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Star Wars Rebels is Disney’s first Star Wars carton set after Episode III and four years before Episode IV. By now the Empire is well established and a small band of Rebels are doing what they can to stop them. Star Wars Rebels airs on Disney X D and is later shown on Disney X D on the Disney Channel.

With the show taking place so close to Episode IV the “look” of it is heavily based off of “A New Hope”, which means Ralph McQuarrie, who designed the look of the Original Trilogy, has his style shown from everything from the ships to even the planet Lothal.

While the score is not composed by John Williams, it has he Williams sound to it, playing off themes used in the original trilogy but with a fresh take that fits the show and the period it is set in.

The main heroes of the series is a team of 6 who travel the galaxy in a ship named “The Ghost” (which has a shuttle called “The Phantom”). The Ghost has the “worn in” look Lucas wanted for his universe (and is my third favorite Star Wars ship right after the Millennium Falcon and the Y-Wing fighter). While on missions the team goes by the code names Specter 1 through Specter 6.

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The Rebels are:

Ezra Bridger – a 15 year old who is “strong in the Force” and meets the crew of the Ghost when he accidentally interferes with one of their missions. He’s voiced by Taylor Gray.

Zeb Oirelios – a Losat who is the fighter of the group. He and Ezra have a sort of big brother/little brother friendship, and by that I mean they can get a long or they can fight. Zeb’s look is actually based off an early McQuarrie design for Chewbacca. He is voiced by Steve Blum.

Sabine Wren – a young Mandalorian who is the team’s explosive expert, but also an artist who likes to leave “tags” of graffiti. She is voiced by Tiya Sircar.

Kanan Jarrus – former Jedi Knight, Kanan survived “Order 66” and is training Ezra in the Force. Part Han Solo, part Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kanan is voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr. (When I first heard he’d be voicing this character I couldn’t believe it. Then I saw the Star Wars Rebels movie and was impressed with his performance. This isn’t Freddie Prinze Jr. from “I Know What You Did Last Summer” or whatever crap he’s been in.  This is Freddie Prinze Jr. actually performing and performing well. I know these sounds like insults but it’s actually a compliment to his talent. Kanan is a favorite).

Hera Syndulla –  a green Twi-lek and owner and captain of The Ghost. Voiced by Vanessa Marshall.

Finally there’s Chopper, the grumpiest droid you’ll ever meet who gets delight out of playing pranks on Zeb and Ezra. Chopper is based off early R2-D2 sketches by McQuarrie where he had an arm extended from his dome and a radar dish on top of his dome.

The Inquisitor – The main villain of the series. A “Force Sensitive” Imperial who hunts down the last of the Jedi’s. He has a really cool light saber and is voiced by Jason Issacs.

While the series is new, characters from the original trilogy have already or will be appearing. In the Rebels movie Darth Vader made a cameo talking to The Inquisitor, voiced by none other than James Earl Jones.

Billy Dee Williams will also be reprising his role as Lando Calrissian in the series. (Since this is set before Episode IV I’m thinking will he be the owner of the Falcon?)

The great thing about Rebels is that each episode has great action and comedy, some tales of the series are based strictly within the boundaries of the series, explaining who these characters are, while others bring familiar characters and ships to it, such as the ending of one where Bail Organa appeared on the Tantive IV, a Jedi Holocron was set off by Ezra releasing a message from Obi-Wan Kenobi not to return to the Jedi Temple since Order 66, and a few other cool Easter Eggs.

Not having Disney X D I need to wait usually two weeks before The Disney Channel will play them, but they’ve been well worth the wait. If the few episodes I’ve seen are any sign, the rest of the series will be as good as these have been.

I can say this for sure for Star Wars Rebels, “The Force is strong with it”.