This week’s Rebels roundup

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Rebels propaganda 1

Let’s start off with some propaganda artwork, shall we? Lucasfilm’s Amy Beth Christenson created six posters that were released at six different websites: Empire Online, IGN, Mashable, TheForce.net, Entertainment Tonight, and Omelete.

On a release window front, Jedi News hears rumblings that Disney is set to air the Rebels introduction movie this summer. We’ve heard the TV series is set to debut in the fall, so perhaps this will be the lead-up for that.

Still, it would be nice to get some concrete information on anything Star Wars related. There’s value in keeping things under wraps, but it’s frustrating to fans to discover that important details of Rebels are being disseminated via new LEGO products.

Hondo Caravan: It’s A Wet Wet World

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Season Four!  Can you believe we’re already here?  I certainly can’t.  The good news is that it’s off to a crazy good start with a trio of episodes set on Mon Calamari and some excellent animation and design.  But what will the rest of the season bring?

Water War
I can’t even begin to describe how much I love that they’re showing the Mon Calamari Senate in an underwater forum.  It seems such an obvious choice but oh man am I glad that they followed through.  I also love that they used the Mon Calamari/Quarren quarrel for this episode.  It’s great when they pull things from the Expanded Universe.  Honestly, all of the animation and design for this planet is fantastically done.  It’s so cool looking and different that you can’t help but pay more attention to the episode.  It’s a great opening for Season Four.

The episode does make me wonder how the Mon Calamari and Quarren’s biology works.  More specifically, I’m wondering their respiratory systems are set up since they seem to have no trouble going from water to oxygen.

Also?  The Mon Calamari prince is so cute and tiny and cute.

Obviously negotiations are short (did you see what I did there?) and it turns into an all out underwater battle which is really just an excuse for some more cool thing… well, everything.  Of course, this got followed up by the Separatists have some crazy new weapon that’s clearly tailor made for this world.

Something that’s always intrigued me has been the use of a lightsaber under water.  I’m no engineer or mechanic or any vaguely sciency person but I’m wondering if they really should be able to function.  Apparently this episode is making me wonder about a lot of science related things today.

Also, shirtless Kit Fitso.  That’s a thing that happened in this episode.  Thought I should mention it.

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If you’re excited about Rebels, go watch Gargoyles

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So you’re eagerly anticipating Rebels but you need something to hold you over until it releases. Why not give Gargoyles a try? Gargoyles was one of the first shows that Rebels executive producer Greg Weisman ran. It was, in a way, Disney’s answers to the dark and beloved Batman: TAS. As a bonus to viewers, it’s also essentially a Star Trek: TNG cast reunion (check out the IMDB sometime).

Now all three seasons are available streaming on YouTube thanks to Disney opening up the vault. Get an idea of what Weisman has to offer with this animated favorite.

Review: Serenity: Leaves on the Wind #1

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leaves on the windDark Horse released the new Serenity comic today, Leaves on the Wind #1, written by Zach Whedon and penciled by George Jeanty, and it’s a must-read for Firefly and Serenity fans.  Whereas other post-Big Damn Movie comics have been much more character focused, this one (set ~7-8 months post-BDM) is the first to really focus on the consequences of the actions the crew took during the movie and what that means for both the crew and the entire ‘verse.

If I have one complaint, it’s that the interior art isn’t particularly fantastic, but Dan Dos Santos’ cover is down right beautiful, and the writing is superb.  And to be honest, now that Marvel’s taking over the Star Wars comics, I’m hoping that Dark Horse will take the opportunity to expand their other franchise options, like Serenity.  Certainly, if they keep writing comics like this one, they’d have a winner on their hands.

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Hondo Caravan: Time For A Thrilling Prison Break

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The good news is that I’ve recovered from that bad taste Mortis left in my mouth.  The bad news is that I am somehow already at the end of Season Three.  How on earth did that already happen?  Well, I guess that’s only really bad news depending on your point of view and whether you wanted these posts to go on forever or not.

The Citadel
Is this the episode that made the internet scream about continuity and Even Piell?  I feel like it’s going to be judging from the previous clip.  No really.  I’m kinda excited to see this happen.  It’s much more fun to observe these things when I’m not invested in the outcome.

Anakin Skywalker.  You have a lot of bad ideas but this one probably takes the cake.  Carbon freezing your team so you can sneak into the Citadel without any life signs being detected is a TERRIBLE idea.  (And yes, all the tongue-in-cheek references to Empire Strikes Back were amusing but that’s really not the point here.)  This is going to go badly.  It must go badly.  If this idea works, I’m going to be really disappointed.

It didn’t go badly.  They didn’t even get hibernation sickness.  This is not fair.

At least he’s getting his comeuppance with Ahsoka sneaking onto the mission.  At least.  You’d think he would’ve learned that ‘do as I say, not as I do’ doesn’t work very well but nooooo.

I definitely need to give this episode applause for surprising me in a way that I absolutely did not expect.  It turns out that Tarkin is the Captain in question here.  I didn’t expect him to show up here.  Well done, show, well done.

And now the group is splitting up to try and make it out of the Citadel which OBVIOUSLY means that we’re about to end an episode.  I’ll admit it: I’m intrigued to see what happens in the next one.  Good thing I don’t even have to wait.

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Introducing Chopper: The Grumpy Astromech from Rebels

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How about a bit of behind the scenes material from Star Wars: Rebels? Meet Chopper, the grumpy astromech.

In Star Wars, droids are always eager to help out their human masters, drop whatever it is they’re doing when called upon, and sometimes even sacrifice themselves to save others. Right?

Not quite. Introducing Chopper, a lazy, cranky (if ultimately goodhearted) astromech droid, and the latest character revealed from the highly anticipated Star Wars Rebels animated series. “If Artoo is the family dog,” said Dave Filoni, executive producer of the show, “Chopper is the cat.” Chopper is an essential crew member of the Ghost, tasked with keeping the starship running and operable for its band of heroes. In reality, thanks to his many “unique” upgrades and customizations, no other alien, human, or droid could handle the job.

Review: Maul: Lockdown

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MaulLockdownCoverIt’s a dark side sort of day with the first Expanded Universe book release of 2014.  Out today is Maul: Lockdown by Joe Schreiber. What happens when you send one of the most dangerous beings in galaxy on a do-or-die mission?  A heck of a lot of carnage for starters.

Cog Hive Seven has a new inmate: Darth Maul.  Sent by his Master Darth Sidious to infiltrate the prison and find the elusive Iram Radique, a legendary arms dealer.  What might seem like a simple task is layered in complications.  No one’s actually seen Radique and lived to tell the tale.  Some think he’s just an urban legend.  On top of his mission, Maul must survive the nightly fights to the death organized by the warden and the gamblers across the galaxy want to see their newest champion fight.

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Diversity Amongst the Stars (And the Royals of Alderaan)

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There are some films that you can watch a dozen times and always notice something new and there are others where you pretty much get it on the first try.  Sometimes though, you watch a film, notice things subconsciously but it just doesn’t click into place until several viewings later when you sit up straight in realization.  I had one of those moments a few months ago while watching Revenge of the Sith.  The realization?  The Royal Family of Alderaan is not white.  The Royal Family of one of the most well-known and powerful planets in the galaxy does not fit the typical white human mold.  It’s funny how long it took me to come to this realization that the royal house of my favorite planet was more diverse than I’d previously realized.

brehabailWhile not every Alderaanian that we saw in the films fell into this category, a fair number of the ones of note in the Prequel Trilogy did.  The actors who played Bail and Breha are both of Hispanic and mixed descent.  A Brazilian actress played Bail’s aide, Sheltay Retrac.  While three might not be a huge number, it’s rather significant when we consider how few Alderaanians we saw in the films.

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Golden: Sword of the Jedi is on hold

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This isn’t exactly news, but it was a slightly more official confirmation of something we’ve known for a while. For a bit of clarity, this isn’t confirmation that the continuity is changing (though let’s be honest, it’s quite likely that will happen). If I were to wager a guess, Sword of the Jedi won’t be released unless LFL decides to go with a split canon that allows the legacy Expanded Universe to go it’s own direction.

Deconstructing Four Arguments Against Diversity in Media (That my Stupid Teenage Self was Guilty of Using)

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If there’s one thing we do with frequency here at Tosche Station, it’s discuss the importance of diversity and representation in media. Hell, we did just that yesterday. It’s something I do pretty regularly.

I haven’t always, though.

At some point I’m going to have to write the column discussing how the Star Wars fandom made me a feminist and much more socially aware than I used to be. The younger me was often flat-out dismissive of the need for better representation in fiction and fandom, and I went to some pretty great lengths to try and argue that those asking for more diversity in characters and better representation for other demographics were off-base.

I’m not particularly proud of the arguments my teenage self made to try and support what I firmly believe now was an erroneous belief. Again, there could eventually be another post as to why and how fandom changed my thinking about this particular subject. Suffice to say, I’ve learned that diversity and representation for people that don’t fit traditional character types is extremely important.

As I learned just how important the call for diversity was, I realized just how wrong the arguments I used against it were. Four in particular stand out. Four arguments that I was guilty of using thanks largely to how frequently others around me said the same thing. The one thing all of these arguments have in common is that, on the surface, they seem generally positive and fair and in no way designed to personally offend or attack those asking for better representation and diversity in media.

I would learn in time that they were anything but fair and were incredibly offensive.

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