Star Wars: Resistance Season One review

    So, I didn't expect to like STAR WARS: RESISTANCE. It took me a while to warm up to the concept of STAR WARS: REBELS and that was based around a lot of concepts that I enjoyed, feeling very much like a West End Games STAR WARS: THE ROLEPLAYING GAME campaign. It included things like Inquisitors, Sith Holocrons, Darth Maul, and eventually Grand Admiral Thrawn. It took awhile to peculate, though. The first season's first half wasn't very good, IMHO, and it wasn't until Grand Moff Tarkin showed up that I felt moved. How was I going to feel about a show with no Jedi whatsoever? The answer is, in fact, pretty good.

Beautiful vibrant colors for a time of peace and justice.

    Mind you, I think part of why I like Resistance is that I've seen this show's basic premise before and liked it then. The TV show TRON: UPRISING was about fighting against the oppressive local tyranny by a group of mechanics located in a single city off the main campaign of the greater universe. This show is it's own thing and a bit goofier but I think it's easily the same quality as Tron: Uprising and I am going to continue to praise the work from beginning to end. I have some complaints but this is going to be an overall positive review.

    The premise is that Poe Dameron (Oscar Isaacs) recruits a New Republic pilot Kazuda Xiono (Christopher Sean) to become a spy for the Resistance. The Resistance is short handed, though, so he's assigned to be a spy rather than a pilot since they have enough of those. Placed on the strategically significant but not too-significant Colossus refueling station, he must attempt to find out what the First Order's plans are in the preceding six months to THE FORCE AWAKENS.

I believe BB8 is the real spy. Kaz is just his cover.

    I rather like the fact that the central premise is that a spy is hanging around at a truck stop and gas station, basically a highway shopping center at most, in order to do his business. Star Wars has always thrived when doing the mundane in space. The Colossus is easily the most well-detailed of the new canon locations and a place that feels vibrantly alive.

    One of the chief issues of the sequel trilogy was the fact that we were dumped into the universe with a minimum of world-building. Star Wars fans are every bit the pedantic nerds that Star Trek fans are and it was one of the few occasions where a Senate scene would have been welcome. This series nicely illustrates the New Republic is a pleasant, beautiful, and peaceful place to live far better than any exposition.

    The First Order was treated as something of a joke in both the first and second movies, hurting their intimidation factor as villains. Yes, they blow up a planet but Starkiller Base goes boom immediately after. They manage to wipe out the Resistance in the The Last Jedi but not the central people who helped form it. A certain incredibly potent character dies but that's because he overexerted himself, not because of anything the bad guys did. We get some reversal of that with their portrayal here.

Love the First Order's chrometroopers.

    It takes a bit to get there but we get a sense of just what the First Order has been doing in the Unknown Regions and watch them destroy whole planets, civilizations, and engage in such massive construction projects as to leave systems utterly spent. It gives us an idea of what they are capable of and the characters are not played for jokes, not even General Hugs. For a kid's show, it manages to create a real sense of not only menace to when the FO start "disappearing" people but also the implications when they find starless worlds where civilizations are in ruins.

   I have to say that I like a lot of the characters in this show and wish we got more of them. Torra is my favorite character of the series and I'm kind of annoyed she turned out to be five years younger than Kaz because I really liked their interactions. I also approve of Tam, a young woman who has practical concerns about money and security that blind her to the dangers of fascist takeover. Captain Doza and Yeager are also fascinating characters, each with their own ties to the Galactic Civil War. Synara the sexy inexplicably Russian-accented spy is also a great new character, even if I initially she was a Zeltron. I would have loved a lot more material about the Aces too, which is sadly not available in the main series.

She needs her own show.

    Which does lead to the problem of Kaz being the butt of the majority of the jokes in the series. I get he's out of his depths and the Resistance put him in a job he's underqualified for because A. They don't have anyone better for it. B. It's not exactly a high priority mission. However, they really go overboard making him a goofball incompetent. He's a guy who graduated the New Republic military academy and is an officer of their Starfighter Corps--the guy should at least be ESB-Luke competent.

     The art style of the series is one that took a bit of getting used to as it combines CGI with a heavy anime-influence that brings a 3-dimensional movement to cartoon characters. I was initially rather put off by it but eventually warmed to it. The action is fluid and beautiful with the starfighter races and combat being the highlight of the series. I also appreciated the diverse use of aliens in the show as it avoids a common problem in live action scifi series of too many humans. This is written for a young audience set but I don't think it's something adults should avoid. It's definitely in that sweet spot of good for the whole family.

    In conclusion, I really enjoyed the first season of this show and would love to see more of it. I'm kind of disappointed we aren't getting a third season of it. After my severe issues with The Last Jedi, this was a nice return to form.

9/10