The new Disney XD series Star Wars Rebels has been doing an awesome job bringing characters from the original Star Wars films into the show. In the upcoming episode “Path of the Jedi,” we’ll get an appearance from Yoda himself. You can take a peek at the clip below, in which the wrinkled Jedi makes his presence known.
Unfortunately, we don’t really get more of Yoda than just his voice, as performed by the legendary Frank Oz. When the show featured its cameo of Darth Vader, we actually got a look at Vader himself, so it’s kind of a bummer not to get a look at everyone’s favorite, tiny, green Jedi.
However, the show actually has a really good reason for having Yoda’s appearance as nothing more than a voice. The animated series is set in the period between Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, a time period where any Jedi not wiped out by Anakin’s attacks were thrust into hiding. After the attacks, Yoda hid out on Dagobah, so for him to physically appear to this Jedi--who is nowhere near Dagobah--would mess with the continuity of the Star Wars saga.
Continuity is something that the executive producer of Star Wars Rebels, David Filoni, is very concerned with. With new focus on the Star Wars universe, thanks to the pending release of Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens, Filoni has been very careful to make sure his show fits easily in with the films, the expanded universe, and the other animated Star Wars show, The Clone Wars.
It would seem that, at this point, Filoni and the rest of the Star Wars Rebels team have done an awesome job at integrating Star Wars Rebels into the Star Wars universe, and the show has gotten great fan reception. The 44-minute premiere special, The Spark of Rebellion, had such a positive fan review that ABC re-aired the special after its Disney XD premiere. More than that, the series earned itself a second season renewal not long after the premiere episode aired. It looks like the Force is strong with this show, and we can hopefully expect for it to stick around the Star Wars universe for years to come.
Star Wars Rebels centers around the adventures of Jedi Knights Kanan Jarus (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Ezra Bridger (Taylor Gray) and the rest of their crew, traveling on a ship called the Ghost, as they work to evade the Galactic Empire and the show’s big bad, the Inquisitor. The Inquisitor has been charged by Darth Vader to track down and kill any remaining Jedi Knights, and is an ever-present threat to the crew of the Ghost.
You can follow the adventures of Kanan, Ezra, and the Ghost crew on Star Wars Rebels, Monday nights on Disney XD at 9/8c. The new episode featuring Yoda, “The Path of the Jedi,” will air on January 5, 2015.
