I was a pretty big fan of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, an animated series set between the events of Episodes II and III.  While the prequel films were disappointing for reasons almost too numerous to count, the setting of that period in Star Wars history has produced quite a few excellent spin-off comics, video games and TV adaptations.  When produced, directed or written by people not named George Lucas, the prequel era has proven to have its share of interesting characters, storylines and conflicts to explore.

While I was dismayed with how The Clone Wars cartoon finished, as it left many frustrating loose ends and elected not to connect its end-point with opening of Episode III, the quality, overall was excellent.  The series also improved both in terms of its writing and the quality of the animation from its humble beginnings.  There were unsatisfying or outright bad episodes and story arcs, to be sure, but my enjoyment rarely dipped for long.  Nevertheless, I personally met the announcement of Rebels with skepticism.

My early impressions were unfavourable.  It appeared, at a glance, that the new series was being geared towards an even younger audience than The Clone Wars – the main protagonist is a teenager.  The proximity in time (5 years?) to Episode IV seemed fraught with danger – would they be tempted to overplay characters such as Vader or ret-con others?  Visually, what I saw in teasers and trailers left me uncertain if I was looking at a visual downgrade from the previous series, which was completely confusing.  I’ll cover that issue in more detail below.

I did recognize that the period the series is set in represented many opportunities.  The gap era of 20 or so years between the original films and the prequels was mostly a blank slate.  Apart from having to chart the progress of the tightening-grip that the Empire would have been placing on the galaxy at that time, a formative look at the Rebel Alliance is the only other necessary story element.  Everything else is wide open for the imagination of the writers and creators.  Hearing that veterans from The Clone Wars like Kilian Plunkett and Dave Filoni would be among the creators involved also gave me hope.  Reservations aside, I tried to approach the first Star Wars Rebels season (15 episodes total) with an open mind.

The audience is introduced to the group of heroes that Rebels centres on through the eyes of street kid Ezra Bridger – a resident of an Outer Rim planet with possibly the least Star Wars sounding name ever conceived.  Surviving on his own through only his wits and fast fingers from a young age, he crosses paths with the titular group while they’re attempting to steal equipment and make trouble for the local Imperial presence.  Ezra is initially about as likeable as any poorly-behaved, smart-mouthed teen, but thankfully shows continual growth (and additional depth) as a character throughout the season.

Ezra’s potential with The Force is recognized by the group’s leader, former Jedi-in-training Kanan Jarrus.  His master having been slain during the events of the prequel timeline, Jarrus is one of the few surviving members of the order.  Not a conventional Jedi, by any means, he survives by bending much of the code, carrying a blaster and eschewing the familiar dress.  Despite lacking total confidence in his own skills, he takes on Ezra as a Padawan and endorses him as a member of the crew.  Jarrus must, understandably hide his background, and is fearful for it to be widely known that a Jedi leads their cell.  The unwanted attention from this fact later serves to drive much of the plot.

Hera Syndulla is the Twi’lek pilot of the Ghost, the team’s stealthy and versatile ship: as this is a Star Wars show of course it is yet another modified Corellian light freighter variant.  Hera and Jarrus have a very close relationship though outright romantic overtones are notably muted.  One almost gets the sense the producers were concerned a young audience would be put off by kissing or cooties.  Protective of both her ship and the crew, Hera is at all times steadfast and arguably the glue that holds the group together.  I had forgotten that her father, himself a rebel in the prequel era, was featured in a storyline back in The Clone Wars.

Sabine Wren is, thus far, the most eye-rolling character in the series.  A teenaged Mandalorian with a penchant for spray paint and thermal detonators, her pink armour would be sacrilege if it wasn’t mostly laughable.  A capable gun-fighter and possessed of impressive acrobatic abilities, Sabine is less bratty than Ezra but still feels ill-fitting for a number of reasons: imagine if ‘Poochie’ stayed on as a part of The Itchy & Scratchy Show instead of being killed off and you’ll understand where I’m coming from.  With further background development (apparently handled in Season 2) perhaps she might be less grating.

‘Zeb’ is a hulking alien of a species I’ve not previously been familiar with.  No mere Wookie stand-in, he talks and cracks jokes – albeit in a gruff English accent that is a waste of Steven Blum’s voice talents.  Strong, grumpy and a hardened warrior, he is one of the last of his kind, and as such bears a grudge against the Empire.  Typically feuding with Ezra or “Chopper” in most episodes about one thing or another, he is nonetheless a loyal member of the crew.  In combat situations he’s given to wild brawling, which is a fun counter-point to the gun-play and lightsabre duelling that usually dominate Star Wars action scenes.

The aforementioned “Chopper” (C1-10P) is a rust-coloured astromech droid, who handles much of the maintenance and comic relief on the Ghost.  If R2D2 had a clunkier, angrier, more single-minded cousin, you’d likely end up with Chopper.  It wouldn’t really be a Star Wars story without a requisite droid as a support character, and he definitely fits the bill.  He even manages to take centre stage a few times and truly save the day.

With the Empire serving as our heroes’ main adversaries, expect to see encounters with Storm Troopers, Imperial Officers and functionaries.  Highly reminiscent scrapes with TIE Fighters, speeder-bikes, walkers and Star Destroyers also feature prominently.  Pitch battles are few and far between, with the nascent rebel group preferring fast strikes and hit-and-fade tactics.  Though the spectre of Emperor and his apprentice are present, the primary villain is the Inquisitor, a malevolent grey-skinned agent working at Vader’s behest, tasked with hunting down any remaining Jedi or prospective trainees in the Force.  He’s an interesting threat and makes sense within the existing canon…after all even Vader couldn’t have wiped out all the Jedi single-handedly.

Ralph McQuarrie’s iconic concept art, as the DVD/Blu-ray special features attest, serve as a huge inspiration for many of the character designs – notably Zeb, Chopper and some of the Imperial helmets.  This creative decision was a master-stroke, as it manages to make the series look and feel like a convincing predecessor to the original trilogy.  Curiously, the visuals of the main characters seemed to me like they were animated with less graphical fidelity than the backgrounds, vehicles and characters around them.  After a few viewings, I was convinced I was looking at a reduction in quality from The Clone Wars but I couldn’t put a finger on why.

As an experiment, I watched an early and late episode of The Clone Wars to satisfy my curiosity.  I can report that it does appear I was right that the character models of the primary cast has been simplified when compared to The Clone Wars: perhaps to save time/money in animating the characters who are being utilized over and over again?  Ezra and Zeb are probably the most noticeable examples of this.  Looking at the backgrounds, vehicles and objects in the scene, however, Rebels is at least the equal of The Clone Wars in animation quality, and may even be an improvement in some areas, such as lip sync.

The music is exactly what you’d expect from Star Wars, with the usual John Williams pieces slotted exactly where they should be.  What Rebels does exceptionally well for such a fast paced show is that it still manages to use the music effectively, even with quick cuts and transitions.  The sound effects are also very familiar and well executed, with the exception of some strange choices of the occasional blaster that manages to sound like a pea-shooter.  The voice acting is very well done: I’d single out the performances of Freddie Prince Jr. and Jason Isaacs in particular.  A smattering of high-profile guest cameos are fun to see, and I gather this trend continues in subsequent seasons.

My biggest pet peeve with the series is the occasional intrusion of real world elements into the Star Wars arena.  Ezra’s ridiculous stun-slingshot device belongs in Dennis the Menace.  Sabine’s spray painting hobby feels like a naked attempt to ascribe coolness to the series and attempts to contextualize it within the narrative feel forced.  British accents abound in Star Wars but hearing Zeb’s voice is like fingernails on the proverbial chalkboard.

Significant character development is largely reserved for Ezra over the course of the season.  Season two reportedly deals deal more evenly with the backgrounds of the other crew: a welcome change.  Undoubtedly Rebels first season’s biggest issue is its lack of variety in terms of the locales – get used to seeing the planet Lothal, its urban streets, alleys and expansive grasslands time and again.  My limited research into season to two has revealed this is another shortcoming that has been addressed.  As far as episodes are concerned, Out of Darkness is my personal low-point: the attempt at building a tense situation whereby Sabine and Hera are trapped on an asteroid with vicious creatures stalking them from dark corners, falls flat.  The two part finale (Rebel Resolve/Fire Across the Galaxy) is my favourite, with a rescue mission that culminates in a lightsabre battle the equal of any featured in The Clone Wars.

Having been renewed for 22 episodes in both the second and third seasons, Star War Rebels seems to be well received with fans.  I’m glad I was able to set aside some of my early hesitance and give it a try.  An interesting character reveal of a fan favourite character that will join the main cast was one of the final things to occur in the first season, which will personally be reason enough to revisit the series again.  I give it a strong recommendation to all but the most finicky Star Wars fans out there.