Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Four (Blu-ray Review)
All good things must come to an end, and it was with great heart that we said farewell to Star Wars: Rebels in 2018. Before we met Rey, Finn, Poe, Kylo Ren and BB-8, we first began our Disney helmed Star Wars adventures with Ezra, Kanan, Hera, Sabine and Chopper. Upon its premiere, the follow up to producer Dave Filioni’s The Clone Wars, immediately captured that classic Star Wars vibe. The journey of Star Wars Rebels may have found some familiar faces along the way, but their story and contributions to the Rebel Alliance were all their own. You’ll be able to complete your Blu-ray Rebels collection with the new 2-Disc Season Four set, arriving on July 31st. The Force is strong with this release, so you’ll want to make sure and order yourself a copy from the Amazon link below.
Season 
Join the Ghost crew as they embark on their most important mission. 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.
Stories you love coming to their conclusion is both an exciting thing and kind of a bummer at the same time. While you’re eager to see everything a journey has been building itself to find its resolution, you also realize that puts a cap on things as they are currently. In today’s climate, everything comes back, and I have no doubt the characters of Star Wars Rebels will show up again in some form for a new tale or participate in another story. But everything as it is now, has finished. And, it honestly did so feeling natural and 100% satisfying.
With this final season, Dave Filoni and company have accomplished three big things with Star Wars Rebels. The show has completed its own arc. Rebels has placed itself in and of the Star Wars universe with the original trilogy and beyond. And, it also connected on a deep level to its predecessor, Star Wars The Clone Wars. Being a hefty feat, its incredible and to Filoni that it all happens so naturally.
Was Rebels better than The Clone Wars? I feel it at least kept that high esteem going. The show did get to be more lean with shorter episode orders and less drifting into the super kid-friendly arcs. However, both have been some of the best Star Wars storytelling we’ve ever seen and many “fans” have been absolutely missing out on. The minds have really taken well from George Lucas and created things that feel original and a bit fearless as they have a medium of both television and animation to take chances. I’m very excited to see the future of this “trilogy”. I mean, I’m gonna go ahead and predict Clone Wars>Rebels>Resistance will feel like one by the time its all said and done.
Star Wars Rebels final season completed itself with some wonderful surprises and a satisfying conclusion that also opened many doors for the future of Star Wars and these characters. At four seasons with 74 episodes at around 22 minutes apiece, this will be an easy show to revisit in the future. The show already had some books and comics dedicated to it during its run as well as a healthy line of figures. Dave Filoni’s second series only lifted up The Clone Wars even more, rightfully earned its place in the canon and has made me excited for where ever the next show, Resistance, is headed!
Episodes
Heroes of Mandalore, Part I & II
In the Name of the Rebellion, Part I & II
The Occupation
Flight of the Defender
Kindred
Crawler Commanders
Rebel Assault
Jedi Night
Dume
Wolves and a Door
A World Between Worlds
A Fool’s Hope
Family Reunion – and Farewell
Video
Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Layers: BD-50
Clarity/Detail: Star War Rebels: Complete Season Four see the usual uptick from the HD broadcast. Detail is very high, and the image looks very crisp and sharp. All the lighting and colors come across so wonderfully. Lightsaber action glows and looks pretty rad. While the animation shaping may be simplistic, the details within the uniforms, walls and “props” all have great clear textures, damage and more that you can make out brilliantly in the image.
Depth: Characters and objects move and live plenty free of their setting and environment. There is some good dimensional spacing and pushback with confident camera swoops and that help define a 360 feeling.
Black Levels: Blacks are solid and do what they do in animation. Detail still present with visible texture and no crushing witnessed.
Color Reproduction: There are plenty of wonderful colors on display in this show, even if it may look limited on the surface. Every thing pops here and plays the correct role it needs to be. The lightsabers are beautifully displayed here, vibrant and breathtaking. Colors are vivid when they need to be and dingy and used when they are supposed to.
Flesh Tones: N/A
Noise/Artifacts: Clean
Audio 
Audio Format(s): English 5.1 Dolby Digital, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 2.0 Dolby Digital, German 5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH, English, French, Spanish
Dynamics: Like most animated television shows, as well as the rest of the series, Rebels final season takes the Dolby Digital route for this Blu-ray release. However, its not a complete slouch and is able to bring some boom and feel impactful enough. Audio is full, distinct and decently layered even if it isn’t as intricate or lossless a performance as we know it could have been.
Height: N/A
Low Frequency Extension: Explosions, ship engines, flybys,the rocking and roaring of the sand and some intense sabering put the subwoofer to work.
Surround Sound Presentation: Most of the action is in the front for the most part. The rear channels do provide some light ambiance and extra intangibles during big action sequences whether it be in a space dogfight or some blaster fire flinging around.
Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is crisp and clean.
Extras
Star Wars Rebels: Complete Season Four is a 2-Blu-ray Disc set.
Disc 1
Audio Commentary
- Heroes of Mandalore Part I – By Executive Producer Dave Filoni
- Heroes of Mandalore Part II – By Executive Producer Dave Filoni
Rebels Recon (HD, 40:00) The little “insider” show, hosted by Andi Gutirrez with focus on individual episodes and events that happen during them. Sometimes features interviews with the creators and voice talent.
- Inside “Heroes of Mandalore”
- Inside “In the Name of the Rebellion”
- Inside “The Occupation” and “Flight of the Defender”
- Inside “Kindred” and “Crawler Commanders”
- Inside “Rebel Assault”
Disc 2
Audio Commentary
- Jedi Night – By Executive Producer Dave Filoni
- Wolves and a Door – By Executive Producer Dave Filoni
- A World Between Worlds – By Executive Producer Dave Filoni and Re-Recording Mixer & Sound Editor Bonnie Wild
- Family Reunion – An Farewell – By Executive Producer Dave Filoni
Ghosts of Legend (HD, 27:48) – This 8=part study primarily dedicates each segment to each of the crew of the Ghost and their psychology, origins and journey throughout the series. It features interviews with the crew and each voice actor. There are story boards and recording sessions shown throughout the interviews.
- In the Beginning…
- The Lost Boy: Ezra Bridger
- The Fallen Knight: Kanan Jarrus
- The Captain: Hera Syndulla
- The Broken Girl: Sabine Wren
- The Survivor: Zeb
- The Veteran: Chopper
- The End
Force of Rebellion (HD, 15:22) – This is basically Dave Filoni getting philosophical on all things having to do with the Force and its relation to the series. Its pretty terrific. I would love to see he and Rian Johnson just have a pow-wow on these things as both of them really REALLY seem to have a great understanding of it.
- Temptation
- Everything is Connected
- Between Worlds
- The Choice
Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony (HD, 9:38) – The composer of the series (Also The Clone Wars) gives an overview on his inspirations, goals and going back to key moments and also and telling us how he came up with Ahsoka’s theme that would cross over into Rebels. We also see that his sons also helped contribute to major portions (Thrawn’s theme).
Rebels Recon
- Inside “Jedi Night” and “Dume”
- Inside “Wolves and a Door” and “A World Between Worlds”
- Inside “A Fool’s Hope” and “Family Reunion – And Farewell”
Summary
While its a bummer that Star Wars Rebels has finished its run, it did so in fascinating and completely satisfying fashion. And once again, Disney has rewarded us with a Blu-ray of the season that features some terrific video and a rock solid audio track. The bonus features here are pretty tasty and also look back upon the series has a whole which is excellent. Definitely pick this up to go with your other great Star Wars Blu-rays.
