The Last Vestiges of the Old Republic...
July 28, 2013 9:34 AM   Subscribe

The Clone Wars (previously) are over, with only a few last mopping up operations underway and a few Jedi unaccounted for. But there is another... Star Wars Rebels will be the new Lucasfilm animated series, and will be taking it's design direction from the work of Ralph McQuarrie.
posted by Artw (29 comments total) 11 users marked this as a favorite
 




I absolutely loved the clone wars animated series. A ton of kiddie dreck at the start, but the visuals were top-notch.
posted by rebent at 9:54 AM on July 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


A ton of kiddie dreck at the start

I think it gets fully into it's stride by Season 2. The "unaccounted" libnk is a good reminder of how Ahsoka could have been the Poochie of the show and ended up being one of the best parts.
posted by Artw at 10:04 AM on July 28, 2013


ArtW: I am going to disagree with the author in your link: "Darth Vader (only considering Episodes IV – VI) choosing Luke over the Emperor is a little forced… but Anakin Skywalker (all six movies considered) choosing him is heroic and wonderful!"

What happens in RotJ is that the emperor plots to turn Luke to the dark side, what we know now is that this would basically be as a replacement for DV, not as his helpful assistant (as DV knows from what he did to Dooku). DV plots to do in the emperor so that he and Luke can rule as a father and son. Luke refuses to go dark for either of them but is going to be killed. DV must pretty much know he is in the poo so kills the emperor anyway. He may know at that stage he is going to die either way but at least by stopping Luke from being killed he gets some genetic legacy. It is an interesting question as to whether he knows he will also gain immortality at that point, and whether he would have got immortality if he hadn't made some grand gesture to apparently move him back to the good.
posted by biffa at 10:12 AM on July 28, 2013 [3 favorites]


Last time I viewed the Saga, I used a modified version of Machete Order. IV, V, II, then all three "seasons" of the Genndy Tartakovsky produced, non-CGI Clone Wars, III, and VI.

I've found that adding the earlier series into the mix fleshes out the Saga's depiction of the era, and makes up for the loss of a six act structure caused by the omission of Ep. I. Between Eps. II and III, we see the first and last battles of the Clone Wars but no context in between. We have Luke's boyishly eager questions for Old Ben in IV to establish that it was an important, and interesting period of galactic history, but we only ever get to see the bookends.

(Plus, seeing Grievous in Ep. III leaves one wondering why everyone was so intimidated by this cowardly, coughing-fit prone cyborg who's only neat trick is turning lightsabres into buzzsaws. Throwing the Tartakovsky series in there shows just how bad-ass he was before Windu got a hold of him.)

I'd been purposefully avoiding CGI Clone Wars until it was finished because I wanted to do it all in one go. Aside from making it a very long slog from beginning to end, would it add anything to plug it into my modified machete order above, or should it be watched as a standalone work? And if I were to throw it in, would it come before Tartakovsky's, after, or would I have to shuffle them together like a deck of cards?
posted by radwolf76 at 10:31 AM on July 28, 2013 [4 favorites]


Timeline-wise it follows on pretty directly from the Tartakovsky series, I don't see any advantage to mixing up the order - Except MAYBE considering ditching the TV movie and going straight into Season 1, as it isn't all that great - that said it does introduce a bunch of characters and basically kick off the series.
posted by Artw at 10:51 AM on July 28, 2013 [1 favorite]


Timeline-wise it follows on pretty directly from the Tartakovsky series

Problem is, so does Episode III. The end of the Tartakovsky series (Chapters 23-25) was Grievous kidnapping Palpatine. Episode III opens with Anakin and Obi-Wan rescuing Palpatine from that kidnapping.
posted by radwolf76 at 11:17 AM on July 28, 2013


If I wanted to check it out, would starting at Season 2 be okay? Would I miss anything major?

Watch the whole thing.
While series one is not as good as the rest, it certainly isn't bad.
posted by Sourisnoire at 12:31 PM on July 28, 2013


Episode 9 of S1 is about where I went from "this is a sort of enjoyable thing I'm watching with the kid" to "this is really good" - checking the credits it turns out to be by Paul Dini, one of the major scriptwriters on the Batman animated series.

Problem is, so does Episode III. The end of the Tartakovsky series (Chapters 23-25) was Grievous kidnapping Palpatine. Episode III opens with Anakin and Obi-Wan rescuing Palpatine from that kidnapping.

Hmm. Then they cut ahead. Not really sure how to place them then.
posted by Artw at 12:41 PM on July 28, 2013


I'll probably just have to break down and watch the whole thing now that it's a complete product, and then figure out for myself if and where it can be plugged into modified machete.

Not to spoil things too much for Greg Nog (unfortunately, I've spoiled myself by frequent trips to the toy aisle), but there's a supposed dead character who turns up in the later seasons; I guess they weren't satisfied with using just his brother instead. Is that done well or does it come off as cheesy?
posted by radwolf76 at 12:53 PM on July 28, 2013


So it's a given now that we have to have Star Wars happening always?
posted by Legomancer at 2:01 PM on July 28, 2013


So, where is the definitive chronological timeline of all major canonical events in the Star Wars universe, from all authorized movies, TV shows, books and comics? Does such a behemoth exist?
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 2:20 PM on July 28, 2013


Does such a behemoth exist?

It's called the Holocron Continuity Database, but that's not available to mere mortals, as it also tracks projects in development.

Wookiepedia's Timeline of Galactic History is probably close though.

If you want something you can plop on the coffee table, there's the Essential Reader's Companion.
posted by radwolf76 at 2:53 PM on July 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


Radwolf beat me to it. I was going to suggest the Wookiepedia. Be forewarned, do NOT follow that link unless you have LOTS of free time.
posted by VTX at 2:58 PM on July 28, 2013


Be forewarned, do NOT follow that link unless you have LOTS of free time.

Yes, the Wiki Walk is strong with this one.

(The above link goes to TV Tropes. VTX's forewarning applies here too.)
posted by radwolf76 at 3:07 PM on July 28, 2013


So it's a given now that we have to have Star Wars happening always?

This is not necessarily a bad thing.

I look forward to Rebels. My enjoyment of Clone Wars was sparked today when I was going through my movie collection and awkwardly could not account for Season 3 out of the 4 I owned. I'm still trying to keep calm over the matter.
posted by Atreides at 4:27 PM on July 28, 2013


I only want 1 thing: a new X-Wing PC game!
posted by Pendragon at 5:02 PM on July 28, 2013 [7 favorites]


Pendragon, it only registered once, but I think I clicked the favorite button 100 times.
posted by snwod at 6:06 PM on July 28, 2013 [2 favorites]


I need to watch the last season of Clone Wars still--we got behind on all our tv due to grad school and other stuff--but I am all over Rebels.
posted by immlass at 6:25 PM on July 28, 2013


Thank you for this post. It stimulated me to watch IV again, for the first time in years. God, how young Mark Hamill looks! And Harrison Ford's jawline, wow! And the sheer menace of Darth Vader, standing, waiting, as Obi-Wan approaches to his doom. This time around, I'm going to follow the Machete Order and see how it goes.
posted by SPrintF at 6:45 PM on July 28, 2013


I just realized that the actor who played General Veers in The Empire Strikes Back (the tank commander of the ground forces) also played Colonel Breen in Quatermass and the Pit. I never realized that before. Wow!
posted by SPrintF at 10:06 PM on July 28, 2013


Oh, you mean Grand Maester Pycelle ?
posted by Pendragon at 12:37 AM on July 29, 2013


I only want 1 thing: a new X-Wing PC game!

I'm honestly surprised this hasn't been one of the nostalgia-driven Kickstarters that makes bank.

Also more Kyle Katarn pls
posted by Elementary Penguin at 3:23 AM on July 29, 2013


It stimulated me to watch IV again, for the first time in years. God, how young Mark Hamill looks! And Harrison Ford's jawline, wow! And the sheer menace of Darth Vader, standing, waiting, as Obi-Wan approaches to his doom. This time around, I'm going to follow the Machete Order and see how it goes.

You can also try Machete Order Supreme:

1) Watch "Star Wars" (as in, "Episode IV: A New Hope", but do not call it that.)

2) Don't watch any of the rest.

You'd be surprised at how effective it is.
posted by Legomancer at 5:16 AM on July 29, 2013 [2 favorites]


People always say how they love reading about Eve Online but don't want to play. Well, that's how I feel about Star Wars. I'll read Wookiepedia all day, and I love reading about other people's love of Star Wars, but I have no real interest in involving myself in it.

Now Stargate on the other hand...
posted by Literaryhero at 5:55 AM on July 29, 2013


I just realized that the actor who played General Veers in The Empire Strikes Back (the tank commander of the ground forces) also played Colonel Breen in Quatermass and the Pit. I never realized that before. Wow!

He also played Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the last Crusade.
posted by AElfwine Evenstar at 12:50 PM on July 29, 2013 [1 favorite]






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