Star Wars Resistance unfortunately only got two seasons, running from 2018-2020. However it's still a show that I hold dear and love, and I think it's criminally underrated. Most people I know tend to be skeptical of Resistance when I tell them to watch it, fearing it's too "kiddy," but I think that it really doesn't get its due, and I have just a couple reasons here why I think you should give it a chance if you haven't already. Don't worry, I'll do my best not to spoil it for you.
Design
Honestly, one of the things that I could rave about most with Resistance is its character design. From our main cast in Team Fireball, to the Ace Squdaron pilots and their droids, to the villains, to the pirates, every single character has such a fun, distinct and memorable design. Even ones that don't always get a lot of screentime. In my second article highlighting a few of my favorite droids, I mentioned Ace Squadron's droids, and how they easily match their owners and ships, and it's true. I think that conveying the personality and history of a character is a huge part of good character design, especially in an animated medium, and Resistance excels at that.
And that doesn't just extend to the characters. I think that the ship design in Resistance is top-tier too. The racers that belong to Ace Squadron or any of the other characters are all dynamic and fun, and even the ships that aren't racers all have an interesting look to them. And the animation style itself just makes ship battles and races look so much more fun than I think they look in any other Star Wars.
Diversity
Diversity in media is something that's very important to me, and especially something I value in Star Wars. Resistance is a very diverse show, and provides representation to so many people that otherwise lack it, and that's something I always found very commendable about it. While there are of course plenty of alien characters, most of the human characters that they do have are people of color- in our leads of Team Fireball, Kaz is Asian, and Tam and Yeager are both Black. In addition, the Doza family (Torra, Immanuel and Venisa) are all Latino.
But the diversity doesn't just end on the screen. While there are a lot of animated characters (not necessarily in Star Wars) that are non-white but voiced by white actors, Resistance takes care to hire people of color behind the scenes too, which I think is wonderful. Resistance gives a great opportunity to various actors, allowing them to join the Star Wars universe while voicing characters that look like them, and giving representation to plenty of people who normally don't get to see themselves in media, especially not media as big as Star Wars.
Interesting Character Arcs
Resistance really pulls no punches when it comes to creating interesting, well-rounded characters with depth and backgrounds, and letting us see them grow and change. It's hard to really go into detail about all of the amazing character arcs in Resistance without spoiling it, but there's quite a few characters that go through a variety of journeys through the show. Some characters, like Synara or Tam, go through the process of re-evaluating their ideals and beliefs, growing bonds with others and working through their mistakes. Other characters, like Kaz, have to grow more confident and adapt to a new life.
And there's other characters too, that may not go through as much of an arc as others, but still change. Through the show we get to delve into the backstories of plenty of different characters, and see them grapple with both their past and the prospect of a future. This is something that people don't always seem to see about Resistance at first blush, but I think the characters are really the strongest point that Resistance has in its favor, as it does them very well.
Sequel-Trilogy Era Lore
Regardless of your feelings on the films in the sequel trilogy, I think almost everyone agrees that it's a pretty interesting period in the timeline. And in my opinion, Resistance does a lot to help enrich our understanding of it. We get to learn a lot about the First Order- how they operate, how they've been growing in power, and what they do when they're not chasing down the Resistance like we see in the films. We also get to learn more about the Resistance and the New Republic, hearing about what they're doing and how they're working in the galaxy.
Even beyond those main factions, we also get to see a bit more of smaller groups, like the pirates, or how the people living on the Colossus feel about the galaxy as a whole. We meet people who've been hurt by the First Order, and people who have been helped by the Resistance. I think that Star Wars Resistance does a lot to develop what the galaxy looks like in this era of the Star Wars timeline beyond the main conflict we see in the sequel trilogy movies.
Neeku Vozo
I really cannot explain how amazing Neeku is if you haven't seen Resistance. I just can't. All I can really say is that somehow, Lucasfilm has created the best character that has ever existed in anything ever, and everybody sleeps on him because Resistance is under-appreciated. But you will sleep no longer. You have to watch Star Wars Resistance and see Neeku in his full glory.
Neeku is just such a fun character who brings me joy, and I was always delighted to see him each week while Resistance was airing. Neeku is just amazing, and adorable, and fun- but also pretty informative about the Star Wars galaxy, and he has a lot of really sweet moments. If I haven't already convinced you to watch Resistance, then please- just do it for Neeku.
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