Darth Vader faces off against the incoming Rebel fleet. The Rebels are confronted by a new secret weapon. Chewbacca and his friends are planning an attack on the Imperial forces. This was another action packed week of Star Wars content.
I wasn’t able to watch Episode 8 of Rebels until this weekend, so i decided to save this review and combine it with Episode 9 which aired this last Wednesday. We also got the second instalment of the Vader Down crossover event – this week contained inside of the pages of Darth Vader #13. It’s less than 3 weeks until The Force Awakens, and we still have lots of exciting stuff to come before its release.
The next 3 weeks includes another 3 Rebels episodes (two of which air in the same week), and which may contain some clues encoded in some very interesting titles – “The future of the Force”, “Legacy” and “The Secret of prisoner X 10”. We will also get one more (part 3) of the Vader Down series. The force is strong right now.
So, without further delay, here is my take on this week’s releases in the week that was in the Star Wars Universe.
!!!Spoiler Warning!!!
- Featuring: Darth Vader #13 (Vader Down #2), Star Wars Rebels (Season 2, Episodes 8 & 9), Chewbacca #4
#1 Darth Vader #13 / Vader Down #2
Score: 8/10
This series of 6 comics has been highly anticipated and last weeks 40-page issue titled “Vader Down” was epic in so many ways. We step right back into the action this week. Vader’s Ship was taken out by Rebel pilot Luke Skywalker and the two have crash landed on the planet Vrogas Vas.
Darth Vader is surrounded by Rebel troops demanding his surrender. He is strong and defiant. He comes across as an unbeatable force. He is surrounded but instead demands the surrender of the rebel troops and when they do not, he uses the force and activates the grenades attached to their chests. Chaos ensues and Darth Vader is forced to defend himself, deflecting blaster shots away.
Meanwhile the re-enforcements of the rebel fleet have arrived and Han Solo and Leia argue strategy; Han is going to rescue Luke and Leia wants to lead the attack against Vader.
Dr Alphra is seen in space, speaking with her bad robots about their best course of action. She has been Vader’s sidekick for the last couple issues of Vader’s comic, and helped him find the location of Luke Skywalker, which is why he is in this mess. She heads to the planet, on her way to the rescue.
As Leia commands the troopers on their attack, we flash into battle as they approach the Sith Lord. Vader has removed the gun from his TIE fighter and is easily taking out incoming rebel troops. Vader is still an unconfined threat.
We finish with Luke exploring the destroyed Jedi Temple on Vrogas Vas and feeling a strong connection to the force. He can sense a coldness at this place, probably due to the nature in which it was destroyed.
He is then approached by a protocol droid that appears to be Threepio, but instead turns out to be a trap set by Dr Alphra, who has spray-painted her evil droid gold. (What i would really love to see here is a face-off between droids; good vs evil). In the end, Luke is knocked unconscious by a blast from the droid, and Dr Alphra has caught her trophy.
There is so much going on in this story right now, and they are all moving at a great pace, which makes this an easy read. I am constantly wanting more. And the best part is that there are still 4 more issues of the Vader Down story arch. I can’t wait..
#2 Chewbacca #4
Score: 7/10
Chewbacca is still stranded on Andlem IV after his shop crashed on the remote Outer Rim planet. He is now caught up in a plan to help out local hero Zarro. After narrowly escaping from a mine in which local Gangster Juam had been using slave labour and sending supplies to the Empire.
They have a new plan now to retreive parts for Chewbacca’s ship as well as disrupt the trading operation taking place on the planet.
Now in the spaceport in search of parts for his downed ship, a new threat has arrived in the form of the Empire. They have disguised themselves and easily infiltrate the spaceport, sneaking past the imperial scout troopers. Once inside they confront the troops and initiate a plan to get a booby-trapped droid inside of the shuttle on its way to the Star Destroyers above.
They face off against the smugglers and troopers and attempt to take out the remaining opposition. The plan appears to have succeeded – even after the droid was damaged and had to have a manual timer instead. As they try to leave the hanger they are confronted by a new set of troopers and are soon seen in custody awaiting transport to the Star Destroyer above.
This comic nears the end of its run, and we are getting close to a conclusion. What I have loved most about this one is its slow progression away from an isolated story towards the inclusion of the Imperial element. Every issue brings more intrigue through the raising of stakes. This whole story still seems a bit of an unnecessary side trip, but it has still held my attention.
We will see how they choose to finish this off in the final issue, coming out towards the end of December.
#3 Star Wars Rebels – “Blood Sisters” (Season 2, Episode 8)
Score: 7/10
We once again are treated to a stand-alone episode which will step into the backstory of an important Rebels character. One of the biggest complaints of Rebels thus far had been the lack of development of our non-Jedi characters. This season we have had a few episodes that focus on different characters. This week we finally uncover the history of one of the main characters; Sabine. In this episode Hera gives Sabine an important mission and we meet someone from her past.
We will finally learn about Sabine’s history and back-story. They have been sent to meet an important courier with information that will be vital to their cause. They meet the arrival of a transport from Courascant and after all the passengers have disembarked without discovering the identity of the informant, they find out it was a droid that was traveling via cargo.
Once they acquire the droid they also find out someone else has been sent to obtain the same cargo. This bounty hunter turns out to be someone that Sabine knows well, Ketsu Onyo. She works for the “Black Sun” organization. Through their dialogue we learn that the two were once partners in crime who evidently had a falling out. Sabine joined the Rebellion and Ketsu joined up with this mysterious organization.
Sabine we learn was once a bounty hunter; she had teamed up with Ketsu after her escape from the Imperial Academy, which explains her fighting ability and tactics throughout Rebels. Sabine and Chopper escape via one of the transports and are soon followed by Ketsu in her ship the Shadow Caster. If you watch the Rebels post episode show “Rebels Recon” on starwars.com, we learn from Dave Filoni that the design of Ketsu is actually a rejected Force Awakens character that they re-purposed for this episode.
The Shadow Caster eventually catches up with the outmatched transport, and easily captures them, disabling the hyperdrive and threatens to destroy the ship altogether. Once caught, they face off inside the ship and eventually have to team up once a Imperial vessel has the two ships in their sights. Their survival depends on their teamwork and with the help of Chopper are able to make an escape after the transport is used as a decoy and destroyed.
The two have reconciled their differences but Ketsu is unwilling to join the rebellion outright, but it is assumed that we will likely cross paths with her one day in the future. The Ghost crew has a new ally and most importantly has succeeded in obtaining the information concealed in the droid. We get to see another appearance R2-D2 at the rendezvous point as the droid is transferred to the care of Senator Organa.
In the end we have another stand-alone episode in the can which develops the backstory of Sabine. It gives her less of a child-like persona going forward.
#4 Star Wars Rebels – “Stealth Strike” (Season 2, Episode 9)
Score: 8.5/10
While on a secret mission, Pheonix Home – the Blockade runner and command ship of Commander Sato – is pulled out of Hyperspace by a mysterious new weapon. Comander Sato and Ezra lead this mission, but soon realize that escape is not going to be possible. They begin to send out a distress signal. Their ship has been completely disabled and is soon captured inside of the docking bay of the modified Star Destroyer.
The ship is a prototype and has a device that creates a Gravity well that will pull any ship out of hyperspace. Once on board they meet Admiral Brom Titus, who quickly discovers that this trap has actually brought in two very valuable targets. He contacts Agent Kallus who is excited that they have captured his number one target, Ezra Bridger. He orders Ezra to be put under triple guard. Admiral Titus is surprised that one person would need such security. He soon finds out why.
Meanwhile, the rest of Pheonix Squadron devises a plan. Kanan and Rex dress up as stormtroopers and enter into a stolen shuttle. This immediately becomes awesome when Kanan says “How is it that the Empire lets us keep stealing these things”. These two characters are still at odds with each other, and teaming them up sets up some good conflict of interest. Both of them want to prove to the other that their way is best.
They exit hyperspace and approach the Star Destroyer. Rex is able to convince the command ship to let them dock, as he is familiar with codes and procedures. Once aboard the ship they are told by two guards they are not authorized to leave the docking bay, so Kanan uses a Jedi mind trick to convince them to let them through.
Ezra is able to escape his capture by himself, using the force to re-unite himself with his lightsaber and makes quick work of the Stormtroopers. We see that when pushed into conflict, he is able to harness the force and take out multiple enemies. He re-unites with Kanan and they devise a plan to both rescue the Commander and take out the capabilities of the ship.
Kanan and Rex have to learn to work together in order to make their plan work. Rex reminisces of his time serving with the Jedi, a reference to Anakin before his turn to the dark side. He sacrifices himself to allow Kanan and the Commander to escape. Kanan is forced to come to the rescue of Rex which essentially puts their petty differences aside. Ezra and Chopper are able to sabotage the reactor of the Star Destroyer.
As they try to escape, the Star Destroyer activates its Gravity Well, pulling the ship back into the clutches of the Imperials. At this point the plan comes into play and the Gravity Well malfunctions, pulling the other Imperial cruisers into the Star Destroyer and causing everything to explode allowing the Rebels to escape.
The episode comes to a close with Agent Kallus coming out of hyperspace to the exploded wreckage and realizes that he arrived to late. The Rebels live to fight another day.
Star Wars This Week 