A bit surprised we’ve not got a thread here–the premiere aired Friday night, introducing us to the heroes and villains and, most importantly, welcoming us back to the Star Wars universe we’ve missed since things went a bit off the rails with the prequels. That’s the big thing I took away, and the thing that put the biggest smile on my face (and an occasional catch in my throat and water in my eyes): this felt like Star Wars again. There’s definitely some stuff to quibble about here–I don’t care for all of the voice casting, particularly Ezra, our primary protagonist, and Zeb, our ultra-cockney-voiced muscle. The “kid heroes” thing w/ Ezra and Sabine isn’t my cup of tea, though I get that this is a kids’ show that’s gonna have kid protagonists. And of course, the animation/artwork needs some work–Ezra’s hair, in particular, may well turn out to be some sort of alien symbiote and I won’t be too surprised.
But none of that mattered, because while they’ve got room to improve on some details, they’ve got the broad strokes right. Some of that’s just as simple as having the familiar elements to work with–Star Destroyers and Imperial stormtroopers and TIE fighters. But they use them all well, and it hits that right sense of adventure and wonder among the stars that we first saw in 1977. I’m really looking forward to seeing where this one goes.
I’ve been following the development of this show closely. IMHO it’s nowhere near as good as later Clone Wars episodes (and if you gave up on that show early on, it’s worth revisiting), but this was the pilot, not an episode from a mature series.
Despite myself, there were moments that really got to me. The Star Wars we grew up on is back for the first time in 15 years, and it’ll only get better.
I pretty much agree with everything you said above. My biggest geekout was over the return of the old school holograms from the original trilogy. And that’s the magic here–we’re back to where it all began…
Kinda surprised Disney signed off on a cartoon where the protagonists engage in quite so much casual murder. The main characters are introduced killing like twenty people in order to steal their stuff. Granted the people they’re killing are basically space-Nazi’s, but still. It kinda made the show feel to mature for most kids, and too kiddy for most adults.
But that aside, seemed fun. Basically Clone Wars without all the baggage from the prequels.
ETA: also, I think each iteration of Star Wars gets slightly less subtle with villain names. “Agent Kallus” is basically one step removed from “Captain Baddguy”
I caught a total of about three minutes of this, but I did see the apparent good guy blowing up a stormtrooper with some kind of grenade and that was my first thought, as well. “He just killed a guy!” Seemed pretty intense compared to what a lot of cartoons portray.
Disney hasn’t been sunshine and rainbows for a while. Even the shows on when I was a kid in the '90s had some dark stuff.
They still rather tightly control their image, but the “no violence, no language” Disney is more of a thing for their theme parks or feature length movies. And even then, if you actually watch a lot of their feature length movies… I mean, Hunchback was about a guy who tried to burn Paris because some Roma chick gave him a boner.
I’m definitely intrigued. I don’t think I’ll be able to see it until it comes out on disc. I was wondering about the tone as well; I attended a panel discussion featuring Timothy Zahn among others, in which we were reassured repeatedly that Disney wouldn’t ruin the franchise any further, despite being Disney. I do share that fear, but then again, keep in mind that The Rocketeer was technically a Disney film, and it isn’t exactly sanitized. It’s also awesome.
So yeah, if the tone of the original series is back, despite being on the Disney Channel and despite the pervasive American Animation Age Ghetto, I’m very pleased.
Well, I just saw the second episode. I won’t give anything away, but I will say “Wow!” They aren’t wasting time setting up plot elements. I can’t imagine every episode being this momentous, but right now we’re being spoiled.
One of the great things is how well it connects the prequels with the classic films without at all sacrificing that original trilogy vibe. I am really impressed.
They’re also doing a lovely job of slipping in the necessary callbacks (e.g., “how rude!”) without them feeling forced/shoehorned in, as they tended to in the prequels. Based on two episodes (or a “movie” and the official series premiere, I guess), I remain quite impressed.
Oh, speaking of that “movie”–looks like we’re getting a prime time re-airing of it on ABC… with a Darth Vader cameo!
They’re really taking the “stormtroopers can’t aim” thing to new heights. At one point the seven foot tall brightly coloured alien character is standing a few feet infront of a line of twentyish storm troopers, all firing, and they don’t hit him. He isn’t even shown dodging or anything.
I watched the first two episodes last night and I had really awesome dreams!
I’ve never watched anything outside of the 6 movies. Did anything else use the original soundtrack like this does? The soundtrack really clinches it for me.
My grandson and I agree that the funniest line in any Star Wars movie comes from Episode IV, with Obi-Wan pointing out shot marks to Luke and saying “Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise”.
Well he was comparing them to Tusken Raiders, not you know Han or anything.
I dunno I am trying to get into the show, but it just isn’t grabbing me the way Clone Wars did. It just seems sort of juvenile, and cartoonish. I mean in the premiere why does Callus(:rolleyes:) randomly murder one of his own soldiers, why can the Storm Troopers not hit a target 6 feet in front of them. How can the crew of the Ghost continue to openly stroll around cities on the planet Lothal when they have killed hundreds of Storm Troopers, ruined millions in credits worth of ships and equipment, been seen and even fought hand to hand with high ranking Imperials, and must have been caught by surveillance cameras. Their holographic faces should be ingrained in ever Troopers head by now.
It just seems so silly, I wish they had gone straight up with a crew of criminal scum who recruit a teen boy with force potential to help them in their thefts and smuggling outfit and then slowly over the course of the show they turn to becoming part of the rebellion. Remember the rebellion at this point are criminals and of course they would have to work with and depend on unsavory types that don’t ask questions as long as the credits are good.
Oh and get off the damn planet of Lothal! Show us them doing criminal jobs all over the galaxy!
In the first prequel a Tusken Raider shoots a pod racer, when it’s moving at like 300 miles per hour, from a great distance and disables the pod racer. ONE SHOT
I guess he is the Vasily Zaytsev of Tusken Raiders.
