Star Wars Rebels Season One (spoilers)

[kirk55555]

I agree about most of those, except Boba Fett and Jar Jar. Boba was way too much of a bratty kid, and Jar Jar was actually worse than in TPM. In the movies Jar Jar was at least constrained by the movie having to give time to other characters. The TV show gave us 22 straight minutes of Jar Jar without a break sometimes, and had him doing stupider stuff than the movie did.

Filoni's crew also ruined the Mandalorians and the Nightsisters, which basically balances out the good will they get for stuff like Ventress (as a character I liked her despite her stupid Nightsisters stuff), and turning Maul and Ashoka into interesting characters. They seem to work well fixing broken things, but they also take good stuff and screw it up. Plus, Rebels hasn't exactly been up to The Clone Wars quality for most of the season, which is probably because of Disney reigning them in and making them dumb down the characters. So, you have an animation crew who, while generally very good, is prone to making horrible decisions out of nowhere, and they now have to conform to even tighter control than they did in TCW.

I think Rebels has been ok so far and has potential to be great as it goes along, but I don't want them within a mile of old book EU stuff. I'm sure we'll get some good stuff with characters they already worked with before Rebels, like Ahsoka, but their original Rebels characters aren't exactly brilliant.

Spoiler: Gellar's Character

Announcing that they're ripping off my favorite EU character just makes me shrug.

The first Inquisitor was barely a character, and the main Rebels characters aren't blowing my mind. But, as long as they aren't actually ruining the real Mara Jade, I don't have to care. The rip off is a villain on a show that didn't have a good villain until Tarkin showed up. Even with Sarah Michelle Gellar as the voice actress the only real thing the new character has going for her in my opinion is that they didn't call her Mara, so I can ignore her instead of getting angry. I've come to terms with Disney abandoning the best of the EU. I wish they didn't rip off Mara at all, but I'd rather have an ignorable rip off than see them try to ruin the actual character.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

^ Not the most Star Wars-y first name...

Neither is Luke or Ben. Or Ezra.

Moreso, at least to me. There's a difference between Luke or Ben and say Ted, Jennifer or Eileen. Though Ezra is a bit eyebrow-raising.

 

[Rat Boy]

Spoiler: SMG's character

Actually, she kind of sounds a little like the character that ultimately became Lady Lumiya in Marvel's first comic series. Imperial Force sensitive agent infiltrating the rebels on Darth Vader's order.

 

[Christopher]

^ Not the most Star Wars-y first name...

Neither is Luke or Ben. Or Ezra.

Moreso, at least to me. There's a difference between Luke or Ben and say Ted, Jennifer or Eileen. Though Ezra is a bit eyebrow-raising.

So, Luke Wilson? Ben Affleck? Ezra Klein the journalist? Those names don't ring a bell?

Sabine is also a moderately common female given name, particularly in Europe. It's the name of a pre-Roman Italian tribe. In fact, both Sabine Wren and Ezra Bridger could easily be real names on Earth. And Hera is the name of a Greek goddess. Whereas Padme is a variant of the Indian name Padma, meaning lotus.

 

[Masiral]

Filoni's crew also ruined the Mandalorians and the Nightsisters, which basically balances out the good will they get for stuff like Ventress (as a character I liked her despite her stupid Nightsisters stuff), and turning Maul and Ashoka into interesting characters. They seem to work well fixing broken things, but they also take good stuff and screw it up. Plus, Rebels hasn't exactly been up to The Clone Wars quality for most of the season, which is probably because of Disney reigning them in and making them dumb down the characters. So, you have an animation crew who, while generally very good, is prone to making horrible decisions out of nowhere, and they now have to conform to even tighter control than they did in TCW.

In my opinion, TCW made the Mandalorians and Nightsisters more interesting than the EU. I don't even really see all that much difference between the EU Nightsisters and the TCW Nightsisters. And I didn't care for Karen Traviss's take on the Mandalorians at all.

Rebels right now is about the quality that TCW was in its first season - a bit better, actually, since they've learned what works from TCW and aren't jumping around the timeline. I don't think Disney is really being anymore strict than Cartoon Network was - they're both shows made for kids.

And those "horrible decisions made out of nowhere" - some of them came from George Lucas himself.

 

[Skywalker]

Spoiler: Gellar's character

Wow, I was only joking. Never really thought they'd (kinda) actually go in that direction. I wonder why they aren't using the name. Could it be a royalties thing? I was always under the impression that none of the authors owned any piece of IP they created themselves.

On the other hand it really could be that they're saving Mara for later. Perhaps as Aileen's daughter/younger sister/replacement/secret apprentice?

Spoiler: New character

My guess is they liked the idea of Mara Jade, but didn't want to introduce that character specifically so they could avoid any baggage associated with her. By creating a new character and taking her in a direction Mara didn't go in the books, they won't have to deal with fans complaining that they're ruining the character, for example.

 

[Ithekro]

I would assume this is related to the missing sister of the stormtrooper cadet Ezra made friends with.

 

[Reverend]

Spoiler: Gellar's character

Wow, I was only joking. Never really thought they'd (kinda) actually go in that direction. I wonder why they aren't using the name. Could it be a royalties thing? I was always under the impression that none of the authors owned any piece of IP they created themselves.

On the other hand it really could be that they're saving Mara for later. Perhaps as Aileen's daughter/younger sister/replacement/secret apprentice?

Spoiler: New character

My guess is they liked the idea of Mara Jade, but didn't want to introduce that character specifically so they could avoid any baggage associated with her. By creating a new character and taking her in a direction Mara didn't go in the books, they won't have to deal with fans complaining that they're ruining the character, for example.

Not that I totally disagree with the overall sentiment, but I honestly doubt "fans might complain" is really a serious concern in this case. Fans will complain regardless.

 

[Ithekro]

Fans will complain is only so far as they fans will expect certain things. A new character can go ahead and do things the fans will not expect. They know the fans are paying attention and that some are rather clever. These people were fans too when they were younger.

 

[kirk55555]

In my opinion, TCW made the Mandalorians and Nightsisters more interesting than the EU. I don't even really see all that much difference between the EU Nightsisters and the TCW Nightsisters. And I didn't care for Karen Traviss's take on the Mandalorians at all.

Rebels right now is about the quality that TCW was in its first season - a bit better, actually, since they've learned what works from TCW and aren't jumping around the timeline. I don't think Disney is really being anymore strict than Cartoon Network was - they're both shows made for kids.

And those "horrible decisions made out of nowhere" - some of them came from George Lucas himself.

Well, I love Karen traviss's SW books, her Mandalorians are what I consider the actual version. The Nightsisters in tCW have almost nothing in common with the EU version, and dathomir was completely different. There were also no good witches of Dathomir, which got on my nerves. The Nightsisters were a lunatic fringe on Dathomir in the books. Not all the witches were good, but there were a lot more witches (good and bad) then their were nightsisters.

Also, none of them were literally witches, and their abilities had basically the same limits as jedi, because it was all just the force. The jedi access it in their way, and the witches of Dathomir did pseudo magic spells to use it. The Nightsisters basically used actual magic in TCW, based on the things they could do that no force user, light or dark, ever did.

Also, I know those horrible decisions were George Lucas at times. That doesn't make it better. He hasn't done anything good with Star wars since Return of the Jedi. TCW could probably have been even better if he hadn't been involved at all. While I'm glad he was willing to generally leave the EU alone when he was incontrol, and even took stuff from it (I think the Twi'leck name was EU originally), George Lucas is definitely not someone I liked when he did make "adjustments" to the non-film branch of SW (wookie jedi ban anyone?).

Fans will complain is only so far as they fans will expect certain things. A new character can go ahead and do things the fans will not expect. They know the fans are paying attention and that some are rather clever. These people were fans too when they were younger.

Spoiler: SMG Character

For me, it gives me an excuse to completely ignore and dismiss the new character, which will make me a lot happier than getting enraged if they decided to ruin the original instead. Its really lazy of them (why base a new character off of anything?), but I'd rather a forgettable rip off than another screw up. Plus, it means its not impossible that a good writer might bring the real version back in a book someday, which I'd still be wary of but its the only context I could see her being reintroduce without ruining her.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Well, I love Karen traviss's SW books, her Mandalorians are what I consider the actual version.

I don't becuase if the Mandalorians were some sort of uber badasses Revan wouldn't have beat the crap out of them now would he.

 

[Saul]

Spoiler: new character

I'm excited if the real Mara Jade was in this show. A rip off of the character doesn't excite me and seems rather pointless.

 

[kirk55555]

Well, I love Karen traviss's SW books, her Mandalorians are what I consider the actual version.

I don't becuase if the Mandalorians were some sort of uber badasses Revan wouldn't have beat the crap out of them now would he.

They're soldiers, not gods. Even in the books they aren't anywhere near undefeatable. By that logic the jedi suck because they were almost totally wiped out, and the Sith are horrible villains for the same reason. Traviss's Mandalorians were skilled, but it was made very clear that a lot of them died, and they were thousands of years removed from the ones Revan fought anyway. Every group gets defeated eventually, especially a warrior/mercenary type culture.

The mandalorians got beat badly by Revan, but the Jedi got even more ruined by Palpatine. A mandalorian is just a highly trained soldier, even Traviss didn't try to make them as "uber badass" as some of the haters of her books suggest. The best can take a jedi one on one in some stories, but honestly I've never been a supporter of making jedi unbeatable mystic warriors, something which admittedly the Clone wars cartoon did a good job of not doing. I like Traviss's books because I think they're very well written, and have characters I really enjoy. You don't have to agree, but just because mandalorians 4,000 before the star Wars movies were defeated badly really isn't a mark against them as a group.

 

[Skywalker]

Spoiler: Gellar's character

Wow, I was only joking. Never really thought they'd (kinda) actually go in that direction. I wonder why they aren't using the name. Could it be a royalties thing? I was always under the impression that none of the authors owned any piece of IP they created themselves.

On the other hand it really could be that they're saving Mara for later. Perhaps as Aileen's daughter/younger sister/replacement/secret apprentice?

Spoiler: New character

My guess is they liked the idea of Mara Jade, but didn't want to introduce that character specifically so they could avoid any baggage associated with her. By creating a new character and taking her in a direction Mara didn't go in the books, they won't have to deal with fans complaining that they're ruining the character, for example.

Not that I totally disagree with the overall sentiment, but I honestly doubt "fans might complain" is really a serious concern in this case. Fans will complain regardless.

Oh, I agree, that's a much more minor concern. Like I said before that, I'm sure the biggest reason is so they can just avoid any associated baggage from the past, and so they can just take SMG's character in whatever direction they want.

 

[Wadjda]

In my opinion, TCW made the Mandalorians and Nightsisters more interesting than the EU. I don't even really see all that much difference between the EU Nightsisters and the TCW Nightsisters. And I didn't care for Karen Traviss's take on the Mandalorians at all.

Rebels right now is about the quality that TCW was in its first season - a bit better, actually, since they've learned what works from TCW and aren't jumping around the timeline. I don't think Disney is really being anymore strict than Cartoon Network was - they're both shows made for kids.

And those "horrible decisions made out of nowhere" - some of them came from George Lucas himself.

Well, I love Karen traviss's SW books, her Mandalorians are what I consider the actual version. The Nightsisters in tCW have almost nothing in common with the EU version, and dathomir was completely different. There were also no good witches of Dathomir, which got on my nerves. The Nightsisters were a lunatic fringe on Dathomir in the books. Not all the witches were good, but there were a lot more witches (good and bad) then their were nightsisters.

Also, none of them were literally witches, and their abilities had basically the same limits as jedi, because it was all just the force. The jedi access it in their way, and the witches of Dathomir did pseudo magic spells to use it. The Nightsisters basically used actual magic in TCW, based on the things they could do that no force user, light or dark, ever did.

Also, I know those horrible decisions were George Lucas at times. That doesn't make it better. He hasn't done anything good with Star wars since Return of the Jedi. TCW could probably have been even better if he hadn't been involved at all. While I'm glad he was willing to generally leave the EU alone when he was incontrol, and even took stuff from it (I think the Twi'leck name was EU originally), George Lucas is definitely not someone I liked when he did make "adjustments" to the non-film branch of SW (wookie jedi ban anyone?).

The evil witches sure did not look like a fringe element in the Republic comics.

 

[Reverend]

Spoiler: New character

My guess is they liked the idea of Mara Jade, but didn't want to introduce that character specifically so they could avoid any baggage associated with her. By creating a new character and taking her in a direction Mara didn't go in the books, they won't have to deal with fans complaining that they're ruining the character, for example.

Not that I totally disagree with the overall sentiment, but I honestly doubt "fans might complain" is really a serious concern in this case. Fans will complain regardless.

Oh, I agree, that's a much more minor concern. Like I said before that, I'm sure the biggest reason is so they can just avoid any associated baggage from the past, and so they can just take SMG's character in whatever direction they want.

That's the thing though, they're not beholden to any baggage the character might have because they're free to cherry pick whatever they want from the EU and also to discard anything they don't want.

They certainly didn't seem to mind running roughshod over the EU when it came to their depictions of Aayla Secura, Quinlan Vos and most especially Asajj Ventress & the Dathomiri. All of which had a fair bit of "baggage" from the EU that they quite simply ignored to no ill effect.

I'm thinking this "new" character may be a bit of misdirection or set-up for you-know-who to show up later on down the line. That or the name they announced is just an alias.

 

[Ithekro]

Well if they stick to the EU origins, the main reason for such a change would be the age of the character, I think. Do you want someone to match Ezra, or Kanan? Do you want someone very young, or slightly older? I would think slightly older even if the idea is to have a match for Ezra, give his thoughts on Sabine. Also there is still the missing sister of that stormtrooper cadet that was supposedly taken by the Inquisitor. That is probably were this character is coming from to keep their setup from the First Season.

 

[kirk55555]

The evil witches sure did not look like a fringe element in the Republic comics.

They were in the books, in basically every story they were used/mentioned. Sure they were on the planet, but the non-darkside witches outnumbered them, and they definitely didn't control the planet. They also weren't uniformly bald and had different clans, but that's not super important. At most, they had similar strength to the witches of Dathomir but couldn't overwhelm them. But we don't see one of the good witches in TCW. They act like Dathomir is some evil panet dominated by the Nightsisters, which is nothing like the way it was in the books, which is how I liked Dathomir. It was actually a pretty interesting setting before TCW screwed it up.

 

[Wadjda]

So between CW and COPL the status quo could not change?

 

[Mr Light]

Also, let's keep in mind that seeing a single small group of people on one planet must absolutely positively be representative of every single other group on said planet.