Spark of Rebellion

Cortan

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I'm leaning towards Zeb, though biased a bit because he literally has had the largest development focus of the show thus far due to having the second episode to get that (that and the Blum effect). So I'll wait and see before being certain if its because of the character themselves, or just focus.
 

Kaeb

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Hera feels the most like an actual character for now and her design/aesthetic is the best out of the characters on the show.

Whereas, all of the others feel like a collection of clichés and shoddy one-liners.

The show right now, needs to learn some lessons in subtlety. I'm hoping it's first season is an educational enough experience for the creators that it vastly improves in it's second season. I've noticed that happen with a lot of shows lately.

I ****ing hated Arrow, but I caught the season two finale the other day while I was bored and it was actually pretty consistent television. Things can change and things can improve, so there's obviously potential for this show to finally execute it's ideas in the right way. Right now, they just seem a little confused/poorly directed.
 

Johnnysaurus Rex

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Sabine for me. #darkhorse

EDIT: The new episode felt like it was actually meant for television. As Brandon informed me it is most likely due to who was behind creating it.
 
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Ser Yorick

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I do agree that BTAS doesn't hold up as well. Now Justice League. THAT'S a show.

ON TOPIC:

Overall, can't wait for a better episode to come along.
I haven't seen any of Justice. Is it really that good?

I've yet to see the second episode, but as it stands I do like Kanan and Sabine. Ezra could get better, but they really ****ed up his hair and eyes, which is super distracting. Plus, he's a bit of a cliched douche. Zeb... him I hate. But that might just be because I really don't like the voice actor. He's been in a ton of other things and he always sounds exactly the same, and really fake. I don't know why people keep hiring him...
 

BLADE

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@BTAS: It did take some risks especially with regards to tackling some fairly sensitive material as well as doing some new spins on old Batman-lore. With that being said, given the state of Warner Animation at the time, it was very much an incremental type of show. Quite agree on the pilot though; also had quite a few stinkers in its line up: as many as a dozen or so truly terrible episodes.

@Justice League: The first season is uneven. Not by any means bad. Just bland and with some weirdness. It does also rely a great deal on previous DCAU knowledge, to the degree that it sometimes falls into the trap of over-serialization. Overall? Not in the top-tier of television for the entire show. But the first season or JLU (or the third season of Justice League, depending on how you look at it) and some of the very best Batman episodes rate up there with TV's best (The Wire, Deadwood, etc.)

@Rebels: Which I suppose is what this whole post is about. I haven't watched the new episode, but I did catch the pilot a few days ago. Overall, I think there's a dearth of things to say, which is why broad criticisms and encomia seem as much to stem from a desire to project one's hopes and fears for the future of the franchise, as anything else. On the actual merits of the show?

The animation is uneven, but satisfying in portions. Certain character designs (like Hera's and cameo!Obi-Wan) are more naturalistic and grounded than The Clone Wars, which is very much a good sign. The dialog is stilted (in grand Lucasian tradition; see "Governor Tarkin I recognized your foul stench...") and the pacing of the pilot is very much concerning. There's both wild gyrations in character (Ezra's cynicism giving way to the power of family/friendship which is vintage Disney and accomplished in about half an episode), as well as the kind of dull repetition which made for a very gray proceeding.

There's very little sense of peril or the sorts of Wagnerian pathos that the Original Trilogy was known for. Bombast isn't always welcome of course, and to some degree this reflects more of the limitations (and possibilities) of the format as it says anything else.

That's the bad stuff.

The good? Pretty good voice-work, and definitely some chemistry in the cast. The musical cues while off in places (my favorite piece from the OT is Leia's theme, and while I enjoy hearing it, it didn't fit in the pilot as used) were adequate. Sound effects from the OT were used to good measure, and the violence in the show had a more measured (shades of Joaquim do Santos one of the finest action choreographers in Western animation right now) and simultaneously more visceral feel than that in its predecessor series. The characters --while to some degree bland-- were all fairly likable, and the shaky half hour or so aside, there was enough humor and a sly sense of self in the show that one could forgive it for some of its faults.

Ultimately I found the show adequate, though puzzling at parts, and reasonably engaging. It understands Star Wars on a level that I don't think Abrams!Trek does; the comparison is inapt there for me. On the other hand, it exhibits many of the faults of an average pilot (leaden at parts, overly talky, etc.), suffers from some of the limitations of its format, and most distressingly doesn't even engage in fanservice so much as it comes across as being too eager-to-please.

Overall though, I think the show merits a chance. No numerical grade because I think it would be reductive in this particular case and no real attempt to speculate on the future of the franchise since I think it's too soon to tell. Definitely think the recurring element of the holocron though is a bit of dramatic echo: for a lot of people this show might end up being their own emergency broadcast on endless loop. Lots of noise, no signal? Will be interesting to see how both that dynamic on the show and the new patterns of consumption play out in the real world.
 

BLADE

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My cat's breath smells like cat food.
 

Johnnysaurus Rex

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tumblr_mbxzq53ySp1rfl5t3o1_500.gif
 

jpchewy01

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I really don't know how I feel about Disney's digital first distribution of this show, especially since its tied to your cable company affiliation.
 

Brandon Rhea

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I really don't know how I feel about Disney's digital first distribution of this show, especially since its tied to your cable company affiliation.

As a cable company customer, I think it's fantastic.

lolololololol
 

Kaeb

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If they refine the art direction/visual quality level of this show, I think I'd be a lot more interested in what's happening on screen.

Like Prosp and I have pointed out, with Hera's design, there's some real possibilities here for a more grounded and believable feel to the animation, but they're really straddling the line right now and it makes the whole thing look sort of ugly as it stands. The Clone Wars, for all my gripes, at least has a consistent style to it that wasn't lacking nuance.

The art direction here seems confused.
 

Brandon Rhea

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The one animation issue I had was Ezra. His hair looked cheap and plastic, his eyes were jarringly blue, and his costume is dumb. I'd like to see them improve that.
 

Kaeb

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Ezra and Kanan definitely look the worst, the design choice for Zeb is also odd, and not in an interesting way. I think if they took out the stripes, darkened the pigmentation of his fur and then darkened and smallened his eyes, he'd look a lot better. Same goes for the Wookies actually.

Sabine and Hera in terms of facial features look great, everything looks natural, in proportion and not exaggerated or especially pronounced. Whereas Kanan and Ezra look like cartoonish Disney rejects with eyes the size of dinner plates and other exaggerated features. Their hair also looks pretty plastic and terrible, so there's this clash of grounded meets comical in the shows aesthetic right now that is pretty off putting.

I actually like Ezra's costume though, it's just utilitarian enough to be Star Wars in it's aesthetic and just colourful enough that it feels like a natural progression of that aesthetic, but it doesn't go overboard in that approach, whereas Sabine's design does.
 

Kaeb

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Zeb_O.png

The design on the left looks thirty times better and more Star Wars than the final design on the right.

Which is unfortunate tbh.
 
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