Tag: jedi

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Review

kneisguy1 Comment

I have completed the first movie in this timeline marathon.

Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. I won’t be talking much about the history of the movie, because when it was released in 1999 I was two years old. In this review I will briefly talk about the plot of the film, and then go into key parts that can affect the franchise as a whole.

I do want to address that for some of this timeline marathon I have the physical copy of the movie/tv show/game. If there’s something I enjoy I personally want to get the disc of it to keep and watch offline instead of streaming sometime. For Episode 1 I have a DVD of it, and included in it is an extras page that says there’s unique online special features. I can’t use is on an Apple Macintosh or on my regular blu ray player, but someday I might figure out what online special features there are.

The movie starts off talking about taxes. A group called the Trade Federation has created a blockade around a planet to protest (?) paying higher taxes on the galaxy’s government, The Republic.

Two Jedi: Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi were sent to negotiate ending the blockade. It does not end well, and the Trade Federation invades the planet with a droid army.

To be completely honest, I don’t get how a blockade around the equator works. Couldn’t the people on the planet go around where there isn’t a blockade, then move to their original landing spot once they’re in the atmosphere?

I’m going to quickly type out the plot points for the rest of the movie. There’s going to be some details I miss, but these are the key moments in the film:

Gungan!

The two Jedi sneak aboard an invading ship to get to the planet Naboo and meet a frog-like creature called Jar-Jar. He leads them to his underwater city, where the other frog-like people (Gungans) give them a ship to go to the above-water city and rescue the Queen.

Podracing!

The gang has to emergency land on a sand planet called and find parts to fix the ship. They don’t have the money! However: they meet a young slave boy named Anakin there who tells them about this upcoming race. They enter the race and he won with his homemade pod racer. The group of travelers win the parts to fix their ship, and wins Anakin’s freedom as well.

Citys!

The team goes to the Republic capitol, Coruscant, to tell the government about the invasion on Naboo, and to get Anakin tested for Jedi school. Unfortunately, neither of those tasks work out. The Senate is stuck on procedures, discussions, and voting instead of actually taking action to do anything. As for Anakin, the Jedi Council decided that despite his high test scores, he is too old to start training to be a Jedi. Jedi take young kids before they become attached to family to help limit their emotions, and Anakin grew up with his mother, so they thing that’s a problem.

War!

Queen Padmé goes back to her home planet to help stop the invasion. She meets with her neighbors the Gungans, and together they form an army that will fight the droids on land, in the palace, and in space.

Anakin sneaks aboard a ship and flies to the spaceship that controls the robots, and on land the Jedi meet for the first time a Dark Jedi: A Sith named Maul.

This is pretty significant to the timeline marathon because in the previous Young Jedi Adventures series, there were no Sith in existence. The most those Young Jedi had to face were pirates, not evil Jedi with the same abilities as them.

Qui-Gon and Obi Wan were fighting to survive this battle, and unfortunately Qui-Gon did not survive. He was stabbed by Maul, and Obi Wan immediately avenged him by cutting Maul in half and throwing him down a shaft.

Up in space Anakin was able to successfully destroy the control station, and all of the droids shut down. The battle has been won.

Although they defeated the droids and Maul, the Jedi are left to wonder where he came from. Obi Wan has also been tasked with training Anakin to be a Jedi, so we will see how that plays out in the next few things to watch.

Favorite Scene

Since this isn’t a television show, I can’t just talk about my favorite episode of the series. I can however say that my favorite scene is probably the podracing scene. Going fast takes skill and Anakin really shows how great of a pilot he is in this scene.

The announcers are probably the best background/side character in this movie. The two headed brothers(?) talk about the events in the race, one in regular language, and the other in an alien dialect.

I think this scene also helps create an expansion on the galaxy in Star Wars. What do people do for fun? What sports do they have on planets since stuff like football and baseball are Earth sports.

Racing is universal. Kachow.

When I finished watching the movie I remembered that earlier this year I downloaded a video game for my Nintendo Switch called “STAR WARS EPISODE I: Racer”. It is quite possibly one of the worst names of a video game I’ve seen, but it’s a pretty fun racer so far.

I turned it on for the first time recently just to try it out, and so far it seems pretty easy to win races. I’m not sure why Anakin and the others in the movie were struggling to beat Sebulba.

I didn’t want to play as Anakin Skywalker during the game. Mostly for the same reason that I never play as Mario in a Mario Party game, but we all know from the movie that he won the race. This game starts at Anakin’s winning race, and then travels to other planets for the racing circuit.

Also, just look at his model in the game. Ugh.

All the other characters are aliens, and are some of the goofiest looking creatures with the silliest names. I won 1200 Truguts for first place as well. What are Truguts? Money I think? Hopefully.

I may continue this game as I go just to see how far in racing I can get. I can upgrade my speeder to get faster and control it even better, and maybe since in my game Anakin never won the race, the future movies and shows will all diverge into a fractured branch and it will alter the course of the timeline marathon.

That is all I have for timeline media number two: Episode One. The names and titles in this series will get even more confusing as we go I’m sure.

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures Review

kneisguy2 Comments

I finished the first show on my Star Wars timeline marathon! Young Jedi Adventures is a show for toddlers and families that released May 4 2023. Before watching this I didn’t realize this show is only a year old. The last episode released this year in February. I think that means there’s a possibility for season 2?

The show features the main 3 Jedi in the first Episode: Kai Brightstar the human, Lys the purple haired alien, and Nubs the blue teddy bear alien. In the first episode they leave the temple on Coruscant to visit the outer parts of the galaxy. They leave with a young pilot named Nash to live and train on their new temple located on Nash’s home planet: Tenoo.

The Jedi land and immediately have to save a diner from some pirates harassing and stealing supplies. This is Taborr and his crew of a robot and young alien pig. More on them later.

The Young Jedi go on many Adventures during all 25 episodes. They face many different trials and villains: Taborr and pirates, wild animals, eco-terrorists, other pirates, and some self-made conflicts.

My favorite recurring villain has to be the chicken-man alien, Raxlo (Haley Joel Osment). He appears in only three episodes, but his villainy is a joy to watch.

Raxlo first appears in episode six: “Forest Defenders”. He is seen cutting down an entire forest with a machine, becoming the opposite of the Lorax. He wanted to cut down the wood and sell it for money. The Jedi stop his machine, and Raxlo escapes to figure out a new business plan.

He then appears in episode 13: “Tree Troubles” where he blocks off water that is supporting the ecosystem of a tree, to be able to mine the hardened sap that formed underneath the tree. He was again defeated by the three Jedi.

The third and final appearance Raxlo has in the show is in episode 19 “Raxlo Strikes Back”. In this episode, he is now visiting a snow planet the Jedi frequent, to melt the snow to mine the rare gems underneath. The problem with melting the snow is that there are some space walruses who lay their eggs in the snow, and if it gets too warm the eggs will never hatch.

I really enjoy Raxlo because in this final episode he gets redeemed. He’s trying to make a profit to sell the gems in this episode, and his machine is stopped and the snow comes back, but the nice thing is that the people on the planet help him find a new place to dig for the gems. A place without space walrus eggs. After this episode I don’t think he’ll come back as a villain again.

There are redeemable villains in the show, and some who probably will be bad forever.

My least favorite episode has to be episode 11: “The Ganguls”. Nash the pilot has her new speeder stolen by a kid working for a gang of pirates. The pirates operate in a nearby town, and it is revealed that they have taken over the town and scared the residents into submission.

My problem is that the gang consists of three pirates total. I have no idea why the town of 15 or 20 shown people are afraid of three loud pirates, and that they even threw the mayor out of town.

The Jedi kids show up to town and convince the townsfolk to stand up to the pirates. I know this is a show for toddlers and creates life lessons for them, but come on..

There were some really nice episodes that I enjoyed in the series. One of them involved a recurring pirate villain Taborr. Taborr is a kid pirate who often tries to steal things from people to make a name for himself and get respect from the other pirates.

In episode 12: “Off the Rails”, Taborr and his small group of pirates try to rob a train taking logs of wood to a nearby village to build homes for them. Kai and Taborr fight and the train car they’re on disconnects from the rest, and they need to work together to not be stranded on the tracks.

I enjoyed this episode because when Taborr learned that the logs were going to help peoples’ homes, he had a change of heart and decided not to steal from the Jedi. Taborr was the first villain the young Jedi fought in the show, but in this episode it seems like there was more to him than just being a bad guy, and the Jedi learned that not everything had to be solved with fighting.

I think my absolute favorite episode of the show has to be episode 23: “The Caves of Batuu”. Kai had doubts about himself and wanting to be a perfect Jedi after failing to complete a trick with his lightsaber, and the Jedi Master he was training under took him to some nearby caves to clear his head.

This episode was done really well because there were no villains in it, just self-doubt. The Force took Kai through multiple visions in the cave to learn who he is and who he wants to be. For an episode that only runs for 11 minutes, I think this was the best was to show the mystical side of Star Wars for kids.

The show ends with episode 25 “The Prince and the Pirate”. Taborr is focused more on in this episode than the Jedi, and this episode runs the entire 30 minutes. A new space station called Starlight Beacon is officially opening the day they visit, and Taborr wants to steal the dedication plaque to make a name for himself and get respect. The young Jedi confront him, and I won’t spoil how it happens, but in the end it seems like Taborr does have a change of heart and seems to change his ways.

Starlight Beacon does open and the dedication plaque gets placed where it belongs. The group of friends watch the ceremony and are excited for what is to come in the future.

According to the Wookiepedia info on Starlight Beacon, two years after the grand opening of the station, Starlight Beacon is attacked and blown up by some terrorists to the Republic, and the space station is destroyed. Many people die, including some Jedi who help evacuate the station. I don’t actually know if there is a season 2 or 3 planned for this show, but hopefully the kids never come back to this station.

Overall, I thought the show was a good introduction for kids to get into Star Wars and learn some good life lessons along the way. If you have a kid or enjoy watching shows for toddlers, I think this would be a good selection.

I will be continuing my Star Wars timeline marathon, so be sure to check back on the main page for any updated when I finish something and write about it!