Well - it’s here! The first two episodes are on Disney+
Keen to hear what everyone’s thoughts are. Needless to say, there will be lots of spoilers in this discussion.
I really liked it. Felt like a solid continuation of Rebels, a bit slow at times, but overall a solid setup for what could be a very interesting and exciting series.
I feel like we should be able to guess the identity of the masked third Sith-esque villain. Don’t think it’s a fallen Ezra (too boring a plot line) but the stance and mannerisms seemed very familiar…
Also - great to see Kevin Kiner doing the music! Nice callback to some Rebels motifs here and there.
I would’ve liked to see Vanessa Marshall as Hera, I felt her voice was so uniquely matched. This Hera seems way too girly for a maternal older Hera. And where is her son?
Hoping for a Freddie Prinze Jr cameo.
Dave Filoni must be so happy to finally tell this story. Can’t wait to see what comes next!
It seems it’s a show for people who watched the animated series only. Who is Ezra? Why is he more important than stopping a war? Why is Thrawn in exile on the other side of the galaxy?
It’s written like we all should be familiar and attached to these characters. Not to mention all the dead space in between lines, it all seemed awkward, Dawson was no better than a rock acting. Just sad, I really wanted to like this show but I’m not going back to watch 200 hours of backstory
As someone who has watched all of Clone Wars, Rebels and read the Thrawn books, I fully get where you’re coming from. Though I think there must be a 10 minute YouTube video of “what to know before watching Ahsoka” somewhere. Rebels is enjoyable (and gets suitably dark in its later seasons) but doesn’t tell an overtly complex story, so a quick primer video would be enough if you don’t want to experience it all.
All the dead space between lines stood out to me too. Ahsoka is obviously older here, but where’s her playfulness and spark?
Agreed. The whole pacing of the show felt like they were stretching to fill time, and the fight choreography and editing felt lazy, like they didn't have enough time to properly train those fight moves and resorted to a lot of cuts to hide it. The whole writing of the show is pretty cliche and so many lines of dialogue were easy to predict before the actors even opened their mouths.
Really disappointed, I was hoping it would be more on par with Andor.
Yeah, this is the opposit of Andor that I could recommend to people that hadn't seen much Star Wars, this is for all intents and purposes Rebels Series 5 and dripping in lore. Both are valid ways to handle a franchise as long as Disney judges viewing figures accordingly.
Yea... that's a problem with most cinematic universes. There's simply so much of story, that you cannot start in the middle.
I'm not really sure what you mean by "dead space" between lines. The conversations kinda felt natural to me....
I don't know why people didn't like Dawson's acting. I kinda felt her portrayal of Ahsoka as very faithful continuation of her portrayal in Rebels. She has been through A LOT. I personally have seen people who have had a hard time in life being withdrawn, devoid of emotion and very stoic. In fact, this portrayal of her makes her very believable for me. She's not a happy teenager anymore. She's a middle aged, lonely individual who has a lot of responsibility on her back. She has no family. Rather, she just has a few "accomplices". Plus, she is worried about an impending invasion from one of the most feared and effective imperial Generals.
Why is he more important than stopping a war?
He is important, as he could very well be a part of this war. He is an extremely powerful Jedi Knight. Could he have joined Thrawn? Him not contacting the Rebels back probably means that he is either dead, or has joined Thrawn. This is very dangerous for obvious reasons.
Agree that Hera is to youngish …. She is a general that has fought personally in a galactic war lost her partner and lots of friends and comrades: She should have been cast as more angular cynical and jaded. She is to happy to be there and to happy and upbeat. Unconvincing as a General ordering people around.
Enjoyed the show, glad I watched Rebels before hand though!
Did the new republic uniforms ( particularly the helmets ) look very underdone and flimsy to anyone else?
Weeeeell she is a mum now, right? Raising a child can bring a lot of happiness to some people. I found her to be very convincing and comforting as a character. A general with mom energy isn't so unconvincing imo.
Did the new republic uniforms ( particularly the helmets ) look very underdone and flimsy to anyone else?
Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to that. Will try to observe this in the next episode!
I thoroughly enjoyed both episodes. Where do I start?
First ep:
lots of OG Star Wars vibes with the logo, fade into a crawl, then start with a ship in space
lots of Phantom Menace vibes with the docking of the ship and two “Jedi” there for a “peaceful” thing, the little probe droid searching for a target with the shadowy apprentice waiting behind
the cameos of Rebels characters
Second ep:
the reveal of a night sister
could we get an older Cal Kestis cameo (unsure who the masked inquisitor is)?
Baylan with Dooku vibes of being evil, but also with a reason for that and why he thinks he’s right
some Jedi Fallen Order/Survivor parallels with gateways leading to other systems/planets
is this new Galaxy a reference or potential for Yuuzhan Vong?
I was thinking that new galaxy will either be a) the Vong galaxy, with all our characters wondering why it's dead and lifeless, setting up the Vong invasion in Rays NJO films or b) the early Jedi come from another galaxy in Disney continuity (technically the Tho Yor could have come from another galaxy in Legends) and this is setting up the Dawn of the Jedi film.
Interesting. I haven’t read any of the new canon stuff about high republic. I do think they are/will tie in that stuff more though since it’s a whole new thing to explore. Anything that brings in new merchandise will make Disney say yes.
could we get an older Cal Kestis cameo (unsure who the masked inquisitor is)
Yea, the inquisitor is kinda sus, no? Although, I really hope that he is just some random surviving inquisitor. I didn't find him THAT cool for him to turn out to be some character that we know about already.
is this new Galaxy a reference or potential for Yuuzhan Vong?
Honestly, THAT is what I'm hoping for! Is Thrawn the anti-hero working to stop an impending Yuuzhan Vong invasion? Was Palpy preparing for this too by building the death stars? Aside from galactic domination, was defending from a Yuuzhan Vong invasion one of the goals of the Final Order?
I enjoyed it. My daughter and I watched both episodes last night. Definitely sets up a good story. I don't want to say too much because I may be talking about ep 2 instead.
Incidentally I was playing a SW game on my DS that I just discovered earlier. It's SW Battlefront Elite Squadrons, and it's alright, but it's really basically nothing on its own and relies on the SW theme for everything - story, music, assets... You know.
It got me thinking how little SW media actually need to be watchable/playable, and it really isn't much. As long as it copies everything from what came before, it only needs very little of its own. Just don't mess it up.
Anyway I was thinking of this same thing when watching Ahsoka. Everything SW is there, it looks great, it continues the Rebels and Mando storylines, presumably the OG Thrawn trilogy as well, but what does it add on its own? Ummm... Not much really? Seems to be pretty safe.
Well, I do really love seeing animated SW characters in live action, so I can't be mad at it. It does have potential, and definitely seems to be heading towards something "epic"... I don't quite feel like it can actually live up to it like Andor has every couple episodes.
Anyone want to take a guess as to the identity of the third villain lightsabre fighter? Whilst watching in our house, we dismissed "corrupted Ezra" for being too predictable. Then a Night-Sister-resurrected-evil-Kanan was suggested...
I'm not completely opposed to that suggestion. There seemed to be something specific and recognisable about the fighter's stance...
Honestly I think it'd be great if they introduced a new character rather than yet someone else being resurrected and coming back from the dead. That being said, I did see a theory which would be interesting:
theory
The masked inquisitor is Barriss Offee, who framed Ahsoka for bombing the Jedi temple, which caused her to leave the Jedi order.
I like the idea of it being a canon version of Starkiller, Darth Vader's secret apprentice from the non-canon Force Unleashed games. It could make for an interesting foil to Ahsoka and "Marrok" isn't far off from Galen Marek and Sam Witwer's in the credits for providing "additional voices."
Oh, now that could be interesting indeed! And much more exciting than my fears about the theory it's Fallen Ezra. Because I really don't want that to be true, but feel it will be.
overall it's pretty good. I don't like how they changed Sabine into a failed padawan. Hera seems a little...off. Freddie Prinze said he was done with Kanan so it doesn't look good for that cameo.
As for Marrok, I'm going with Barris.
I just rewatched the ending to rebels after episode 2 of Ahsoka to compare the shot of Sabine reuniting. I forgot Ahsoka had that stalf but do kinda wish she had that Gandalf energy in the live action version.