The Star Wars franchise has gone over the climactic destruction of the Death Star many times now, in various formats, mediums, and contexts, yet there are still new ways of looking at this pivotal moment in the continuity. That shouldn’t be a surprise, given the way the expanded universe has retold other huge stories repeatedly, revealing new layers – most notably with Order 66 and its surrounding events. Showing something from a different point of view is sort of the point.
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The destruction of the Death Star will be shown from the perspective of a Storm Trooper in a new episode of Star Wars: Visions Season 3 titled “BLACK.” Some Star Wars fans were able to see the episode – written and directed by lauded anime filmmaker Shinya Ohira – in a special preview this weekend at the Anime NYC convention. Clearly, the episode doesn’t shy away from its dark premise. In a pre-recorded Q&A screened at the convention, Ohira explained why he went with an experimental, psychedelic style for this short film.
“We wanted to offer a film that was mainly based on Sakura Fujiawara’s singing voice set against these visuals of intense battles. That was our vision as we made the film,” Ohira said. “As for the interpretation of the story, the viewers, the people watching it, we kind of wanted to leave it up to them… so that’s how we made it. We really got down into some fine details for this film. There’s the Death Star… The setting is really super detailed, and the stormtroopers, drawing out the action in the battle scenes, it was really quite an arduous task for the animators. So that was painful, but it was worth it, and the end result really speaks for itself… It’s really kind of something nobody’s ever seen before.”
While “BLACK” focuses in on one Storm Trooper in this immense space battle, it doesn’t shy away from the biggest ideas in the Star Wars franchise. According to those in attendance, it confronts the battle between light and dark that permeates the whole series, reminding us that that turmoil is present everywhere, even in the mind of one imperial soldier.
Star Wars: Visions is an animated anthology series in which animation studios from around the world are invited to bring their unique styles to the franchise for singular, self-contained episodes. Like Season 1, the upcoming Season 3 is expected to consist entirely of animation from Japan. Ohira is best known for his work on movies like Akira and Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away, and he’s not the only animation veteran working on this season.
Star Wars: Visions Season 3 premieres on October 29th on Disney+. Previous seasons are streaming there now, along with the rest of the Star Wars catalog.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
