Did you know?
In the season three premiere Steps into Shadow, about six months have passed since the end
of season two.
As part of Zeb’s new season 3 character model, he has an illustration on his suit
of the joopa that ate him in season two.
Sabine’s new character model has an illustration of the convor owl described to her by Ezra.
Hera now has a traditional rebel rank badge on her sleeve indicating she is a captain.
One version of Hondo’s reaction to Terba’s death was to remark in wonder, “They can
fly!”
In Ezra’s room is a torn poster for an old podrace competition featuring Ben Quadrinaros.
A similar poster could be seen in Anakin’s quarters in The Clone Wars as well.
The Bendu was originally meant to appear in Season 2, and was supposed to be much larger.
The Rebels would have built their base on his back.
Upon returning from a mission, they’d find their base gone because Bendu had moved.
The term Bendu dates back to the original story treatments written by George Lucas when
he was first defining Star Wars in 1973.
The Jedi Knights were called the Jedi Bendu, and the light and dark side aspects of the
Force were called the Ahsla and the Bogan.
Commander Brom Titus was last seen in season two’s Stealth Strike as the Admiral in charge
of the Interdictor project.
He has since received a demotion.
This episode sees the destruction of the Phantom.
The writer who pitched the idea of destroying the ship was then nicknamed the Phantom Menace
for the rest of the season.
General Dodonna’s mention at the end of the episode indicates that the captured Y-wing
fighters will make their way to Gold Squadron as seen in the Battles of Scarif and Yavin.
In The Holocrons of Fate, the droids that accompany Maul are hacked and reprogrammed
droids from Mandalore, a reference to his time as ruler of the planet.
Describing the signal beacon that repels the Atollon spiders as a thumper is a reference
to the Dune series, where a similar device is used to attract sand worms.
The A-wing used by Kanan and Ezra is a trainer model, and therefore has two seats.
The asteroid base where Maul is operating out of is one he used in The Clone Wars, as
seen in the Son of Dathomir comic series.
Did you know that the episode The Antilles Extraction was almost titled Darklighter and
would have been all about the defection of Biggs which would have made it the greatest
episode of any TV show ever but the producers decided that timeline complications with Biggs’
established A New Hope backstory meant that Wedge was the better candidate for this story,
which is cool and all but Biggs was almost in Rebels and now my heart is broken??
(Big breath) The horned icon on Vult Skerris’ helmet can be found on the side of the original
scout walker models built for The Empire Strikes Back, and can be seen on the Kenner toy.
Ezra mentions infiltrating an Imperial Academy, which is a reference to the season one episode
Breaking Ranks.
Wedge is of course a well known pilot from the original trilogy, but in case you didn’t
know, Hobbie can also be seen in The Empire Strikes Back.
The first Aftermath book mentions Wedge’s connection with Fulcrum.
At the time we assumed it was a reference to Ahsoka Tano, but this episode sheds more
light on the nature of the Fulcrum alias.
This episode was written by Gary Whitta, who also worked on Rogue One.
Sabine’s fake name, Ria Talla, is a leftover name from an early version of Rogue One.
The explosives that blow off the TIE fighters’ solar panels is an intentional nod to the
simulated battle damage of the old Kenner toys that could do the same thing.
This episode marks the series debut of the TIE interceptor.
Red markings show it to be an elite craft, which is a nod to similar striping in Star
Wars Legends material, like the fighter used by Soontir Fel.
In the episode Hera’s Heroes, the lizards the Twi’leks ride are called blurggs.
They can also be seen in The Clone Wars, but their first ever appearance was in the Ewoks:
The Battle for Endor TV movie in 1985.
This episode marks the series debut of the scout trooper.
Hera calls the Imperials gutkurrs, which are hard-shelled carnivores seen on Ryloth in
The Clone Wars.
The Syndulla estate has a central channel of water in the main floor, which is a sign
of prosperity in a desert environment.
When the Syndulla house explodes, one of the stormtroopers lets out a Wilhelm scream.
In The Last Battle, the planet Agamar dates back to 1993 as the setting of The Farlander
Papers, a short story included in the game X-Wing.
This is its first on-screen depiction.
Gregg Berger, who voiced General Kalani in Season 5 of The Clone Wars returns to provide
his voice again in this episode.
The end title card was redesigned to resemble the opening title card on The Clone Wars,
and this episode uses the end theme music from the series as well.
The Imperial Supercommandos from the aptly named episode Imperial Supercommandos, date
back to the very earliest concept work done for The Empire Strikes Back.
The design that would eventually become Boba Fett’s Mandalorian armor was originally
intended to be for a class of super stormtroopers.
The game played by Sabine and Fenn Rau is based on a Legends game called cu’bikad
from the Republic Commando novels.
Sabine has drawn a tibidee on the Phantom II in honor of the first Phantom’s encounter
with the creature in season one.
The canyon for the jetpack chase scene is simply a retexturing of the Ryloth canyon
from Hera’s Heroes.
The character of Gar Saxon was first developed for Clone Wars episodes that never entered
production, but were adapted into the comic series Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir.
A major influence for the episode Iron Squadron was the film Red Dawn, about a group of teenagers
defending their home from invading forces.
The three members of Iron Squadron are tributes to the staff of Lucasfilm’s online team
that work on Rebels Recon.
Gooti Terez is named after Andi Guitierrez, Mart Mattin is named after Matt Martin, and
Jonner Jin is named after John Harper.
The planet Mykapo is also named after Executive Producer of Rebels Recon, Micky Capoferri.
The YT-2400 used by Iron Squadron was originally developed as a background ship flying over
Mos Eisley in the Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope.
It is more famously known as the Outrider, the ship Dash Rendar flies in the Legends
story Shadows of the Empire.
The original title for the Wynkahthu Job was the Commodia Job and then Pirates of the Cammodia
System, named after the toilet-flushing look of the atmospheric turbulence.
The Imperial sentry droids were inspired by the Dark Troopers from the classic video game
Dark Forces.
The built-in top blaster on their right arms is actually a repurposed and modified E-11
stormtrooper rifle.
Melch, last seen in Steps into Shadow, now wears Hondo’s pirate symbol on his helmet.
The Twi’lek Ark of the covenant first seen as an easter egg in The Clone Wars is among
the treasures aboard the transport.
Mr. Sumar made his reappearance in An Inside Man.
He nearly made an appearance in the season two premiere, where he would have been depicted
as very anti-rebel, angered at the enhanced Imperial security they provoked.
The TIE defender design comes from the classic 1994 TIE Fighter video game.
When describing the haunting visions of Maul that Ezra sees in Visions and Voices, Dave
Filoni wanted them to have a Freddy Krueger quality to them.
The darksaber first appeared in The Clone Wars season two.
Its inclusion spawned a great deal of story development regarding Mandalore’s ancient
past.
Maul’s sanctuary is decorated with battle droid heads and discarded helmets from his
former Mandalorian warriors.
Maul has a stolen painting of Duchess Satine Kryze, Obi-Wan’s love, who Maul killed in
The Clone Wars.
Composer Kevin Kiner includes a small piano-only refrain from her theme in the score when Ezra
looks at her painting.
Meredith Salenger and Anna Graves, two recurring actors from The Clone Wars, returned to voice
the Nightsister-possessed incarnations of Kanan and Sabine.
The ancient Sith writing scrawled on the wall translates to Kenobi.
The battered Rebel helmets in Ghosts of Geonosis are the same commando designs seen in Return
of the Jedi and Rogue One.
They sport Saw Gerrera’s symbol that can also be seen on his cape in Rogue One.
Saw himself is meant to match the flashback version of the character seen in the prologue
of Rogue One.
Sometime over the next two years, Saw will lose his leg and develop a breathing problem,
most likely from his prolonged exposure to the Geonosian pesticide.
In The Clone Wars, Saw had blue eyes, while his live action incarnation had brown.
This version went somewhere in the middle with green.
Ezra’s scout trooper helmet has undergone a Sabine redecoration.
I still wonder if she asks for permission before doing that.
This Imperial officer is not Rae Sloane, but Captain Brunson, named for the series Look
Development Production Coordinator Jessica Brunson.
While developing a sympathetic Geonosian, the production team looked towards District
9 as an inspiration.
The jetpack-wearing jumptrooper is based on the flying stormtroopers developed for Star
Tours: The Adventures Continue.
A running gag of the episode is Klik-Klak drawing an image of the Death Star, yet everyone
interprets it as something else.
Sabine’s jetpack has also been customized with a new paint design.
The revelation of the toxic gas canisters is a story thread that has been slowly playing
out for years, starting with the disappearance of the Geonosians earlier in the series and
including a visit from Darth Vader to the seemingly dead world in the Darth Vader comics.
That comic depicts a queen that has been confirmed by Pablo Hidalgo to be the same queen egg
Klik-Klak is protecting throughout the episode.
The original plan for the story of Warhead was for it to be the B-story occurring while
the events of Trials of the Darksaber formed the A-story.
Both grew to become full-fledged episodes.
Zeb was also originally meant to team up with Rex instead of the droids.
The opening sequence down to the animation, sound design, and music is an homage to the
opening scenes of The Empire Strikes Back.
Hobbie and Wedge can be seen now dressed in rebel pilot uniforms.
The explosive countdown display in the infiltrator droid’s body is a visual nod to the similar
device used by the alien in the movie Predator.
In the outline for Trials of the Darksaber, Kanan sought guidance from the Bendu about
training Sabine, but it was changed to Hera to keep the episode more about family.
Sabine’s Mandalorian vambraces include blaster barrels, a repulsor, an energized rope, a
shield emitter, and dart launchers.
Sabine’s bunk has been updated with new art, including illustrations of a puffer pig,
purgill, Ketsu, Lando, and Kallus and Zeb as best friends.
In Legacy of Mandalore, the look of the Wren mansion was influenced by the architecture
of the Big Rock campus of Skywalker Ranch where Lucasfilm Animation operated before
moving to San Francisco.
At one point, Sabine’s brother was going to play the part of the Protector of Concord
Dawn before the role was given to Fenn Rau.
Sabine’s Mando dialog in this episode translates to “Hailing Clan Wren.
This is Sabine Wren on approach.
Please respond.”
The voice on the other end was meant to sarcastically reply “Copy ‘Sabine Wren.’
Standby,” as if not believing her claim.
Early plans for Through Imperial Eyes were to tell the entire story from a first-person
perspective, but the idea wound up being more ambitious than the production schedule would
allow.
Tom Kane, who voiced Wulff Yularen in The Clone Wars, returned to voice the character
in this episode.
Trophies in Grand Admiral Thrawn’s collection include the Holy Grail from Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade, Hera’s kalikori, an ornate old lightsaber, pan pipes, a clone
commander helmet that looks a lot like Gree’s, a bust of an Abednedo alien, a pair of lizard
statues that resemble the ysalamiri of Legends storytelling, and more.
In Secret Cargo, Genevieve O’Rielly reprises her role as Mon Mothma.
She first played the senator in Revenge of the Sith, and returned nearly a decade later
for Rogue One.
Mon Mothma mentions a massacre on Ghorman.
The Ghorman Massacre as a concept dates back to the 1990s Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, where
it was referred to as an inciting incident of Imperial brutality that inspired rebellion.
Josh Brener, a long time Star Wars fan, provides the voice for Erskin Semaj.
He plays Big Head in Silicon Valley.
The logo on Erskin’s helmet is the design on Mon Mothma’s medallion.
This episode includes John “Dutch” Vander, also known as Gold Leader who participated
in the Battle of Yavin and the Battle of Scarif.
The space debris where the Ghost hides is Clone Wars era, as the Separatist logo adorns
a large hunk of hull.
This episode marks the series debut of a Mon Calamari cruiser, a Nebulon-B frigate, and
a TIE Defender in action.
The Y-wings seen earlier in this season have been further modified to better match their
final appearance as seen in A New Hope and Rogue One.
The original premise for the episode Double Agent Droid would have seen Wedge and the
droids infiltrate Rishi Outpost from the first season of The Clone Wars, but it was changed
instead to Killun station.
The listening ship design is an Imperial freighter with additional sensor and transmitter dishes,
inspired by real-world AWACS planes used in air defense.
The staff aboard the controller and their operations center was inspired by the soulless
control rooms seen in George Lucas’s first feature film, THX 1138.
Controller LT-319 was designed to resemble Pablo Hidalgo.
Hidalgo also recorded temp voice for the character, but the final voice was done by Josh Gad.
The creatures that swarm AP-5 in space are baby neebrays, designs first seen in The Clone
Wars.
This episode marks the first ever on screen appearance of a toilet in Star Wars.
In Twin Suns, the creators wanted to show that Maul had been on Tatooine for quite a
long time.
His character model was scuffed up, and chunks were taken out of his mechanical legs.
The earliest versions of the story had Kanan join Ezra instead of Chopper.
The holocron fragments that guide Ezra weren’t in the original script.
Instead Ezra and Kanan would follow a path of clues left by Maul.
To save time and resources in animation, the Tusken Raiders were designed to not have any
flowing robes.
Luke Skywalker would be seventeen years old at the time of this episode, the same age
as Ezra.
In fact, the animation model seen running towards the Lars homestead is actually Ezra.
The season three finale, Zero Hour, marks the animated debut of Imperial death troopers,
a design first seen in Rogue One.
This is also Jan Dodonna’s first major appearance in Rebels, although he was briefly shown in
Secret Cargo.
Commander Sato’s Defense Formation Aurek One gets its name from the aurebesh alphabet.
The first letter in aurebesh is aurek.
When Hera orders an evacuation, we hear the signal Kay One Zero.
This is the same evacuation code announced on Hoth when Princess Leia gives the same
order in The Empire Strikes Back.
General Dodonna’s forces are called the Massassi group, named for the ancient temples
found on Yavin 4.
The eight-spoked cog on Ezra’s spacesuit indicates that it dates back to the Republic.
Tristan Wren’s armor has been marked with a Sabine illustration on his shoulder.
Thrawn wears a version of the Imperial officer battle armor seen on General Veers in The
Empire Strikes Back.
Thrawn’s version keeps his uniform coloring and has his insignia at the top of the helmet.
Seen among the ships of the rebel fleet is a Dornean gunship, which was originally created
as a background vessel barely seen in Return of the Jedi.
The finale brings an end to Phoenix Squadron, with the destruction of the Phoenix Nest carrier,
the death of Commander Sato, and the loss of Atollon.
That’s gonna do it for me today!
I hope you enjoyed this season of Star Wars Rebels and this video breaking down all of
the smaller connections to be found in each episode.
Until next time, please like this video, subscribe to the channel to keep up with Star Wars news
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As always, thanks for watching and may the Force be with you!