Quarantine Binge-watching: Star Wars Rebels

The Force is definitely strong with this one. While procrastinating during this quarantine, I've recently finished binge-watching Star Wars Rebels on Disney+. First aired in 2014, this animated series was Disney's first contribution to the franchise, after re-branding the Star Wars Expanded Universe as Star Wars Legends. This basically meant that all the books, comics, video games, and other media produced up to that point is no longer part of the series continuity. The official "canon" would consist of the theatrical films, the Clone Wars animated series, and anything subsequently produced under the new management, starting with this series.

Star Wars Rebels takes place roughly fourteen years after Revenge of the Sith, and five years before Rogue One and A New Hope. We follow Ezra Bridger, a teenage con artist getting by on the Outer Rim world of Lothal. While attempting to steal supplies from the Imperial garrison, he ends up competing with a band of freedom fighters after the same supplies: Kanan Jarrus, a Jedi who escaped the Imperial Purge; Hera Syndulla, a Twi'lek ace pilot and captain of the Ghost, a freighter which serves as their base of operations; Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, a Lasat warrior who acts as the team's muscle; Sabine Wren; a Mandalorian gunslinger, mechanic, and artist; and "Chopper", an irritable astromech droid. Ezra promptly joins the crew as they sabotage Imperial operations on Lothal and further afield, while also studying the Force under Kanan's tutelage. They also make friends with various other freedom fighters, gain new ships to form "Phoenix Squadron", and eventually help to establish the Rebel Alliance.

This show is like a blend of two of my favourite TV shows: Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Firefly. The show's creator, Dave Filoni, actually worked as a director on the first series of Avatar. The crew of the Ghost are a rag-tag bunch of misfits, but also fit a family model, with Kanan and Hera having an almost parental relationship with the others.

The show's animation helps produce some great action sequences, while some episodes provide a chance to delve into the emotional depth of the characters. For example, Kanan has had Jedi training, but he's not defined by it (a pitfall for a lot of Jedi characters in the prequels). There's also a chance to have encounters with characters from the films. I especially like the fact that it doesn't present the characters as entirely black and white. For example, the Ghost crew have several encounters with Saw Gerrera, a Clone Wars veteran who leads a band of rebels whom the Rebel Alliance actually regards as too extreme.

All four seasons are on Disney+, and I recommend checking them out.