Star Wars: Visions is definitely one of the more offbeat Star Wars spin-offs from Disney Plus.<\/p>\n
Forget your live-action, fan-pleasing Obi Wan Kenobi<\/a> and Boba Fett series intended to plug small gaps in the Star Wars timeline; by contrast, this is a completely off-the-wall series of one-off animated adventures, created by the best Japanese anime studios with (at best) a loose interpretation of the rules and canon<\/a> of the franchise.<\/p>\n Created by studios Kamikaze Douga, Geno Studio (Twin Engine), Studio Colorido\/Twin Engine, TRIGGER, Kinema Citrus, Science Saru and Production I.G., each episode is completely different in style and story, and fans will definitely like some more than others. But the beauty of Star Wars: Visions<\/a> is that those favourites are likely to be different for every viewer \u2013 and potentially for different reasons.<\/p>\n Some episodes \u2013 especially the opening and closing instalments The Duel and Akakri \u2013 are deadly serious; others (like Tatooine Rhapsody) take more of a sideways, comedic look at the material. Some deal in over-the-top melodrama (e.g. episode three, The Twins and episode eight, Lop and Ocho), while some are more understated, like fifth episode The Village Bride.<\/p>\n There\u2019s something for everyone, in other words, and with such short episodes (never more than 20 minutes, and often little over half that) you\u2019re never stuck with a story you don\u2019t enjoy for too long. And if you do like what you see, well, perhaps there\u2019s a chance you\u2019ll see more \u2013 more than one episode (especially The Ninth Jedi and Lop & Ocho) views like a backdoor pilot, and if there\u2019s a good response it\u2019s easy to see Disney and LucasFilm making a full run of any of these (except maybe the Tattooine rock band \u2013 but that might just be me).<\/p>\n But what are these stories about? Well, again, it varies \u2013 though there are running themes. Appropriately given the influence of classic Japanese-language samurai movies on George Lucas, every episode focuses in some way on the Jedi and lightsabers, often with riffs that more clearly cast the Jedi as troubled ronin or samurai themselves.<\/p>\n One story sees a master and his apprentice heading to a distant planet, where they face off with a powerful Dark Side user (incidentally, a great concept for a series!). Another sees an upbeat droid dream of life having adventures with a lightsaber. A third sees a gang of \u201cmasterless Jedi\u201d unite after hundreds of years with no sabers in sight, while alternate stories include warring Force-sensitive siblings, a wandering warrior apparently hunting down Sith from planet to planet and a jaded ex-Jedi who\u2019s dragged back into helping others after giving up on life.<\/p>\n Fans might find themselves desperately working out how or where these stories fit into the ironclad Star Wars canon or timeline, and some are easier to place than others (Boba Fett turns up at one point, voiced by Temuera Morrison, which helps in that case). But the joy of these stories is often that they sort of\u2026 ignore canon and have a bit of fun with the material.<\/p>\n Would Jabba the Hutt really loosen up thanks to the power of rock n\u2019 roll? No, but it works. Wait, when were those conjoined Star Destroyers supposed to be from? Who cares! Would a lightsaber really have no colour until a trainee developed their connection to the Force? That doesn\u2019t fit what we\u2019ve seen before at all \u2013 but it creates such great visual storytelling, who\u2019s going to mind?<\/p>\n The whole thing takes your mind back to when the Star Wars universe felt less straitjacketed, more free and less bound by the all-important \u201crules\u201d that have gradually made a vast and varied fictional universe feel a lot smaller and more pedestrian. If this is a sign of LucasFilm\u2019s ethos going forward \u2013 more experimentation, out-there storytelling and outside ideas \u2013 it can only be a good thing, even if that is just limited to the world of animation.<\/p>\n In other words, if this collection of stories is a vision of the future, it\u2019s a good one \u2013 Jabba\u2019s favourite rock band and all.<\/p>\n Star Wars: Visions releases all nine episodes on Disney Plus<\/a> on Wednesday 22nd September. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi<\/a> page or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n Masterless Jedi, epic rock bands and unusual lightsaber duels make for an innovative new take on a galaxy far, far away. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":4728,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2021\/09\/star-wars-visions-review-anime-style-stories-take-the-galaxy-in-new-directions.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Masterless Jedi, epic rock bands and unusual lightsaber duels make for an innovative new take on a galaxy far, far away.","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/4727"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\""Star\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2021\/08\/astar_wars_visions_the_duel-48cbc75.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"astar_wars_visions_the_duel\"\\"")
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