Star Wars: Visions Episode 4-6 Review
Credit to: Disney and LucasfilmThings are really heating up
Welcome back, y’all! This time around, we’re diving back into the world, rather the galaxy, of Star Wars! So far, Visions has been off to a pretty good start. The third episode did throw in a bit of a wrench for me, but things are picking up in these next three episodes, so thankfully, we’re back on track. Just like the last review for the first three episodes, I’ll be keeping each episode breakdown pretty short, since these episodes are pretty short, and the articles would just be dragging on if I wrote any unnecessary parts into the reviews. That’s enough out of me, so without any further ado, let’s jump right into the review.
Episode 4: The Village Bride
This episode is a little confusing in terms of plot, but boy is it beautiful. So we start off with a man wearing some interesting head gear and clothing, who uses an interesting folding and extending device that seems to be used for scanning terrain. We see a masked woman walking down the hill behind him, a companion of his. He notes how she finally came, but she says it was because she needed to be cautious. He assures her that the Empire wouldn’t find her where they are. They speak about his planet exploring, but the conversation is broken when they notice a man carrying a well-dressed woman on his back using some sort of seated backpack. We divert our attention to the couple, and learn that the woman is his bride, and he’s carrying her to a sacred place that will serve as a ceremonial place for them. The bride explains how she wishes her parents could see her now, but the groom assures her that they are, and they are “one with the planet”, as are his parents. The couple arrives at an area with a massive stone overlooking a waterfall. The two engage in some sort of prayer and touch the stone, which causes a blue sphere of energy to grow and engulf everything in the near vicinity. The couple looks around with a smile on their faces, as we see them reliving memories from when they were children, as these memories are shown to them by the planet itself. Suddenly, the land rumbles, and the distant mountains and hills begin to crumble and sink into the land, stopping in front of their feet. We oddly move on from this.. somehow, as the couple travels back down the mountain, admiring the sunset. We focus on the explorer and his masked companion as the explorer explains to her how the Separatists once came to the planet to strip it of resources and abuse the people. We see the masked woman experience a sudden flashback, where we see her weakly reaching out to something as the sounds of war go off in the background. We also move on suddenly from this… huh. Anyways, the explorer and the masked woman are sitting in a village, eating and drinking with the other villagers who celebrate the union between the new husband and wife. The couple sits there without smiling, and we learn that it’s because a group of bandits will arrive to take the wife. These bandits came and reprogrammed the left behind Separatist battle droids to fight for them, and have used them ever since to terrorize the villagers and take their resources. We suddenly see the bride’s sister protest the idea, and proposes a rebellion but the bride explains it’s too late. The sister storms off with a handful of villagers who agree. When morning comes, the bandits have arrived on a YT series freighter (the same series that the iconic Millennium Falcon belongs to). The bandit leader makes it seem as though the sacrifice is necessary for their betterment, an explains that it’s a way to keep the peace and keep precautions. Suddenly, he has his battle droids bring out the bride’s sister, and speaks of his precautions further. As he draws his blaster to fire at the sister, we see the blaster bolt frozen in place. The masked woman is now unmasked, and is using the Force to stop it. She redirects the bolt into the blaster, disarming him. A firefight breaks out, but is quickly put to an end by the explorer, who uses his helmet as an explosive to deactivate all of the droids. The two remaining bandits run, leaving the leader alone. As a last stand, he picks up the bride and holds her at gunpoint. Suddenly, the Force user ignites a beautiful yellow katana-like lightsaber, and SWIFTLY cuts off the mans hand, and kills him in the process. The villagers are at peace now, and the explorer has joined them, but the Force user moves on, and flies off into the galaxy now that she’s revealed herself. End of episode.
You know, I’d usually be very disappointed by an episode or a film that has a rocky plot, but I still managed to enjoy this. I really liked all of the characters, and I really enjoyed how the story sets a tone of despair and the acceptance of a sad fate, but uses that to set up a well thought out resolution. Sure, it was a bit too simple the way the explorer and the Force user defeated the bandits, but for a 20 minute episode, it had an interesting beginning, a sad middle, and a happy ending. The Force user and the explorer were interesting, the villagers were interesting, and the story overall was interesting. I do wish it was fleshed out more, but other than that, not bad.
4 out of 5.
Episode 5: The Ninth Jedi
This episode right here was absolutely fire. Simple as that. Anyways, we start this episode hearing the narration of a mysterious man, who explains how the Jedi are basically gone, and how the galaxy is now in the middle of a war. A man named Margrave Juro, leader of the planet Hy Izlan has been planning on mining kyber crystals near the territory to bring back the Jedi. These crystals will power new lightsabers, allowing for new Jedi to step up to the plate and fight back any and all evil, the evil of the Sith. We pan over to a shot of an asteroid with a glowing kyber crystal being latched onto and pulled into the atmosphere of the nearby planet. We then pan over to some sort of temple built on top of an asteroid, and we see a ship pull in and land directly in front of the structure. Inside, we see a young robed man named Ethan who informs the hooded figures within the temple that he’s received a transmission from a masked man to arrive at the location. They all reveal that they received this same transmission, and Ethan decides to let the message play as he wonders if it’s authentic. A hologram begins to play, and the masked man, Juro, explains that he’s calling all hidden Jedi in order to rebuild the Jedi Order. All of these characters have been personally invited to the temple, the Aerial Temple, to receive the weapons of a Jedi. They all debate whether or not Juro can be trusted, or if he’s even real. They’re all suddenly surprised by a tall droid who explains that the Margrave will appear, and it’ll be soon. On the planet of Hy Izlan below, we see a girl named Lah Kara alongside her droid Four Nines riding on their hover bike to arrive back home to her father, a lightsaber smith named Lah Zhima. The smith puts together a brand new lightsaber, and allows Kara to hold it, and she begins to practice with it as Four Nines fires a few blaster bolts at her. She notices that the blade has no color, but Zhima assures her that she’ll grow strong enough for it have a color one day. Their conversation is cut short when a ship lands on their property, and Zhima starts to wrap up a collection of newly built lightsabers, tying the wrap around his daughter’s waist. They hug, and he hurries her out of the house. As she leaves, a duo of mercenaries holds Zhima at gunpoint, telling him he’s under arrest for creating lightsabers for masterless Jedi. As they fire, he deflects the bolt into one of his machines, forcing it to explode. The girl watches in horror as they knock out her father and carry him away. Skipping ahead a bit, Kara is chased by one of the mercenaries, but actually takes him out by slicing through his speeder. Smooth. She hurries to a shipyard and asks a grumpy droid to take her to the Aerial Temple, but he’s on his break. She’s forced to bribe him, and he finally decides to take her. Upon her arrival, she’s questioned by the group of Jedi if she’s the on delivering the lightsabers, which she says yes to. She gives them the lightsabers in a hurry, but suddenly, their blades are all red. Ethan is shocked, but everyone is taken off guard when the mysterious tall droid opens its body up to reveal the Margrave himself. As one of the secret Sith tries to attack him, Juro swiftly disarms him and literally cuts him in half. Holding the weapon, Margrave turns the red saber into a bright green one, and begins battling the Sith alongside Kara and Ethan. During the battle, Kara’s blade finally turns green, and the Sith she’s fighting is actually an undercover Jedi, and his blade turns purple. As they all finally defeat the Sith, Kara begs the Margrave to help her rescue her father, which he immediately accepts. Kara, Margrave Juro, Ethan, and the undercover Jedi all walk out of the temple, ready to rescue Lah Zhima. End of episode.
Honestly, I’m in love with this episode. So much so, that I really had to think about which episode I preferred more: this one, or episode two. I personally still think episode two is better, but only by a small margin… which may or may not have been because Boba Fett is in it. No but seriously, I say that because episode two gave us a great story without relying on Jedi or Sith history, the Force, or anything like that. Sure, Jay’s a Jedi, but he’s an inexperienced Padawan who didn’t use the Force, and couldn’t even get his lightsaber working. He’s just a singer who was there to support his friend and band, no matter what. Back on the topic of this episode, I just loved Kara. She’s immediately presented as a Force user, but is clearly inexperienced, and is trying to find her way as a brand new Jedi. Even after earning the green lightsaber color, she’s still unsure and eager to come to the rescue, and I appreciate a character who isn’t presented as all powerful. More specifically, I prefer characters that are written well like Kara, unlike… you know who. Anyways! Loved this episode, loved the plot twist, and I really hope we see Kara and her fellow Jedi allies again in the future.
5 out of 5.
Episode 6: t0-B1
This episode is absolutely adorable. It’s not jaw-dropping by any means, but it’s just cute, and it’s pretty fun to watch. Alright, so we start this episode in the perspective of T0-B1 (I’ll call him Toby from now on), waking up as his creator, Professor Mitaka, an armless fellow, finishes up Toby’s adjustments. We watch as Toby stretches and wishes all of his droid friends a good morning. Mitaka asks Toby to find his friend C03, and Toby’s on the case. He walks through the lab and climbs up a separate section of the facility and finally finds C03, who’s etching in drawings on the walls, which are actually some scenes from various Star Wars movies. Later, the professor finds Toby playing with a little sword in front of a basement door with C03 and friends, but Mitaka reminds him not to go inside. Mitaka gathers all of his “children” so they can get to work on solving how to bring life back to the planet they’re on, but Toby starts to get a bit distracted as he imagines himself as a great Jedi boy, taking on Imperial walkers and Star Destroyers. Mitaka snaps him out of it, but begins to seriously understand that Toby has something calling to him. A bit weird since he’s a droid, but roll with it. Mitaka informs him that if he really wishes to become a Jedi, he needs to find a kyber crystal, but there’s only one on the planet. With that, Toby begins his search, and brings C03 with him. They search quite literally every corner of the planet, but find absolutely nothing. It dawns on Toby to look inside the basement, the only place he hasn’t searched, and when he opens the basement door, he finds an old ship. He gets a bit too excited as he enters the ship, pressing a bunch of buttons. Foolishly, he transmits a message, asking all Jedi to report in. Instead, a nearby Star Destroyer picks up on the message, and tracks it down. Mitaka demands that Toby exits the ship, and actually uses the Force to rip open the door, surprising Toby now that he knows Mitaka is a Jedi. Mitaka escorts him to a hole in the wall, gives him two halves of a lightsaber, and seals the wall with C03 inside as well. Toby eventually falls asleep, but when he wakes up, he sees that the lab is in ruins. The other droids are destroyed, and Toby discovers Mitaka’s grave. He finds an old hologram of Mitaka’s, and decides to fulfill Mitaka’s dream by completing his research. He researches life, rebuilds his droid companions, and even gets to form clouds and has them rain. He successfully fulfilled Mitaka’s mission. As he falls to his knees, crying tears of joy, we hear Mitaka tell Toby to use the force. Suddenly, a kyber crystal floats out of Toby’s body, and Toby is able to power on the lightsaber given to him. He performs acrobatics and plays in the rain with the saber, but notices an Imperial ship landing in front of him. A dark figure walks toward him with a red lightsaber, and Toby realizes that he’s responsible for Mitaka’s death. Toby powers on his saber, and the two engage in battle. Toby puts up an alright fight, but his arm is cut off. With the help of his droid friends and the blessing of a Force ghost Mitaka, Toby is victorious over the dark warrior. The next morning, we see Toby with a repaired arm inside the old ship with C03, and decides to help other planets using Mitaka’s research, “because that’s what Jedi do.” End of episode.
This was adorable. Now, I can see how this might disappoint people, but really, it’s not all bad. Sure it’s not too serious, and sure it’s probably too kiddy, but we can use that break. We get a fun, lighthearted, non-canon story just for our enjoyment. It plays with the ideas of what it is to be a Jedi, and applies them to an adorable droid boy who can’t stop thinking about becoming one. He faces a legitimate challenge, and is forced into the galaxy after his creator dies, but still manages to stay true to his lighthearted self by wanting to help others across the galaxy. You gotta admit, it’s pretty cute. It’s not amazing, not at all, but it’s a pretty alright story with some great animation. I definitely don’t like the idea of a droid Jedi, but everything else wasn’t too bad.
3 out of 5.
Final Thoughts
I am really liking this series. It’s giving us a bunch of action, a bunch of lore (non-canon, but still), and a load of new and interesting characters. At this rate, I can 100% see a second season coming sooner than we think. Sure, there are some gripes I have, but overall, this series is actually holding its own. But what did you all think? Let me know on Instagram and Twitter, and make sure you’re following us there so you can get all of the latest news and reviews on all of your favorite entertainment topics. That’s all from me, this has been The Wolf Den!
