The salvage crew in the Star Wars Rebels episode “The Wynkahthu Job.” Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd. and The Walt Disney Company.
Last week’s episode of Star Wars Rebels, “The Iron Squadron,” was, in my mind, the first real dud of the show’s third season. This week’s episode, “The Wynkahthu Job,” doesn’t help matters much, even though it is marginally better than “The Iron Squadron.” I really feel like the “one episode, one story arc” mentality that is infused into the DNA of this show may slowly be catching up with it. Suffice it to say, I hope there are some higher stakes in the episodes to come.
Poster for “Star Wars Rebels” season three. Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd. and The Walt Disney Company.
The Walt Disney Company not only rules the world, but also a galaxy far, far away. The company’s acquisition of Lucasfilm Ltd. in 2012 brought news of a new series of Star Wars films, which excited many fans the world over. However, this change behind the scenes also brought about the eventual cancellation of the popular animated television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (TCW), which takes place between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, and introduced fan-favorite characters like Ahsoka Tano, Anakin Skywalker’s teenaged Jedi apprentice, and clone captain CT-7567, better known as Captain Rex.
Ahsoka Tano (right) and CT-7567 a.k.a. “Captain Rex” (left) in “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd.
TCW ran for five seasons on Cartoon Network, and 13 completed episodes from the planned sixth season, entitled “The Lost Missions,” were made available to stream on Netflix in March 2014. In addition, several unfinished episodes were made available on StarWars.com and unused scripts from the series have served as the basis for comic books and novels. Later that same year, in October 2014, Disney premiered a new Star Wars animated series on DisneyXD, entitled Star Wars Rebels (SWR), which begins five years beforeA New Hope. This new series follows the crew of the freighter ship The Ghost, which consists of Jedi-in-hiding Kanan Jarrus, pilot Hera Syndulla, warrior Garazeb “Zeb” Orrelios, Mandalorian explosives expert and artist Sabine Wren, and Force-sensitive street orphan Ezra Bridger, as they work to disrupt Imperial activities in the Outer Rim Territories and later become drawn into a larger rebellion that will eventually become The Rebel Alliance seen in the original trilogy.
Randy Marsh and other residents of South Park watching the election results. Copyright Viacom Inc.
Just as I thought it would, last night’s episode of South Park lampooned this week’s unexpected election results while keeping to its season-long story arc.
I started this blog back in September with the mission statement of reviewing and celebrating animated movies. As you can tell from three of my previous articles, which cover TV shows like South Park and the recently-revived Young Justice, that statement has changed ever so slightly. I am now expanding my blog to cover animation in all of its forms, from films to television shows to all other kinds of animation. The reason for this is that I love seeing where people can take animation with different mediums, and I can’t limit myself to movies for that animation fix. So, be on the lookout for further articles from Sack, Animated, now on a wider range of topics. The Circle of Life continues to move us all, even my blog.
South Park Season 20 Premiere Logo. Copyright South Park Studios, Comedy Central, and Viacom Inc.
I won’t be able to watch Wednesday’s episode of South Park right when it airs, but since it will be airing the day after the end of one of the most heated presidential races our country has ever seen, we can only hope that the episode will make fun of whatever the result is, while keeping to the excellent season-long arc about social media, trolling, nostalgia, and politics.
*Author’s Note: While this article is about an animated TV show, South Park has been a powerhouse in the realm of social commentary for the past few years in particular, so I feel like an exception can be made while talking about it here. Also, South Park did have a theatrical movie come out back in 1999, so I say it counts; plus, it’s my site, so moving on*
Many of the characters from South Park. Copyright Comedy Central
South Park of recent years has become some of the best social commentary masked in the form of adult animation to ever hit television. The main reason for that is the time table co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone use to make each episode: the episode for a given week is often not finished until a few hours before it’s scheduled to air. This may be stressful for the team behind the show, but it allows them to draw from the most current events on people’s minds, from the wildly popular to the wildly controversial. Continue reading “How far should South Park go in covering the news of the week?”
