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Star Wars Rebels: Season Four (Blu-ray) Review
Loading...Author’s Note: This review will feature spoilers and discussion from the last season of Star Wars Rebels. Continue reading at your own risk.
The hit animated series, Star Wars Rebels, finally concluded its four-year run earlier this year with a dramatic and emotional conclusion. Lucasfilm has now released the complete fourth season for Star Wars Rebels on Blu-ray, so fans can finally look back at not just the final season, but the complete run of the show on Blu-ray.
The Series: Star Wars Rebels ended up having quite a run. The show introduced a charming set of ragtag characters. Creator Dave Filoni and his staff did a great job of creating a show that came off a lot more like traditional Star Wars. The Clone Wars animated series definitely earned a lot of popularity and fan appeal over the years, but as a personal preference, Rebels had a style that was more evocative of the original trilogy.
Season Three for the show was a bit of a letdown. The inclusion of Thrawn was great. However, the story phasing out Darth Vader and the Inquisitors after the second season was a bit disappointing. The conclusion of the Darth Maul subplot was rather anticlimactic, and the season three final was pretty anticlimactic overall.
Season Four was not without its problems, especially the dramatic conclusion. However, it was still an amazing, action-packed and emotional journey.
The writing of the Hera and Kanan relationship throughout the show was fantastic. Basically, it was a romance that was taking place behind closed doors. The writers played the romance more through suggestion and let the audience fill in the blanks. By the end of the show, it was clear that Kanan and Hera were much more than just comrades-in-arms.
The biggest flaw to single out for the series finale is the use of the Purrgils, the large, interstellar, whale-like creatures that were introduced in the show. From a narrative standpoint, the Purrgils are insanely problematic. Their appearance in the finale and what they do is way too convenient.
Some other nitpicks are with the actual ending. It comes more out of the fact that Dave Filoni is a very sentimental creator. That’s fine. Filoni clearly loves this world, and he loves the characters he created. He sees the Star Wars series as being very optimistic, so that’s why he was reluctant to kill off more characters. That’s understandable, but if Ezra and Thrawn are actually still alive, that’s kind of insane.
The last time the audience sees Thrawn and Ezra, they are in an completely broken and exposed bridge of a Star Destroyer that’s been broken down by Purrgil tentacles. The Purrgils then make the jump to hyperspace with the damaged Star Destroyer with Ezra and Thrawn. There’s no shielding or containment to protect them from the vacuum of space or a hyperspace jump.
The more fitting ending would simply be if Ezra died. Ezra staying alive is problematic. When Yoda says, “When gone am I, the last of the Jedi you will be,” to Luke Skywalker, that line really needs to mean something. For all intents and purposes, Ezra sacrificing himself to save his home planet is a fitting end for not just his character arc, but his character as well. He sacrifices himself to restore his parents’ legacy and free his home planet, and its people, from the Empire’s tyranny. Maybe Filoni thought killing off Kanan was too much or enough for death in the final season, but Ezra living through that finale comes off like a total copout.
I can somewhat overlook Ahsoka Tano’s survival, but I’m not super crazy about that either. Her survival in Star Wars Rebels is equally problematic, and especially the way it happened. Season 4 introduces a new concept to the mythology and the Force with the “World Between Worlds.” It’s sort of like a gate outside time and enabled Ahsoka to survive the events of Season 2. Ahsoka surviving was also a bit of a weird copout. I get that she doesn’t see herself as an official “Jedi,” but I’m not sure her survival is the best thing for the story either.
For starters, if Ahsoka was alive that whole time, then where was she? She didn’t return to the Rebellion or seek out Luke Skywalker? She was alive during the entirety of the Galactic Civil War. It just seems to be a really contrived way to have Ahsoka survive beyond that whole conflict and not really be involved with any of those major events of the original trilogy. Over time, Ahsoka grew into a strong character. She’s a popular character. But just because she’s a popular character doesn’t mean she has to be the Gandalf the White of the Star Wars Universe. It’s a little forced.
Issues aside, this was a good season. The heroes finally return to Mandalore and free Sabine’s father, a political prisoner. The Rebels are drawn into a major last stand in a return to Lothal. The return to Lothal is startling as its been put under complete Imperial control. There are some nice and even tragic callbacks to the first season.
Flaws aside, the three-part series finale packs in quite a bit of action and some pretty momentous events into just one hour. And hey, the Emperor’s Royal Guard finally get to fight, and the meaning of “force pikes” in the Star Wars mythology is finally revealed. It was a very meaningful, emotional and dramatic season that had a lot of great buildup. Kevin Kiner brought his A-game and put together some fantastic music. He utilizes some of John Williams’ classic themes to maximum effect.
The show ends with basically a victory lap. It’s sort of a different sort of ending for a Star Wars story, but it was a feel-good way to the fans who stuck with this show for four years. Fans who believed Dave Filoni was voicing Chopper the whole time are equally rewarded. But if Ezra and Thrawn are alive, there better be an insanely amazing, well-written explanation for that.
Blu-Ray Info: The Blu-ray set for Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Fourth Season is a two-disc set. It’s packaged in a standard Blu-ray clamshell case with translucent blue plastic. There’s a slip cover with the same cover artwork as the insert jacket, but it’s a slightly raised image with a metallic finish. It’s the standard packaging for the show. Thankfully, no discs are stacked on top of each other like the Season 2 set, since it was a shorter season. As a result, a third disc was not required.
Video Info: The Blu-ray is pictured in 1080p High Definition with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 for all 16 episodes of the fourth season. While I’ve never been that partial to the overall art style and character models for the show, the animation on Blu-ray looks great. The action and colors are all bright and come off very well. As the fourth season, the animation team really worked hard to create some amazing action setpieces and some impressive visual imagery as well. The animation team gets to realize Emperor Palpatine here, which is cool.
Audio Info: The Blu-ray audio is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound. There is also an optional Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital language track. There are optional English subtitles in English, French and Spanish as well. Audio quality for the Blu-ray set is pristine and crisp. The music throughout Rebels has been exceptional, and it easily comes through with some of its strongest pieces in Season 4. John Williams’ classic score has never sounded better with Kevin Kiner on board. This show sounds more like Star Wars than both Solo and Rogue One, at least where the music is concerned.
Special Features: In the past, I’ve been somewhat let down by extras on the Blu-ray sets for Star Wars Rebels. However, the Blu-ray set for Season 4 is a major improvement with the inclusion of audio commentaries from creator and executive producer Dave Filoni. So, the Season 4 Blu-ray set offers a considerable more bang for your buck with the amount of extra content.
Audio Commentaries: Fans can finally listen to audio commentary tracks by Dave Filoni for six different episodes. Filoni offers great commentary and insight on writing the show and what ideas he was wanting to cement for the entire series and final season. This is the best reason to invest in the Blu-ray track. Some of the previous Blu-ray releases didn’t really have any audio commentary, so this is a major plus for this release.
Ghosts of Legend: This is a 27-minute, 48-second behind-the-scenes featurette looking back at the making of the show. This featurette features new interviews with the cast and crew covering how they brought the crew of the spaceship Ghost to life. This is also an improvement over previous Blu-ray season releases for the show, as its a featurette with a bit more meat in it.
Force of Rebellion: In this 15-minute featurette, Dave Filoni looks back at the significance of the Force for the Star Wars saga and the true meaning of the Force. Filoni shares his own personal insights on the Light and Dark sides of the Force in Star Wars and how its been interpreted throughout TV and films throughout the years, including The Clone Wars and Rebels. Filoni also describes the meaning behind the Force-sensitive Loth-wolves featured in the fourth season. However, I’m still not a fan of the Purrgils.
Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony: This is a 10-minute featurette that covers composer Kevin Kiner and his work for Star Wars Rebels. Kiner talks about his inspirations for the music and returning to the style of Episode IV for the show. Kiner is really one of the unsung heroes of the Star Wars franchise, so it was nice to get a featurette on this set that gives him his due.
Rebels Recon: Much like the previous Blu-ray sets, all the Rebels Recon webisodes that streamed online during Season 4 are available on this set. This includes some more cast and crew interviews and episode recaps.
