TCW's highs blow Rebels' highs out of the water. TCW definitely had its shitty moments and Rebels is indeed more consistent. The problem is that it's consistently mediocre. TCW, at its best, really had depth and dimension and excitement Rebels just hasn't matched.
And ultimately, I can't accept the "well just give it time" argument. The creative minds behind Rebels were there for TCW. They've had 2 seasons of Rebels and 6 seasons of TCW to produce better stories. Not to mention the fact that they're no longer hamstrung by an omnipotent authority like George.
It says something that the publicity and excitement surrounding Rebels owes much to either film characters like Vader and Tarkin... Or TCW characters like Ahsoka, Rex, and Maul.
Sadly this show doesn't work on its own two feet. I'd probably enjoy it a lot more if it stuck true to its original conceit of a bunch of nobody dissidents fighting against the machine a la Firefly... But as it stands it's simply a vehicle to regurgitate more popular characters and tie off loose ends of TCW.
I mean I think Season 6 and Season 7 of Clone Wars, particularly the Order 66 arc with Ahsoka and Rex would blow anything in either series out of the water.
Also I think SoD and Dark Disciple could have been dope as episodes. DD would have been way better filmed imo.
Its a testament to Clone Wars' success that every good arc/episode from Rebels involves a Clone Wars character. excellent
Originally posted by Lord Stark
[BIts a testament to Clone Wars' success that every good arc/episode from Rebels involves a Clone Wars character. excellent [/B]
Which just makes Rebels dumb, if they can't hold onto their own 2 feet without bringing in old characters just to make things interesting.
Rebels has its own interesting episodes, but really just when the Inquisitor was involved or with Tarkin/Vader.
But the fact they gotta rely on OT/TCW characters to really make things interesting, instead of...you know, building their own characters for the series, is just...meh.
The latest one with Zeb/Kallus was a nice one, and that's just cause it gave depth to Kallus.
My main problem with Rebels is that at least 50% of it's episodes are filler episodes that don't really serve to advance the overall plot or characters in any way. Like you have the episode with Lando in it, which isn't notable or impactful at all aside from the fact that it has Lando in it. You have Zeb and Ezra trying to get a ****ing fruit in another episode. And in another episode they're trying to do some environmental protection shit and save the space whales. Now, right after the episode where Kanan gets knighted, Ezra's dark sidey shit is further forshadowed, and Ahsoka finds out the terrible truth about Darth Vader, we get a ****ing episode about chopper running off to get a leg transplant or some shit.
Almost every episode in TCW had a point to it that related to the advancement of the plot or characters (with the obvious exception of that droid arc in season 5 that went on 3 more episodes than it really needed to). Even the boring political episodes with Padme mid-season 3 had some plot advancement, showing the extent of the effects on politics the war has.
The upcoming episodes with Maul, Vader, and Ahsoka are almost certainly going to be amazing, but until Rebels stops giving us filler for half of the episodes, I'm not rating it above TCW as a series.
Truth DMB, even the character specific episodes that were suppose to advanced the character development weren't all that great. I mean...I guess aside from Kallus and the last Hera one with her dad did something, but overall those character development episodes were rather...meh. Zeb's was...alright, though not sure if finding his whole species still alive and well was really needed.
Personally, I think DMB is completely wrong on this. Every single episode has advanced the main plot or developed characters in Rebels. Take the fruit episode. It wasn't particularly good but it certainly was not filler as it greatly developed the relationship between Ezra and Zeb. Comparatively, the majority of the arc in TCW feels distinct and separate from one another and the show rarely ever alludes to past episodes, especially in the early seasons. You could easily skip many of the arcs in TCW and you wouldn't even notice. Heck, many of the episodes aren't even in chronological order. It really wasn't until the later seasons that TCW began to become more serialized mainly with the Maul and Ahsoka story lines. But even then we got tons of unconnected arcs and these major storylines never tied together.
Now this doesn't mean either is better than another.
TLDR: There are few filler episodes in Rebels and the show is far more serialized than TCW ever was.