Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures: Season 1: Story 25: Tree Troubles
What is it ? : Nubs is meditating on his favourite tree when it begins to shake, and suddenly all the water around it's roots drains away. The tree instantly begins to wither, and some of it's leaves drop brown and dry, so he goes back to tell the other Young Jedi.
Back at the Jedi Temple, Kai and Jys are unloading some crates with Nash, and Nubs frantic babbling in his native language confuses Nash, so Jys translates.
They head to the tree, and decide to explore it's roots to discover where the water has gone, as they enter Jys finds a piece of dried tree sap, which she remarks upon as being delicious.
Deep underground they discover Raxlo's Harvester drilling away at large lumps of dried sap and filling containers with it. They question Raxlo, and he tells them that the delicious sap will make him a profit, but they discover he has blocked the water flow with a large boulder, and the pressure is causing the quakes which are shaking the tree.
They convince Raxlo to do the right thing, and they move the boulder which causes a massive spout of water which rapidly fills the chamber. The group retreats into Raxlos Harvester, and begin to leave, however the way is blocked and is too small for the Harvester plus it's cargo and drill, so Raxlo has to abandon the sap he has already gathered, and they escape. He drops off the Young Jedi and flies off, leaving them to return to Nub's meditation spot which is tranquil one more. . .
High Points : I liked that they brought Raxlo back, and didn't have him forget the lessons he learned last time he was in the show, and once they explain the harm his actions are doing he abandons them and helps fix the problem he has caused.
The addon's for his harvester also remain quite interesting, whereas last time they were a couple of large tree cutting blades, this time it's a massive drill for breaking up the hardened sap.
Low Points : The trees of Tenoo are pretty vulnerable, as soon as the water is drained away the tree starts drying up and losing leaves, I can only guess the climate is extremely stable as any dry season would cause the forests to die off almost instantly.
Raxlo's plan also seems pretty shortsighted, he blocks the water to gain access to the hardened sap which is created by the tree which will die without the water. As his harvester seems to work just as well underwater, couldn't he just mine the sap and leave it to dry outside? There really seems little reason why he needs to drain the cavern beneath the tree except to cause the episode to happen.
So what do you really think ? : While Nub's is one of the three main characters, because he doesn't speak a comprehensible language, he tends to play a more minor role in the episodes, even being written out on some occasions. And while he mainly plays a lesser role in this episode, the fact that he initiates it, and much of the storyline revolves around something that is important to him, makes this episode feel much more about him which I definitely appreciate.
Final Words : It's a fairly straightforwards episode, simply being Raxlo has blocked the water so he can mine the hardened sap, and they need to restore the water to save the tree. The message seems to be to work in concert with the environment rather than destroying it to get what you want, so an environmentalist message this time, which is a little more complex than the usual.
But it's a fun little story, passes quickly, and I think would entertain the kids it's targeted at.
Score : 8/10
Comments made about this Article!
There are currently no comments for this article, be the first to post in the form below
