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)
Comments
Post a Comment