Out of the blue, Star Wars announced their new animated series Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures and then promptly dropped it on their Star Wars Kids YouTube Channel. The trailer teased an anime-inspired tromp across the Star Wars films we know and love, complete with original audio and music from those films. It was a high-octane, blast you in the face, blitz of a minute that got quite a few fans quite excited.
Before we could breathe, season one dropped in its entirety. It’s a brief “season” to be certain. Six episodes that run at a blink-and-you’ll-miss it time of between sixty and eighty seconds each. I think it’s a bit unfair to call them episodes. While they’re short, there’s no plot to speak of in each episode. Instead, they highly a single character or a single scene from the Star Wars galaxy. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Each short is fast paced, filled with vibrant and kinetic animation that you can’t help but watch and then go back again just to see what you missed. The animation is clearly inspired by Japanese animation, though there’s a hint of Star Wars: Resistance in there. All in all, it definitely has that “grab hold, because we’re going on an adventure!” feel that you’d expect from our beloved galaxy far, far away.
Here’s a rundown of each episode:
Luke Skywalker – The Journey Begins
In sixty seconds the sense of longing and hope, combined with sheer awe in the presence of the Force is encompassed perfectly as we meet a young and idealistic farmboy who will change the fate of the galaxy.
Darth Vader – Power of the Dark Side
An animated retelling of that classic scene from Rogue One, it’s surprising to see an animated short clearly aimed at a younger audience that unafraid to shy away from the sheer horror and violence that comes when you stand in the way of the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Luke vs. The Wampa – Cavern Escape
Here we glimpse at the now familiar scene of a captured Luke Skywalker left to the harsh mercies of a fearsome Wampa on the icy planet of Hoth. This short seems to focus a bit more on Luke’s internal struggle and has a touch of over-the-top anime-inspired acrobatics.
R2-D2 – A Loyal Droid
Probably my favorite short, both for the beautiful imagery in its opening and the tiny (but terrifying) detail it adds to R2 and 3PO’s escape from the Tantive IV.
Chewbacca – The Trusty Co-Pilot
This short does a wonderful job capturing that trademark Solo cockiness with animated visual expressions then combines existing dialogue and sound effects from the films to give the impression of new and unseen adventures had by Chewie and his Corellian pal.
Darth Vader – Might of the Empire
This could’ve been an in-universe Imperial propaganda film. With bare minimum dialogue and an awe-inspiring look at the military might of the Empire, we get a true sense of just how powerful the Emperor’s regime really is.
So, while there’s not a large quantity of material in the first season of Star Wars: Galaxy of Adventures, there is a lot of quality. Also, older fans should keep in mind that this series’ target audience is a younger generation less familiar with the saga we’ve all come to know and love. Each short feels like a teaser for Star Wars as a whole and is informing the viewer that there is a literal Galaxy of Adventures out there waiting for them. Galaxy of Adventures accomplishes its goal of generating excitement and left this reviewer ready to dive back into intimately familiar films with new gusto.
Clearly, Lucasfilm is looking to use this series to draw a new generation of viewers into the a galaxy far, far away and is using high-energy animation to do it — and they’re doing it very, very well.
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