Blu-ray Set Review: 'Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four'

(C) Buena Vista Home Entertaiment/Walt Disney Studios and Lucasfilm Ltd. 

On July 31, 2018, Buena Vista Home Entertainment – Walt Disney Studios’ home media distributor – released Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four on Blu-ray (two discs) and DVD (three discs). This 16-episode collection presents the fourth and final season of Lucasfilm Animation’s hit Disney XD show about the adventures of Ezra Bridger and the crew of the Ghost during the early years of the Rebellion against the Galactic Empire.

As the Rebellion struggles against the might of the Empire, Ezra leads the 'Ghost' crew back to his home world to defeat the oppressive forces under the command of cunning Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Old friends are reunited and new alliances are forged as the critically acclaimed series builds to a transformative conclusion that reveals our heroes' destinies. – Synopsis on the package, Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four

Created by Dave Filoni (Star Wars: The Clone Wars), Simon Kinberg (X-Men: Apocalypse; Designated Survivor) and Carrie Beck, Star Wars Rebels is set between five years (Season One) and one year before the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. 

A 3D CGI series like Filoni’s previous show – The Clone Wars – Rebels bridges the gap between the Prequel and Classic Star Wars film trilogies. And because the writers had Ezra and his comrades from the Ghost crew interact with familiar characters from the feature films and the prematurely-canceled Star Wars: The Clone Wars series, Star Wars Rebels expands the saga in an entertaining and enriching way.

Ezra (Taylor Gray) is a Force-sensitive human from Lothal, a planet occupied by the Empire. At the beginning of Star Wars Rebels, Ezra is a streetwise orphan who unwittingly crosses path with Kanan Jarrus (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), the Ghost’s co-pilot and member of a local cell of insurgents who seek to fight the Empire and liberate Lothal from the tyrannical rule of the Emperor.

Ezra is joined in his many adventures not only by Kanan, but also by:

• Captain Hera Syndulla (Vanessa Marshall), the Ghost's Twi'lek captain, a Rebel fighter pilot and the daughter of the famous Cham Syndulla, veteran of the Clone Wars
• Zeb Orrelius (Steve Blum), one of the few surviving members of the Lasat, a race that was nearly annihilated by the Empire
• Sabine Wren (Tiya Sircan), a 17-year-old Mandalorian who left the Imperial Academy and turned her back on the tyrannical Empire
• C1-OP, "Chopper," a cantankerous astromech droid 

Star Wars Rebels is inspired not just by George Lucas's original 1977 Star Wars film, but also from various TV and movie Westerns (including 1992's Unforgiven), and the action-adventure series The A-Team. It's also a glimpse at the birth of the Rebel Alliance and a canonical connection between the Classic Trilogy (A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi), the Prequels, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

Season Four kicked off on the Disney XD cable channel on October 16, 2017 with back-to-back airings of Heroes of Mandalore, Parts I and II. A week later, In the Name of the Rebellion, Parts I and II were also shown in back-to-back one-hour airings, followed by a series of two-episodes-per-night airings of The Occupation, Flight of the Defender, Kindred,  and Crawler Commanders between October 23 and November 6, 2017. One more episode, Rebel Assault, aired on November 13 before Star Wars Rebels went on a two-month hiatus.

Disney XD resumed the series on February 19, 2018 and aired the last seven episodes in the same two-per-night schedule as during the fall season. Between February 19 and March 5, the network broadcast Jedi Night, DUME, Wolves and a Door, A World Between Worlds, A Fool’s Hope, and the series finale, Family Reunion and Farewell, Parts I and II.

Because of Disney XD’s decision to air Star Wars Rebels on a two-episodes-a-night schedule, Lucasfilm only made eight Rebel Recon recap episodes with host Andi Gutierrez, co-host of The Star Wars Show, and Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group.

Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four Blu-ray set presents the 16 individual episodes and the eight Rebels Recon recaps on two BD-50 discs. In addition, Buena Vista/Disney has added the following supplementary materials:

Disc One:

• Audio Commentaries: For "Heroes of Mandalore, Part 1:" Executive Producer Dave Filoni. For "Heroes of Mandalore, Part 2:" Executive Producer Dave Filoni.

• Rebels Recon (1080p)

Disc Two:

• Ghosts of Legend (1080p, 1:01): A seven-part feature thar examines the key characters from Star Wars Rebels. Included are The Lost Boy: Ezra Bridger (2:35), The Fallen Knight: Kanan Jarrus (5:00), The Captain: Hera Syndulla (4:48), The Broken Girl: Sabine Wren (4:13), The Survivor: Zeb (2:21), and The Veteran: Chopper (1:00). This bonus feature also includes In the Beginning (1:01), a brief overview of how the series started and the sense of family shared by the characters, and The End (5:58), an exploration of the series' finale.

• Force of Rebellion (1080p): A four-part featurette that explores Ezra's character growth with a broader context of what the show has to offer on a deeper, more contemplative and intimate level. Included are Temptation (2:52), Everything Is Connected (4:32), Between Worlds (3:46), and The Choice (2:07).

• Audio Commentaries: For "Jedi Knight:" Executive Producer Dave Filoni. For "Wolves and a Door:" Executive Producer Dave Filoni. For "A World Between Worlds:" Executive Producer Dave Filoni and Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Editor Bonnie Wild. For "Family Reunion - and Farewell:" Executive Producer Dave Filoni.

• Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony (1080p, 9:38): A closer look at the composer's contributions to Star Wars' musical lexicon, starting with his score for Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie and TV series and on to Star Wars Rebels.

• Rebels Recon (1080p): Andi Gutierrez returns for more episode recaps and insights from Pablo Hidalgo. Included are Inside 'Jedi Night' and 'Dume' (9:26), Inside 'Wolves and a Door' and 'A World Between Worlds' (12:34), and Inside 'A Fool's Hope' and 'Family Reunion - And Farewell' (18:23).

My Take

I was a fan of Lucasfilm Animation’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the series created and executive produced by George Lucas that aired on Time-Warner’s Cartoon Network from 2008 to 2014. I liked the way that its creative director, Dave Filoni, collaborated with Lucas and gave viewers a series which showed us a wide array of stories set in an era which had not been fully explored in the films; Attack of the Clones showed us the beginning of the conflict, and Revenge of the Sith highlighted its tragic end, leaving an in-universe three-year gap that was full of storytelling possibilities.

When the series was canceled in late 2013 so that Filoni and Lucasfilm Animation could provide Disney with a new Star Wars series, I was not happy. There were still some story arcs that had not been resolved, especially those that delved into the fates of the resurrected Darth Maul (Sam Witwer) and Anakin Skywalker’s former Padawan, Ahsoka Tano (Ashley Eckstein). If Star Wars: The Clone Wars was canceled, how would we ever learn what happened to them during the rise of the Empire? 

Well, as viewers of Star Wars Rebels eventually discovered, the new show gave Filoni, now the head of Lucasfilm Animation, a way to have his cake and eat it, too. He would give Lucasfilm and its corporate parent Disney an ensemble of all-new heroes, villains, and sidekicks, while at the same time giving air time to such legendary Star Wars characters as Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams), Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), Mon Mothma (Genevieve O’Reilly), Princess Leia Organa (Julie Dolan in a Season Three episode, archival audio of Carrie Fisher in one Season Four episode), Emperor Palpatine (Sam Witwer in Season Two and Ian McDiarmid in Season Four). Yoda (Frank Oz) and Ahsoka and Darth Maul.

The interesting thing about Star Wars Rebels is that it is so well-written and directed by a tight-knit crew of writers, producers and directors that has been working together since George Lucas first conceived Star Wars: The Clone Wars in 2005. All of them, beginning with Filoni, are Star Wars fans who love the mythology created by Lucas in the mid-1970s and strive to give viewers stories that are exciting, riveting, emotionally satisfying, and consistent with the live-action Saga and Star Wars Anthology films at the core of the franchise.

As a result, whenever Filoni and his Star Wars Rebels team has Ezra and the Ghost crew cross paths with such legendary characters as Darth Vader or Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen), it feels organic to the overall story and not just fan service. This is done so well that the viewer soon forgets that this is a “cartoon” and just enjoys a Star Wars adventure that adds depth and meaning to the overall saga.

Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season Four may only have 16 episodes, but because Filoni knew ahead of time that the series would end in 2018 in advance of a third animated series set between Return of the Jedi and The Force Awakens, the writers had the opportunity to come up with a proper two-part finale, Family Reunion and Farewell. It is one of the best series closing acts that I have seen in years, and it somehow ties up all of the plot threads neatly, tightly, and consistently with the greater Star Wars story.

Star Wars Rebels Season Four Episode List (With Original Air Dates)

1          Oct 16, 2017   Heroes of Mandalore (1)

2          Oct 16, 2017   Heroes of Mandalore (2)

3          Oct 23, 2017   In the Name of the Rebellion (1)

4          Oct 23, 2017   In the Name of the Rebellion (2)

5          Oct 30, 2017   The Occupation

6          Oct 30, 2017   Flight of the Defender

7          Nov 06, 2017   Kindred

8          Nov 06, 2017   Crawler Commandeers

9          Nov 13, 2017   Rebel Assault

10        Feb 19, 2018   Jedi Night

11        Feb 19, 2018   DUME

12        Feb 26, 2018   Wolves and a Door

13        Feb 26, 2018   A World Between Worlds

14        Mar 05, 2018  A Fool's Hope

15        Mar 05, 2018  Family Reunion and Farewell (1)

16        Mar 05, 2018  Family Reunion and Farewell (2)