Jump to content

Star Wars "Rebels" - Kevin Kiner Returns!


Joe Brausam

Recommended Posts

I mean to post about this show more, but I have been loving Rebels. I miss The Clone Wars, but this show has been filled the void nicely. The new crew is fun to watch, and I really enjoy the nods to other Star Wars media, like The Clone Wars (with appearances from Ahsoka, Captain Rex, Hondo Ohnaka, and Cham Syndulla). I'm really looking forward to the second half of this season. It seems like we have a ton in store!

 

As far as the music goes, I still wish Kiner would avoid the obvious Williams references (whether to the Star Wars scores or to other films). Kiner proved with The Clone Wars that he could write music that was his own but that could still fit in the Star Wars musical library, only referencing Williams' themes when appropriate. With Rebels, Kiner seems to rely on those references too heavily, and it can be somewhat distracting. I wish he would develop more of his own themes rather than try to repurpose bits and pieces of Williams' scores. But all that being said, sometimes he has pretty nice moments, like the Kanan-Inquisitor duel in the finale or this moment below. These kinds of cues make me wish for a Rebels soundtrack (as well as expanded soundtracks for The Clone Wars).

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, libraloco said:

As far as the music goes, I still wish Kiner would avoid the obvious Williams references (whether to the Star Wars scores or to other films). Kiner proved with The Clone Wars that he could write music that was his own but that could still fit in the Star Wars musical library, only referencing Williams' themes when appropriate. With Rebels, Kiner seems to rely on those references too heavily, and it can be somewhat distracting.

 

My thoughts about Rebels score, precisely pointed out. Although I'm not very much a fan of Kiner's music in Star Wars, I still think it works and fits rather unobtrusively within the universe. He has shown in the past he can create effective music and blend well with Williams' idiom, and I really thought he would depart from textual references on Season 2. I'm surpised he's persistent on this, which leads me to believe he's ordered to score this way by Disney. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

that would be nice... they already used the interdictor cruisers....still, i would prefer that the inevitable CGI tv series between ROTJ and TFA, featuring Luke, han and Leia, re-worked the best of the legends stories into the new canon.

 

Well, at this time, Thrawn could be (he was in legends) a junior officer. (and then reappear as grand admiral post ROTJ...)

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rebels had a fantastic episode last night, and Kevin Kiner's score was featured very prominently. I thought the score was great throughout, but this piece in particular seems to have caught a lot of people's attention. It's different than anything I've heard him compose before.

 

I'm honestly just glad that he didn't score the scene with a butchered version of "The Asteroid Field" or something.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Am I the only one who really hates this piece?  It sounds like a rip from Clint Mansell's The Fountain with an  "EPICK CHOIR" ending that comes out of nowhere.  I often wonder what a better composer would bring to the series.  

 

 

Quote

Holy. Shit. This is significantly better than anything I heard in TFA.

 

Gotta love the youtube comment section...

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

46 minutes ago, Luke Skywalker said:

 

1:03 onwards.... I wonder if Kiner Based that cue on this Williams material (and isnt there a recent Williams score with a similar arpeggio(?)?)

 

Wow, I hadn't heard that piece before! I need to search for more of the unreleased cues from AOTC.

 

The StarWars.com trivia gallery for the episode actually says that the piece was "inspired by" Philip Glass, so I guess Kiner is starting to branch out to find "inspiration" now...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

If anyone cares to know, the season 3 trailer for Star Wars Rebels has confirmed a rumour regarding a new character.

Grand Admiral Thrawn from the old EU (now Legends) is in there.



So if one thing from the old Legends is still true in Canon.... what else is?

I have to admit I am myself not familiar with that character. But it could be interesting....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

37 minutes ago, Not Mr. Big said:
  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

What about the Count Dooku/Mystery Motif from Attack of the Clones? (a.k.a. Lucius Malfoy's theme)
Haven't heard that one for a while! :lol:

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 17.07.2016 at 10:47 AM, Pieter_Boelen said:

If anyone cares to know, the season 3 trailer for Star Wars Rebels has confirmed a rumour regarding a new character.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

I have to admit I am myself not familiar with that character. But it could be interesting....

Oh he's a cool character. Really likable villain. But his re-introduction confuses the hell out of me.

 

Karol

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spoiler

 

I'm not the biggest fan of the book trilogy, but that was mainly due to its use of the existing characters.  Thrawn, Mara, and to a point Talon Karrde were all worthy additions to Star Wars, and I'm glad that Thrawn is getting a second life.

 

Why are these spoilers when the character is all over the official promos?

 

(i.e. he's in the trailer, on the official season 3 poster, and they also announced a new book)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, crocodile said:

Oh he's a cool character. Really likable villain. But his re-introduction confuses the hell out of me.

 

Karol

 

 

What is confusing about it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because for the most part, Disney chose to make all the EU that came out pre-2015 as "Legends" and have started their own new line of EU, but are now deciding to bring this one character back - and not only in new EU, but in their canon TV show as well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They have said they would probably bring things from the old EU from the beginning though. .

And this not the only thing they have brought back so far.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's no different from main characters of the saga. They all had stories and books writen about them, set after ROTJ, that will for the most part, cease to be canon

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The character is cool, and it's a waste not to use him, so he is now appearing onscreen and in canon literature.  An actually interesting Imperial commander with unique interests and stratagem.

 

But the events of the Heir to the Empire trilogy are still not canon (not that it would affect Rebels, since that takes place years before HTTE would have taken place anyway).   So the reappearance does not legitimize Joruuuuus, Luuuuuuuuke, Mara, Talon, the lost fleet of ships, Jacen, Jaina, a Rebel occupation of Coruscant, Thrawn's clone army, ysalamiri, Noghri, Borsk, Pellaon, or Lando's dumb mining adventures.  The character's ultimate fate, likewise, may not mirror what happened in those books (he could die on Rebels before the events of Star Wars, or he could live on well into the sequel trilogy era, or get crushed by a moon at some point TBD in the future).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I always liked Wendig's SW work, but I think across the board reviews have been more positive for Life Debt (people who were Luuukewarm on "Aftermath" liked "Life Debt" more).  I'm not counting the numerous one-star reviews from "Bring Back Legends" fanatics - those are still there for this one - but actual real reviews of the book.

 

It's definitely written in the same style as Aftermath.  Still present tense.  Not sure if Wendig "improved" or if the style is less jarring because people are more familiar with it the second time around.  There was certainly plenty of time for editorial course correction if they took the (real) criticisms of the first book constructively.

 

Personally I have a bigger problem with the first person narrative of the recent Luke book, as opposed to Wendig's business.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Jay said:

Because for the most part, Disney chose to make all the EU that came out pre-2015 as "Legends" and have started their own new line of EU, but are now deciding to bring this one character back - and not only in new EU, but in their canon TV show as well.

From day one of the new canon they've been cherry picking old EU elements and characters and adding them. Thrawn is just the most high profile but it was only a matter of time before he was added. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My dream would be for them to bring back Mara Jade, except there's a lot more baggage with her than with the returning character (who was basically three-and-done).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, mstrox said:

(who was basically three-and-done).

Yeah, Outbound Flight was a prequel, and the Thrawn in the Hand of Thrawn Duology (which I preferred to the Trilogy) was a imposter and a clone.

 

And he is hinted at in Tatooine Ghost

Link to comment
Share on other sites

THe problem with the old EU is for the most part it was adventures our trio got up to shortly after ROTJ.  With the new films now focusing on life 30 years + later, all those characters would be 30+ years old as well, which doesn't work for a lot of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Jay said:

THe problem with the old EU is for the most part it was adventures our trio got up to shortly after ROTJ.  With the new films now focusing on life 30 years + later, all those characters would be 30+ years old as well, which doesn't work for a lot of them.

The EU books went 30-40 years post RotJ too though. And there were quite a number of them. Vector Prime takes place more than 20 years after RotJ and that was a 19 book series followed by two 9 book series.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I believe in the old EU, The Truce at Bakura began the day after ROTJ. EU stories were written to at least 100 years after ROTJ, to the point Luke Skywalker had a generation or two of descendants. I don't think his ultimate fate was ever written though. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Fennel Ka said:

They have said they would probably bring things from the old EU from the beginning though. .

And this not the only thing they have brought back so far.

Yeah but they also bring back Timothy Zahn to write a book about him. But does it connect to other books? How does that work?

 

Karil

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, crocodile said:

Oh he's a cool character. Really likable villain. But his re-introduction confuses the hell out of me.

I like likeable villains. Darth Vader is likeable, right?

 

 

Random guy on the Internet: "He was, until the prequels!" :lol:

 

 

5 hours ago, mstrox said:
  Reveal hidden contents

Why are these spoilers when the character is all over the official promos?

Maybe people are deliberately avoiding even those "spoilers"?

I figured, better safe than sorry.... :o

 

50 minutes ago, crocodile said:

Yeah but they also bring back Timothy Zahn to write a book about him. But does it connect to other books? How does that work?

Probably similarly to "Tarkin" novel by James Luceno?

Technically part of the new canon, but refers to all sorts of EU stuff anyway. ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, crocodile said:

Yeah but they also bring back Timothy Zahn to write a book about him. But does it connect to other books? How does that work?

 

Karil

 

This:

53 minutes ago, mstrox said:

The book will be a standalone prequel to the character's appearance on Rebels.  It has no connection to Zahn's earlier books, except that they share a character.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice... if they keep using old EU stuff it will make the "legends" banner make sense. As if the legends novels were writen about hundreds of years after the events... and most of them are not true and just invented novelizations with some historical truth (like modern roman or middle age novels). Or stories that have been told orally and over time they have been changed, like old lore.

 

But if they are using the name "Thrawn" they could well have called Kylo, Jacen... Now there is no Solo caled jacen so where in the hell do his legends come from.... At least he looks like him...

 

 

Mara Jade could really appear in rebels, There is no need to make her Luke's wife, she could be the new inquisitor like villain.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Nice... if they keep using old EU stuff it will make the "legends" banner make sense. As if the legends novels were writen about hundreds of years after the events... and most of them are not true and just invented novelizations with some historical truth (like modern roman or middle age novels). Or stories that have been told orally and over time they have been changed, like old lore.

 

But if they are using the name "Thrawn" they could well have called Kylo, Jacen... Now there is no Solo caled jacen so where in the hell do his legends come from.... At least he looks like him...

 

 

Mara Jade could really appear in rebels, There is no need to make her Luke's wife, she could be the new inquisitor like villain.

 

 

 

I think Dave said during the panel that Mara won't be happening. 

 

George hated her so I could see everything else getting brought back in except her. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

Nice... if they keep using old EU stuff it will make the "legends" banner make sense. As if the legends novels were writen about hundreds of years after the events... and most of them are not true and just invented novelizations with some historical truth (like modern roman or middle age novels). Or stories that have been told orally and over time they have been changed, like old lore.

I agree; that would truly make the "Legends" an interesting and still somewhat integral part of the whole Star Wars world.

It could be especially fun if they even make reference to stuff that is NOT true in the new canon.

For example, add in an explanation for where that "Jacen Solo" name came from or that somebody thought that was his name, but is corrected for being wrong.

 

I always figured they should have something similar in the PotC films with the captain of the Flying Dutchman.

It makes no sense for that to be a Scottish guy named Davy Jones, while the historical character was named Hendrick Vanderdecken.

 

Blurring the line between "fact" and fantasy could be quite an interesting source of story content.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But it's still a bit fishy to me. I'd rather them create new characters rather than canibalise stuff like this and subsequently confuse a lot of people.Say, some lay person might like a Thrawn character from the Rebels show and would like to learn more about him. And they pick the Thrawn trilogy from Timothy Zahn and it's all a mess cause it turns out Leia is pregnant with twins in those books, there's no First Order. But Thrawn character almost feels exactly the same (which he does from those clips). And then they pick a new Timothy Zahn book about the same character that has no connection to his other books. No matter how you justify it, it's a mess. Fanboys might understand it but an average person won't.

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

True. Though I did notice new editions in the "Legends" series do contain an explanatory note on their "canonical status".

And don't they put a huge "Legends" logo on the covers these days? But still.... definitely not straightforward.

On the other hand, I understand why they did it and I reckon that it is probably the best choice they had available to them, despite the unfortunate consequences.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It would be the same as a new fan wanting to learn more about Luke and picking up some book where he has a kid with Mara Jade.

 

There is definitely an explanation of "Legends" in the Legends books - at least in the eBooks, since I've been buying through them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, mstrox said:

It would be the same as a new fan wanting to learn more about Luke and picking up some book where he has a kid with Mara Jade.

No it's more like having now an Alien 3 that doesn't acknowledge... oh wait...

 

Karol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Guidelines.