Star Wars: Rebels

[Galvatron]

Or they'll keep him alive to bring back later, like they did with Maul.

Well, now that we know Thrawn isn't the mysterious fleet admiral from Aftermath, there doesn't seem to be much room for him during or after the OT.

Besides, the death of a grand admiral might not even be considered a military victory if we're splitting hairs. Maybe he dies in much the same way he did in the old EU.

[Lord Revan]

Or they'll keep him alive to bring back later, like they did with Maul.

Of course, as per A New Hope, right before that film was supposed to be the Rebels' first big victory, which will presumably be shown in Rogue One. Its something they've already played fast and lose with ("Fire Across the Galaxy" could be considered to show a major Rebel victory), but unless Thrawn is in Rogue One, there's not a lot of room to defeat him at this point.

While it might seem like Thrawn-wank and overshadowing Vader, you need effective villains, and this is something Rebels' predecessor The Clone Wars handled fairly well- having a large rogues gallery and giving them all their time in the spotlight, without any of them being really overshadowed. It keeps your main villains from becoming stale.

Yeah a big problem for me at least was that Rebels didn't really have an effective main villain. the Chief Inquisitor and Agent Kallus (or however it was spelled again) weren't anywhere close to competent enough to create a credible threat, something Tarkin and Vader did was give the impression that while the good guys might win in the end, it was a hard fought victory and they could have just as well lost.

With the early villains you wondered how the empire could kept the galaxy in fear for a week much less 15 years, then Tarkin and later Vader showed why and also showed that clowns that opposed our heroes in early season 1 where not the best the empire could offer and in fact until Vader arrived the empire had not taken our heroes seriously at all.

I thought the Inquisitor was alright, but the rank and file and low-level officers on Lothal were kind of pitiful from what I recall.

But Vader... yeah. Siege of Lothal absolutely nailed the character. I consider it to be up there with Empire Strikes Back as one of the definitive depictions of Vader at his height. Seriously.

And his confrontation with Ashoka was quite memorable as well.

As to Thrawn, I'm hoping this means we'll get a proper fleet battle. As the Rebellion grows, this becomes an option, and Thrawn isn't a villain you get in a lightsabre duel with, and he's not primarily a ground commander. He's a grand strategist and a naval officer.

Of course, since the Rebellion isn't supposed to have had a lot of big wins before A New Hope, this likely means a battle the Empire wins. Which would further establish Thrawn as a credible threat.

the main problem with the Inquisitor was the rank and file at Lothal and the surrounding systems being worse then useless 99% of time.

Also far as I know there were military victories before ANH just not major ones.

[CetaMan]

All I hope is that they make him deadly, and not ruin his character as "imperial baddy no 6 who takes interest in backwater scum and is killed because good guys always win"

[Lord Revan]

Well if the trailer is any indication he's gonna be deadly even if none of the main characters die.


Besides it would be better if he was effective (that doesn't mean he can't also be deadly) be seeing as this is in the end a show aimed mostly for kids you can't a that high of onscreen bodycount of named characters but if Thrawn's tactic force the rebels in more and more worse situation when even their victories are costly if not in men then at least in material Thrawn will still present an effective threat to our heroes.

[Thanas]

With regards to Thrawn being greenish-blue, this should not really be the case as he was completely blue. A light blue, yes, but not this shitty greenish colour. TIE Fighter, Insider, comics etc....nearly all show him as blue instead of greenish-blue.

[Adam Reynolds]

With regards to Thrawn being greenish-blue, this should not really be the case as he was completely blue. A light blue, yes, but not this shitty greenish colour. TIE Fighter, Insider, comics etc....nearly all show him as blue instead of greenish-blue.

Some of the character designs in Clone Wars/Rebels look slightly off. I would chalk that up to the medium more than the new canon.

[The Romulan Republic]

Most animation is quite stylized one way or another anyway. Thrawn's colour doesn't bother me much.

[The Romulan Republic]

Another point is that if you've seen the cover art for the new Thrawn book, he's definitely blue. This is not a canon change, its animation artistic licence.

[FedRebel]

I guess they decided to have Thrawn in the new EU already be a Grand Admiral before the Battle of Yavin, whereas in the Legends continuity, he's only a captain or Admiral at this point. I understand why, they want to show Thrawn at his peak. But it spells doom for him appearing anywhere after the OT.

not necessarily,

The Emperor had to make Endor a convincing trap, having Thrawn elsewhere engaging in some other campaign would help make the sale.

in the new canon, there's supposedly another Imperial remnant in the core and inner rim, hypothetically Thrawn could be in charge of that more secular Imperial state (The First Order being a fanatical offshoot.)

[The Romulan Republic]

That would be interesting, but I have a hard time seeing classic Thrawn simply running a remnant for 30 years without trying to expand it.

[Elheru Aran]

That would be interesting, but I have a hard time seeing classic Thrawn simply running a remnant for 30 years without trying to expand it.

Who's to say he didn't? We have a grand total of maybe... ten fiction books (not counting the comics, which are kinda thin on the ground right now and have mostly been covering the OT period) and some reference material.

We know the new-New Republic doesn't control the whole galaxy; perhaps there's a 'neutral zone' of sorts, or it may be that the NR has one side of the galaxy, the First Order is on the edges of that, and the Imperials are in the core regions. That would leave the other side of the galaxy open to expansion (though I will note that I haven't seen any maps of the political situation of the galaxy in the TFA era).

[hunter5]

That would be interesting, but I have a hard time seeing classic Thrawn simply running a remnant for 30 years without trying to expand it.

It would also depend on how much material they lost at Jakuu may not have the resources after just 30 years to have an invasion force for expansion.

[The Romulan Republic]

I would think that 30 years would be enough time to build a respectable force. The Grand Army of the Republic was built in ten, on one world, in secret. The Second Death Star in less time, in secret.

[Batman]

The GAR was built with the resources of the intact Old Republic. The DS2 was built with the resources of the intact Galactic Empire. What do we know about the resources at the First Order's disposal?

[Elheru Aran]

I would think that 30 years would be enough time to build a respectable force. The Grand Army of the Republic was built in ten, on one world, in secret. The Second Death Star in less time, in secret.

Again... what's to say they didn't?

I reiterate: We have very little material on the post-ROTJ state of the galaxy. There's some, but nothing terribly detailed, and it's almost all from the perspective of the 'heroes'.

Unless it has been explicitly stated elsewhere that I'm not aware of, we don't know the real extent of the Imperial Remnant nor what kind of forces they have available, apart from that they're contained to the inner worlds and the Core (IIRC) and that both the Republic and the Remnant signed a treaty to reduce their militaries.

The GAR was built with the resources of the intact Old Republic. The DS2 was built with the resources of the intact Galactic Empire. What do we know about the resources at the First Order's disposal?

He's talking about the Imperial Remnant, not the First Order.

But for all that I will note that the 'inner worlds and the Core' IIRC were the more powerful, wealthy, and industrialized worlds. I also believe that it's heavily implied that the First Order is largely bankrolled by subversive forces within the Remnant. I could be wrong, of course.

[Batman]

Yup. My bad. Still, what I said goes I think for all post-ROTJ players-we simply don't have enough information on what they have available.

[hunter5]

It also depends on how much the First Order took with them after they split from the Remnant

[Galvatron]

It's possible that the Empire may have a lot of secret "off the books" assets hidden in the Unknown Regions. Now that Thrawn is back, maybe his Empire of the Hand is as well.

[Elheru Aran]

Almost certainly this is a question that will get answered as time goes on, until the *next* Star Wars trilogy reboots the whole shebang again in about ten-twenty years...

[Galvatron]

This is why I like long-lived and immortal characters like Chewie and the droids. They don't have to reboot Star Wars so much as fast forward the story to the next big threat centuries later when all the principle characters have died, but with a few familiar faces around to serve as links to the past.

[Elheru Aran]

This is why I like long-lived and immortal characters like Chewie and the droids. They don't have to reboot Star Wars so much as fast forward the story to the next big threat centuries later when all the principle characters have died, but with a few familiar faces around to serve as links to the past.

Eventually those actors themselves are going to pass on, though. Peter Mayhew is getting on, in particular. Erik Bauserfield passed away recently, thus they're retiring Ackbar. Harrison Ford had a nasty fall and then a plane crash. Pretty soon that original generation of Star Wars actors is going to be gone.

Admittedly it wouldn't be difficult to put someone else in the Chewbacca and droid suits... but it wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't put it past them to do that, though.

Never mind that twenty-thirty years down the road from the ST, galactic civilization should have changed so much from the point of the original Star Wars to be (almost) unrecognizable if it's changed that much in between the OT and ST... that was actually an interesting, subtle thing I noticed about the PT and the OT; the two are very different in that regard even though more time passed between the two (IIRC?) than between the OT and ST.

[Galvatron]

Admittedly it wouldn't be difficult to put someone else in the Chewbacca and droid suits... but it wouldn't be the same. I wouldn't put it past them to do that, though.

Put it past them? They're already replacing David Prowse for Rogue One, although James Earl Jones is still doing the voice. Sentimentality aside, I don't see what difference it makes who's actually in the suit. All due respect to Peter Mayhew and Kenny Baker, but they're hardly irreplaceable as Chewie and Artoo.

It's the voices of James Earl Jones, Frank Oz and Anthony Daniels that I'm worried about.

[Thanas]

I agree with you, voices are the hardest, especially such iconic voices.

I would actually favour something like SW Legacy (the comics) - put it forward a 100 years or so. Poof, blank slate, new universe to play with etc.

[Ralin]

Put it past them? They're already replacing David Prowse for Rogue One,

Did he decline the role or is Lucas's ban on him still in effect?

[Darth Tanner]

Why would Disney want him, he suffers heavily from arthritis and cancer, filming with him in the suit would be significantly more difficult than with any other actor that viewers would have no idea was any different. His septic arthritis also apparently reduced his height significantly...