Galaxy of Adventures Review

Vibrant, dynamic, exhilarating, uplifting, evocative …

These are just some of the words I’d choose to describe Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures, the delightful micro-series that was launched by Lucasfilm and Titmouse Animation back in November 2018.

Like Forces of Destiny and the Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars series before it, Galaxy of Adventures is a growing collection of bite-sized animated shorts that were first released online to entertain younger fans and promote a new toy line. It combines original dialogue and audio from the Skywalker saga and other Star Wars media with the colourful, quirky animation style that the Titmouse studio is renowned for. The majority of the shorts are imaginative retellings of the saga’s most iconic scenes and were created with one key goal in mind: to introduce a new generation of kids to the timeless mythological themes and characters of this beloved space-fantasy saga.

One could argue that such a series isn’t completely necessary. After all, couldn’t they just watch the films? They could, obviously, but there’s no harm in having yet another entry point for newcomers, especially those who may be too young or inattentive to sit down and watch a single two-hour film, let alone several. A companion series of Fun Facts videos shines the spotlight on some of Star Wars’ iconic heroes, villains, creatures, factions, planets, and vehicles, and parents can find a wealth of free downloadable educational material over on the Star Wars Kids website. What better way to get your younglings interested and invested in your favourite space-fantasy series?

Now, onto the shorts themselves. It would be impossible to review all 50 or so animated shorts here but they all follow a similar format: Voice-over narrations from actor Dante Basco of Avatar: The Last Airbender fame set the tone and provide context but it’s the animation that does most of the talking. Each short is a masterclass in the art of visual storytelling—Jedi vs. Sith is a perfect example of this—and the animation is dynamic, fluid, fast-paced, expressive, and all round aesthetically pleasing. They feel like Little Golden Books brought to life. While I adore the animation styles used in The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels, there’s something immensely gratifying about Galaxy of Adventures’ anime-inspired approach. These are all scenes we have seen countless times but they feel fresh and exhilarating. This web series is proof that traditional 2D animation still has a place within the Star Wars franchise.

Just keep in mind that some creative license has been taken and that these shorts aren’t meant to be scene-for-scene recreations. Some scenes have been truncated for time—the shorts are only around a minute long—while certain story elements have been omitted to either preserve the surprise reveals of the films (like Darth Vader being Luke’s father) or adapt scenes for the series’ very target young audience (e.g. there are fewer severed limbs).

My only real complaint about the micro-series thus far—and I acknowledge that this is a very personal grievance—is that more than 50 Galaxy of Adventures shorts have been released to date but only one of them is based on a scene from the prequel trilogy, namely Yoda vs. Count Dooku - Size Matters Not, which pays homage to Yoda and Count Dooku’s epic showdown in Attack of the Clones. Prequel content has been used to great effect in a handful of other shorts, most notably as flashbacks in the soul-stirring short Obi-Wan Kenobi, but the lack of prequel-inspired shorts has not gone unnoticed. What’s more, characters first introduced in The Clone Wars and other Star Wars animated series have yet to make any meaningful appearances in the micro-series; Ahsoka’s only appearance to date was in a Fun Facts video about The Clone Wars. As a die-hard fan of the prequels and animated series, this is a disappointing state of affairs, especially when you take into account that there are four shorts based on the Galaxy’s Edge theme park attraction and over a dozen based on The Empire Strikes Back alone. I’d like to see this rectified in any future seasons.

But despite this minor drawback, Galaxy of Adventures embodies the true spirit of Star Wars and is a perfect gateway to the saga and franchise for the youngest of younglings. Even older fans might get a kick out of seeing their favourite scenes retold in a different format. I, for one, would love to see a full-length animated series or feature film animated in this style.

A third season hadn’t been confirmed at the time of writing but you can watch the first two seasons of Galaxy of Adventures over on the Star Wars Kids website or Star Wars Kids YouTube channel (link below) right now!