Star Wars Rebels
| Star Wars Rebels | |
|---|---|
 "To Rebel, or not to Rebel. That is the question." | |
| Format | Series |
| Created by | Dave Filoni |
| Starring | Voice Actors |
| Theme music composer | Kevin Kiner |
| Country of origin | Space? |
| Language(s) | Human |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Lucasfilm |
| Production company(s) |
Disney |
| Distributor | Disney |
| Broadcast | |
| Picture format | 1080p |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Rogue One |
Star Wars Rebels is a 2014 American animated television series by Lucasfilm Animation and set in the Star Wars universe. It takes place 14 years after Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and 5 years prior to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It was created by Avatar Dave Filoni, who previously worked on Seasons 1 to 6 of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and would later be behind the live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett alongside a happy Jon Favreau, aswell as returning to animation projects such as the seventh and final season of The Clone Wars and Star Wars: The Bad Batch. Season 1 premiered in October 2014 with the final episode of Season 4 airing March 2018 on Disney XD. The series follows the crew of the Ghost; two Jedis, a Mandalorian, a hot Twi'lek chick, a purple guy and an R2-D2 rip-off voiced by none other than Dave Filoni.
Cast and characters[edit]
- Ezra Bridger voiced by: Taylor Black
- Hera Syndulla voiced by: Vanessa U.S. Marshal
- Kanan Jarrus aka Caleb Dume voiced by: King Fred
- Sabine Wren voiced by: Tiya Supercar
- Zeb voiced by: Steven Plum
- Chopper voiced by: Dave Filoni
- Darth Vader voiced by: James 'Earl-Grey-Tea' Jones and Matt Lantern
- Ahsoka Tano voiced by: Ash Ketchup
- Captain Rex, Commander Wolffe and Captain Gregor voiced by: Perry the Platypus
- Darth Maul voiced by: Sam Witty
- Emperor Palpatine/Darth Sidious voiced by: Sam Witty in Seasons 1-3. Reprised by Ian McDiarmid in the final season
- Grand Admiral Thrawn voiced by: the brother of the Death Star creator.
Production[edit]
With the fact that this was a cartoon for children, Lucasfilm Animation had to change the art style for the series instead of using the same as The Clone Wars, as it was deemed too "violent" by Disney executives. Along with the now more "kid friendly" art style, the lightsaber blades were also made thinner to match with the aesthetic of the show, even if they looked like blue and red speghetti noodles.
Historical influence[edit]
Characters in Star Wars Rebels are influenced from Biblical, Hebrew, and Greco-Roman mythological names. Star Wars writers have often used biblical names for Jedi, while giving galactic Imperial characters Roman names. In 2015, an interview was conducted with Dave Filoni where he stated that they wanted to connect to the original films by using the biblical naming scheme seen in the films. In a later interview in 2018, Filoni cleared up that as he was currently going through his "self-discovery" part of life at that time, it was another reason he named characters after a fictional story within a fictional story. Both Caleb and Ezra are historically Hebrew names, with Ezra translating to "Annoying kid". Characters with Roman names include; Clone Captain Rex which translates to "Blue Guy" in Latin (although that character was created for The Clone Wars).
Live-action appearances[edit]
In the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, both Chopper and the Ghost can be seen in the Rebel base hanger, aswell as Hera being referrenced. Chopper, unfortuntely, doesn't have any lines in his breif cameo. The Ghost can also be seen in the final battle over Scarif.
Also, in the 2019 film Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, the Ghost makes another live-action appearance in the final battle on Exegol (presumably piloted by either Hera and/or Jason) when the Resistance goes up against Palpatines Candy Cane Star Destroyers.
On December 10, 2020, an Ahsoka Tano solo series was annouced, with Rosario Dawson reprising her role as the orange Jedi after starring in The Mandalorian season two and The Book of Boba Fett. The show was released in August 2023, and was written, produced and directed by Dave Filoni — who would of guessed? Sabine, Hera, Thrawn and Ezra also made their live-action debut in the show.
Zeb also appeared for thirty seconds in season three of The Mandalorian, only so Lucasfilm could show off their amazing CGI skills... that were never in question.
Plot[edit]
Season 1 (2014)[edit]
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Season One" | Steward Lee & Steven G. Lee | Simon Kinberg | October 3, 2014 |
|
Street performer Ezra Bridger is an orphan on Lothal. One day he meets the Ghost crew members: leader Kanan Jarrus, Mandalorian saboteur Sabine Wren, Lasat strongman Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, Twi'lek pilot Hera Syndulla, and her C1 astromech droid; Chopper. Ezra finds a lightsaber and a holocron in Kanan's room and “borrows” the holocron. Ezra is captured by Agent Kallus, an Imperial that isn’t too bright, when he finds out that a group of Wookies have been beastnapped. Ezra somehow opens the holocron and sees a message from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Ezra is saved by the Ghost crew after learning where the Wookiees have been sent. During the rescue of the Wookiees, Kanan draws his lightsaber, revealing himself to be a Jedi - a species thought to be extinct. Having proven himself by opening the holocron, Kanan offers to make Ezra his padawan, despite being more annoying than Ahsoka in The Clone Wars. Ezra has started his Jedi training, but struggles with the basics so that the series can run for four seasons. The rebels discover an unopened letter that Jedi Master Luminara Unduli has survived Order 66, and is being held in a high-security Imperial prison. Kanan wants to rescue Luminara, hoping that she can teach Ezra instead, as Ezra is just bad at Jedi-ing. Upon reaching her cell, however, Kanan and Ezra discover that Luminara has been long dead, and that her remains are being used as bait by an Inquisitor - a Sith that is a Jedi hunter - to lure the two Jedi, or well Jedi and a bit, into a trap. The two work together to escape the Inquisitor before Hera rescues - real convenient Dave. For one of his missions, Ezra goes undercover as an Imperial Academy cadet to steal a shipment of kyber crystals, so that he can build his own lightsaber at the Build-A-Ewok workshop. Ezra celebrates his 15th birthday, which just so happens to be on Empire Day - the same day that Anakin killed all those kids in the Jedi Temple, like the exact same day. Ezra finds out his parents were arrested for making anti-Empire radio broadcasts - as opposed to posters, due to the high cost of ink and paper in space. Kanan and Ezra travel to Fort Anaxes to escape from the Imperials, and not just for a holiday. The Empire arrives and in their fight, the Inquisitor injures Kanan. Filled with anger, Ezra uses the dark side of the Force to summon a giant fyrnock against the Inquisitor, which allows them to escape. Back on Lothal, Kanan brings Ezra to a hidden Jedi Temple. Ezra enters and is shown a series of visions that depict the Inquisitor having a homosexual relationship with Kanan, and a gang-bang with the rest of the Ghost crew. After seeing through the illusions (but also enjoying them at the same time), Ezra meets Jedi Master Yoda, who isn’t really there, but at the same time, is. Kanan also speaks with Yoda about how he should teach Ezra. Yoda leads Ezra to a lightsaber bench, which he uses to build his own lightsaber, with the kyber crystal from the previous episode. Zeb bets and loses Chopper to smuggler Lando Calrissian in a game of Sabacc. Despite Hera being the only one who actually likes Chopper, the group bash Lando up and “retrieve” their droid. During lightsaber practice, Ezra almost cuts his hand off and Kanan breaks the fourth wall by comparing him to Anakin and Luke Skywalker - although the events of The Empire Strikes Back, nor A New Hope have happened yet. Grand Moff Tarkin is sent to Lothal to deal with the rebels once and for all. The rebels use Ezra’s parents' radio to broadcast a message to Tarkin telling him to “go get plastic surgery you old guy, or maybe CGI”. This quote was taken to heart by Gareth Edwards when he made Rogue One. Kanan is kidnapped by Tarkin after he hears their message. The rebels disguise Chopper as an Imperial droid, so that he (it? Do droids even have genders?) can access the Empires data on Kanan. It is revealed that Tarkin plans to transfer Kanan to the prison on Mustafar, where, according to Hera; “Jedi go to die”. The season finale heats up, literally - cause it’s Mustafar, get it? The group rescue Kanan and then split up for the plot to happen. Ezra and Kanan face the Inquisitor in an (epic) lightsaber duel. Ezra gets knocked out, while Kanan defeats the Inquisitor, rupturing the ship's engine in the process. The defeated Inquisitor casts himself to his death in the flames - Dave, are you sure this show is PG-13? The rebels are greeted by Senator Organa and the spy known as Fulcrum, who has been supplying the crew of the Ghost with intel, who is revealed to be Ahsoka Tano. On Lothal, Tarkin introduces Agent Kallus to Darth Vader, who has been selected by Emperor Palpatine to hunt the rebels in the Inquisitor's place, setting up a second season. | |||
Season 2 (2015)[edit]
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Season Two" | Bosco Ng & Brad Rau | Henry Gilroy | June 20, 2015 |
|
Ahsoka Tano joins the Ghost crew. She then tasks the crew to recruit some similar faces from The Clone Wars — that's right, Captain Rex is back along with Captain Gregor and Commander Wolfe. Kanan doesn't trust the clones due to the fact that they killed his master and almost killed him during Order 66. Along with Darth Vader, Agent Kallus returns as the shows villian who befriends Zeb in one of the filler episodes which sets up his eventual turn to the 'good' side in the later seasons. Much like The Mandalorian season 2, this season also has loads of cameos from other shows and movies; like Hondo Ohnaka, who is also from The Clone Wars and also a young Princess Leia before the events of Rogue One and A New Hope. Other villians for the season include some Mandalorians and even more Inquisitors. In the two-part season finale, Darth Maul makes his return who was last seen in season 7 of The Clone Wars and Solo, who teams up with Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka to fight Vader and the Inquisitors. In the finale battle, Kanan becomes blind after masturbating too much. Ahsoka finds out that Vader is her former master Anakin Skywalker after she breaks his helmet trying to kiss him. Ezra and Kanan (being pussies) escape to let Ahsoka face Vader alone. Anakin, I mean Vader, then kills Ahsoka — but we don't actually see him kill her, he just walks out alone, setting up the later seasons also. | |||
Season 3 (2016)[edit]
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Season Three" | Bosco Ng and Mel Zwyer | Steven Melching & Matt Michnovetz | September 24, 2016 |
|
Vader, now feeling sad that he killed his former padawan, leaves the series. In his place, Grand Admiral Thrawn shows up as the main villian for the next two seasons. Kanan, who is still blind (if it were Rey, she would probably make up some new force trick to bring back her eyesight), trains Ezra to be a better man, and also a Jedi. The Ghost Crew do go on some more missions for the Rebellion, which for the audience is fun, but not for the Crew themselves - fighting multiple Imperial Inquistitors and alien monsters - while Thrawn plots his nasty (yet genius) plots. There is even more fan-service with more characters from previous and future series and movies showing up. The best moment of the season doesn't even include any of the main cast, instead it is in the twentieth episode titled "Twin Moons" - where Darth Maul and an old Obi-Wan Kenobi have their rematch duel. In the season 3 two-part finale, it is just a massive battle between the good guys and the bad guys. | |||
Season 4 (2017)[edit]
| Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Season Four" | Steward Lee & Saul Ruiz | Henry Gilroy & Steven Melching and Christopher Yost | October 16, 2017 |
|
The Ghost Crew go to Mandalore (home planet of the Mandalorians) to rescue Sabines' daddy. The rebels, being idiots, get captured also. Bo-Katan (last seen in The Clone Wars and later on makes her live-action debut in The Mandalorian) rescues the former rescuers. They fight the Empire and everyone is happy - except the Imperials, of course. Sabine gives Bo-Katan the Darksaber, setting up, you guessed it - The Mandalorian season 2. Even more side-misisons happen to fill up the 16 episode season. On a mission to rescue Hera, Kanan becomes a suicide bomber. He blows himself up to destroy two AT-ATs to allow the others to escape - not very heroic if you ask me. Ezra then finds out about time-travel using the force. Instead of saving his master, Kanan, he goes back to season 2 and recues Ahsoka Tano before Vader kills her, allowing her to make a live-action debut in The Mandalorian - but at least a young Kanan shows up in The Bad Batch. In the season 4 two-part finale (Dave really loves his multiple episode finales - The Clone Wars season 7 had a four-part finale for gods-sake), Ezra uses the force to get a giant space whale that has a hyperdrive to attach its tentacles to Ezra and Thrawn as if it was a Japanese Rule 34 hentai. The epilogue, set 5 years later and after the events of Return of the Jedi, Sabine and Ahsoka are now lesbians, Kanan somehow got Hera pregnant and Zeb and Kallus are best buddies. Ezra and Thrawn are still... Lost in Space somewhere. | |||
Season 5 (2023)[edit]
Reception[edit]
Many adult Star Wars fans were unhappy with the animation style for the show, despite the fact that it was a Disney cartoon for kids. Fans were also happy to see an older, wiser, hotter Ahsoka Tano, who was last seen in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In the Season 2 two-part finale, Ahsoka was reunited with her former Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker, now Darth Vader.
