The Road to Episode Infinity: The End of Rebels

After 4 seasons and 75 episodes, “Star Wars: Rebels” has finished its run. What can we take away from this TV series and what does its ending mean for the future of Star Wars television?

A Family of Six and a few more…

The beauty of “Rebels” is that the show was so tightly focused on the crew of the “Ghost”. This concept bore a stark contrast to “The Clone Wars”, which was prone to jump from one plot thread to another in non-sequitur madness.

In Rebels the audience watched Ezra grow up. We witnessed as Kanan was maimed and then deal with blindness. We watched Hera fall in love. We saw Zeb lose his people and find them again. We observed Sabine turn into a leader and go through many whimsical hairstyles. We saw Chopper jump from the animated world into the live action world of “Rogue One”. Character development that was often lacking in “The Clone Wars” was so prevalent here.

In addition to the “Big Six”, audiences saw some of their favorite “Clone Wars” characters play big roles in Rebels. Character such as Ahsoka, Hondo, and Rex were pretty vital to some of the plot threads. Viewers also witnessed the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn be rescued from the old Expanded Universe and reborn. Something tells me that Disney is not quite done with Thrawn. I also have to mention Agent Kallus, as a favorite of mine. His story arc is subtle, but it takes “Rebels” beyond the "kids cartoon" genre.

Dave Filoni

Dave Filoni has now worked on 10 seasons of Star Wars for television. Filoni’s personal touch is felt throughout “Rebels”. Filoni seems enthralled with the more mysterious sides of The Force. “Rebels” is chock-full of Jedi temples, portals, mystical dimensions, and strange Force sensitive beings. Animism is also a theme throughout “Rebels”. Between Ahsoka’s Owl, Space Whales, Loth-Cats, and Loth-Wolves, “Rebels” feels almost like a spiritual cousin to Miyazaki’s “Princess Monokoke”. Filoni’s future at Lucasfilm is probably a bright one- but will Filoni produce the next animated series, or will he move into the live action realm?

“Loth-rat, Loth-cat, Loth-wolf, run. Pick a path and all is done.”

From Endor to Starkiller Base

Something that Rebels gives to us (which other Star Wars TV shows do not) is a sense of closure. The final 2-minutes is reminiscent of the "Battlestar Galactica" finale. The characters we have spent so much time with are now free to grow beyond themselves. We will surely see them pop in and out of other Star Wars media, perhaps future TV series, books, graphic novels or even films.

Jacen Syndulla

With the conclusion of Rebels, Lucasfilm will no doubt explore the years between The Battle of Endor and the Assault on Starkiller Base. Only four Star Wars books have been allowed to explore this time period so far. Any future TV shows will probably take place during these years. Is Lucasfilm already developing a new animated series? Will they launch Season 1 this fall or will we have to wait? What is for certain is that “Rebels” will be remembered as a success and a fun ride to all of those who took it.

Clone Wars
Tartakovsky's Clone Wars- http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2013/04/tartakovskys-clone-wars.html

Ewoks & Droids Adventure Hour

Droids & Ewoks- http://roadto7.blogspot.com/2014/09/star-wars-on-my-tv.html

The Road to Episode Infinity

Thursday, March 8, 2018

The End of Rebels

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