Greetings! Just a reminder, this is not a full review. Instead we look at one or two things because, well, we needed some sort of hook. Now you know how the magic is done. We’re doomed. DOOMED. Also SPOILERS from here on out.
This weeks’ offering of Rebels opens with Wolves and a Door, because they’re werewolves … and a door. Seriously Filoni? You’ve got only a few more episodes to go, hold it together, man. Now is not the time to get lazy. That’s my job.
It’s Never Too Late To Say ‘Neat Idea! Can I Borrow This? Kthnxbye’
As much as I love the show, Rebels is more often than not a fairly basic story, with archetypes rather than fully fleshed characters (see my Hera point from last week), with rote plotlines rather than ones with originality (see Ezra’s toying with the dark side), and it’s all told with a cinematography that’s merely prosaic, that just exists to get the story told. But not always. Though I don’t know music well, even I manage to notice the heights the score can reach, and how well it is applied. Occasionally the character writing surprises you and you see actions borne of complexity, depth, and history. And when the story needs to hit a certain note, when it needs to get the scene just right, it always (to me) gets them pitch perfect. And sometimes, thanks to Filoni’s art history, we get simply stunning cinematography and iconic visuals that this show really has no right to demonstrate. Honestly, how dare it be good!
Case in point, this episode did something new to the Star Wars franchise, and something hardly ever seen before: it mixed 3D animation with 2D animation. It was an inspired choice. Or rather, it may have been inspired by Disney’s Moana, which … okay do I really need to explain Moana to you? If you haven’t seen it WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU. FOR SHAME.
But unlike Moana‘s cave scene and tattoos, which seemed to be purely a stylistic flair (I could be wrong in this, I haven’t looked in depth into that movie), here it was done to show, according Keith Kellogg, animation supervisor, who was interviewed for this episode’s Rebels Recon, how they could make the scene more mystical. And really, when you’re playing in a franchise that’s alreay done hyperspace wolves, cave infinity mirrors, fighting yourself, a cave that’s, ahem, bigger on the inside* and freaking Waru, you really need to be bold and change things dramatically. Choosing to animate cave paintings fulfills this need ably; such an event is both new and a shock to Ezra and us, the audience, which, if the hyperspace wolves hadn’t already clued us in, tells us that we’re in for some seriously mind-bending stuff.
*Seriously, was I the only one expecting Ahsoka to say to Ezra ‘I’m the Doctor, and I save people.’ except in my head Ahsoka suddenly has a Scottish accent, both because that’s my mind’s accent and, well. You know where I’m going with this.
But when all is said and all is done, I really just love it for how weird and different it was, and that’s why I love the show. As I said, yes, it can be a prosaic, by the numbers, show, but every so often it upturns the table, my expectations and, in the case of hyperspacing wolves, my lunch. These live paintings shows just how you can explore concepts not merely by having characters say and do things, but by how you can convey these concepts by using cinematographic theory, visual storytelling, and scene design.
And lastly, please do watch Rebels Recon if you’re not already. It’s always worth watching, this instance particularly so as Filoni goes on to explain how he had been sowing the seeds of the world between worlds for years and my repeating his words here would do an injustice to his explanation and would simply be lazy writing. Although come to think of it it’s rather lazy to say ‘I won’t write it, go see it for yourself’, but hey ho.
Hyperspacing Across the Universe
*Sings* boldly going forward, ’cause we can’t find reverse
Yes, that is a Star Trek song on a Star Wars site. What can I say? Some people just want to watch the world burn.
I have a confession to make, and it’s going to hurt because it makes me look kinda stupid. Try to control yourself, I know that will be a shock to you. Are you ready?
I hated the hyperspacing wolves.
I hated how it was weird and didn’t really seem to make sense from a logical standpoint, and I didn’t like how the show relied on fancy visuals, enigmatically used dialogue, a reliance on ‘I don’t know how it works. It’s the Force!’ And I was just sitting here, screaming, ‘that’s not how the Force works!’
You may have heard similar criticisms abounding in the aftermath of The Last Jedi release. ‘How is Luke projecting? That’s not how the Force works!’ ‘Why is Leia floating like that? That’s not how the Force works!’ ‘How can Yoda hit Luke? That’s not how the Force works!’ I’m simplifying the arguments for the sake of clarity, but these are all arguments that I’ve seen over the last few months. ‘The Force didn’t do that before, so I’m angry that they’re doing that now,’ is all that it really came down to (there were some other criticisms, some valid, some invalid, and some downright sexist, but for now I’m just keeping this to the Force part of the criticism).
And here’s why it’s stupid: the Force works however the writer wants it to work. It’s not sacred, it’s not set in stone, it’s made up. And tangentially related, I have no desire to waste my time (any more) in debating aspects of the Force, as so many of my friends do on forums, because that’s the nature of the Force: it changes, based on the whims of the next writer. So when I saw those wolves disappearing into the long grass, I scoffed and muttered ‘that’s not how the Force works’, but then I paused and wondered, well, why not? I had no answer – because it’s not real. None of it is. I forgot this, to my detriment. These two episodes added a lot to the Force mythos and already I’ve seen others rage over this, as I did myself, so this is just a friendly reminder: don’t be That Guy.
Now instead let’s all collectively rage over some truly terrible ideas: who willingly goes into the long grass? Did they not see Jurassic Park 2?!
