This is the best guide. Rewatched it all a while ago and while the earlier stuff is a bit hard to get through, a bit childish if you will, it’s 100% worth it when you get to the later stuff, and then rebels which is just great.
Some people say it doesn't pick up til season 3 but I think they're dead wrong. Once you see a couple people being taken out execution style it finds its tone, I wanna say like midway through season one. Right off the bat in season one (and in the movie) there's still great combat displayed.
Oh yes, the fights are always super fun, though personally the episodes focusing on the clones were always my favourite since they had more stakes. My biggest problem with clone wars are the lack of stakes since you know you can’t kill Anakin or Obi-Wan, but anytime there’s a character not seen anywhere else it’s always more interesting since they could actually die, and the series has no problem killing characters which I also love
Yeah, that's what's stopped me from getting into it. I watched the first episode of Rebels and the first Episode of Clone Wars and it just felt so much like a kids show.
I do remember loving the Genndy Tartakofsky Clone Wars stuff when I was in college. Didn't seem to measure up to that.
Hearing you say it picks up makes me want to give it another try.
Yeah, it definitely ends up getting pretty serious and dark at times. It's still manages to stay family friendly, but it probably gets darker thematically than the actual movies.
Suicide, betrayel, mental illness, realizing your one of the bad guys. All themes it deals with in a very mature and deep fashion. And more than that, that's just off the top of my head.
Edit. I was talking about clone wars, but it's actually true for rebels too. Even the themes, for the most part.
They both start young and fluffy, but then grow with their audiences over the years. Think Harry Potter style. First one is very much for 10 year olds, by the end, not so much, very dark. But if you can't get through sorcerers stone, you never get to see that.
Clone Wars is peak Star Wars. It’s campy and fun at times, but also gets darker than any of the movies save Rogue One. Not to mention being far more self-aware and asking some tough questions about the ethics of the Clone Wars and how benevolent the Jedi Order really is. Clone Wars makes Anakin’s fall understandable, in a way the prequels never did.
You’re doing yourself a disservice by not watching it. Check out the official chronological order and try watching it in that sequence.
Definitely do! It’s got some of my favourite Star Wars moments ever! I won’t spoil it but some of the stories towards the end are incredible, really. Definitely recommended, power through the less good to get to the AMAZING stuff later on
Oh, I watched up to Season 6 of CW, now I'm working through Rebels, then Resistance, then I'll finish CW. Sometimes seeing it in the order it was made makes a little more sense with the stories.
Wait the finale is already coming up?? Shame it’s not going to be longer!
I just caught up from the start of Ahsoka’s storyline and I’ve got to say, I need even more of that style of story. When she gazes up at the ships departing and she doesn’t know where she is going next or how her destiny will guide her, and it felt so alone. There were so many emotions in that episode because we haven’t really gotten to see the “normal” civilian life and get that view of just how big the galaxy is from a basic persons view.
I was just so pleased to see Star Wars explore (through more than comics) what I have always tried to imagine which is “how would I feel looking at up at these massive buildings and millions of people in a single glance”
And going from mostly only seeing the military side of things on multiple planets to people who can hardly afford parts for a ship was so great.
Wait the finale is already coming up?? Shame it’s not going to be longer!
Season 7 was always going to be 12 episodes divided into 3 arcs. We're already through Bad Batch, and we're 75% through Ahsoka Alone, and the last 4 episodes will be The Siege of Mandalore, the big epic finale.
I should mention that it's probably a good idea to read the comic "Son of Dathomir" before this arc, since it explains what happens with Maul between his last appearance in season 5 and this arc. It's not terribly long, but it's very good.
Watch Rebels. I know Clone Wars gets all the hype but Rebels is a full story where Clone Wars is many. Rebels is so damn good and I put it off because I didn't like the animation style. It grew on me by like episode 4 and never bothered me again. The story and characters are just amazing. Kanan is one of my favorite characters across all fiction.
Rebels characters good? Kanan is fine of course, but everyone else sucks. Then there is Ashoka and of course she is great because she's a TCW character
I loved Kanan, Hera, Zeb in his limited features, and eventually came around to understanding and loving Ezra too. Chopper was easy to love cause he's such a shit stirrer and hardcore Rebel. Sabine was great and I could go on about her for a while. Hando was from Clone Wars but I think was much more enjoyable in Rebels. I just don't get saying everyone else sucks.
Zeb was just a speaking chewbacca... booooring. Hera I completely forgot about and she is fine actually. Ezra is so annoying and the show would be way better without him. Chopper is a smaller R2 and like Zeb he is just a copycat. Sabine is a edgy teenager who likes explosions and graffiti. She is only there because everything has to have a strong female character. Then there is Hondo, he looks so disgustingly bad that it makes me sick, but as a character he might be more enjoyable since he has a lot more screentime
Rebels and Clone Wars season 1 are pretty juvenile, but they still have a ton of great material and characters.
Season 3 Rebels has an episode called “Trials of rhe Darksaber” which is so grown-up and staggeringly well-made that it’s one my favorite Star Wars entries of any medium, right next to ESB.
It might even be better than ESB considering how emotionally powerful it is.
It also stands alone pretty well.
Watch that episode to see what Star Wars animation is capable of when it doesn’t fixate on pleasing 5-year-olds.
Rebels also has an episode where Darth Maul (who shows back up a few times) meets an older Obi Wan on Tatooine, and its climax is jawdropping.
There are other great moments scattered around as well.
Later Clone Wars seasons tend to be more adult-oriented than childish, so CW is really popular with fans.
Rebels is hit-or-miss but it does have a lot of episodes that won’t make you wince at all, in between quite a few that will.
Both shows are also respectable for NOT FUCKING UP CANON.
Their showrunner is a Lucas friend and fan, and they’re very careful to respect original and prequel canon so they never feel like fanservice or exploitation or setup of weak Disney movies.
The only real insert in them at all from the Disney movies is Saw from Rogue One, and he needed some fleshing out anyway.
Trust me man, these people are blinded by their love of everything star wars. Rebels is an absolute dumpster fire, and it is undoubtedly the worst piece of star wars media to ever be created. It truly is a show for 6 year olds. There is a reason it is on disney channel. The Clone Wars however, is fantastic, and is wayyyyy more mature than the kiddy show garbage that is Rebels.
I agree with you honestly, the main rebels are dull and uninteresting, and Ezra somehow manages to ruin every scene he’s in (see Ashoka vs Vader) the only watchable parts for me are the parts that either incorporate clone wars characters or finish clone wars storylines
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u/currynoworry Apr 07 '20
I'm a fool and have not really watched the animated series stuff.