This week’s episode is a little shorter (at least for us). We cover The Mandalorian’s Golden Globes nomination before chatting about some recent toy acquistions, the Star Wars Rebels premier episode, and a quick preview of the new YA High Republic novel Into the Dark.
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In this latest episode of the Blockade Runner Podcast, John and Dan bid farewell to Star Wars Rebels as the show’s four season run comes to a close. We look specifically at Rebels’s final three weeks (in a detailed, SPOILER FILLED discussion) and weigh in on some of the more controversial choices made by Dave Filoni and the rest of the creatives at Lucasfilm.
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John and Dan break down Star Wars Rebels episode “Twin Suns.” We chat about Ezra’s involvement in the episode, Maul’s fate, and Ben Kenobi’s lightsaber skills before sharing some brief predictions for the upcoming season three finale. Watch or listen using the link’s below !
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Chris joins John to discuss his recent viewing of Rebels season 2 and 3 before we chat about his skepticism regarding Rogue One and Star Wars stand-alones in general. This may not be our most evergreen podcast as Rogue One releases in less than 24 hours here in the States, but if you need something to help you pass the time before it does, give this one a listen. Most of us are SUPER EXCITED for Rogue One, but Chris’s concerns are thoughtful, interesting, and also hopefully SUPER WRONG!
Fair warning, there are a few minor issues w/ sound quality on this one, but nothing major. The 2 or 3 minute intro was recorded on an iPhone and is kinda too loud (sorry) and there’s a bit of echo on some of the main track. I cleaned it up a bit, but I figured this one doesn’t have too long of a shelf-life, so I’d better get it out asap!
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Rebels season two episode “Shroud of Darkness” has sparked a great deal of discussion from Star Wars fans thanks to its mythos-expanding storyline featuring Yoda’s lessons at the Jedi Temple on Lothal. I’ve very much enjoyed the commentary I’ve seen and heard about the episode on blogs and podcasts, but I’ve found there’s a common takeaway from one of the episode’s more ambiguous lessons that I don’t quite agree with myself.
In an effort to better understand how to deal with the perpetual threat of the Inquisitors, Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra travel back to the Jedi Temple on Lothal in order to commune once again with Yoda. Through meditating in the Temple, all three rebels are able to experience Force visions that are facilitated by Yoda, the Temple, and themselves. These visions are representative of considerable growth for at least two of our three featured heroes, but it seems only Ahsoka’s conclusion is straightforward enough to find consensus among fans.
There’s no doubt by the conclusion of “Shroud of Darkness” that Ahsoka has accepted the truth she’s been running from all season; her former master Anakin is Darth Vader, and while it’s a bitter truth for her, it’s clear that she now understands what she’s been afraid of facing since encountering Vader in “Siege of Lothal.” Some part of Ahsoka must’ve known all along that Anakin had become the Sith Lord, but facing that fear and, crucially, accepting it is critical to her spiritual and emotional progression.
Kanan and Ezra’s questions are rooted in a different kind of fear, however. Where Ahsoka surely knows the truth about Anakin but attempts to avoid it before arriving on Lothal, Kanan and Ezra seek a type of knowledge that is beyond them before their experiences in the Temple. Both feel overpowered and outmatched by the Inquisitors and especially Vader, and neither knows how to successfully fight the dark side and the Empire.
Kanan is the first to receive a vision (confirmed to be orchestrated by Yoda on Rebels Recon) as he enters an approximation of a Jedi dojo and comes face to face with a Temple Guard. Kanan’s greatest fear at this point is that he cannot protect his pupil Ezra from the Empire, from Vader, from the dark side, and from himself. When the Temple Guard tells him that if he continues to fight he’ll fail and Ezra will become an agent of evil, Kanan resists. He engages the Temple Guard in lightsaber combat, but it quickly becomes clear that he is yet again outmatched and can’t win.
And this is where I start to disagree with most of the opinions I’ve seen and heard since “Shroud of Darkness” aired a few weeks ago.
After realizing that he will not be able to defeat the Temple Guards (two more joined the fight to emphasis the futility of resistance), Kanan lays down his weapon and accepts the truth that he cannot protect Ezra forever. He states that he knows that all he can do is train Ezra to the best of his ability. In this moment he faces his fear that he isn’t good enough to protect Ezra, accepts the reality that he can only control himself, and resolves at least part of his own internal conflict.
But I’ve seen and heard a lot of discussion concluding that the lesson Kanan learns in “Shroud of Darkness” is that fighting, generally speaking, is wrong. Many voices seem to be suggesting that Kanan now knows not to fight the Empire or the Inquisitors, that he’ll now holster his saber and avoid violence at all costs. However, I just don’t think that’s the case. I believe the lessons Kanan learns in the Temple are far more personal than global; he understands what he’s afraid of and he masters that fear by accepting it rather than denying it. So at this point Kanan and Ahsoka have both come to important realizations about themselves through the acceptance of their greatest fears.
Meanwhile, Ezra questions Yoda about the nature of fighting. Ezra’s fears are less apparent to us as an audience, and they’re less apparent to Ezra as well. It feels as if throughout their discussion, Yoda is hoping Ezra will come to a conclusion or understanding that’s probably beyond him at this point in his development. Yoda talks about the Jedi’s fear and arrogance during the time of the Clone Wars hoping Ezra will learn from the mistakes of the past, but he (like Empire-era Luke Skywalker) is too impulsive and confident to pause and listen. When their conversation ends, Yoda is disappointed (but probably not surprised) that Ezra still has much to learn. He understands that while Kanan and Ahsoka were able to find acceptance of their fears, Ezra isn’t there yet. Unfortunately, rather than Ezra accepting his fear that he may not be powerful enough to defeat his enemies, it’s Yoda who confirms his concerns that Ezra must learn hard truths through his own error.
It’s tempting to view his earlier comments about fighting as a grand statement of non-violence on Yoda’s part (especially when paired with Kanan’s experience with the Temple Guard), and from a certain point of view maybe we should. But from my perspective this is much more about internal conflicts than external ones. Kanan has learned to accept limitations, to be at peace with the limits of his power, but Ezra doesn’t truly internalize anything Yoda tries to tell him. He simply states that his decision is made, that he will fight, making it clear to Yoda that he knows essentially nothing more than he did when he entered the Temple. None of the humility displayed by Ahsoka and Kanan in accepting difficult truths is present in Ezra.
Viewing Yoda’s lesson to Kanan and Ezra as one of total non-violence is too literal a reading of his comments for me. Just as Luke’s refusal to fight Vader and Palpatine at the end of The Return of the Jedi is his moment of acceptance of the realities of the scenario in which he found himself rather than an absolute truth, Yoda pushes Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra to accept crucial truths in their own lives in “Shroud of Darkness.” He calls on them to emerge from the Temple more wise and more self-aware than they were when they entered. Ahsoka and Kanan clearly meet that challenge, but Yoda is disappointed to find that Ezra cannot understand the lesson he needs to learn through his wisdom, but that he instead must experience the pain of making his own mistakes, something we’ll most likely see in the final episodes of season two. Yoda’s purpose is to teach Ahsoka, Kanan, and Ezra not to fight themselves and to accept critical personal truths; simplifying that lesson to an instruction that Jedi should avoid violence altogether is just not complex enough, especially considering the ambiguity surrounding other aspects of the episode (particularly the reveal surrounding the Grand Inquisitor which surely cannot be read entirely literally).
Like many of the best moments in Star Wars, “Shroud of Darkness” is storytelling that asks as many questions as it answers. Yoda’s lessons through the Force are specific not only to the characters he instructs, but also the unique moments they find themselves in on their own spiritual journeys. It stands as one of the best episodes of Rebels so far, and it’s one that will be worth revisiting often as its characters’ stories continue to develop during the end of this season and beyond.
The Purgill featured in “The Call” are creatively bold, both in how they live in outer space and due to the implications surrounding them and hyperspace travel. Most of the discussion surrounding “The Call” centers (and rightly so) on the Purgill, but I like to find less-noticed moments to focus on for these Rebels Screenshot Spotlight posts. The image below (from the starwars.com episode guide for “The Call”) is an example of a shot that speaks volumes about the design of Rebels even if it may have gone largely unnoticed.
My favorite aspect of this shot is the way it is able to capture the look of A New Hope while simultaneously adapting that aesthetic to Rebels‘s own style. The appearance of the yellow Mining Guild TIE is an immediate call-back to the original trilogy era that also pushes the classic design into a new direction. This shot also demonstrates the show’s ability to capture a cinematic look while remaining distinctly cartoony. The lighting, as always, is stellar and the contrast between the brightly-lit portions of The Ghost and those cast in shadow provide the weight and realism that help the image dance the line between realism and stylized animation.
“The Protector of Concord Dawn” featured a number of compelling visual designs and shots including the half-destroyed planet of Concord Dawn and that system’s Mandolorian fighters and pilots. For me however, the above screenshot (sourced from starwars.com) is my favorite single image from the episode. The emphasis on the core themes of Rebels in “The Protectors of Concord Dawn” results in an episode with more emotional depth than I expected from a story focusing on hyperspace lanes, Mandalorian armor, and gunslinger showdowns.
Every aspect of this chosen shot communicates the importance of the familial bonds between its three characters. The vignetting effect of the central light above Sabine and Hera envelopes them (and to a lesser extent Kanan), obscuring the background and placing the viewer’s focus squarely on the characters and their connection to one another. It’s simple and straightforward, but it’s also a crucial and well-executed visual representation of the most important aspect of “The Protector of Concord Dawn.” Season 2 of Rebels has been very much about expanding the show’s lore by visiting new planets, introducing new characters, and providing backstory for existing ones, but my favorite moments thus far are those that center on the meaningful connections that make up the family at the heart of its story. In my mind Rebels is its best when it remains centered on the bonds between the members of the Ghost crew, so this episode worked most for me in these final moments when its storytelling circled back to the family at the show’s core.
Like so many episodes of Rebels, “A Princess on Lothal” features a number of cool callbacks to previous Star Wars designs. Much has already been made of Leia’s outfit and the fact that it references both the original and prequel trilogies thanks to its origins in a New Hope-era Ralph McQuarrie design and its inclusion of a symbol seen on Bail Organa’s clothing in Revenge of the Sith. But as much as Leia’s look for this episode is evidence of the brilliant design work on Rebels, it’s Kanan’s gravity-defying AT-AT assault sequence that I want to focus on here.
I’ve recently heard some complaints that Rebels is taking too many liberties in portraying its heroes as unrealistically powerful or lucky in increasingly dangerous scenarios. While I can certainly understand that perspective to a degree, I’m also happy to see a stylized and even slightly exaggerated approach to depicting the Star Wars universe in animation. Kanan’s attack on the AT-AT is so much fun to watch as he runs toward the massive walker while Ezra, Leia, Ryder, and finally the AT-AT pilots themselves all look on in awe at his ability to single-handedly take the transport down. The shot featured above is part of the first half of the sequence and it communicates most of what we need to know; the walker is a huge, hulking machine, but the momentum and confidence reside in the clearly outsized figure charging it at full-speed with his lightsaber extended.
These kind of set piece moments don’t happen constantly in the show; Kanan and Ezra routinely go multiple episodes without making much use of impressive Jedi abilities. But when the Rebels team does decide to go for a bigger moment like this one it almost always works for me where it couldn’t in film or other mediums. Rebels is smart and layered and even heavy at times, but it’s also a playground in which its creators can have fun with environments and scenarios that wouldn’t necessarily be possible outside of animation. The shot featured above is cinematic, but it also feels in some ways like wish fulfillment for a now-grown group of kids who spent the best years of their youths imagining Jedi disguised in stormtrooper gear slicing through the legs of towering walkers (or probably playing out those very scenarios with their Kenner action figures). It doesn’t make sense to see this kind of thing play out all of the time, or in every medium, but fantastic displays of Jedi power seem best explored in animation and I trust Dave Filoni and the Rebels team to do so tastefully and sparingly.
“Legacy” is one of the most memorable and moving episodes of Rebels yet, and its final moments are among my favorite in the show’s entire run. As stories that are in some ways produced for kids, both Clone Wars and Rebels are unafraid to explore weighty, emotional material, a trend that continues in “Legacy,” an episode the show has been building toward from the start. It provides closure for Ezra’s search for this parents and further explores the meaning of family, a theme that has always been a focus for Rebels, while also proving brave enough to supply answers that are neither easy nor safe.
As a mid-season finale, this episode needs to feel more important than an average one; it needs to be a small conclusion, wrapping up at least some plot threads and perhaps sowing the seeds for future ones. “Legacy” does all of this, but I was also struck by how much of the show’s DNA was present in its final scene. Thematically, it addresses fathers and sons, teachers and students, hope and loss, light and dark, but it also acts as a concise summary of the show’s visual mission with its beautiful, McQuarrie-inspired landscapes and carefully composed shots.
I usually try to write about just one image from any given episode of Rebels, but the final scene in “Legacy” is an extended moment that works best when considered as a whole. Ezra’s vision of Lothal and his parents is composed of multiple shots, first of Ezra alone before his joined by his father first, then his mother. As day turns to night, Ezra is for a moment again alone before being joined by Kanan. The two shots I’ve chosen as the primary images for this post feature first Ezra and his father looking out over the familiar Lothal landscape and Ezra and Kanan sharing a similar moment as the moons set (a clear, but subtle nod to “Binary Sunset”). These shots, and those that make up the scene that links them, are a poignant and lyrical way of saying goodbye to the family Ezra has lost while acknowledging the one he’s now joined. They also immediately call to mind the Ralph McQuarrie art that is so influential to the design of Rebels. It’s a touching ending to this episode and the first half of season two as well as an example of the incredible art, design, and composition of the show.
I’m including a gallery of a few more individual shots I grabbed while prepping this post here too. Each of them is wonderful and would’ve been memorable enough to act as the primary image for the post, but viewed together I think they communicate most of the scene’s narrative and demonstrate how the Rebels team is staying true to George Lucas’s visual storytelling philosophy.
Rebels has been on a bit of a break for the past month or so, but I’d actually fallen behind on these Rebels Screenshot Spotlight posts a few weeks before the show’s brief hiatus started. With a new episode set to premiere in just a few days, I thought I’d better take the opportunity to weigh in on my favorite shots from the episodes I’d missed.
First up is “The Future of the Force.” The most compelling image in Rebels season two’s tenth episode features the show’s new villains the Seventh Sister and the Fifth Brother attacking the passengers of a dimly lit shuttle. The “Red Blades” (as the passengers refer to them) show up in the episode’s first scene to abduct a force-sensitive baby for unclear, but clearly nefarious, reasons.
The shot I’ve pulled from this scene is comprised of the grandmother of baby Alora in the foreground with her back to the camera attempting to both sooth and protect her granddaughter. She’s looking down a corridor populated by a few fearful passengers but her gaze, like theirs, is on the approaching Inquisitors exiting an airlock bathed in red light. The camera is tilted at a Dutch angle which contributes to the sense of dread and tension permeating the shuttle. This scene is one of a number this season featuring these new Inquisitors that focuses on fear and borrows from the language of horror films to clearly communicate that these villains are dangerous, evil, and worthy of taking up the Grand Inquisitor’s role as the show’s chief antagonist(s). Writing, design, voice actors, and music are of course all part of successfully presenting these imposing characters, but I’ve found this kind of horror film framing to be an excellent contribution to their development as well.
I’m looking forward to posting in the next few days about a beautiful and moving moment in “Legacy,” one of my favorite episodes this season, and then getting back on schedule when Rebels returns with “A Princess on Lothal” on January 20th.
The Blockade Runner 