SPOILER Rebels Review S01 E01: "Droids in Distress"

Really? Hmm, I thought it was way better than the first episode.

Spoiler

I thought R2 and C3PO were forced... At first. The end of the episode makes R2 and 3PO being there make complete sense. Organa is sending them out on little mini missions against the Empire. C3PO's mumbling and confusion makes sense too because he was the only one who got wiped. R2 knows all about the Clone Wars and Anakin and all that and is the one recording information and so on.
I think this will be a pivotal moment in the show too because Organa will remember how nice the crew was to bring the droids back and once he listens to R2's recordings, he will realize there are 2 Jedi out there who don't like the Empire and recruit them for his cause. I can only imagine what kind of cool stories could be told with future episodes (stealing the Death Star plans).

 

I didn't like TCW movie that much. It had some moments but it didn't make me need to see the series. BUT once I watched the series -- I binged watched -- it was actually pretty great. So if you haven't seen the whole thing you may want to give it a chance.

 

Right. It got better as the series went on. Seasons 4-6 were the best.

 

That final scene with Senator Bail Organa made me excited! It'll be interesting to see his next steps given that from R2's recording he only has evidence that Ezra can use the force because Kanan never used the force or his lightsaber in this episode.

 

Just watched the episode. Very good. I enjoyed it. Good action and some funny parts with Threepio and Artoo v Chopper. If you're looking for a place to watch, found it free online at www.animeflavor.com

 

Episode 1/2 had me recoil in distaste of a few of the things in it, i judge episodes as a whole. This episode not so much, i''l give it a standard 7/10, but this show really needs to be forty minutes long.

 

This sums it up for me right here. While the episode was enjoyable, it suffers from the same issue I had with the first episode. The pacing feels incredibly rushed, with exposition being thrown out at an unnaturally fast rate so the plot can go from point A. to Point B. as fast as they possibly can, no doubt due to the inexcusably small amount of time they're given.

If anything, Disney needs to seriously consider giving the show a longer run time of about 40 to 45 minutes so it even has a chance to tell a cohesive, well paced story.

 

I agree. An hour timeslot would be really nice. Maybe that will happen next season. If you recall back to the original Clone Wars mini-series on Cartoon Network, the first season had short 5 min episodes while the second season was made into 15 min episodes. Maybe Disney will do the same with Rebels.

 

I'm catching up on The Clone Wars as I'm watching the beginning of Rebels. I think The Clone Wars was a lot more violent and Rebels more kid friendly. I grew up watching Disney through the 80's and seen and know a lot of the Disney films from the 1950's through the 90's and I don't think they will ever be as violent as The Clone Wars was.

 

True that. It's because Clone Wars was on Cartoon Network.

 

As the new Rebels host I felt I needed to at least give my two cents on this Episode.

Just an FYI I usually like to watch the episode twice before I give my two cents and thanks to the Disney XD app I will be able to really get deep into the episode since it seems they will be releasing the episodes early on that for awhile.

"Droids In Distress" has the pleasure of following up the outstanding (Pilot? film? short film?) "Spark Of Rebellion" Introductory episode. Unlike "Spark" this episode follows the traditional 22 min format that we will be used to watching the show in. How did it hold up?

What worked for me:

- Old friends never get old. C3PO and R2D2 were some of my favorite characters growing up (still are) and I have to admit....I did fear that they would be shoehorned in. Thankfully they weren't and instead might serve a gigantic purpose in helping start the Rebellion. Self admitted, I do tend to get sick of Lucas's "Everything's connected" motif, but seeing R2D2 with Bail Organa...that really worked for me. I can't wait to see the droids and Bail show up again!

- Rex from Star Tours is canon! How much fun is that? The droid that was created to pilot the original Star Tours ride at Disneyland has made it's way into the new Star Wars canon. Even voiced by the same voice actor himself...PEE-WEE HERMAN!

- I love how Ezra is so impatient for his Jedi training like Luke was. I don't see it as "rehash" mind you, but rather the by product of not training the padawans at a young age to learn patience. It's Showing us why the Jedi decided not to train older people in the Force.

- Love me some AT-DP walkers. They invoke so much OT joy for me.

What DIDN'T work for me:

- I am not a huge fan of the Zeb and Kallus brawl. It came off very forced and one of the few aspects of the story that came off childish. Seemed like an excuse to have the two of them use their Lason Bo-Riffles. Which btw...what's the point of using one if someone is firing a blaster at you? They can't deflect blaster fire. Why didn't Zeb just use the blaster part of his riffle? Oh that's right...they wanted the duel to happen. *sigh*

All in all though, I really liked it. Short, to the point and I can't wait to see the next episode!

 

Droids In Distress was a fine episode, but one element really stood out - I loved the Imperial walkers. They look and move so classic. Its so cool that they actually have purpose for not just being the walker from Return of the Jedi (They are deployed from space so they have to be closed-cockpit. That's so super awesome.) And unlike almost everything that came out of the Prequels and The Clone Wars, those walkers were just intimidating! I really was scared one of the characters might get stomped on, or blown up by that big ray gun. The use of the music from when you see the Imperial walkers on the sixth planet of the Hoth system from The Empire Strikes Back was perfectly placed, and added even further to the tension of that sequence. The like erudite Imperial senator was my second favorite part, she was really funny.

 

Nice Divergent refrence.

 

Question to all: Are you watching these on your cable/tv provider, is this more advance online stuff, or is it all being viewed in not-so-official ways via websites like tomvoxx mentioned?

I'm just a tad confused, as I remember "Spark of Rebellion" being touted as premiering on October 3rd, and I was outraged when on October 4th I found my DVR hadn't recorded it. Turns out, it didn't actually premier on Disney XD until the 6th or 7th, and recorded just fine on that date.

I avoid the spoilers but dislike being like a week behind everyone... yet still, I know I probably will still watch it on TV because it gives me a good excuse for some lazy time on the couch...

 

You can download the "Watch Disney XD" app on your smartphone/tablet and enter your cable info to watch it.

 

I use less-than-legal ways to watch it, since I don't have cable. On the famous Primewire.ag, the episodes are up for stream or download the day they premier early.

 

If the show does well on ABC that Sunday, I can see season 2 being moved to broadcast television. Disney XD isn't even a standard cable channel, it's only in the upper tiers of channel packages. So many people can't watch it.

 

Aaah yes, that's right it always has to be an app these days, so they can pervade every bit of our existence.

Thank you for the info. I'll see if my tablet can handle it... it can't even install Netflix, so here's hoping.