TFN Review: LEGO Star Wars: The Freemakers Adventures - Zander's Joyride

Darth Vader in a Naboo Starfighter?

Only in LEGO can that happen,

The third episode of LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures was a fun ride featuring aspects from all of the Star Wars universe. There was a star destroyer, a Naboo Starfighter, a battle droid, LEGO original characters, and a whole lot more.

Titled "Zander's Joyride," the episode showed me more about what this show will be. It strayed away from the kybersaber story elements, and became sort of a Saturday morning serial misadventure with the Freemakers.

A rich customer, Wick Cooper, comes into the Freemaker's shop to get his Naboo Starfighter serviced. Zander sees the ship and can't help himself, leading to him taking the ship out for a joyride. He takes it through an asteroid field, and ends up being caught by Darth Vader in a tractor beam.

Kordi and Rowan recruit Naare to rescue Zander. They kept the kybersaber story line going as we see Naare communicate with Darth Vader. Vader voiced his displeasure with her not having the crystals yet, but the transmission is cut short when Rowan arrives (it was also full of complete silliness with Darth Vader pulling out a list of synonyms for impatient).

They are able to rescue Zander from Vader, but not before Vader sees the Naboo Starfighter and is instantly taken back to the time he blew up the droid control ship in The Phantom Menace. He then takes it out for a joyride, and the heroes escape back with the ship. Mr. Cooper is not happy, and that is pretty much the whole episode.

This episode reminded me that this is just silly fun. During the first two episodes I was thoroughly enjoying the story surrounding the lost kyber crystals, and was wondering what would happen with Naare being a double agent. In this one, there was no real story beyond just a fun run-in with a customer. I had to remind myself that this was not Episode VIII, and that LEGO is just fun.

Darth Vader's silliness is still hard for me to swallow, and there was a lot of it in this one. I did feel like I was five years old watching Saturday morning cartoons in front of the TV like I did every week when watching this. Pair that with the Star Wars galaxy, and I think this has been a great way for young kids to jump into the saga.

Roger was his typical nonsensical self, and the humor was a little heavy in this throughout. Although I do enjoy the poking fun aspect of it, sometimes I am taken out of the story when it is heavy handed.

The animation was great again along with the score. Overall this episode showed me what the series might start leaning towards. Although an overall story arc has been established with the kybersaber, we should expect a lot of one-offs like this episode. It is important to remember that this is for kids, and with that in mind, this is still my favorite LEGO Star Wars story ever told.




This review was done by Fan of TheForce.net Ryan Donoho. You can contact him at donohonba@gmail.com.

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