Question: When did the Star Wars Rebels TV series first air?

Star Wars Rebels

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Star Wars Rebels is an American 3D CGI animated television series produced by Lucasfilm Animation. With its story beginning fourteen years after Revenge of the Sith and five years before A New Hope, Rebels takes place during an era when the Galactic Empire is securing its grip on the galaxy. Imperial forces are hunting down the last of the Jedi Knights while a fledgling rebellion against the Empire is taking form. The visual style of Rebels is inspired by the original Star Wars trilogy concept art by Ralph McQuarrie.[1]
The series premiered as a one-hour television film, Spark of Rebellion, on October 3, 2014, on Disney Channel prior to the premiere of the series on October 13 on Disney XD.[2][3] The first season consisted of 14 episodes (released as four shorts, a film, Spark of Rebellion, and 13 regular episodes) and the series features new characters along with ones from the original trilogy.[4][5] The second season of 20 episodes premiered on June 20, 2015, with a one-hour television film, The Siege of Lothal. The third season of 19 episodes premiered on September 24, 2016, with another one-hour television film, Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow. On April 15, 2017, during Star Wars Celebration, it was announced the fourth season would be its last: it premiered on October 16, 2017, with another one-hour television film, Heroes of Mandalore, and its final episode aired on March 5, 2018.[6][7]
Dave Filoni, Simon Kinberg and Greg Weisman served as executive producers of season one. Weisman left the show after season one.[8] Filoni was also the Supervising Director for the first two seasons, a role he relinquished after accepting a promotion that expanded his creative role into overseeing all Lucasfilm Animation projects; he chose Justin Ridge to succeed him for season three.[9]
The series has been generally well received with several award winnings and nominations. A number of tie-in media has been released to expand upon the series' lore such as the comic book series Kanan and the novel Star Wars: A New Dawn.
Premise

Fourteen years after the fall of the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith[10] and the rise of the Galactic Empire, a motley group of rebels unite aboard a freighter starship called the Ghost and conduct covert operations against the Imperial garrison on and around the planet Lothal and on other planets in the galaxy that are menaced by the Galactic Empire.
Cast and characters

Taylor Gray as Ezra Bridger
Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Kanan Jarrus
Vanessa Marshall as Hera Syndulla
Tiya Sircar as Sabine Wren
Steven Blum as Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios
Dave Filoni as "Chopper" (credited as "Himself" prior to the series finale)
Dee Bradley Baker as Captain Rex
Episodes


Release
Broadcast
The first two episodes, titled Spark of Rebellion, premiered on October 3, 2014, on Disney Channels worldwide and on Family Channel in Canada.[11] In Australia, the series premiered on October 17 on Disney XD.[12] The Siege of Lothal premiered on June 28, 2015,[13] and the second season debuted on October 18.[14] In Canada, the series premiered on October 19 on the DHX-owned Disney XD.[15] However, due to DHX Media losing the rights to Disney content, the show was later moved to Disney Channel.[16] The second season premiered on November 7 and it was moved to the Corus-owned Disney XD channel on December 1.[17][18]
In the Middle East and Africa, Spark of Rebellion premiered on October 11 and the series debuted on October 18 on Disney XD.[19] Siege of Lothal premiered on October 10, followed the official season premiere on October 17.[20] In Southeast Asia, Spark of Rebellion premiered on Disney XD on October 4 and the series officially started on November 29.[21][22] Siege of Lothal premiered on October 3 on Disney XD and Disney Channel and the second season was released on October 24.[23][24][25][26] In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the series debuted on October 16 on Disney XD.[27] Siege of Lothal premiered on July 18, 2015,[28] followed by the second-season debut on October 17.[29]
Home media

Star Wars Rebels: Spark of Rebellion was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD in the US at all retailers on October 14, 2014. DVD bonus features include character shorts, a 3D model kit of the Ghost ship, and a preview of season 1.[45]
The Complete Season One of Star Wars Rebels was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on September 1, 2015, in America,[46] and in Germany on September 10, 2015. The Season 1 collection contains the expanded version of Spark of Rebellion with the Darth Vader/Grand Inquisitor prologue shown on ABC-TV. The Complete Season Two of Star Wars Rebels was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and Blu-ray on August 30, 2016, in North America. The Complete Season Three of Star Wars Rebels was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 29, 2017.[47] The Complete Season Four is announced to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 15, 2018, in Germany,[48] and July 31, 2018, in the United States.[49]
Reception
Ratings
In the United States, the one-hour special garnered 2.74million viewers on Disney Channel[50] and 2.40million viewers on ABC.[51] Worldwide, it delivered a total of 6.5million viewers.[52] On Disney Channel, the first and second episodes delivered 2.33million and 1.92million viewers, respectively.[53] The third and fourth episodes garnered 2.32million and 1.84million, respectively.[54] The fifth, sixth, and seventh episodes were watched by 1.43million, 1.30million, and 1.60million viewers, respectively.[55] The eighth and ninth episodes got 1.92 and 1.44million viewers, respectively.[56]
In Canada, the second episode was watched by 274,500 viewers, making it the most-watched broadcast ever on the network.[57] In the United Kingdom, the film was the highest-rated broadcast that week, with 81,000 viewers.[58]

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave an approval rating of 100% for all four seasons, based on 9 reviews for season 1, 5 reviews for season 2, 6 reviews for season 3, and 6 reviews for season 4, with an average rating of 8.17/10 for season 1, 7.5/10 for season 2, 9.0/10 for season 3, and 9.28/10 for season 4.[62][63][64][65] On Metacritic, the first season has a weighted average score of 78 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[66] IGN and Variety in particular had strong praise for the pilot film, Spark of Rebellion, with their only criticism being the appearance of the Wookiees in the film, being cited as not all that impressive compared to the rest of the animation.[67]
Accolades

Other media
Film
Chopper and the Ghost appear in the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.[68] Hera's surname is also called on a loudspeaker at the Rebel base on Yavin IV, where Chopper can briefly be seen. In addition, the Ghost takes part in the climactic battle over Scarif during the eponymous squad's attempt to steal the Death Star plans, providing assistance in defending the Rebel fleet under attack by the Imperial Navy, while other Rebels attempt to disable the shield gate over the planet.[69]
Novels
On September 2, 2014, Del Rey Books published Star Wars: A New Dawn, a prequel novel telling the story of how Kanan and Hera met.[67][70]
In 2017, a new novel, entitled Thrawn, was released. The book marked the entrance of Grand Admiral Thrawn into the current canon. It was written by the character's original creator, Timothy Zahn.[71]  The book was released on April 11, 2017.  
A sequel to Thrawn, titled Thrawn: Alliances, was released on July 24, 2018.  It explored Thrawn's partnerships with Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker. [72][73]
Comics
From April 1, 2015, through March 16, 2016, Marvel Comics published a 12-issue comic series, titled Kanan, and set during the events of the first season. Written by former executive producer of the series Greg Weisman and illustrated by Pepe Larraz, Jacopo Camagni and Andrea Broccardo, the story is centered on Kanan having flashbacks to his days as a Padawan in the Jedi Temple and the Clone Wars. The other members of the Ghost crew also appear.[74]
In the summer of 2017, Marvel announced that a comic book miniseries adaptation of Zahn's Thrawn novel is being planned, scheduled to be released in early 2018.[75]  The first issue was released on February 14, 2018, with new issues being released over the following five months.
A few days after the series finale was aired, IDW Publishing released the seventh issue of the long-running Star Wars Adventures multi-era comic book series, which contained the first of a two-part comic arc, set between the second and third season, in which the Spectres embark on a mission to save a rare endangered bird from Imperial custody.[76]  The second part appeared in the next issue, which was released on March 28, 2018.[77]
Video games
A side-scrolling run-and-gun game based on the show's first season, titled Star Wars Rebels: Recon Missions, was released by Disney Mobile on iOS, Android, and Windows Store in early 2015, before being discontinued on July 28, 2016, due to the limitations of the support team. Ezra Bridger is the only playable character, with other characters available via in-app purchases, which also grant early access to most of the game's levels in the mobile versions and are required to play the full campaign in the Windows Store version.
Additionally, several of the characters from the series are playable in other games such as Disney Infinity 3.0, Angry Birds Star Wars II, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens (as downloadable content only), Star Wars: Galactic Defense, Star Wars: Force Arena and Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.


See also
2015 in science fiction




 on IMDb
 at TV.com

 on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki