Star Wars: Rebels

[FaxModem1]

Are the Ewok movies still Canon? Because in the Battle for Endor, we know that the Empire picked a moon with a Night sister and her marauders on it for their DSII construction. They might have been stranded there, but they seemed a bit familiar with space flight.

[FedRebel]

Thank Mickey Mouse no, only TCW survived the purge.

[The Romulan Republic]

Canon is basically TCW, Rebels, the films, and anything that can after the canon change, as I recall.

[Rogue 9]

Canon is basically TCW, Rebels, the films, and anything that can after the canon change, as I recall.

Correct, though Rebels falls under "came after the canon change," if you want to save characters.

[FaxModem1]

Canon is basically TCW, Rebels, the films, and anything that can after the canon change, as I recall.

But see, don't the Ewok movies count as part of the films? They were aired on TV, but they were still films? Or did they specify that it was Episodes I through VI?

[Borgholio]

If Ewok movies count as canon because they were on TV, so does the Holiday Special...

[FaxModem1]

It all depends on how they worded it.

[Mange]

Canon is basically TCW, Rebels, the films, and anything that can after the canon change, as I recall.

But see, don't the Ewok movies count as part of the films? They were aired on TV, but they were still films? Or did they specify that it was Episodes I through VI?

In the announcement on the official site, the new canon was specified as being the six movies and TCW only (and with the "new" EU being canon also):

This includes the six Star Wars episodes, and the many hours of content he developed and produced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars. These stories are the immovable objects of Star Wars history, the characters and events to which all other tales must align.

[The Romulan Republic]

There's apparently a rumour going around that the Grand Admiral is going to be reintroduced to canon via an appearance on Rebels.

https://spinoff.comicbookresources.com/ ... character/

While the midseason trailer for “Star Wars Rebels” promised a lot of major developments and unexpected cameos in the next several episodes, one of the biggest surprises may be yet to come: a major character from “Star Wars” Legends.

Legends is the name for what used to be called the Expanded Universe, essentially those officially sanctioned stories outside of the “Star Wars” films (such as novels, comic books, video games, animated series, etc.). Following the purchase of Lucasfilm by Disney, those stories were deemed no longer part of the canon — much to the dismay of many fans — and renamed Legends. It was later noted that while they’re no longer canon, some of those stories and characters could be drawn upon for new works, such as, say, “Star Wars Rebels.”

Among the characters shuffled off into Legends was Grand Admiral Thrawn, the fan-favorite Imperial officer introduced in 1991’s “Heir to the Empire,” the first novel in the “Thrawn Trilogy.” But now, according to one fan site, the tactical genius maybe making a comeback.

Making Star Wars reports the rumor that Thrawn will be reintroduced in the upcoming third season of “Rebels,” where he’ll be sent in pursuit of the Ghost crew.

The same report also contends Season 3 will see Ezra Bridger with short hair and a lightsaber similar to the second one wielded by Luke Skywalker.

“Star Wars Rebels” airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.

I'm skeptical, but hoping its true, even though I know the fan response is likely to be largely negative because "Waaahhh, its different from the original!" But on the other hand, hey, the show nailed Vader in Siege of Lothal.

Edit: One thing that would be interesting, though I don't expect it, is if they hired Zahn as a writer, or at least a consultant. Even if the character is different in this continuity, if there's one person we know can write Thrawn well, its Zahn, and it might pacify some of the complainers.

But has Zahn ever written for television?

[eMeM]

I hope Zahn will be kept as far from Thrawn as possible.
Thrawn went from challenging villain in the Thrawn's Trilogy to omniscient godlike hero fighting for greater good at the end of EU's lifespan.

[Thanas]

Because every other EU writer has managed to write him and the Chiss well, right?

[eMeM]

OK
"I hope anyone who touched Thrawn in the old EU will be kept as far from supposed Rebel's Thrawn as possible and the show writers will base their work only on Thrawn's portrayal in Thrawn's Trilogy."

[Galvatron]

I'm fine with Filoni handling Thrawn. I just hope he's an admiral wearing a typical grey Imperial uniform versus that clown suit he wore in the Zahn books.

[Rogue 9]

I'm fine with Filoni handling Thrawn. I just hope he's an admiral wearing a typical grey Imperial uniform versus that clown suit he wore in the Zahn books.

And the dude in the white uniform sitting at the Death Star conference table in A New Hope?

[Galvatron]

I'm fine with Filoni handling Thrawn. I just hope he's an admiral wearing a typical grey Imperial uniform versus that clown suit he wore in the Zahn books.

And the dude in the white uniform sitting at the Death Star conference table in A New Hope?

He was a colonel in the ISB, not a starfleet admiral. He also didn't wear those lame epaulets.

[Elheru Aran]

Meh... I don't know. I always figured, what with the racist angle the EU glommed onto the Empire, that he wore the white uniform with the epaulets more or less simply to stand out. Zsinj did the same thing, after all. It's not that unusual; see Hermann Goering, Mussolini, Juan Peron, etc. They wear the fancy/different uniform because they *can*.

That said, I don't care that much if he wears the clown suit or a normal Imperial uniform. Just having Thrawn in canon again will be kinda nice.

[Galvatron]

I don't have digitized copies of the novels right now, but I do remember that Zahn outright stated in the exposition that the white uniform was unique to that of Imperial Starfleet grand admirals during Palpatine's reign. It wasn't just some tacky affectation like you might expect from a third world military strongman.

Besides, the way he was written, Thrawn struck me as someone who would frown on that sort of pomposity and false grandeur.

My questions is this: will Captain Pellaeon make an appearance too?

[The Romulan Republic]

Well, if they followed Thrawn's EU backstory, he wouldn't be a Grand Admiral yet at this point.

It might be interesting to watch a younger Thrawn rising through the ranks, though.

[The Romulan Republic]

Also, its kind of flattering to Thrawn if they bring him in as a major villain for season three.

I mean, they started out with local Imperial shmucks. Then they brought in the Inquisitor. At the end of the first season, they brought in Tarkin and Vader, big name, iconic film villains near the top of the Imperial hierarchy.

Bringing in Thrawn now would be like saying "Hmm, how can we possibly top Darth Vader, short of bringing Palpatine in personally? Oh, I know, let's bring in Thrawn."

[Galvatron]

Well, if they followed Thrawn's EU backstory, he wouldn't be a Grand Admiral yet at this point.

It might be interesting to watch a younger Thrawn rising through the ranks, though.

From what I understand, there are no grand admirals in this new EU. We've already been given the names and ranks of the Imperial Joint Chiefs in the Tarkin novel and none of them are grand admirals. Also, the Aftermath novel heavily implies that the highest ranking officer in the Imperial starfleet was "the fleet admiral."

Moreover, Cassio Tagge was promoted to the rank of grand general and inherited Vader's leash following the Battle of Yavin, but even he didn't get a white uniform and gold epaulets.

Thank you, LFL Story Group. Thank you for recognizing and excising some of the shittier aspects of the old EU.

[Zixinus]

The real question is whether they can write a Thrawn that fits with the storytelling that Rebels has. This means that the rebels would have to get away from him almost all the time.

But in a way he would be a good counter for the rebels, who often improvise and get trough by sheer luck, Force-powers and skill. Thrawn would be a patient hunter and probably has other priorities to work too. The only way his character would work if they managed to actually competently trap and truly endanger the rebels at least semi-regularly, and the show is fairly set on letting the rebels get away on all occasions except the beginning and ending of a season. At best, he can be the series's Xanathos, seemingly defeated but actually making significant and incremental victories. He would make a tightening nose for the rebel's cell. The problem with that is that there needs to be fairly straight continuity with the episodes for the continuing tension to be significant and the series does not do that, the continuity is fairly lose.

The other problem is that Thrawn is a loaded character. There is no way to make him work for the long-term fans is getting Zahn and giving him far more creative freedom than the show is willing to go. Anything else will be bemoaned. A lose interpretation of him would be hated. It would actually be far safer and better to create a similar but different character, which would allow to play with him without having to handle all that excess baggage.

[The Romulan Republic]

Its a pity Greg Weisman didn't stick around on Rebels. I was just recently thinking that if anyone but Zahn could do justice to Thrawn, its the man who gave the world David Xanatos.

[Elheru Aran]

Thrawn, I suspect, might work best as a largely supervisory role; the one who gives the orders and makes the plans, it's his underlings who fuck up and let the Ghost crew get away. Then he gets personally involved, and actually captures the Rebels group, who then have to creatively escape. Something like that.

[The Romulan Republic]

I don't think the need to have the Rebels survive is a problem. No more than it is for having Vader on the show anyway.

Have Thrawn in the background most of the time like you said, have him take the occasional loss, then get to do some real damage now and then, and it works out.

Thrawn wasn't invincible in The Thrawn Trilogy after all. He took lots of setbacks.

Here's where Xanatos is a useful precedent, incidentally- part of what set him apart from a lot of villains is the way he handled defeat. Instead of throwing a tantrum or obsessing over revenge or proving his superiority, Xanatos' response to defeat was basically to take it in stride, find the silver lining, and move on to the next plan. That works well in a show where you want the villain to be bad ass but he can't actually beat the heroes.

Edit: Its also something fairly consistent with Thrawn's characterization in The Thrawn Trilogy.

[Borgholio]

That works well in a show where you want the villain to be bad ass but he can't actually beat the heroes.

That's pretty much what you see in the movies as well. It's an up / down thing where the bad guys actually do a fair bit of damage but the heroes manage to pull out ahead in the end.

Up - Rebels steal plans for the Death Star
Down - Leia is captured by Vader and her crew is captured / killed
Up - Plans make it to Obi Wan
Down - Alderaan is destroyed before the plans can be analyzed
Up - Heroes manage to escape from the Death Star
Down - Obi Wan is killed in the process
Up - Plans make it to the Rebel Base
Down - Death Star follows them
Up - Rebels destroy the Death Star

So there was always real danger and damage done to the rebels but they were never actually fully beaten, and in the end they wound up victorious. I think the cartoon is a bit more in your face about it though...