Chris Cooper reviews Star Wars Rebels – Warhead…
Following on from a two-parter that made fairly big connections between Rebels and the movies, Warhead takes things down several notches as we get a self-contained story this week.
With the story focusing on Zeb, Chopper, and AP-5, the story makes the most of providing us with plenty of back chat and humorous moments. This is mainly due to the three of them bickering, especially with the droids also taking an opportunity to verbally undermine Captain Orrelios. AP-5’s dry, Rickman-style of delivery always amuses me, especially when what he’s saying is true. Zeb has had a few moments to shine over the course of Rebels but a lot of the time he’s relegated to the muscle, or as AP-5 puts it “lift heavy things and punch anything in your way.” He’s not wrong.
Throughout Warhead however Zeb is very well judged. He scratches his head over the best way to do things and gets irritated when he’s questioned. In a situation that leaves Zeb with no truly correct options he does the best he can and puts himself in harms way to save those around him. He’s responsible and ultimately proves himself capable. Ultimately he’s relatable, which goes a long to making this episode work.
It’s always good to see some Ralph McQuarrie inspiration and Rebels never fails in making use of it when it can. I’ve heard Rebels’ head honcho Dave Filoni mention that he may have used Rogue One’s K-2SO model instead if he’s known about it, but to see one of McQuarrie’s original designs being used as the focal point for an episode is very cool.
Some may write this off as ‘filler’. They’d be missing the point. Warhead is a lighter, more entertaining episode than most but it still contains scenes that could have massive ramifications for our heroes further down the line.
Chris Cooper
Originally published January 16, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
