Five Reasons 'Rebels' Is Better Than 'The Clone Wars'
When it comes to animated Star Wars television, The Clones Wars is often considered to be the defining series. The seven-season epic spans the years between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, detailing the conflict between the Republic and Separatist droid army with the beginning of Anakin Skywalker’s fall to the dark side in the background. By the premiere of its final season in 2020, The Clone Wars had enshrined itself as essential viewing for Star Wars fans.
Star Wars Rebels, on the other hand, has not received quite the level of devotion as its animated predecessor. Set five years before A New Hope, Rebels tells the story of a ragtag crew of Rebels fighting against the Galactic Empire fourteen years into its reign. Though less widely praised, there is a case to be made that the lesser-known Rebels outmatches The Clone Wars in terms of storytelling, character development, and worldbuilding. Here are five reasons why Star Wars Rebels is actually superior to The Clone Wars.
RELATED:
1. Storytelling Continuity
The Clone Wars is episodic in nature. It initially aired as an anthology series with few arcs spanning more than several episodes. This allows more variety of character arcs and storylines, but occasionally leads to forgettable filler episodes (Jar Jar juggling, anyone?). Rebels, on the other hand, builds to an overarching storyline. Even the occasional filler episode has repercussions on the overall plot, giving each episode a sense of importance that The Clone Wars often lacks.
2. Development of Original Characters
One of the most satisfying and heartbreaking parts of Rebels is the development and maturation of its characters. This is due largely in part to the fact that the series protagonist, Ezra Bridger, begins the story at 14 years old, and grows with the audience. Over the course of 4 seasons, the audience becomes deeply entrenched in the adventures of the core characters of the Ghost Crew—Ezra Bridger, Kanan Jarrus, Hera Syndulla, Sabine Wren, Zeb, and Chopper—original characters whose storylines lay the foundation for the Rebellion against the Empire, the very core of the Star Wars saga.
3. Higher Stakes
The Clone Wars is ultimately a story building to a prescribed ending—the events of Revenge of the Sith and the ultimate fall of Anakin Skywalker. While this does serve to give the story focus, it eliminates some of the stakes, particularly in arcs where a recognizable prequel character is in danger. Rebels has no such issue. At the start of the series, we do not know what will be the outcomes of the story for any of the major characters in the Ghost crew. No one has to survive to preserve canon. Because of this, no one is ever really safe, and each mission is fraught with stakes.
4. Meaningful Cameos
There is a case to be made that recent Star Wars media might rely too heavily on character cameos. That being said, a well-executed and unexpected appearance from a character who belongs to another part of the Star Wars galaxy can serve to enrich the story’s worldbuilding. Rebels excels at this. While it is always fun to see more adventures from beloved prequel characters in The Clone Wars, does anything compare to the reveal of Darth Vader at the end of Season 1 of Rebels? And who could ever forget the final battle between Obi-Wan and Maul in the Season 3 episode “Twin Suns,” which marks one of the most powerful conclusions to a character rivalry in the vast Star Wars canon? Rebels tells a sweeping story about the beginning of the Rebellion against the Empire, and utilizes familiar faces to connect to the past and build on future stories.
5. Finale
The Clone Wars fans did not get their long-awaited finale until Season 7 was released on Disney+ in 2020, six years after the sixth and, ostensibly, the final season premiered on Netflix. The fast-paced and suspenseful seventh season follows Ahsoka Tano as she and Rex deal with the destruction caused by Order 66, and the events of Revenge of the Sith. The final arc is a heartbreaking and solemn end to the prequel era of Star Wars, while the Rebels finale feels like a cathartic culmination of a more focused plot. By the end of Rebels, the characters we have come to know and love rally together for the liberation of our main character’s homeworld, the place where the story first begins. Star Wars Rebels gives fans a finale that does not just wrap up a story we already know the ending to, but gives us a glimpse into the future of a saga that is just beginning.
Though not quite as popular as The Clone Wars, Rebels might just surpass it for telling the quintessential Star Wars story—that despite whatever evil the galaxy may face, heroes can emerge from anywhere.
READ NEXT:
Source(s): Cinema Blend, Screen Rant, Wookieepedia