Star Wars: Rebels Season 4 Blu-ray Has Some Special Features, But It's Not The Selling Point

One of the best things to come to the Star Wars expanded universe in recent years isn't the spin-off movies, nor is it the novels or the plethora of Marvel comics series. It's the animated television shows. Both Clone Wars and Rebels are triumphs at playing with Star Wars lore and building on what fans know and love. And now, you can relive Season 4 of Rebels--including its tear-jerking finale--over and over again on Blu-ray and DVD.

Hitting stores today, July 31, the final season of Star Wars: Rebels marks the end of an era as there won't be new adventures of Hera, Chopper, Sabine, and the rest of the Ghost crew as they spark the Rebellion that would eventually take down the Galactic Empire. The two-disc Blu-ray (three-discs for DVD) contains all 16 episodes from Season 4 as well as a few extras. However, while these features are enjoyable, it's not really a huge incentive to pick this up. Fans of the series will buy it because the show is phenomenal, not because they're getting some cool extra videos.

On both DVD and Blu-ray, there are eight episodes of Rebels Recon, a YouTube video series that recaps every episode of the series. The Rebels Recon gives a ton of insight into specific episodes and characters from the fourth season. However, this is all content available for free online, so it's more of a way to redirect the viewer from YouTube more than anything else. That's pretty much the only disappointing aspect of the physical release, unless you own the DVD version of the season, in which Rebels Recon is the only special feature. Rebels Recon, in itself, is an entertaining video series and a great way to get some insight into specific episodes, especially moments where the cast talks about working with Warwick Davis when he played Rukh.

For those who own the Blu-ray, there are a lot more special features, each of them diving into specific parts of the series and Star Wars lore. Ghosts of Legend is a multi-part special feature talking to the cast and production team about who these characters came to life and how they work together. Make sure you watch all of Season 4 before diving into this because it gets heavy into the finale spoilers.

Additionally, there is the Force of Rebellion video series with executive producer Dave Filoni, who discusses the Force and its importance. If you're a fan of Clone Wars and Rebels, you will without a doubt want to watch this as Filoni's insight into the Force and how it affects different characters is without a doubt the best special feature on the Blu-ray. I could watch Filoni talk about Star Wars and give his opinions about it all day.

Finally, six episodes have audio commentary tracks--again, featuring Filoni--and there's one last special feature called Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony. Kiner discusses putting the music together for the series and his inspirations for a select few pieces. Considering the soundtrack to Star Wars is iconic, it's pretty interesting to see how a composer puts his or her own take on some legendary pieces, all while adding their own flavor to the mix.

So Season 4 of Rebels is going to be a must-buy for fans of the animated series. While the special features are a nice addition to the Blu-ray, they're not really a huge selling point. If you are picking this up, it's because you love the series and you have good taste in television shows. Season 4 of Rebels is on sale now at local retailers, and if for some reason you haven't watched Rebels, all four seasons are available for sale at local retailers or digitally. Additionally, it was announced Filoni would be working on Season 7 of Clone Wars and will release on Disney's upcoming streaming service, which we know nothing about.