'Song of the Sea' And 'Star Wars Rebels' Release Dates; New Rebels Short

Release dates for two of my most anticipated animated entertainments have finally been announced!

Song of the Sea finally has a release date!  According to Animation Scoop, the much anticipated film by Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon is set to have its North American premiere on December 19th.  The film will open in New York and Toronto first before moving onto other large markets.  Song of the Sea is the second animated film from Cartoon Saloon, the first being the critically acclaimed The Secret of Kells.  I'm really looking forward to this film; traditional animation is a little scarce these days, and this film is just visually stunning.



Star Wars Rebels will premiere with an hour long episode 'Spark of the Rebellion' on October 3 on Disney Channel, and the series will officially launch on Disney XD October 13th.  News articles and video teasers have been flying at us like crazy for the last couple weeks, and just the other day a new short was released to the Internet.  It features the sixth member of our group of heroes, Zeb Orellios, a former military officer turned rebel.



Zeb looks a great character, and I can't wait to see more of him.  My only real problem with this short, and some of the others that have come before, is the total incompetency of the stormtroopers.  Now, odds are these guys aren't the Emperor's most elite soldiers.  And of course we all know stormtroopers have bad aim.  But all the same, it just seems to be way too easy for our heroes to outwit them.  There's no threat.  In The Clone Wars, you had the Trade Federation Battle Droids, who were pretty dimwitted, but could still be extremely dangerous.  But these stormtroopers are just too stupid.  Here's hoping that it won't be a total cakewalk for our heroes every week.