Part One: Master and Apprentice

I watched the entire Star Wars: Rebels series in preparation for episode one, finishing season four the day of the premier. It's great fun seeing the Easter eggs and how the story seems ready to pay off the last episode of Rebels right from the start.

The Star Wars audience is always in good hands with Dave Filoni. But something about the direction or editing here seems strangely low-energy and slow. Perhaps I'm just over-used to the kinetic energy of th animated series. But it seems like there is a lot of staring and pausing and walking, etc. The characters earned a strong connection to each other I don't feel here yet. Otherwise visually beautiful and a great start to a series focused on one of Star Wars' most interesting characters. Can't wait to see how they bring back Ezra!

Text: Well, after months of waiting, Ahsoka is here!

I am pleased to say that I am overall satisfied with the first 2 episodes. I have a few problems with some choices here and there, but first the positives.

The casting is perfect! Sabine is a standout.

The set pieces and cinematography are fantastic. It felt very cinematic.

I love the newcomers - the fallen Jedi. If that is the correct term

The lightsaber fights were pretty good

It feels like Rebels Season 5

Great setup for the rest of the season. It took it's time and that was very much appreciated

There is an obvious point to this show

Some little things I didn't like:

Ahsoka seems a little bored - or I guess I should say Rosario

Some of the writing didn't do it for me

The story is too much akin to the Rise of Skywalker

Well, I'm excited for future episodes.

There is a lot hanging on this show - as unfortunate as that might be. In general, these Disney+ shows have started to dip in quality, something that we saw with "The Mandalorian," which premiered its third season back in spring. As the next show up, "Ahsoka" has a lot of goodwill behind it, especially because of the character's previous acclaimed appearances through the universe, and the creative team behind it, led by the character's creator Dave Filoni and a great cast of characters, old and new. The first episode is a solid opening for the show, but it does leave a lot to be desired.

There is a lot of lore already attached to this show. A lot of it comes from "Star Wars Rebels" which does seem like a pretty important pre-watch if you want to be able to follow along with everything 100%. However, Filoni does a good job of placing you in the middle of a big mythology and guides you along the way with ease, making it accessible for everyone. The characters all feel like the versions that we came to love in the animated shows, and Sabine Wren seems like she will be a highlight of the show going forward. The new characters are very fascinating and it'll be interesting to see how their connection to Thrawn will be explained, as well as how they connect to the larger world of the Jedi Order. The episode is quite long and that makes for a mixed pacing, with the action sequences feeling like roller coaster rides, yet the smaller character moments feel painfully stale and very slow. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but the cinematography on display isn't nearly astounding enough to take away from the more bland look the show has. There's not a big aesthetic bump from what has come before, but it does bring some of the animated worlds to life in beautiful fashion. The story is very interesting, but the episode is more focused on properly setting up the characters than really getting into the nitty gritty, which is fine, but has proven to be a detriment to past shows.

"Part One: Master and Apprentice" is a solid return to this part of the "Star Wars" universe, reintroducing us to familiar faces and familiar planets. However, the show's look has lost some of the luster the small screen provided in the beginning, and at times, it doesn't feel like we're in a galaxy far, far away.

Ahsoka obtains a valuable object sought by others.

This episode introduces the characters and kicks off the story competently, with a simple MacGuffin plot and a few exposition dumps that tell you all you need to know.

I have not seen 'Rebels', and only know the character Ahsoka from 'The Mandalorian' episode 'The Jedi', (which I enjoyed). For this to work I need to accept her as Anakin's apprentice, which is a fairly shaky premise for me, but I am willing to keep an open mind to what the writers do with her throughout this show. Particularly in any flashbacks we might see.

Some characters feel like stock young protagonists and antagonists aimed at younger audiences, but time will tell whether or not they can become interesting.

All the actors appear to be solid, but there is nothing particularly challenging other than physical scenes and brooding so far.

Visually I think it's excellent, with strong cinematography and editing that tells the story well. Plus the art design is great as you would expect from this type of production. The action sequences are very well done.

This is Star Wars! No one will be able to tell me otherwise. As i've watched all of the animated series multiple times in preparation for this i can see where a lot of people are going to get lost. My advise get on and watch the Clone Wars and Rebels as this is truly Rebels season 5.

Waking up this morning and watching the opening scene gives me a great feeling! Theres a very interesting amount of power thats on show. When Vader ignited his red lightsaber in the hallway of the Profundity the immense power and weilding of the force was on show with that dark crimson red saber! Its a very deliberate choice that Skoll and Hati are not to that level where we can see that by the lessor amount of people that they are able to take on. Nonetheless is a prefect opening to the series. Ray Stevenson was going to be a great addition to the Star Wars family and a character that i would love to see his backstory of!!

Theres no words that i can describe Rosario Dawson's portrayal of Ahsoka that hasnt already been said. From her time on the Mandalorian where many reviews were talking about the little lightsaber combat that was on show from Chapter 13 but already we have the fast following saber combat that has been synonymous with Ahsoka over the years of the Clone Wars and rebels. The relationship with Sabine, who i have to say is epic and a prefect casting choice of continuing the characters arc from Rebels, which has already been cemented as a fan favourite is only going to grow and grow.

The mythological aspect of the show has to be such a underutilized story! The world between worlds episode of Rebels is an epic master class in storytelling and with Filoni at the helm of telling such a personal story through his writing and directing cannot be understated.

Episode 2 is out and im going straight into watching this!