Star Wars: Rebels TV Show Review

So, I know this review's kinda late, but I was having a bit of a hard time writing this. A few weeks ago, I did a review for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show in preparation for the new season of the Mandalorian. And, I said I wanted to do the same with Star Wars: Rebels too. Given how the second season for The Mandalorian will be out in two days, I wanted to watch these shows and give my thoughts on it. And, about a month ago, I finally finished Rebels. I was sorta going in this with different expectations because a lot of people were saying they liked it, some say they thought it was somewhat disappointing and some say they just really didn't like it at all. So, I started the show not knowing what to think exactly. I mean, I had seen clips on YouTube and I knew the basic plot of a group of rebels trying to fight against the Empire and I knew all the characters by their names and other small things like that but that's it. And, in the end, this series was really mixed for me. For a lot of reasons. There were a lot I liked and a lot I really didn't like. But unlike the Clone Wars that had a few things I didn't like and I really like a lot of the rest, this show's problems were in the whole thing and I really didn't have fun with some things that I'll talk about. And, yes, like my Clone Wars review, I'm gonna do each season and give my thoughts about as much as I can as I go. Okay, so the story is set between Revenge Of The Sith and A New Hope where a boy named Ezra is on a planet called Lothal. But, one day, while on the run from the Empire, he bumps into a group of rebels on a ship called the Ghost. The crew consists of a Jedi named Kanan, a pilot named Hera, a Mandalorian named Sabine, a sharpshooter named Zeb and a droid named Chopper. And, after helping them with an encounter with the Empire, Ezra decides to go with them and learn more about the Force seeing how he's Force-Sensitive. So now the six of them are off exploring the galaxy while trying to build the rebellion. So, like I said, there are a lot here I did like and some I didn't. I suppose I'll go over what I didn't like so much first. Firstly, the characters themselves can kinda take a while to get used to. Once you settle into them, they become really likeable, but the first two seasons in particular didn't do them very well, especially Ezra. I was under the impression that I was really gonna like this character when I started, but I found it a while before I could really get to like him because a lot of the time, he would made a lot of really bad choices and make some situations even worse with wanting to take things into his own hands. Not just him, but the same kinda goes for Zeb too. I thought the exact same thing about him. It took a while to warm up to him to because he was always kinda complaining about Ezra and the two of them didn't get along a lot. But, like Ezra, I did end up liking him more as it kept going. But, probably the main character I didn't like at all for almost the entire series was Chopper. He's an astromech like R2, but a lot of the time he was really annoying by doing something really stupid or just annoying the other crew members and being kinda selfish in a few episodes. There are some moments when he shines and he does get some nice moments, but, overall, he's probably the main character I liked the least. And, again, there are some episodes in this that I thought were a bit more boring than others like in the Clone Wars. But, with that out of the way, let's get into the series itself and go through my proper thoughts on it. So, the main focus of the series is about the crew just trying to attack the Empire and try to inspire others who might want to stand up with them and fight against it. And we see them do a lot of different things to do that like how they might highjack one of their machines like an AT-AT, or infiltrating their facilities. But, in first season, some of my favourite moments came when they did things like going to a Jedi temple on Lothal where Ezra and Kanan speak to Yoda through the Force and Ezra even gets his own Kyber Crystal to make his own lightsaber or when they try to infiltrate another imperial prison but end up fighting an Inquisitor.

I loved episodes like that because, not only were we going through a fun story, but the characters were shown doing a lot of cool things and the first season had a lot of moments like that. The last episode of Season 1 had a lot of that in particular. But then, it was made even better when at the very end of the last episode of Season 1, we see Ahsoka. Like in my Clone Wars review, I said I love Ahsoka and I loved seeing her again in this series. Not only is she much older now with being an adult in this series, but she's a lot more mature and it's great to see her sharing knowledge with the crew. Especially Ezra and Kanan. And she becomes an integral character for the rest of the next season. The first episode of the second season has a lot of amazing moments. At the end of the last season, we see Vader arriving and attempting to fight them himself. And, like I just said, the first two episodes of Season 2 has a lot of great moments like when Ezra and Kanan fight Vader.

But then this leads to a fight in space where Vader attacks the rebel fleet on his own and Ahsoka begins to sense who he is.

And I liked how Ahsoka is sorta trying to deny the fact that it's Anakin because she's not too sure about it anyway. But then, in the very next episode, she sends Ezra, Kanan, Sabine and Zeb to find someone who ends up being Rex. I was so excited to see this because, not only are we seeing Rex again, who, like Ahsoka, is a character I absolutely love from The Clone Wars, but it's made even better when he joins up with them to help in whatever way he can.

The series also brings back Hondo from the Clone Wars who was this pirate character. He was sort of a weird character because sometimes he would be the Jedi's side and sometimes he wouldn't. And here, yeah, he's still just as selfish as he was then, but he's really funny too with always trying to cover up whenever he tries to steal something for himself. Though a lot of these episodes don't feel that important. I mean, they definitely do have moments that are important in parts. Like, they might have some moments that impact the rest of the story, but a lot of these feel like small adventures that the crew go on. But, there are some episodes like that that have more significance than others. One of the biggest is when we meet Hera's dad who Hera doesn't really get along with very well, but they eventually team up and we see him later on in the series. There are though some odd choices in the show that start with this season like there's an episode where Chopper finds a droid called AP-5 who was abandoned and he eventually gets him to join the crew as well and he begins to help them. But what's weird is that he kinda goes in and out of the show. What I mean is sometimes AP-5 will be gone from an episode and then reappear in another and it's never explained what happened in the episodes where he's gone. He's not even in the very last episode of the whole show. Somehow he's just gone and never mentioned. I don't get that because he sometimes plays a but role in some episodes and in others, it's like he's never been around. So I found that strange. However, this seasons ends with the two parter, "Twilight Of The Apprentice." This two parter is amazing. There's so much about this season finale that I loved. It starts with Ahsoka asking Ezra and Kanan to come with her to some place and it turns out to be some Sith temple. They go there trying to investigate something and they find Maul there. That was pretty cool and he tricks Ezra into thinking he's a good guy and tries to make him his apprentice. They manage to go into the temple but then Maul begins to fight Kanan and Ahsoka and manages to blind Kanan. This whole sequence as they're making their way up to the temple is such a blast because it kinda looks like Maul's good even though we know he's obviously not, but it's cool to see him fight along side Ezra, Kanan and Ahsoka. They all team up against some Inquisitors. But then, the best part of the whole thing and one of the best in the entire show is when Vader arrives and we get an amazing action scene between Ahsoka and Vader.

The whole thing with Ahsoka finding out about Anakin being Vader is cool too, though it is super tragic. And what Ezra managed to get from the temple was a Sith holocron. I loved just about everything to do with these last two episodes of this season. And then there's a lot more stuff in Season 3. It's a lot of the same as what happened in the last season with some episodes being integral to the story and others feeling a bit like filler. But, the first few episodes have a lot of great moments like when Maul captures the crew of the Ghost and Ezra and Kanan have to help. Mainly because Maul is trying to find Obi-Wan and he believes getting Ezra's help with getting the holocrons open can lead him to him. And he almost does until Kanan stops him. But the first big main thing that happens in this season is when we're introduced to Grand Admiral Thrawn. This guy is essentially the primary antagonist for the rest of the show. And we get a lot of episodes with him trying to capture the rebels and kill the crew. He reminds me a lot of Viggo from Dragons: Race To The Edge. This super smart and cunning villain who can outthink his opponents. But then, the following episode is really good when we see Maul meeting up with Ezra again and this time, he's trying to get him to go to Dathomir to use the Night Sisters' magick to locate Obi-Wan, which he eventually does. Not only that, but, on Dathomir, they also find the Darksaber, which Sabine then begins to use, which is really cool. Speaking of, we're also shown more about Sabine here. We learn more about her past about how she's kind of an outcast from her family and ran away when she was at a Mandalorian academy. We're then shown her family when she goes to them with Ezra and Kanan. She goes to help but is still treated as an outcast to her family. But she's able to make it better with them after she saves them from a Mandalorian traitor, Gar Saxon. But then she's absent for a while because she agrees to stay with her family for a bit. Then, towards the end of the season, the third last episode is about Ezra going to Tatooine because he knows that that's where Obi-Wan is and he believes that he can help with the fight against the Empire. But Maul has also gone there to kill Obi-Wan. So Ezra gets there first and Obi-Wan convinces him that he doesn't need to come and then Maul appears.

But then this season ends with "Zero Hour." Which is a nonstop crazy action packed two parter. And a really awesome one at that. It opens with Thrawn discovering that agent Callus, one of the people working for the empire, is actually a rebel spy and has been helping the rebels from the inside. So he captures him and then discovers the location of the rebels base and the empire then begins to launch an attack on them. And all the characters get a lot of moments to do things here like Ezra going to get Sabine and her family to help and Kanan asking Bendu, a force sensitive creature from that planet, to help too. And one of the rebel leaders makes a sacrifice by smashing his ship into a Star Destroyer. And Rex gets to lead an attack too. Seeing him fighting is always awesome and I'm always sorta on the edge of my seat whenever he's fighting because I'm always concerned that he's gonna die considering how much I like him. But what really helps is when Bendu sorta transforms into a thundercloud and attacks Thrawn and the empire with lightning. That was cool. But then, the fourth season, the final one, is where so much stuff goes down and it's awesome. The first two episodes are centred around Ezra and Kanan helping Sabine with business on Mandalore. They help her free her dad and even discover a weapon that Sabine built years ago that could disintegrate anyone inside Mandalorian armour. This episode gets really brutal for a kid's show because we literally watch some characters get disintegrated into dust here. But it's done really well and I was really liking this. Especially at the end of the second episode where Sabine gives the Darksaber to Bo-Katan, who's in this series again returning from the Clone Wars. Though, some of these episodes do sometimes show the characters being kinda unlikeable like Saw Gurrera. We see him return earlier in the series, but he returns in this season too. And he does some really questionable things. Even though they try to justify what he's doing, he still does really unlikeable things like betraying Ezra and Sabine while on a mission. Even though they kind clear it up, he does still try to do these things and I was just kinda left wondering why they had him do it. But the biggest twist in the show is in episode 10 of this season where Hera gets captured and tortured. So Ezra, Kanan and Sabine go to save her. They do manage to, but then, Kanan sacrifices himself to save them from a huge explosion.

Even though I knew it was coming from hearing about it and seeing it before, it was still pretty tragic to see him die, especially since he and Hera confess their feelings right before that. And then the next episode is about them all mourning his death. That is until Ezra begins to see this wolf that seems to be in touch with the Force and he believes that it's Kanan. There's also a Jedi temple hidden there and the empire is trying to find, but Ezra and Sabine manage to gain entry to it and it's some sorta other dimension with these portals all around it. He even manages to use one that shows when Ahsoka was fighting Vader and manages to save her by pulling her out of it.

Not only that, but Ezra also believes he can save Kanan but Ahsoka tells him that if he does, he'll end up killing himself and the rest. So that part is pretty tragic with watching Kanan die again. And then Sidious begins to use his powers to try to attack them.

But then the series officially ends with "Family Reunion - And Farewell." All the rebels are on Lothal at this point and now they're planning to liberate Lothal from the empire. So they make a plan to infiltrate their facility. They do manage to until one of the empire's assassins destroys the plan and Thrawn decides to attack the people of Lothal unless Ezra surrenders himself. This entire entire ending of the series is a total blast from start to finish with almost everyone from the series helping out and getting some really great moment. But, when Ezra does surrender, he's brought to a hologram of Palpatine who sorta tries to get him to submit by tricking him with a vision of his parents who he's been looking for for the whole series until it was revealed that they died. And somehow Palpatine manages to make himself look normal in the hologram somehow. But it's cool anyway and it's made even cooler when he fights back and goes after Thrawn and we get a really unexpected ending. As the others are fighting the empire and trying to destroy the base, Ezra faces off against Thrawn in his ship and even summons the Purrgil, which are like these giant space whale-like creatures.

Yeah, it's pretty surprising when it looks like Ezra actually sacrifices himself. But then they look at a video he left for them and we get a great montage scene where it shows what the characters do afterwards. Especially after the war ends.

So, yeah, a lot is revealed in that montage. And it's cool that Sabine is the one who tells it. So, yeah, overall this series was a huge blast for me to watch. It's not perfect at all, but I had a fun time with it. Again, there are problems with it and there are some characters that I don't really like in it, but I was really happy to watch this. And everything on the technical side of it is great too. The voice cast is still amazing, the animation, the storytelling, everything like that. Though, there is definitely a huge difference in the animation compared to the Clone Wars and that's that everything is thinner in this series. For some reason, everything is very thinned down compared to the Clone Wars. And I mean everything, the characters, the lightsabers, the designs, everything. I don't know why, but that's just the style this series has. And it's very noticeable with characters like Vader who's suit and helmet in particular are very thin. But that doesn't make it bad. It can be pretty cool at points, though I do prefer the Clone Wars' style more. But it doesn't bring the show down any bit because of it. And, really, I'm just glad I was able to watch the whole series from beginning to end and get behind what everyone was saying about it for so long. Same with the Clone Wars too. There may have been problems with this show, but some of this might be some of my favourite Star Wars material ever. I would definitely say you should check this out if you're a Star Wars fan. And, really, I'm super glad I was able to get both of these shows watched and reviewed before the new Mandalorian season in a couple of days. And so, everyone, that's my review of Star Wars: Rebels. Thank you all for reading and please comment down below to tell me what you think.