Ahsoka: The Complete First Season (Steelbook) (4K UHD Review)

Reviewed by: Bill Hunt
Review Date: Dec 11, 2024
Format: 4K Ultra HD

Director

Various, created by Dave Filoni, based on Star Wars created by George Lucas

Release Date(s)

2023 (December 3, 2024)

Studio(s)

Lucasfilm/Disney+ (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

Film/Program Grade: C+
Video Grade: A+
Audio Grade: A
Extras Grade: B-

Review

[Editor’s Note: Blu-ray versions are not yet available in the States, but the UK Ultra HD package is a 4K + Blu-ray Combo and the BDs are all region.]

Set after the fall of the Galactic Empire (as seen in Return of the Jedi) and contemporary with Jon Favreau’s The Mandalorian, Dave Filoni’s Ahsoka series tells the continuing story of Anakin Skywalker’s former apprentice Ahsoka Tano (played by Rosario Dawson), who left her training shortly before Palpatine’s Order 66 brought an end to the Jedi. Essentially, Ahsoka begins where the Star Wars: Rebels animated series ended. Ahsoka has uncovered clues that suggest Grand Admiral Thrawn (Lars Mikkelsen) is plotting a return to challenge the New Republic, which means she may also have a way to find Ezra Bridger (Eman Esfandi), the young Jedi whose sacrifice saved the planet Lothal and banished Thrawn in the first place. This of course is of great interest to Sabine Wren (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) and New Republic general Hera Syndulla (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Ezra’s former Rebel compatriots aboard the Ghost (and essentially his family).

But Ahsoka has a difficult history with Sabine, who for a time trained as her Jedi apprentice before circumstances—and a clash of personalities—pushed them apart. Sabine has languished ever since, essentially living in Ezra’s childhood home in the com tower on Lothal, and now she feels abandoned and alone. A chance to find Ezra is too important to pass up, but as Sabine is attempting to decipher the star map Ahsoka brings her, she’s attacked and left for dead by the lightsaber wielding Shin Hati (Ivanna Sakhno), who is herself the apprentice of the former Jedi Baylan Skoll (the late Ray Stevenson, to whom the first episode is now dedicated), both of whom are working in service of the ex-Nightsister witch Morgan Elsbeth (Diana Lee Inosanto, last seen in The Mandalorian). Their plan is to use this recovered star map to find Thrawn as well and bring about the end of the New Republic, and only Ahsoka, Sabine, and Hera stand in their way.

Boy, this one is tough. I’m a big fan of Star Wars: Rebels. And when I heard that Ahsoka was essentially going to be a live-action continuation of that series, its characters and its storylines, I was excited. But over its first eight episodes, Ahsoka is the one thing I never expected it to be: dull. Everything takes twice as long as it needs to, the dialogue is Prequel Trilogy stilted (“We’ve been looking for this.” “That’s too bad.”), and characters too often stand around with their arms crossed, giving each other allegedly meaningful looks to somber music. The direction and cinematography here regularly fail to take advantage of the wide “scope” framing. The editorial pacing is glacial. Worst of all, heavy use of the StageCraft volume means that characters too often feel completely disconnected from their surroundings. Clearly, there is a big difference between directing voice actors at a microphone and storyboarding animation sequences, and directing real human actors on a live set. And Dave Filoni hasn’t mastered it yet. But the show’s other directors fare little better, which suggests that over-reliance on StageCraft is a big reason why so much of Disney+ Star Wars just… kinda sucks.

Here’s the thing: Great filmmaking requires a command of craft. And that requires experience. Lucasfilm’s approach so far has been to seek out young or new-on-the-scene filmmakers, often darlings of the indie circuit, and recruit them into the Star Wars fold. But too many seem A) in awe of the franchise, and B) overwhelmed by the technical challenges of making effects-laden Star Wars, particularly on a virtual volume. Compare Ahsoka, The Mandalorian, or The Book of Boba Fett—all made with heavy reliance on StageCraft—to Andor (reviewed here), which is shot on real sets and locations (and is written and run by more seasoned filmmakers) and thus feels alive, energetic, and vital. Compare Ahsoka to Rebels, which was also full of dynamism and emotion. It’s ironic, because Filoni often references Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (reviewed here at The Bits) as an inspiration. But that film too is bursting with life and energy. Even the actors here—especially when they’re new to Star Wars and lifelong fans of it—fall prey this. They put on their costumes, walk on set or step into the volume, and they’re so reverent of the responsibility they feel that they freeze up and forget to emote. And it takes an experienced director to recognize all this and put everyone at their ease.

As for Ahsoka, the casting and production design mostly nail it here. Dawson is the definitely right choice to play the title character, though I will admit to being somewhat let down by Mikkelsen’s Thrawn—he’s clearly the voice, yet his physical presence isn’t nearly imposing enough. But the writing too often feels like a first draft, with obvious, on-the-nose dialogue. When characters speak, you need to believe they’re real people, with real lives, joy, and pain. Compare any of Ahsoka, Sabine, or Thawn’s speeches here to those of Cassian, Kino, or Luthen in Andor. The writing and performances in the latter are simply at a different level. An example: Sabine has spent 10-15 years living in Ezra’s home, wielding his lightsaber, and she risks everything to find him. When they finally meet, you want them to leap into each other’s arms. Instead, they’re both too cool for the room (or rather the volume), and it’s too clever by half. Do they love each other as siblings? Romantically? No idea. None of it feels honest or authentic. All we get is another instance of modern Star Wars’ sanitized longing glances, a trope so overused it’s become meaningless. Another moment: Ezra and Hera finally see each other after a decade. What do they do? Nothing. Stand there emoting. “Hi Hera… I’m home.” Lucas wipe away before a hug.

It’s almost like Filoni has internalized this weird George Lucas rule that no one in Star Wars can show emotion. Except in the Original Trilogy, there was lots of it! We all loved Luke because of his honest emotions, we loved Leia because of her fire, we loved Han because he was rash and spoke his mind. They all felt like real people. And none of those characters ever held back until Return of the Jedi, the film that gave us such stunning dialogue as “Many Bothans died to bring us this information” and “I’m sorry” “Hold me.” Andor works because it reminds us of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back—not just its gritty lived-in world that feels real, but the way its characters act and speak to each other. Ahsoka, much of The Mandalorian, and The Book of Boba Fett all fail because they remind us of Attack of the Clones—stiff as kabuki theater and performed on a virtual volume.

Also: Where the hell is Zeb?

Ahsoka certainly looks good at least. The series was captured digitally in the ARRIRAW codec (at 4.5K) by cinematographers Eric Steelberg and Quyen Tran, with Arri Alexa LF cameras, Panavision Ultra Vista lenses, and heavy use of the StageCraft volume. It’s finished as a 4K Digital Intermediate at the 2.39:1 aspect ratio and is presented on physical 4K Ultra HD encoded for 100 GB discs, this time with high dynamic range in both Dolby Vision and HDR10. The resulting image quality is fantastic and a massive improvement over the Disney+ stream. With video data rates consistently in the 60-70 Mbps range, the result is greater clarity and fine detail, a notably richer color palette, and a far more dimensional image. There’s none of the banding and artifacting sometimes visible in the Disney+ stream. Notably, the HDR experience on disc is superb, with deeply detailed shadows and more naturally bright and eye-reactive highlights. Unfortunately, it’s painfully obvious when the StageCraft volume is being used—and it’s being used way too often. But this is still a gorgeous 4K image overall.

Primary audio on these discs is offered in English Dolby Atmos. And unlike the compromised sound experience on the Disney+ stream, the uncompressed Atmos mix really shines. All the dynamics are present, with pleasing LFE and immersive use of the height and surround channels. The soundstage is nicely wide, with subtle atmospherics all around the listener. Dialogue is clean and readily discernible, movement is smooth, and the Fumio Hayasaka-influenced score by Kevin Kiner (The Bad Batch, Rebels) is offered in pleasing fidelity. Additional sound options include English 2.0 Descriptive Audio, as well as French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitle options include English for the Hearing Impaired, French, and Spanish.

Disney’s 4K Ultra HD Steelbook release of Ahsoka: The Complete First Season features all eight episodes spread across two UHD discs. But there are no Blu-ray versions included, nor are they available separately—Blu-ray versions have yet to be announced for this wave of Disney+ TV titles. This could have something to do with the fact that disc replication capacity is currently strained, so the studio wants to focus on having enough 4K product to meet demand, but it’s hard to say. (Hopefully, Blu-rays will be announced and released early next year.) [Editor’s Note: As stated above, the UK Ultra HD package is a 4K + Blu-ray Combo and the BDs are all region.] As before, there are also no Digital codes included. (Presumably, this is to protect the value of the show on Disney+.) The specific episodes and bonus features that are included are as follows:

DISC ONE (EPISODES 1-4)

Part One: Master and Apprentice (UHD – 54:46)
Part Two: Toil and Trouble (UHD – 42:18)
Part Three: Time to Fly (UHD – 34:53)
Part Four: Fallen Jedi (UHD – 38:29)
- Ahsoka: Legacy (HD – 10:30)
- Path of the Apprentice (HD – 10:13)
- Ghosts of the Past (HD – 12:27)
- Darkness Rising (HD – 11:54)

DISC TWO (EPISODES 4-8)

Part Five: Shadow Warrior (UHD – 49:55)
- Audio Commentary with Dave Filoni
Part Six: Far, Far Away (UHD – 46:28)
Part Seven: Dreams and Madness (UHD – 43:00)
Part Eight: The Jedi, the Witch, and the Warlord (UHD – 46:47)
- Audio Commentary with Dave Filoni

There are about 45 minutes’ worth of behind the scenes featurettes here—they touch on key themes from the season (particularly the master and apprentice relationship), and Rebels fans will appreciate the callbacks to the past. We also get lots of looks at the show’s craft—the costumes, the props, etc. I don’t want to spoil too much here though, because there are some very nice moments that fans should experience fresh. The audio commentaries are interesting for a number of reasons, one of which is that Filoni is clearly aware of the show’s pacing issues. And as I write this review, news has just broken that production for Ahsoka: Season Two is moving to the UK and that “multiple production techniques will be employed.” Translated, I think this means someone at Lucasfilm (perhaps Filoni and Favreau) has finally realized that StageCraft is quietly strangling Star Wars. Suffice it to say that nothing—and I mean nothing—has given me more hope for the future of the Star Wars franchise than that piece of news.

Look, Dave Filoni is a talented guy. And nobody wants Ahsoka to be great more than he does. I love Rebels and these characters enough to give this show a second chance. The good thing is, this cast is more than capable of delivering, and the first season does have moments—brief flashes that remind you why you liked these characters to begin with—that one can build on. In addition to less reliance on StageCraft, may I suggest a couple of additional adjustments? Shoot no script before it’s truly ready! And no more standing around glancing at each other please; let’s have some real emotion for a change. Fucking hug, laugh spontaneously, snap in frustration, shed a tear, go for a kiss—something! Because after this season, I’d almost rather watch Sabine painting her iconic Ghost crew mural for eight episodes. But to quote Hera from Rebels, “We have hope… hope that things will get better.” Fingers crossed, maybe they will.

- Bill Hunt

(You can follow Bill on social media on Twitter, BlueSky, and Facebook, and also here on Patreon)