[yasr_overall_rating]
Join the Ghost crew as they embark on their most important mission in STAR WARS REBELS’ fourth and final season! 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.
I’m a little late to the animated Star Wars train, but I understand now while everyone hypes up these series so much. So elegantly playful in the Star Wars sandbox we follow the adventures of the crew of the Ghost as they aid the Rebels in their fight against the evil Empire. This is one of those kids shows that adults can enjoy too.
What makes this show so poignant is its economic narrative. The show doesn’t waste a single second setting up plot but lingers in its moments with its characters. I didn’t know any of the characters when I started season four of this show. Jumping in felt alarming, as if I’d just jumped into a freezing cold river, but once you start swimming it feels nice! Between a blind Jedi master and his plucky young apprentice, a Django Fett lookalike female engineer, one alien heavy artilleryman, and an alien pilot you’ve got a handful of assorted personalities. The show doesn’t shy away from engaging these characters to their limits calling into action ethical decisions, leadership moments, and even romantic subplots. What this show spends on plotting it spends twice as much on character moments, lingering over emotional beats.
The show lives in the Star Wars world and leans heavily into it. Within the first seven episodes, I watched almost every major touchstone had been hit. While it lives in the world it also adds more to it. New planets, new characters, but still the same lightheartedness, the same mysticism, the same hopeful theme from the original “Star Wars” movies. As an extension of this Star Wars universe, it’s the most faithful to the original trilogy, exploring canon as it adds to the preexisting world.
Animation helps lift this show. Sequences that would probe the limitations of stunt team can be executed with more simplicity. Every fight feels carefully choreographed. While the show is, ultimately, for children, it doesn’t dwell on violence so much as the beauty of the movement. You never truly see a lightsaber cut a Stormtrooper in half, but you never have time to ponder that. Animation even helps the show with a powerful aesthetic. Employing camera angles with a masterful technique they rack focus, swivel, dolly back and forth, and do all sorts of wonderful fun with visual reveals.
“Star Wars Rebels” is a joy to behold and I may have to pour through the previous seasons (to get my Darth Vader fix.) It helps answer the question: What happened in between “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope?” It covers those years with grace and verisimilitude in a manner elevating it above simple ‘children’s cartoons.’ While I don’t want to get lost in the weeds about the show’s content, ultimately you will remember it belongs to the youth and hopefully we can offer this as a warmup act to shy Star Wars fans so they might indulge (healthily) in the series some of us have come to grow and love. It expounds on so much more and delivers for old time fans. I’ve enjoyed the additions and expounding on a franchise I only vaguely care about. I’ll certainly continue watching to get my Star Wars fix.
Now available on Blu-ray & DVD
