Star Wars: Rebels - Season Three

The incredibly imaginative and nostalgically detailed animated series increases its complexity and story-telling in "Star Wars Rebels: Season 3."

Disney's second installment in its animated "Star Wars" series, "Rebels" has proven it can open the universe up to new characters that fans fall in love with, while also sprinkling in favorites like Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, and fan-favorite Ashoka, who first appeared in the "Star Wars: Clone Wars" series.

Series show-runner Dave Filoni has brought new aspects to George Lucas' universe that expand his vision while crafting emotional and thrilling stories that keep our attention. The series follows the adventures of the spaceship "Ghost" and its inhabitants which focus on young Jedi Ezra, his master Kanan Jarrus, Hera, Zeb, Sabine, and Rex. This rag-tag group fights and survives together, while navigating their own interpersonal issues. Season Three also brings us villain Grand Admiral Thrawn, who was created by author Timothy Zahn in the "Star Wars" novels of the 1990s. And since all of Disney's current books, movies, and TV shows are now canon, that's a big deal since they wiped out most of the earlier "Star Wars" novels as "legends" rather "fact."

The Blu-ray of the series is colorful and sounds terrific and comes with a multitude of extras that "Rebels" fans will enjoy. The most comprehensive is an in-depth analysis of every episode called "Rebels Recon." These are included on each of the three discs.

Also included are Audio Commentaries on select episodes, and shorter featurettes on popular characters like Mon Mothma, Thrawn, and Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not only that, we get a closer look at Saw Gerrera who appeared in the recent feature film "Rogue One" played by Forest Whitaker.

All in all, this is a superbly crafted show and adds much to the grand story that is "Star Wars." A must for fans.

"Star Wars Rebels - The Complete Season Three"
Blu-ray
$45.99
www.disney.com