Rebels - S1E3 - "Droids in Distress"

3:24 - C-3PO (to R2-D2):  "Secret mission?  What secret mission?"  He says the same thing, also to R2, in A New Hope:  "Secret mission?" [6:50]

4:04 - C-3PO:  "The odds of our mission becoming a complete debacle-"  He also gives the odds of various situations in The Empire Strikes Back:  "R2 says the chances of survival are 725 to 1" [12:15], "Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately 3,720 to 1!" [38:50], and "Sir, the odds of surviving a direct assault on an Imperial Star Destroyer-" [1:07:19].

4:50 - The decorative border in the hangar seems to be derived from a similar design in a Ralph McQuarrie concept painting for the exterior of Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi:

8:41 - Stormtrooper:  "Hands up!"   A stormtrooper also says, "Hands up!" to Han and Leia in Return of the Jedi [1:48:07].  In The Phantom Menace, a battle droid says, "Hands up!" to Jar Jar and Captain Tarpals [2:00:19], and in Revenge of the Sith, one says "Hands up, Jedi!" to Anakin [10:22].

9:58 - C-3PO (to R2):  "The mission is doomed, and so are we!"  He also says "We're doomed" twice (both times to R2) in A New Hope [3:04, 16:02], once (to Han, Leia, and Chewbacca) in The Empire Strikes Back [1:00:38], and once (to R2) in Return of the Jedi [10:03].

10:38 - C-3PO:  "I am C-3PO, and this is my counterpart, R2-D2."  He introduces himself and R2 in almost the same way in A New Hope:  "And I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations, and this is my counterpart, R2-D2" [20:25].

14:22 - C-3PO (making a distress call):  "This is C-3PO, human-cyborg relations..."  He uses the same phrase when he introduces himself to Padmé and to R2-D2 in The Phantom Menace ("I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations" [39:03 and 39:26]), to Luke in A New Hope ("And I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations" [20:25]), and to Lando in The Empire Strikes Back ("I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations" [1:21:31]).  He's about to say the same thing in Return of the Jedi, but EV-9D9 interrupts him, so he gets only as far as "I am C-3PO human-cy-" [11:21].

17:17 - C-3PO (to the stormtroopers):  "Wait, don't shoot!  Don't shoot!  You're here to rescue me!"  He also says this, to Jawas, in A New Hope:  "Don't shoot!  Don't shoot!" [16:27].

19:39 - C-3PO:  "Will our torment never end?"  He has a similar line in A New Hope:  "Will this never end?"  [16:28].

19:43 - Hera:  "Chopper, get us outta here."  Han Solo also says this in A New Hope, although directed to Chewbacca:  "Chewie, get us outta here!" [55:26].

21:26 - This shot of R2 and Bail Organa matches a shot of Leia and R2 in A New Hope [5:08], albeit in mirror image:

[source]

Rebels - S1E1&2 - "Spark of Rebellion"

[Originally, I thought these two parts constituted just one episode and that the first season of Rebels had fourteen episodes (this is how it's listed on IMDb).  According to the Star Wars website, however, each part of "Spark of Rebellion" is its own episode and the first season of Rebels has fifteen episodes, so in the midst of re-watching the fourth season, I went back and re-did the episode numbers and post URLs.  I couldn't split this one into the two parts, though, because otherwise, everything would get pushed forward a week.]

Part I

2:06 - Commandant Aresko (to stormtroopers, referring to a merchant):  "Take him away."  In The Phantom Menace, Nute Gunray commands, "Take him away," to a pair of battle droids, referring to Sio Bibble [1:18:19], and in Attack of the Clone, Jango Fett says, "Take him away" to battle droids, referring to Anakin [1:42:30].

2:18 - Taskmaster Grint (to Ezra):  "Move along, Loth-rat."  In A New Hope, a sandtrooper says the same thing when, prompted by Obi-Wan's influence through the Force, he directs Luke into Mos Eisley:  "Move along.  Move along." [43:51].

5:30 - Sabine (to Ezra):  "Good luck!"  In The Empire Strikes Back, an unidentified Rebel pilot wishes Luke good luck [36:02] and Luke wishes Lando good luck [2:00:09], and in Return of the Jedi, Han and Lando wish each other good luck [Han to Lando at 50:33 and Lando to Han at 52:21].

5:54 - Screenshots don't do justice to the dynamics here, but this shot has the same basic composition as a shot in Return of the Jedi [59:34].  The camera pans with the rebels' speeders (Ezra, Kanan, and Zeb in this episode; Luke and Leia in the movie) and then stops to reveal two Imperial troopers already mounted on speeder bikes who take off in pursuit.

6:21 - Zeb suddenly slows his speeder bike so that the Imperial troops who were chasing him pass him, which is what Luke does in Return of the Jedi [59:47].

6:27 - Imperial trooper (after Kanan feigns giving up):  "What the?"  In Attack of the Clones, an alien on Coruscant makes this same exclamation as he sees Obi-Wan flying through traffic while hanging from a droid [15:08]; Han Solo says it in A New Hope after emerging from hyperspace into a meteor shower [1:03:15], and in Return of the Jedi, a scout trooper says this after being hit by Wicket [1:05:38].

Part II

0:49 - The symbol on the door in the Imperial cruiser also appears in Echo Base in The Empire Strikes Back [33:36], and these particular shots even have a similar composition:

1:05 - Ezra (to Kanan and Zeb):  "It's a trap!  We gotta get out of here; it's a trap!"  Admiral Ackbar says, "It's a trap!" in Return of the Jedi [1:35:03], and Leia says it twice in The Empire Strikes Back [1:39:50].

1:42 - Stormtrooper (after the artificial gravity is turned off):  "What the?"  See above, 6:27.

4:43 - Agent Kallus (to Ezra):  "You're here to be used as bait upon our return to Lothal."  Obi-Wan uses the same expression in Attack of the Clones (speaking to Anakin, referring to Padmé):  "You're using her as bait" [11:22].

7:56 - Ezra (after hearing that the Rebel ship has returned):  "They came back!  I don't believe it."  The context is quite different, but Luke also says, "I don't, I don't believe it" in The Empire Strikes Back, after Yoda uses the Force to get his X-wing out of the swamp [1:13:10].

15:42 - Wilhelm scream (stormtrooper)

16:14 - Ezra (to Kallus):  "I don't know where you get your delusions, buckethead; I work alone."  Leia has a similar line in The Empire Strikes Back, talking to Han:  "I don't know where you get your delusions, laser brain" [17:20].

19:00 - The color palette is simpler, but in Ezra's home there are a few hexagonal panels like those seen in the homestead garage in Attack of the Clones and A New Hope:

19:10 - Kanan (to Ezra):  "The Force is everywhere.  It surrounds us and penetrates us.  It binds the galaxy together."  Obi-Wan similarly describes the Force in A New Hope:  "It's an energy field created by all living things.  It surrounds us and penetrates us.  It binds the galaxy together." [34:41].

20:35 - Obi-Wan (in a holocron recording):  "And in time a new hope will emerge."  This is obvious, but I'll note it anyway:  "a new hope" is also the title of the first movie.

Revenge of the Sith

After the crawl, the first shot of the movie pans down to reveal the top of a Jedi cruiser:

This is nearly the opposite of the shots from underneath Star Destroyers that start the movies in the original trilogy.  Instead of the oppression of the Empire, this seems to give the impression of the stability of the Republic, although when the camera follows Obi-Wan and Anakin's ships beyond the cruiser, the battle raging beneath it is revealed.

Later in the movie, there's a shot that's closer to the opening of the original trilogy movies.  A Jedi cruiser flies overhead, but in the opposite direction of the Star Destroyer in A New Hope:

That the shots are becoming more similar illustrates that the events of Revenge of the Sith are leading into those of A New Hope.  There's still a difference, though, because the Jedi are working towards peace and justice in the Republic; they're not yet "all but extinct" in the "dark times" of the Empire, as Obi-Wan tells Luke.

---&---

When Palpatine tells Obi-Wan and Anakin, "Get help.  You're no match for him [Count Dooku]; he's a Sith Lord!" he's still maintaining his façade as chancellor (they don't know that he too is a Sith Lord), but his comment may illustrate his hubris.  As the chancellor, at least, he thinks that a single Sith Lord (and the apprentice, at that) is more powerful than two Jedi.  Luke points out his flaw in Return of the Jedi when he tells him, "Your overconfidence is your weakness."

---&---

When Anakin says, "I'm not the Jedi I should be.  I want more, and I know I shouldn't" in his conversation with Padmé, he turns away while saying, "I know I shouldn't," as if he can't bear to maintain eye contact with her while admitting this fault.

In the featurette titled "The Chosen One" on the bonus DVD, there's even behind the scenes footage of George Lucas directing this scene, and he specifically tells Hayden Christensen, who plays Anakin, to turn away during that line.

---&---

Most of the names of the Sith lords come ultimately from Latin.  Maul is from molere, which means to grind.  Tyrannus is the Latin word for tyrant.  Sidious seems to come from insidious, which is from the Latin insidiae, which means ambush or trickery.  Even Plagueis, who is only mentioned, has a Latinate name; it's similar to plague, which comes from plangere, to beat or to strike.  Vader is the exception.  While it's pronounced differently, vader is the Dutch word for father.

In the same way that Vader's name comes from a different language family, his motivation for becoming a Sith lord is different from the others'.  Sidious's goal is clearly the acquisition and maintaining of power.  ("Unlimited power!")  The motivations of Maul and Tyrannus really aren't explored to a great degree, but they seem similar to Sidious's.

Vader, on the other hand, throws in his lot with Sidious and becomes a Sith lord primarily to save Padmé from his premonitions of her death.  He does want power (over death), but his desire for power isn't a selfish one like Sidious's is.

Attack of the Clones

Near the end of the conversation that Anakin and Padmé have while she's packing in her apartment, she tells him, "Anakin, don't try to grow up too fast."  When he replies, "But I am grown up," he stands up, as if to prove his point by showing that he's taller than she is.

---&---

Jocasta Nu's insistence that "if an item does not appear in our records, it does not exist!" is an example of what Yoda comments on in an earlier scene, after Obi-Wan remarks on Anakin's arrogance:  "A flaw more and more common among Jedi.  Too sure of themselves they are, even the older, more experienced ones."

---&---

When Darth Tyrannus meets Darth Sidious near the end of the movie, he greets him with, "The Force is with us, Master Sidious."  Unless I'm mistaken, this is the closest that any Sith gets to saying, "May the Force be with you" in the entire series.  That none of them say this is an indication of the character of the Sith.  As Palpatine explains in Revenge of the Sith, "All who gain power are afraid to lose it."  The Sith want to keep the power of the Force for themselves, so they don't wish it upon others.

The Phantom Menace

Like Return of the Jedi, the title The Phantom Menace is ambigious.  There are three characters who could be "the phantom menace":  Anakin, who is only a child in this movie but will grow up to become Darth Vader and terrorize the galaxy; Palpatine, who uses his position as a senator to disguise his identity as a Sith Lord; and Darth Maul, who mysteriously appears in order to track down Queen Amidala and harrass her Jedi protectors.

---&---

During their dinner conversation, Padmé tells Anakin, "Our ship was damaged, and we're stranded here until we can repair it," and he replies, "I can help; I can fix anything."  His prodigious technical ability seems to be an attribute of his status as the Chosen One.  In the same way that he will restore balance to the Force, he can restore balance to mechanical systems and get them to work again.

---&---

While Qui-Gon cleans Anakin's cut, they talk about the stars, and Anakin comments, "I wanna be the first one to see 'em all!"  There may be a nascent feeling of conquest in this that's fulfilled later when Anakin becomes Darth Vader and takes over the galaxy with the Empire, but considered together with Anakin's interest in podracing, this also illustrates simply that he has qualities that make him a less than ideal candidate for a Jedi.  These are the same qualities that Yoda specifically warns Luke against in The Empire Strikes Back:  "Adventure.  Heh.  Excitement.  Heh.  A Jedi craves not these things."  That Anakin does crave these things may be part of why the Jedi council initially rejects him for training as a Jedi.

---&---

In the movie, the chancellor is referred to only as "Chancellor Valorum," but in the expanded universe, his first name is Finis.  Finis valorum is the Latin phrase "the end of values."  Finis is a third declension masculine singular noun in the nominative case, and valorum is a third declension masculine plural noun in the genitive case.

Based on the little that's seen of him in The Phantom Menace, it seems that Chancellor Valorum is a chancellor "of values," as his name suggests.  (Senator Palpatine tells Queen Amidala that the "accusations of [Valorum's] corruption" are "baseless," but this might just be part of his manipulation.)  His name has more significance in light of Palpatine's replacing him as chancellor.  Valorum represents "the end of values" because once Palpatine becomes the chancellor, he uses deception to gain power and eventually turns the Republic into the Empire.

Return of the Jedi

It's ambiguous who the titular Jedi in Return of the Jedi is.  Originally, I thought it referred to Luke, either specifically or as a representation of the whole Jedi order.  Yoda tells Luke that he will be a Jedi only after he confronts Vader.  Since he does confront him, he earns the title, and the order is revived in him.  As he tells the Emperor, "I am a Jedi, like my father before me."  By the end of the movie, the Sith have been defeated and the Emperor has lost his hold on the galaxy, so, in a broader sense of the title, the entire Jedi order can return from near extinction.  Luke is free to follow Yoda's instructions and "pass on what you have learned."

The "Jedi" in the title could also refer to Anakin.  He had been a Jedi and turned to the dark side, but near the end of the movie, he returns to the light side and becomes a Jedi again.

The Empire Strikes Back

When Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C-3PO arrive at Cloud City, there are panels in the background that have a warm glow behind them:

By the time Luke arrives, however, after the Empire's trap has been sprung, this warmth has disappeared, and the panels are colorless:

This contrast in color illustrates the change that has occurred.  At first, Cloud City seems like an inviting place, but once the Empire's presence is revealed, it becomes a stark and unwelcoming environment.

The Original Star Wars Trilogies

Here are some more general comments about the original Star Wars trilogies; in the coming weeks, I'll have posts about each movie individually (with the exception of A New Hope, for which I don't have any significant comments yet).

In "The Beginning: Making Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace" (at ~3:08), George Lucas comments on the parallelism between The Phantom Menace and A New Hope:  "with Anakin, you know, kind of duplicating the Luke Skywalker role, but you see the echo of where it all's gonna go:  instead of destroying the Death Star, he destroys the ship that controls the robots.  Again, it's like poetry, sort of; they rhyme.  Every stanza kind of rhymes with the last one."  This parallelism extends even to the grammatical structure of the titles.  The Phantom Menace parallels A New Hope ([article][adjective][noun]), and Revenge of the Sith parallels Return of the Jedi ([noun][preposition][article][noun]).  Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back are the exception here, but both titles describe a military conflict, so they're similar in a more general way.  There's also an echo between Attack of the Clones and The Empire Strikes Back in that both feature a scene where R2-D2 reconstructs C-3PO.

---&---

Near the beginning of each movie in the original trilogy, there's a shot of a Star Destroyer overhead:

Visually, this illustrates the dominance that the Empire has over the galaxy.

The Clone Wars - S6E10 - "The Lost One"

In "The Lost One," when Yoda goes to see Chancellor Palpatine about a file on Sifo-Dyas that has been sealed by the office of the Supreme Chancellor, Palpatine's shadow falls on Yoda for most of their conversation:

That Palpatine's shadow falls where it does illustrates Palpatine's deception of Yoda and the Jedi in general.  He's obscuring the Jedi's vision so that they don't discover his other identity as Darth Sidious.

The Clone Wars - S6E7 - "Crisis at the Heart"

Near the end of "Crisis at the Heart," a droid starfighter shot down by a clone pilot crashes into the office where Clovis is desperately trying to convince Anakin and Padmé that it's Count Dooku who's deceiving them, not Clovis himself.  The office is at the top of a tower, which starts to tilt because of the damage it's sustained.  Anakin catches both Padmé and Clovis as they slide off the edge:

Significantly, he's holding Padmé with his remaining human arm (his left arm) and Clovis with his artificial arm (his right arm):

The arms with which he's holding these two characters illustrate the different type of connection he has with each.  He has a very close relationship with Padmé, so he's holding her with his remaining human arm.  On the other hand (literally), he hasn't trusted Clovis throughout this arc of episodes (thinking he's too involved with the Separatists), so while he's holding him too, it's with his artificial arm, which symbolizes that distance between them.

The Clone Wars - S6E6 - "The Rise of Clovis"

In "The Rise of Clovis," after Clovis repeatedly asks about the relationship between Padmé and Anakin, Padmé asserts that "there is nothing romantic between he and I."  The pronouns "he" and "I" are in the wrong grammatical case here; they should be "him" and "me."  Presumably, as a senator, Padmé has a quality education and wouldn't normally make such a mistake, but her misuse of these pronouns indicates that she's flustered because of Clovis's suspicion - or perhaps even discernment - of the romantic relationship that does indeed exist between the two.  It's also significant that Padmé separates herself from Anakin here; she says, "he and I" and not "us."

The Clone Wars - S6E3 - "Fugitive"

Throughout "Fugitive," AZ-3's mouth lights up when he's speaking, so in other words, a lit mouth is an open mouth.

After Fives becomes convinced that, like Tup, there's a chip inside his own head, he tells AZ, "You have to take it out."  AZ is hesitant and tells Fives that it's a "dangerous surgery" and "you may die," but Fives replies, "It's a chance I have to take.  I trust you."  Before finally agreeing, AZ's mouth lights up without his saying anything and stays lit for a few seconds.  This is the droid equivalent of his mouth hanging open in surprise.