25 Reasons to Watch Star Wars Rebels

Disney’s new Star Wars cartoon, Star Wars Rebels, is premiering this Friday, October 3rd. So it’s time for a few reasons why you should be excited about this all-new Star Wars series.

1. – Space battles blowing up TIE Fighters, pew pew!
2. – It borrows comfortably from the Original Trilogy.
3. – Executive producers Dave Filoni and Greg Weisman each have track records of great cartoon storytelling, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Young Justice, The Clone Wars, Gargoyles.
4. – Attractive CGI animation, the team from The Clone Wars has learned a lot and has toned down the style-meter.
5. – Original Trilogy sound effects all over this muthah.
6. – Rebels is kind of like The A-Team in a galaxy far, far away – they’re on the run from the government and trying to do good while striking back.
7. – Not every hero is heroic all the time.
8. – Original Trilogy music where appropriate, silence where appropriate.
9. – Protagonists aren’t all Jedi, aren’t one step away from losing or saving the galaxy.
10. – Chopper! C1-1OP is cranky and feisty and willful and fun.
11. – Zeb Orrelios is based on McQuarrie early designs for Chewbacca, and is a bit mercenary.
12. – The Ghost looks cool and has Millennium Falcon-style cred.
13. – Visually stunning, borrowing liberally from McQuarrie concept art.
14. – Stormtroopers! And they get shot plenty.
15. – Nobody is overly good at using the Force, not even the dark-side bad guy.
16. – Both major villains have great voice acting and bring just the right menace.
17. – Stories feel serious but still contain fun without being merely tacked on.
18. – Original Trilogy aliens all over this show, the first one we meet is a Gotal.
19. – SSG’s detailed review of Rebels’ premiere and 5th episode was quite positive.
20. – It’s the first new screen content since the creation of the aligned Star Wars continuity.
21. – Rebels tells a great Star Wars tale without any of the main characters getting tripped over or stepping on their toes.
22. – Lightsabers are few and far between, and their blades are designed to look like the analog special effects used in Ep 4.
23. – The Phantom, the crew’s small shuttle, is visually related to the Lambda-class Imperial Shuttle, and already has 2 toys based on it.
24. – Voice directing and acting is very good, nobody feels out of place or clumsy.
25. – Imperial Security Bureau agent Kallus’ evil mutton chops.

So there you have it, 25 reasons you should check out Star Wars Rebels.

The Star Wars Rebels premiere is already available to existing users of the WatchDisneyXD website and app; and the official television premiere is on Friday, October 3rd at 9pm on the Disney Channel, then re-airing on Disney XD on Monday, October 6th, at 8pm before moving to a regular series schedule on Monday, October 13th at 9pm on Disney XD.