Star Wars Rebels Season 3 [Blu-ray] [Region Free]

Star Wars Rebels Season 3 which I held out for in physical form so I could enjoy all the related boxed set has a bunch of extras - the usual episodes of Rebels Recon for each episode, 5 episodes with commentary, some short spotlight featurettes covering the introduction of Grand Admiral Thrawn to the show, the return of (a more ‘Rogue One’ looking) Saw Gerrera (voiced by Forest Whitaker), the final showdown between Ben Kenobi and Maul and the linkages to Rogue One.Yes, Obi Wan in his old man Ben Kenobi guise faces off again and for the last time against Maul. Maul is present in a number of episodes, fails to turn Ezra to the dark side of the force, but talks him into helping him open the Jedi and Sith holocrons and thus learns that Kenobi is still alive. He finds him guarding a certain young Skywalker on Tatooine and while we know that there can be only one winner in the subsequent lightsaber fight it is quite a moving end to a long story arc for the demoted Sith apprentice. Obi Wan is uncannily voiced by Stephen Stanton who also voiced Grand Moff Tarkin – so uncanny was it that it had me whispering ‘how have they done this?’ and coming up with a wacky theory about voice sampling and clever computer programming.As well as this satisfying ‘loose end’ being tied up, there was lots of good character development for all the characters in the Ghost’s Crew apart from Zeb (who had his story in the last season). Sabine especially got much more fleshed out in this season.We also had the introduction of ace pilot Wedge Antilles – rescued from Imperial training by Sabine; The Bendu an odd in-between Force-aware hulking creature – nicely voiced by Tom Baker; and of course Timothy Zahn’s character from his books Grand Admiral Thrawn. The character fell out of the canon and into ‘legends’ when Lucas did his Disney deal and is now back in the canon.It was easier to accept the absence of Darth Vader in this season with Thrawn’s much more measured approach to discovering the hidden rebel base and defeating them. In the double-episode season finale he doesn’t quite get to crush them as he would like – all that slow build-up of knowledge is for nothing when Kanan pisses off The Bendu. The mysterious creature metamorphosizes into an electric storm and drives everyone off his planet.In terms of design, the makers were able to borrow from Rogue One (e.g. we see some Imperial Death Troopers accompanying Thrawn in his ground attack) and I could see how they’re getting closer and closer to matching up the stories so, hopefully, the Rebels storyline will bump up against the events of Rogue One (and perhaps even cross over into the story given that both Chopper and the Ghost feature in the film and Hera Syndulla is called over the tannoy system at the rebel base).It was a really enjoyable season but (apart from the Maul storyline) I didn’t feel there was anything in there to match the excitement of the Ashoka Tano vs Darth Vader fight in Season 2.

I bought this Blu-ray and series 4 for my son's recent birthday. He loves Star Wars Rebels and eagerly starting watching back to back episodes using the X Box One X in our living room. Discs 1 and 2 were fine but disc 3 would not play at all. We cleaned the disc, restarted the X box etc. but it still wouldn't play. We have an older X box in my son's room and tried the disc on this and it worked fine. Strange.The only difference between the two set ups is that the X box in the living room is connected to the TV via a sound bar whereas the one in my son's room is connected directly to the TV. Looking online it seems that the issue may be some sort of security on the disc which is prohibiting it's use on a set up where the blu-ray player isn't directly connected to the TV. I don't pretend to understand why but it seems odd that two of the three discs play (i.e. do not have this additional layer of security) but the third does not. Frustrating (and docked a star because of it) but not the end of the world.Looking forward to watching Series 4 now which, fingers crossed, will play in the living room otherwise the four of us will be cosied up on my son's bed watching it in his room again!

Love this series, then I love most things STAR WARS. This series really adds to the movies. This season was all about character growth. Every character (rebel) characters comes out of this season better then the were in the first season. Then there are reckonings for other characters.The only character I think was not done as well in this series was Grand Admiral Thrawn. They managed to cover his brilliance, and later his warrior attitude/skills, but for me they made his a little too cold. In the books though he serves the Empire he seems to have his own agenda, and usually reserves killing as the last option. Here he seems to be an Imperial through and through. I did like his warrior side being shown more in the later episodes, and his leading from the front in the ground assault.The real great thing about this series is the way it ties into the other Star Wars movies, and media. For people like me how love this stuff this is pure gold. Usually I don't bother with the bonus but I have to say I actually enjoy all of them on this DVD.

Season 3 is another strong and entertaining year of the series, improving upon the first two seasons in some respects, while ultimately not quite feeling as impactful in its overall story. Thrawn was often fascinating, but the slow burn approach to the character and his plans meant the end of the season needed him to do something truly monumental to pay off the setup, and that didn’t really occur. On the other hand, characters like Kallus and Sabine got to step up and command the story in increasingly involving, engaging ways, delivering some of the show’s best storylines in the process. Artistically, the show was also operating at a higher level than ever, with some incredible-looking sequences, from a mid-air Mandalorian fight, to a space battle in front of a nebula that looked like nothing we’d ever seen before in Star Wars.The third season of Rebels brought Grand Admiral Thrawn into the mix, but it was Kallus and Sabine who ultimately stole the show.better than Clone Wars, but good to know season 4 will be the last