Finally, a new TV show to talk about! Or atleast...an episode of it. Star Wars Rebels is the animated series running on Disney XD based in the Star Wars universe inbetween episodes 3 & 4. The series follows a group of Robin Hood like characters who steal from the Empire and give to the needy. In the season one finale, they had officially teamed up with the still small sized Rebels. In this hour long premiere of season two, we have our small team of Rebels trying to rescue a minister on the planet of Lothal (where all of season one took place) when they are trapped there by the Empire with the ambush lead by Darth Vader himself, thus our heroes try to find a way off the planet while avoiding the empire.The opening of this episode shows a quick reintroduction of our protagonists as they fight alongside the rebellion to steal supplies from the Empire, it was a quick and clever way to introduce the crew to any new viewers this season, showing the personalities, roles and relationships of our main characters, as well as showing how they are handling their new responsibilities as part of the rebellion. The characters are in fact what this show relies on to get by, the charm of this being a Star Wars product will only get you so far and it's an idea that has been done plenty of times before, so if you want to stand out, you need memorable characters that the audience enjoys rooting for, which this show does excellently. Kanan is given an interesting character trait that's introduced in this episode, he's a free spirit and always has been, the idea of teaming up with the Rebels doesn't sit well with him. Having to go through formalities and taking orders isn't his style, he likes making his own choices in life, as well as helping the little people, letting other people focus on the bigger picture. Also having read the Kanan comic series (which is really good by the way) it adds that extra layer of depth, a character who once trusted soldiers and was good friends with them who betrayed him in the blink of an eye would make him uncomfortable to be around another group of soldiers.
Ezra has the biggest change in character, gone is the annoying Aladdin rip off from the first season, ever since the danger he faced in the finale of last season, he's now calmer and uses his head more often, he still maintains that boyish innocence and brave nature, but also takes things more seriously and unlike Kanan, does think abut the bigger picture. It's a nice change in the character, giving him natural development to make him feel like a more engaging protagonist, but not too much where he doesn't feel like his distinct self like he was already introduced. Hera feels much more at home fighting for the rebellion, being the most responsible person on the Ghost, it makes sense that she enjoys being around other sensible thinkers who take the situation much more seriously. But she's not a stick in the mud either, telling everyone how bad and stupid their ideas are, she's willing to improvise and take risks, but always thinking ahead and much more reasonably than the others. Zeb, Sabine and Chopper didn't do much in terms of character development in this episode, they're still the exact same as they were in the previous season, which is something that I hope they change, while they were enjoyable in the first season, the lack of development makes them less interesting, so i hope to see significant changes in them by the end of season two.
This story feels more like a stand-alone plot than it does an introduction for season two's arc, that may be fitting seeing as the rest of this season doesn't air until September, but we'll get to that later. The plot itself was well paced for an hour long story, but didn't feel like it needed to be, half of the episode was setting up the characters and the other half was this story, so it could easily have been divided. I was very excited to see Ahsoka back on screen seeing as she was one of my favourite characters in The Clone Wars, but i also assumed she would have had more to do, she's missing for the entire middle portion of the story and even the scenes where she does show up, she's lost in the background until she senses Vader. Speaking of whom, Darth Vader was probably more menacing here than he ever was in the movies, which is not to insult his film portrayal which i still love, but the build they give him here, the characters descriptions of him and the moment when they actually meet face to face was chilling, this is probably the best that i've ever seen Vader. The scene where he and Ahsoka make contact via the force, it was astounding and I cannot wait to see how they settle that storyline.
The cameo by Billy Dee Williams as Lando was nice, though felt unnecessary, seeing him in the first season was great because he had a purpose, if the show is going to have them crossover then i would hope it would be for a major reason and not just feel like fanservice. Also finally, the animation seems to have gotten an upgrade since last season, the motion isn't as clunky, the textures look better, it's still not up to Clone Wars quality, but it's improving, just don't put any more Wookies in the show...goddamn those Wookies designs...
So it's going to be a while till I actually get to review the rest of the series seeing as the proper second season isn't going to air until September, I have no idea why they're waiting so long, but nevertheless, whether i review it depends on the specific release date, afterall, i'll be reviewing Flash and Arrow again by then, so we'll have to see. But until then, this was a very good starter episode for the second season, it's great seeing these characters again and I look forward to seeing where they're going to go with this story. I'm giving the episode a 7/10.
-Danny
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