Reviews are way overly harsh. Misses the mark, but only barely.
Overall, this show is massively disappointing, but not because it's really that bad - it just has such a vaunted legacy to live up to, and had such promise that it doesn't reach.
First, the artwork is beautiful. I only wish the the other Star Wars cartoons had anime-inspired artwork like this instead of the awful, dated, digital style they have.
But the other SW cartoons succeed in spite of their artwork, the writing is that good -- and the inverse is Resistance. In spite of the beautiful animation, the show never takes off, the writing is that directionless.
In contrast to the other SW cartoons, there's almost no tie-in to the specific plot of the SW movies, with an exception or two. It's just broad strokes about life in the SW universe during the time of "The First Order", centered around a "platform"/station. There's little about Jedi. It makes this cartoon into something else entirely. It's slow and mundane with occasional action. It's basically a lighthearted drama. Similar to SW Rebels, the main character isn't very likable. But it almost works.
While Resistance tries to keep it relatively light and humorous, it's rarely actually funny -- but admirably, it's not cringe-worthy either. There are some flashes of quite clever and unexpected humor with surprisingly nuanced comedic timing, in fact. Such as when a good-guy droid tries to get a prisoner to talk by submitting them to nails-on-chalkboard sounds..only to have another of the good guys abruptly tell them to stop bc it's annoying. Not easy to pull-off.
The character development is decent, like the other SW cartoons, and overall the writing is far better than the sequel SW movies - unfortunately that's the universe that this show operates in, so perhaps it's for the best it doesn't waste time trying to make sense of nonsense and cuts it's own path.
If they made a third season, I'd come back for it. For me, Rebels only took off in its 2nd season, before becoming my favorite over the Clone Wars series. Regardless, I appreciated this effort overall - when the beautiful artwork of Resistance gets paired with the writing success and compelling narrative of the previous SW cartoons, it's going to be an absolute winner.
First, the artwork is beautiful. I only wish the the other Star Wars cartoons had anime-inspired artwork like this instead of the awful, dated, digital style they have.
But the other SW cartoons succeed in spite of their artwork, the writing is that good -- and the inverse is Resistance. In spite of the beautiful animation, the show never takes off, the writing is that directionless.
In contrast to the other SW cartoons, there's almost no tie-in to the specific plot of the SW movies, with an exception or two. It's just broad strokes about life in the SW universe during the time of "The First Order", centered around a "platform"/station. There's little about Jedi. It makes this cartoon into something else entirely. It's slow and mundane with occasional action. It's basically a lighthearted drama. Similar to SW Rebels, the main character isn't very likable. But it almost works.
While Resistance tries to keep it relatively light and humorous, it's rarely actually funny -- but admirably, it's not cringe-worthy either. There are some flashes of quite clever and unexpected humor with surprisingly nuanced comedic timing, in fact. Such as when a good-guy droid tries to get a prisoner to talk by submitting them to nails-on-chalkboard sounds..only to have another of the good guys abruptly tell them to stop bc it's annoying. Not easy to pull-off.
The character development is decent, like the other SW cartoons, and overall the writing is far better than the sequel SW movies - unfortunately that's the universe that this show operates in, so perhaps it's for the best it doesn't waste time trying to make sense of nonsense and cuts it's own path.
If they made a third season, I'd come back for it. For me, Rebels only took off in its 2nd season, before becoming my favorite over the Clone Wars series. Regardless, I appreciated this effort overall - when the beautiful artwork of Resistance gets paired with the writing success and compelling narrative of the previous SW cartoons, it's going to be an absolute winner.
- etmachina
- Mar 30, 2021