The fourth and final season of “Star Wars Rebels” premiered last night on Disney XD with a two-part episode titled “Heroes of Mandalore.” The season premiere begins with our heroes leading an attack on an Empire outpost that is holding Sabine’s father, Alric, a prisoner of the empire. Sabine, Kanan, Ezra and Chopper lead the forces with Clan Ren fighting for its people. Clan Ren discovers that the Saxxen clan had been waiting for them and the attack was a trap. Lady Bo Katan, sister of Duchess Satine, the original ruler of Mandalore in The Clone Wars, rescues the group on Sabine’s mother’s orders. Katan is the rightful ruler of Mandalore despite giving up the Throne and being overthrown by the Saxxen Clan after Maul killed the Duchess.
Sabine’s mother warns the team that the Empire is relocating her father to the Mandalorian capital to be publicly executed meanwhile Hera, the leader of the Ghost Crew, contacts Kanan and they share a brief romantic moment hopefully to be explored more in this season. The team then plans to attack the shuttles carrying her father where they quickly rescue him. All isn’t good for long as the first episode ends with what is believed to be the death of Sabine’s mother and brother…at least until episode two reveals that they survived an attack from a weapon that was originally created by Sabine while attending the Empire Academy and was top of her class as a munitions expert. We get a brief cutaway where Thrawn is shown the weapon and it is revealed the weapon (named The Duchess) targets the special armor the Mandalorian’s wear, vaporizing them from the inside. The Leader of the Saxxen Clan believes that if Sabine upgrades the weapon to destroy armies, all of Mandalore will bow to him. (Rather than the Empire…Foolish thinking bro.) They erase the plans for the weapon while Sabine changed the coding of the functional weapon to attack the material in the Empire’s troops. She then destroys it hopefully ending the Saxxen clan for good. The Empire looms over Mandalore and the threat is not over but the divided clans unite under Bo Katan’s rule. The dark saber and mandalore is finally back in the hands of its rightful ruler. Tune in next week for our wrap-up of an all new “Star Wars: Rebels” episode, “In the Name of the Rebellion part 1 and 2.”
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This week’s geeky headlines: Black panther trailer A brand-new trailer and official poster for Marvel’s “Black Panther” was released. The film is due to hit theaters in February.
Big Hero Six: Baymax Returns An all-new television movie is coming to Disney XD on November 20th featuring the return of characters (and voices) of the original 2014 theatrical release. Han solo gets a name Legendary Director Ron Howard has been hard at work on reshoots of the yet “Untitled Han Solo origin film” and on Tuesday he went to Twitter to announce the end of filming. As an extra surprise he also announced the movies name, “Solo: A Star Wars Story.” Releasing her first album in five years, Pink (stylized P!nk) made a big comeback with her newest studio album “Beautiful Trauma.” The album is infectious and real while maintaining everything fans have come to expect from the icon. The title track “Beautiful Trauma” rings in softly with a piano medley before the beat intensifies and a full-on dance anthem sets the mood for the rest of the album. This is followed up by another fun track featuring Eminem and then multiple new songs, each one proving to be a chart-topper in the making. Produced by legendary producer Jack Antanoff, "Beautiful Trauma" is everything we love from Pink and a little more. She has a style that's her own and she runs with it. She's never needed to change and if she does, it's just subtle enough that fans are on board with it. Monday night football delivered a whopping two minute second trailer for December’s upcoming “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” the eighth installment of the Skywalker saga that began 40 years ago. After a quick tease for the new trailer by Mark Hamill in September, Disney confirmed that the new trailer would be released on ESPN on Monday October 9…and it did not disappoint. Here are my top 10 moments in the new Star Wars trailer: 10) This is Kylo’s movie. The beginning of the trailer has Snoke saying (presumably to Kylo) that when he first saw him he saw raw untamed power. This follows with multiple shots of Kylo as Snoke adds that he saw something truly special. Next, we see Kylo leading the attack on Crate and we see Kylo wavering in his attack on a ship that carries his mother, Leia Organa. Kylo says, “Let the past die. Kill it if you have to, that’s the only way to become what you’ve meant to be.” We can assume this is him talking to Rey, teaching her even. 9) Where’s Rose? This is less of a moment but rather, a lack thereof. In this trailer, we see a lot of the main cast but we don’t see newcomers like Rose, Laura Dern’s character or Del Torro’s character D.J. We also don’t see anything from Canto-Bight or of the other alien characters that have been teased in promotional images. 8) The score at the beginning of the trailer doesn’t sound like anything we’ve ever heard before in a Star Wars film. It’s airy and upbeat and a little flighty. It seems like we are going to have some fun on Ach-to but the rest of the trailer is so dismal in comparison. 7) Luke say’s “I’ve seen this raw strength like this only once before. It didn’t scare me enough then, it does now.” We assume he is talking about Kylo and his attack on the temple only hinted at in this trailer and in the “Force Awakens.” Luke is very reserved and it can be expected that he is against training Rey. Luke also appears in what looks like a phantom-esque form in the temple. He is lying on the ground in one scene where he exclaims “This is not going to go the way you think!” 6) Rey is learning of her past. She says, “Something inside me has always been there but now it’s awake and I need help.” She is seen exploring the Jedi temple on Ach-to. 5) PORGS! We see a Porg “roaring” on board the Millennium Falcon and can only presume this is going to be a new side-kick to join in the action with Chewie. 4) Poe returns with a speech of vengeance. “We are the spark that will light the fire that will bring the first order down,” he says, possibly during the battle on Crate. 3) Finn faces Phasma. There are also more dog fights and space battles it looks like that will rival anything we’ve ever seen before. Aside from the battle on Crate (where we see Leia and some Crystal wolfs) we can expect a ton of battles throughout the movie ranging from space to show downs like Finn and Phasma. 2) “Fulfill your destiny.” Snoke says while attacking and disabling Rey. We can assume this will be the final showdown of the movie with Snoke possibly getting the upper hand. 1) Rey looks to Kylo. She says, “I need someone to show me my place in all this,” before Kylo extends his hand to offer her guidance. The trailer ends on this note to beg the question, is Rey bad? Is Luke Bad? Is Kylo good? What will happen to Leia? Will Finn and Poe ever exchange prolonged hugs again? Watch the trailer below and see the new film in theatres December 14th. Tickets are on sale now Miley Cyrus Feels Younger Now with New Album Miley Cyrus’ sixth studio album “Younger Now” dropped this week and is a refreshing change from the provocative music Cyrus’ has released for the past five years. The new album features artists like Dolly Parton and is a return to Cyrus’ Tennessee roots. Each song is raw and emotional as the singer sings about her love for Liam Hemsworth and her father being her inspiration. Forces of Destiny returns with new characters The short form Star Wars series, “Forces of Destiny” returned this week with a 30-minute special premiering on the Disney channel. Each of the shorts will be released on Youtube, once a day throughout the month. Gifted premieres on Fox The new X-men series premiered with high ratings on Fox. |
Erick L. Graham Wood
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