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When does this air? I keep thinking that September seems forever away, then realise that it's already September and somehow everything still seems forever away!
Registered: Aug 2002
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I think it was quite fun and had a lot of heart.
-------------------- "Never give up. And never, under any circumstances, no matter what - never face the facts." - Ruth Gordon
Registered: Mar 2000
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Yeah it was pretty good. I liked how they incorporated an unused concept of the at-st into show as a new design. If I recall, that design was also used in the old Star Wars comics by Marvel.
Registered: Feb 2005
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Almost ALL the Rebels designs are unused Ralph McQuarrie designs- the stubby TIE fighters, the less-than-detailed Star Destroyer (ug.) the walker, the weird childlike speeder-bike trooper helmets, etc. Really, only the Ghost is a new design.
Quickie review:
So I caught the first episode today- it was pretty good for a first episode. I like the hero cast, the hero ship (Ghost) and the animation, while not up to CW standards for movment, is still close.
THE GOOD: The hero cast are all pretty cool- excepting the annoying droid.
The Mandolorian babe on the ghost seems to be the daughter of Bo-Katan Kryze- her name is Sabine and her armor and blasters are the same make/model as her mommy's. I kinda think EVERYTHING about her is a re-use- her face, armor and guns all look to be re-colored versions of the Deathwatch commando (her mom, I presume). Anyway, I like her!
The main Jedi (Keevan?) in in a relationship (with his Twilik pilot)! YEAH! Good to see he can maintain his Jedi beliefs while not following the same failed restrictions on attachments.
The ship is pretty great looking.
The BAD: The Stormtroopers and TIE Fighters are grossly ineffectual- we're talking "Scoby-Doo" level non-threatening villians. Stormtroopers also dont appear to be clones in this- they have a different voice than the clone troopers (BOO!).
Imperial officers are all corrupt and two-dimensional.
TIE fighters blow up into white clouds with little debris.
There is some slapstick type humor with fails badly.
The sound effects seem weak- particularly the turret-blasters on the Ghost- it's distracting and really timid sounding. Weird- the turrets seem identical to those on the CW Y-Wings- why not use the same sound effect from that?
The lightsaber effect is different and kinda blury when it's moved- maybe a nit closer to the way Obi Wan's looked in ANH, but not clean like the CW look.
THE UGLY: The new" TIE Fighters look like the old Kenner Toys and are obviously a huuuuge step down from CW era fighters- slower and less armed.
The Star Destroyer is AWFUL. No two ways about it- it's an undetailed hot mess- the old ERTL model is more detailed (and that's really saying something!). The proportions are also off in places and the sidewalls are not recessed- they are flush with the hull and there is only a center strip of light greebling- it looks like a snap-kit for kids was scanned and used.
OVERALL RATING: B- a solid start and it makes me want to watch more, even though it's obviously geared to a younger audience than CW was, it shows promise- unfortunately, it looks a lot like the budget was slashed from the CW levels- you'll see that the cities look deserted (less models) and the overall feel is kinda...fanfic. Hopefully this will improve of there is a good viewer reaction, but no one seems to understand Disney's decisions with cartoon media these days.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:The Star Destroyer is AWFUL/The sound effects seem weak- particularly the turret-blasters on the Ghost- it's distracting and really timid sounding/Hopefully things will improve if there is a good viewer reaction, but no one seems to understand Disney's decisions with cartoon media these days.
Inclined to agree.
Registered: Aug 1999
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In OT, TIE fighters blew up into LARGE white clouds with little/no debris- no so here. In this, it just looks like a video game effect- or like a CG effect from a decade ago.
But I get that they're trying for an ANH look- it's a baaaad choice though. Trying hard to match effects from over 30 years ago is a dumb move- it'd be like a new Trek series using VFX from TMP- fine for models, BAD for effects!
Somehow this all seems low-budget compared with TCW.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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I wonder if the look of the Star Destroyers is supposed to indicate an intermediate design between the Venator and the Star Destroyers of the OT. These designs would be easier to swallow if that was the case. Also good eye on the Mandalorian chick, I didn't notice all those details. Although her Phoenix/Bird symbol is similar to the Rebel Alliance crest. Some foreshadowing I'm sure.
Registered: Feb 2005
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I had the same notion on the Star Destroyers, but if that were the case, there's plenty of known Star Destroyer variations they could have gone with- instead of giving us what looks like a snap-tight model kit or something from a Lego set.
The sidewalls are what bother me the most (from what little we've seen thus far)- they are not recessed at all and detail there is minimal. It. Looks. Awful. Why put such obvious effort into The Ghost but not the SD? They have to know they'll be using the model over and over...
Again, it smacks of a tighter budget that TCW- as insane as that sounds with Disney owning everything!
Meh. Maybe it'll take off with the fans and we'll get a better SD model down the road- maybe even some fan favorites like the Intridictor (unless that's considered part of the now-non-canon EU?).
Registered: Aug 2002
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I suppose you could say it is- but really, it's a very poor representation of Ralph McQuarrie's painting. Really, ALL the designs for Rebels are directly taken from McQuarrie's original SW paintings- the big crewman from The Ghost is actually McQuarrie's concept for Chewbacca- there's even a line of action figures based on Ralph's concepts and one of concept-Chewie that looks veeeerrry familliar: http://www.rebelscum.com/tac21McChewie.asp
It's like when someone takes a TNG Trek design and makes a TOS version of it- it comes across as an homage, but never looks like it belongs in that era. So too with the Rebels SD- and the multi-colored lights certainly dont help matters- nor does the utter lack of visible turbolasers! WTH?!?
Really, I think the design would still be okay if they shortened the neck and gave it it's turbolasers- it's frankly idiotic to leave those off- even if they are not present in the McQuarrie painting, their absense is glaring- we KNOW the Venator has them and the ISD has them- it's dumb for this version to break design lineage by not being armed.
Registered: Aug 2002
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Actually, if you look at the more distant ISD in the "RMQ" file then compare with Rebels, the latter simply adds notches a la the film ISD (interrupting the triangle), but otherwise looks about the same.
In any case, I approve of hearkening back and such, but that should've been a prototype or something, not the production model.
-------------------- . . . ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
posted
Anyone got a link to where I can watch Rebels online? Unfortunately, the series where I live is ONLY available to watch with an extra "Disney XD" subscription- or by paying for $1.50 each episode for the privilege of watching them on Comcast's "On Demand" service.
Scam-a-licious.
Thus far, I've only been able to watch the premier episode...
BUT, I'm listening to the excellent audiobook "A New Dawn" by John Jackson Miller- the writer behind several SW books and Dark Horse's amazing Dark Times series, which, like Rebels, takes place between trilogies.
A New Dawn takes places shortly (a year?) prior to the first episode of Rebels. There's some interesting stuff on Count Vidian- including how he'd been a billionaire industrialist and used his vast wealth to cyborg himself out- and to purchase his "Count" title.
The audiobook is dfinitely worth picking up!
Registered: Aug 2002
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