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With Star Wars as popular as ever—a brand new theatrical release is upon us (the highly anticipated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story)—it's a great time to explore the expanded Star Wars universe. One of the quirkier offshoots of all the creative elaborations on the universe created by George Lucas is the Disney XD series LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures. Disney has issued the Complete Season One on Blu-ray (also DVD), with all 13 episodes contained on two Blu-ray discs.
Keep in mind, this one is aimed primarily at younger fans (as one might expect from a LEGO series). The style is decidedly more kid-oriented than the Clone Wars and Rebels series. Set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, there are so many references to (and characters from) the classic trilogy that it still keeps the series fun for older viewers.
The Freemaker family scavenges for spare parts, going so far as to peacefully infiltrate active dogfights in order to snag as many pieces of usable wreckage as possible. Turns out the youngest of the Freemakers, 12-year-old Rowen, is strong enough in the Force to be adopted as a Padawan (a Jedi-in-training) to Naare. Naare is a survivor of the devastating Order 66 (a slaughter of Jedi by the Emperor depicted in the third and final of the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith). Even viewers who aren't all that well-versed in Star Wars lore will have no trouble figuring out the plot (I no Wars junkie, being primarily a fan of the feature films and having only dabbled in expanded universe stuff). A general interest in (and taste for) Star Wars is sort of a prerequisite for really getting into a series like this one.
As Rowan and his Freemaker siblings venture out into the galaxy on adventure after adventure, we meet mostly new characters. Rowan has a comic relief sidekick, a battle droid called R0-GER ("Roger," get it? As in "Roger, roger," the much-maligned bit of dialogue spoken by a battle droid in The Phantom Menace, there's lots of little affectionate digs taken at the movies here and there). But we're also treated to occasional cameos by the likes of Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, Lando (voiced by none other than Billy Dee Williams), and even Luke and Leia. Freemakers combines the ships and hardware of the prequel trilogy with the original trilogy, and even manages to work in a direct bit from The Force Awakens with Maz Kanata appearing.
The Freemakers Adventures - The Complete First Season looks great, but sounds just okay in a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 (seemingly standard for Disney's Star Wars TV releases, for reasons unknown). Almost nothing in the way of special features: "Meet the Freemaker Family" is a two-minute mini-featurette and "Salvage and Repair" is a one-minute promo reel.
A bit cooler for Star Wars nuts: the Blu-ray package includes a set of six puffy mini-magnets, each featuring a character from the series.
Keep in mind, this one is aimed primarily at younger fans (as one might expect from a LEGO series). The style is decidedly more kid-oriented than the Clone Wars and Rebels series. Set between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, there are so many references to (and characters from) the classic trilogy that it still keeps the series fun for older viewers.
The Freemaker family scavenges for spare parts, going so far as to peacefully infiltrate active dogfights in order to snag as many pieces of usable wreckage as possible. Turns out the youngest of the Freemakers, 12-year-old Rowen, is strong enough in the Force to be adopted as a Padawan (a Jedi-in-training) to Naare. Naare is a survivor of the devastating Order 66 (a slaughter of Jedi by the Emperor depicted in the third and final of the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith). Even viewers who aren't all that well-versed in Star Wars lore will have no trouble figuring out the plot (I no Wars junkie, being primarily a fan of the feature films and having only dabbled in expanded universe stuff). A general interest in (and taste for) Star Wars is sort of a prerequisite for really getting into a series like this one.
As Rowan and his Freemaker siblings venture out into the galaxy on adventure after adventure, we meet mostly new characters. Rowan has a comic relief sidekick, a battle droid called R0-GER ("Roger," get it? As in "Roger, roger," the much-maligned bit of dialogue spoken by a battle droid in The Phantom Menace, there's lots of little affectionate digs taken at the movies here and there). But we're also treated to occasional cameos by the likes of Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett, Lando (voiced by none other than Billy Dee Williams), and even Luke and Leia. Freemakers combines the ships and hardware of the prequel trilogy with the original trilogy, and even manages to work in a direct bit from The Force Awakens with Maz Kanata appearing.
The Freemakers Adventures - The Complete First Season looks great, but sounds just okay in a lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 (seemingly standard for Disney's Star Wars TV releases, for reasons unknown). Almost nothing in the way of special features: "Meet the Freemaker Family" is a two-minute mini-featurette and "Salvage and Repair" is a one-minute promo reel.
A bit cooler for Star Wars nuts: the Blu-ray package includes a set of six puffy mini-magnets, each featuring a character from the series.
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