Star Wars:Resistance
Annnd they had to go and change things again. With Rebels coming to a close and a burning need to keep Star Wars on their lineup, Disney had a choice: find a new plot and setting for a formula and art style that had produced two successful multi-season shows, or throw it all out and start from scratch. Remember, this is Disney we're talking about, the company that once paid a quarter billion dollars to fire the producer who made The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King only for him to go and found Dreamworks out of spite.
Like its predecessor, Star Wars: Resistance sets itself up as a prequel to a trilogy, in this case following the early days of the Resistance in its fight against the First Order. Where it differs from Rebels is that Resistance is playing the warm up act for a trilogy that nobody likes. On top of which, the creators abandoned the 3D style that Rebels inherited from The Clone Wars, and replaced it with a cel style that's half Treasure Planet, half Avatar: The Last Airbender and all RWBY...but for a show that's much worse than all of the above, and unlikely to ever get the followings those things enjoy.
(Beat)
Ah, who are we kidding? This thing is never getting even half the love of any of those other things. And the reasons why can be found below.
To be blunt, this show is 100% pure crystal derp. Our star is Kazuda Xiono, a manic depressive who literally fanboy-ed his way into being a spy under the cover story of being a mechanic, two jobs he is not qualified for. This kid is the Invader Zim of Star Wars, able to respond to situations with only blind overconfidence or screaming, gibbering terror. Filling out the cast we have the original cockney girl in space, an autistic alien, their widower boss who is definitely gonna die, Star Wars' D.Va Expy and her ex-imperial officer dad, and BB-8. Oh, and a pink Mirialan in Scout Trooper boots.
OK, admittedly some of those don't sound too bad as far as basic character set-ups go, or at least potentially OK-ish if done right. But then we get to the actual plots (or often lack thereof) and...yikes.
Also, Poe Dameron shows up regularly so he can be TOP SUE without having to share a screen with Rey. Captain Phasma is one of the show's recurring villains and yet stays true to form in doing absolutely nothing. She gets a gold/male counterpart in Commander Pyre, and there's also a would-be Red Baron analogue who spends almost no time dogfighting and dies at the end of the first season with little fanfare.
Long story short, reception was so terrible it was confirmed canceled at 2 seasons before the second season even started.
Part of the problem with Resistance is that the First Order has a doomfort that can frag planets across the galaxy, yet has to resort to hiring pirates to encourage settlements into accepting the First Order's protection racket. Palpy's empire was a model of efficient, heavy handed governance (or at least was good at presenting itself this way); its evil intent veiled from the masses who mostly view it as bringing order. And some instances of institutionalized racism and the occasional genocide on a planetary scale. Y'know. Empire Stuff. The First Order on the other hand is basically just 80s Cartoon Cobra, a font of evil hamstrung by flailing incompetence. The backstory for the Resistance and First Order is basically that the First Order are a mobile pirate fleet with one untested secret base weapon lead by old farts of dubious actual leadership abilities from the Empire and their fanatical children with grunts made up of brainwashed child soldiers kidnapped from pioneer settlements. The Resistance is just a tiny militia that is so poorly funded they don’t even qualify as a single fleet since their few outdated capital ships are crewed by outdated droids and they don’t even have enough fighters to protect them. Rather than depict a potentially interesting dynamic with the bad guys being the underdogs fighting the galactic-scale government this time around (it's not like the Sequels took advantage of it either), this setup suggests the series just wants to be Rebels again but can't figure out how to do it because the good guys have supposedly already won, fixed the galaxy, and are now just too stupid or inept to sort out the last Imperial remnants.
None of this is even getting into just how directionless and low-stakes the stories often felt. Basically, the show spun its wheels a lot, and also frequently fell back on a style of "humor" that will make anyone put off by The Last Jedi's attempts at that nostalgic for Ewoks if they aren't already.
Makes you appreciate Rebels and The Bad Batch a lot more though.
| Star Wars | |
|---|---|
| About: | The Franchise, The Setting, The Movies, The Video Games |
| Television Shows: | The Clone Wars, Rebels, Resistance, The Mandalorian, The Bad Batch, Disney + Originals |
| Star Wars Games | |
| Miniature: | X-Wing, Armada, Legion |
| Tabletop: | Rebellion |
| Roleplaying: | FFG, WotC (d20), WEG (d6) |