I would regularly get into arguments with people commenting that during the modern Star Wars movies the Prequel films were good. They weren’t. As I discussed it I found that what they described as the Prequel films, weren’t the Prequel films, they were other works set during the Prequel Trilogy era. I bring this up as while we can all agree the Sequel Trilogy had issues, with the final just being blatantly bad that I wont defend it like I would the other two, there have been good Star Wars works released since Disney got the franchise (while bringing up all the crap Star Wars stuff that came out when Lucas was still in charge). I Like to list Visions amongst the good released since then so I’ll be talking about one of its episodes.

Star Wars Visions is an inventive work for the franchise. They gave different studios from outside America a chance to make a short non canon story set in the universe of the films. This allows a large number of different art styles to be seen as each short is done by a different studio so not only will tone and story be different, but how it’s animated too. Definitely a bonus to one such as I who loves the medium of animation and finds the constant replacement of art styles by CG or worse… live action remakes, to be a stab at the medium I love.

The Village Bride is the short from the first season of Visions produced by Kinema Citrus Co. It is set entirely on a forested planet evidently far from the galactic centre. We are introduced to our lead simply known as F who by her attire is clearly a Jedi but her friend who called her to the planet assures her the Empire won’t find her there as he comes to show her the wedding right of two people from a nearby village.

The short contains that lovely mystical feel to the Force and the Jedi that the prequel films completely failed to do with all its lightsabre jumping as we see the people’s connection to the planet they live in despite it having essentially been strip mined during the Clone Wars by the Separatists.

During the banquet celebrating the wedding couple F learns that a group of raiders reactivated some old battle droids and have basically been holding the village to ransom forcing their compliance and the bride is letting herself be taken as a hostage not wanting her people to be hurt.

This leads into a fast but effective battle between the Raiders, F and her associate.

I have to give credit to the music composed by Kevin Penkin who has worked on some great shows like Apothecary Diaries. It has a lovely main theme while unique to this short feels very fitting for a Star Wars track and includes a vocal element by Emi Evans to give a more traditional sound to it.

This short contains lovely animated landscapes and does what a good Star Wars story should do, the mix of mystical fantasy with a space setting. My one down side is that these are non canon as many of the shorts I feel could easily be included in the franchise’s history  for the better. Still I love these shorts for seeing what different artists can do with a beloved property.

Rating : 🎅🎅🎅🎅🎅