Star Wars Rebels: Fighter Flight
October 21, 2014 7:25 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe
A quarreling Zeb and Ezra are sent to town to gather supplies in an attempt by Hera to get the two to spend time together that doesn't involve fisticuffs. However, the routine shopping trip is interrupted by the presence of Imperial forces behaving like Imperial forces, which leads our two crew members of the Ghost into trouble, a stolen TIE fighter, and a rescue mission to help local farmers.
Factoids from Star Wars Trivia Gallery on the show!
Factoids from Star Wars Trivia Gallery on the show!
- The troop transport is based off a Kenner toy released after Star Wars and before Empire Strikes Back.
- Sabine's art work during the episode had glimpses of caricatures of bounty hunters Cad Bane and Embo from the Clone Wars series.
- The Imperial in charge was originally intended to be the woman Imperial minister from Droids in Distress before it was changed to the fun fellow in this episode.
- A translation of the shopping list had Hera requesting: space waffles, d'il pyyckkles, a riding cam, a large bag, science dip and a meiloorun melon.
- Speaking of the term meiloorun, it was first used in the X-Wing Series book, Wedge's Gamble by Michael Stackpole.
If it helps, A.V. Club gave this episode a C-. Owch!
I definitely see your point of view and the playful sparring by Ezra and Zeb came across as a little too much at the end.
One thing about the storm troopers and their shooting, it's essentially based off of Star Wars, and arguably, ESB and RTOJ, that they never hit what they're shooting at. Only once in the entire trilogy do the storm troopers hit one of our heroes, Leia, in the arm. (The reverse, wrongfully asserted, is that Leia never missed - she misses in Star Wars) My suspicion is that they're simply living up to this example set out by Lucas.
My general impression and hope is that the show will continue to improve just as Clone Wars did over the course of its run. The first season or so, as I recall, was pretty light (and the movie, well, let's not discuss the movie).
I am enjoying it overall, if only because I do appreciate the product. It's not Clone Wars, yet, but we are still in a stage where all the main characters are being established for the viewer and with each other. While the A.V. Club is fearing that the show might veer toward a family comedy sitcom, I think the prior episodes aren't indicative of a real movement in the at direction. Hence, we're stuck with this episode.
For the actual story, it's generally straight forward and doesn't really need much addressing. I wasn't very excited to see the farm stead which was obviously based off of the Skywalker farm on Tattoine. Either we have a mass producer of farm houses selling homes from one Outer Rim planet to another, or somehow, the geographic/physical requirements for a farm house on a desert planet is similar to that of a house located in a grain belt/grassy planet. It's pushing it and I would like to see more creativity in that regard rather than homage to the original. And that's a line that Rebels is going to constantly be toeing due to its place in the timeline. It's fun seeing storm troopers, TIE fighters and Star Destroyers, but there's definitely a point where you have to be cautious about imitating the original trilogy too much.
I may not give the episode a C-, but I do think it's the weakest so far this season.
posted by Atreides at 10:53 AM on October 21, 2014
I definitely see your point of view and the playful sparring by Ezra and Zeb came across as a little too much at the end.
One thing about the storm troopers and their shooting, it's essentially based off of Star Wars, and arguably, ESB and RTOJ, that they never hit what they're shooting at. Only once in the entire trilogy do the storm troopers hit one of our heroes, Leia, in the arm. (The reverse, wrongfully asserted, is that Leia never missed - she misses in Star Wars) My suspicion is that they're simply living up to this example set out by Lucas.
My general impression and hope is that the show will continue to improve just as Clone Wars did over the course of its run. The first season or so, as I recall, was pretty light (and the movie, well, let's not discuss the movie).
I am enjoying it overall, if only because I do appreciate the product. It's not Clone Wars, yet, but we are still in a stage where all the main characters are being established for the viewer and with each other. While the A.V. Club is fearing that the show might veer toward a family comedy sitcom, I think the prior episodes aren't indicative of a real movement in the at direction. Hence, we're stuck with this episode.
For the actual story, it's generally straight forward and doesn't really need much addressing. I wasn't very excited to see the farm stead which was obviously based off of the Skywalker farm on Tattoine. Either we have a mass producer of farm houses selling homes from one Outer Rim planet to another, or somehow, the geographic/physical requirements for a farm house on a desert planet is similar to that of a house located in a grain belt/grassy planet. It's pushing it and I would like to see more creativity in that regard rather than homage to the original. And that's a line that Rebels is going to constantly be toeing due to its place in the timeline. It's fun seeing storm troopers, TIE fighters and Star Destroyers, but there's definitely a point where you have to be cautious about imitating the original trilogy too much.
I may not give the episode a C-, but I do think it's the weakest so far this season.
posted by Atreides at 10:53 AM on October 21, 2014
I didn't know TIE fighters could fly sideways. It kind of felt like they only did because the writers just don't like Star Wars. Like an annoying disrespect for ... every other time we've ever seen them fly in every other incarnation of the SWU. (And yes, yes, you are a nerd if you correct me on that.)
The thing I really don't like about Rebels so far is the character names. I know that sounds like a strange nitpick, but they make the show feel much more created by committee to me. But then, I'll be the first to admit I'm far too old for this product, and that's what it feels like, a product.
posted by Catblack at 5:01 PM on October 21, 2014
The thing I really don't like about Rebels so far is the character names. I know that sounds like a strange nitpick, but they make the show feel much more created by committee to me. But then, I'll be the first to admit I'm far too old for this product, and that's what it feels like, a product.
posted by Catblack at 5:01 PM on October 21, 2014
I mostly agree with the AV Club review, so I'm glad I'm not alone. It's almost scary how the series seems like an incarnation of what the original Star Wars could've been if Lucas or Fox pushed to make it more like a 70s sitcom. If Luke was a smart-alec adolescent, if R2 was more of a troublemaker, if Chewie talked with a Cockney accent, if Leia was less feisty and more sunny and nurturing.
As for the stormtroopers, it's not that they miss, it's that they do it from so close, or just stand there and don't shoot until it's too late. When we see them at the beginning of A New Hope and Empire, they're pretty fearsome. In the rest of those two movies, I think we're too caught up in our heroes' peril to stop and laugh at the troopers' inadequacy. In Rebels thus far, they're never imposing, and it's kind of misguided on the writers' part.
I don't know how much of the show has already been written, but if there's ever a change in tone long-term, it probably won't be till next season. In retrospect, Clone Wars had the advantage of having a vast set of characters to go back and forth with. Here there's only 6 (if that) and maybe a couple baddies. Some shows can avoid running out of steam with that, but can this?
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:04 AM on October 22, 2014
As for the stormtroopers, it's not that they miss, it's that they do it from so close, or just stand there and don't shoot until it's too late. When we see them at the beginning of A New Hope and Empire, they're pretty fearsome. In the rest of those two movies, I think we're too caught up in our heroes' peril to stop and laugh at the troopers' inadequacy. In Rebels thus far, they're never imposing, and it's kind of misguided on the writers' part.
I don't know how much of the show has already been written, but if there's ever a change in tone long-term, it probably won't be till next season. In retrospect, Clone Wars had the advantage of having a vast set of characters to go back and forth with. Here there's only 6 (if that) and maybe a couple baddies. Some shows can avoid running out of steam with that, but can this?
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:04 AM on October 22, 2014
I didn't know TIE fighters could fly sideways. It kind of felt like they only did because the writers just don't like Star Wars. Like an annoying disrespect for ... every other time we've ever seen them fly in every other incarnation of the SWU. (And yes, yes, you are a nerd if you correct me on that.)
You're not wrong if you're basing your knowledge off the movies. The only time you see TIEs in action are in space and either chasing something or on some kind of escort/patrol route. I feel fairly confident that in TIE Fighter, the Lucasfilm flight sim for the Empire (the follow up to X-Wing), you can pilot the craft left to right. (Someone please feel free to correct me!) TIE Fighter was kind of insanely imbalanced compared to X-Wing, where you increasingly are handed craft that correct all the weaknesses of the original TIE and become more powerful than the rebel star fighters (After playing dozens upon dozens of hours of X-wing you can't imagine how hard it is in the first few missions of TIE Fighter to start plugging away at slow moving Y-Wings....[/sim flashback])
I mostly agree with the AV Club review, so I'm glad I'm not alone. It's almost scary how the series seems like an incarnation of what the original Star Wars could've been if Lucas or Fox pushed to make it more like a 70s sitcom. If Luke was a smart-alec adolescent, if R2 was more of a troublemaker, if Chewie talked with a Cockney accent, if Leia was less feisty and more sunny and nurturing.
I definitely agree that I think the current cast was kind of created on orders to emulate the original trilogy cast, and obviously, heavily influenced by the pre-production ideas. Lucas' role in Clone Wars, to me, always seemed heavily apparent whenever we had a Jar Jar Binks episode or something similar. I have the impression now, quite a bit removed from the last time I watched, that the first season or so of Clone Wars, many of the characters were kind of framed in specific character traits - Obi-wan the Mentor/chiding teacher to Anakin, Anakin the hot headed rule breaker, and Asoka - the wide-eyed bubbly energetic POV character for the show. As we all know, a lot of this changed, perhaps most dramatically for Asoka, who becomes jaded by the final season (Who the hell saw that coming from the beginning?).
I think you may be right that the long term trends may not start until next season, but I'm enjoying the show enough to make it there. The animation is good, the direction is good, the music is passable, if not sometimes too distracting with its own adherence to John Williams, and it's, well, Star Wars.
In retrospect, Clone Wars had the advantage of having a vast set of characters to go back and forth with. Here there's only 6 (if that) and maybe a couple baddies. Some shows can avoid running out of steam with that, but can this?
Ask yourself, how many major characters were in TNG? Or a better example, Farscape? Stargate, for it's ups and downs, went ten seasons with a general cast of five to six, depending on how essential you see the general in charge and doctor. Good writing can sustain a show for long time and the Star Wars galaxy is only limited in this show with affecting anything that has to happen in the original trilogy.
The thing I really don't like about Rebels so far is the character names. I know that sounds like a strange nitpick, but they make the show feel much more created by committee to me. But then, I'll be the first to admit I'm far too old for this product, and that's what it feels like, a product.
Man, I'm slicing and dicing the two comments, sorry for that!
The names are so so. You think about the original trilogy and we at first just have, "Uncle Own, Luke, Leia, Han, and old Ben Kenobi." There's a trace of not so zany, but as that series went on we kind of up the level of difference to Mon Mothma, Lando Calrissian, and what not. Then the expanded universe happened and no one can have a regular sounding name again, EVER. I suppose Ezra Bridger is somewhat everydayish. Sounds like a name from a Western. But you are right, it's definitely a product, one that was lavishly put together to be Disney's first Star Wars product on a screen, which would not cause people to run away screaming their hatred, and prepare them for future Disney Star Wars products.
An interesting comparison would be the Prequel Trilogy, because they exist as Lucas' idea of the Star Wars product, free of pretty much anyone else's insights or criticisms. After decades of commercializing the brand, I have to believe that Lucas was simply ingrained to the idea of "Here's what Star Wars is!" and wrapping his personal story within that cocoon, planetary trade embargo and all. The result, well, was less than amazing.
posted by Atreides at 6:54 AM on October 22, 2014
You're not wrong if you're basing your knowledge off the movies. The only time you see TIEs in action are in space and either chasing something or on some kind of escort/patrol route. I feel fairly confident that in TIE Fighter, the Lucasfilm flight sim for the Empire (the follow up to X-Wing), you can pilot the craft left to right. (Someone please feel free to correct me!) TIE Fighter was kind of insanely imbalanced compared to X-Wing, where you increasingly are handed craft that correct all the weaknesses of the original TIE and become more powerful than the rebel star fighters (After playing dozens upon dozens of hours of X-wing you can't imagine how hard it is in the first few missions of TIE Fighter to start plugging away at slow moving Y-Wings....[/sim flashback])
I mostly agree with the AV Club review, so I'm glad I'm not alone. It's almost scary how the series seems like an incarnation of what the original Star Wars could've been if Lucas or Fox pushed to make it more like a 70s sitcom. If Luke was a smart-alec adolescent, if R2 was more of a troublemaker, if Chewie talked with a Cockney accent, if Leia was less feisty and more sunny and nurturing.
I definitely agree that I think the current cast was kind of created on orders to emulate the original trilogy cast, and obviously, heavily influenced by the pre-production ideas. Lucas' role in Clone Wars, to me, always seemed heavily apparent whenever we had a Jar Jar Binks episode or something similar. I have the impression now, quite a bit removed from the last time I watched, that the first season or so of Clone Wars, many of the characters were kind of framed in specific character traits - Obi-wan the Mentor/chiding teacher to Anakin, Anakin the hot headed rule breaker, and Asoka - the wide-eyed bubbly energetic POV character for the show. As we all know, a lot of this changed, perhaps most dramatically for Asoka, who becomes jaded by the final season (Who the hell saw that coming from the beginning?).
I think you may be right that the long term trends may not start until next season, but I'm enjoying the show enough to make it there. The animation is good, the direction is good, the music is passable, if not sometimes too distracting with its own adherence to John Williams, and it's, well, Star Wars.
In retrospect, Clone Wars had the advantage of having a vast set of characters to go back and forth with. Here there's only 6 (if that) and maybe a couple baddies. Some shows can avoid running out of steam with that, but can this?
Ask yourself, how many major characters were in TNG? Or a better example, Farscape? Stargate, for it's ups and downs, went ten seasons with a general cast of five to six, depending on how essential you see the general in charge and doctor. Good writing can sustain a show for long time and the Star Wars galaxy is only limited in this show with affecting anything that has to happen in the original trilogy.
The thing I really don't like about Rebels so far is the character names. I know that sounds like a strange nitpick, but they make the show feel much more created by committee to me. But then, I'll be the first to admit I'm far too old for this product, and that's what it feels like, a product.
Man, I'm slicing and dicing the two comments, sorry for that!
The names are so so. You think about the original trilogy and we at first just have, "Uncle Own, Luke, Leia, Han, and old Ben Kenobi." There's a trace of not so zany, but as that series went on we kind of up the level of difference to Mon Mothma, Lando Calrissian, and what not. Then the expanded universe happened and no one can have a regular sounding name again, EVER. I suppose Ezra Bridger is somewhat everydayish. Sounds like a name from a Western. But you are right, it's definitely a product, one that was lavishly put together to be Disney's first Star Wars product on a screen, which would not cause people to run away screaming their hatred, and prepare them for future Disney Star Wars products.
An interesting comparison would be the Prequel Trilogy, because they exist as Lucas' idea of the Star Wars product, free of pretty much anyone else's insights or criticisms. After decades of commercializing the brand, I have to believe that Lucas was simply ingrained to the idea of "Here's what Star Wars is!" and wrapping his personal story within that cocoon, planetary trade embargo and all. The result, well, was less than amazing.
posted by Atreides at 6:54 AM on October 22, 2014
I totally get what y'all are saying, but I liked it. Sure it's for kids, but that's Star Wars. Honestly, I'm not sure I'd be on board with an adult drama set in the same universe and time frame. The simplicity of Star Wars is part of the charm. The good guys wear white, the bad guys wear black, and the good guys win in the end. It may not be realistic, but that doesn't mean it's not entertaining. The plenty of other stories — not to mention the Real World — will have plenty of time to beat down kids' inner Jedi.
As for Rebels, I have to admit that they pushed my buttons with the Imperial Troop Transporter, which I guess makes me a bad person. I was a little disheartened by Zeb and Ezra not acting like smart, capable smugglers. I understand what they were going for, but I'd like to see them not pick the dumbest possible course of action at every turn.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:33 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
As for Rebels, I have to admit that they pushed my buttons with the Imperial Troop Transporter, which I guess makes me a bad person. I was a little disheartened by Zeb and Ezra not acting like smart, capable smugglers. I understand what they were going for, but I'd like to see them not pick the dumbest possible course of action at every turn.
posted by ob1quixote at 11:33 AM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
That was sort of what I was getting at earlier. Lucas would defend himself by saying Star Wars was aimed at kids, when all generations actually got something out of it. Rebels feels more overtly aimed at kids. And isn't that ground sufficiently covered by the Lego specials?
I think the "Empire Strikes Back was best because it's DARK" sentiment is way overblown, but part of the appeal of the franchise for kids was that it had a "grown-up" feel to it. Chopped limbs, grim villains, even mild curse words like "hell" and "damn." The movies were serious, but had enough gentle humor to keep it fun.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:46 PM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
I think the "Empire Strikes Back was best because it's DARK" sentiment is way overblown, but part of the appeal of the franchise for kids was that it had a "grown-up" feel to it. Chopped limbs, grim villains, even mild curse words like "hell" and "damn." The movies were serious, but had enough gentle humor to keep it fun.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:46 PM on October 22, 2014 [1 favorite]
My main complaint so far is I'm really confused about when episodes air and what numbers they are.
The one I watched last night was an HD version of the episode after this (which I thought was a much better episode).
Anyway, I liked this episode well enough, goofy fun, which you have to allow for in any series. They can't all be mega-serious episodes.
I think (and this impression is based a bit on the next episode, which I won't talk about) that they are trying to make the heroes appear to be very capable against the run of the mill imperials so they can set up some genuine threats and make them scary like General Insensitively Cruel in the wookie episode.
I hate the "Star Wars is for kids" argument. It's like the Doctor who is for kids argument. It's an all ages entertainment. Everyone can enjoy Star Wars. In fact surely the best way to make media for kids is to make them to the standard that adults expect, but leave out the gore and swearing.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:43 AM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
The one I watched last night was an HD version of the episode after this (which I thought was a much better episode).
Anyway, I liked this episode well enough, goofy fun, which you have to allow for in any series. They can't all be mega-serious episodes.
I think (and this impression is based a bit on the next episode, which I won't talk about) that they are trying to make the heroes appear to be very capable against the run of the mill imperials so they can set up some genuine threats and make them scary like General Insensitively Cruel in the wookie episode.
I hate the "Star Wars is for kids" argument. It's like the Doctor who is for kids argument. It's an all ages entertainment. Everyone can enjoy Star Wars. In fact surely the best way to make media for kids is to make them to the standard that adults expect, but leave out the gore and swearing.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:43 AM on October 24, 2014 [1 favorite]
My main complaint so far is I'm really confused about when episodes air and what numbers they are.
The one I watched last night was an HD version of the episode after this (which I thought was a much better episode).
It appears that basically, DisneyXD airs the "new" episodes every Monday night at 9pm EST. However, if you have access to On Demand shows from DisneyXD through your cable provider, they offer next week's show early.
General Insensitively Cruel
Heh.
posted by Atreides at 11:24 AM on October 24, 2014
The one I watched last night was an HD version of the episode after this (which I thought was a much better episode).
It appears that basically, DisneyXD airs the "new" episodes every Monday night at 9pm EST. However, if you have access to On Demand shows from DisneyXD through your cable provider, they offer next week's show early.
General Insensitively Cruel
Heh.
posted by Atreides at 11:24 AM on October 24, 2014
I liked that Chopper was very DEEZ NUTZ in his game with Kanan. Who knew droids were such shit talkin gamers?
posted by spunweb at 3:10 PM on October 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by spunweb at 3:10 PM on October 26, 2014 [1 favorite]
Tho after thinking about it: a real test for the show for me is if we're ever able to see a wacky besties ep featuring Sabine and Hera. They're still the least developed characters and right now feel very background in a show that seems like it wants to be more ensemble.
posted by spunweb at 5:54 PM on October 26, 2014
posted by spunweb at 5:54 PM on October 26, 2014
I'd imagine that over the course of the series, everyone will get their share of the spotlight. Ideally, they'd be able to form combinations of any two or three characters, and make a good story out of it, with good interaction.
TNG came up earlier, and I can see that potential comparison. I'm just curious if they'll be able to come up with unique plot concepts that make you think "What a great idea for an episode." Instead of just throwing the group in standard, formulaic "fight bad guys" plots.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 6:14 PM on October 26, 2014
TNG came up earlier, and I can see that potential comparison. I'm just curious if they'll be able to come up with unique plot concepts that make you think "What a great idea for an episode." Instead of just throwing the group in standard, formulaic "fight bad guys" plots.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 6:14 PM on October 26, 2014
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The odd thing is that Lucas was supposedly involved with some regularity on Clone Wars, which could get pretty heavy and dark at times, and usually had a relatively mature tone. Yet here, with Lucas obviously gone, it seems like the kind of animated series that people would've expected from him. And we're only three eps in, and seeing stormtroopers miss at point-blank range is getting kind of old.
The cheerful animation style only adds to it. The characters seem overly animated and expressive, and react to everything with a dozen facial tics. They even have to give Chopper arms to convey body language with, which seems like such a cheat.
I guess I still want this to be a success, but I'm not sure how much longer I can go. And it's a shame that Clone Wars (while not perfect) isn't still on the air through endless reruns like so many other shows.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 9:16 AM on October 21, 2014