Ahsoka

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

On m'learned coll's points..

Spoiler

 

11 hours ago, Techwright said:

Thrawn pausing as if considering what parts to tell his subordinate, then stating they've had losses...are we looking at an undead army raised by the witches?

Zomtroopers! I like it, and it explains the chanting, as well as why some of them weren't facing the right way in the shuttle bay. Kinda hoping we get a Simon Pegg cameo, though he's already snuck into the Sequel Trilogy - and you'd need quite a big suit for Nick Frost...

 

...and I wonder what caused the losses? Some might have died on the journey, and the nomads might have picked off a few, but I've a bad feeling about that...

 

11 hours ago, Techwright said:

The howler is adorable.  I want one...and kevlar gloves if I'm going to roughhouse with him.

Reminds me of a terrifying Alsatian an acquaintance bought as a guard dog, who was always disconcerted when he rolled to get bellywubs off me. 

The dog, not the acquaintance, btw. Though I think if I'd offered...

 

21 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

I kinda liked how they paused for a moment to have a meta discussion of the canon/legends divide

Yep, that was a great line... "Some things are better left as stories... and Reddit threads."

 

Seriously, if Filoni's dug up something bad enough to scare Brainy Smurf and the Siouxie Sisters off-world I wanna see it.

And they haven't gone and found and harnessed it, it's probably because they know what it really is. 

Baylon's only heard tales that Huyang told. They've had to live with the damn thing as a neighbour.

Any bets on who or what it might be? And does Baylon need Ezra to get to it?

 

Oh, and great to see Claudia getting a decent gig here, so I can go stalk her on the convention circuit again.

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

10 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

On m'learned coll's points..

  Hide contents

 

...and I wonder what caused the losses? Some might have died on the journey, and the nomads might have picked off a few, but I've a bad feeling about that...

 

Seriously, if Filoni's dug up something bad enough to scare Brainy Smurf and the Siouxie Sisters off-world I wanna see it.

And they haven't gone and found and harnessed it, it's probably because they know what it really is. 

Baylon's only heard tales that Huyang told. They've had to live with the damn thing as a neighbour.

Any bets on who or what it might be? And does Baylon need Ezra to get to it?

 

I'm considering two possibilities: singular being or massive organization.

If singular being an obvious suggestion would be the Mortis Brother.  We've not seen him in forever, he's got backstory ties to Ahsoka, and he's powerful enough to handle the Dathomirians and Thrawns forces. Problems with that idea:  Why would Baylan seek him out?  Power, yes I know, but Baylan is clearly not stupid either, and he's not chosen to go full Sith.  Additionally Dathomirians and Thrawn are pretty squarely in the dark side and dark deeds camp, so I don't know why they'd see him as an enemy.

 

Another singular being idea would be a creature who discovers the same dark power as the Eternal Emperor did: the ability to suck all Force from a planet or sector to drastically empower themselves.  As the Eternal Emperor got his start by absorbing a planet full of Sith, I could see why everyone wants out of the galaxy if a new such being came along.

 

Groups:  it may be popular Legends group villains like the Yuuzhan Vong, who attacked during the High Republic era and came from an extra-galactic origin.  Another speculation is a group containing some sort of Force eaters.  Star Wars has had several species and creatures who consume the Force from others, so what's one more? or it may be Galactus.  I hear crossovers are popular these days.

 

 

[Techwright]

Episode 7 - more comments later when more time, but I felt this was a strong 4th place in the series so far.  The previous 3 episodes felt stronger, but episode 7 was no slouch and gave us several interesting moments (and one huge, unexpected cameo).

[Mr. Vee]

ep 7 was the first one that didn't drag for my hamster brain. 

Spoiler

Finally got to see Thrawn do some Thrawning. I'm thinking Ezra's done for after that last line. He's been out of the loop so doesn't understand basic police upcoming retirement dialogue rules.

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

And for us other hamsters over here...🐹

Spoiler

• THREEPIO! Threepio, is that you? 
• Senator Organa regrets she couldn't be bothered to come and slap you down in person, due to your being an obvious little Impy b****...
  (I miss Space Mom.)
• No space whales were harmed in the making of this picture.
• Yes, Brainy Smurf finally gets to flex his smirking muscles a little bit.
• Ezra + Sabine = 1 whole Jedi warrior, plus a bit more to boot. One's got the tools (and Mando training), the other's got the talent...
• Noted from subtitles that Thrawn's thugs are referred to as Night Troopers. That's new...
• Ezra and Sabine being a goofy duo again.
• Ahsoka The White is definitely a lot looser. 
• Teamwork makes the dream work... as does coordinated air support 🙂
• Brainy Smurf's gameplan? Spike the ball and run out the clock. It's not a bad plan at all - just keep everyone else busy.
• And I still don't quite know what they need all those coffins for, but "nothing good" springs to mind.
• If there's anyone Brainy Smurf should be really concerned about, it's Baylan going off script. We still don't know what he's up to.

Fun episode. But. We only have one left of the series, and unless they're giving Filoni a feature length, I don't see how we resolve all of this lot in 40 minutes.

 

I foresee a potential choice: take down Smurfy Boi but leave Baylan to his own devices, or stop whatever great evil Baylan's up to at the risk of unleashing the Blue Meanie and his undead entourage on unsuspecting worlds...

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

17 hours ago, Mr. Vee said:

ep 7 was the first one that didn't drag for my hamster brain. 

  Hide contents

Finally got to see Thrawn do some Thrawning. I'm thinking Ezra's done for after that last line. He's been out of the loop so doesn't understand basic police upcoming retirement dialogue rules. 

 

Okay, that was a funny analogy!  LOL

 

More detailed thoughts:

Spoiler

Seeing the exterior shots of Coruscant reminds me that the Sequel Trilogy has moved the New Republic's headquarters to another solar system entirely, and was completely in place 25 years from "now".  Pure speculation, but if Thrawn makes it to the home galaxy (Star Wars really needs to officially name these two galaxies), might he assemble the first real attack fleet in some time, and lay waste to Coruscant?  It might prove the impetus to move to another world.

 

The kangaroo court chambers:  Just to the right of Senator Self-Importance is a Mon Cal with a naval admiral's 5 lozenges pinned to his chest.  Others have noted that this might be Admiral Ackbar.

 

Nitpick:  Senator Xiono is given far too much control of the meeting.  There were other senators who shared his viewpoint last time.  Why not split the dialog between them?  Make it appear a more balanced response.  I also am not fond of larger-scaled characters being painted so one-dimensionally.  They could have made him a bit more three-dimensional.

 

Nice solution to the missing Senator Organa: give authenticity to your Star Wars show by having the OG droid deliver the winning blow, and giving Anthony Daniels one more go in the gold suit.  Much appreciated!

 

Observation:  Nothing shown post-Return of the Jedi (from a storyline standpoint) shows Padme-confidant Senator Riyo Chuchi from Pantora, especially where she might seem a natural fit, such as this scene.  It makes me wonder if her appearances in works showing the story of the Rise of the Empire will result in her untimely death.

 

Hayden again looks great.  The animated Anakin always looked a few years older than Hayden, and now Hayden feels much like that animated version.

 

Name drop:  Asaj Ventress receives live-action canonization by a casual comment from holo-Anakin.  She'd previously only been in the canon animated shows.

 

The minefield sequence was quite good.  Though, if all whales escape, how destructive is that mine field?  Incidentally some informed reactors commented that the mine field was likely influenced by a minefield in the original Thrawn novels.

 

Inconsistency:  When hiding from scans in the Star Wars universe, it is customary to shut down the droids as well as the computers and engines.  Here, while hiding in the bones, Ahsoka only turns off the ship, not Huyang, though she did so on a previous episode.

 

Several have pointed out how much the in-field shots of this episode remind them of LotR: The Two Towers, especially the warg attack in the fields of Rohan.  Having Baylan and Shin on howlers, essentially wargs, adds to that feeling.  Note that their two howlers match their uniform shades.

 

The force search for, and connection to, Sabine recalls the force connection of Luke and Leia in The Empire Strikes Back.

 

Notice that in the Ashoka vs. Baylan rematch, this time she's pulled out both blades and assumed her signature stance:  she now takes him seriously and respects his skill.  Last time they fought she only used one blade, suggesting his skill was beneath hers.  Also notice that she keeps the fight at close quarters.  She's realized his skill is like that of a knight with a broadsword: powerful, sweeping moves.  Close quarters limits his options.

 

Regarding the fighting style of Ezra:  others are quite right at noting his "monk" style of fighting.  I'm not as happy with the results, however.  Force pushes are short, and reduced in power.  Someone with 10 years of this skill should be launching opponents 20 meters into the air, grabbing two with the force and ramming them head-first into each other, tearing off armor and weapons from them, using rocks and even pebbles as force shotgun blast, and leaping around the battlefield making it harder for his opponents to target.  What we actually get is more none-force street fighting, more in keeping with his street rat past then his Jedi present.   The one moment that transcended this was when Shin swung her saber at his face and he not only blocked the swing with the force in a hand push, but actually distorted the blade slightly, so that it appeared for a time like an unstable lightsaber blade, such as Kylo Ren wielded.

 

The look of "my calm has been ruffled" shock on Thrawn's face when he realized Anakin trained Ahsoka was deeply satisfying.

 

Night troopers not blowing up in green smoke and flame when they fell: are these the living then?  If so, might the cargo boxes contain the dead, an army to be resurrected in the home galaxy?  Night sisters use a sort of pod to house their undead until needed.  I could see these boxes with tech on the side being Thrawn's equivalent. 

 

Shin's fear and flight might make her a target of whatever Baylan seeks, should it be a dark-side power.  Though she wears the light colored clothing, fear is a doorway to the dark side, as Anakin learned.   It would be an interesting twist, as many assume (because of the iconography of the light surrounding her) that she'll turn good.

 

Last episode of the season should be interesting:

1. Will Baylan survive?  If so, Filoni will have his work cut out for him in replacing Ray in the role.

2. Will Thrawn launch to the home galaxy?  It seems likely, especially since the story back home is still progressing,  but a surprise attack on his ship might create a delay, perhaps one where Rebels and Empire alike have to align to fight a greater threat.

3.  Will Ahsoka telling Ezra what's really going on drive a wedge between Sabine and him?

4. Will the crates contents be revealed?

5. Will Shin now have a "thousand yard stare" rather than just an intense stare?

6. Will Noti plushies be available immediately after the episode?  (Asking for a friend)

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Techwright

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Small notes on m'learned coll's notes:

Spoiler

 

3 hours ago, Techwright said:

The look of "my calm has been ruffled" shock on Thrawn's face when he realized Anakin trained Ahsoka was deeply satisfying.

And that is why you hire quality actors for this kind of role. Gravitas you could swing a moon around.

And yes, Ray's performance is going to be hard to match if Baylan is supposed to make it out of this.

(Unless he merges with some kind of dark energy or whatnot, in which case, much CGI'ing or some kind of regeneration thingy. Not into Tennant. Or Whittaker. I mean, I'd love it to be Whittaker: ee up, ye daft old smurfy space bastage, ow ye doin'?. But way too meta.)

 

Did Thrawn ever face Anakin as well as running into Vader? I'm sure he'd kinda-sorta-enjoy having an opponent of almost his own level?

 

On the coffins with tech attached: I interpreted those as some kind of anti-grav module, since some older stone ones had it as well.  Space equivalent of digging out your old Red Radio Flyer for festivals.

 

Is Ahsoka up for a team-up with Thrawn?

 

Also: no Noti plushies yet, but... https://www.shopdisney.co.uk/disney-parks-loth-cat-creature-soft-toy-star-wars-galaxys-edge-461011696215.html

😻

 

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Mr. Vee]

2 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Small notes on m'learned coll's notes:

  Hide contents

Did Thrawn ever face Anakin as well as running into Vader? I'm sure he'd kinda-sorta-enjoy having an opponent of almost his own level?

 

Spoiler

Yes. One of the first of the new canon Thrawn books has time jumps between him working with Anakin and Padme and him later working with Vader. He, being Brainy Smurf, figures it out. 

I've not read the second canon Thrawn trilogy but unless a lot of things are resolved there the Filoni Thrawn's motivations really seem different enough from the first trilogy as to feel like a different canon. Of course this is hardly the first inkling that FIloni is his own canon.

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Decloaking something re Filoni and Canon...

 

So only the films - and later the TV series - are officially Beard-Blessed Canon.

Anything else isn't - but is a really, really nice toybox for Filoni to pull stuff out of and use. And he already has...

Edited September 28, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Mr. Vee]

I hope one day for an 'only the memes' canon

[Techwright]

9 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Small notes on m'learned coll's notes: (And a few of my responses in orange)

  Hide contents

 

And that is why you hire quality actors for this kind of role. Gravitas you could swing a moon around.

And yes, Ray's performance is going to be hard to match if Baylan is supposed to make it out of this.  Not to mention his physique, which has been often mentioned by the fans.  Ray is the personification both body and spirit of presence.

(Unless he merges with some kind of dark energy or whatnot, in which case, much CGI'ing or some kind of regeneration thingy. Not into Tennant. Or Whittaker. I mean, I'd love it to be Whittaker: ee up, ye daft old smurfy space bastage, ow ye doin'?. But way too meta.)  Just remember, Baylan, Evil Overload List #22:  No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.

 

Did Thrawn ever face Anakin as well as running into Vader? I'm sure he'd kinda-sorta-enjoy having an opponent of almost his own level?

 

On the coffins with tech attached: I interpreted those as some kind of anti-grav module, since some older stone ones had it as well.  Space equivalent of digging out your old Red Radio Flyer for festivals.

 

Is Ahsoka up for a team-up with Thrawn?  Magic 8 Ball says "Very Doubtful".

 

Also: no Noti plushies yet, but... https://www.shopdisney.co.uk/disney-parks-loth-cat-creature-soft-toy-star-wars-galaxys-edge-461011696215.html

😻

Meh, I'm holding out for a Lothwolf...actual size.

 

 

 

[biostem]

Some of my thoughts:

 

Spoiler

1. I thought the reunion between Sabine and Ezra was very anticlimactic, especially considering the former essentially betraying Ahsoka to get here.

 

2. Ironically, I did find the reunion between Ahsoka and Ezra to be a bit warmer.  Perhaps Sabine feels guilty and ashamed?

 

3. In general, Sabine was such a badass in Rebels - is this all supposed to be her having slipped into despair since the end of that show, and her slowly coming out of her funk, perhaps also waking up to the Force as well?

 

4. Shin's gonna betray Baylan and become an enforcer for Thrawn, right?  I mean, maybe I'm reading her wrong, but she really seems to be itching to go full darkside and cut his head off.

 

5. So Thrawn seems to be content to have Morgan's ship stay in orbit and do the dirty work, even though it is basically his only ticket home.  He had all this time to load up those crates/caskets, so you'd think he'd be ready to dock his star destroyer into the giant hyperspace ring ASAP.

 

6. That one senator or council member has to be an Imperial sympathizer, right?  He is waaaaay too eager to quash any investigations or actions against such remnants.  He screams of "methinks thou doth protest too much".  That, or it's such a conspicuous red herring that I am having a hard time thinking they'd be that clever.

 

7. Do ships not have data recording devices that they could submit as evidence, ever?  You're telling me they have no evidence of Morgan's giant hyperspace ring or Ahsoka chasing after them in a star whale?

 

8. Why are they so averse to letting Ezra fight with his lightsaber?  If they didn't want him to steal the spotlight from Sabine and Ahsoka, what they could have done was to show him having difficulty using the lightsaber because it was mentioned Sabine had made some modifications to it - explain that they were to an extent that would aid a non- or extremely weak-with-the-force user, but actually a huge hindrance to anyone with it at normal or higher levels.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2023 by biostem

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Thoughts...

Spoiler

My guess is Ezra has been out of practice with a lightsaber for several years. If he's been working with Force pushes instead, and he thought Sabine had had some training, good tactical switch. 

 

I'm suspecting Shin is a sacrificial lamb of some kind. For who or why, I can't tell you, but I smell doom. Doooomm...

 

Suspect Sabine's either not sure what to say after seeing her friend for such a long time, or, just maybe, that she hitched a ride to get him with some of the worst people in the Universe. Who are, coincidentally, about to release the person that Ezra just spent years banished to a moor in Scotland eating ferns with Yertle and co to stop. I can understand why he might be mildly annoyed about that, so she still hasn't brought it up.

 

Brainy is a Smurf of his word, if nothing else, so every last one of those caskets has to be loaded, and it's more efficient to do it in bulk than one shuttle at a time. Also, annoying a whole bunch of dark magic users, and/or your possibly-zombie troops, would seem to be a tactical mishap. In plot terms, it's created a nice little loading bar metric for our heroes to beat.

 

Senator Space Ken is either an Imp or some kind of Republic Section 31, who either way intends on using Thrawn for his own ends. This will not go well for him.

 

Clearly dashcams are not a thing in space. Which at least means no terrible late night Coruscant's Funniest Speeder Accidents on the hypervid. Or maybe the courtroom couldn't take any files over 1.45mb in size?

 

And it's really good that someone else is old enough to remember The Overlord List.

 

 

 

[biostem]

My replies below IN ORANGE:

 

Spoiler

My guess is Ezra has been out of practice with a lightsaber for several years. If he's been working with Force pushes instead, and he thought Sabine had had some training, good tactical switch. 

Sabine w/ dual blasters + Ezra, (even if out of practice), with a lightsaber > Ezra w/ no lightsaber

 

I'm suspecting Shin is a sacrificial lamb of some kind. For who or why, I can't tell you, but I smell doom. Doooomm...

If so, I think she'd be a wasted character.  All her having to hold back or otherwise restrain herself *should* lead somewhere more interesting than a "sacrificial lamb".

 

Suspect Sabine's either not sure what to say after seeing her friend for such a long time, or, just maybe, that she hitched a ride to get him with some of the worst people in the Universe. Who are, coincidentally, about to release the person that Ezra just spent years banished to a moor in Scotland eating ferns with Yertle and co to stop. I can understand why he might be mildly annoyed about that, so she still hasn't brought it up.

I just hope there's more repercussions than a half-hearted apology that is easily forgiven.

 

Brainy is a Smurf of his word, if nothing else, so every last one of those caskets has to be loaded, and it's more efficient to do it in bulk than one shuttle at a time. Also, annoying a whole bunch of dark magic users, and/or your possibly-zombie troops, would seem to be a tactical mishap. In plot terms, it's created a nice little loading bar metric for our heroes to beat.

My point was that Thrawn knew about Morgan coming for a while now.  Why wasn't he prepared and ready to go, what with the Nightsisters' advising him and all that.

 

Senator Space Ken is either an Imp or some kind of Republic Section 31, who either way intends on using Thrawn for his own ends. This will not go well for him.

He definitely needs some comeuppance.  I'm curious how or why the New Republic would simply take any former Imperials at their word.  Heck, there was that episode of the Mandalorian where they clearly have some investigative/enforcement for former Imperials who don't comply, so why such antagonism in this case?  Also, that ship that escaped with the last hyperdrive clearly fired upon a New Republic general, so there's gotta be more to his actions. 

 

Clearly dashcams are not a thing in space. Which at least means no terrible late night Coruscant's Funniest Speeder Accidents on the hypervid. Or maybe the courtroom couldn't take any files over 1.45mb in size?

I lol'd at the floppy comment!  Clear visors for all troops!  Anyway, they clearly have some way of collecting sensor data and sharing it later.  I wonder, though, if it's one of those "having to do it manually" type of things, and because it was so urgent that Hera go to the planet with the hyperspace ring-ship, she forgot to, (even though she waited like a day or more before joining Ahsoka).

 

And it's really good that someone else is old enough to remember The Overlord List.

Classic read!  I'm worried Thrawn won;t have one of those 5-year olds to advise him, though...

 

[PeregrineFalcon]

I love these guys:

 

 

[Techwright]

On 9/29/2023 at 12:21 AM, biostem said:

Some of my thoughts:

My comments in Orange

  Hide contents

1. I thought the reunion between Sabine and Ezra was very anticlimactic, especially considering the former essentially betraying Ahsoka to get here.

I fear that is a result of Sabine's impetuous nature.  She was all about finding him, and not about what happens next, which was clarifying for him.  It put a damper on things.

2. Ironically, I did find the reunion between Ahsoka and Ezra to be a bit warmer.  Perhaps Sabine feels guilty and ashamed?

Yep.  Sabine has always been a hothead, which can get her into trouble.  It's when someone helps her past her shortcomings that she truly becomes dangerous to the enemy.

3. In general, Sabine was such a badass in Rebels - is this all supposed to be her having slipped into despair since the end of that show, and her slowly coming out of her funk, perhaps also waking up to the Force as well?

I'm not sure if "despair" is the word, but she's clearly obsessed.  Notice in the opening episodes: she keeps Ezra's stuff, the hologram message, sleeps in the apartment he created in the comm tower, she even wears clothing reflecting the coloring and look of his iconic look in the animated shows.  Keep in mind, she's lost everyone except Hera, Chopper, and Zeb.  Her family and clan were wiped out in the nuclear holocaust that was The Night of 1,000 Tears. (It probably destroyed her friend Fen Rau as well.) That event had a deep emotional impact on her friend Bo Katan as well.

4. Shin's gonna betray Baylan and become an enforcer for Thrawn, right?  I mean, maybe I'm reading her wrong, but she really seems to be itching to go full darkside and cut his head off.

She's definitely not going to be happy with Baylan, though I'm not sure she's going to be an enforcer for Thrawn.  If she were, would she not have hopped on the troop transports as they left?  I can see her going full darkside.  Maybe she finds Baylan and despoils his efforts to communicate with this mysterious power he seeks.

5. So Thrawn seems to be content to have Morgan's ship stay in orbit and do the dirty work, even though it is basically his only ticket home.  He had all this time to load up those crates/caskets, so you'd think he'd be ready to dock his star destroyer into the giant hyperspace ring ASAP.

While I agree that it is probably a writer's tactic to drag things out, internal to the story, we are not yet aware of what is in the boxes.  It could be that retaining them in the catacombs was essential for long-term storage.  Thrawn also was not guaranteed that Morgan would reach him.  Inter-galaxy travel had not been attempted in so many centuries that it was perceived as folk tales.

6. That one senator or council member has to be an Imperial sympathizer, right?  He is waaaaay too eager to quash any investigations or actions against such remnants.  He screams of "methinks thou doth protest too much".  That, or it's such a conspicuous red herring that I am having a hard time thinking they'd be that clever.

I'll give you a bit of a spoiler.  You are warned....He is the father of the main character in the 2-season animation Star Wars: Resistance. A wholly-forgettable show in my opinion, but Disney still holds it to be canon.  Resistance happens around the time of the first movie in the Sequel Trilogy, and the young hero makes repeated reference to his father being an over-bearing hardnose.  This means the Senator is still in power decades later. In other words, the Senator is a hubristic, narcissistic jackass, the epitome of all that is wrong with the New Republic, but he's likely not Thrawn's willing ally.  His ego may make him highly susceptible to manipulation, however.

7. Do ships not have data recording devices that they could submit as evidence, ever?  You're telling me they have no evidence of Morgan's giant hyperspace ring or Ahsoka chasing after them in a star whale?

It's a good point, but that actually goes back to decisions made to keep things close to what was used in the original 1977 Star Wars.  The technologies we've developed in the real world these days greatly outranks that (well, we've not mastered space, but we're making headway in light sabers).  A modern interpretation of Star Wars would have cameras distributed everywhere by the Empire with a "Person of Interest"-like A.I. watching all faces, all movements and conversations.  But that would make for a very quick show.  I do think there's room for black boxes and ship's cameras though.  After all, I've watched footage of WWII Pacific dogfights from wing cameras, so that predates 1977.

 

8. Why are they so averse to letting Ezra fight with his lightsaber?  If they didn't want him to steal the spotlight from Sabine and Ahsoka, what they could have done was to show him having difficulty using the lightsaber because it was mentioned Sabine had made some modifications to it - explain that they were to an extent that would aid a non- or extremely weak-with-the-force user, but actually a huge hindrance to anyone with it at normal or higher levels.

Not so much "averse" as they are introducing a new force-user concept: Ezra as the Force version of a monk fighter.  It makes a certain sense.  Filoni has already made Ahsoka into the Force version of a ronin.  He's now tapping into other Japanese martial arts film elements.  I'd not be surprised to see a "drunken monk" fighting style from Ezra in days to come.

 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Techwright

[Techwright]

On 9/29/2023 at 5:42 PM, biostem said:

My replies below IN ORANGE:

 

  Hide contents

And it's really good that someone else is old enough to remember The Overlord List.

Classic read!  I'm worried Thrawn won;t have one of those 5-year olds to advise him, though...

Thrawn once WAS the 5-year-old advisor.

That said, he's already violated list #1:  My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones.

 

 

My answer in green.

[Techwright]

Episode 8:  or as I like to call it:  Best Swordfight without a Spaniard

 

Spoiler

Okay, so the title I made up was a bit corny, but honestly the saber fight between Morgan and Ahsoka was fantastic.  It really gave Diana Inosanto a chance to showcase those martial skills, and Rosario has really stepped up her stage swordfighting since Ahsoka's first live appearance.

 

-- Important moment when Thrawn admits to Morgan that he's seen, even fallen into the trap of underestimating Jedi and Rebels.

-- Morgan's "reward" doesn't really seem to have the payoff all the pomp and ceremony suggest, unless it was solely to give her a sword and make her a better fighter.  I'd assumed when it started that they were converting her to a Great Mother, or at least a Mother, with greater dark magik skills, but that was not to be. 

-- Ezra's street smart assembly style up against Huyang's multi-thousand year old experience, was funny to watch. I assume Huyang had an extra crystal lying around.  I'm not up on the details of individual lightsabers, but I do wonder with that specific piece, if Ezra built one that could disassemble into two parts like Kanan's did.  Notice the meta joke in Ezra's comment about the "blade emitter) being "too narrow".  Star Wars: Rebels was often criticized for having its lightsabers drawn too thin.

-- Can't believe anyone would have thought it a good thing to have a big ship hovering over squashable snail people.

-- Huyang can fix that wreck in a few hours?  That's one tough ship, and the best mechanic since an Ugnaught helped a Mandalorian assemble a razercrest from a frame and stolen parts.

-- "Reign hellfire upon them" proved to be a little light.  Then again, this is a ship that has seen severe damage.

-- Zombie troopers proven.  Actually more like zoombie troopers.

-- Why does no one with a lightsaber ever think to take off the legs of zombies? The outcome could have been much different with such.

-- ...aaand finally she connect with the Force.  If only Ahsoka had known long back that a good choke hold would spur the desired result.

-- how many troopers fell to the lightsabers, and only one lost a body part?

-- destruction of the tanto lightsaber.  I wonder what the implications will be for the future?  Though honestly, with Huyand and his magic toolshed around, she'll probably have another in no time.

-- Thrawn actually looking pensive for once at the loss of Morgan

-- ...and Morai the owl shows up in live action (there was a hint of the character in The Mandalorian, but nothing too clear).  This appears to be the first clue that the power on the planet is either Mortis, or strongly associated with it, such as a doorway to Mortis, and possibly also to the World Between Worlds.  (Asoka being the embodiment of the life-force of the Mortis Sister.)

--Shin joins the "hut" clan.  (little SW dad joke there.)

--And then the big reveal:  Baylan stands on top of the monolith of the Mortis Father.  Visually very Lord of the Rings-like.  Notice to his left is the statue of the Mortis Son, but that on the right, an open cleft stands where, presumably, the Mortis Daughter's effigy once stood.  Notice also that Baylan stands on the balance, or gray character.  This makes me feel that the pull he's been feeling, the idea he's been following, to end the back-and-forth and go to "the beginning" is a belief that the galaxy has been at constant imbalance, light to dark to light to dark, and that only by reestablishing the gray area, or balance, or the Mortis Father will end the cycle.    This could go in several ways;

• Baylan has felt the pull to become the Father's replacement.  Whether it is a deception or not remains to be seen.
• Baylan and Ahsoka have both been pulled to this planet to assume the positions of the late Father and Daughter.  This would suggest to me that the threat is the Son.  I'd further speculate that if it is the Son, Shin's abandonment and loss may play right into his hands for gaining either a pupil or a vessel.
• Might Anakin, who was supposed to have become the Father's replacement, now be acting through the Force to draw Ahsoka and Baylan to this Mortis-related place?

Additional thoughts:

 

-- if the big power IS the Mortis Son, do we get Sam Witworth playing him?? (Sam voiced the animated version)

-- The ending again tapped into the feeling that Filoni may be opening up a whole new galaxy to be explored in stories going forward.  Little to no lore to be tied down to, chance for a new Jedi-like order, and possibly a Sith-like one as well.

-- Will we get Zeb in Season 2? 

-- Might that whole World Between Worlds lesson Anakin gave be more than just "embrace life"?  Might it have been he acting in the role of Balance (The Mortis Father's replacement) to set straight Ahsoka's role as Light (The Mortis Sister's replacement) after she strayed into to more dark-natured behavior?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Techwright

[Sir Paladin]

I very much enjoyed the season while not perfect I was satisfied and want more of the Rebel characters. Ahsoka and Andor are by far the best Star War shows in my opinion.

 

Only real issue I have is that the title character really is not the main part of the story while more of a continuation of Rebels, Also very sad that Stevenson passed away as I thought he was great as Baylan and would have like to seen more of the character (bit disappointed that he had a small part in the final). 

 

Will there be a season 2 or we need to wait for this movie that Filoni producing to wrap up the Thrawn storyline?

[Mr. Apocalypse]

I enjoyed it despite its overbearing  "girl power" vibe.   Rosario Dawson owns the character and if not for her, I would not have really liked the series as much.  All in all it gets a 6 out of 10 for me.  Watchable, enjoyable, but forgettable also.

[Techwright]

9 hours ago, Sir Paladin said:

Will there be a season 2 or we need to wait for this movie that Filoni producing to wrap up the Thrawn storyline?

The intention is for a season 2.  They'd already begun working on it, though not actually filming, when the writers' strike took effect.  Once that ends, I'd anticipate filming will likely commence or soon after.  One other possible delay might be...

Spoiler

...if they've not successfully recast Baylan yet.  This will be hard because the actor will be compared to Ray Stephenson's superb performance, so they need someone with some chameleon-like skills, or an already similar build and presence.  I've heard of one fan-choice so far, and it's a good one:  Liev Schreiber.  He's of a nearly identical height and build (a little lighter in weight perhaps, though internet records put them at the same).  Liev is about 3 years younger, which will only help if season 2 is in production for a while.

 

[biostem]

Some of my thoughts, in no particular order:

 

Spoiler

1. Thrawn only sending 2 TIE fighters?  Imagine if he sent 4 or a dozen!

 

2. They really should have made a clearer distinction between the living and reanimated Night Troopers;  Many reviewers seems to have been confused over why 1 group of them were acting "normal" while the others were shambling about, and the way the editing cut between both groups wasn't so clear-cut.

 

3. So when all is said and done, what was the net effect of this season:  Morgan is dead.  Ezra is home, but Ahsoka and Sabine are stranded in the other galaxy.  If Ahsoka hadn't gone at all, her and Sabine would still be in the main galaxy, Ezra would still be stranded, and Thrawn & Morgan would be back.  Imagine if Hera had gone with Ahsoka right away to confront Morgan...

 

4. Why would they have allowed Ezra to dock his shuttle without identifying him first?  Even Baylan sent his old Jedi ID in the earlier episode.  And why would he leave the armor/helmet on?  It was all very contrived.

 

5. Ezra called the star whales from way far away in his final battle with Thrawn back in Rebels, so why isn't that even a consideration for Ahsoka?

 

6. Why did Sabine sense Anakin's force ghost and not Ahsoka, or was it supposed to be that Ahsoka did in fact sense him, but didn't want to diminish Sabine's awakening to the Force from recent events?

 

7. Sabine wielding a blaster and the lightsaber was probably the smartest thing she's done all season.  More of that, please!  Also, I thought she had equipped her armor with one of those small forearm energy shields.

 

8. You think Ahsoka is going to hang onto that Nightsister blade, since her second lightsaber was destroyed?  I suppose it'd be easy enough for her to build a new one using the parts that Huyang has, though.

 

9.  Speaking of which, I thought that Huyang only had lightsaber parts, but not kyber crystals.  If so, where'd Ezra get the one for his new saaber?

 

10. I could buy that the stormtroopers probably had seen a lot of action in the years since Thrawn's exile, but why were even the TIE pilots' helmets all cracked and rebuilt?  It it supposed to be the case, perhaps, that the Nightsisters were enchanting or otherwise working on all Thrawn's troopers' armor all this time?  It doesn't seem that the troopers were reanimated when we first see them.  I really wish we'd been given some flashbacks of the years between when Thrawn and Ezra first arrived on the other galaxy and where we are now in the series...

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by biostem

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Thoughts:

Spoiler

• So Dave tidies off this series by... having another series. It's a risky strategy with D+ being where it is financially right now and a rather high-value production, but given the critical response (and the toy sales) it seems to have paid off. Exactly when they'll get round to it post-strike is anyone's guess - S1 was a five to six month shoot, then nearly a year to post-prod and release - but looking forward to it.
• Two TIEs are sufficient to slow them down, especially if taken by surprise. Which is all they needed to do to earn their commendation. A calculated sacrifice, like Morgan, just enough to get where he needed to be - but he still doesn't know exactly what he'll face when he gets there, so keep some reserves.
• I'm not sure whether the somewhat staid attitude to greetings, at least on indoor sets, is a legacy of being at the tail end of COVID-era filming. Outdoors no problem. 
• Liking Sabine developing her own gunsword fighting style. She needs, like Ahsoka was before her, to be her own creature.
• We still don't know what the Mothers are up to with all those coffins going to Dathomir, but probably nothing good.
• The resemblance between Baylan and the Father statue was a nice touch.
• Sabine finally waking up to her Force powers, and the presence of Anakin. It's a question of belief and focus.
• Not sure how they're going to handle the action next series - flip back between Ahsoka and the incipient battle in the other galaxy is going to get disjointed. I doubt Dave and co read this forum, but an actual Smurf-centric series would be quite a lot of fun...

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Techwright]

First off, a correction on my part for something misspoken...

Spoiler

I said on an earlier occasion (maybe more than one) that I felt the power Baylan was following was the Mortis Son.  Unless there's a contrived resurrection, that simply cannot be.  I don't know how I came to the wrong understanding (I mean I've watched the entire The Clone Wars three times through, not counting and the bits and pieces rewatched) but I somehow forgot the Mortis Son had perished on Mortis.  I had thought, like the monsters of Pandora's Box, he'd been unleashed on the Universe, and that was why the Dark Side was able to come to power:  like Ares he manipulated from the shadows.  I've rewatched the episode, and now realize it cannot be the Son.  The currently loudly broadcast theory of others, the monstrous Mother, which has never appeared in any canon animation or live action (an important point with both George Lucas and Dave Filoni) seems as good as any at this point, though how that plays into the concept of balance, I do not know.

 

These others I'll respond within in orange:

15 hours ago, biostem said:

Some of my thoughts, in no particular order:

 

  Hide contents

1. Thrawn only sending 2 TIE fighters?  Imagine if he sent 4 or a dozen!

The point was destroy or delay.  Thrawn never truly intended for them to return.  Thrawn has consistently been shown to have a conservative approach to fighting until he's got absolute control (at least to his thinking) of the situation.  Sure he could have sent several, but they might be needed at the other end of the journey, and his priority was getting the ship going, not stomping out the Jedi once and for all.  Bringing the fight to them was what they wanted, and he stated he'd not play into their hands again.

The problem I had was with the two TIE fighter pilots.  If you're flying close enough for a single opponent to clobber both of you, you're too close.  And why are they throwing hands up to shield themselves from doom?  Should be trained well enough to try a last ditch banking away effort.

 

2. They really should have made a clearer distinction between the living and reanimated Night Troopers;  Many reviewers seems to have been confused over why 1 group of them were acting "normal" while the others were shambling about, and the way the editing cut between both groups wasn't so clear-cut.

One reviewer made an interesting observation: the longer they are resurrected, the more control over themselves they gained.  So they were acting much more like live troopers later on.  The two black clad death trooper guards had clearly been dead for some time, but fought like seasoned fighters.

 

3. So when all is said and done, what was the net effect of this season:  Morgan is dead.  Ezra is home, but Ahsoka and Sabine are stranded in the other galaxy.  If Ahsoka hadn't gone at all, her and Sabine would still be in the main galaxy, Ezra would still be stranded, and Thrawn & Morgan would be back.  Imagine if Hera had gone with Ahsoka right away to confront Morgan...  She might be dead from a surprise minefield.  Hera is in that upper echelon of Star Wars pilots that you'd want to have saving your alien bacon, but you notice that Ashoka flew the ship through the minefield, not Huyang, who'd been "owner" of the ship for a few hundred years, supposedly.  Force user to navigate the danger.    Keep in mind that as writer, Filoni is in god-mode, more specifically Force-mode.  Star Wars is all about the willful currents of the Force guiding things.  As a result, like chess pieces, there's a reason the three Jedi have changed places: the Mortis connection.  Ahsoka is more a close part of it than Ezra.  Ezra is the most knowledgeable Jedi to confront Thrawn, and the only one to have defeated him, twice.  (Ezra led the charge to take out the key Interdictor craft that would have given Thrawn his first chance at victory.)  As Chirrut Imwe states in Rogue One: "All is as the Force wills it."

 

4. Why would they have allowed Ezra to dock his shuttle without identifying him first?  Even Baylan sent his old Jedi ID in the earlier episode.  And why would he leave the armor/helmet on?  It was all very contrived.   At 38:05 notice that his shuttle is escorted by two fighters.  While it's not explicitly stated, it's pretty obvious those at least knew who he was.  Knowing Ezra, he probably asked them to keep silent so as to make an entrance.  But yes, contrived.

 

5. Ezra called the star whales from way far away in his final battle with Thrawn back in Rebels, so why isn't that even a consideration for Ahsoka?  Ezra actually didn't call the purrgil (star whales).  That role fell to the trio of Mart, Wolffe, and Vizago.  who flew to the whales at Ezra's request and (quoting Wookieepedia) "sent a signal on Frequency Zero from the Ghost to call upon a group of purrgil^[7] and Purrgil Ultra.^[3] Upon their arrival, the creatures were led by the Ghost..."  It was Ezra's plan, and he force-guided the purrgil once they arrived.  It may be possible to repeat this process, especially if the stranded trio know Frequency Zero was used, but they have to figure out what system the purrgil went to first.  Even if they go there, why use the frequency, when Ahsoka can just force-talk to them again?

 

6. Why did Sabine sense Anakin's force ghost and not Ahsoka, or was it supposed to be that Ahsoka did in fact sense him, but didn't want to diminish Sabine's awakening to the Force from recent events?  I'm guessing the latter.  It's showing that Sabine now "awakened" is growing in her abilities.

 

7. Sabine wielding a blaster and the lightsaber was probably the smartest thing she's done all season.  More of that, please!  Also, I thought she had equipped her armor with one of those small forearm energy shields.  The buckler, yeah, that is a good point.  It's been a decade of strife, so we don't know what she retains, and there's pretty much no Mandalore to go for spare parts, but she is an epic level engineer, so I suspect a repair job with bamboo and flint very soon.  Her use of saber and blaster reflects the new Jedi look.  Kanan, Ezra, and Sabine have all used blaster/saber combos.  No more haughty "so uncivilized!" statements.  Frankly, while it looks like Sabine finally drilled through the desert, hit oil and opened a force gusher, the idea of an under-powered Jedi heavily augmented with Mandalorian abilities and tools is rather appealing.  Keeps the opponents guessing.

 

8. You think Ahsoka is going to hang onto that Nightsister blade, since her second lightsaber was destroyed?  I suppose it'd be easy enough for her to build a new one using the parts that Huyang has, though.  I'm game for either option, though I suspect Ahsoka might be uncomfortable keeping Night Sister majik around.  You never know but what they can spy on her through that.

 

9.  Speaking of which, I thought that Huyang only had lightsaber parts, but not kyber crystals.  If so, where'd Ezra get the one for his new saaber?  Unknown, though I would not put it past the writers to have Huyang doing a past a grim deed and collected the lightsabers of the fallen for recycling for the Bokken Jedi.  For all I know, he's done it for centuries after major battles, and just keeps the crystals in reserve, since Jedi do get shattered sabers from time to time, and aren't necessarily near Ilum (and now, so true forever), Just look at Ahsoka's current shattered blade.  It may be that he doesn't distribute them to younglings, as that deprives them of some important training.

 

10. I could buy that the stormtroopers probably had seen a lot of action in the years since Thrawn's exile, but why were even the TIE pilots' helmets all cracked and rebuilt?  It it supposed to be the case, perhaps, that the Nightsisters were enchanting or otherwise working on all Thrawn's troopers' armor all this time?  It doesn't seem that the troopers were reanimated when we first see them.  I really wish we'd been given some flashbacks of the years between when Thrawn and Ezra first arrived on the other galaxy and where we are now in the series...  I suspect that's season 2. First off, remember everyone on this ship was seriously rattled by the purrgil attack.  Huge scars remain on the ship.  These storm troopers would have gone flying, shattering armor.  Ironically, Thrawn would have been spared, wrapped protectively in the tentacles, and Ezra protected by the Force.   Knowing the two Death Troopers shown in episode 8 were long dead, yet functioning as living, I suspect a great many of the troopers are undead.  As to why all of them have cracked armor (beyond the ship disaster), we've not seen the full planet yet, nor what was so unnerving to the Night Sisters that they choose cryogenic storage, waking only when Thrawn discovered them (and now fleeing their homeworld).  Thrawn may have had tremendous opposition for a time.

 

 

4 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Thoughts:

  Hide contents

• So Dave tidies off this series by... having another series. It's a risky strategy with D+ being where it is financially right now and a rather high-value production, but given the critical response (and the toy sales) it seems to have paid off. Exactly when they'll get round to it post-strike is anyone's guess - S1 was a five to six month shoot, then nearly a year to post-prod and release - but looking forward to it.  Did they not start filming during the COVID years? I remember seeing medical masks in the behind-the-scenes shots.  This thing is a juggernaut, or a rolling stone.  Season one was more or less in the can when the Disney problems ruptured all over, and season 2 was in development.  I might see no season 3, or perhaps an offshoot miniseries at some future point when any recovery takes place.
• Two TIEs are sufficient to slow them down, especially if taken by surprise. Which is all they needed to do to earn their commendation. A calculated sacrifice, like Morgan, just enough to get where he needed to be - but he still doesn't know exactly what he'll face when he gets there, so keep some reserves.  Exactly, though I'm guessing Morgan would have brought newspapers.  Just sayin'. 😉  Actually, we've not really discussed it, but  Thrawn faces two battlefields back home: the New Republic, and the Empire warlords who until recently didn't have great feelings about any one leader marching them forward, especially Thrawn, though that was egged on by Gideon.
• I'm not sure whether the somewhat staid attitude to greetings, at least on indoor sets, is a legacy of being at the tail end of COVID-era filming. Outdoors no problem. Those hugs with Ezra were less than 2 meters, outdoors or not.
• Liking Sabine developing her own gunsword fighting style. She needs, like Ahsoka was before her, to be her own creature.  Yaaassss...
• We still don't know what the Mothers are up to with all those coffins going to Dathomir, but probably nothing good.  They're old cat ladies and those are all their cats. 😸  But more serious, having heard this episode that Thrawn awoke the Night Sisters, best guess is that it is their population (probable Night Brothers, too. Got to rebuild the population) being transported to rebuild Dathomir.  Two questions: why'd they go into storage to begin with (likely the threat of the power Baylan hunts), and beyond relocating, what are they doing?  My guess is they are the army that Thrawn will use to unite the First Order, before he will discharge them from obligation for the escape from their homeworld.
• The resemblance between Baylan and the Father statue was a nice touch.  Yaassss...
• Sabine finally waking up to her Force powers, and the presence of Anakin. It's a question of belief and focus.  The crazy thing is, it can still fit the interpretation I first proposed, that Filoni is returning, through Sabine, to those earliest ideas that anyone can become a Jedi with the right training.  What I'm puzzled about is how someone with what presumably is so little mitachlorians would suddenly be able to force push another a great distance.  I guess he's implying once the connection is made, it is flood inbound.
• Not sure how they're going to handle the action next series - flip back between Ahsoka and the incipient battle in the other galaxy is going to get disjointed. I doubt Dave and co read this forum, but an actual Smurf-centric series would be quite a lot of fun...  Well, the show's name is Ahsoka, so I'm guessing an exploration of Planet Whalebone will be the focus.  I'd be fine with series Ezra, I mean Thrawn.

 

 

[PeregrineFalcon]

Ryan George of Pitch Meeting has a hilarious take on Ahsoka.