A protective energy field secured the Rebel Alliance’s Echo Base on the ice world of Hoth, but the Rebels may not have had it if it weren’t for Sabine Wren and Zeb of Phoenix Squadron ripping it off from the bug-like aliens on the planet Geonosis in the first place.
In the latest two-part episode of Star Wars Rebels, “Ghosts of Geonosis,” continuity strands from various disparate aspects of Star Wars were connected. Saw Gererra’s younger days in the Rebellion were explored prior to his severing ties with the main aspects of the Alliance in Rogue One. Meanwhile, the story also depicted the connections between the Empire of the classic trilogy era and the Separatists who had the Death Star plans in Attack of the Clones. But there was one seemingly minor piece of Star Wars lore which was almost casually mentioned: Zeb and Sabine successful extracted a gizmo from inside of a shield generator to repurpose for a Rebellion base.
TOP: The shield generator in 'The Empire Strikes Back. BOTTOM: Zeb and Sabine extract "the core" from the shield generator on Geonosis
Though the crew of the Ghost was unable to procure the secret Imperial canisters, they did make off with the core of a giant shield generator, which — along with rescuing Saw Gerrera — was enough to deem the missions a total success. It’s possible that this shield generator core is not the exact same one used to power the shield on Hoth, but it seems really strange that Rebels would go out of its way to show this tech being obtained if it wasn’t supposed to reference the shield used on Hoth later. As of now Rebels has a crazy track record of connecting continuity dots in ways both subtle and effective. Case in point: The Hammerhead Corvette from Rogue One was introduced in Rebels (along with Princess Leia) nearly a year prior to its appearance on the big screen.
With all the contributions Phoenix Squadron made to the cause of the Rebels, it’s too bad Luke, Han, and Chewie never met any of them. And, like the heroes of Rogue One, that fact is becoming a little worrying as the timeline of Rebels continues to inch closer and closer to A New Hope.
The rest of the third season of Star Wars Rebels airs this month on Saturdays on Disney XD.
