Star Wars: Rebels - Episode I: Spark of Rebellion

If you've seen one of Smudger9's Clone Wars edits, you know what to expect from HarryBowls' Rebels edit: a fun, well-crafted TV-to-movie edit that occasionally shows its seams. This edit chronicles the growth of Ezra Bridger and the Ghost Crew through the first half of season 1 with all the fluff and saturday morning cartoon antics removed. The general arc of the film worked even if it did feel a bit "episodic" rather than a typical three-act structure. The only reason I don't rank this as highly as Smudger9's edits is because I found the audio editing a bit jarring, with a few segments where the dialogue was removed by the editor and sound effects cut out or the music changed volume. Ultimately though, these instances weren't as frequent or noticeable enough to ruin the experience for me. I do recommend this edit if you want to see what Rebels is about but you're sheepish about committing to the series.

Thanks for the link, just finished watching this morning and really enjoyed it! The pacing felt like Star wars and never got dull or slowed down too much, I really liked the episode choices in there character development without any filler, the actual editing was very seemless, heck I couldn't tell if the wipes were already there or were added in by you, so good work. As with all TV to Movie edits, the whole thing comes together as best as it can especially with the way you spliced it all, but it still feels slightly episodic, and I don't think there's any perfect way to fix that. Regardless, I think it all around worked and makes me wanna see the next episode already, you have me hooked!

Overview

I've been waiting anxiously to see if someone would take on a Rebels film series, and this first entry does not disappoint. The episodes are wisely chosen and narrative holds together very well as a film. Highly enjoyable and I'm very anxious to see your work on film 2. That said I have a few specific critiques.

Visual Editing

I'm going to echo TM2YC's comments here. The visuals looked very good and the editing was seamless. I was also grateful for the effort to correct the aspect ratio for a more cinematic feel. That said, there were numerous moments throughout the film, especially close-ups where it was obvious that the picture had not been adjusted for best fit to the frame, and I found these jarring at times.

Opening Crawl

It may be overly picky, but the wording "imposing harsh rules" seems childish. On the other hand "restore freedom and justice to the Republic" sounds a little cliche and also inaccurate as the Republic is now defunct. I feel it would have been better to say "to the Galaxy". Finally the end of the last paragraph alludes in large part to the "children of the force" subplot which is only addressed in the opening scene of the film, and was also awkwardly worded. I feel something like "The Empire's agents plot to ensure the Jedi never return to challenge their rule..." would have worked better.

Narrative

Very well handled. There is a definite momentum throughout the film, the pacing is great, balancing action and character moments. You've also managed to trim the dialogue and childish jokes in a way that retains the story's humor and treats viewers as more intelligent, despite the obvious leanings the story still has toward children and hard-core fans.

However I also noticed a couple references to events that happened off-screen (The stole TIE and Fulcrum), which due to the way in which those scenes are written, strike me in a, "did I miss something?" way. I appreciate your reasons for including these however, they're not a stand-out thing, and there is no way I can see of solving this with the footage you have available.

Enjoyment

Very happy with this edit, minus the aspect issues and the more jarring lines of the opening crawl. I had a blast watching it and I can't wait to see you further Ezra and Kanan's plotlines as Ezra walks the fine line between the light and dark, and Kanan becomes more sure of himself in preparation for their final clash with the Grand Inquisitor and encounter with Vader himself.

May the force be with you!

Not as familiar with the Rebels series as the Clone Wars, but this one makes a solid impression of the still-ongoing (as of this writing) series.

I think there's still a tad too much tween humor left in the film, but when you take a look at the sheer magnitude of how much was taken out, it makes what's in acceptable. Visual and audio editing are in tact and just fine; there are obvious points at which the narrative would have "ended" with an episode, but it is well-edited. The only limitations are from the raw footage from the series itself, which betray too much childishness. The Clone Wars had the same limitations, but compensated nicely with some pretty heady, dark stuff late into the series (looking at *you*, season 4)...

This is a very enjoyable edit. The transitions are almost seamless, and the story is certainly fun. That said, there is one issue I have with this that I cannot leave unsaid. Unlike The Clone Wars, Rebels has much more isolated, episodic stories (at least in the earlier seasons). This makes it really easy to see when one episode ends and another begins, and the edit suffers for it. Still, it is a very nice alternative for those who want to watch Rebels, but would prefer a more cinematic experience.