When you have been an ongoing franchise for as long as Star Wars has, it can be difficult to know how to keep things running with momentum. The films are obviously the franchise’s main storytelling output, with the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, and the sequel trilogy all finding varying degrees of success. The launch of Disney+ and the poor reception to the last few films made Star Wars focus more on the television side of things. Again though, this has been a mixed bag. The Mandalorian was a hit with a lackluster final season, The Acolyte was a great idea that some longtime fans didn’t like, Andor might be the single greatest thing that Star Wars has ever put out, and The Book of Boba Fett was a massive disappointment. That said, there’s one Star Wars TV show, which made its debut five years ago, that is the ideal way for the franchise to live on for a long time to come.
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At a time when the franchise was starting to regain traction thanks to the success of The Mandalorian and the final few episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Star Wars: Visions came out. It was unlike anything the series had seen before and is a blueprint for what the future should look like.
Star Wars: Visions Is The Breath Of Fresh Air The Franchise Needed
A lot of the very best things Star Wars has ever put out have been in an animated format. It makes sense that the franchise should continue to expand and live on in animation, which is part of why Star Wars: Visions is so perfect. The premise of the show is brilliant, as each episode is a standalone story that is produced by one of seven different Japanese animation studios. That means that, along with telling unique tales each time out, the episodes never look the same.
One of the things that Star Wars has needed over the past decade is something that looks and feels different. In that way, this show gives the franchise exactly what it requires because each episode works as a short film. It is perfect for new fans who want to get into Star Wars. They don’t need to do a deep dive into the lore of the series, nor do they need to commit the time to watch a bunch of movies or shows. It’s as easy as dedicating 15 or so minutes to something new that also looks incredibly cool.
Star Wars: Visions Fixes One Of The Franchise’s Biggest Problems
A common criticism that Star Wars has faced over the years is that everything feels too connected. While a shared universe is fun in something like the MCU, in this franchise it just makes everything feel smaller. The galaxy loses its luster if every story is just focused on the same few people. Even when we get something new, like The Mandalorian, a lot of time is spent on a place like Tatooine, and then someone like Luke Skywalker shows up.
A nod to what came before is appreciated, but it’s welcome to get something that stands on its own and doesn’t need existing popular characters to work. Star Wars: Visions makes the galaxy feel much larger. If these incredible adventures and intriguing characters exist at some corner of the universe, then it lets us know that the franchise can go beyond the Skywalker Saga and lore from things like Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels.
The Possibilities Are Endless With Star Wars: Visions
At this point, we have kind of seen every story there is to tell with the main characters from various Star Wars projects. As much as we love Luke, Leia, Han, Obi-Wan, Anakin, and those characters, it is past time that we move on from them. Star Wars: Visions allows the franchise to do that without having to make the audience learn too much about new characters. They can introduce a Jedi, a Sith Lord, or just a cool concept and tell a standalone story with it before moving on.
Instead of having to worry about how a story connects to some existing lore, Star Wars: Visions gives them the freedom to do anything they want. There are no limits on what kind of story the franchise can tell through this medium. So far, they’ve covered tales about a former Sith apprentice who gets tracked down by her old master, about the daughter of a lightsaber smith getting hunted, and about a cybernetic boy who dreams of becoming a Jedi, among so many others.
It almost doesn’t matter what you’d want to see in a Star Wars story because Star Wars: Visions could bring it to life and do so with some incredibly stunning visual styles. It’s the best way to keep the series going and you can watch episodes of Star Wars: Visions on Disney+.
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Image Courtesy of Marvel Studios
