RELEASED - S05E06 - Fulcrum of the Force (V1.0)
SPOILER WARNING:
This ‘episode’ contains
MAJOR SPOILERS for Star Wars: Rebels!
It is intended as a
RECAP in advance of the Ahsoka show, for people who have
already watched Rebels.
- SORT-OF RELEASE VERSION. I might refine this based on feedback, but it’s complete and well polished. Perfectly viewable.
- A new optional movie-length aftermath to TCW:R, set during the Rebellion, numbered as season five episode six.
- (Note: This pushes the Maul coda to become s05e07 now.)
- Comprising the original REBELS episodes The Siege of Lothal, Future of the Force, Shroud of Darkness, The Mystery of Chopper Base, Twilight of the Apprentice, and World Between Worlds.
- Running 1 hour 45 minutes.
- DOWNLOAD LINK is in the tracker spreadsheet, PM me for access.
- Note: It’s recommended that you download this before watching, rather than streaming it directly from Google Drive.
This movie-length episode is the complete story of Ahsoka from
Star Wars: Rebels. I’ve skipped only a little of her content (where she’s just around, or helping recruit Rex), but all of her relevant character development between
Clone Wars and the
Mandalorian/Filoniverse-era is here. In particular, we focus on her discovery of Anakin’s fate, and her struggles with that information.
SPOILER WARNING: In order to tell Ahsoka’s full story, I also included the ‘flashbacks’ to her season two storyline featured in the season four episode
World Between Worlds. These also include
major spoilers to a key Rebels plotline.
Either way, I did this because I wanted to tell the
complete Ahsoka story from Rebels, because it’s really fun and powerful to consume it in this way. That makes this a little unique, and because of that uniqueness and the other related spoilers,
I would not recommend this for a first-time viewer. People who’ve already seen Rebels would probably have a blast with it though - I think it’s a worthwhile story told in an intresting way.
I haven’t really deviated from canon, but in amalgamating episodes from across a whole season into a full standalone narrative a few scenes are now recontextualised as referring to other events, and many events in this timeframe are skipped. It’s a focused recap!
Anyway, I also included as many relevant scenes as I could relating to the events of the Clone Wars, including a few great lines of dialogue (that really hit well when in focus like this) and a lot of Inquisitor content (especially the one where they’re pursuing force-sensitive kids). I didn’t include a couple of notable TCW-related episodes -
Always Two There Are (which is set on an old Clone-Wars-era medical station) and
The Last Battle (which features a lost droid army) because they don’t feature Ahsoka. Also notably, I’m not including the episodes where Rex joins the crew, or where he and Kanan reminisce, because they’re not Ahsoka focused.
Noteworthy changes:
MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW
I also recommend you don’t read this - just go in blind and let it do its thing!
- This episode is dressed up as an episode of TCW:R, but once I’m sure it’s finalised, if there’s popular demand, I might take away my conventions and use the more classic Star Wars style.
- This episode is titled ‘Fulcrum of the Force’, after both Ahsoka’s codename and the World Between Worlds. Anakin and Ezra are also arguably fulcrums (points about which many things rotate, and which with enough force can cause great shifts), and are this movie’s other main characters.
- We cold open on Ezra entering the World Between Worlds. Lovely, moody introduction to the story, with lots of great dialogue from across the franchise (including the very first line focusing on children) and what appears to be a bookend structure. Without context, this could just be a force vision or something. Ezra even asks “why are you showing me this?”, which is cute. He sees Ahsoka facing Vader, and screams “No!” before-
- The opening crawl positions us during the reign of the Empire, and gives context on Phoenix Squadron, Kanan and Ezra, Ahsoka and Rex, and Vader and his Inquisitors. Rex is already with the rebellion (so we can skip his introduction, assuming he and Ahsoka stayed in contact after Revenge of the Sith) and is searching for a new rebel base (so we can trim that content), and Vader is closing in on Phoenix Squadron, allowing us to open on-
- From the very end of The Siege of Lothal, a trimmed high-intensity action scene of Vader attacking Phoenix Squadron. The Ghost crew (and Ahsoka) get in their ship, fight Vader, and Ahsoka and Vader sense each other. Phoenix Squadron lick their wounds, and Vader and the Emperor talk about hunting down the remaining Jedi.
- From Future of the Force, pretty much the full episode. The Inquisitors capture a force sensitive kid, and in researching Vader, Ahsoka catches wind of it. The rebels move to rescue the kid, and Ahsoka fights off the Inquisitors. I’ve removed the Inquisitors getting the Garel clue, since in this plot the rebels are already seeking a new base (and the Inuisitors magically track them to Lothal in the original anyway).
- From Shroud of Darkness, we skip the early fight with the Inquisitors (which in the original only serves to remind us they exist), going straight to Ahsoka and Kanan deciding that to fight them they need Yoda’s advice. Onward to the remainder of this episode, with Yoda giving the Malachor clue, Kanan meeting Yoda in a place that looks a lot like the World Between Worlds, and Ahsoka getting a vision of Anakin which confirms his identity.
- A five-minute breather takes us to The Mystery of Chopper Base, where we meet Rex and he introduces the base. I’ve reordered the scenes I’ve used here to make it clear that they’re just here for a breather before heading off to Malachor - Kanan and Ezra are wrapped up in last-minute training, Kanan and Hera talk about Kanan leaving, Ezra says goodbye to Zeb, and Ahsoka tells Ezra it’s time to go. Closing shot on Morai, then we iris wipe to-
- From Twilight of the Apprentice, we’re now on the way to Malachor. The whole two-parter plays out in full, with all the Maul/Ezra/Inquisitor/Kanan/Vader/Ahsoka stuff, with two major changes:
- Firstly, I’ve minimised as much as possible of those bloody ridiculous helicopter lightsabers. This was a challenge, but I think I’ve pulled it off, with most of it turning into just large leaps, and the one really obvious one (where the Inquisitor dies in helicopter mode) happening offscreen (after he’s cornered we cut away to Ezra who hears the scream).
- Secondly, I’ve put in the ‘flashbacks’ from World Between Worlds into their proper place in the timeline. This begins with a little intercutting, extending out the Ahsoka-Vader fight while Kanan and Ezra fly away. Future Ezra rescues Ahsoka into the WBW (where we saw him without context in the cold open), then we see the immediate conclusion of present-Ezra and Kanan leaving and the temple exploding, before waking Ahsoka in the WBW.
- I didn’t show any of Ezra watching Ahsoka vs Vader from his perspective, though I could have, but I think it would have left the viewer confused. It’s still very clear what’s happened, as Ahsoka ends up in that same space Future Ezra began in. Having more of his perspective in that moment would have taken away from the real drama in the present, I think. The device I ended up using, of Ezra watching events via the cold open, only to reveal he’s actually able to interact (at the point where a viewer has nearly forgotten that cold open) I think is the most elegant, and also suprising and fun.
- Ahsoka and Ezra then explore the WBW, with the majority of content present, though I trimmed most references to Ezra’s future timeline experiences - we need to know that Kanan died, but we don’t need the links to DUME the wolf, or what’s going on on the other side of the portal. They still see Kanan die (Ahsoka gets some important characterisation here), and of course encounter Palpatine. The only context Ahsoka gets from this is what Ezra tells her - we never see the other side. I reordered the escapes (now Ezra gets out first, so we can linger on Ahsoka after), and then it’s back to the present for all those lovely conclusions set to lovely music, to wrap it all up.
This episode was a whole lot of fun to produce, and if it’s what you’re looking for I think you’ll really enjoy it.