Fone Bone
Matt Zimmer
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Young Jedi / Yoda's Mission"
The Young Jedi
That was nowhere NEAR as bad as those awful shorts hinted the show would be. I'm not saying it will NEVER turn into Spidey And His Amazing Friends or Muppet Babies 2019. But it isn't that YET.
I also dig that this is literally the first Star Wars TV show since the Ewoks and Droids cartoons in the 1980's to have a theme song / main title. It amazes me how averse to that Star Wars has been over the years. I think the tune is a little mundane myself but I'm glad it exists.
Not bad. ***.
Yoda's Mission
I like the idea that the kid pirate Taborr has a chip on his shoulder and is mistreated by other criminals. If the bad guys on Spidey ever had motivations that relatable I might not hate that show as much as I do.
Also not terrible. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Nash's Race Day / The Lost Jedi Ship"
Nash's Race Day
Nothing objectionable. Which as far as me and preschool shows go, is my version of a rave review. ****.
The Lost Jedi Ship
Despite the Droid losing his courage I liked meeting a Droid who basically did his own thing and his service to others was done on his own clock. Sort of refreshing. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Get Well Nubs / The Junk Giant"
Get Well Nubs
The toddler moral was a little too annoyingly obvious, even for a preschool show.
Also, why didn't they use their light sabers to scare off the creature to begin with? *1/2.
The Junk Giant
It's going to get old quick if every time the Jedi investigate a crime, it turns out to be Taborr. But that seems the most likely future for this show.
I have to admit, I dug the heartwarming ending. I thought it was very sweet. ***.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Lys And The Snowy Mountain Rescue / Attack Of The Training Droids"
Lys And The Snowy Mountain Rescue
That was pretty much adorable. I am not made of stone.
Also should point out that the climax was more exciting and tension filled than a preschool show actually needs to be. ****.
Attack Of The Training Droids
Sort of a much less compelling version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
I think Yoda is utterly written out of character here. The biggest take I had from both Obi-Wan AND Yoda from the first six movies and The Clone Wars is that they were both hugely unfair and brutal Jedi taskmasters who never let up, and treated both Anakin and Luke with open contempt and dislike. For Obi-Wan this is a good narrative excuse for Anakin to turn against the Jedi if his Master clearly doesn't like him. For Yoda and Luke, I just believe he is a crappy trainer.
There is a way out of this plot inconsistency. It could be suggested Yoda and helpful and friendly to the kids when he trains them because they ARE just little kids. But frankly, that seems out of character for the jerkish and unwise Yoda Lucas showed us. I want to believe this version of Yoda is possible. But I don't he is. I think he's being badly written instead. *1/2.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Jellyfruit Pursuit / Creature Safari"
The Jellyfruit Pursuit
Honestly, that was a little TOO adorable. I mentioned I'm not made of stone, and I DO like cuteness. But I don't think any Star Wars project should be THIS cute.
That said, I liked the older pirates making fun of Taborr for essentially robbing a kid and his grandmother because it shows why he has a chip on his shoulder. Nash offering him a fruit at the end was nice too but of course he still completely resists the message about the offering.
My teeth hurt. My teeth shouldn't hurt watching Star Wars. **1/2.
Creature Safari
Another cartoon too cute for its own good but I DO like that it's the show giving us more examples of multifaceted Droids. It's amazing the best Droid representations in the entire franchise might turn out to be on this show. But I wouldn't actually rule that out. Droids are treated like equals with their own agency for once. And I like that fact. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Squadron / Forest Defenders"
Squadron
I laughed at the "That's a yes," thing from Nash. Not much in Disney Junior is funny. But that got a chuckle out of me. ***.
Forest Defenders
Channeling The Lorax here Big Time.
The good: It's refreshing the culprit isn't Taborr. The bad: Did it have to be a giant chicken? This show is already hurting Star Wars' credibility. Even that's too far.
Eh. **1/2.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Jedi And The Thief / The Missing Kibbin"
The Jedi And The Thief
I like Ace a lot and I like that she and Zia weirdly seem to be friends.
Another point in Zia's favor is she instantly dislikes the Taborr costume on the training Droid. She's concerned for the right reasons, and the fact that she made it a teaching moment says she is a teacher who actually has her head on straight. ****.
The Missing Kibbin
I would think a bounty hunter being hired to find a missing pet would be considered a career low point.
Anson is weirdly cute. I don't even understand WHY he is. He just is.
Cute episode in general. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Girl And Her Gargantua / The Show Must Go On"
The Girl And Her Gargantua
The episode disturbingly reminded me of Spidey And His Amazing Friends and Muppet Babies 2018 at their stupidest and worst. Very bad, dumb, and shoddy writing here. 1/2.
The Show Must Go On
Better than the first short, probably because it was absent idiotic, damaging villains. The song at the end sucked though. **1/2
Episode Overall: *1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Princess And The Jedi / Kai's Bad Day"
The Princess And The Jedi
Inoffensive and acceptable ***.
Kai's Bad Day
I like Tatooine being referred to as a "remote planet". It's actually Star Wars' go-to. But maybe the toddlers in the audience don't know that yet.
The Jawas have cute designs.
All right. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Visitor's Day / The Glowing Green Danger"
Visitor's Day
Dravin Bosh is an annoying villain. His cartoon dinosaur design is neat though. **.
The Glowing Green Danger
Cute. A little TOO cute, actually. My teeth hurt.
The gardening teacher also has an excellent dinosaur design. **1/2.
Episode Overall: **.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Ganguls / Bad Eggs"
The Ganguls
This episode isn't a Star Wars moral. It's a Star Trek moral. I like it for that.
This show sure has a lot of aliens that look like Dinosaurs.
Cool! ***1/2.
Bad Eggs
Hap's design looks suspiciously like the Grinch. He just grew the extra two arms to throw people off his trail. ***.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Off The Rails / The Thieves Of Tharnaka"
Off The Rails
I love that this episode is basically Kai and Tabor learning about each other and gaining respect and understanding. Talk about a Star Trek moral.
Very refreshing episode. ****1/2.
The Thieves Of Tharnaka
I love that the cartoon gave us an evil version of Jar-Jar Binks. Me hating Jar-Jar was unintentional on George Lucas' end. That nimrod actually thought I'd find him funny. I'm super annoyed with this Nabooan the entire time and given permission to hate him so he's working as intended.. Thanks, Young Jedi Adventures! I needed that! ****.
Episode Overall: ****1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Tree Trouble / Big Brother's Bounty"
Tree Trouble
Can't say I missed the annoying chicken alien, but I kinda like that they sort of gave him a partial redemption here. ***.
Big Brother's Bounty
I totally forgot how cute Anson was. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Meet The Young Jedi"
I don't like it being set in the days of Yoda before the Jedi fell. Casts a pall on the proceedings.
It's cute and all but I predict it will wind up being as badly written as Muppet Babies and Spidey And His Amazing Friends. Some Disney preschool shows become Elena Of Avalor. Most of them are not cut out for that. Predict that's this show's fate.
Is Nubs an Ewok? Continuity "Whaaa?!"!"
Eh. **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Nubs And The Flower Fiasco"
Star Wars just gave me diabetes. That is NOT a good sign. Playing a dangerous game here, Lucasfilm. *.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Kai's Daring Droid Rescue"
All I can think of during this entire cartoon is that cretinous little stinker Yoda is eventually gonna get this sweet young kid killed because of his idiot advice. I am not loving the subtext to this show. At all. Yoda is the freaking worst. *.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Lys' Creature Caper"
Random thoughts:
This is the first preschool show with the word "Wars" in the title. Yeah, maybe not such a hot premise for this.
I can already tell this is going to be a badly written mess / trainwreck on the level of Spidey And His Amazing Friends. The one saving grave is that it's possible the characters won't be as unendingly annoying. Now it's possible they WILL be. But we haven't yet met characters that bad in these shorts.
Unless you count Yoda, which nobody else does (but yes, I DO). **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Nash's Firehawk Frenzy"
There they are! There are the speculated upon but previously unseen annoyingly obnoxious characters who are going to ruin the show! Yeah, this show is gonna suck.
Also, I'll easily accept toddler Jedi. Grogu has me tolerant there. But toddler starship pilots? Give me a freaking break. *.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Taborr's Pirate Showdown"
In hindsight, it is amazing to me the huge amount of unjustified leeway and unearned benefit of the doubt I gave the early episodes of Spidey And His Amazing Friends. Won't be making that same mistake here.
This show is straight-up bad. It worsens the Star Wars saga for existing. Maybe it wouldn't if it were out of continuity the way the Spidey show is from the rest of the Marvel Universe, but Disney insisting that nearly EVERY single Star Wars project besides the Lego stuff "counts" means this crap is actually making the canon weaker. I felt a similar level of disgust over what Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy was dragging the Aligned Continuity down with each week, but as bad as this show is so far, I must confess it's not as bad as Rescue Bots Academy. Still I wish like hell something this bad was unofficial. It really should be. *.
The Young Jedi
That was nowhere NEAR as bad as those awful shorts hinted the show would be. I'm not saying it will NEVER turn into Spidey And His Amazing Friends or Muppet Babies 2019. But it isn't that YET.
I also dig that this is literally the first Star Wars TV show since the Ewoks and Droids cartoons in the 1980's to have a theme song / main title. It amazes me how averse to that Star Wars has been over the years. I think the tune is a little mundane myself but I'm glad it exists.
Not bad. ***.
Yoda's Mission
I like the idea that the kid pirate Taborr has a chip on his shoulder and is mistreated by other criminals. If the bad guys on Spidey ever had motivations that relatable I might not hate that show as much as I do.
Also not terrible. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Nash's Race Day / The Lost Jedi Ship"
Nash's Race Day
Nothing objectionable. Which as far as me and preschool shows go, is my version of a rave review. ****.
The Lost Jedi Ship
Despite the Droid losing his courage I liked meeting a Droid who basically did his own thing and his service to others was done on his own clock. Sort of refreshing. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Get Well Nubs / The Junk Giant"
Get Well Nubs
The toddler moral was a little too annoyingly obvious, even for a preschool show.
Also, why didn't they use their light sabers to scare off the creature to begin with? *1/2.
The Junk Giant
It's going to get old quick if every time the Jedi investigate a crime, it turns out to be Taborr. But that seems the most likely future for this show.
I have to admit, I dug the heartwarming ending. I thought it was very sweet. ***.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Lys And The Snowy Mountain Rescue / Attack Of The Training Droids"
Lys And The Snowy Mountain Rescue
That was pretty much adorable. I am not made of stone.
Also should point out that the climax was more exciting and tension filled than a preschool show actually needs to be. ****.
Attack Of The Training Droids
Sort of a much less compelling version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
I think Yoda is utterly written out of character here. The biggest take I had from both Obi-Wan AND Yoda from the first six movies and The Clone Wars is that they were both hugely unfair and brutal Jedi taskmasters who never let up, and treated both Anakin and Luke with open contempt and dislike. For Obi-Wan this is a good narrative excuse for Anakin to turn against the Jedi if his Master clearly doesn't like him. For Yoda and Luke, I just believe he is a crappy trainer.
There is a way out of this plot inconsistency. It could be suggested Yoda and helpful and friendly to the kids when he trains them because they ARE just little kids. But frankly, that seems out of character for the jerkish and unwise Yoda Lucas showed us. I want to believe this version of Yoda is possible. But I don't he is. I think he's being badly written instead. *1/2.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Jellyfruit Pursuit / Creature Safari"
The Jellyfruit Pursuit
Honestly, that was a little TOO adorable. I mentioned I'm not made of stone, and I DO like cuteness. But I don't think any Star Wars project should be THIS cute.
That said, I liked the older pirates making fun of Taborr for essentially robbing a kid and his grandmother because it shows why he has a chip on his shoulder. Nash offering him a fruit at the end was nice too but of course he still completely resists the message about the offering.
My teeth hurt. My teeth shouldn't hurt watching Star Wars. **1/2.
Creature Safari
Another cartoon too cute for its own good but I DO like that it's the show giving us more examples of multifaceted Droids. It's amazing the best Droid representations in the entire franchise might turn out to be on this show. But I wouldn't actually rule that out. Droids are treated like equals with their own agency for once. And I like that fact. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Squadron / Forest Defenders"
Squadron
I laughed at the "That's a yes," thing from Nash. Not much in Disney Junior is funny. But that got a chuckle out of me. ***.
Forest Defenders
Channeling The Lorax here Big Time.
The good: It's refreshing the culprit isn't Taborr. The bad: Did it have to be a giant chicken? This show is already hurting Star Wars' credibility. Even that's too far.
Eh. **1/2.
Episode Overall: **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Jedi And The Thief / The Missing Kibbin"
The Jedi And The Thief
I like Ace a lot and I like that she and Zia weirdly seem to be friends.
Another point in Zia's favor is she instantly dislikes the Taborr costume on the training Droid. She's concerned for the right reasons, and the fact that she made it a teaching moment says she is a teacher who actually has her head on straight. ****.
The Missing Kibbin
I would think a bounty hunter being hired to find a missing pet would be considered a career low point.
Anson is weirdly cute. I don't even understand WHY he is. He just is.
Cute episode in general. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ****.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Girl And Her Gargantua / The Show Must Go On"
The Girl And Her Gargantua
The episode disturbingly reminded me of Spidey And His Amazing Friends and Muppet Babies 2018 at their stupidest and worst. Very bad, dumb, and shoddy writing here. 1/2.
The Show Must Go On
Better than the first short, probably because it was absent idiotic, damaging villains. The song at the end sucked though. **1/2
Episode Overall: *1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Princess And The Jedi / Kai's Bad Day"
The Princess And The Jedi
Inoffensive and acceptable ***.
Kai's Bad Day
I like Tatooine being referred to as a "remote planet". It's actually Star Wars' go-to. But maybe the toddlers in the audience don't know that yet.
The Jawas have cute designs.
All right. ***.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Visitor's Day / The Glowing Green Danger"
Visitor's Day
Dravin Bosh is an annoying villain. His cartoon dinosaur design is neat though. **.
The Glowing Green Danger
Cute. A little TOO cute, actually. My teeth hurt.
The gardening teacher also has an excellent dinosaur design. **1/2.
Episode Overall: **.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "The Ganguls / Bad Eggs"
The Ganguls
This episode isn't a Star Wars moral. It's a Star Trek moral. I like it for that.
This show sure has a lot of aliens that look like Dinosaurs.
Cool! ***1/2.
Bad Eggs
Hap's design looks suspiciously like the Grinch. He just grew the extra two arms to throw people off his trail. ***.
Episode Overall: ***1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Off The Rails / The Thieves Of Tharnaka"
Off The Rails
I love that this episode is basically Kai and Tabor learning about each other and gaining respect and understanding. Talk about a Star Trek moral.
Very refreshing episode. ****1/2.
The Thieves Of Tharnaka
I love that the cartoon gave us an evil version of Jar-Jar Binks. Me hating Jar-Jar was unintentional on George Lucas' end. That nimrod actually thought I'd find him funny. I'm super annoyed with this Nabooan the entire time and given permission to hate him so he's working as intended.. Thanks, Young Jedi Adventures! I needed that! ****.
Episode Overall: ****1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures "Tree Trouble / Big Brother's Bounty"
Tree Trouble
Can't say I missed the annoying chicken alien, but I kinda like that they sort of gave him a partial redemption here. ***.
Big Brother's Bounty
I totally forgot how cute Anson was. ***1/2.
Episode Overall: ***.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Meet The Young Jedi"
I don't like it being set in the days of Yoda before the Jedi fell. Casts a pall on the proceedings.
It's cute and all but I predict it will wind up being as badly written as Muppet Babies and Spidey And His Amazing Friends. Some Disney preschool shows become Elena Of Avalor. Most of them are not cut out for that. Predict that's this show's fate.
Is Nubs an Ewok? Continuity "Whaaa?!"!"
Eh. **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Nubs And The Flower Fiasco"
Star Wars just gave me diabetes. That is NOT a good sign. Playing a dangerous game here, Lucasfilm. *.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Kai's Daring Droid Rescue"
All I can think of during this entire cartoon is that cretinous little stinker Yoda is eventually gonna get this sweet young kid killed because of his idiot advice. I am not loving the subtext to this show. At all. Yoda is the freaking worst. *.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Lys' Creature Caper"
Random thoughts:
This is the first preschool show with the word "Wars" in the title. Yeah, maybe not such a hot premise for this.
I can already tell this is going to be a badly written mess / trainwreck on the level of Spidey And His Amazing Friends. The one saving grave is that it's possible the characters won't be as unendingly annoying. Now it's possible they WILL be. But we haven't yet met characters that bad in these shorts.
Unless you count Yoda, which nobody else does (but yes, I DO). **1/2.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Nash's Firehawk Frenzy"
There they are! There are the speculated upon but previously unseen annoyingly obnoxious characters who are going to ruin the show! Yeah, this show is gonna suck.
Also, I'll easily accept toddler Jedi. Grogu has me tolerant there. But toddler starship pilots? Give me a freaking break. *.
Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Meet The Young Jedi "Taborr's Pirate Showdown"
In hindsight, it is amazing to me the huge amount of unjustified leeway and unearned benefit of the doubt I gave the early episodes of Spidey And His Amazing Friends. Won't be making that same mistake here.
This show is straight-up bad. It worsens the Star Wars saga for existing. Maybe it wouldn't if it were out of continuity the way the Spidey show is from the rest of the Marvel Universe, but Disney insisting that nearly EVERY single Star Wars project besides the Lego stuff "counts" means this crap is actually making the canon weaker. I felt a similar level of disgust over what Transformers: Rescue Bots Academy was dragging the Aligned Continuity down with each week, but as bad as this show is so far, I must confess it's not as bad as Rescue Bots Academy. Still I wish like hell something this bad was unofficial. It really should be. *.
