Catching up with “Rebels”

I think Rebels is probably the most we could ask for from an animated Star Wars series that lives on the Disney Channel. That’s not an insult at all. There have been some thrilling episodes in the last six months including the Season 2 finale, the Season 3 premiere and my personal favorite “The Honorable Ones” where Zeb and agent Kallus are stranded on a moon together. If you aren’t currently watching “Rebels” here are five good reasons to start.

#1 - Original Characters

“Rebels”, now in its junior year, has matured over the years and so has its characters. In addition to new hairstyles this year from three of the six leads, Kanan has been blinded by the events in the Series 2 finale. Even the comic relief characters (Zeb and Chopper) have developed deeper personalities with their own dark histories and secret desires. But let’s focus on Ezra for a minute, shall we? With his Space-Aladdin hair now shaved off, the slightly older Ezra has a hint of darkness within him. Ezra has always been likable enough, and now we get a sense of what the prequels Anakin Skywalker could have been with a better script or actor in the lead role. Seeing Ezra flirt with dark side of the force in response to what happened to his master is truly fascinating. It reminds me of the late Jacen Solo* (see Star Wars Legends)

#2 – Expanded Universe Characters

Bringing in some “Clone Wars” holdovers such as Ahsoka, Rex, and Hondo is a smart move. I don’t think anyone can argue that the final showdown between Vader and Ahsoka was heartbreaking and a pretty beautiful. There is also the Thrawn factor at work here. If the Clone Wars era characters aren’t quite enough to hold my personal attention, than Thrawn is. I became a Star Wars fan when the Expanded Universe was in its Golden Era and the prequels had yet to be released. This puts Thrawn close to my heart and the show does the character justice. His Sherlock Holmes keenness is apparent in the recent “Hera’s Heroes” episode and I can’t wait to see where this character is headed this year.

#3 – Cameos

If the first two categories of characters don't interest you much, then maybe cameos of classic characters will. Through the last few years we’ve seen bits and pieces of Lando, R2, 3-PO, Leia, Yoda, Tarkin, Vader, Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi and (most recently) Wedge Antilles. The possibility of other cameos such as Boba Fett, Chewbacca, or Admiral Ackbar is enough to keep some fans watching. Also, wouldn’t it be interesting if we got some Rogue One characters at some point?

#4- Multiple Plotlines

Something that has made Season 3 more appealing to me than past seasons, is that the writers seem to be setting up some major events. You’ve got the stuff with Maul (yes that Maul) and the almost inevitable showdown between him and Obi-Wan. You’ve got the Thrawn character. You’ve also got The Bendu, who is not only enigmatic but also powerfully voiced by the great Tom Baker. Baker played “The Doctor” on Doctor Who for seven years in the 70s and early 80s. He is widely held as the greatest doctor of all time (number four if you are counting). These plot-threads helps "Rebels" feel less like “problem of the week” and more serialized.

#5 – High Stakes

One thing I love about 21^st century cartoon series is that they up the ante a little bit. It’s not just the bad guys that are in danger here. In the past several episodes we’ve seen Kanen blinded, “The Phantom” destroyed, and… is Ahsoka dead or not? Having high stakes is important to me, because otherwise I lose interest. One issue I have with the series is that 22 episodes is a long haul and if the game-changing stuff only happens in Season Finales and Season Premiers, then we have 18 episodes of boring-sauce. But with Ezra teetering on the edge of the dark side, I’m not really sure what could happen this season, and that’s a good thing. 

Giacchino for Rogue One

When Disney reported that Alexandre Desplat was going to be composing the score for Rogue One, my first thought was “Not Michael Giacchino”? Disney practically owns his career and he is the spiritual successor to John Williams in so many ways. That's why it was a nice surprise to see that Disney finally came to their senses a few weeks ago when they announced that Giacchino would compose Rogue One after all.

Giacchino first became a household name (in my household) during Season 1 of Lost, when his Emmy winning score captured hearts and souls nationwide. Giacchino’s name is often attached to J.J. Abrahams productions such as Mission Impossible, Alias, Cloverfield, Star Trek, Super 8.

Giacchino and Abrams names go side by side so much, it’s actually a little weird that he didn’t score “The Force Awakens”… And though I am honestly stoked that 84-year old John Williams is seemingly secured to the sequel trilogy, I do think that if anyone is going to ultimately replace Williams, Giacchino will be the one.

In addition to his Bad Robot ventures, the composer has also scored many Pixar films in the past two decades including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Cars 2, Inside Out, and his Academy Award winning Up soundtrack. He even scored Zootopia for Disney (not a Pixar film though, for those of you who don’t keep track of animation studios)

Giacchino’s ability to write sweeping scores, quiet serenades, and instantly memorable compositions makes me incredibly excited for the music of Rogue One. Perhaps Giacchino’s music will even help the first Star Wars spin-off film become an instant classic, the way Williams’ music greatly enhanced the original Star Wars film.

Here is just a sample of Giacchino's amazing work:

Who is Warwick Davis playing in Rogue One?

Warwick Davis has been a Star Wars staple since he appeared as in "Return of the Jedi". Davis was only 11 years old when he was cast as an Ewok and was originally not supposed to have a big role in the film. When Kenny Baker (who was supposed to play Wicket) fell ill, Davis was picked as a replacement. Lucas handpicked Davis because the boy seemed joyful and enthusiastic on set, unlike other Ewok actors, who were just sort of complainy.

This turn of events was a big payoff for Davis who would eventually portray Wicked in two more “Ewok Films” in 1984 and 1985.

In his late teens Davis would go on to star in “Willow” another Lucas production. Warwick's career didn't end in his childhood, either. Throughout the 90s Davis played in five Leprechaun horror films. He portrayed Professor Flitwick in 7 Harry Potter films. He even played himself in the mockumentary “Life’s Too Short” which is a fictional account of his own life. Davis recently played the memorable character “Porridge” in a Season 7 Neil Gaiman penned episode of Doctor Who.

In 1999 Davis returned to Star Wars and played four characters in the Phantom Menace, including Wald (a young Rodian), Weazel (a human Podrace spectator) and Yoda in some scenes where Yoda had to walk.

Continuing the tradition of playing characters that had W names (Wicket, Willow, Wald, Weazel) Warwick played a character named Wolivan in "The Force Awakens". Yet Davis is far from done with Star Wars films. This December he will appear in Rogue One (his sixth Star Wars film).

There is some debate as to what kind of character Warwick will be playing in Rogue One. There have been rumors that he plays Bistan, a monkey-like alien, though Bistan looks a little tall for Warwick. Other photos suggest he will not be in costume at all. Maybe we will actually get to see Warwick act a little without a mask, perhaps we may get a line or two out of him?

Even if Davis only gets a second of screen time in Rogue One, we look forward to further appearances in the franchise. Warwick is now 46 and we hope that he has many years of Star Wars films ahead of him.

Alternative Cuts of Films: R-Rated Batman, X-Men Rogue Cut, And More!

On July 19^th fans will get to watch an R-rated version of the recent “Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice”.  Not only does this cut offer 30 minutes of additional footage but it also has more violence and stronger language than the original. "The Killing Joke" which releases this summer is also rated R, and Suicide Squad is PG-13 (we'll see if there is an R version coming on video release)

Batman vs. Superman is obviously not the first film to get a “Director’s Cut”. Another recent example is X-Men Days of Future Past: Rogue Cut. Anna Paquin’s Rogue did not appear in the theatrical cut of this film and in the new cut fans get a whole new character. 

Director’s have been releasing their original cuts of films since the 70s. This is usually because studios did a hackjob of the artists original vision. One famous example is Superman II (The Donner Cut). Richard Donner was the film’s original director, but was replaced after some tension with the studio. Much of the footage he shot was not present in the 1980 theatrical cut of Superman II. Fan pressure finally caused Warner Brothers in 2006 to re-edit the film with significant amount of lost footage and an alternate ending.

There are some directors that are more likely to release “Director’s Cuts” than others. Many of these directors just like to make really long movies that studios find are too long for cinemas. Batman vs. Superman is not the first time Zach Snyder has released a director’s cut. In fact, his Watchmen film, has two alternate cuts. The “Director’s Cut” adds 23 minutes of extra footage where his “Ultimate Cut” adds 52 total minutes (which includes an animated Tales of the Black Freighter sequence).

Here are some other directors that have offered extended cuts:

James Cameron

Aliens- 17 minutes extra footage

The Abyss- 28 minutes extra footage

Terminator 2- 16 minutes

Avatar- 16 minutes

*Also Neil Degrasse Tyson convinced Cameron to change the night sky in the 3D version of Titanic to reflect the way the night sky actually looked on the night of the sinking.

Peter Jackson

Fellowship of the Ring – 30 min extra 

The Two Towers – 44 min extra

The Return of the King – 51 min extra

King Kong- 13 min extra 

An Unexpected Journey – 13 min extra 

The Desolation of Smaug - 25 min extra 

The Battle of Five Armies - 20 min extra 

Ridley Scott

Alien- adds 4 minutes extra footage / subtracts 5 minutes of other footage

Legend – 19 minutes extra footage

Kingdom of Heaven – 45 min extra

The Martian - 10 minutes extra footage

Gladiator- 16 minutes extra footage

*Also Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” has two alternate cuts adding extra and alternate scenes but no overall extra length to the film. The first was the Director’s Cut in 1991 and the second was the Final Cut in 2007)

Another famous example of a film being too long for cinemas was Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” which had to be sliced in half to fit into cinemas. Fortunately Tarantino released Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair in 2011 to select cinemas. Unfortunately this version is not yet available for home media.

These types of Director’s Cuts are great for fans because they get to see the unadulterated versions of the films that the directors originally intended the audience to see. However there are other types of alterations that are a little more weird. These are film “updates”, where directors take their original films and update them in some way (To conform to modern day standards of film or just to make more money)

I have already written about the many versions of Star Wars in a previous post.The reason that it was odd that Lucas did what he did, is that the studio never questioned his original cut of Star Wars. 1977 Lucas was fine with the original cut. Why he went back time after time to re-film sequences, add CGI, and change actors is kind of a mystery to me. Especially since he went to congress in 1988 to fight against the colorization or alteration of classic films.

It is hard to find other examples of directors or studios altering old films to the extremes that Lucas did. Spielberg did edit the guns out of ET and replace them with walkie-talkies for the 20^th anniversary. Disney also added a new musical number to Lion King called “The Morning Report”, this was a new animated sequence with a new voice actor for Young Simba. Beauty and the Beast and Pocahontas also featured new songs in special releases of the film. These songs do not make the films better, but instead gives the studios new opportunities to make money. This is different than a director releasing their original uncut version of a film.

In the internet age, fans have offered their own re-edits of films. I’ve seen multiple fan cuts of Star Wars. The Phantom Edit might be the most famous. There are de-specialized versions of the original trilogy (there’s even one where Chewbacca gets a medal at the end) Topher Grace even took all three prequels and edited them into an 85-minute film. Similarly many people have re-edited Peter Jackson’s Hobbit Trilogy into a single film.

Other famous alterations of films include “Memento Chronological Order Cut”. This is actually a hidden Easter Egg feature in a limited edition DVD of the film. Find the Easter Egg and the film will play in chronological order. There is also an Easter Egg on the Rocky Horror Picture Show DVD called the “Wizard of Oz Cut” where the entire movie is black and white until The Time Warp song, where the film suddenly changes to color. Many people have even watched “The Dark Side of the Rainbow” in which you play Pink Floyd’s “The Dark Side of the Moon” over “The Wiazard of Oz”. The rumor was that the two line up pretty perfectly. This concept became so popular that TCM even aired a version of Oz with the Dark Side album as an alternate soundtrack in the year 2000.

It can be fun to watch movies in new ways. Over the years films have been colorized, and converted to 3D. You can watch them with commentaries from the makers or even fan commentaries. As we head into the future new technologies will make altering films easier and easier. At its best, this practice allows directors to give fans their original edits of the film before studios started cutting it to ribbons. At worse we get something like “Jedi Rocks” or Greedo shooting first.

Until next time Fanboys!