Looking back at an action-packed and heart-filled season with Team Fireball.
Spoiler warning: This story contains details and plot points from Season One of Star Wars Resistance.
From a focus on pilots and racing, to a fun and full embrace of humor, to a vibrant and colorful anime-infused style, Star Wars Resistance has been a wholly-unique and rewarding Star Wars animated series.
The show's first season came to an end this weekend, leaving rookie Resistance spy Kaz and his friends in an exciting, if surprisingly bittersweet, position: they've survived, having thwarted the First Order's plan to control the Colossus and are headed off to a destination unknown; their friend Tam has joined the galactic tyrants. While we can't wait to see where the story goes next -- which literally could be anywhere -- here's a look back at 10 of the best moments from the season that started this new adventure in a galaxy far, far away.
1. Kaz's first race, "The Recruit"
While Resistance sets Kaz up as a gifted a pilot -- and he is, tagging Major Vonreg's TIE in the series' opening scene -- his first race on the Colossus serves as a humbling experience. Pushing the rickety Fireball a little too hard, the ship's engines fail and flame up, leaving Kaz lucky to escape alive. The show could've taken the easy way out and had this be a triumphant moment for its protagonist; instead, it was a learning moment, and Kaz and the season became richer for it.
2. Meeting the shell folk, "The Children from Tehar"
Turtle people. There was no way they were not making this list.
3. Meeting the Kowakian ape, "Signal from Sector Six"
If you thought Salacious Crumb was a little scary, wait until you see what looks, essentially, like his big, bad cousin. In "Signal from Sector Six," we meet the enormous Kowakian ape: It cackles, roars, and chases our heroes, and it's terrifying.
Finding out that the Colossus was not just a platform, but a ship, was shockingly great; seeing it rise from the Castilon oceans, however, was truly awe-inspiring.
9. Tam's choice, "No Escape: Part 2"
Tam's backstory and her sympathetic perspective on the First Order brings an added layer of complexity to Resistance, and it pays off in the season finale. Maybe she was manipulated by Agent Tierny, but Tam's choice to leave with the First Order is ultimately her own. It's a shocking and sobering moment, but one that we understand.
10. Through the Colossus, "No Escape: Part 2"
Kaz grew up a lot throughout Season One, and that's exemplified through this spectacular action sequence. With Vonreg barreling down on Yeager, Kaz pilots the Fireball through the Colossus, blasting the red TIE and saving his friend. It's a nice bookend to the opening scene of the series -- in which Kaz tags Vonreg's fighter in space -- but also to his mishandling of the Fireball in his race with Torra Doza; Kaz has learned to be patient and think of others before himself, maturing into a real leader.
It's also just a super cool maneuver.
For more on Star Wars Resistance, check out StarWars.com's episode guides, Databank entries, blogs, and more!
Dan Brooks is Lucasfilm’s senior content strategist of online, the editor of StarWars.com, and a writer. He loves Star Wars, ELO, and the New York Rangers, Jets, and Yankees. Follow him on Twitter @dan_brooks where he rants about all these things.