Star Wars, Geek Culture, and Power Converters
This week on the ThrawnCast, we talk about how Tim Zahn found out Thrawn was coming to Rebels and discuss the first four chapters of Heir to the Empire.
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Late Friday night, Dave Filoni took to Twitter to tease his appearance at Celebration London this summer and to remind us that “there’s always a bit of truth in legends.” Needless to say, fandom handled this precisely as expected. (Thrawn. Everyone’s losing their minds because it might be Thrawn. Or maybe Mara Jade. Nah, probably Thrawn.) Problem is… that’s boring. Why waste these beautiful months of speculation time by assuming a certain Chiss is a given? Here are eight more minor Legends characters who I think have potential to appear in Rebels.
Qwi Xux – She’s the most logical choice, really. With Rogue One rapidly approaching, what better tie in for Rebels than to delve into the building of the first Death Star? Qwi Xux was a very naïve scientist who contributed greatly to its creation. Perhaps the time isn’t right to directly introduce the Death Star but teasing its existence with a secret military science lab would be intriguing to say the least. Using Qwi would give Rebels a chance to further contribute to the idea of Imperials who aren’t bad people but who still support the cause and it would given them an excuse to design a blue bird lady.
Adan Dooku – If they’re looking for a cool Prequel Trilogy connection, reaching back to Count Dooku would be a smart one that could also tie into Alderaan. In the Agent of the Empire comic, Adan Dooku was the Count’s nephew who lived on Alderaan in exile amongst the Organa court. He may not have been the best of people in Legends but the sky is the limit when it comes to canon.
Laryn Kre’fey – Or, as Rogue Podron as renamed him, Cray Cray Kre’fey. It’s only a matter of time before Bothans make their return to prominence in canon. Rebels needs on ranking officer cannon fodder and we should offer up Laryn Kre’fey. He’s arrogant and not too smart. In other words, he’s the perfect character to bring over from Legends just to die because of his own mess up. (He’s a legend because of how much he’s sucked. That’s the joke, guys.)
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This week on Tosche Station Radio, we recap the news, play some Mass Effect, get excited about a new Ahsoka YA novel, and talk the Rebels season finale and season two as a whole with Bria and Travis!
Tosche Station Radio is the official podcast of Tosche-Station.net and a part of Majestic Giraffe Productions. If you like what you hear, subscribe to us to the show on the dedicated iTunes show feed or subscribe to the Tosche Station Radio Megafeed for all of our great Star Wars and geek culture content. We can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
Nanci and Brian are the co-founders and writers of Tosche-Station.net. You can find Nanci on Twitter with the handle @Nancipants and you can find Brian with @LaneWinree.
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This post contains major spoilers for Star Wars Rebels: Twilight of the Apprentice. You have been warned.
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The Mystery of Chopper Base has the distinction of being an episode that I was enjoying but mostly ambivalent towards for most of it but had me completely hooked by the end thanks to a very well placed musical cue. Kevin Kiner continues to nail it this season. That last slowed down version of the Imperial March? Perfection. That Big Damn Heroes moment? Also perfection. But let’s break down the rest of the episode.
As mentioned in Rebels Recon, this episode served a sort of season finale for most of the crew of the Ghost. They found a new base for the Rebels and complete their mission. For the Jedi amongst the crew, we’ll continue to follow them next week so it was nice to get one last team up and see them work together to save Rex from the spiders on the planet. Sabine in particular gets some solidly good moments and even saves the day. If the Ghost family had been relying on their Jedi to save them, they never would have survived. Speaking of which… Continue reading
With a potential new base found, the Rebels need fuel, and the Ghost crew is once more on the case. Heading to a well-guarded Imperial refueling outpost, Hera puts Chopper in charge of staying with the Ghost and monitoring Imperial transmission, but he instead gets distracted by a new leg strut at a nearby shop.
Chopper being Chopper, he ignores his orders and instead steals the leg. After being accidentally abandoned by the Ghost crew, he is chased by stormtroopers into an Imperial cargo ship, where he meets an inventory droid, AP-5.
In The Forgotten Droid, we learn a bit more about Chopper’s backstory and his character beyond the fact he is a somewhat malicious, unpredictable droid. He’s a veteran of the Clone Wars, where he was a military droid, saved from a crash by Hera on Ryloth. AP-5, too, is a Clone Wars veteran, having been a tactical droid during the same Ryloth campaign. The two droids bond over their war stories, and Chopper shows he can care about something other than himself, surprising even Hera. This episode helps to build upon previous episodes, such as Homecoming, with little tidbits of character history.
It’s nothing short of a crying shame when a good comic comes to an end but Kanan #12 by Greg Weisman and Andrea Broccardo is a well written finale that not only lets the book go out with not only a bang but includes a fantastic character appearance.
Spoilers after the jump. Continue reading
Today… today is a big day. So let’s start by me providing you with a soundtrack and then we’ll start the last ever gif review for the ever amazing Kanan comic by Greg Weisman and Pepe Larraz.
Let’s do this. Continue reading
Rebels this week was kind of perfect. Actually, I feel pretty comfortable saying that this was by far my favorite episode since the show started up again in October. When it becomes clear that Hera’s Phoenix Squadron needs an Imperial carrier, she’s forced to contact her estranged father Cham Syndulla and ask for his help. Things, however, don’t exactly go as planned. (This is Star Wars. When do things ever go as planned?)
Wings of the Master was great but this was the Hera episode I’ve been waiting for since I read A New Dawn. We finally get those missing pieces of her backstory that, when put together with the rest of Rebels and the books, help us really understand who she is. This is her time to shine. Honestly, the only thing that could have made this episode more perfect is if we’d finally gotten to see our Space Married favorites kiss on screen and what we got was almost just as good. Obviously this episode is a great Hera spotlight but we also get to see a completely different side of Kanan as he both fanboys over the great General Syndulla and is totally nervous about meeting Hera’s father and making a good impression. (I’m with you, FPJ. They very obviously have feelings for one another.) They’re Space Married. So. Freaking. Space Married.
But back to Hera. While one could argue that it’s the culmination of everything we’ve seen so far, Homecoming gave us so much about Hera Syndulla that made her feel like a real person with flaws to balance her strengths. Homecoming (with an assist from last week’s Space Whale episode) helps take her further out of the occasionally restrictive Space Mom trope and really let her shine as her own person. Homecoming defines Hera in her own terms and not by her relations to other people on the Ghost or by her strained relationship with her father.
It’s impossible to discuss this episode without giving Vanessa Marshall all of the applause. Hera had been relatively unique in that she spoke with an American accent instead of the usual French one that most of the twi’leks have. Turns out there was a very good story reason for that and fans got to hear her slide back into a French accent during a very heated argument with her father. It’s something that undoubtedly rings true with a lot of fans, myself included. Intense emotions and family have a way of making even the most practiced person slip back into the vocal tendencies of their youth. Marshall’s performance, especially in that scene, was flawless.
Another part of what really made this episode so strong was that it featured the entire crew. This has been a show that has reinforced the importance of found family and it tends to be at its best when it consistently shows them working together even when one character takes the spotlight for a little bit. Even though this was clearly Hera’s time, Ezra, Sabine, and Zeb still had their little moments. No one was forgotten or conveniently written into a coma.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go watch this episode another twenty times and hope that maybe this time, Hera and Kanan will actually kiss. #SpaceMarried
The Call introduces the new best creatures to inhabit the GFFA: the Purrgil, strange space whale-cephalopods that interrupt the Ghost crew’s mission to steal fuel that is meant for the Empire, fuel that is desperately needed.
Low on fuel, Hera is forced to redirect any non-essential systems, including heat and the lights. This gives the ship a very enclosed and almost claustrophobic atmosphere throughout the episode, as well as some pretty high stakes: they fail this mission, and the Ghost may never leave the ground again. The entire episode is quite dark aesthetically, not being set on any planets, but the overall tone is of hope and wonder.
Something that Rebels can do well—and The Clone Wars did well—is expand the universe in more mystical ways because of the animated medium. The Call shows how this can be done well, developing the ancient mythology of Star Wars through the Purrgil and their connection to hyperspace travel and the origin of hyperdrives. Star Wars has such an old galaxy that spans a few millennia, that any glimpses into the way things came to be are always quite interesting and refreshing.
Not only does this episode expand on the lore of the universe, but it also broadens Ezra’s understanding of the Force and of his abilities, showing how much he has changed and grown since Rebels first began. No longer is he the bitter, selfish child on Lothal, but a calm, compassionate boy who has a deepening connection with nature and others around him, a connection that even Kanan doesn’t seem to have.
There’s something almost beautiful about seeing the way Ezra interacts with the Purrgil, and especially so when he finally understands what they’re doing. While the others are quick to either dismiss the Purrgil or consider them a threat, he wants to learn what causes them to act as they do and help them with their distress.
Hera and Ezra have rather subtle development in this episode, though Ezra’s is more obvious. Over the course of The Call, Hera seems to gain the sense of wonder that Ezra has to begin with, a kind of childlike curiosity at the mysteries of the world. Vanessa Marshall’s acting is, as always, amazing. Kanan, for some reason, seems even snarkier than usual, though he still stops to let Ezra explain himself.
The whole crew has grown a lot since the beginning, and it’s clearer in each episode how much they’ve learned to help each other. They banter, but they plainly care for each other, which is one of the strengths of the show. Though an episode not based around their ensemble so much, The Call still shows this in little ways.
Filled with great visuals and absolutely stunning shots, The Call is largely a mystical episode that ends on good feelings—something that is likely needed during this time in the season. Though it may not be a plot-heavy episode, it’s a gorgeous one that is a welcome moment of peace before the storm the rest of the season is bound to be. The Purrgil are a great addition to the GFFA, and this episode will probably make a good standalone in the same way many of the lore-expanding episodes of The Clone Wars did.
I am personally keen to see how Ezra develops further over the rest of the season, as The Call has definitely shown him as a wiser character than he once was. He’s a good kid, and he’s only getting better.