Star Wars Rebels: The Complete Season 4 (Blu-ray) - Home Video

Review | Talking Points | Discussion

Loth-rat, Loth-cat, Loth-wolf, run. Pick a path and all is done.

Review

For the purposes of this review, the Blu-ray release of Star Wars Rebels season two was viewed on 55” Samsung television. Your personal results may vary based on your viewing environment.

After four seasons, Star Wars Rebels has come to an end. Watching the farewell season unfold was almost certainly a bittersweet experience for fans of the series. In the fourth and final season fans witnessed the series at its best but had to say goodbye to it and the characters they met along the way. To be clear, this is a review of the season four Blu-Ray release of Star Wars Rebels which will be released on July 31st. If you are interested in discussing the episodes themselves, you can find JTA’s reviews of every episode of Star Wars Rebels season four right here.

Picture

Star Wars Rebels has never looked better. I feel like I say this every time a season of Star Wars Rebels is released on Blu-Ray, but this is how every fan of the series should be watching it. As with the past seasons, this Blu-ray release is presented in 1080p high definition and a 1.78:1 aspect ratio. The animation quality consistently improved over the course of the series, and season four is no exception. Dave Filoni and the team behind Star Wars Rebels pulled out all the stops for the final season and created some of the series’ most beautiful visuals. From the flames of Jedi Night to the battles of Family Reunion – and Farewell, season four is Star Wars Rebels at its most cinematic.

Sound

Going back to the pioneering work of Ben Burtt, sound design has always been an essential element of Star Wars storytelling. The fourth season of Star Wars Rebels truly drove home how a story can benefit from impeccable and innovative sound design. This release has a 5.1 Dolby Digital mix and it felt immersive, absorbing, and well balanced. In particular, the experimental episode A World Between Worlds is a stunning achievement in sound design and this is the ideal format to experience that episode.

Packaging

The familiar poster used to promote season four of Star Wars Rebels was used as the cover art for the Blu-Ray release. It foregrounds the six members of the Ghost crew and also features the season’s primary antagonists, Grand Admiral Thrawn and Governor Pryce. The design may be simple and familiar, but it feels right that the final cover art for a Star Wars Rebels Blu-Ray release is almost entirely focused on the Ghost crew standing side by side. As with previous releases, the back of the box features images from throughout the season. Due to the abbreviated nature of the final season, this is only a two disc set. Disc one features an image of Ezra while Sabine can be seen on disc two. It feels appropriate that Sabine and Ezra were chosen to represent the season this way since they truly became co-leads in season four.

  

         

Menus and Presentation

There is nothing new here, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The menu design remains unchanged from the one featured on the previous Blu-Ray releases. Select scenes from throughout the season play on a loop. Although fairly unimaginative, the menus are easy to navigate and visually pleasing.

   

Bonus Content

As with the Star Wars Rebels season three Blu-Ray release, there is a lot to like when it comes to the bonus content included with this release. To begin with this set includes all of the Rebels Recon episodes that accompanied the season. If you are fan of Star Wars Rebels and you haven’t watched the Rebels Recon episodes, do yourself a favor and check them out. This set also features three fairly in-depth behind the scenes bonus features. The first bonus feature, Ghosts of Legend, is by far the longest at roughly thirty minutes and provides a revealing overview of the series and the six central characters. I would highly recommend it to Star Wars Rebels fans as it offers compelling insight into the creation of the series and the characters themselves. My favorite bonus feature was probably Force of Rebellion though. Essentially, it is just Dave Filoni talking about the Force for twenty minutes and it doesn’t get much better than that. Filoni has a better understanding of Star Wars storytelling, the Force, and the lessons of George Lucas than just about anyone and giving him a platform to have an in-depth discussion about some of these ideas was a great idea. To give you an idea of what Force of Rebellion covers, Filoni talks about the idea of selflessness, Luke throwing down his Lightsaber in Return of the Jedi, how the World Between Worlds is not about time travel, and much more. The final bonus feature shines the light on composer Kevin Kiner. Although it is the shortest bonus feature, the inclusion of Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony made me very happy. Kevin Kiner has been producing wonderful Star Wars music for over a decade and I’m glad he got a spotlight like this because he is so important to the success of Star Wars Rebels. In the feature, Kiner talks about the process of creating uniquely Star Wars music, writing for Ahsoka, and working alongside his sons. In addition, there are six audio commentaries from Dave Filoni. The six episodes that have audio commentaries are Heroes of Mandalore: Part 1, Heroes of Mandalore: Part 2, Jedi Night, Wolves and a Door, A World Between Worlds, and Family Reunion – and Farewell. Filoni covers a lot of ground in these commentaries. For example, during the commentaries for Heroes of Mandalore: Parts 1 and 2 he talks about balancing being economical and telling the story you set out to tell, thoughtfully discusses the importance of female representation in storytelling and strong female characters, walks us through creating an action sequence for Star Wars, provides insight into the shift from the Republic to the Empire, tackles the question of how competent Stormtroopers should be, and teases a battle on Mandalore that happens after these episodes. Unsurprisingly the audio commentary for Family Reunion – and Farewell was probably the most entertaining and informative of them all, but I recommend listening to all six.

Fans interested in bonus content and behind the scenes features should be pleased with the season four Blu-Ray. Star Wars Rebels may have ended, but the season four Blu-Ray is the perfect way to revisit the final season or even watch it for the first time.

Points of Discussion

• The end of Star Wars Rebels
• Bonus content and audio commentaries
• Packaging and image quality
• Star Wars and sound design

External Links:

• Buy on Amazon.com
• IMDB Listing