalorian season 2.5) Since I haven't gotten around to watching Rebels in full, it feels like I've missed a lot, because I know there's a lot of existing material for these characters, but maybe that's not the case. 

[Fool to cry]

I had to calculate after watching  that while it's more than 5 years after Return of the Jedi and the Empire's fall this takes place more than a decade after the Rebels series finale which was a year before A New Hope.

Its going to take me a while to adjust to the live action version of the characters. I could accept the Rosario Dawson Ahsoka before with characters we know from live action like Din and Luke but seeing her interact with others from animation shows how different her Ahsoka is. Like I can't picture animated Ahsoka doing the arms crossed and tilting back and eyes almost closed thing!

I do like the new characters like Ray Winsone and his apprentice.

The red opening crawl was cool.

[Eliza422]

1 hour ago, Dani said:

That’s good to know. Sometimes, I think just knowing there was previous content can give the impression new viewers are missing more than actually are. 

 

True. I've seen tons of social media posts about how if I haven't seen an extensive list of other shows I won't get it, but if it's well made TV show, and I think with all the Star Wars ones it's been true, it can be enjoyed at several levels. The actual plot will be contained within the show itself, so you can enjoy it as is. If you are are a big fan who knows all the billions of characters from every show, then all the little Easter eggs will make you happy, but won't affect how someone like me enjoys it.

A good example is in the season finale ep of The Mandalorian, when he was in the cantina and there was the big monkey-esque guy. I know now he was a big deal to fans, but it didn't hinder my enjoyment of that episode that I didn't know who he was. To me he was just another Star Wars alien creature, and that was OK. It didn't materially affect the plot. Another was when Grogu saw the space whales; after the fact I read that it was A Thing, but within the show I was just like, "cool...space whales".

To some that would make me not a "true fan" or some other BS, I suppose, but these shows can be enjoyed on their own merit without knowing the 30 year history of all the things.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Eliza422

[ybrik]

We have seen Ahsoka do the mind read thing in her Mando episode in season 2 with Grogu. 

We have seen Ahsoka do the mind read thing in her Mando episode in season 2 with Grogu. 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, ybrik said:

We have seen Ahsoka do the mind read thing in her Mando episode in season 2 with Grogu. 

I thought she was communicating with him telepathically rather than reading his mind. She couldn’t see details that Grogu wasn’t aware of. 

[Sakura12]

This was the show I waiting for. Ahsoka is my favorite Star Wars character. Rosario Dawson is bringing an older more jaded Ahsoka to life. Girl has been through a lot after being thrown into the front lines of a war at 14. We still don't know what happened to her after she fought Vader on Malacore. Seeing Anakin like that might have made her even more jaded and that could explain why she's more stand offish. Isn't the whole Jedi way to have no attachments. Even though they all did. 

The way they were speaking about Ahsoka and Sabine made it seem like they were lovers not Master and Apprentice. I guess Sabine is slightly force sensitive? I was wondering why she grabbed the lightsaber and not her Mandalorian equipment. It's not like she knew she'd be fighting whatever Baylon and his apprentice are. They don't seem like Sith and they have orange sabors not red. 

It's great seeing the murderous little droid Chopper again too. Morgan's a nightsister interesting, I wonder if we'll get a Ventress mention. 

 

[Ilovepie]

I think I may be in the minority, but this is the first of these D+ shows that I was completely bored out of my mind by the end of episode one. I have seen all of the movies, all of the D+ shows, plus I am on the last season of Clone Wars, so I do know Ahsoka. The one SW show I have never watched is Rebels. I do follow enough online to know who all of the characters are and what happened to them, but only basic backstory. And maybe that is contributing to my apathy for this one, which makes me sad because I love Star Wars and Ahsoka is probably my favorite Jedi. I just cannot get used to Rosario Dawson's voice coming out of Ahsoka's body. She sounds so blah to me compared to the cartoon voice actor. I will keep watching (didn't get to episode two yet) and hope that it gets more interesting. Sabine getting stabbed in the stomach isn't it though because of course she will survive that.

[magdalene]

44 minutes ago, Ilovepie said:

think I may be in the minority, but this is the first of these D+ shows that I was completely bored out of my mind by

I wasn't bored but I haven't formed an emotional connection either. My problem is that I was never a Star Wars fan until Grogu and his daddy came along. If it's not connected to those two, or Grogu period I have a hard time keeping my focus. Here I am mostly interested so far in Baylan and that's only because of the late actor.

With the exception of Mandalorian the one Star Wars show I have liked the best so far has been  Andor which ironically I am told is the least like Star Wars. 

[Morrigan2575]

My God this show has everything.  We got Clancy Brown reprising his character and looking damn good. We got Chopper and Loth Cats . Lothal looked so beautiful, I'm going to forgive the Sabine Retcon. 

I was happy to see that Morgan was a Witch of Dathomir or more accurately a Night Sister, it explains a lot from that Mandalorian Episode. 

I'm not 100% sold on Live Action Sabine, Hera or Ezra but, I'm going to give them a shot. Honestly,  bringing the Rebels crew to life was always going to be a hard sell for me.

Please let Sam Witwer be Malik, Dave really owes Witwer a Live Action Star Wars role.

Loved Ray Stevenson as Baylan, all of the villains have been great so far, Morgan, Baylan (love him) even Malik and Shin are interesting...although I'm knocking points off for lack of helicopter Saber 😁

A few thoughts, I'm surprised they went with Ezra thinking of Sabine like a sister since I always thought Ezra had a thing for Sabine (possibly mutual) in Rebels.

I swear this is feeling like KOTOR setup. If we end up on the Star Forge I'm going to lose it. 

So far this is living up to my hopes for this series. 

Edited August 23, 2023 by Morrigan2575

[Anduin]

On the complete other end of the scale from Magdalene's post, it's time for a deep dive! I had a middle of the night thought. What if it's the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy? God I hope not. I read every NJO book, despite only one of them being good. Traitor, by Matthew Stover. OTOH, they set up the great Legacy comic.

[Ilovepie]

43 minutes ago, magdalene said:

I wasn't bored but I haven't formed an emotional connection either. My problem is that I was never a Star Wars fan until Grogu and his daddy came along. If it's not connected to those two, or Grogu period I have a hard time keeping my focus. Here I am mostly interested so far in Baylan and that's only because of the late actor.

With the exception of Mandalorian the one Star Wars show I have liked the best so far has been  Andor which ironically I am told is the least like Star Wars. 

I myself am an avid lover of Grogru, Mando and Pedro Pascal just generally. Andor was fantastic, star wars or no.

I usually love all Star Wars stuff, but I feel like this is starting to feel.....not special? I don't know - much like the Marvel overkill with movies and tv shows, I think Star Wars is nearing saturation too. I will keep watching and hope I get drawn in.

[paigow]

1 hour ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I'm surprised they went with Ezra thinking of Sabine like a sister since I always thought Ezra had a thing for Sabine (possibly mutual) in Rebels.

Literal or metaphorical... Jedis are always hot for their sister...

[KeithJ]

I really liked this.  Finished rewatching Rebels about a month ago so it's all fresh.

If I have one nitpick it's that Hera seems a little too young.  Maybe Mary is a little young for her age (38) but a slightly older actress would have been a better choice to me.

[DoctorAtomic]

E1
First of all, it's just great to see these new not-Jedi/Sith using force push and choke when fighting with the sabers in the opening scene. That's been a point of discussion throughout all these Star Wars shows. 

So great when they called her Fulcrum on the radio.. Great to see Lothal in real life, so to speak. I didn't realize Ezra was already cast. Great to see everyone live action. 

They aren't being too generous with the exposition for a first episode. I think it's fair that Sabine could hold her own against a 'sith' apprentice for a little while since Kanan did train her on the dark sabre. Again though, going back to the first scene, just force push her all over the place and leave. You have the map. I suppose the apprentice is just being arrogant. 

E2
It's interesting they're introducing another galaxy. I can buy it because Thrawn is too smart to not have made his way back had he been in the same galaxy. When Thrawn and Ezra disappeared, I doubt I don't quite understand how suddenly there's some map that knows where he is, unless the nightsisters foretold it way way back. That's kind of handwave, but it is Star Wars. 

I'm glad we confirmed that the sabre was Ezra's.

I don't know how I feel about Sabine's aptitude in the Force. Kanan said she didn't have any. 

I don't know if anyone has ads, but they showed Chopper right before the commercial break!

I don't know if I like them making Ahsoka weaker on sabers for plot. There's no way the Inquisitor wielding whoever lasts more than 17 seconds. Although, I would concede he was only holding her off to buy time to let the big ship get away but still. 

21 hours ago, ybrik said:

On a more serious note, I found it interesting Ahsoka mentioning how she walked away from both Anakin and Sabine. Then you include her not wanting to train Grogu and this should be interesting if they explore this more. 

She was clearly horrified in Rebels when she found out who Darth Vader was, and even worse when she cracked his mask in the first battle and "Anakin" called out to her. You'd have to think she's got some trauma. This Ahsoka is far more morose than what we've seen before. 

14 hours ago, Uncle JUICE said:

If you need to incapacitate a character with less than lethal force, it's as easy as don't use a lightsaber to do it. I hated this in Kenobi, too, like REALLY hated it. 

I don't know. I think this is a little more realistic. The saber is basically a plasma weapon, so it's going to cauterize going through. The location of Sabine's would and the angle; you can handwave it missed anything. People get shot and sometimes the bullet just goes through. Getting your arm cut off isn't a showstopper in this universe. 

4 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

I swear this is feeling like KOTOR setup. If we end up on the Star Forge I'm going to lose it.

I don't know if it can be set up because KOTOR was in the past. The big thing being built looks more like some hyperspace slingshot to get them to the other galaxy. I'm not going to complain if they happen across the remnants of the Star Forge. If Thrawn considers himself the heir to the Empire, I don't know how he's going to amass a force to march back into the galaxy. 

I thought it was a little much about the former Empire people trying to do whatever they were doing. I buy more into the "I'm just getting a paycheck", and it's fair that the New Republic just isn't going to have nearly enough personnel of 'republicans' to run a galaxy. I didn't buy it on Mandalorian either. These midlevel people are trying to bring back the Empire/First Order. For what? 

Thrawn and your Grand Moffs, I can get. They had power, they want it back. 

 

[Morrigan2575]

7 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Thrawn considers himself the heir to the Empire, I don't know how he's going to amass a force to march back into the galaxy. 

In the books Thrawn was after the Katana Fleet.

 

7 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

don't know if it can be set up because KOTOR was in the past

The setup was just so similar,  and no doubt Feloni was doing a nod to KOTOR. You have a map, going to a distant galaxy, where the Sith race originated. 

[paigow]

Hera is already a mother... (Kanan has been dead a long time) is Kanan Jr. ETA:[aka Jacen Syndulla]  at Skywalker Academy?

Edited August 27, 2023 by paigow

[Morrigan2575]

49 minutes ago, paigow said:

Hera is already a mother... (Kanan has been dead a long time) is Kanan Jr. at Skywalker Academy?

He was like 5 at the Battle of Endor, right? So maybe, but, then that opens a can of worms that would piss me off!

[DoctorAtomic]

4 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

In the books Thrawn was after the Katana Fleet.

I was agreeing with you in terms of Thrawn using the Star Forge to amass a fleet quickly. 

I would think you'd want to end season 1 with Ahsoka et al leaving for the other galaxy. I'm all for them taking alllll season 2 in the other galaxy rummaging through Sith artifacts. Maybe Ezra is all leveled up with Exar Kun's gloves and sabers. 

 

[tennisgurl]

Its been awhile since I watched Rebels so I had to read a few recaps, but I think that so far it can also stand on its own. I can imagine that someone who hasn't seen Rebels might have some questions and some of this wont land as hard if you don't know a lot of the characters and their histories, but there is a lot that's new to everyone as clearly a lot went down between the end of Rebels and this show. Ideally a good Star Wars show should be able to please the hardcore fans with lots of continuity and appearances of beloved characters, but is also approachable to new or more casual fans who haven't seen and read every part of the Star Wars universe. 

I'm glad that this show is giving Rosario Dawson's older more world (galaxy?) weary Ahsoka time to shine, I will be glad to hear more of her story and fill in the blanks. We know a lot about her backstory and have seen bits and pieces of her life post fall of the Old Republic, so its going to be interesting seeing more of her. I want to know what went down with her and Sabine that led to them becoming master/apprentice and then that falling apart, that whole master/apprentice line going all the way back to Count Dooku has been a wild ride, of course things wouldn't go smoothly between Ahsoka and anyone she would mentor. 

I love how, even as Star Wars has become more adult and edgy and has deliberately tried to move away from the more kiddie parts of the franchise in many ways, they just cannot go without a cute sidekick to market, which I hope they never stop. Loth-Cat! I hope Sabine got a cat sitter and will be coming back to give her cat some good pets soon!

Very bittersweet to see Ray Stevenson here, he's always a great performer and its sad to know that this is probably the last we'll see of him onscreen. At least this seems like a great last role. 

I knew that the guy running the ship factory was going to be a bad guy, but he did make a decent point that its hard to just fire everyone who ever worked for the Empire, right down to the janitorial staff. There probably are lots of grunts and low level officers and white collar works who never really knew much about the Empires greater evil schemes and really were just clocking in and would do the same thing at a New Republic job. The new Republic really failed at dealing with the huge amount of people who worked for the Empire, they either let them go about their day without any kind of oversight, which let lots of Empire sympathizers have the opportunity to sow the seeds that will lead to the First order, or they make it really weird with brainwashing and making people use numbers instead of names like we saw in Kenobi. Its really sad watching the New Republic, the dream that so many people struggled and died for, make so many of the same dumb mistakes the the Old Republic made which will just cause the same things to happen over and over again. 

[FierceCritter]

On 8/23/2023 at 1:30 AM, ybrik said:

Need more Chopper and his wanting to commit more war crimes. 

I watched Rebels and never quite saw things that way at the time. But then again...

 

[FierceCritter]

On 8/23/2023 at 8:29 AM, absnow54 said:

The other thing I found striking was the score. The scenes were either completely silent and then had very abrupt intense music, and then was silent again.

I wanted to love the soundtrack. But I just didn't. In fact, I kind of outright disliked it. Which is notable because I've been an avid listener to SW soundtracks since I was a kid in 1977, and still listen to them, especially in my car. The looks I get blasting the original John Williams theme out the sunroof of my little red hatchback at stoplights in the summer...

I really liked Ludwig Göransson's music for The Mandalorian. I listen to that music a lot, too. And the OST for the Cal Kestis games is spectacular. Original, but with much homage to Williams' style.

The Ahsoka score is by Kevin Kiner, who did the music for Rebels and Clone Wars. And I often very much noticed and liked his music those series. This? Not so much.

I will give it another listen though. Maybe I'll feel differently about it on second try.

On 8/23/2023 at 8:29 AM, Anduin said:

Ahsoka was right there to provide Force healing

Thing is, I watched all of Clone Wars and Rebels. And I don't recall her ever having this ability.

I never actually saw ANY Jedi have this ability until Rise of Skywalker.

Ditto psychometry. I don't recall her having that ability in either animated series. I will admit my memory is not the greatest though. But again, the only character I know of for sure that has this ability and uses it regularly is Cal Kestis in the games. I heard that Quinlan Vos had it, it just didn't stick in my memory.

I could be wrong.

[FierceCritter]

On 8/23/2023 at 8:36 AM, Eliza422 said:

This might be what finally gets me to watch all the animated shows! 

I think you'd enjoy them very much. It was The Mandalorian that sent me down that rabbit hole. I binge-watched them all within a few months. I was sorry I hadn't watched it all earlier. As with many shows, the initial episodes are a bit lacking, and many - MANY - people found Ahsoka off-putting initially. But Filoni & the rest did an admirable about-face with her character and made her one of the most popular in the whole of Star Wars.

[FierceCritter]

On 8/23/2023 at 8:37 AM, Uncle JUICE said:

Also, knock it off with maps now Star Wars. Stop making me think of Rise of Skywalker. 

I've never been a big critic. But the whole macguffan device is starting to stand out to me like a fly in milk and I'm starting to notice it being used more and more. It's lazy. And they haven't really explained why this map existed in the first place, or further, how it ended up connected to Thrawn. Nor how anyone knew it existed.

Edited August 24, 2023 by FierceCritter

[FierceCritter]

20 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

 I was completely bored out of my mind by the end of episode one.

I love Ahsoka and have been eagerly anticipating this show. And I'm not ordinarily very quick to critique.

But the pace was pretty slow, and that was disappointing. Even the dialogue... had lots of....

...

Weird pauses.

I'm totally not looking for SuperFastConstantAction. But the conversations could move along a little more realistically time-wise.

[Uncle JUICE]

7 minutes ago, FierceCritter said:

I love Ahsoka and have been eagerly anticipating this show. And I'm not ordinarily very quick to critique.

But the pace was pretty slow, and that was disappointing. Even the dialogue... had lots of....

...

Weird pauses.

I'm totally not looking for SuperFastConstantAction. But the conversations could move along a little more realistically time-wise.

I can't explain the weird pauses, but I concur that there were sequences (the cuddling of the temple that opened the show, for one, Sabine's squinting at the hologram to figure it out as another) that went on a little too long. As to the slow and somewhat expository pace, do you think maybe that's because they can't assume everyone knows who these people are? We have an existing relationship with these characters, and I think their biggest challenge is to hook those that don't. I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just trying to find the why. 

As to the map thing, GREAT POINTS. How would that have even worked, I guess who cares, it's a macguffin, and hopefully we never go back to it, but there's still a scene where she fights baylen under one of those maps, soooo....

Andor would have found someone from THrawn's flagship and tortured the fuck out of them to find out :) 

[DoctorAtomic]

39 minutes ago, FierceCritter said:

Thing is, I watched all of Clone Wars and Rebels. And I don't recall her ever having this ability.

I never actually saw ANY Jedi have this ability until Rise of Skywalker.

They're not going to kill off Sabine, so I can handwave that Ahsoka arrived quickly enough to get her some bacta or whatever and then get her to the hospital asap.

I don't know of the games are canon, but force heal is a thing in the games. Ahsoka never did it. 

59 minutes ago, tennisgurl said:

I knew that the guy running the ship factory was going to be a bad guy, but he did make a decent point that its hard to just fire everyone who ever worked for the Empire, right down to the janitorial staff. There probably are lots of grunts and low level officers and white collar works who never really knew much about the Empires greater evil schemes and really were just clocking in and would do the same thing at a New Republic job. The new Republic really failed at dealing with the huge amount of people who worked for the Empire, they either let them go about their day without any kind of oversight, which let lots of Empire sympathizers have the opportunity to sow the seeds that will lead to the First order, or they make it really weird with brainwashing and making people use numbers instead of names like we saw in Kenobi.

I don't get though why these low level people feel the need to fight for the Empire at this point if there's really been no change in what they're doing; making hyperdrive cores, etc. What's the motivation? Now, it could be that they're getting paid less, poorer quality health care, etc. Ok, that I can kind of buy. 

In effect, from what you're saying, and I don't disagree, the Republic was screwed before they even started. They certainly mishandled the whole deal with the numbers and all that, but what are you going to do? Fire all the people that know how to make hyperdrive cores, ships, blasters, electricians? Where are you going to put them? Prisons? Whose going to build them? 

I think the show here contradicted itself with that scene here. 

[Shanna Marie]

I think I might have been more confused from having watched the animated series but not being super familiar with the details than I would have been if I'd only seen live-action Star Wars (including Ahsoka's appearances on The Mandalorian/Book of Boba Fett). I like some of the storytelling in the animated series, but I found them hard to watch because I intensely dislike the animation style. They remind me of those Lego animated movies, but with action figures rather than Lego figures. The characters seem to be jointed about the same way as action figures are and move like they're doing stop-motion animation using action figures. The hair and clothes look like they're molded out of plastic. I generally treated them as audio dramas and used them as background noise while I did other things, so I didn't pick up on details.

So I don't recall when/how Sabine was ever Ahsoka's apprentice, in spite of having watched (listened to) Rebels twice, once when it was airing and then very recently -- as in I watched the finale just before the Ahsoka premiere went live. During most of the first two episodes I was wondering if that happened while they were out searching for Ezra, but then we got to the ending of the second episode, which turned out to be the Rebels coda, so I guess not. Is this something that happened in the 5 years after ROTJ, or was it Ahsoka teaching lightsaber 101 with the Darksaber (or was that Kanan teaching?)? I was really distracted by trying to figure all that out.

I have to confess that I found most of the Rebels characters extremely annoying. It was like a bunch of bratty kids, with Hera and Kanan being the only adults in the room. It got a bit better as the series progressed, when they got beyond the sense that the series was being made to appeal to kids (they seemed to be going for the rebellious brattiness as kid appeal), but I still referred to the series as "Poor Decisions Theatre" because most of the plots seemed to hinge on one of the characters (usually Ezra, but sometimes Sabine or Zeb) deciding they knew best or wanted to do something different, so they went against the plan or orders to do their own thing, which got them in trouble. Or they'd trust someone they'd been warned not to trust.

So, seeing the live-action versions is a mixed bag. It's nice to be able to actually look at the characters without cringing at the animation. I still love Hera. They hit the "what a rebel she is!" thing with Sabine a little hard, but the character had grown on me in the animated series and the live-action version is utterly gorgeous. As long as they keep Ezra out as anything but a hologram for a while, I'll be okay (he was the brattiest of the brats and caused a lot of harm, even though he did some good). We were at "Poor Decisions Theatre" again with Sabine disregarding orders to take the map away and, of course, losing it, though Ahsoka shares some blame, since she seems to have left it as "because I said so" rather than making it clear of the forces that were out to get it so it would be obvious that being alone with it in a remote area was a very bad idea. Not that it would have stopped Sabine, but then at least it would all be on her.

I also got distracted when Ahsoka went back to Sabine's place and greeted the cat, but didn't feed the kitty. During the whole scene, when I guess we were supposed to be anticipating her finding the droid, I was saying, "Feed the kitty!" since when you go to a friend's place while the friend is in the hospital, the main priority should be looking after the pets.

I am getting a bit tired of the Star Wars mystical maps, where some super-secret map is made to some super-secret place, and you've got to wonder how and why the map was made and how the info is such a secret. But at least this one doesn't seem quite as bad as the dagger created to point to the Emperor's gizmo on the wreckage of the Death Star on a planet with volatile weather (so was it likely to be in the same shape/place?) -- and then it pointed straight to the Emperor's throne room. Like, duh, wouldn't that be the first place you'd look, even without the dagger?

But I enjoyed watching this. I'm still overjoyed at how much Star Wars stuff there is now. I remember living through the late 70s when the only Star Wars content was the movie itself, which you could only see at the theater and only if it was currently playing, versions of the movie (novelization, comic books, soundtrack), the book Splinter of the Mind's Eye, and the holiday special. Now you can spend weeks watching Star Wars stuff. I enjoy the series because they allow a deeper dive into the universe and the characters and really flesh out that world.

[DoctorAtomic]

4 minutes ago, Shanna Marie said:

So I don't recall when/how Sabine was ever Ahsoka's apprentice, in spite of having watched (listened to) Rebels twice, once when it was airing and then very recently -- as in I watched the finale just before the Ahsoka premiere went live.

This is brand new. Rebels ended with Aksoka showing up on Lothal, basically at the end of ROTJ, and while we were all screaming that she survived, Ahsoka asked Sabine if she wanted to go find Ezra, now that the war was over. 

The master/apprentice then happened in the meantime, the aftermath we're seeing now. 

[FierceCritter]

15 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I thought it was a little much about the former Empire people trying to do whatever they were doing. I buy more into the "I'm just getting a paycheck", and it's fair that the New Republic just isn't going to have nearly enough personnel of 'republicans' to run a galaxy. I didn't buy it on Mandalorian either. These midlevel people are trying to bring back the Empire/First Order. For what? 

I can see that kind of Empire loyalty, particularly if they had it better under the Empire than they do with the Republic. Like the doctor in Mandalorian Season 3.

I'm a fan back to '77 and I am so Republic-loyal I won't even wear a t-shirt featuring Vader or stormtroopers. So I guess it makes sense to me.

I'm only just kinda kidding.

Kinda.

[paigow]

Rey was the last Jedi. If Ahsoka had been alive, Luke would have contacted her before dying. Similarly, Ezra would have killed Kylo easily. Odds are that both of them never made it back from the galaxy farther away.

[Morrigan2575]

2 hours ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I would think you'd want to end season 1 with Ahsoka et al leaving for the other galaxy. I'm all for them taking alllll season 2 in the other galaxy rummaging through Sith artifacts.

 

Are we getting multiple seasons? For some reason I thought this was a 1 and done like Kenobi. It would be really cool if we got multiple seasons and yeah if we do then end S1 with them leaving the galaxy 

 Maybe Ezra is all leveled up with Exar Kun's gloves and sabers.

But did he get to kill Carth? Killing Carth Onasi is on my bucket list 😃

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Morrigan2575 said:

He was like 5 at the Battle of Endor, right? So maybe, but, then that opens a can of worms that would piss me off!

Spoiler

He is included in one of the Lego sets released for the show. That set also included to new Ghost crew members so he should appear soon. 

 

2 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

Are we getting multiple seasons? For some reason I thought this was a 1 and done like Kenobi. It would be really cool if we got multiple seasons and yeah if we do then end S1 with them leaving the galaxy 

No one knows for certain but this was designed to culminate in a big finale movie with the other Filoni/Favereau shows so I would be surprised if it is one and done. 

[FierceCritter]

1 hour ago, Shanna Marie said:

I like some of the storytelling in the animated series, but I found them hard to watch because I intensely dislike the animation style. They remind me of those Lego animated movies, but with action figures rather than Lego figures. The characters seem to be jointed about the same way as action figures are and move like they're doing stop-motion animation using action figures. The hair and clothes look like they're molded out of plastic.

Once I read somewhere that they were intended to look akin to wood carvings, I liked the animation style a LOT better. 

The movements/animation improved somewhat over time.

1 hour ago, Shanna Marie said:

"Poor Decisions Theatre"

I appreciate this so much, and am going to start using it. Thanks.

And I totally agree. I get really, REALLY tired of things going awry because someone was a bubblehead. It's why I can't watch re-runs of I Love Lucy now that I'm an adult, whereas I loved it when I was a kid. It's boring, frustrating, and infuriating, and I'm just short of yelling, "DON'T DO IT!!!" at my TV screen.