Star Wars: Visions: Season One: Episodes 1-3
September 22, 2021 9:32 PM - Season 1, Episode 1 - Subscribe
Anthology series of animated shorts celebrating Star Wars through the lens of the world’s best anime creators and storytellers. Episodes 1-3.
Episodes range anywhere from 14 to 23 minutes, so it seems weird to discuss them individually.
The Duel
A wandering stranger with a mysterious past defends a village from powerful bandits.
Tatooine Rhapsody
A band with big dreams must save one of their own from Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett.
The Twins
Twins born into the Dark Side clash above a massive Star Destroyer.
Episodes range anywhere from 14 to 23 minutes, so it seems weird to discuss them individually.
The Duel
A wandering stranger with a mysterious past defends a village from powerful bandits.
Tatooine Rhapsody
A band with big dreams must save one of their own from Jabba the Hutt and Boba Fett.
The Twins
Twins born into the Dark Side clash above a massive Star Destroyer.
I've been on a Kurosawa kick this summer and when the title card of The Duel came on, I uttered "This Is My Shit" and was 100% on board for everything that came after. The duel itself was rad - the floating log! The red lightsaber behind the waterfall! It was amazing.
Tatooine Rhapsody was kind of silly but I respected what they were trying to do. It's not like I'm ever not on board for an inspiring story about power pop changing the galaxy. And The Twins was - unexpected - out of the three I've watched so far this was the one I could imagine being referenced in canon. A very Star Wars sort of story complete with a spacefaring vessel that's just an absurd riff on another spacefaring vessel, overpowered twins, lots of yelling about the dark side, etc, but it still felt fresh and I liked the animation style.
Really looking forward to watching the rest over the next couple days. As I said to a friend it's just so refreshing to see officially produced SW content that gives so little of a shit about canon, Skywalkers, etc.
posted by potrzebie at 11:20 PM on September 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
Tatooine Rhapsody was kind of silly but I respected what they were trying to do. It's not like I'm ever not on board for an inspiring story about power pop changing the galaxy. And The Twins was - unexpected - out of the three I've watched so far this was the one I could imagine being referenced in canon. A very Star Wars sort of story complete with a spacefaring vessel that's just an absurd riff on another spacefaring vessel, overpowered twins, lots of yelling about the dark side, etc, but it still felt fresh and I liked the animation style.
Really looking forward to watching the rest over the next couple days. As I said to a friend it's just so refreshing to see officially produced SW content that gives so little of a shit about canon, Skywalkers, etc.
posted by potrzebie at 11:20 PM on September 22, 2021 [3 favorites]
I feel like this series is a kind of a glimpse of a world without IP, or maybe of Star Wars in 300 years (assuming it doesn't spawn a full on church eventually).
posted by joeyh at 9:35 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by joeyh at 9:35 PM on September 23, 2021 [1 favorite]
I loved The Duel. The town guards just became some of my favourite Star Wars background characters.
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:53 AM on September 24, 2021
posted by EndsOfInvention at 2:53 AM on September 24, 2021
The Duel frustrated me in that every other character interested me more than the duelists. The droid was cool, the old villager was fun, and the village guards/mercs were a bunch of interesting designs and concepts that all had to die to show how powerful Sith are.
The very last reveal about the wanderer and the crystals lifted it somewhat and made me more interested in his story. But overall, it's a reminder that I like Star Wars better when it drifts away from the Force stuff of its core.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:50 PM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
The very last reveal about the wanderer and the crystals lifted it somewhat and made me more interested in his story. But overall, it's a reminder that I like Star Wars better when it drifts away from the Force stuff of its core.
posted by scaryblackdeath at 3:50 PM on September 24, 2021 [3 favorites]
At the end of Tatooine Rhapsody I noticed the Japanese voice actor credits, and went back to rewatch the song in what I assume is the original Japanese - I think it works better that way. But then I also noticed D+ has dubbed the show in 15 other languages including the music!
I recommend going back to the closing song of the episode and flipping through Cantonese, Dutch, German, Portugese, Korean, Finnish, etc... the effort to write lyrics and record singing in each language is really impressive.
posted by Gortuk at 7:34 AM on September 25, 2021
I recommend going back to the closing song of the episode and flipping through Cantonese, Dutch, German, Portugese, Korean, Finnish, etc... the effort to write lyrics and record singing in each language is really impressive.
posted by Gortuk at 7:34 AM on September 25, 2021
went back to rewatch the song in what I assume is the original Japanese - I think it works better that way.
That’s true for a lot f Disney stuff. The Phinedroids and Ferbots song Was SOOO much better in the original German.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:51 PM on September 25, 2021
That’s true for a lot f Disney stuff. The Phinedroids and Ferbots song Was SOOO much better in the original German.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 2:51 PM on September 25, 2021
The Duel - Yeah we get it, a whole lot about Star Wars maps cleanly to classic Samurai stories. This is intentional. Try to keep up. The reveal that our "hero" also has a red lightsaber and is apparently a Sith hunting other Sith is the one thing that makes this story interesting, especially compared to the Good Blue Versus Bad Red of so many other stories in this series.
Tatooine Rhapsody - This was cute and silly. Almost too cute, but it's a fun story about how the Jedi escaped the purge and blended in afterwards, and the constant struggle to keep your head down while knowing you maybe have the power to help.
The Twins - This was incredibly stupid, in a good way. Everything bombastic about Anime, right down to primary colors representing good and evil and fighting over magical crystal macguffins. The decision to lift the hyperspace blast straight out of The Last Jedi was, uh, certainly a decision. I don't think that's a trick you can keep using over and over and expect it to have the same results.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:29 PM on September 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
Tatooine Rhapsody - This was cute and silly. Almost too cute, but it's a fun story about how the Jedi escaped the purge and blended in afterwards, and the constant struggle to keep your head down while knowing you maybe have the power to help.
The Twins - This was incredibly stupid, in a good way. Everything bombastic about Anime, right down to primary colors representing good and evil and fighting over magical crystal macguffins. The decision to lift the hyperspace blast straight out of The Last Jedi was, uh, certainly a decision. I don't think that's a trick you can keep using over and over and expect it to have the same results.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 5:29 PM on September 28, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by the webmistress at 9:56 PM on September 22, 2021 [1 favorite]